UEFA Team of the Year

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The UEFA Team of the Year is a football award given by UEFA through a poll on its official website. This award started in 2001^[1] to allow users and visitors of the organization's website to choose their own eleven players and a coach based on their overall performances in European club football and international competitions.

In the 2007 poll, UEFA and its official site allowed its users an additional option of donating to the International Committee of the Red Cross to support landmine victims in Afghanistan.^[2]

Selection process [edit]

Until 2011, the writers at the website have constructed a shortlist of sixty footballers and coaches^[1] who have performed well in European club competition and international tournaments for that particular year. Users then cast their vote of a lineup consisting of eleven players (including a goalkeeper, four defenders, four midfielders, and two strikers) and a coach based on who they believed excelled in European football. After the selection is made, the user also has to select one of the players to be the captain of their team.

The format of the vote was changed in 2012 - now users first choose their preferred formation (4-4-2, 3-5-2, 3-4-3, 4-3-3 or 5-3-2), and then choose the relevant number of players for each position. The voters have a choice between 4 goalkeepers, 12 defenders, 12 midfielders and 12 forwards. There is no voting for best coach.

After the votes are cast, they are tallied and the final team is announced on the UEFA website.

Appearance records [edit]

The player with the most appearances in the team is Cristiano Ronaldo, having appeared seven times. Second is Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol, having appeared six times. Third is Thierry Henry, Xavi and Lionel Messi with 5 appearances. Alessandro Nesta, John Terry, have four. They are followed by several players with three appearances: Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, Pavel Nedvěd, Gianluigi Buffon, Steven Gerrard, Kaká, Dani Alves and Iniesta. The most consecutive appearances in the team is six for Cristiano Ronaldo (2007–12) and Iker Casillas (2007–11).

The teams with the most player appearances (not including manager appearances) are Barcelona with 31, Real Madrid (19), followed by Milan (17), Juventus (10), Arsenal (9), Manchester United (8) and Chelsea (8). Barcelona has been the team with the most players selected in a single season with 6 players in 2009 and 2010, 5 players in 2011, four players in 2006 and 3 players in 2005 and 2008. The only other teams with more than two players in one season are Real Madrid with 3 players in 2002,2003 and 2011, Milan with 3 players in 2004, 2005 and 2007 and Juventus with 3 players in 2006.

The manager with the most appearances is José Mourinho, with four appearances (one with Internazionale, two with Porto, one with Chelsea). He is followed by Alex Ferguson and Josep Guardiola, with two.

Team of the Year 2001 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Santiago Cañizares	Valencia	1
Cosmin Contra	Milan / Alavés	1
Sami Hyypiä	Liverpool	1
Patrik Andersson	Barcelona / Bayern Munich	1
Bixente Lizarazu	Bayern Munich	1
David Beckham	Manchester United	1
Patrick Vieira	Arsenal	1
Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid / Juventus	1
Kily González	Valencia	1
Thierry Henry	Arsenal	1
David Trezeguet	Juventus	1

Coach: Gérard Houllier Liverpool

Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.

Team of the Year 2002 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Rüştü Reçber	Fenerbahçe	1
Roberto Carlos	Real Madrid	1
Carles Puyol	Barcelona	1
Christian Chivu	Ajax	1
Alessandro Nesta	Milan / Lazio	1
Clarence Seedorf	Milan / Inter	1
Michael Ballack	Bayern Munich / Bayer Leverkusen	1
Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	2
Damien Duff	Blackburn Rovers	1
Thierry Henry	Arsenal	2
Ronaldo	Real Madrid / Internazionale	1

Coach: Şenol Güneş Turkey

Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.

Team of the Year 2003 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	1
Paulo Ferreira	FC Porto	1
Alessandro Nesta	Milan	2
Paolo Maldini	Milan	1
Roberto Carlos	Real Madrid	2
Luís Figo	Real Madrid	1
David Beckham	Manchester United	2
Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	3
Pavel Nedvěd	Juventus	1
Thierry Henry	Arsenal	3
Ruud van Nistelrooy	Manchester United	1

Coach: José Mourinho FC Porto

Team of the Year 2004 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	2
Cafu	Milan	1
Alessandro Nesta	Milan	3
Ricardo Carvalho	Chelsea / FC Porto	1
Ashley Cole	Arsenal	1
Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	1
Maniche	FC Porto	1
Ronaldinho	Barcelona	1
Pavel Nedvěd	Juventus	2
Thierry Henry	Arsenal	4
Andriy Shevchenko	Milan	1

Coach: José Mourinho FC Porto

Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.

