EA Sports announces FIFA 18 Team of the Year nominees

Every year in early January, EA Sports build a team of players based on their real performance on the previous year. The players of this TOTY are usually selected from the voting of FIFPro, the world wide professional footballers association, and announced in the Best FIFA Football Awards 2017 Gala. They are supposed to be the best players in the world. However, this year things will be a bit different.

For the first time ever, the TOTY will be voted on by a carefully curated list of media, athletes and EA Sports FIFA community members. This collective of ballot recipients has been chosen to represent the millions of EA Sports FIFA players all over the world. Each team will be selected from a shortlist of 55 players, nominated by EA Sports for their real-world performance in 2017.

Custom-built ballot boxes were delivered to each recipient on January 8, containing all 55 of the nominee player items. Each vote will consist of three attackers, three midfielders, four defenders, and one goalkeeper in a 4-3-3 formation. Each ballot recipient will cast their vote by posting a photo of their team on social media with #TOTYVote by January 12.

The ballots submitted by this group will account for 60% of the final vote. The remaining 40% of the votes will be cast by EA Sports.

Voting closes on 12 January, and the nominated players are as follows:

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Spurs), Keylor Navas (Real Madrid), Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid), David De Gea (Manchester United), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

Defenders: Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan), César Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain), Diego Godín (Atlético), Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), David Luiz (Chelsea), Kalidou Koulibali (Napoli), Jan Vertonghen (Spurs), Marcos Alonso (Chelsea), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Filipe Luís (Atlético Madrid), David Alaba (Bayern Munich), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Dani Alves (Paris Saint-Germain), Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Antonio Valencia (Manchester United), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)

Midfielders: Casemiro (Real Madrid), N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain), Radja Nainggolan (Roma), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Luka Modrić (Real Madrid), Thiago Alcántara (Bayern Munich), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Isco (Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Christian Eriksen (Spurs), Paolo Dybala (Juventus), Dele Alli (Spurs), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich), Emil Forsberg (RB Leipzig)

Attackers: Sergio Agüero (Manchester City), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Luis Suárez (Barcelona), Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain), Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Harry Kane (Spurs), Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

The final Team of the Year will be announced starting on January 15, with special TOTY player items available in packs for a limited time in FIFA 18 Ultimate Team.