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FIFA have released their shortlist for the UT Team of the Year, with a whole host of the world’s top players vying for a place in the final XI.

And the best part is you can have your say in who you think should be included in the squad. But don’t waste time sifting through each category as you aimlessly look for your favourite players – we’ve got the list of every player in each category for you right here.

So enjoy as we provide you with a rundown of all the nominees for the FIFA UT Team of the Year.

Only seven shot-stoppers have been named on the shortlist for the position of goalkeeper in the Team of the Year, but they’re a pretty decent bunch we’re sure you’ll agree.

European champion Manuel Neuer makes the cut (obviously) while Premier League duo Alisson and Ederson are also named among the nominees, with Real Madrid goalkeeper and former Chelsea man Thibaut Courtois also an option.

Goalkeeper nominees:

Alisson
Thibaut Courtois
Ederson
Lukáš Hrádecký
Steve Mandanda
Keylor Navas
Manuel Neuer

No fewer than three Liverpool defenders have been nominated in the defender category, with Virgil van Dijk joined by teammates Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Sergio Ramos also makes the cut though there’s no room for his Real Madrid colleague Raphael Varane, while 20-year-old Bayern Munich wonderkid Alphonso Davies is in.

Defender nominees:

Francesco Acerbi
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Jordan Amavi
Angelino
Alphonso Davies
Stefan de Vrij
Matthias Ginter
Theo Hernandez
Mats Hummels
Jesus Navas
Jordi Alba
Presnel Kimpembe
Aymeric Laporte
Marquinhos
Andy Robertson
Sergio Ramos
Thiago Silva
Virgil van Dijk

This has surely got to be one of the hardest categories to make a choice in. How do you even begin to go about deciding who is the best out of the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Kevin De Bruyne and Thiago?

The midfield category is packed with stellar names, with Joshua Kimmich, Puskas Award winner Son Heung-min and Real Madrid midfield maestro Toni Kroos all in the running.

Good luck picking your final choices from these lot.

Midfield nominees:

Houssem Aouar
Bruno Fernandes
Kevin De Bruyne
Nabil Fekir
Papu Gomez
Robin Gosens
Raphaël Guerreiro
Jordan Henderson
Joshua Kimmich
Mateo Kovacic
Toni Kroos
Luis Alberto
Mikel Merino
Dani Parejo
Renato Sanches
Marcel Sabitzer
Son Heung-min
Lars Stindl
Thiago

Now this is the really fun part.

Let’s be honest, we can indulge in the joys of midfielders and defenders all we like, but the forwards are what we’re really interested in.

No surprise to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi yet again fighting it out for a place in the XI, while Neymar and Kylian Mbappe aren’t bad options to have either, and no forward list would be complete without Robert Lewandowski.

And if none of the above take your fancy, you can even vote for former Stoke and Newcastle striker Joselu….

Forward nominees:

Andre Silva
Wissam Ben Yedder
Karim Benzema
Francesco Caputo
Cristiano Ronaldo
Angel Di Maria
Paulo Dybala
Jack Grealish
Erling Haaland
Ciro Immobile
Danny Ings
Lorenzo Insigne
Joao Felix
Joselu
Harry Kane
Andrej Kramarić
Robert Lewandowski
Romelu Lukaku
Sadio Mane
Kylian Mbappe
Lionel Messi
Neymar
Mohamed Salah
Raheem Sterling
Luis Suarez
Jamie Vardy

Last time Manchester United met Manchester City at Old Trafford, it was an absolute waste of a Saturday evening.

We’d all whiled many tedious hours during lockdown, but this really was taking the mickey.

Even Roy Keane – usually so shy and retiring when it comes to voicing his opinion – was furious.

The former Manchester United midfielder lambasted the absence of yellow cards and the presence of hugging (not a COVID related concern, he was also incredulous about the shared smiling and chatting).

It was a game that epitomised lockdown: flat, banal, monotonous.

United were fresh from their disappointing Champions League elimination, while City were struggling to consistently hit their irresistible form of previous campaigns.

Fast forward less than a month and the Manchester rivals are suddenly two of the form sides in the Premier League, and they served up a thoroughly entertaining 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup semi finals. It was end to end, intense and high quality.

City emerged victorious thanks to goals from John Stones and Fernandinho and were well worth their place in April’s final. For the second time in four days, Pep Guardiola’s side were absolutely outstanding.

