There are footballers who retire. And then there are footballers who refuse to let the game go until it has given them everything they deserve.
Luka Modrić is 40 years old. He has won six UEFA Champions League titles, one Ballon d’Or, and guided Croatia to a World Cup final and a third-place finish in consecutive tournaments. By any measure, his career is complete. And yet here he is — selected again, boarding a plane to North America, still wearing the number 10, still carrying a nation that has no idea what it will do when he is finally gone.
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Forty Years Old. Still Playing.
Born on September 9, 1985, Modrić will be 40 years old throughout the 2026 football World Cup. If he steps onto the pitch — and there is every reason to believe he will — he joins one of the smallest clubs in football: outfield players who have competed at a World Cup at that age. Ronaldo is here at 41. Ochoa at 40. Modrić is among them.
What makes his presence remarkable is not that he is still fit, though he is. It is that he is still good. Not adequate, not a symbolic selection — genuinely, influentially good. His legs no longer carry him past defenders the way they once did, but his brain has compensated for every inch of pace he has lost. He sees the game at a speed nobody else in Croatian football currently matches.
The One That Got Away
In 2018, Modrić won the Ballon d’Or — the first player in eleven years to take it from Messi or Ronaldo. He deserved it. That summer, he had driven Croatia to a World Cup final almost entirely on willpower and vision, beating Argentina, England and Russia along the way. France won the final 4-2. The trophy went to Paris.
In 2022, Croatia returned and won the bronze medal in Qatar, and Modrić played magnificently again. By then he was 37. Every tournament since 2018 has felt like a farewell that never quite arrives.
2026 is different. This is genuinely the last time. Croatia will not have Modrić at the next World Cup. There are no more chances after this one.
Earning the Right to Be Here
Croatia made qualifying look easy, cruising into the 2026 FIFA World Cup without losing a single match and drawing only once along the way. Right at the center of it all was Luka Modrić, with the clutch goals and brilliant assists that keep this team moving to his rhythm.
The Bridge Between Eras
Most of the generation that shook the world in 2018 has moved on. Rakitic has stepped away from the national team. Mandžukić is long gone. The squad Modrić leads into North America is younger, less experienced, and heavily reliant on his veteran presence to navigate the pressure of a tournament that chews up unprepared sides in the group stage.
Croatia’s identity at World Cups is specific and earned: they drag opponents into deep water, win matches in extra time or on penalties, refuse to accept that the game is over until the final whistle or the final kick. They have done it repeatedly. They have won five of their last six World Cup knockout matches via extra time or shootouts. That mentality does not come from a tactics board. It comes from the man wearing the number 10.
One Last Stand
Croatia open their 2026 World Cup campaign against England in Dallas on June 18. It is not a coincidence that this fixture resonates — Croatia knocked England out of the 2018 semi-finals in extra time, one of the defining moments of Modrić’s tournament legacy.
Whatever happens in North America, this is the final time football fans will see him in a Croatia shirt at a World Cup. The number 10. The Ballon d’Or. The greatest midfielder of his generation, on the grandest stage, one last time. Make sure you watch.
Watch Luka Modrić in action — England vs Croatia is live on Zee5, June 18, 1:30 AM IST. Get a ZEE5 subscription today and do not miss out on a single click.
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