Tuesday, February 27, 2007

1. Liverpool FC


Liverpool Football Club are a British football club, and one of the most famous football clubs in the world. Based in Liverpool they play at Anfield and will soon start work on a new 61,000 seater stadium approximately 200 metres away in neighbouring Stanley Park, following the take over of the club by American businessmen Tom Hicks and George Gillett. They play in the FA Premier League and in terms of trophies won are the most successful club in the history of English football. Liverpool have won eighteen First Division titles, seven FA Cups, seven League Cups, five European Cups and three UEFA Cups. Liverpool are also a member of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs.

Steven Gerrard


Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980, Whiston, Merseyside) is an English football player. He is currently playing for Liverpool and England. 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. Through his career he has won the PFA Young Player of the Year, PFA Player of the Year, European Midfielder of the year, Premier League Most Valuable Player (twice), and UEFA Most Valuable Player. He has also been awarded the MBE for his outstanding contributions in both the UEFA Champions League Final 2005 and the FA Cup Final 2006.

2. Manchester United Football Club


Manchester United Football Club are a world-famous English football club, based at the Old Trafford stadium in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and are one of the most popular sports clubs in the world, with over 50 million supporters worldwide.[1] Manchester United are one of the most successful clubs in the world and are second only to Liverpool in terms of trophies won by an English club. They have won the FA Premier League/Football League 15 times, FA Cup 11 times (an English record), the League Cup twice, the European Cup twice, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup once, the Intercontinental Cup once, and the European Super Cup once. The club has had the highest average attendance in English football for the past 34 seasons, with the exception of 1987-89 during redevelopment at Old Trafford.[2]

Wayne Mark Rooney


Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985 in Liverpool) is an English footballer. He currently plays for the English Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team. He normally played as a second striker to Ruud van Nistelrooy for his club team before van Nistelrooy's move to Real Madrid,[citation needed] although during 2005-06, he showed his versatility as a player by shifting to the midfield and playing on both flanks. He wears number 8 for Manchester United and wears number 9 the English national team.

3. Real Madrid


Real Madrid is a Spanish sports club best known for its football team which was three times World Champion, and also ranked as 'The 20th Century's Best Club' by FIFA. The club, which went in place of the Spanish FA, was also one of the founding members of FIFA. They play their home games at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. Real Madrid have been European Champions a record 9 times and have also won a record 29 La Liga titles. The club also operates a reserve football team, Real Madrid Castilla, and a successful basketball team, Real Madrid Baloncesto and are in talks to sponsor a rugby team, CRC Madrid Noroeste and a Formula One team. Real Madrid is unusual in that, unlike most football clubs, it has been owned and operated solely by its members (socios) since 1902.

David Beckham


David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE (born 2 May 1975) is an English professional footballer who currently plays for Real Madrid. Beckham was named as a member of Pelé's FIFA 100.[3] In addition to his success on the pitch, Beckham has been recognized by Time magazine as one of 2004's Time 100 (Heroes & Icons),[4] as well as an elite global advertising brand.[5]
Beckham is the fifth most
capped English player of all time, has twice been the runner up in the FIFA World Player Of The Year Award in 1999 and 2001 and in addition to being the only Englishman to score in three different World Cups, is also only the ninth player in World Cup history to score twice from direct free kicks. He was captain of the English national team from 15 November 2000 to 2 July 2006.

4. FC Barcelona


Futbol Club Barcelona, known familiarly as Barça (IPA: baɾsa), is a Catalan sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team. It was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Catalan men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto Més que un club (More than a club). They were founding members of La Liga in 1928, and, together with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, they have never been relegated from the Primera División. The club were also the first La Liga champions and they are the current champions of both Spain and Europe.
The club's main stadium is the
Camp Nou and the fans of FC Barcelona are known as culers or culés. In September 2006, the number of socis (club members/owners) reached 151,127, while in June 2006 the number of penyes (officially-registered supporter clubs) reached 1782 worldwide.

Ronaldinho


Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980 in Porto Alegre) is a Brazilian footballer, commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho (due to his being from the Rio Grande do Sul state of Brazil), or simply Ronaldinho. He became a naturalized Spanish citizen in January 2007.
His name Ronaldinho (
IPA, Brazilian Portuguese - [χonawˈdʒĩɲu]), Portuguese for "little Ronaldo", was originally devised as a means of distinguishing between himself and fellow Brazilian football star Ronaldo, with the additional title Gaúcho being used when the current Ronaldo was also known as Ronaldinho.

5. Arsenal FC


Arsenal Football Club (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in Holloway, north London. They play in the FA Premier League and are one of the most successful clubs in English football. Arsenal have won thirteen First Division and Premier League titles, ten FA Cups and in 2005–06 became the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League final. Arsenal are also members of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs.

