Ricardo Kaka (brasil)

Johan Cruyff Hedrick Johannes Cruijff (Johan Cruijff) often spelled Cruyff outside the Netherlands; see born April 25, 1947 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager/coach and former star player, regarded as one of the greats of the game. Named three times European Footballer of the Year (1971, 1973, 1974) and European Player of the Century by the IFFHS in 1999, he was a silky exponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football, developed by his coach Rinus Michels. He has been named as one of the best football players of his generation, alongside Maradona, Garrincha, Pelé, and Franz Beckenbauer, although he did not win a cup or tournament with his national team. Cruijff was also highly successful as manager of Ajax and FC Barcelona; he still remains as an influential advisor to Barça and Ajax. He was voted European player of the century by the IFFHS ahead of Franz Beckenbauer. Position midfielder

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (born 23 June 1972 in Marseille, France), popularly nicknamed Zizou, is a former French football player of Kabyle ethnicity, whose parents immigrated to France from Kabylie, Algeria. Zidane starred for both the French national team and four European club teams, concluding with Real Madrid, during an eighteen-year career in which he was listed as one of the greatest players in football history. Position

Midfielder

Lionel Andrés Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (born 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Argentina) is an Argentine-Spanish football player, who currently plays for FC Barcelona. He is often touted in the media as the new "Diego Maradona". Messi has been publicly named as "Maradona's successor" by Diego Maradona himself.

Position

Attacking Midfielder

Gennaro ivan gattuso •

Gennaro "Rino" Ivan Gattuso (born January 9, 1978 in Corigliano Calabro) is an Italian World Cup winning footballer. His position is a defensive midfielder. He currently plays for A.C. Milan, with whom he won the UEFA Champions League in the season 2002/2003 and in the 2003/04

position

defensive midfield

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980, Whiston, Merseyside) is an English football player with Liverpool F.C. and the England national football team. Gerrard wears the number 8 shirt for Liverpool and is currently the club captain, as well as the England vice captain where he usually wears the number 4 shirt. He is usually employed in a central midfield role, although he has often been deployed as a right-sided midfielder. He is often cited as the most influential midfielder in England, having won the PFA Young Player of the Year, PFA Player of the Year and UEFA Most Valuable Player, although he hasn't yet managed to win English Footballs biggest prize, the F.A Premier League. position

attacking midfield

Patrick Viera The Senegal-born Vieira began his playing career with AS Cannes in his adopted homeland in 1993 and moved to AC Milan two years later. Vieira formed part of the Milan squad which won the Italian title in 1996, but only made only four appearances before joining Arsenal for €5.7m after new manager Arsène Wenger had stipulated in his contract talks that the club buy the midfielder. Vieira won league and cup doubles in 1997/98 and 2001/02, He became captain in August 2002 and lifted the 2003 FA Cup before guiding Arsenal to the 2004 league title without defeat and scoring the decisive spot-kick in the 2005 FA Cup final. That was to be his Arsenal farewell as he returned to Italy in a €20m transfer to Juventus. position

defensive midfield

Pavel nedved Pavel Nedvěd (born August 30, 1972 in Cheb, Czech Republic, at that time Czechoslovakia) is a Czech professional football player. Nedvěd is a midfielder for Italian club Juventus and formerly for the Czech Republic national team. Before joining Juventus, Nedvěd played for Czech clubs Dukla Prague (1991-92), Sparta Prague (1992-96), and Lazio (1996-2001) in Italy. He has won one Italian scudetto championship with Lazio and four with Juventus (though two of these were later stripped from Juventus after the matchfixing scandal). Nedvěd is a dedicated, hard-working player. One of Nedvěd's main strengths is that he can play equally well with both feet. This is evident in his shooting capabilities from a distance, as he has unleashed shots of well over 25 meters with both feet. position

