Though most of the attention will go to Croatian star Luka Modric, who won the Ballon d’Or award for the first time, breaking up a stranglehold that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have held on the prestigious trophy for the last 10 years, the real breakthrough came from Norway’s Ada Hegerberg.
The award, generally considered the sport’s top prize, has been given out by France Football magazine since 1956. But this year, the organization finally added a women’s category. With France hosting the Women’s World Cup, it certainly seemed about time.
Hegerberg scored 15 goals last season for Lyon in the Women’s Championship League. But she isn’t planning to play for Norway next summer in France; frustrated by the inequities she sees in the way her country treats women’s soccer she has stepped away from the international play.
From 2001 to 2015 there was a FIFA Women’s Player of the Year, which then became the Best FIFA Women’s Player in 2016. In recent years, Carli Lloyd has won the award. This year, of the 15 finalists, only two – Lindsay Horan and Megan Rapinoe – were American.
For a time, from 2010-2015, the top FIFA men’s award was combined with the Ballon d’Or. In 2016, they became separate awards.
Whatever the award was called, beginning in 2008, either Argentinian Messi or Portuguese Ronaldo has won the men’s award. Until Monday.
Modric led Croatia to the World Cup final where his team lost to France; the midfielder also led Real Madrid to a third straight Champions League title.
In 2018, Modric has also won the World Cup Golden Ball trophy as the best player in the tournament, the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year and the Best FIFA’s Men’s Player.
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