Paris Saint Germain’s world-record signing, Neymar Jr has surprisingly missed out of the UEFA Fans’ Team of the Year for 2017, with Chelsea’s Eden Hazard replacing him on the list.
Real Madrid’s current Ballon D’Or holder and his top challenger, Lionel Messi were the top players in the recently-released list.
A total of 8,779,639 votes were recorded from fans all over the world for the list, representing an increase of over 1.6 million on the previous year’s tally of 7.15 million.
Ronaldo is appearing on the list for a record 12th time, although Real Madrid teammate Sergio Ramos got the most nominations at 588,315.
Fans all over the world also chose 4-4-2 formation for Europe’s best XI team.
However, there were criticisms over the exclusion of Neymar and Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante who was voted PFA and FWA Player of the Year 2017 for a phenomenal year for the Blues.
See full list below:
Goalkeeper – Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus & Italy)
Central defender – Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid CF & Spain)
Central defender – Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus & Italy)
Right back – Dani Alves (Juventus/Paris Saint-Germain & Brazil)
Left back – Marcelo (Real Madrid CF & Brazil)
Right wing – Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City FC & Belgium)
Left wing – Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC & Belgium
Central midfielder – Toni Kroos (Real Madrid CF & Germany)
Central midfielder – Luka Modrić (Real Madrid CF & Croatia)
Striker – Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona & Argentina)
Striker – Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid CF & Portugal)