They dominated the Ballon d'Or/The Best FIFA Men's Player awards since 2008, and UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award since 2014; however, in 2018 their roughly decade-long triumph was ended by Luka Modrić, seen as "end of an era".[62][63][64] However, Modrić stated in an interview for the France Football that "history will say that a Croatian player, representing his small country, won the Ballon d'Or after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who are players at another level. Nobody has the right to compare themselves to them. They are the best in the history of this sport", and did not think it was the end for them