Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar Headline UEFA Team of Year 2016 Nominees
November 21, 2016
UEFA revealed the nominees for its Team of the Year on Monday, featuring regular contenders like Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and the Barcelona duo of Neymar and Lionel Messi. Stoke City's Joe Allen surprisingly also made the 40-man list ahead of Arsenal's Mesut Ozil.
Per MailOnline's Alex Martin, Allen was one of 12 Premier League stars to feature, but while Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey, Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez all made the cut, Ozil didn't.

Real's Gareth Bale, Juventus' Gianluigi Buffon, the Manchester United duo of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero are all still in the running to make the final XI, too.
Here's a look at the full list of nominees:
UEFA Team of the Year Nominees | |
Goalkeepers | |
Keylor Navas, Real Madrid | Rui Patricio, Sporting Lisbon |
Gianluigi Buffon, Juventus | Jan Oblak, Atletico Madrid |
Defenders | |
Gerard Pique, Barcelona | Laurent Koscielny, Arsenal |
Joshua Kimmich, Bayern Munich | Diego Godin, Atletico Madrid |
Toby Alderweireld, Tottenham | Pepe, Real Madrid |
Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid | Juanfra, Atletico Madrid |
Raphael Guerreiro, Borussia Dortmund | Dani Carvajal, Real Madrid |
Leonardo Bonucci, Juventus | Jerome Boateng, Bayern Munich |
Midfielders | |
Dimitri Payet, West Ham | Luka Modric, Real Madrid |
Yannick Carrasco, Atletico Madrid | Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal |
Paul Pogba, Man United | Toni Kroos, Real Madrid |
Riyad Mahrez, Leicester | Andres Iniesta, Barcelona |
Kevin De Bruyne, Man City | N’Golo Kante, Chelsea |
Joe Allen, Stoke | Grzegorz Krychowiak, PSG |
Forwards | |
Lionel Messi, Barcelona | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Borussia Dortmund |
Luis Suarez, Barcelona | Neymar, Barcelona |
Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid | Gareth Bale, Real Madrid |
Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich | Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal |
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Man United | Sergio Aguero, Man City |
Gonzalo Higuain, Juventus | Antoine Griezmann, Atletico Madrid |
MailOnline.com |
Unsurprisingly, UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid have the most nominees, with eight of the 40 players on the list playing for Los Blancos. Pepe, Keylor Navas, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Dani Carvajal all made the cut.
Barcelona are represented by Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta. Atletico Madrid also have five inclusions in Antoine Griezmann, Jan Oblak, Diego Godin, Juanfran and Yannick Carrasco.
The Premier League is well represented, with Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, N'Golo Kante, Toby Alderweireld and Dimitri Payet joining Allen and the group of Arsenal and Manchester United stars. There was no room on the list for Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho or Juventus stars Paulo Dybala and Andrea Barzagli.