Team of the Year 2005 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Petr Čech	Chelsea	1
Cafu	Milan	2
John Terry	Chelsea	1
Carles Puyol	Barcelona	2
Paolo Maldini	Milan	2
Luis García	Liverpool	1
Steven Gerrard	Liverpool	1
Ronaldinho	Barcelona	2
Pavel Nedvěd	Juventus	3
Samuel Eto'o	Barcelona	1
Andriy Shevchenko	Milan	2

Coach: José Mourinho Chelsea

Team of the Year 2006 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	3
Gianluca Zambrotta	Barcelona / Juventus	1
Fabio Cannavaro	Real Madrid / Juventus	1
Carles Puyol	Barcelona	3
Philipp Lahm	Bayern Munich	1
Steven Gerrard	Liverpool	2
Cesc Fàbregas	Arsenal	1
Kaká	Milan	1
Ronaldinho	Barcelona	3
Thierry Henry	Arsenal	5
Samuel Eto'o	Barcelona	2

Coach: Frank Rijkaard Barcelona

Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.

Team of the Year 2007 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	1
Dani Alves	Sevilla	1
Alessandro Nesta	Milan	4
John Terry	Chelsea	2
Éric Abidal	Barcelona / Lyon	1
Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	2
Steven Gerrard (c)	Liverpool	3
Kaká	Milan	2
Clarence Seedorf	Milan	2
Zlatan Ibrahimović	Internazionale	1
Didier Drogba	Chelsea	1

Coach: Alex Ferguson Manchester United

Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.

Team of the Year 2008 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	2
Sergio Ramos	Real Madrid	1
John Terry	Chelsea	3
Carles Puyol	Barcelona	4
Philipp Lahm	Bayern Munich	2
Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	3
Xavi (c)	Barcelona	1
Cesc Fàbregas	Arsenal	2
Franck Ribéry	Bayern Munich	1
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	1
Fernando Torres	Liverpool	1

Coach: Alex Ferguson Manchester United

Team of the Year 2009 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	3
Dani Alves	Barcelona	2
John Terry	Chelsea	4
Carles Puyol	Barcelona	5
Patrice Evra	Manchester United	1
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid / Manchester United	4
Xavi	Barcelona	2
Kaká	Real Madrid / Milan	3
Andrés Iniesta	Barcelona	1
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	2
Zlatan Ibrahimovic	Barcelona	2

Coach: Josep Guardiola Barcelona

Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.

Team of the Year 2010 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	4
Maicon	Internazionale	1
Gerard Piqué	Barcelona	1
Carles Puyol (c)	Barcelona	6
Ashley Cole	Chelsea	2
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	5
Xavi	Barcelona	3
Wesley Sneijder	Internazionale	1
Andrés Iniesta	Barcelona	2
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	3
Fernando Torres	Chelsea	3

Coach: José Mourinho Internazionale

Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.

Team of the Year 2011 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	5
Dani Alves	Barcelona	3
Gerard Piqué	Barcelona	2
Thiago Silva	Milan	1
Marcelo	Real Madrid	1
Arjen Robben	Bayern Munich	1
Xavi (c)	Barcelona	4
Andrés Iniesta	Barcelona	3
Gareth Bale	Tottenham Hotspur	1
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	4
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid C.F.	6

Coach: Josep Guardiola Barcelona

Team of the Year 2012 [edit]

Player	Team	Appearance
Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	6
Sergio Ramos	Real Madrid	2
Gerard Piqué	Barcelona	3
Thiago Silva	Paris Saint-Germain / Milan	2
Philipp Lahm	Bayern Munich	3
Andrés Iniesta	Barcelona	4
Xavi	Barcelona	5
Andrea Pirlo	Juventus	1
Mesut Özil	Real Madrid	1
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	5
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	7

Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.

Most appearances [edit]

By player [edit] Player Appearances Cristiano Ronaldo 7 Carles Puyol 6 Iker Casillas Thierry Henry 5 Lionel Messi John Terry 4 Andrés Iniesta Alessandro Nesta Steven Gerrard 3 Zinedine Zidane Ronaldinho Pavel Nedvěd Kaka Gerard Piqué Philipp Lahm 13 players 2 32 players 1

By manager [edit] Manager Appearances José Mourinho 4 Alex Ferguson 2 Josep Guardiola Gérard Houllier 1 Şenol Güneş Frank Rijkaard

By club [edit] Club Players Managers Barcelona 31 3 Real Madrid C.F. 23 Milan 18 Chelsea 10 1 Juventus 10 Arsenal 9 Manchester United 7 2 Bayern Munich Internazionale 6 1 Liverpool Valencia 4 Porto 3 2 Ajax 1 Alavés Bayer Leverkusen Blackburn Rovers Fenerbahçe Lazio Lyon Sevilla Tottenham

By country [edit] Country Players Spain 32 Brazil 17 France 14 Italy 12 England 11 Portugal Argentina 6 Netherlands 5 Germany Czech Republic 4 Sweden 3 Cameroon 2 Turkey Romania Ukraine Côte d'Ivoire 1 Finland Republic of Ireland Wales

See also [edit]

• UEFA Best Player in Europe Award
• FIFA FIFPro World XI

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} UEFA Team of the Year - Awards History, retrieved 2007-12-13 
2. ^ UEFA Team of the Year 2007, retrieved 2007-12-13 

External links [edit]

• UEFA Team of the Year 2012 uefa.com
• List of previous UEFA Team of the Year uefa.com