Football

France Football to select “greatest XI in history” to replace 2020 Ballon d’Or

It is no longer news that the Ballon d’Or awards will not be held this year because of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. In its place, France Football have announced an ambitious replacement: the selection of “the greatest XI in history”, with a total of 10 nominees in each position.

The first set of 40 nominees for the Ballon d’Or Dream Team – goalkeeper, right back, left back and centre back – was released on Monday, 5 October.

The midfielder nominees will be made public on Monday, 12 October, followed by the forwards a week later.

The 170 journalists who regularly vote for the Ballon d’Or, including AS honorary president Alfredo Relaño, will be tasked with choosing the final XI, with the prestigious selection to be announced on 17 December.

The list:
Ajax:  Donny van de Beek, Dusan Tadić  

Arsenal:  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang  

Atletico Madrid:  João Félix  

Barcelona:  Frenkie de Jong, Marc-André ter Stegen, Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann  

Bayern Munich:  Robert Lewandowski  

Juventus:  Cristiano Ronaldo, Matthjis de Ligt  

Liverpool:  Sadio Mané, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Virgil van Djik, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah  

Manchester City:  Sergio Agüero, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling  

Napoli:  Kalidou Koulibaly  

PSG:  Kylian Mbappé, Marquinhos  

Real Madrid:  Karim Benzema, Eden Hazard  

Tottenham:  Hugo Lloris, Heung-min Son

Sammy Wejinya

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