UEFA.com fans' Men's Team of the Year 2020: stats breakdown
Thursday, December 31, 2020
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Which side have the most players? Which league has the most nominees? UEFA.com breaks down the figures.
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The 50 players shortlisted for the UEFA.com fans' Men's Team of the Year 2020 vote represent 21 clubs and 19 different national teams.
The nominees are proposed by the UEFA editorial team before being validated by the Technical Observer panel on the basis of their performances in UEFA competitions and domestic competitions within UEFA member associations from January to December 2020.
Key stats
- Cristiano Ronaldo is nominated for the 17th year running; he has featured in 14 teams, including each of the last 13. All are records.
- Lionel Messi is nominated for the 15th time and is looking to make the team for the 11th occasion. Sergio Ramos and Robert Lewandowski are on the shortlist for a ninth time.
- Twenty-one players make the 50-man shortlist for the first time; 22 also featured 12 months ago (including ten of the final XI), while the remaining seven are returning to the reckoning.
- Romelu Lukaku is nominated for the first time since 2010, when he got the nod as a 17-year-old at Anderlecht.
- Alphonso Davies is the first Canadian player to be nominated in the team's 20-year history.
- Atalanta and Leipzig figure among the nominees for the first time.
- Ciro Immobile is Lazio's first nominee since Jaap Stam in 2004.
- Anthony Lopes and Houssem Aouar are Lyon's first nominees since 2010.
- Erling Braut Haaland is Norway's first nominee in a decade, and third after Brede Hangeland (2010) and John Arne Riise (2002).
- It is the first year that Slovenia has had two players shortlisted, Josip Iličić joining five-time nominee Jan Oblak.
- The 50 nominated players have an average age of 27.28. At 20, Davies and Haaland are the youngest nominees; Thiago Silva, at 36, is the oldest.
Team of the Year nominees by club
10 Bayern*
8 Liverpool*, Paris*
3 Atalanta, Inter, Leipzig
2 Atlético Madrid, Chelsea*, Juventus, Lyon, Man. City
1 al-Shabab*, Barcelona, Dortmund, Lazio, Leverkusen, Man. United*, Real Madrid, Sevilla*, Sporting CP*, Tottenham
Team of the Year nominees by national team
6 Germany
5 France
4 Brazil, England, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain
3 Argentina, Italy
2 Austria, Belgium, Slovenia
1 Canada, Costa Rica, Egypt, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Senegal
Team of the Year nominees by domestic league
15 Bundesliga, Germany* (4 clubs)
14 Premier League, England* (5 clubs)
10 Ligue 1, France* (2 clubs)
9 Serie A, Italy (4 clubs)
5 Liga, Spain* (4 clubs)
1 Liga, Portugal* (1 club)
1 Pro League, Saudi Arabia* (1 club)
*Kai Havertz, Thiago Alcántara, Thiago Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Éver Banega all represented two clubs in 2020 – both are counted here.