The FIFA World Cup will kick off in the Middle East for the first time in its history next month with some of the best players from 32 participating countries looking to give it their all in search of the most prestigious trophy in football.
To celebrate the return of the famous tournament, let’s take a look at who won the 2018 FIFA World Cup’s golden ball award.
Who Gets FIFA’s Golden Ball Award?
The best footballer at each FIFA World Cup finals is awarded the Golden Ball trophy. The shortlist for the famous honour is chosen by FIFA’s technical committee (Technical Study Group) with the winner being determined by various media representatives. The second-best player and the third-best player in each World Cup finals receive the Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball awards respectively.
FIFA started to officially hand out the Golden Ball award in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, which was sponsored by Adidas and France Football.
Who Won The 2018 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball?
Real Madrid’s Luka Modric won the 2018 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball award after being voted as the best player of that tournament. He led Croatia to a second-place finish but ended up losing the final to Germany by a 4-2 scoreline.
All eyes will now be on Qatar to see who earns the Golden Ball award when the World Cup kicks off on November 20 and concludes on December 18 with the final being held at the Lusail Iconic Stadium.
The following list includes all other recipients of the Golden Ball, Silver Ball, and Bronze Ball.
| World Cup | Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 Spain |  Paolo Rossi |  Falcão |  Karl-Heinz Rummenigge |
| 1986 Mexico |  Diego Maradona | Harald Schumacher |  Preben Elkjær |
| 1990 Italy | Salvatore Schillaci | Lothar Matthäus | Diego Maradona |
| 1994 United States |  Romário | Roberto Baggio |  Hristo Stoichkov |
| 1998 France | Ronaldo |  Davor Šuker |  Lilian Thuram |
| 2002 South Korea/Japan | Oliver Kahn | Ronaldo |  Hong Myung-bo |
| 2006 Germany | Zinedine Zidane |  Fabio Cannavaro | Andrea Pirlo |
| 2010 South Africa |  Diego Forlán |  Wesley Sneijder |  David Villa |
| 2014 Brazil | Lionel Messi | Thomas Müller | Arjen Robben |
| 2018 Russia | Luka Modrić |  Eden Hazard | Antoine Griezmann |
Luka Modric will again be representing Croatia in the Qatar World Cup in what could be his last World Cup. The Real Madrid star will be hoping to finally touch the coveted Cup this year after narrowly missing the gold medal last time in 2018.
