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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 SEPTEMBER 2018 21 SPORTS FOOTBALL SPORTS FOOTBALL Luka Modric named best male player at Fifa awards in London LUKA Modric, the Real Ma- drid midfielder, 33, beat former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, now with Juventus, and Liver- pool's Mohamed Salah to the award. Modric won his third Cham- pions League title in a row in May and guided Croatia to their first World Cup final in July. Brazil and Orlando Pride for- ward Marta won the best fe- male player award. France's Didier Deschamps – whose side beat Modric's Croa- tia 4-2 in the World Cup final – was named best men's coach. Salah received the Puskas award for the best goal, for his effort against Everton in the Premier League at Anfield last December. Peru's supporters won the Fifa Fan Award after many thousands of them flew to Rus- sia in support of their nation – playing at the finals for the first time since 1982. This ac- colade was voted for solely by supporters. Luka Modric ended Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's dominance of the best individ- ual accolades in world football, which had stretched back to 2007, when Kaka won the Bal- lon d'Or. Modric made 56 appearances for club and country as he won the Champions League and reached the World Cup final – beating England in the semi- final – in what he admitted be- fore the ceremony was his "best season ever". Former England interna- tional Chris Waddle, working as a BBC Radio 5 live pundit, indentified Modric as the type of player that Gareth South- gate's men were missing in that semi-final because of his ability to single-handedly influence games with his understanding and distribution. Incidentally, England manag- er Southgate voted for Modric. The former Tottenham mid- fielder won the Golden Ball award for the best player in the World Cup after their final de- feat by France. He scored in Croatia's open- ing two matches of the group stages and also set up one goal. Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic paid tribute to his tal- isman after the result was announced, saying the mid- fielder is like "my assistant in the field". "Luka Modric is the captain of my team, he's the best player in my team and in the world, and he deserves this award," said Dalic. After receiving the award, Modric said he was "honoured" and thankful to all the coaches he has worked with for getting him to this stage. "This award is not just mine. It is my team-mates from Real Madrid and Croatia. Without my coaches, I would not have won this and without my fam- ily I would not be the player I am today," said Modric. Meanwhile Brazil and Orlan- do Pride forward Marta won the award for the best female player for the sixth time. Her first recognition from Fifa for being the best female player in the world came in 2006. Fifpro World XI Fifa made five changes to the Fifpro World XI side selected in 2017. Kylian Mbappe, 19, was re- warded with a place in the side after winning the award for the best young player at this summer's World Cup for his impressive performances for France. There was also room for Chelsea and Belgium forward Eden Hazard, and his club mate N'Golo Kante, while Manchester United's David de Gea was named in goal and Real Madrid's Raphael Varane took his place in the heart of the defence. However, there was no place in the World XI for Thibaut Courtois, who was voted as the best goalkeeper in the world, or Salah, a best men's player of the year finalist. The following players were chosen in the Fifpro World XI: De Gea, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo, Dani Alves, Kante, Modric, Mbappe, Messi, Haz- ard and Ronaldo. Best men's coach - Didier Deschamps France's Didier Deschamps won the award for the best men's coach in 2018. The former Marseille, Ju- ventus and Chelsea midfielder captained his country as they won the World Cup in 1998, before guiding them to victory again in Russia in July. Deschamps won the trophy ahead of former club and inter- national team-mate Zinedine Zidane - who won his third successive Champions League title before resigning as Real Madrid manager - and Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic, whose side lost to France in a thrilling final in Moscow. "I would like to thank Zin- edine Zidane and Zlatko Dalic. They are both winners," said the French manager. "We are nothing without our players. I would like to thank the whole team. They worked hard to get me here tonight." Puskas award for best goal - Mohamed Salah The Fifa Puskas award, named after the iconic former Hungary forward Ferenc Pus- kas, is given to the player who scored the best goal of 10 nom- inations. Mohamed Salah's stunning effort to open the scoring for Liverpool in his first Mersey- side derby was the winner. The Egyptian's sublime curl- ing finish towards the end of the first half at snowy Anfield, in December 2017, was later cancelled out by a Wayne Rooney penalty in a 1-1 draw. Other nominations included two spectacular Champions League goals from winners Re- al Madrid - Cristiano Ronaldo's overhead kick against Juventus and Gareth Bale's similarly acrobatic finish in the final against Liverpool. With success in the award for the best goal, and having been nominated in the best player category, the 26-year-old says he is hungry for more individ- ual recognition. "I'm sure it is not the last nomination because I always want to be better than last sea- son," said Salah. "My favourite goal was the one against Everton because it was my first derby, but all of them were very important." "[Playing for Egypt in the World Cup] was one of the best moments in my life and this is the dream for us as Egyptians, and human beings, to play at the tournament." Best goalkeeper - Thibaut Courtois Former Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was an- nounced as the best goalkeeper. Courtois played every minute of Belgium's seven matches at the World Cup, as the country went on to claim third place - their highest finish at the tour- nament. The 26-year-old beat Leices- ter City and Denmark's num- ber one Kasper Schmeichel, and Tottenham's World Cup- winning goalkeeper Hugo Llo- ris, who captained France in Russia. "I would like to thank my team-mates and my coaches - they always give the best ad- vice," said Courtois. Fair play VVV-Venlo striker Lennart Thy missed his side's Eredivisie game against PSV Eindhoven in March to donate stem cells to try to help a leukaemia patient. The 26-year-old German, who was on loan at the top- flight Dutch club from Werder Bremen, joined the donor reg- ister seven years ago and was a DNA match.