On Sunday, City were back to their sharp, effervescent best as they confidently dispatched of Chelsea within 34 ruthless first half minutes.

United put up more of a fight on Wednesday evening, but eventually succumbed to City’s class.

The central defensive partnership of Ruben Dias and Stones were so solid, United largely restricted to half chances from range. The duo have conceded just one goal in their eight starts together – Dias bringing a defensive maturity far above his tender 23 years, and Stones playing with a real newfound self-assuredness.

Building from this solid defensive base, City have begun to return to their exciting, creative attacking best. Phil Foden, having seen his playing time restricted slightly more than would have been expected this season given his post-lockdown form and the departure of David Silva in the summer, followed up his impressive Chelsea display with another eye catching performance.

The way the City academy product can see the most acute of angles and pick passes is a joy to watch. Everything is so sharp and crisp – his low cross to find a marginally offside Ilkay Gundogan inside the first five minutes epitomising his keen eye for a pass and inch perfect delivery to match.

Driving City forward time and time again was the imperious Kevin de Bruyne. When he marauded forward with the ball you were always confident that he would pick the right pass, make the right choice and cause United problems.

An infuriating inconsistency has been a telling theme for the majority of Premier League teams this season – understandable given the congested fixture schedule and unique pandemic circumstances. For City to have turned in two complete performances in the space of four days is a real statement of intent from Guardiola’s side.

2021 is looking increasingly likely to be the year that Tottenham end their 13-year wait for a trophy.

They took a big stride on that journey on Tuesday night, besting Championship Brentford in the EFL Cup semi-finals to book their place at Wembley for the later-than-usual final in April.

It was nervy at times – particularly when Ivan Toney’s equaliser was ruled out for offside by the narrowest of margins – but for the most part, this was further evidence of the mentality change that Jose Mourinho is said to have brought about in north London.

In truth, Spurs never looked like ‘doing a Spurs’ against Brentford. They kept an impressive Bees side at arms length throughout and got the job done with a goal in each half. The first was scored by Moussa Sissoko, who capitalised on some socially distanced defending to nod home Sergio Reguilon’s excellent cross.

Spurs then spurned a few good chances to put the game beyond doubt, before Son Heung-min did exactly that, finishing off a trademark counterattack with a venomous strike.

The Mourinho factor should not be underplayed in this result. As pointed out by Opta after the game, the Spurs boss has now become just the third manager in history to reach the League Cup final with three different clubs. Winning games like this is what he does best, as evidenced by his near-perfect record in semi-finals.

Few managers in world football are as well equipped for squeezing results out of one-off games than Mourinho, which is why Spurs will be full of confidence regardless of which Manchester club they end up meeting at Wembley in the spring.

Diverting our attention away from the EFL Cup for a moment, Tottenham’s comparatively easy draws in both the FA Cup and the Europa League also seem to suggest that the omens for 2021 are good.

In the former, they take on non-league Marine next week. The Liverpool-based Lilywhites are a properly part-time outfit, not one of those quasi-professional sides that reside in the Conference. Make no mistake, if Spurs fail to progress to the fourth round against the eighth-tier minnows, it will be one of the most shocking results in English football history.

Meanwhile, in the Europe League, they have been afforded another preferable tie, this time against Wolfsberger – an Austrian Bundesliga team currently languishing in mid-table and the very lowest ranked team left in the competition.

While Tottenham are probably still just about in an unpredictable domestic title race, their pursuit of silverware could well be aided by their rivals focusing on other priorities when it comes to crunch time; in April Man City or Man Utd could be making a final push in the Premier League, while the same goes for the whole of the so-called ‘Big Six’ and tougher European opponents such as Milan and Ajax when the FA Cup and Europa League finals roll around in May.

Put simply, both of these draws were the most straightforward games that Spurs could have hoped for. Luck? Or, a sign that 2021 is going to the year of the cockerel?

Whichever one is it, this good fortune, combined with their managers perverted obsession with grinding out unwatchable wins are a potent cocktail for success in cup competitions. In other words, it could be time for rival fans to start preparing some insults other than ones that focus on the dust gathering on Spurs’ trophy cabinet.

Frank Lampard has admitted his Chelsea side were given a ‘lesson’ during their 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, while also asking for patience during the club’s ongoing rebuild.

City were irresistible in the first half at Stamford Bridge, scoring three times to put the game beyond their hosts in little over half an hour.

