According to the Daily Mail, UEFA - the European football
governing body - changed their traditional 4-3-3 UEFA Team of the Year setup to
a 4-2-4 to accommodate Cristiano Ronaldo. This is because Lionel Messi, Sadio
Mane and Robert Lewandowski were the three forwards with the most votes, with
Ronaldo finishing fourth. The changes made to include Ronaldo are reportedly
responsible for the one week delay of the Team of the Year publication.
Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante paid the price for Ronaldo's
inclusion as he was the midfielder with the third most votes, and was stricken
off given the new 4-2-4 formation.
As reported by the Daily Mail, a source told them:
"This is really not good. It is effective vote rigging. Ronaldo's
popularity is so great at UEFA that alarms sounded when they saw the results.
"For that reason, they changed the XI."
A UEFA spokesperson has explained that the change in
formation was to accommodate Ronaldo due to his winning of the Nations League
with his country.
"The formation of this year's team of the year was
chosen to reflect the votes of the fans parallel with the players' achievements
in UEFA competitions.
"As a result, there are five UEFA Champions League
winners and four UEFA Nations League finalists (including one winner). The
formation changes on a regular basis and this year is no exception."
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