UEFA Team of the Year
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. The UEFA Team of the Year poll for 2010 will be the tenth edition of the award, which has seen nearly 12 million votes cast in previous editions of this popular poll.[2]
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
The writers at the website construct 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 go on the website and 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.
After the votes are cast, they are tallied and the final team are announced on the website itself.
Appearance records
The player with the most appearances in the team is Carles Puyol having appeared six times. Second is Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo with 5 appearances. Alessandro Nesta, Steven Gerrard, Iker Casillas and John Terry have four. They are followed by several players with three appearances: Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, Pavel Nedvěd, Gianluigi Buffon, Lionel Messi, Xavi and Kaká. The most consecutive appearances in the team is four for Thierry Henry (2001–04), Cristiano Ronaldo (2007-10) and Iker Casillas (2007-10).
The teams with the most player appearances (not including manager appearances) are Barcelona with 26, followed by Milan (16), Real Madrid (16), Juventus (10), Arsenal (9), Manchester United (8) and Chelsea (8).
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, with two.
The team with most players in one season is Barcelona with 6 players in two years, 2009 and 2010. Next is Barcelona with 4 players in 2006. There are several teams with 3 players elected in one season: Valencia (2001), Real Madrid (2002,2003 and 2009), Milan (2004,2005 and 2007), Barcelona (2005) and Juventus (2006)
Team of the Year 2001
| 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
| Player | Team | Appearance |
 Rüştü Reçber |
Fenerbahçe |
1 |
| Carles Puyol |
Barcelona |
1 |
| Alessandro Nesta |
Milan / Lazio |
1 |
| Cristian Chivu |
 Ajax |
1 |
 Roberto Carlos |
Real Madrid |
1 |
| Clarence Seedorf |
Milan / Internazionale |
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
| 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 |
1 |
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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 |
| Miroslav Klose |
Werder Bremen |
1 |
| 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
| 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 |
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
| 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
| 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 Ibrahimović (c) |
Barcelona / Internazionale |
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
| Player | Team | Appearance |
| Iker Casillas |
Real Madrid |
4 |
| Maicon |
Internazionale |
1 |
| Carles Puyol (c) |
Barcelona |
6 |
| Gerard Pique |
Barcelona |
1 |
| Ashley Cole |
Chelsea |
1 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo |
Real Madrid |
5 |
| Xavi |
Barcelona |
3 |
| Wesley Sneijder |
Internazionale |
1 |
| Andrés Iniesta |
Barcelona |
2 |
| Lionel Messi |
Barcelona |
3 |
| David Villa |
Barcelona |
1 |
Coach: José Mourinho Real Madrid / 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
Voting for the 2011 Team of the Year commenced on December 5th 2011. Voting will conclude on January 5th 2012, and the final lineup will be announced on January 18th.
The nominees are:
Goalkeeper:
Manuel Neuer ( Bayern München/ Schalke 04)
Edwin van der Sar (
Manchester United)
Iker Casillas ( Real Madrid)- Víctor Valdés ( Barcelona)
- Joe Hart ( Manchester City)
Right-back:
Daniel Alves ( Barcelona)- Philipp Lahm ( Bayern München)
Christian Maggio ( Napoli)
Darijo Srna (
Shakhtar Donetsk)
Maxi Pereira (
Benfica)
Centre-back:
- Gerard Piqué ( Barcelona)
Nemanja Vidić ( Manchester United)- Thiago Silva ( Milan)
- Mats Hummels ( Borussia Dortmund)
Sergei Ignashevich ( CSKA Moskva)- Benedikt Höwedes ( Schalke 04)
Javier Mascherano ( Barcelona)
Vincent Kompany ( Manchester City)- Rolando ( Porto)
Adil Rami ( Valencia/ Lille Métropole)
Left-back:
- Éric Abidal ( Barcelona)
- Fábio Coentrão ( Real Madrid/ Benfica)
- Marcelo ( Real Madrid)
- Álvaro Pereira ( Porto)
- Ashley Cole ( Chelsea)
Right midfield:
Xherdan Shaqiri ( Basel)- Arjen Robben ( Bayern München)
- Mario Götze ( Borussia Dortmund)
Gervinho ( Arsenal/ Lille Métropole)- Nani ( Manchester United)
Centre midfield:
- Yaya Touré ( Manchester City)
- Xavi Hernández ( Barcelona)
- Jack Wilshere ( Arsenal)
- João Moutinho ( Porto)
- Luka Modrić ( Tottenham Hotspur)
Attacking midfield:
- Andrés Iniesta ( Barcelona)
- Mesut Özil ( Real Madrid)
- David Silva ( Manchester City)
Marek Hamšík ( Napoli)- Wesley Sneijder ( Inter Milano)
Left midfield:
Gareth Bale ( Tottenham Hotspur)- Eden Hazard ( Lille Métropole)
- Ángel Di María ( Real Madrid)
- Juan Mata ( Chelsea/ Valencia)
- Ashley Young ( Manchester United/ Aston Villa)
Forward:
- Lionel Messi ( Barcelona)
Falcao ( Atlético Madrid/ Porto)- Cristiano Ronaldo ( Real Madrid)
- Hulk ( Porto)
Javier Hernández ( Manchester United)- Robin van Persie ( Arsenal)
- Sergio Agüero ( Manchester City/ Atlético Madrid)
- Mario Gomez ( Bayern München)
- Edinson Cavani ( Napoli)
- Antonio Di Natale ( Udinese Calcio)
Coach:
- Josep Guardiola ( Barcelona)
- André Villas-Boas ( Chelsea/ Porto)
- Jürgen Klopp ( Borussia Dortmund)
Sir Alex Ferguson ( Manchester United)- Rudi Garcia ( Lille Métropole)
Players who played for two teams during the year have the team they finished the year with listed first.
Most Appearances
By a Player
|
By a Country
|
By a Club
| Club | Appearance |
|---|---|
| Barcelona |
26 |
| Milan |
16 |
| Real Madrid
| |
| Juventus |
10 |
| Arsenal |
9 |
| Chelsea |
8 |
| Manchester United |
7 |
| Bayern Munich |
6 |
| Internazionale
| |
| Liverpool
| |
| Valencia |
4 |
| Porto |
3 |
| Ajax |
1 |
| Alavés
| |
| Bayer Leverkusen
| |
| Blackburn Rovers
| |
| Fenerbahçe
| |
| Lazio
| |
| Lyon
| |
| Sevilla
| |
| Werder Bremen
|
Coach
| Player | Appearance |
|---|---|
| José Mourinho |
4 |
| Alex Ferguson |
2 |
| Gérard Houllier |
1 |
| Şenol Güneş
| |
| Frank Rijkaard
| |
| Josep Guardiola
|
See also
References
- ^ a b UEFA Team of the Year - Awards History, retrieved 2007-12-13
- ^ a b UEFA Team of the Year 2007, retrieved 2007-12-13