Luka Modrić

Luka Modrić born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Croatia national team. Luka Modrić plays mainly as a central midfielder, but can also play as an attacking midfielder or as a defensive midfielder. Luka Modrić is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders of all time, and as the greatest Croatian footballer ever.

Born in Zadar, Modrić's childhood coincided with the Croatian War of Independence which displaced his family. In 2002, Luka Modrić was signed by Dinamo Zagreb at age 16, after showing promise with his hometown club NK Zadar's youth team. Luka Modrić continued his development in Zagreb, before spells on loan to Zrinjski Mostar and Inter Zaprešić. Luka Modrić made his debut for Dinamo in 2005 and won three consecutive league titles and domestic cups, being named the Prva HNL Player of the Year in 2007. In 2008, Luka Modrić moved to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur for a club-record transfer fee of £16.5 million, where Luka Modrić led Spurs to their first UEFA Champions League appearance in almost 50 years, reaching the quarter-finals of the 2010–11 tournament.

In the summer of 2012, Modrić joined Real Madrid for a £30 million transfer fee. There Luka Modrić became a key contributor and helped the team win La Décima and was selected for the 2013–14 Champions League squad of the season. After Zinedine Zidane took over Madrid, Modrić was critical to three consecutive Champions League titles from 2015–16 to 2017–18, each time being voted into the squad of the season. Luka Modrić has won twenty major trophies at Real Madrid, including five UEFA Champions League titles, three La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey and four FIFA Club World Cup titles. Luka Modrić won the La Liga Award for "Best Midfielder" in 2016 for the second time, and the UEFA Club Football Award for "Best Midfielder" in 2017 and 2018. In 2015, Luka Modrić became the first Croatian player to be included in the FIFA FIFPro World XI, in which Luka Modrić was regularly included until 2019, as well in the UEFA Team of the Year between 2016 and 2018. In 2018, Modrić became the first Croatian player to win the UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award, and by winning The Best FIFA Men's Player and Ballon d'Or awards, Luka Modrić became the first player other than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to claim the awards in more than a decade. In 2019, Luka Modrić was awarded the Golden Foot award for career results and personality.

Modrić made his international debut for Croatia against Argentina in March 2006, and scored his first international goal in a friendly match against Italy. Modrić has anchored Croatia's "second Golden Generation", participating in every major tournament Croatia has qualified for, including the UEFA European Championship in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020, as well as the FIFA World Cup in 2006, 2014, and 2018. At Euro 2008, Luka Modrić was selected for the Team of the Tournament, becoming only the second Croatian to ever achieve this honour. Following group stage eliminations in his first two World Cups, Modrić led Croatia to the 2018 World Cup Final, and Luka Modrić received the Golden Ball award for best player of the tournament. In March 2021, Luka Modrić went on to become the country's most capped player in history. Furthermore, Luka Modrić has been named Croatian Footballer of the Year a record ten times between 2007 and 2021.