The FIFA World Player of the Year 2018 will be announced on 24th September 2018 at a ceremony in London. It is a big night of awards, but the top one to be dished out will be the Best FIFA Men’s Player of the year award and it will go to either Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric or Liverpool’s Mo Salah.
Since 2016 when there was a full split from the Ballon d’or, FIFA decided to try and revive the FIFA World Player of the Year Award. Since 2016 it has been part of the The Best FIFA Football Awards and this one is technically known as The Best FIFA Men’s Player.
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In its current guise, Cristiano Ronaldo is the only man to have won it. He is the clear front runner in our predictions for the FIFA World Player of the Year 2018.
FIFA World Player of the Year 2018 Odds*
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The Top Ten
Back in July, there was 10-man shortlist announced with Premier League players Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Harry Kane on the list. But they along with Raphael Varane, Antoine Griezmann, Mbappe and even Lionel Messi all missed out to leave Ronaldo, Modric, and Salah as the final three standings.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo has won the last two editions of the award and is the favorite to get this year’s as well. It was a fantastic year for him as he helped Real Madrid to yet another Champions League title, their third in a row. In total Ronaldo has won the award five times (FIFA Player of the Year) and he has taken second place four times and third once.
So this is a familiar scenario for him. He scored four goals in four games at the 2018 World Cup and last season at club level returned 44 goals in 44 matches. What else did he do? He was the Champions League top scorer in the 2017/18 season with 15 goals and he won the FIFA Club World Cup with Real Madrid.
Age doesn’t seem to slow him down and it’s hard to see this award going anywhere else. He’ll probably get the Puskas Award too for his ridiculous overhead kick goal against Juventus in the Champions League.
Luka Modric
Luka Modric helped guide Real Madrid to their Champions League success and he was at the heart of Croatia’s surprise run to the final of the World Cup in the summer. He was named the UEFA Champions League Player of the Season for the last term and he also got the Golden Ball award at the 2018 World Cup as the best player. He helped Real Madrid win the FIFA Club World Cup. This is his first ever final-three shortlist for the PLayer of the Year award.
Mo Salah
Mo Salah was the top goalscorer in European club soccer last year, netting a total of 44 goals for the Reds. 32 of those were in the Premier League, setting a new scoring record there. He finished joint-second highest scorer in the Champions League 2017/18. That is why he has been shortlisted, his goal output on both the domestic and European fronts. It was pretty much an overnight transformation for him into a world superstar.
He helped Liverpool get to the Champions League final, but was a non-entity at the 2018 World Cup really as he struggled to recover from a shoulder injury in time. Salah was the named the African Player of the Year and the last time that a player from Africa was named the best Player in the World was back in 1995 when George Weah was handed the title.
Predictions
As good as Luka Modric has been and as many goals as Mo Salah has scored, we only see the main award being handed out to Cristiano Ronaldo. He has just produced another staggering season and really when you break it down, no-one else matches his achievements. It is a straightforward option on Ronaldo for us, with Modric, because of his efforts at the World Cup and in winning the Champions League, getting second.
