Ballon d'Or 2018 Odds: Luka Modric Favored Over Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi

Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric is backed by oddsmakers to end the Ballon d'Or duopoly of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo later this year.

Modric was named the FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year on Monday in what is a significant change in the soccer world with Messi and Ronaldo usually grabbing the annual honors.

It's definitely deserved for Modric though, as he not only played a pivotal role in helping Madrid win three Champions League titles in a row earlier this year, but also guided Croatia to the World Cup final this summer where they lost out to eventual winners France in a 4-2 defeat.

His latest accolade adds to his Golden Ball award, given to the best player at the World Cup, and his UEFA Men's Player of the Year award, with the Ballon d'Or next up on his list with the ceremony taking place in December.

In case you were wondering what the difference between the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year award is, the latter was created in 2016 after FIFA ended a six-year partnership with the former.

The FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year award is voted for by journalists, national team coaches, national team captains and the general public, each of whom are given a 25 percent weightage in the vote. The Ballon d'Or meanwhile, is back to being voted solely by journalists as it was before 2010.

Since 2008, the honor has been shared by Messi and Ronaldo who have won it five times each. However, Modric is now the -175 favorite to win the award according to Sky Bet, especially after his achievement on Monday.

Madrid teammate Sergio Ramos certainly feels he deserves the accolade.

"Looking at the level of the players you could give the Ballon d'Or to Messi, Cris or Luka, all of them would be just winners," Ramos said, as quoted on Marca. "When it was given to Messi it could also have been given to Andres Iniesta or Xavi and so I would give it to Modric."

Ronaldo comes in behind at second with +125 odds. The Juventus man had a disappointing World Cup despite an electric start to proceedings in Russia, however, like Modric, also won a third Champions League title in a row with a tournament-leading 15 goals.

Messi, on the other hand, did not make the three-man shortlist for the FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year award and that seems to have affected his chances as he has just +1600 odds of winning a sixth Ballon d'Or.

Instead, French duo Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe have better odds with +1200 as their performances in the World Cup have seemingly played a major part.

While Messi did not have the best World Cup compared to four years ago, he did win the domestic double with Barcelona last season as well as a record fifth Golden Boot with his 34 league goals being the most in European football.

Meanwhile, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah made the three-man shortlist for the FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year award but only has +2000 odds of winning the Ballon d'Or.

The forward's performances with Egypt in the World Cup as well as Liverpool losing the Champions League final may have played a role as Salah enjoyed a stellar debut season at Anfield, helping Jurgen Klopp's side to a top-four place.

In addition, the Egyptian scored 44 goals in all competitions, with 32 of them coming in 36 league appearances.

Other outside contenders are Tottenham striker Harry Kane (+2500), Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar (+2500) and Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne (+3300).