Laureus World Sports Awards: Golden State Warriors, Real Madrid in hunt for World Team of the Year

Some of the world’s best teams, including Real Madrid and Golden State Warriors, will vie for this year’s Laureus World Team of the Year award. Joining them will be the French Davis Cup team, Formula One outfit Mercedes, New Zealand America’s Cup Team and the New England Patriots, who were all nominated after a ballot by the world’s sports media. The World Team of the Year award is handed to the team that best demonstrates supreme performance and achievements — such as world, continental, international or national and major championship titles. The team of the year could represent a country, a province, a county, a state, a professional sporting body, franchise or club. As Laureus’ India partners, Firstpost brings you the nominees for the World Team of the Year (listed in alphabetical order).

And the Nominees for the Laureus World Team of the Year are… #Laureus18 pic.twitter.com/z97yqS7uL3

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— Laureus (@LaureusSport) January 16, 2018

France Davis Cup Team (Tennis) Led by captain Yannick Noah, France won Davis Cup for the 10th time, beating Belgium 3-2 in the final. It was France’s first victory in 16 years. The team comprised of Richard Gasquet, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Lucas Pouille and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Golden State Warriors (Basketball) Newly-traded Kevin Durant led the Warriors to victory over LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers to win the NBA Finals for the second time in three years. Durant and Warriors’ Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson were all named for the 2017 NBA All-Star game. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team With drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, the team won both the Constructors World Championship and the individual World Championship for the fourth successive year. It was Hamilton’s third individual world title with the Mercedes team in 2017, and his fourth in total. Mercedes won 12 of the 20 Grand Prix, with Hamilton winning nine and Bottas three. New Zealand America’s Cup Team (Sailing) Won the greatest prize in sailing in 2017, gaining revenge over the US Oracle Team. Four years ago, they suffered a crushing 9-8 defeat to Oracle in San Francisco, having led 8-1. On this occasion they won 7-1, steered to victory by Peter Burling, the youngest ever helmsman in America’s Cup history. New England Patriots (American Football) Came back from 28-3 down to win 34-28 for their fifth Super Bowl success under coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. The Patriots have appeared in the Super Bowl nine times, the most of any team, seven of them since the arrival of Belichick and Brady in 2000. Real Madrid (Football) Won a record 12th Champions League/European Cup, beating Juventus 4-1 in Cardiff. It was their third success in four years. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, becoming first man to score in three Champions League finals. Since he became coach in January 2016, Zinedine Zidane has won back-to-back Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, the FIFA Club World Cup and the 2016/17 La Liga title.