wing midfield

Luis Figo Luis Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, (born November 4, 1972 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese international footballer, who plays as a midfielder and winger, currently for Inter Milan. He is widely considered one of Portugal's greatest players. Figo was known as the original Golden Boy (a name which now belongs to his friend Cristiano Ronaldo, a team-mates of Figo's from the Portugal national football team and played alongside him as a winger during the 2006 FIFA World Cup). He was also known as the main footballer behind Portugal's prominent Golden Generation that consisted of fellow legends like Rui Costa, and was the reason why the term came into use. position

wing midfield

Rui Costa Rui Manuel César Costa usually referred to simply as Rui Costa (born March 29, 1972 in Lisbon), is a Portuguese football player. He is an attacking midfielder for Portuguese club SL Benfica and is also capable of playing as a deepseated defensive midfielder. Alongside fellow legend Luis Figo, he is considered to be one of the two best Portuguese playmakers of all time, and is known as the maestro. His pin-point passes, extraordinary vision on the pitch and ferocious right-footed kick made him famous all around Europe. In 2004, he was named by Pelé to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living football players. position

attacking midfield

Frank Rijkaard •

Rijkaard was just 17, He made an immediate impact, scoring for his team in the 4-2 victory over Go Ahead Eagles. He would play another 23 games for Ajax in his first season, netting a total of 4 goals. In 1982 he won his first Dutch Eredivisie championship with Ajax, and went on to successfully defend that title a year later. In 1987, what would have been Rijkaard's fourth year under Dutch football legend Johan Cruijff as head coach, Rijkaard stormed off the training field and vowed never to play under him again. He was signed by Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon, but too late to be eligible to play in any competition. He was immediately loaned out to Spanish team Real Zaragoza, but upon completing his first season at Zaragoza, was signed by Italian side AC Milan. position

midfield

Francesc fabregas •

Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas Soler (born May 4, 1987 in Arenys de Mar, Catalonia, Spain) is a Catalan Spanish footballer who currently plays as a central midfielder for Arsenal in the English Premier League and for the Spanish national team. Fàbregas started his career at FC Barcelona B but was signed by Arsenal in mid2003 before he could sign a professional contract with FC Barcelona.

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Fàbregas is one of the best of Spain's next generation of footballers. He is able to play as an attack-minded midfielder, with the ability to play eye-of-the-needle passes. Additionally, at Arsenal he has occasionally been used out-ofposition as a right-side midfielder. position

midfield

Clarence seedorf •

Clarence Seedorf (born April 1, 1976 in Paramaribo, Suriname) is a Dutch-Surinamese football midfielder, who currently plays for AC Milan in Serie A.

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Seedorf is the first, and to date, the only person to have won the UEFA Champions League with three different teams: Ajax (1995), Real Madrid (1998) and AC Milan (2003). He also played for Sampdoria and Internazionale.

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Seedorf was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. position

defensive midfield

Ze Roberto •

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Ze Roberto, real name José Roberto da Silva Junior, (born July 6, 1974 in Ipiranga) is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a midfielder. He was under contract to Bayern Munich until June 30, 2006. He has stated that he will not re-sign with Bayern at the end of the World Cup. He was part of the Brazil squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2006 FIFA World Cup. He is a versatile, left-footed winger who is a deft dribbler and crosses the ball well. Ze Roberto sometimes struggled to win a starting spot at Bayern Munich. However, he has earned a starting spot in the Seleção where he plays through the centre. Following the announcement that he would not return to Bayern Munich, he publicly criticized the club's style of play and predicted struggles if changes were not made. position

attacking winger

Kaka •

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (born April 22, 1982 in Brasília), better known as Kaka, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Brazil and the Serie A club A.C. Milan. position attacking midfield

Liam Brady •

Liam Brady (born February 13, 1956 in Dublin) is a former Irish footballer, who is now a coach and television pundit. He was renowned as a midfielder with elegant technical skills, most notably his left foot, his high-quality passing and close control. He found success both with Arsenal (one FA Cup title) and Juventus (two Serie A titles), and won 72 caps for the Republic of Ireland. He is currently Arsenal's Head of Youth Development. position

attacking midfield