Ilkay Gundogan grabbed the first, swivelling on the edge of the box before firing a shot into the bottom corner, while Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne would also net before the break. Callum Hudson-Odoi would then grab a consolation in the dying minutes of the second half.

The defeat was Chelsea’s fourth in six Premier League games and soon after full time it was reported that Lampard’s job was in jeopardy.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, he admitted the City result and his side’s recent poor form has been tough to take.

“The players felt a real lesson on the pitch in that first half,” Lampard said (via the Telegraph).

“I had tough periods last year. Maybe there were mitigating circumstances so people didn’t view them the same…and to me they felt tough and rough because I am a perfectionist and I do want the best for this club so the first person who puts pressure [on me] is me and there were times last year when I felt pressure.”

Despite spending over £200m in the summer, the result leaves Chelsea seven points adrift of joint leaders Liverpool and Manchester United, who both have a game in hand. They are also worse off, in terms of points, than they were after 17 games last season.

Lampard added that Chelsea’s poor run could be partly explained by the influx of new talent this season, insisting the club would need to endure some ‘pain’ before returning to the summit of English football.

He said: “I was real after Leeds to say we are not title contenders, I am real now to say this club has to take some pain to get to where we want to get to because any rebuild and the [transfer] ban that we had the players we brought in takes pain. It means pain behind the scenes, pain on the pitch occasionally and fight and character and that’s how you build.”

If you’d have told Arsenal supporters before their match with West Bromwich Albion that they would face a disciplined team managed by big Sam Allardyce on a freezing cold, snowy evening at The Hawthorns, they’d probably have asked if there was any chance of a postponement.

Unfortunately for those pessimistic Gooners, the pitch and weather conditions were deemed adequate for a duel, and this fragile set of confidence-shot players were forced out of their dressing rooms and into the lion’s den.

For many teams, this opposition combined with these almost unplayable conditions would be considered a potential banana skin. For Mikel Arteta, this was a newly-waxed marble floor, covered in oil, with a single banana skin on top. Oh, and they’re all wearing bowling shoes.

What was needed on Saturday night more than ever, was courage, heart, and a crop of hungry young starlets, prepared to stick two fingers up to the snow and the doubters. Luckily for Arteta and Gooners everywhere, Arsenal had enough of these rough diamonds to ease past West Brom, and take another step towards a full recovery.

The visitors were still well away from full strength, with Pablo Mari and Emile Smith Rowe continuing their rare runs in the side. But Arteta opted for an adventurous front four, consisting of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka on the left and right flanks, and Smith Rowe operating just behind Alexandre Lacazette in attack.

It was a forward line filled with pace, experience, canny knowhow and youthful exuberance – and bags of potential. This time, everything clicked, and the Gunners treated their supporters to a masterclass on attacking movement.

The front four threatened to burst into life on a couple of occasions, with the wingers regularly vacating the flanks for their full-backs to hurtle forward. Hector Bellerin had an early shot blocked from one of his marauding ventures into the West Brom penalty area, but it was only a sign of things to come.

Fellow full-back Kieran Tierney broke the deadlock on 20 minutes, benefitting from being awarded the freedom of the left flank to bomb forward, cut inside and crash a stunning strike beyond Sam Johnstone.

The real showpiece arrived a few minutes later, when the front four combined majestically to double the lead. Lacazette received the ball with his back to goal, and cheekily flicked a pass around the corner to Smith Rowe, who had got on his bike the moment he saw the action unfolding.

The youngster’s fluid movement and quick-thinking caught the entire West Brom defence by surprise, and they could only watch as he rolled the ball into the path of Saka, who tapped into an empty net. For a brief few seconds, all the problems of the past five months melted away like the snow beneath their feet.

Gooners had their Arsenal back.

In fairness, Areta’s men did not take their foot off the pedal, and having survived a nervy opening ten minutes to the second half, Lacazette killed the game with one fell swing of his boot. The Frenchman grabbed his second and Arsenal’s fourth minutes later, nudging the ball over the line from another Tierney cross.

The Scottish defender was imperious on that left flank, and even at 4-0, he never allowed the West Brom backline any rest. Overall, it was a stunning display from Arsenal, from start to finish. They were confident, disciplined, fluid and creative.

