UEFA Champions League on Thursday announced its 2017 Team of the Year.
A new voting record was set.
A grand total of 8,779,639 million votes were cast by supporters around the world, an increase of over 1.6 million on the previous year’s tally of 7.15 million.
Players from the Spanish league dominated the final XI, with a total of six making the team.
Cristiano Ronaldo tops the shortlist for UEFA’s Team of the Year 2017 shortlist, with Manchester United the most represented amongst Premier League sides.
The Red Devils have four nominations, including David De Gea, Antonio Valencia, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba in the running.
While Manchester City stars Benjamin Mendy (signed in the summer from Monaco), Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero have all been honoured.
Chelsea’s Eden Hazard rounds off the Premier League involvement, though Ronaldo, who has been selected on the shortlist for a record 14th time, could be joined in the final XI by 10 team-mates: Casemiro, Keylor Navas, Dani Carvajal, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Isco, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema.
The line-up is based on a 4-4-2 formation, which was by far the most popular system chosen by fans during the voting process with 459,797 selections.
UEFA Team of the Year 2017 below:
- Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus & Italy)
- Dani Alves (Juventus/Paris Saint-Germain & Brazil)
- Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid CF & Spain)
- Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus & Italy)
- Marcelo (Real Madrid CF & Brazil)
- Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City FC & Belgium.
- Toni Kroos (Real Madrid CF & Germany)
- Luka Modrić (Real Madrid CF & Croatia)
- Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC & Belgium
- Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona & Argentina),
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid CF & Portugal).
