Premier League stars fail to make Uefa Team of the Year

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Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Lionel Messi form a dream frontline in the Uefa Team of the Year vote

European governing body Uefa has announced its 2012 Team of the Year and for the first time there is no place for a player from the Premier League.

The 12th edition of the poll saw a record 5.3m votes cast on the Uefa website, 20% more than last year.

Eight players from Spain's La Liga are included, four each from the big two clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Fifa's Team of the Year, announced this month, was composed entirely of players from La Liga.

The Team of the Yearexternal-link is not an official Uefa selection but is voted for by fans on the website and has proved hugely popular, with 24 million votes in the previous 11 years.

In 2001, the first line-up included Liverpool's Sami Hyypia, Arsenal duo Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry plus Manchester United's David Beckham, with Tottenham winger Gareth Bale named last year.

World Player of the Year Lionel Messi was chosen for the fifth time in succession with Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo and goalkeeper Iker Casillas appearing for a sixth consecutive year.

Website users were also asked for the first time to vote for their favourite formation and the overall verdict was 4-4-2, the default system for the previous 11 editions.

Uefa Team of the Year 2012: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Thiago Silva (AC Milan/Paris St-Germain), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid).

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264 comments

  • Comment posted by Gooner-Tyse, at 15:07 16 Jan 2013

    Most of those players deserve to be in that team, but players like pique, thiago silva and marcelo are in there becuase most peoples knowledge of football is based on playing Fifa.

  • Comment posted by phil, at 16:12 16 Jan 2013

    My Team of the year would be:

    Tony Hibbert in Goal
    Hibbert, Hibbert, Hibbert, Hibbert
    Hibbert, Hibbert, Hibbert, Hibbert,
    Hibbert, Hibbert!

  • Comment posted by Josh, at 16:21 16 Jan 2013

    Absolutely Shocking decision to leave out Hesky

  • Comment posted by s1m986, at 15:49 16 Jan 2013

    @50 Cleverley doesn't even deserve to wear the utd shirt. He isn't a patch on the last generation along with the rest of the current utd midfield. Even fergie would tell you that if he was being honest and hed swap cleverley for iniesta or xavi's body odur!

  • Comment posted by U15554806, at 21:58 16 Jan 2013

    bet Falcao would be annoyed if he saw this, 44 goals in 46 games this year.

  • Comment posted by Scholes is like fine wine he gets better with age, at 04:59 17 Jan 2013

    What Rubbish!

    Team should be:

    Green
    Maicon Bramble Shawcross A.Santos
    Henderson Ramsey Allen
    Downing Torres Gervinho

    Manager: Mark Hughes

  • Comment posted by me, at 19:03 16 Jan 2013

    why do you think pep has gone to bayern. Spanish and german football is so far ahead of our diving cheating kick and rush prem league. watched Real on sky last night it was wonderful compared to watching man utd kick and lump it v wigan. we are light years behind hence why our national team is poor

  • Comment posted by BeerTalk, at 19:01 16 Jan 2013

    Lets have a look at the record of EPL teams in Europe in recent times.
    Chelsea won it last year then fail to qualify this year.
    Man City the current EPL champions failed to qualify from group stages last year and were then dumped out of europa cup.
    This year failed to qualify from group stages and were so poor didnt even qualify for europa.( standard bearers for EPL )
    Utd and Arsenal also poor.

  • Comment posted by GoFigure, at 15:30 16 Jan 2013

    It'd be interesting to see the breakdown of votes received by country. Very likely that votes received from the UK make up a small percentage of the total received.

    More to the point I didn't hear anything about the most recent vote prior to this. If it is promoted by UEFA and more heavily in other countries (big ifs) then there might be some merit in suggesting there is a UEFA bias going on.

  • Comment posted by Stefan, at 08:55 17 Jan 2013

    BUT...what does Robbie Savage make of this?

  • Comment posted by U14543897, at 22:42 16 Jan 2013

    When I first saw there were not PL players, I was really surprised, then I looked at the list and it's really hard to argue much of a case against any of them. I can only think of Kompany or Van Persie at a push.

  • Comment posted by U15554615, at 22:32 16 Jan 2013

    Friends in England, you have been told for so long, by Sky in particular and the popular press in general, that your EPL is the best league in the universe, ever. Many of you seem to believe this to be the case, it has almost become an article of faith, and to question this merely invites derision. I say well played UEFA and people of Europe for this shameless display of...taste.

  • Comment posted by RedIsaac, at 22:24 16 Jan 2013

    @183 Most internationals in the PL play for England whereas most of the La Liga ones play for Spain. That speaks volumes for the quality gap. As for the "uncompetitiveness" of La Liga just watched 10 man Malaga equalise vs Barca at the Camp Nou.

    Furthermore, La Liga clubs and not just R. Madrid and Barca are full of quality international players so I don't know where you get your info from.

  • Comment posted by thetorch, at 21:49 16 Jan 2013

    If you listen to the people that televise the games, endlessly calling their product "the best league in the world" then expect to be disappointed when the rest of Europe give you a reality check. They are only saying this to keep their subscriptions up. And by jove it works a treat. That said,as we saw with Bale last year - it's not impossible to get in,you just don't get in on reputation alone.

  • Comment posted by ChelseaKing, at 20:34 16 Jan 2013

    I would have Emile Heskey upfront on his own

  • Comment posted by Hampshire_John, at 20:06 16 Jan 2013

    'The Team of the Year is not an official Uefa selection but is voted for by fans on the website...'

    So anyone moaning about the result - next year go to the website and vote...Simples !

  • Comment posted by David_Beckhams_Latest_Haircut, at 18:50 16 Jan 2013

    Chelsea winning the CL was a blip, they were poor and shouldn't have won it. Besides, Chelsea are not and haven't been for some time a '6th placed team'. They are 3rd this season for a reason.

    You can't make the statement CL winners at 6th place and ignore 3rd placed BPL and chucked out the CL and the first stage...

    One backs your point, the other blows it out the water.

  • Comment posted by David_Beckhams_Latest_Haircut, at 18:37 16 Jan 2013

    Sorry to burst your collective bubbles, but in every possible measurement the BPL is less competitive than European equivalents.

    The distance between 1st and 3rd in England is at 14 points, bigger than the same difference in Germany, Italy, France and SCOTLAND.

    How is that competitive? 2/4 teams knocked out at group stages of CL. No strength in depth.


    Stats don't lie.

  • Comment posted by Dr Heath, at 18:36 16 Jan 2013

    5 year ago 3 english teams in the Semi of the CL, Arsenal were knocked by Liverpool in the 1/4 final 2013 only 2 made it through to the knock out stages..Premier league is in decline. simple

  • Comment posted by U13889794, at 18:21 16 Jan 2013

    Best league in the world? EPL is in danger of going down the same road as the Italian game. Half empty stadiums, teams playing in front of company directors and corporate "jolly" seekers. The loyal fans who flocked year after year are being priced out. Most of the Prem leagues players are mediocre at best and completely deluded about their own talent and skill. Torres being prime example.

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