They were everything they haven’t been in recent weeks, bar their impressive victory over Chelsea. But their second win on the bounce did prove one thing: that performance against the Blues was no fluke – this group of players are on back on track, and just in time, too.

Manchester United claimed all three points in an entertaining clash at Old Trafford on Friday night, as they beat Aston Villa 2-1 to go level on points with Liverpool at the top of the Premier League.

It was an entertaining first half with Villa edging the play, but it was the Red Devils who broke the deadlock just before half time. Aaron Wan-Bissaka broke down the right wing and put in a cross that found Anthony Martial, who stooped low to head beyond Emi Martinez.

Villa found an equaliser in the second half when a quickly taken free-kick found Jack Grealish, who drilled a cross low into the box for Bertrand Traore to control and slot past David De Gea.

However, United got straight back into the lead just three minutes later though when Paul Pogba was adjudged to have been fouled in the box by Douglas Luiz, and that man Bruno Fernandes scored from the spot to win the game.

MANCHESTER UNITED

David De Gea (GK) – 7/10 – Super save to deny Ollie Watkins at 1-0 and another to deny Matty Cash late on.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (RB) – 7/10 – Assist for United’s opener but went to sleep as Villa equalised. Did extremely well to deny El-Ghazi at the back post to keep it 2-1.

Eric Bailly (CB) – 7/10 – Excellent performance from the Ivorian as he made a fourth start in a row for the first time since 2017. Kept Watkins quiet for the most part and a stunning block at the death to save the points.

Harry Maguire (CB) – 7/10 – His good form continues with another strong performance. The England star kept the ball well and dominant in the air too.

Luke Shaw (LB) – 8/10 – Arguably his best performance in a Manchester United shirt. Constantly a threat on the overlap and solid defensively throughout.

Scott McTominay (DM) – 4/10 – Really struggled for the home side defensively and was poor in possession. Subbed after 65 minutes.

Fred (CM) – 7/10 – Did the hard yards defensively and made more interceptions than anyone else on the pitch.

Paul Pogba (CM) – 9/10 – Best player on the pitch. The World Cup winner had a big hand in anything good Manchester United did, including a wonderful bit of skill in the build up to the opening goal. He also won the penalty too.

Bruno Fernandes (CAM) – 8/10 – Goal from the spot but as usual was involved in everything United did going forward. Where would they be without him?

Marcus Rashford (ST) – 6/10 – Electric on the ball but never quite clicked for him in front of goal. Always dangerous though.

Anthony Martial (ST) – 7/10 – Was pretty quiet but took his only chance with a fine header to score the opening goal.

Nemanja Matic (DM) – 6/10 – Came on and took over well in midfield. Completed every pass he attempted as United closed out the game and took all three points.

Daniel James (LW) – N/A

Axel Tuanzebe (CB) – N/A

ASTON VILLA

Emiliano Martinez (GK) – 8/10 – Made seven saves in total, including a stunning one to deny Fernandes’ effort at 2-1 down but could do nothing about either of the goals.

Matt Cash (RB) – 6/10 – Tried hard to attack but struggled to contain the Pogba-Shaw duo all night.

Tyrone Mings (CB) – 5/10 – Missed the clearance for United’s opener and then missed a big headed chance towards the end. Not his night.

Ezri Konsa (CB) – 5/10 – Dealt with the physicality of Martial well throughout the night, winning three out of four aerial duels.

Matt Targett (LB) – 6/10 – Caused Wan-Bissaka problems with his overlapping runs but his end product wasn’t with him.

Douglas Luiz (CM) – 6/10 – Defended well in midfield and his passing was very good throughout, completing 89% of his passes.

John McGinn (CM) – 6/10 – Villa had the better of the game in midfield for about 20 minutes in the first half but they faded as the game went on.

Jack Grealish (CAM) – 8/10 – The visitors’ best player once again. Got an assist and tried to create throughout, but couldn’t quite get them over the line.

Bertrand Traore (RW) – 6/10 – Scored the equaliser with his only real chance of the game but was relatively quiet for the rest of the night.

Anwar El-Ghazi (LW) – 5/10 – Struggled to make any sort of impact throughout the game as his scoring streak came to an end.

Ollie Watkins (ST) – 5/10 – Ran the channels well but never got the better of Bailly or Maguire, apart from one header that went wide.

Jacob Ramsey (RW) – 5/10

Keinan Davis (ST) – N/A

Remember when a few celebrities dies in 2016 and we were convinced it was the worst year in history?

