Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric is the winner of the Fifa Best Player of 2018.
"It is a great honour and a beautiful feeling to stand here with this amazing trophy. First of all I would like to congratulate Mohamed and Cristiano," he said.
"I am sure in the future you will have another opportunity to fight for this trophy.
"This award is not just mine. It is my teammates from Real Madrid and Croatia. Without my coaches, I would not have won this. Without my family I would not be the player I am today.
"Thanks to my fans for all the great support and love they are showing me. It means a lot. Thanks to those who voted for me.
"I would just like to mention my footballing idol and former 1998 Croatia captain. He was my big inspiration and that team gave us belief we could create something in Russia.
"This award shows that we can all become the best with hard work and dedication. All your dreams can come true."
Modric beat Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) for the men's award.
France boss Didier Deschamps won the men's coach award while Lyon's Reynald Pedros named women's coach
Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic said," Luka Modric is the captain of my team, he’s the best player in my team and also in the world. He’ll deserve this award.
"He’s a very good man, a serious guy, a professional guy. He’s like my assistant in the field and I really appreciate Luka Modric for everything this guy did this year and he deserves everything.”
Modric enjoyed arguably the best year of his career as he won a third consecutive Champions League trophy - before reaching the World Cup final with Croatia.
In the summer his international team-mate Dejan Lovren said: "Modric would probably be getting more attention if he was German or Spanish. He would maybe even be a Ballon d'Or winner."
The midfielder won the Golden Ball award for the best player in the World Cup after their final defeat by France. He scored in their opening two matches and also set up one goal.
He also won the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award - beating Ronaldo and Salah in the process.
Germany manager Joachim Low, speaking to BBC Sport before the awards were announced: "All the players who are nominated are very, very good. For me, this time Luka Modric was the best player in the last months.
"He was the leader in this amazing Croatian team. They reached the final [in the World Cup] nobody expected that.
"He did a great job and was really professional for Real Madrid. He was playing all the time at a high level. I would say this time he was the best."
There were 10 nominees for the Best Men's Player award, including the three finalists.
Among the players nominated were Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, Chelsea talisman Eden Hazard and Tottenham striker Harry Kane.
De Bruyne won the League Cup and the Premier League with City and reached the World Cup semi-finals with Belgium, alongside Hazard.
England captain Kane won the Golden Boot after finishing top scorer at the World Cup and scored 30 goals in 37 games in the Premier League.
Hazard won the FA Cup with Chelsea last season and has already bagged five goals and two assists in the Premier League this season.
As well as Argentina's Lionel Messi, there were three World Cup champions in the running - Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane.
Brazilian Marta, who plays for the Orlando Pride, wins the Best Women's Award!
She led Brazil to the Copa America in April, as they won all seven matches. She also grabbed 13 goals and six assists as Orlando Pride reached the NWSL play-off semi-finals in the United States.
Twitter users had this to say.
Chelsea_MKM: The man who does his talking on the pitch. Congratulations LukaKU Modric.
Ope: Surely the World Cup was never considered in handing the no.1 jersey to De Gea! Salah's omission is a step backwards and Kante's two steps forward. Fair deal!
Will Nicholls: So let me get this straight, 100 points last season, dominated the Premier League, multiple records broken, and yet 0 Man City players in the FIFA Team of the Year.