PARIS: The winner of the 2018 Ballon d’Or will be revealed at a glittering ceremony in Paris on Monday evening, with Croatia’s Luka Modric and a host of French World Cup winners all hoping to finally end the 10-year duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the award for the last decade, claiming it five times each, but the expectation is that a new name will be read out as this year’s winner at just after 21.00 GMT at the Grand Palais, just off the Champs-Elysees.
While Ronaldo won another Champions League with Real Madrid in a typically prolific year, and Messi continues to mesmerise for Barcelona, both are now in their 30s and neither really stamped their authority on the World Cup in Russia.
That could be crucial. As FIFA president Gianni Infantino said recently: “You could give the Ballon d’Or to half the France team for what they did at the World Cup.”
Six members of the France side that triumphed in Russia are among the 30 nominees for the award, which is organized by France Football magazine and voted for by 180 journalists from around the world.
Among them are Paris Saint-Germain’s dazzling teenage forward Kylian Mbappe, Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann and Madrid’s Champions League-winning defender Raphael Varane. Hugo Lloris, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante are also in the running.
The last Frenchman to win the Ballon d’Or was Zinedine Zidane in 1998, on the back of France’s World Cup victory on home soil that year.
NEW WOMEN’S AWARD
But perhaps the lack of one standout French candidate has cleared the path for Modric, who heroically helped drag his country to the World Cup final before being beaten by France in Moscow.
The 33-year-old was also brilliant in the Real side that retained their Champions League crown for the second year running, and the Spanish club would love to see him succeed 2016 and 2017 winner Ronaldo, who has since left the Bernabeu for Juventus.
Club influences aside, Modric would be a worthy winner, even if he lacks the incredible statistics of Ronaldo and Messi.
Recent evidence also goes in favor of the little playmaker, who won the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup before claiming UEFA’s prize for player of the season and FIFA’s best player award in September, beating Mohamed Salah and Ronaldo to the latter.
“Modric is an exceptional player. He has shown that throughout his career, not just at Real but also at his former clubs and with his country,” said Real coach Santiago Solari of a player who grew up during Croatia’s independence war.
“He must have grown up in a very hard context and I wonder if that helped him to have the character he has.”
With Modric emerging as the most likely winner, France coach Didier Deschamps was even asked this weekend if his country’s World Cup triumph could be somehow devalued by the lack of a Ballon d’Or to go alongside it.
“I don’t want to get into that debate. I don’t vote. I just hope it is a Frenchman. Whoever wins it will deserve too,” he said.
In any case, the gala — which will be presented by a former France player in David Ginola — will include a prize for the best player aged under 21, the Kopa Trophy.
Mbappe, who turns 20 later this month, seems a certain winner of that award, voted for by 33 living former Ballon d’Or winners.
There is also now a women’s Ballon d’Or prize, voted for by 45 journalists. The 15 nominees include seven players from Lyon, the Champions League winners, and Brazil great Marta, who won the recent FIFA prize.
Luka Modric favorite to end Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo Ballon d’Or domination
Luka Modric favorite to end Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo Ballon d’Or domination
A powerful rivalry: Sabalenka and Svitolina set for Australian Open semifinal showdown
- Top-ranked Sabalenka, who is seeking a third title in four years in Australia, is from Belarus
- Players from Ukraine do not shake hands with players from Russia or Belarus at the net after matches
MELBOURNE: Naturally there’ll be attention on the backstory when Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina meet in the Australian Open women’s semifinals.
Top-ranked Sabalenka, who is seeking a third title in four years in Australia, is a 27-year-old from Belarus. She’s popular on TikTok for her humorous posts and dance routines.
Svitolina is a 31-year-old Ukrainian who will be returning to the Top 10 next week for the first time since returning from a maternity break she took in 2022. She reached her first Australian Open semifinal with a lopsided win over No. 3 Coco Gauff, needing only 59 minutes to end her run of three quarterfinal losses at Melbourne Park.
They’re both regularly asked questions relating to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Both have regularly said they want the focus to be on tennis. Svitolina is trying to bring joy to the people of Ukraine, of course. Sabalenka said she supports peace.
“It’s very close to my heart to see a lot of support from Ukrainians,” she said. “So I feel like (I) bring this light, a little light, you know, even just positive news to Ukrainian people, to my friends when they are watching.”
Players from Ukraine don’t shake hands with players from Russia or Belarus at the net after matches. It’s accepted on both sides.
They’re both on 10-match winning streaks so far in 2026 and entered the season’s first major with titles in warmup tournaments — Sabalenka in Brisbane, and Svitolina in Auckland, New Zealand, her 19th career title. That was Svitolina’s first foray back after an early end to the 2025 season for a mental health break.
Sabalenka, who has 22 career titles including back-to-back Australian championships in 2023 and ‘24 and back-to-back US Open triumphs in 2024 and last year, is 5-1 in career meetings with Svitolina. She is into the final 4 at a major for the 14th time, and has made the final seven times.
“It’s no secret that she’s a very powerful player. I watched a little bit of her (quarterfinal) match. She was playing great tennis, and I think, the power on all aspects of her game is her strengths,” Svitolina said of Sabalenka. “She’s very consistent. For me, I’ll have to ... try to find the ways and the little holes, little opportunities in her game.
“When you play the top players, you have to find these small opportunities and then be ready to take them.”
Svitolina is playing her fourth semifinal at a major — 2019 and 2023 at Wimbledon and the 2019 US Open — and aiming for her first final.
Sabalenka played her quarterfinal against 18-year-old Iva Jovic before the searing heat forced organizers to close the roof of the Rod Laver Arena stadium on Tuesday. She was long gone before Svitolina and Guaff played under the roof at night. At that stage, she didn’t know who she’d next be playing, but was sure “it’s going to be a battle.”
“Because whoever makes it there, it’s an incredible player,” she said. “I think my approach going to be the same. Doesn’t matter who I’m facing.
“I’ll just go, and I’ll be focused on myself and on my game.”
Rybakina-Pegula, 5 vs. 6
Sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula completed the final 4 when she held off fellow American Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-6 (1) to move into a semifinal against 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Pegula beat 2025 champion Madison Keys in the previous round before ending Anisimova’s run of back-to-back Grand Slam finals.
The sixth-seeded Pegula is hoping to emulate Keys’ run here last year and claim her maiden Grand Slam title in Australia.
“I’ve been waiting for the time when I can kind of break through,” Pegula said. “I feel like I really play some good tennis here and I like the conditions.”
With a 7-5, 6-1 victory in the center court opener Wednesday, Rybakina, the 2023 Australian Open runner-up, ended No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam — at least for this year.
Rybakina, who was born in Russia but represents Kazakhstan, said she’d focus on the lessons she’d taken from previous trips to the deciding end of the majors.
“Now I’m more calm. In the beginning, when it’s the first final and you go so far in the tournament, of course you are more emotional,” she said. “Now I feel like I’m just doing my job, trying to improve each day. So it’s kind of another day, another match.”
