UEFA nominates 50 players for team of year

Voting for 50 footballers for 'Team of the Year' has started, UEFA announced Monday.

They include five goalkeepers, 15 defenders, 15 midfielders and 15 forwards.

The votes can be cast at UEFA.com till Jan. 11 and the final line-up will be announced on the same day.

"The nominees were chosen by the UEFA.com editorial team, including seasoned reporters and expert correspondents, on the basis of players' performances for a European club or national team in UEFA competitions in the 2018 calendar year," UEFA said.

UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid has nine nominees, UEFA Champions League runners-up Liverpool and UEFA Europa League winners Atletico Madrid each have six players involved.

A total of 14 clubs appear on the shortlist and 20 nationalities are represented.

Last year 9 million votes were cast.

The complete list of nominees is as follows:

Goalkeepers:

Alisson Becker (AS Roma/Liverpool), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Keylor Navas (Real Madrid), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)

Defenders:

Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Jose Gimenez (Atletico Madrid), Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Kostas Manolas (Roma), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), John Stones (Manchester City), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)

Midfielders:

Casemiro (Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Isco (Real Madrid), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), James Milner (Liverpool), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid), Dimitri Payet (Marseille), Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Ivan Rakitic (FC Barcelona), David Silva (Manchester City), Florian Thauvin (Marseille)

Forwards:

Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain), Paulo Dybala (Juventus), Edin Dzeko (Roma), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Juventus), Luis Suarez (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

Team of the Year nominees by club are as follows:

9 Real Madrid

7 Barcelona

6 Atletico, Liverpool

4 Juventus

3 Manchester City, Paris

2 Bayern, Chelsea, Marseille, Roma, Tottenham

1 Manchester United, Napoli

Team of the Year nominees by national team are as follows:

10 France

6 Spain

5 Brazil

4 Uruguay

3 England, Germany

2 Argentina, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Senegal

1 Costa Rica, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Wales

Team of the Year nominees by domestic league are as follows:

22 Liga (Spain)

14 Premier League (England)

7 Serie A (Italy)

5 Ligue 1 (France)

2 Bundesliga (Germany)