With France having won the World Cup, Griezmann, Mbappe and even Modric's fellow Madrid team-mate Raphael Varane had been amongst the favourites alongside the evergreen duo of Ronaldo and Messi to win the prestigious award.
However, the Croatian's exploits across the year - which included being awarded the Golden Ball at the World Cup - have seen him emerge ahead of the rest of the pack and become the first player in ten years to win the award and not be Messi or Ronaldo.
Furthermore, a main talking point regarding this year's results is the fact that Lionel Messi was ranked fifth in the voting scheme. This has caused major uproar within the football world since despite Messi not performing particularly well in the World Cup, he still had a spectacular season with Barcelona.
Here's a selection of the best soundbites regarding this year's Ballon d'Or:
Luka Modric
on winning the Ballon d'Or
“These two [Ronaldo and Messi] were on some exceptional level for the last 10 years. Maybe in the past there are some players that could win the Ballon d’Or, like Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta or [Wesley] Sneijder, but it didn’t happen. People are finally, I don’t know, they wanted something else. I think it’s [a] victory for football tonight. I am happy that I am the winner but this award is for all these players that probably deserved to win but didn’t.”
Antoine Greizmann
on not winning the Ballon d'Or
"I won a Europa League, a World Cup, what else do I have to do? I don't know"
Ernesto Valverde
on Messi's fifth place finish
"I'm not going to get into that, whether it's right or wrong how an award ended up. I think the people who voted for it have to answer that. Everyone has their own opinion. To us it's absurd"
Jordi Alba
on the Ballon d'Or
"The Ballon d'Or is a lie, There are many club and press campaigns. Everyone knows that Messi is the best in the word by far"
Mbappe deserved the Ballon d'Or!
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