Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah have been named as the three finalists for FIFA’s The Best Men’s Player award.
The award, created in 2016 following FIFA’s split with the Ballon d’Or, will this year honour the standout player from July 3, 2017 to July 15, 2018 — and in that period, Modric won the Champions League with Real Madrid, while also helping Croatia reach the World Cup final where his performances earned him the Golden Ball.
Ronaldo, who has won this honour in both years of its existence, is once again among the final three, but faces arguably his toughest challenge yet, following so many impressive performances in Russia.
However, the Juventus forward will still be confident of making it three in a row, as he once again finished top scorer in the Champions League. His 15 goals — five more than anyone else — helped Madrid win the trophy for a third successive season.
And, while he would have expected to make a bigger impact in Russia, he still hit a hat trick again Spain, which included one of the goals of the tournament with a stunning late free kick.
Mohamed Salah’s impact on the world stage may have been minor, but his exploits in the Premier League and Champions League for Liverpool made him a certainty for this list.
He became the first player to score 32 in a 38-game season, while also contributing a further 10 in Europe — while he won all the individual awards in England.
Lionel Messi’s omission from the final three means he misses out on the podium for one of the main individual awards for the first time since 2006.
Meanwhile, FIFA also announced the three finalists for The Best Men’s Coach award with Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps and Zlatko Dalic making the cut.
Zidane led Madrid to a third successive Champions League title, while Dalic led Croatia to the World Cup final where they were beaten by Deschamps’ France.