Giovanni Christiaan van Bronckhorst (Rotterdam, 5 februari 1975) is een Nederlandse voetballer die momenteel uitkomt voor Feyenoord. Hij won diverse prijzen zoals de Champions League, Supercopa, FA Cup en diverse landskampioenschappen. Van Bronckhorst speelde eerder bij RKC Waalwijk, Feyenoord, Glasgow Rangers, Arsenal en FC Barcelona. Nadat recordinternational Edwin van der Sar stopte bij Oranje werd Giovanni de aanvoerder van het Nederlands voetbalelftal. Van Bronckhorst staat vooral linksback of in een verdedigende rol centraal of links op het middenveld.


Van Bronckhorst begon zijn prof-carrière bij Feyenoord, waar hij echter direct werd uitgeleend aan RKC Waalwijk. Na zijn terugkeer naar Feyenoord, speelde hij hier enkele seizoenen, waarna hij in het seizoen 1998/99 het avontuur in het buitenland opzocht.
Hij vertrok naar Rangers FC, waar hij erg succesvol was. Dankzij zijn succes kon hij overstappen naar Arsenal FC, waar toen onder meer Dennis Bergkamp uitkwam. Daar brak hij echter nooit echt door en hij vertrok in het seizoen 2003/04 naar FC Barcelona onder coach Frank Rijkaard, waar hij nog een aantal Nederlandse spelers tegenkwam. In het seizoen 2004/05 kwam hij nog als enige Nederlander voor Barça uit, tot Mark van Bommel hem gezelschap kwam houden. In Barcelona was hij een van de vaste verdedigers in het kampioenenteam van Frank Rijkaard. Hij won met Barcelona tweemaal de Spaanse titel en eenmaal de Champions League. Hij werd in Barcelona zeer gewaardeerd, omdat hij zijn aanvallende intenties steeds zeer goed wist te combineren met zeer degelijk verdedigend werk.
In de zomer van 2007 kwam hij terug naar zijn jeugdliefde Feyenoord. Zijn terugkeer werd bejubeld door de supporters. Van Bronckhorst onderbrak zelfs zijn vakantie om bij de eerste training aanwezig te kunnen zijn. Ook gaf hij aan geen winstpremies te willen ontvangen. Van Bronckhorst werd door trainer Van Marwijk tot aanvoerder gekozen, de rol die hij overnam van Theo Lucius. In 1997 noemde Van Bronckhorst in het sportprogramma Veronica's Voetbal Simon Tahamata, die van 1984 tot 1987 bij Feyenoord speelde en eveneens van Molukse afkomst was, als zijn grote voorbeeld.
Van Bronckhorst maakte op 12 mei 2010 bekend na het WK 2010 te stoppen met profvoetbal. Hij zal na de zomer van 2010 bondscoach Cor Pot assisteren bij Jong Oranje.
Van Bronckhorst bereikte met het Nederlands elftal de finale van het WK 2010 door 1-0 te scoren in de 3-2 overwinning op Uruguay.

This is a Spanish name; the first family name is Valdés and the second is Arribas.
Víctor Valdés i Arribas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbiktor βalˈdes]; born 14 January 1982 in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia), is a Spanish football goalkeeper, who plays for FC Barcelona. He is the most successful goalkeeper in Barcelona's history, having won four La Liga titles, two Champions League titles, and one Copa del Rey title. Before joining the principal team in 2002–03 season, Víctor played for the youth teams and FC Barcelona B.[1] Currently, he has a contract with Barcelona until 2014.


The early part of the 2002–03 season saw him play deputy to Argentine international Roberto Bonano. The arrival of Radomir Antić as the new manager saw regular first team opportunities for him.
In the 2003–04 season, he emerged as first-choice goalkeeper, and in the 2004–05 season, he played in almost all of Barcelona's matches helping Barcelona to their first league title in six years. He also won the Zamora Trophy for the best goalkeeper in Spain.
In the 2005–06 season, he helped Barça to the double. He played a big part in Barca's 2005–06 title and in the final against Arsenal, he denied Thierry Henry twice from point-blank range. His efforts saw him singled out for praise from Frank Rijkaard. The "Zamora" title however eluded him as Víctor came third after Santiago Cañizares and the winner José Manuel Pinto.
On 17 June 2007, the last round in La Liga, Valdés matched a goalkeeping record of Barcelona legend Andoni Zubizarreta. The record held by Zubi is that he went all season long, all 38 rounds in La Liga without leaving the starting line-up nor getting substituted.[3] It has never been matched, by any Barça goalkeeper, until Valdés.


