November 22 – UEFA.com has launched voting for its Team of the Year 2016 with users being asked to pick their team from 40 nominees.
The list of players available for selection includes the obvious Barcelona trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez alongside 15 others playing in Spain’s la Liga, five of the nominees coming from each of Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona and eight from Real Madrid.
Teams are picked in one of five formations and the selection is made from four goalkeepers, 12 defenders, 12 midfielders and 12 forwards.
Of the players available for selection, 11 play in the Premier League and just five in the Bundlesliga with three from Italy’s Juventus and only one player from France’s Ligue 1 – PSG’s Grezegorz Krychowiak.
There is only one player up for selection playing outside the Big 5 European League – goalkeeper Rui Patricio from Portugal’s Sporting Club.
The awards, in their 16th year, are not an official UEFA event but at press time already more than 1.6 million fans had cast their vote.
Voting on en.toty.uefa.com runs until Tuesday January 3, with the final line-up to be announced on Thursday January 5 on UEFA.com.
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