00:05Luka Modric!
00:08No Croatian footballer has achieved more in their career than Luka Modric.
00:14And few footballers of any nationality have reached Modric's heights and made it look
00:19so effortless.
00:20Luka showed us that it's easy to play. Believe me, it's really, really hard to play football.
00:29To play World Cup, it's even harder. And he plays like it's normal. It's like a dance for him.
00:40Modric's club career is topped by a record equaling six Champions League titles.
00:46At international level, he was named the best player at the 2018 World Cup.
00:51And as an individual, he was voted the best footballer in the world, at the height of the Lionel Messi
00:57-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly.
01:03It's a great honour and I am very happy after receiving this great award.
01:08I've worked hard to be where I am today. This year has been fantastic. It wasn't just one of the
01:15best. It was the best of my life and my career.
01:22I have won a lot with Real Madrid. And with Croatia, I reached the World Cup final.
01:28And also, I won a lot of individual awards like this one. So this year is just unforgettable. I will
01:36remember it forever.
01:43Modric's two decades at the top of world football belies his challenges getting there.
01:49In many ways, he is the embodiment of modern Croatia and the breakdown of the former Yugoslavia.
01:58Born in 1985 in a hamlet near the coastal town of Zadar on the Adriatic coast, Modric was named after
02:06his grandfather, who looked after him on the family farm, while both his parents worked long hours at a knitting
02:12factory.
02:15By five, he was helping Lucasenia tent goats and sheep. But at six, at the height of the Croatian War
02:24of Independence, his grandfather was shot and killed by Serbian rebel forces.
02:29And the family home was torched. In his autobiography, Modric described his terrible memories.
02:37My heart breaks every time I think of my grandfather dying, literally on his doorstep.
02:46For the next seven years, Modric and his family lived in a refugee centre in a hotel in the heart
02:52of Zadar.
02:56He would spend his days kicking a football in the old hotel car park, frequently running to safety as his
03:02town came under attack.
03:07Somehow, amongst the carnage, Modric's footballing ability continued to blossom.
03:15At 12, he trialled with Hajduk Split, but they rejected him because of his size.
03:24Dinamar Zagreb eventually took him aged 16, and after a year in the youth team, his extraordinary professional career began.
03:35Dinamar loaned 18-year-old Modric to Zrinski Mostar, and he ended his first season of senior football with the
03:43Bosnian Premier League Player of the Year award.
03:48Then they loaned 19-year-old Modric to Inter Zasprecic, where he earned the Croatian Young Player of the Year
03:56award.
03:59Fully prepared for the top level, Modric then went on to win a hat-trick of titles with Dinamar, and
04:05a pair of Croatian Cups for good measure.
04:08He left Croatia for the English Premier League, having just received the first of what would become an absurd 13
04:15Croatian Player of the Year awards.
04:20Tottenham Hotspur equalled their transfer record to bring Modric to London.
04:25But it looked a questionable decision, as the willowy schemer took time to adapt to the frenetic pace and physicality
04:32of English football.
04:36But adapt he did, and his reputation grew during four years at White Hart Lane, especially as Spurs began to
04:43assert themselves in European competition,
04:46catching the eye of Real Madrid in the move that would define his career.
04:54At Real, Ronaldo's goal-scoring feats hogged the headlines, and Madridistas adored the leadership of Sergio Ramos.
05:02But it was Modric who knitted everything together and made the team tick.
05:09In his second season at the Bernabeu, he won the first of six Champions League titles, and was named the
05:15best midfielder in La Liga.
05:17His consistency and endurance since has seen him elevated to the status of legend, the biggest club in the world.
05:28As Modric's star ascended at club level, so did results with the national team.
05:33Dictating matches from the middle of the pitch, he was a perfect international captain, steering Croatia to second place at
05:40Russia 2018, then third place at Qatar 2022.
05:45I think everybody in the world knows the value of Luka Modric. He's unbelievable.
05:57He's our captain, our leader, our best player. We are proud to have him in the team, and for me
06:03it's an honor and privilege to play with him, to train with him, to work with him.
06:10His exploits in Russia earned him the World Cup Golden Ball, despite France prevailing in the final.
06:21He would later add the Ballon d'Or to his collection, becoming the first player in 11 years to win
06:26more votes than either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
06:32Slightly built, often underestimated, but supremely skillful and ferociously competitive.
06:40Luka Modric is a leader any country would be proud of, and the kind that makes Croatia such a successful
06:47football nation.
06:49I'm so glad you're a great guy.
06:51Slightly built, and then the first player in So monitoring, with him, is anyone who sloughed for that?
06:52I shouldn't be honored when you're concerned with the coalition.
06:52The best player in the world has been a man since then?
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