00:03Luka Modric!
00:05No Croatian footballer has achieved more in their career than Luka Modric.
00:11And few footballers of any nationality have reached Modric's heights
00:15and made it look so effortless.
00:18Luka showed us that it's easy to play.
00:23Believe me, it's really, really hard to play football.
00:27To play World Cup, it's even harder.
00:29And he plays like it's normal.
00:34It's like a dance for him.
00:37Modric's club career is topped by a record equaling six Champions League titles.
00:43At international level, he was named the best player at the 2018 World Cup.
00:48And as an individual, he was voted the best footballer in the world
00:52at the height of the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly.
01:00It's a great honor, and I am very happy after receiving this great award.
01:06I've worked hard to be where I am today.
01:09This year has been fantastic.
01:11It wasn't just one of the best.
01:13It was the best of my life and my career.
01:19I have won a lot with Real Madrid, and with Croatia I reached the World Cup final.
01:25And also I won a lot of individual awards like this one.
01:29So this year is just unforgettable.
01:33I will remember it forever.
01:41Modric's two decades at the top of world football belie his challenges getting there.
01:45In many ways, he is the embodiment of modern Croatia and the breakdown of the former Yugoslavia.
01:55Born in 1985 in a hamlet near the coastal town of Zadar on the Adriatic coast,
02:02Modric was named after his grandfather, who looked after him on the family farm,
02:07while both his parents worked long hours at a knitting factory.
02:13By five, he was helping Luca Sr. tend goats and sheep.
02:17But at six, at the height of the Croatian War of Independence,
02:22his grandfather was shot and killed by Serbian rebel forces,
02:26and the family home was torched.
02:29In his autobiography, Modric described his terrible memories.
02:35My heart breaks every time I think of my grandfather dying,
02:39literally on his doorstep.
02:43For the next seven years, Modric and his family lived in a refugee centre
02:48in a hotel in the heart of Zadar.
02:53He would spend his days kicking a football in the old hotel car park,
02:58frequently running to safety as his town came under attack.
03:04Somehow, amongst the carnage, Modric's footballing ability continued to blossom.
03:12At 12, he trialled with Hajduk Split,
03:16but they rejected him because of his size.
03:21Dinamar Zagreb eventually took him aged 16,
03:24and after a year in the youth team,
03:26his extraordinary professional career began.
03:32Dinamar loaned 18-year-old Modric to Zrinski Mostar,
03:37and he ended his first season of senior football
03:40with the Bosnian Premier League Player of the Year award.
03:46Then they loaned 19-year-old Modric to Inter Zaspersic,
03:50where he earned the Croatian Young Player of the Year award.
03:56Fully prepared for the top level, Modric then went on to win a hat-trick of titles with Dinamar,
04:02and a pair of Croatian Cups for good measure.
04:06He left Croatia for the English Premier League,
04:08having just received the first of what would become an absurd 13 Croatian Player of the Year awards.
04:17Tottenham Hotspur equalled their transfer record to bring Modric to London.
04:23But it looked a questionable decision,
04:25as the willowy schemer took time to adapt to the frenetic pace and physicality of English football.
04:33But to adapt he did, and his reputation grew during four years at White Hart Lane,
04:39especially as Spurs began to assert themselves in European competition,
04:44catching the eye of Real Madrid in the move that would define his career.
04:51At Real, Ronaldo's goal-scoring feats hogged the headlines,
04:56and Madridistas adored the leadership of Sergio Ramos.
05:00But it was Modric who knitted everything together and made the team tick.
05:06In his second season at the Bernabeu, he won the first of six Champions League titles
05:11and was named the best midfielder in La Liga.
05:14His consistency and endurance since has seen him elevated to the status of legend,
05:21the biggest club in the world.
05:25As Modric's star ascended at club level, so did results with the national team.
05:31Dictating matches from the middle of the pitch, he was a perfect international captain,
05:36steering Croatia to second place at Russia 2018 and third place at Qatar 2022.
05:43I think everybody in the world knows the value of Luka Modric.
05:49He's unbelievable.
05:54He's our captain, our leader, our best player.
05:57We are proud to have him in the team, and for me it's an honor and privilege to play with
06:02him,
06:03to train with him, to work with him.
06:08His exploits in Russia earned him the World Cup Golden Ball, despite France prevailing in the final.
06:18He would later add the Ballon d'Or to his collection, becoming the first player in 11 years to win
06:23more votes than either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
06:30Slightly built, often underestimated, but supremely skilful and ferociously competitive.
06:38Luka Modric is a leader any country would be proud of, and the kind that makes Croatia such a successful
06:44football nation.
06:46Luka Modric is a leader in the world that he's proud of.
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