Luka Modric and Thibaut Courtois receive IFFHS Awards

Luka Modric’s personal trophy cabinet has to find room for more accolades as he was officially presented with the World’s Best Playmaker trophy. The trophy is administered by the International Federation of Football History & Statisctics (IFFHS). Modric — who ranked third last year — succeeds Messi who had reigned over the award for the last three years.

Football experts in 90 countries from all continents were so impressed with the performances in 2018 by the 33 years old croatian that he finished with a runaway victory of 128 points before Lionel Messi, winner of the three last Awards (2015, 2016, 2017) and Eden Hazard, one of the best players at the World Cup in Russia!

IFFHS Website

The award reinforces the memorable year Modric has had where he was claimed many of football’s top individual prizes on the back of stellar performances that led Real Madrid to a stunning third consecutive Champions League victory, and Croatia to an incredible finals appearance at the World Cup last summer.

Real Madrid will hope to continue to get the best out of their star midfielder as they look to turn the season around from the underwhelming start. The Croatian, for his part, has returned to his glistening best after struggling a little earlier in the season.

Thibaut Courtois was another IFFHS award recipient after being presented with the Goalkeeper of the Year award.

The Belgian was hugely impressive at the World Cup and despite mixed media opinion, has notched several amazing performances at the club level both with his prior club Chelsea and his current team.

Many congratulations to both Modric and Courtois and hopefully the awards can serve as some inspiration as Real Madrid enters the business end of the season.