Does Luka Modric Support Israel?

Tal Feldman Feb 27, 2025 Updated Jul 22, 2026 4 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, Luka Modric has never made a public statement supporting or opposing Israel, and he keeps a consistently low political profile. His one tangible Israel-related tie is commercial, not ideological: he appeared as a featured instructor for Skillset, an Israeli sports-education startup, which drew a pro-Palestinian "Drop Skillset" boycott campaign in 2025. He has not commented on the Israel-Gaza conflict, has no Jewish heritage (he is Croatian Catholic), and his only on-field link to Israel is a 2011 Euro qualifier in which Croatia beat Israel.

What Luka Modric has actually said and done

September 6, 2011: Modric scored as Croatia came from behind to beat 10-man Israel 3-1 in a Euro 2012 qualifier at Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb, as Fox Sports reported. It remains his most concrete on-field connection to Israel, a routine competitive fixture with no political dimension.
June 1, 2016: During Croatia's Euro 2016 preparations, Modric cordially posed for photos and signed a football for an Israeli fan collecting autographs to bring home to his children, per a first-person account published by Sports Rabbi. It was a friendly personal encounter, not a statement or endorsement.
February 27, 2022: Modric posted a general anti-war message on his X account: "I grew up during war and I don't wish it on anyone... We want to live in peace. #StopWar." The post came in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and made no reference to Israel or the Middle East.
July 30, 2023: Israeli tech outlet CTech (Calcalist) reported that Modric, alongside Lewandowski, Van Dijk, Bruno Fernandes, Pedri and Aguero, features as a training instructor on Skillset, an Israeli youth-football e-learning platform founded in 2019. This is his only documented commercial tie to an Israeli company, a link also noted by the activist site Boycat.
March 5, 2025: A pro-Palestinian boycott campaign ("Drop Skillset") publicly named Modric among footballers partnered with Skillset, alleging the Israeli founders openly support Israel's military and accusing the players of "sportswashing." The campaign was launched by Boycat and originates with BDS activists, not with any statement by Modric. X accounts amplified it in later waves.
April 14, 2025: Modric became an investor and co-owner of Championship club Swansea City, as Sky Sports reported. The move is unrelated to Israel and is noted only because it is sometimes conflated with his other business activity.
June 16, 2025: After renewed social-media backlash, amplified by X accounts such as Leyla Hamed, pro-Palestinian media reported that Modric's Skillset promotional deal had quietly disappeared from the web. That removal was carried by activist channels (including a YouTube report) and has not been independently confirmed by a major neutral outlet. Modric himself issued no statement about it.

Croatian, Catholic, and quiet: where the "Israel" question comes from

Luka Modric (born September 9, 1985, in Zadar, Croatia) is the Croatia national team captain and a longtime Real Madrid and former Tottenham midfielder, a 2018 Ballon d'Or winner. He is Croatian and Roman Catholic, and there is no Jewish heritage or Jewish-identity connection in his background. He grew up as a refugee during the Croatian War of Independence, in which his grandfather was killed, which frames his rare public comments as broadly anti-war rather than tied to any single conflict. His 2022 #StopWar post referred to Ukraine, per his own X account.

So where does the search interest come from? Two threads. The first is commercial: CTech (Calcalist) documented that Modric is a featured instructor on Skillset, an Israeli youth-football learning app, his only concrete tie to an Israeli company. The second is activist: in 2025, pro-Palestinian BDS campaigners (Boycat and X accounts such as Leyla Hamed) launched a "Drop Skillset" push naming Modric and other stars, alleging the founders support Israel's military. That boycott framing comes from the activists, not from Modric, who has never commented on Israel, Gaza, or the conflict. His only sporting contact with Israel was the 2011 Croatia-Israel Euro qualifier.

The bottom line

Modric is effectively silent on Israel and the Israel-Gaza conflict, consistent with his low political profile. He has never endorsed Israel, but he also carries no documented hostility toward it. The only reason his name surfaces in this context is a commercial link to the Israeli app Skillset that made him a target of a BDS boycott campaign. Treat him as politically neutral on the subject: no statements, no activism, one business tie that others politicized.

Support Israel directly

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Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.