Tuesday, 8 October 2013

David Villa Sánchez




David Villa Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation:  ; born 3 December 1981), nicknamed El Guaje (Asturian: The Kid),  is a Spanish footballer who currently plays as a striker for Atlético Madrid  and the Spanish national football team. He can also operate as a winger.
Despite sustaining a serious injury as a child, he started his professional career with Sporting de Gijón. He moved to Real Zaragoza after two seasons, where he made his La Liga début, winning his first senior honours—the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España. He joined Valencia CF in 2005 for a transfer fee of €12 million and was part of the Valencia team that won the Copa del Rey in the 2007–08 season. In 2010 he moved to FC Barcelona for €40 million where he won his first La Liga and UEFA Champions League titles.Villa made his international début in 2005. He has since participated in three major tournaments, becoming an integral member of the Spain teams that won Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He scored three goals at the 2006 World Cup, was the top scorer at Euro 2008 and earned the Silver Boot at the 2010 World Cup. He is the first Spanish player to ever reach 50 international goals and is Spain's all-time top goalscorer, having also scored more World Cup goals than any other player in Spain's history in the process.  The goals-to-games ratio he has achieved for the national team has not been matched by any player since Alfredo Di Stéfano.

Wayne Rooney



Wayne Mark Rooney / (born 24 October 1985) is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team.
Aged nine, Rooney joined the youth team of Everton, for whom he made his professional debut in 2002 at the age of 16. He spent two seasons at the Merseyside club, before moving to Manchester United for £25.6 million in the 2004 summer transfer window. The same year, Rooney acquired the nickname "Wazza".  Since then, with Rooney in the team, United have won the Premier League five times, the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League, one FIFA Club World Cup and two League Cups. He also holds two runner-up medals from the Champions League and has twice finished second in the Premier League. In September 2013, Rooney scored his 200th goal for United, making him the club's fourth-highest goalscorer of all time.
Rooney made his senior international debut in 2003, becoming the youngest player to represent England (a record since broken by Theo Walcott). He is England's youngest ever goalscorer.  He played at UEFA Euro 2004 and scored four goals, briefly becoming the youngest goalscorer in the history of the European Championship. Rooney featured at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and is widely regarded as his country's best player.  He has won the England Player of the Year award twice, in 2008 and 2009. As of September 2013, he has won 84 international caps and scored 36 goals, making him England's fifth highest goalscorer in history. Along with David Beckham, Rooney is the most red carded player for England, having been sent off twice.
In 2009–10, Rooney was awarded the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year. He has won the Premier League Player of the Month award five times, a record he shares with Steven Gerrard. He came fifth in the vote for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or and was named in the FIFPro World 11 for 2011. Rooney has won the 'Goal of the Season' award by the BBC's Match of the Day poll on three occasions, with his bicycle kick against rivals Manchester City winning the 'Premier League Goal of the 20 Seasons' award.  As of March 2011, Rooney was reportedly the third highest-paid footballer in the world after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with an annual income of €20.7 million (£18 million) including sponsorship deals.


Carlos Tévez



Carlos Alberto Tévez (born Carlos Alberto Martínez; 5 February 1984)  is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian club Juventus. He has previously played for Manchester City, Boca Juniors, Corinthians, West Ham United and Manchester United. He transferred to Manchester City from United in the 2009 summer transfer window, becoming the first player to move between the two rival clubs since Terry Cooke in 1999.  His energy and goal scoring rate made him an indispensable player for the club in the eyes of fellow players and media alike.  He was promoted to captain at the beginning of the 2010–11 season by manager Roberto Mancini.
In 2011, Tévez sought a transfer away from Manchester, citing family reasons and Sergio Agüero was drafted in as a replacement. His career has been dogged by a long-standing relationship with Media Sports Investment (along with Just Sport), the company which owned the rights of Tévez, and several other players and coaches.  This eventually resulted in West Ham United being fined over issues regarding third-party ownership . He has made 62 appearances for the Argentina national team, scoring 13 goals.


Monday, 7 October 2013

Pele

  Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Brazilian Portuguese:  , better known as Pelé (Brazilian Portuguese:  , name given as Edison on birth certificate, born 21 October 1940 – however, Pelé himself claims that he was born on 23 October , is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is regarded by many experts, football critics, former players, current players and football fans in general as the best player of all time.In 1999, he was voted Football Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).  In the same year French weekly magazine France Football consulted their former Ballon D'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century. Pelé came in first place.  Pelé was elected "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee and Reuters News Agency in 1999, and by French newspaper L'Équipe in 1981. During his playing days Pelé was for a period the best paid athlete in the world.  According to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) he is the most successful league goal scorer in the world, with 541 league goals.  In total Pelé scored 1281 goals in 1363 games.  In his native Brazil, Pelé is hailed as a national hero.  He is known for his accomplishments and contributions to the game of football.  He is also acknowledged for his vocal support of policies to improve the social conditions of the poor (when he scored his 1,000th goal he dedicated it to the poor children of Brazil).  During his career, he became known as "The Black Pearl" (Pérola Negra), "The King of Football" (O Rei do Futebol), "The King Pelé" (O Rei Pelé) or simply "The King" (O Rei). 
He was trained since birth to become great by his father, mentor and former footballer (who was the top scorer in every season he played for, for every team) Dondinho. Later spotted, at Bauru Atlético Clube, by football star Waldemar de Brito,  Pelé began playing for Santos at 15 and his national team at 16, and won his first World Cup at 17. Despite numerous offers from European clubs, he could not leave Brazil because of a law keeping him there. In 1961 President Jânio Quadros had Pelé declared a national treasure, thus enabling Santos to keep Pelé for almost two decades until 1974. With Pelé within their ranks, Santos reached their zenith by winning the 1962 and 1963 Copa Libertadores, the most prestigious club competition in South American football.  In 1962 Santos became the first football club ever to win four out of four competitions in a single year, thus achieving the quadruple.  Pelé’s electrifying play and penchant for spectacular goals made him a star around the world. His team Santos toured internationally in order to take full advantage of his popularity. Pelé played most of his career as a deep-lying forward.  Pelé's technique and natural athleticism have been universally praised and during his playing years he was renowned for his excellent dribbling and passing, his pace, powerful shot, exceptional heading ability, and prolific goalscoring.
He is the all-time leading scorer of the Brazil national football team and is the only footballer to be a part of three World Cup-winning squads. 

Torres is a Spanish international and made his debut against Portugal in 2003. He has been capped over 100 times and is his country's third-highest goalscorer of all time. With Spain he has participated in five major tournaments; UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012. Spain won the latter three tournaments, with Torres scoring in the finals of both Euro 2008 and Euro 2012.