Tuesday 8 October 2013

Valdes



Víctor Valdés i Arribas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbiktor βalˈdes aˈriβas]; born 14 January 1982) is a Spanish football goalkeeper who currently plays for FC Barcelona in La Liga.
He is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in Barcelona's history, having won a total of 19 trophies including five La Liga titles, three Champions League titles, and two Copa del Rey titles. He also has won the Zamora Trophy a record five times. He currently holds the club records as goalkeeper with most appearances in the league and in official competition, breaking Andoni Zubizarreta's records during the 2011–12 season. Before joining the full team in 2002–03 season, Valdés played for the youth teams and FC Barcelona B.

Iker Casillas



Iker Casillas Fernández (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈiker kaˈsiʎas ferˈnandeθ]; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish football goalkeeper who plays for and captains both La Liga club Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. In 2008 he was the captain of the Spanish team that won their first European Championship in 44 years, the Spanish team that went on to win Spain's first World Cup (a tournament in which he won the Golden Glove aka Yashin Award) and the 2012 European Championship.
Considered to be one of the finest goalkeepers in the history of the game,  Casillas has been nominated for the European Footballer of the Year award twice, ranking fourth overall in 2008 and again receiving more votes than any other goalkeeper in 2009.  At the end of 2012 he was voted into the UEFA Team of the Year for the sixth consecutive time, a record he shares with Cristiano Ronaldo. As of 2011 Casillas is one of a very select group of players who have won all major club and national championship titles. In 2010, he was awarded with the Sports Prince of Asturias Award. On 19 October 2010, Casillas became the most capped goalkeeper of all time in the UEFA Champions League and in November 2011, he became the most capped player of all time for the Spanish national team.



Diego Maradona



Diego Armando Maradona Franco (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈdjeɣo maɾaˈðona], born 30 October 1960) is an Argentine football coach as well as a manager and former player. Many experts, football critics, former players, current players and football fans consider Maradona as the best football player of all time.  He was joint FIFA Player of the 20th Century with Pelé.
He is the only footballer to set world-record contract fees twice, firstly when transferring to Barcelona for a then world record £5m, and secondly, when transferred to Napoli for another record fee £6.9m. During his professional club career Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys. At club level, he is most famous for his career in Napoli where he won numerous accolades. In his international career, playing for Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals.
He played in four FIFA World Cup tournaments, including the 1986 tournament, where he captained Argentina and led them to their victory over West Germany in the final, winning the Golden Ball award as the tournament's best player. In that same tournament's quarterfinal round, he scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over England that entered football history, though for two different reasons. The first goal was via an unpenalized handball known as the "Hand of God", while the second goal followed a 60 m (66 yd) dribble past five England players, voted "The Goal of the Century" by FIFA.com voters in 2002.
Maradona is considered one of the sport's most controversial and newsworthy figures. He was suspended from football for 15 months in 1991 after failing a drug test, for cocaine, in Italy, and he was sent home from the 1994 World Cup in the USA after testing positive for ephedrine. In 2005, he lost a considerable amount of extra weight and overcame his cocaine addiction. His outspoken manners have sometimes put him at odds with journalists and sport executives. Although he had little managerial experience, he became head coach of the Argentina national team in November 2008, and held the job for eighteen months, until his contract expired after the 2010 World Cup.
In August 2013, Maradona joined Argentine Primera D club Deportivo Riestra's staff as "spiritual coach",[ debuting in his new role on Monday 19th v San Miguel.

Xavi



Xavier "Xavi" Hernández i Creus ; born 25 January 1980), is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national football team.
Xavi came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at the age of 11. He made his first-team debut against RCD Mallorca on 18 August 1998. Since then he has played 673 matches, scored 80 goals and made more than 180 assists for over 50 players. Xavi is the first player in FC Barcelona's history to play 150 international matches.  He is considered to be one of the best midfielders of all time, and the best playmaker of his generation.
Xavi won the U-20 World Cup for Spain in 1999, and the Olympic Silver Medal at the 2000 Olympics. Since making his senior team debut in 2000, he has been capped 128 times for the Spanish national team, and has been seen as an influential figure in the team's tremendous success. He played a key role in Spain's victory at the 2010 World Cup, as well as both Euro 2008 and Euro 2012. He was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA at Euro 2008.  Xavi was selected in the 2010 World Cup All-star Team, and the UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament in 2008 as well as 2012. Playing for Barcelona, Xavi won the Man of the Match award in the Champions League Final in 2009.
Xavi has won more trophies (25) than any other Spanish player in history.  He won the World Soccer Player of the Year award in 2010. Xavi has received five Ballon d'Or nominations, and finished in third place in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2011, he was runner up to Messi for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. He has been awarded the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker award for 4 years: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. Xavi has been voted into both the FIFA World XI and the UEFA Team of the Year on 5 occasions each: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. At Euro 2012, with his 2 assists in the Final, Xavi became the first player to register assists in 2 separate Euro finals, having set up the lone goal in the Final 4 years ago.  He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports in 2012.

Zlatan Ibrahimović



Zlatan Ibrahimović (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈslaːtan ɪbraˈhiːmɔvɪtʂ], Bosnian pronunciation: [ˈzlatan ibraˈxiːmɔʋitɕ]; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Swedish national team for which he is captain. Ibrahimović started his career at Malmö FF in the late 1990s under Roland Andersson. He was signed by Ajax, and made a name for himself under Ronald Koeman. He later signed with Juventus for €16 million. Ibrahimović gained fame in Serie A, benefiting from his strike partnership with David Trezeguet.
In 2006, he signed with league rival Internazionale, where he won individual awards such as the Italian Oscar del Calcio and the Swedish Guldbollen, and was named in the 2007 and 2009 UEFA Team of the Year, in addition to finishing as the league's highest scorer in 2008–09 while winning three straight Scudetti. In the summer of 2009, he transferred to Barcelona. His time at Barcelona was short-lived, however, moving back to Serie A football with Milan the following season, in a deal which made him one of the highest paid footballers in the world  and cost the Italian club €24 million. He signed a three-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain in July 2012.
He is regarded to be one of the most talented footballers of his generation.  In 2012, he was ranked 5th in The Guardian's 100 Best Footballers in the world.