2020 has made an absolute mockery of 2016.

We’re not quite sure we can find the words to sum up the year – so we’ll leave it to some others from across the world of football and beyond to do it for us.

Nick Cushing announced he was stepping down as Manchester City Women’s manager in January to take up an assistant coach role with New York City.

However, City still had five games to play between Cushing’s announcement and departure in February. What were they like, Nick?

“These last five games have felt like I’ve split up with my girlfriend but I’m still living in the same house as her.”

Often, pundits hit the spot when it comes to analysis.

Sometimes, we should just leave it to well-spoken British actors.

Hugh Grant attempted to explain who Norwich City were to co star Matthew McConaughey during Football Focus‘ Premier League predictions in January, and summed up Daniel Farke’s likeable but ultimately very beatable top flight outfit perfectly.

“Oh they’re charming. They play in silly yellow.”

Crowds have largely been absent from football grounds since March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

For supporters, the absence of football on a Saturday afternoon left a void in their lives – and the absence of fans left football feeling similarly empty.

Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa and his trusty translator best articulated the importance of fans to football (via Leeds Live).

“Everyone who is a part of this business that football has become is replaceable. The only people who cannot be replaced are you, the fans. The people who don’t ask for anything in return, only emotions.”

Sometimes the shortest quotes are the best.

In June it was announced that Everton full-back Luke Garbutt would be leaving the club at the end of the month following 11 years at Goodison Park (although admittedly punctuated by six separate loan spells).

Carlo Ancelotti was asked for his thoughts on the player. He paused to carefully consider which words would be most befitting of Garbutt, before replying:

“Who?”

Bury have had a rough old time of it over the past 18 months, and in August the club released a statement keeping fans updated on their latest attempts to regain their EFL status.

So far, so normal.

The statement then concluded with:

“Finally, in an unrelated matter.”

And when they said unrelated, they meant unrelated.

An attack on the BBC, the licence fee and the Last Night of the Proms controversy then ensued.

“The Suits that wander the corridors of power at the BBC decide that one of our greatest events, which when watching makes you proud to be British of what we were but certainly not at what were at risk of becoming. It would now seem they have determined we can no longer sing rousing songs that bound our once GREAT COUNTRY together, again it seems the moral compass of the few control the many. ITS WRONG”

Bayern Munich’s 8-2 win over Barcelona in August was one of the most ridiculous, outrageous and iconic footballing moments of 2020.

Bayern headed into the fixture on an outstanding run of form, unbeaten in 2020 and with a 100% record in the Champions League during the 2019/20 campaign. However, Barcelona’s Arturo Vidal was quick to warn Bayern not to be complacent.

“Tomorrow they are not playing against Bundesliga teams but they are playing against FC Barcelona, ​the best team in the world.”

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Antonio Conte was in a chipper mood after Inter’s Champions League exit.

The Serie A outfit drew 0-0 with Shakhtar Donetsk in their final group game to crash out of Europe, and when asked by a journalist how his side had managed to play out two stalemates home and away against Shakhtar, having beaten them 5-0 in August, Conte replied:

Scotland provided one of the feel good moments of 2020 as the men’s side qualified for a major tournament for the first time in 23 years via a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Serbia.

Celtic’s Ryan Christie gave a beautifully emotional interview at full time that captured what every Scot was feeling as he attempted to describe watching the spot kicks, before simply concluding:

“Ohhhhh. I’m gone.”

Most footballers feign modesty when asked about individual awards – they don’t really matter, all about the team etc.

However, Chelsea Women’s boss Emma Hayes very refreshingly admitted that she was absolutely thrilled to be nominated for the Best FIFA Women’s Coach award (via the Sun) – before bringing herself back down to earth when discussing her outfit choice for the ceremony.

“I have got a lot of musician friends who lived in America when I lived there. And I say to them, ‘this is like being nominated for a Grammy, or an Oscar’. Apparently I have to wear formal attire. But because I’m going to be at home on a computer, I think I’m going to put something over my pyjamas.”

Football lost a true great in November as World Cup winner Diego Maradona passed away.

Summing up the flawed genius of Maradona is impossible, but a conversation between an Uber driver and journalist Roberto Lioi is the best way to describe why the imperfect Argentinian was so infectiously adored.

“Messi is what every Argentine would like to be. Maradona is what we are.”