Luka Modric won the 2018 Ballon d’Or on Monday. The award was voted for by 176 journalists, all representing different countries. They voted for a top five from the initial 30-man shortlist, with six points going to 1st place, four going to 2nd, three to 3rd, two to 4th and one to 5th.
As ever, there were some quite hilariously outlandish nods from those responsible for naming the best player of the entire calendar year.
* Luka Modric won the 2018 Ballon d’Or with 753 points, or 26.1% of the overall vote. Only Lionel Messi (2010, 22.7%), Fabio Cannavaro (2006, 22.1%), Andriy Shevchenko (2004, 22.4%), Pavel Nedved (2003, 24.3%), Ronaldo (2002, 21.6%), Michael Owen (2001, 23%) and Luis Figo (2000, 25.7%) have had a lower winning percentage of the vote in the 21st century.
* Luka Modric is the third player to win the Ballon d’Or in the same year as he lost the World Cup final (after Josef Masopust in 1962 and Johan Cruyff in 1974).
* Luka Modric is the oldest Ballon d’Or winner, beating 2006 champion Fabio Cannavaro by ten days, the first Croatian Ballon d’Or winner, and the first Ballon d’Or winner to have ever played for Tottenham.
* Of the 176 journalists who voted, only 13 picked the top three in the correct order (Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann). Congratulations to those who represented Brazil, Belarus, Benin, China, Gabon, Guinea, Mauritania, Oman, Panama, Puerto Rico, Russia, Slovakia and South Korea.
* England’s own Henry Winter came close, but yer man from The Times picked Griezmann in fourth behind Modric, Ronaldo and third-placed Lionel Messi.
* Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Mohamed Salah and Raphael Varane all received three or more first-place votes. Eden Hazard received two (Bahamas, Sri Lanka). Five players received just one. They were:
Karim Benzema (Central African Republic, god bless you)
Sergio Aguero (Grenada)
Thibaut Courtois (Kyrgyzstan)
Neymar (St Kitts and Nevis)
Harry Kane (Vanuatu)
* Karim Benzema‘s bizarre first-place vote for Central African Republic was the only list of the 176 he actually made. Probably because he has only scored 17 goals in 48 games in 2018.
* Harry Kane is the first Englishman to finish in the top ten of two consecutive Ballons d’Or since Steven Gerrard in 2008 (10th) and 2009 (10th).
* Paul Pogba came 15th with nine points. Sri Lanka and Somalia both thought he was the third-best player of 2018, Lesotho ranked him fourth, and Sao Tome and Principe thought he was the fifth-best player over the last 12 months.
* Roberto Firmino came joint-19th alongside Ivan Rakitic and that “idiot” Sergio Ramos. Firmino received just one vote: coming second behind Eden Hazard for Sri Lanka.
* Mario Mandzukic made more lists (2) than Roberto Firmino (1).
* Sadio Mane came joint-22nd, sharing a stage with Edinson Cavani and Marcelo. His three points came from three different sources: DR Congo (5th), Ivory Coast (5th), and his native Senegal (5th). He blesses the rains down in Africa.
* Saints Kitts and Nevis were responsible for handing out the only votes that both Sergio Ramos (2nd) and Alisson (4th) received.
* Kevin de Bruyne received the most points (29) without coming 1st on any list.
* N’Golo Kante received 24 points – five more than Neymar – despite being voted outside the top two of every list except for Madagascar’s (2nd).
* For the second year running, Hugo Lloris received no points despite making the final shortlist. He’s catching up with Paul Scholes.
