Soccer

Modric named player of the year — Luka Modric broke a decade of award dominance by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after being crowned world footballer of the year by FIFA on Monday. Modric was voted FIFA’s best player in the 2017-18 season after winning the Champions League for a fourth time in five seasons with Real Madrid and leading Croatia to its first World Cup final where it lost to France. On the women’s side, Marta won her sixth FIFA player of the year award, and her first since 2010, after leading Brazil to Copa America Femenina glory. Didier Deschamps was voted manager of the year after becoming only the third man to win the World Cup as a player and coach. Thibaut Courtois added the FIFA goalkeeper award to the Golden Glove he collected in Russia for helping Belgium to third place with three clean sheets.

Football

Hall of Famer McDonald dies at 84 — Hall of Fame receiver Tommy McDonald has died at 84. His death was announced Monday by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Details were not disclosed. McDonald was the small, speedy and sure-handed receiver who teamed with quarterback Norm Van Brocklin to help the Philadelphia Eagles win the 1960 NFL championship. McDonald was a two-time All-American for Oklahoma. He played 12 seasons for five NFL teams and was a six-time Pro Bowl selection. When he retired in 1968, he ranked second in league history in touchdown catches, fourth in yards receiving and sixth in receptions. The 5-foot-7, 175-pound McDonald had to wait 30 years before becoming the smallest player inducted into the Hall.

HOCKEY

Seattle closer to NHL with arena plan approval — The Seattle City Council unanimously approved plans Monday for a privately funded $700 million renovation of KeyArena, clearing one of the last primary hurdles in the city’s bid to land an expansion NHL franchise. The 8-0 vote was the last step needed to complete Seattle’s expansion application in time to potentially field a team for the 2020-21 season. Seattle Hockey Partners, the ownership group attempting to land the expansion team, is set to present before the NHL Board of Governors’ Executive Committee next week. The council approval ended a more than decadelong struggle to find an arena solution. Issues with KeyArena ultimately led the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics to move following the 2008 season to Oklahoma City, where the franchise was rebranded as the Thunder. The final scheduled event for the arena in its current state is an Oct. 5 NBA exhibition game between the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings.

BASEBALL

Evans out as Giants GM — Bobby Evans was fired Monday as the San Francisco Giants’ general manager. The team said Evans will be reassigned, with responsibilities to be determined. The move came as the Giants began the final week of the season at 72-84, their second straight losing record. The club will start a search for a new head of baseball operations. Evans was hired by the Giants in 1994, became vice president of baseball operations in 2009 under general manager Brian Sabean and was promoted to GM in April 2015 when Sabean became executive vice president of baseball operations. The Giants won World Series championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014. They made the playoffs again in 2016, but they are 166-224 since taking a major league-best 57-33 record into the All-Star break that year.

— From wire reports