The most important Croatian football player of all time: who is Luka Modric?

Luka Modric broke new ground in world football. The Croatian National Team captain became the first player to play in both the European Championship and the World Cup in 3 different 10-year periods.

37-year-old Croatian star wants to leave football at Real Madrid!

Luka Modric has been playing for Real Madrid since 2012. The footballer became a star again with the world cup matches in Qatar.

Croatian football player Luka Modric was born on September 9, 1985, in Zadar, then in Yugoslavia, in what is now Croatia. Luka Modric, who has been playing in Spanish giant Real Madrid since 2012, has achieved success many times throughout his career. Having a talent and interest in football from a young age, Modric started his football career at a young age in Zadar in 1996 when he was just 11 years old. Modric played for Zadar's youth team until 2001, then played for Dinamo Zagreb's youth team until 2003.

Which teams has Modric played for?

Modric joined the A team after his outstanding performance in Dinamo Zagreb's youth team. He played in Dinamo Zagreb in 2003, when he was just 18 years old, and scored 26 goals in 94 matches. While his testimonial was at Dinamo Zagreb, he played for Zrinjski in the 2003-2004 season and scored 8 goals in 22 matches for this team. In the 2004-2005 season, he was loaned to the Inter Zapresic team, and he managed to score 4 goals in 18 matches in this team.

The rise of Modric

Modric's rise in his football career came with his transfer to Tottenham Hotspur, one of the English Premier League teams. Modric, who transferred to Tottenham in 2008, played for the English team for 4 years. Modric scored 13 goals in 127 matches until 2012. Modric's success at Tottenham was further enhanced by his transfer to Real Madrid, one of the most important La Liga teams.

Transferred to a big team like Real Madrid, Modric tried to get the jersey from Mesut Özil in his first years, but Jose Mourinho was mainly stripped as a substitute. Hours before the end of the summer transfer window of 2013, Modric, who started to find more chances to play after Mesut Özil was sent to Arsenal for 50 million, made good use of this and became one of the indispensable players of the club. Transferring from the Premier League to La Liga, Modric won the UEFA Champions League title in 2014, although he yearned for the national league championship again. This is also the biggest trophy Modric has ever won.

Modric's career on the national team

Luka Modric is a football player who has played for the Croatian national team since his childhood. In 2001, he played twice for Croatia's under-15 national team, and twice for Croatia's under-17 national team in the same year. Modric, who was selected for Croatia's national under-18 team in 2003, took part in 7 matches on the field. Modric, who played in 11 matches for Croatia's under-19 national team in the 2003-2004 season, scored 2 goals. Modric, who also took part in the under-21 national team in the 2004-2005 season, scored 2 goals in 14 games at that time. 2006 is the year Modric made his debut for the Croatian A national team. Modric, Croatia's most important power in the 2018 World Cup, had managed to score 14 goals in 110 matches with the A national team until that day.

The experienced player, who took part in 155 national games, recorded 23 goals and 25 assists.

Modric, who was chosen as the player of the season 7 times in his country, also won the Ballon d'Or award in 2018.

13 December 2022

Croatia and Argentina will meet today in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup.

While the Croatians are calculating for the second consecutive finals after 2018; Argentina will be on the field for the final again after 2014.