Luka Modrić (born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Croatia national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders of all time, and the greatest Croatian footballer ever.

Luka Modrić was born on 9 September 1985 and was raised in the hamlet of Modrići, which is a part of Zaton Obrovački, a village situated on the southern slopes of the mountain Velebit, north of the city of Zadar in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, then a republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Modrić mostly spent his early years in the stone house of his paternal grandfather after whom he was named, located on the road above the hamlet of Modrići, and was shepherding goats as a five-year-old.

However, his childhood coincided with the Croatian War of Independence—in 1991, when the war escalated, his family were forced to flee the area. Modrić's grandfather Luka was executed by Serb rebels in December 1991 near his house in Modrići, and after the family fled, the house was burned to the ground. Modrić became a refugee and lived with his family in the Hotel Kolovare for seven years; he later moved to the Hotel Iž, both in Zadar. In those years, thousands of bombs fell on the city and football was a way to escape the reality of war. He recalls it as a tough time for his family and something which shaped him as a person.

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