Valdés at a F.C.Barcelona training session
Valdés set the Barça club record for not conceding a goal in European competition with a clean sheet against Rangers on 7 November 2007, which saw him re-write the Barça record books after not conceding a goal for 466 minutes. Unfortunately, Valdés was beaten twice by Lyon' captain Juninho through a 45-yard free kick and a late penalty at the Stade de Gerland ending his streak.[4] In the 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons, however, Barça failed to win a major trophy. On 1 April 2008, Valdés made his 250th appearance for Barça.
On 27 May 2009, Barcelona beat Manchester United 2–0 in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final to complete an unprecedented Treble of La Liga, Champions League, and Copa del Rey. In the match, Valdes made two crucial saves from Cristiano Ronaldo in both halves. In the first half, he saved a long-range free kick, and in the second half, he saved Ronaldo from a tight angle following a low cross from Dimitar Berbatov.
On 28 April 2010, after Barcelona was eliminated by Internazionale in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, Valdés briefly grabbed and attempted to stop the celebrations of José Mourinho.[5] On 16 May 2010, Valdés won his fourth title as Barcelona clinched a second successive Spanish league title with Pep Guardiola's side ending the season with 99 points.[6]

DAVID VILLA
This is a Spanish name; the first family name is Villa and the second is Sánchez.
David Villa Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið ˈβiʎa]; born 3 December 1981), nicknamed El Guaje (The Kid in Asturian),[3] is a Spanish footballer who currently plays as a striker for Barcelona[4][5] and the Spanish national team.
Despite sustaining a serious injury as a child, he started his professional career with Sporting de Gijón and made his debut in 2000 in Spain's Segunda División. He moved to Real Zaragoza after two seasons, after a total of 38 goals and 80 appearances for Gijón. He made his La Liga debut at Zaragoza and scored 31 goals in 73 appearances in the next two seasons, winning the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España, his first senior honours. He joined Valencia in 2005 for a transfer fee of €12 million. He was the second highest scorer in the 2005–06 season with 25 goals, and was part of the Valencia team that won the Copa del Rey for a seventh time in the 2007–08 season. In 2010 he moved to Barcelona for €40 million.
Villa made his international debut in 2005 against San Marino. He has since participated in three major tournaments: 2006 World Cup, Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He scored three goals at the 2006 World Cup, was top scorer at Euro 2008 with four goals and another five at the 2010 World Cup. He is the second all-time scorer for Spain, trailing Raul González's record of 44 goals.[6] Statistics (based on goal importance and the tournament they were scored in) demonstrate Villa to be the most prolific goalscorer in the world between 2005–2009, seeing the back of the net over 156 times,[7] while the IFFHS listed him 4th in the "World's Top Goal Scorer 2009" rankings,[8] while in 2010, he came 1st in their "2010's World Top Goalscorer at International Level" rankings.[9] Villa has two children with his wife Patricia and often attends charity events supported by sports personalities.

Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for English Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team.
Aged 10, Rooney joined the youth team of Everton, making his professional debut in 2002. He spent two seasons at the Merseyside club, before moving to Manchester United for £25.6 million in the 2004 summer transfer window. Since then, he has won the Premier League three times, the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League and also two League Cups.
Rooney made his England debut in 2003 and, at UEFA Euro 2004, he briefly became the competition's youngest goalscorer. He is frequently selected for the England squad and also featured at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Rooney has also been awarded the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year in 2009–10.



Rooney became the youngest player to play for England when he earned his first cap in a friendly against Australia on 12 February 2003 at seventeen, the same age in which he also became the youngest player to score an England goal. Arsenal youngster Theo Walcott broke Rooney's appearance record by 36 days in June 2006.
His first tournament action was at Euro 2004, in which he became the youngest scorer in competition history on 17 June 2004, when he scored twice against Switzerland; however, this record was topped by Swiss midfielder Johan Vonlanthen four days later. Rooney suffered an injury in the quarterfinal match against Portugal and England were eliminated on penalties.
Following a foot injury in an April 2006 Premier League match, Rooney faced a race to fitness for the 2006 World Cup. England attempted to hasten his recovery with the use of an oxygen tent, which allowed Rooney to enter a group match against Trinidad and Tobago and start the next match against Sweden. However, he never got back into game shape and went scoreless as England bowed out in the quarterfinals, again on penalty kicks.
Rooney was red-carded in the 62nd minute of the quarterfinal for stamping on Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho as both attempted to gain possession of the ball, an incident that occurred right in front of referee Horacio Elizondo. Rooney's United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo openly protested his actions, and was in turn shoved by Rooney. Elizondo sent Rooney off, after which Ronaldo was seen winking at the Portugal bench. Rooney denied intentionally targeting Carvalho in a statement on 3 July, adding, "I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano but I'm disappointed that he chose to get involved. I suppose I do, though, have to remember that on that particular occasion we were not teammates."[44] Elizondo confirmed the next day that Rooney was dismissed solely for the infraction on Carvalho.[45] Rooney was fined CHF5,000 for the incident.[46].
During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, after England drew with Algeria, the England players were booed off the pitch by supporters. Rooney made a comment as he left the pitch to television cameras saying "Nice to see your home fans boo you, that's loyal supporters."[47]. He has since apologised[48] for the comment, made during a lacklustre tournament for England who were eliminated