LONDON (AP) – Luka Modric defeated Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after being crowned world footballer by FIFA on Monday.

Modric was voted FIFA's best player for the 2017-18 season after winning the Champions League for the fourth time in five seasons with Real Madrid and leading Croatia to his first World Cup final.

"This trophy is not mine," said the 33-year-old playmaker. "It's for all my Real Madrid teammates – for all my teammates from the Croatian national team – for all the coaches I've played for."

Messi and Ronaldo were the only winners of FIFA's biggest individual football award since 2008, each winning five titles each.

Messi did not make the list of the three men and skipped the trip to London. And as a new dawn of FIFA's history erupted at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Ronaldo did not show up at the ceremony to finish second to his former Real Madrid teammate.

"Two guys we do not know," said actor Idris Elba, who introduced the show after revealing the world XI of the year and highlighted the absence of Messi and Ronaldo in the room.

Ronaldo, who left Madrid in the inter-season to join the Italian champions Juventus, was eliminated from the World Cup in the round of 16 with the European champion Portugal.

Mohamed Salah, third to vote, scored a record 32 goals in 38 Premier League matches and helped Liverpool reach their first Champions League final in 11 years.

At 1.72 meters (5 feet 8 inches), Modric was questioned early in his career because of his size.

"These things are not a burden, they just motivate me," said Modric at the World Cup. "You do not have to be a boy to play football."

MORE SOCCER:

The cloud above Modric is that he was charged with perjury in March in an investigation related to his transfer to Dinamo Zagreb in 2008 in the Premier League club Tottenham. Prosecutors said Modric made a false statement last year.

But it was a festive night by the Thames, leaving in tears the former Croatian captain Zvonimir Boban.

"At this point, I would like to mention my soccer idol and captain of the Croatian generation in 1998 and their first participation (at the finals of the World Cup in Croatia) and bronze in France," Modric said.

"He was my great inspiration and this team convinced us that we could achieve something big in Russia and I hope we can be the same for the next generations."

WOMAN PLAYER

Marta won her sixth FIFA World Player of the Year title and her first since 2010, after leading Brazil to the glory of the Copa America Femenina. She also scored 13 goals while Orlando Pride reached the playoffs of the NWSL.

coaches

No French player was on the shortlist but Didier Deschamps was elected director of the year after becoming the third man to win the World Cup as a player and coach. The trophy for the women's coach was awarded to Reynald Pedros, the Frenchman who led Lyon to the French league and to the glory of the Champions League.

GOAL

Salah did not leave empty handed, winning the Puskas award for his goal in the Merseyside derby in December 2017.

Salah's goal in Liverpool's 1-1 draw against Everton was a mixture of strength and footwork. After receiving a pass from right-back Joe Gomez, Salah shrugged off Cuca Martina, shot inside Idrissa Gueye and made a left-foot shot around Ashley Williams in the top corner.

GOALIE

Thibaut Courtois added the FIFA Goalkeeper Award to the gold glove that he reaped in Russia for helping Belgium to take third place with three clean sheets.

FAIR PLAY

German striker Lennart Thy won the fair play after missing a match for Dutchside VVV-Venlo to help a patient with leukemia. Thy donated blood to allow doctors to generate stem cells that could allow a transplant to a patient with leukemia and eventually save her life.

TEAM OF THE YEAR

Goalie: David De Gea (Spain, Manchester United)

defenders: Dani Alves (Brazil, Paris Saint-Germain), Raphael Varane (France, Real Madrid). Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid).

Midfielders: Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid), Golo Kante (France, Chelsea), Eden Hazard (Belgium, Chelsea).

Forward: Kylian Mbappe (France, Paris Saint-Germain), Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid / currently Juventus)