Messi, Ronaldo, Neuer in team of the year

2015-01-09 18:34
BERLIN - Cristiano Ronaldo got the most votes overall as Europe's ruling body UEFA on Friday unveiled its 2014 Team of the Year selected by users of their website.

The Real Madrid and Portugal star Ronaldo garnered 598,287 votes, with Madrid team-mate and Spain defender Sergio Ramos a close second with 574,889.


German world champion midfielder Toni Kroos is another Madrid player among the 11 but played the first half of the year at Bayern Munich who also have four current players in the team, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, captain Philipp Lahm, left back David Alaba and winger Arjen Robben.

Diego Godin from Spanish champions, Manchester United's (formerly Real) Angel di Maria, Barcelona and Argentina icon Lionel Messi and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic complete the team. The Sweden and Paris St German forward Ibrahimovic got the least number of votes with 214,674.

Ronaldo, Messi and Neuer are the three men on the shortlist for the Ballon d'Or award conducted by the world governing body FIFA. The winner is announced on Monday.