Born on 9 September 1985 in Zadar , Luka Modrić is a Croatian footballer who plays for Tottenham Hotspur apart from playing as a midfielder for Croatian national football team. The Croatian war of independence and Modric’s Childhood coincided and the same has a perpetual influence on his life and thought-process. During that time, he used to live with his family in zadar and were eventually forced to leave that are due to violence and political disturbances.
Modric was only 6 years old at the time. while his father Stipe served the Croatian army, he had lost his grandfather in the fighting and were forced to live a life of refugees in a hotel, in an island called Iž near Zadar. Since these difficult times Modric has started to play football and was admitted to a local sporting academy by his father with the little money that he could manage for the purpose. In 2002 he was signed by Dinamo Zagreb after he did considerably well in his hometown club Zadar’s youth team.
His association with GNK Dinamo Zagred had made him win 3 consecutive league titles along with numerous domestic cups and matches, which eventually made him the ‘player of the year’ in 2007. The later years saw him signing out with Dinamo and associating with Zrinjski Mostar in the year 2003 in order to play for Premier league of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This time allowed him to develop his versatile styles of playing and also led him to polish and strengthen his skills and tactics and all these sharpening and harnessing led him to become the Bosnian and Herzegovinian League Player of the year, and all these at the very young age of 18. Appreciating the physical nature of team Bosnia, he even claimed that a player who can play in Bosnia can play anywhere. The later year saw him playing for his home country with Inter Zaprešić, and helping the team in achieving 2nd position in Croatian League, apart from securing a place in UEFA Cup’s preliminary round. He was awarded with the Croatian Football Hope of the Year in 2004.
However in 2005, he rejoined Dinamo Zagreb and went ahead to signing his first career contract with it till 2015. He helped the team to win the league by securing 7 goals in 31 matches and these matches allowed him to assess his skills and develop the same as a successful left winger. 2006-07 saw Dinamo win another league with Modric’s contribution and the following season witnessed the team qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Modric’s way to success were then sealed with his successive victories and contributions towards the team and its development. Modrick finished his six years of tenure with Dinamo with 31 goals and 29 assists in four seasons, which led his fans and followers to raise a standing ovation for his contribution and performance. Modrick’s life and career were associated with sense of responsibility, patriotism and strong-nerved resilience which led him to exhibit appreciable performance in the field.