Photo by Slobodan Kadić
June 2, 2024 – Since the elite club football competition was renamed from the Champions Cup to the Champions League, 11 Croatian footballers won this trophy — and Luka Modrić holds the absolute record, now winning his sixth Champions League title with Real Madrid.
After beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the Champions League final at Wembley last night, Real Madrid clinched their 15th title in this most prestigious club competition.
Croatia captain Luka Modrić has much to celebrate. Luka is now the absolute Croatian record holder with six Champions League titles, all won with Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024), but also the absolute record holder in the history of the competition together with his teammates Toni Kroos, Nacho Fernandez and Dani Carvajal, who now join Real legend Paco Genta with six titles.
Interestingly, Modrić, Carvajal, Nacho and Gento won all the titles in the Madrid jersey, while Kroos has five Champions Leagues with Real Madrid and one with Bayern Munich. Football legends such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Paolo Maldini and Alfredo Di Stefano have five titles each, while Lionel Messi has four Champions League titles.
With this win, Modrić and Nacho Fernandez celebrated their 26th trophy in the Real Madrid jersey, becoming the players with the most trophies in the 122-year history of the royal club.
Modrić also became the second oldest footballer to celebrate in the Champions League, winning the title at 38 years and 266 days. Paolo Maldini holds this record when captaining Milan in the Champions League final in 2007.
Among the other Croatian footballers, Mateo Kovačić has won four European titles, three with Real Madrid (2016, 2017, 2018), and one with Chelsea (2021), while Dario Šimić was the European champion twice in the Milan jersey (2003, 2007).
Bravo, Luka!