Jens Lehmann


Jens Gerhard Lehmann (born November 10, 1969 in Essen) is a German football goalkeeper who currently plays for Arsenal of the English Premier League and the German national team.Lehmann started his career in 1989 with Schalke 04, playing for them for nearly a decade. His first years were rocky; an infamous 45-minute stint against Bayer Leverkusen in 1993 in which he conceded three howler goals and was subbed after 45 minutes,[1] causing him to flee the stadium alone by tram rather than taking the team bus,[2] but gradually established himself as a strong keeper lauded for his ability to intercept crosses.
Lehmann became the
Ruhr Valley club's hero in their 1997 UEFA Cup final victory over Internazionale, after playing a strong season and saving an Ivan Zamorano penalty in a penalty shootout.

6. AC Milan


Associazione Calcio Milan is an Italian football club based in Milan. They play in red and black stripes, giving them the nickname Rossoneri ("red-blacks"). The team is known colloquially as Milan, while its city rivals are known simply as Inter. Milan are three-time World Champions.
One of the most successful
clubs in the world, A.C. Milan has won the prestigious UEFA Champions League six times (second only to Real Madrid), the World Club crown (Intercontinental Cup) 3 times, the Serie A title 17 times (only rivals Juventus F.C. have more Scudetti) and the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) five times. In total they have won 12 European trophies, sharing the record with Real Madrid. It is also one of the most supported football clubs in the world, and along with Juventus and Inter Milan are one of the most popular teams in Italy.

Ronaldo


Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima (born September 22, 1976), simply known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to have ever played the game. He plays as a striker for Brazil and the Italian club AC Milan. He has been nicknamed "The Phenomenon" (Portuguese: O Fenômeno, Spanish: El Fenómeno). He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest footballers in March 2004.

Friday, February 23, 2007

7. Inter Milan


Football Club Internazionale Milano is an Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, which plays in Serie A. The club was founded March 9, 1908. It is more commonly known as Inter, and often named Inter Milan in English speaking countries.
Inter has been one of the most succesful clubs in the history of Italian football, having won 14
Scudetti, 5 Coppa Italia, and 3 Italian Super Cups. Inter has also won 2 European Cups(Champions League), 3 UEFA Cups, and has been World Champions two times. In Italy, Inter also has the distinction of being the only team to never be relegated from Serie A with a league record of 75 seasons in top division.

Hernan Crespo


Hernán Jorge Crespo (born July 5, 1975 in Florida, Argentina) is an Argentine international football player currently playing in the Italian Serie A for Internazionale, having signed from English Premier League champions Chelsea on a 2 year loan deal on 7 August 2006, although Chelsea have an option to recall him after one season. He is famed for his powerful aerial ability, which allows him to score goals from considerable distances. He is also renowned for being one of the most effective goal poachers in the game, due to his anticipatory off-the-ball movement.

8. Chelsea FC


Chelsea Football Club (also known as The Blues or previously The Pensioners) are an English professional football club based in west London. Founded in 1905, they play in the FA Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier in English football. They have had two broad periods of success, one during the 1960s and early 1970s, and the second from the late 1990s to the present day. Chelsea have won three league titles, three FA Cups, three League Cups and two UEFA Cup Winners' Cups.[2] During the 2005-06 season, they became Premier League champions for the second consecutive year.


Petr Cech


Petr Čech (born 20 May 1982 in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech international footballer who is currently a goalkeeper for Chelsea F.C.
Čech has previously played for
Viktoria Plzeň, Chmel Blšany, Sparta Prague, and Rennes, and is considered to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world.[1][2][3] He was voted into the all-star team at Euro 2004 after helping his country reach the semi-finals,[4] best Goalkeeper in the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League, and was in the FIFPro and Champions League 2005-06 team of the season.
He currently holds three records: a national record of not conceding a goal in 855 competitive minutes and an English Premiership record of not conceding a goal in 1,025 minutes and 25 clean sheets in Chelsea's 2004-05 title-winning campaign. He had also gone 928 minutes unbeaten at Sparta Prague.

9. Tottenham Hotspurs


Tottenham Hotspur Football Club are an English football club, which play in the FA Premier League. The club is also known as Tottenham and Spurs , while their own fans also refer to them as the Lilywhites because of their traditional white shirts. Their home ground is White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London.
Tottenham were the first club in the twentieth century to achieve the
League and FA Cup Double, winning both competitions in the 1960-61 season. In 1963, Spurs became the first British club to win a European trophy - the European Cup Winners' Cup.
The club has a long-standing rivalry with near neighbours
Arsenal and the series of matches between the two is known as the North London derby. The club motto is Audere est Facere (lit: "To dare is to do") and their emblem is the cockerel and ball.

Paul Robinson



Paul William Robinson (born October 15, 1979 in
Beverley) is a professional footballer, playing in goal for Tottenham Hotspur and England.
Robinson started his career at
Leeds United, and kept a clean sheet in his début against Chelsea in 1998. He made 119 appearances for the club before transferring to Tottenham Hotspur in May 2004 for a fee of £1,500,000. A Tottenham first team regular, he is also an England international and was part of the Euro 2004 squad. He is currently England's first choice goalkeeper.
In 2005-06, Robinson signed a seven year contract extension after turning down offers from
Manchester United. The contract will keep him at the club until 2012.