Diego da Silva Costa is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for English club Chelsea as a striker. He began his career with Braga in Portugal, and was signed by Atlético Madrid in 2007. Costa was loaned him back to Braga, and then to Celta and Albacete before being sold to Valladolid in 2009. He returned to Atlético the following season and went on to become a key part of their attack, scoring 27 goals as they won the league title in 2014, and then joined Chelsea for £32 million. Internationally, Costa played twice for Brazil in 2013, but later declared his desire to represent Spain, having been granted Spanish citizenship in September 2013. He made his début for his adopted nation in March 2014, and was selected for that year's World Cup.
Keylor Antonio Navas Gamboa (born 15 December 1986) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Costa Rica national football team, as a goalkeeper. After starting out at Saprissa he moved to Albacete, and then to Levante in La Liga. Navas joined Real Madrid in 2014 for €10 million. Navas has played over 50 times for Costa Rica since making his debut in 2008. He has represented the country at two CONCACAF Gold Cups and the 2014 World Cup, his impressive performances helped the team reach the quarter-finals of the latter tournament.
Mats Julian Hummels is a German footballer who plays as a central defender for Borussia Dortmund and the German national football team. He came through the Bayern Munich youth academy before joining his current club on loan in January 2008, and he officially signed for Dortmund in February 2009 for €4 million. His honours at the club include two league titles and finishing as runner up in the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League. Hummels has been a full international since 2010, earning over 30 caps and representing Germany at the UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Hummels was born in Bergisch Gladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. His father, Hermann Hummels, was a professional footballer and manager. His father worked as youth coordinator at Bayern Munich until he was replaced by Stephan Beckenbauer, the son of Franz Beckenbauer, on 30 March 2012. His younger brother Jonas is also a footballer, currently playing for SpVgg Unterhaching.
Philipp Lahm is a German professional footballer who plays as a full back or defensive midfielder for Bayern Munich and formerly for the German national team. He is the captain of his club, having skippered them to numerous honours including the 2013 UEFA Champions League as part of the Treble, and he was captain of his national team where he led them to the 2014 FIFA World Cup before retiring from international football. Lahm is considered by many to be the best full back of his generation, and was included in the World Cup team of the tournament in 2006 and 2010, the UEFA Team of the Tournament in 2008 and 2012 and in the UEFA Team of the Year 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2013. Although Lahm is right-footed, he is able to play on both sides of the pitch. He often cuts from the flank to the inside of the pitch to either shoot or pass. He is renowned for his pace, dribbling and precise tackling abilities as well as his small stature, giving him the nickname the "Magic Dwarf".
Lahm was born in Munich, Bavaria. He is married to Claudia. Andreas Ottl was the only footballer invited to the wedding. Lahm and Ottl like to snooker and tennis together. In his youth, Lahm was a joker in school. He was considered to be a bright student, and had aspirations to become a baker. Lahm was a ball boy at the Olympic Stadium for Bayern Munich matches. Lahm is involved in many charity campaigns and events. In June 2007, FIFA announced that Lahm and Owen Hargreaves would visit South Africa in advance to support the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Although Hargreaves never managed to take part in the trip due to injury, Lahm and German national teammate Piotr Trochowski visited the country taking time not only to visit the 2010 FIFA World Cup organizers but also to visit a local SOS Children's Village and to take part in the Kick-AIDS event. Lahm has established a foundation, Philipp Lahm-Stiftung, to support underprivileged children and is also an official ambassador representing "FIFA for SOS Children's Villages". In addition he was an ambassador of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 World AIDS Day. He has also taken part in a campaign against speeding and various others such as Bündnis für Kinder, a campaign against child abuse. Lahm was awarded a Tolerantia-Preis on 20 September 2008, due to his outstanding contribution against intolerance and homophobia in sports, particularly in football. He also stated that it's a "pity that being gay in football is still a taboo subject" and he would have no problem with a homosexual teammate and is "not afraid of homosexuals". However, Lahm does not advise footballers to publicly admit to being homosexual, because of the abuse they would suffer.
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Portugal national team. Ronaldo became the world's most expensive player when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth £80 million (€94 million/$132 million). Ronaldo's contract with Real Madrid, under the terms of which he is paid €21 million per year (after taxes), makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world, and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion. He is regarded by some in the sport to be currently the best player in the world, and one of the greatest of all time. Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for Andorinha, where he played for two years, before moving to C.D. Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants Sporting CP. In 2003 he caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.2 million (€15 million). In 2004, he won his first trophy, the FA Cup. In 2007, Ronaldo was the first player in England to win all four main PFA and FWA awards. In 2008 and 2013, he won the FIFA/Ballon d'Or award for the best footballer in the world, the first Portuguese player to win the award twice. He was awarded the European Golden Shoe in 2008, 2011 and 2014. In 2008, he won 3 of the 4 main PFA and FWA trophies and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year, FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, and the Onze d'Or. In 2007 and 2008, Ronaldo was named FWA Footballer of the Year. He was the inaugural winner of the FIFA Puskás Award for Goal of the Year in 2009. In a 2014 UEFA poll, he was named the greatest goalscorer to play in the UEFA Champions League.[16] With 67 goals, he is tied second in the competition's top scorers of all time, only trailing Raúl by four goals. He also holds the record for most goals scored in a single UEFA Champions League season, scoring 17 goals in the 2013–14 season. Ronaldo is the first top European league player to reach 40 goals in a single season in two consecutive years, fastest Real Madrid player to reach 100 league goals, and the first player to score against every team in a single season in La Liga. He holds the record for most goals scored in a season for Real Madrid. In January 2014, Ronaldo scored his 400th career goal.[18] After spending his first year at Madrid wearing the number 9 shirt, he began wearing the number 7 again following the departure of long-serving striker Raúl. Ronaldo had previously worn the number 7 shirt at Manchester United. Ronaldo made his international debut for Portugal in August 2003, at the age of 18. He has since been capped over 100 times and has participated in 6 major tournaments: three UEFA European Championships (2004, 2008 and 2012) and three FIFA World Cups (2006, 2010 and 2014). Ronaldo is the first Portuguese player to reach 50 international goals, making him Portugal's top goalscorer of all time. He scored his first international goal in the opening game of Euro 2004 against Greece, and helped Portugal reach the final. He took over captaincy in July 2008, and at Euro 2012 he led Portugal to the semi-finals, finishing the competition as joint-top scorer in the process. Since the international retirement of Portuguese legend Luís Figo in 2006, Ronaldo has worn the number 7 shirt for his national team, having previously worn the number 17.
Arjen Robben is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for the German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team. Robben has appeared at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 UEFA European Championships, and the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups. He is a forward who usually plays as a left or right sided winger. Robben is known for his dribbling skills, speed, crossing ability and his accurate left foot long-range shots from the right wing. Robben first came to prominence with Groningen, for whom he was player of the year for the 2000–01 Eredivisie season. Two years later he signed for PSV, where he became the Netherlands' Young Player of the Year and won an Eredivisie title. The following season Robben's signature was pursued by leading English clubs, and after protracted transfer negotiations he joined Chelsea in 2004. Robben's Chelsea debut was delayed through injury, but upon returning to fitness he helped Chelsea bring home two consecutive Premier League titles, and was the FA Premier League Player of the Month in November 2005. After a third season in England which was punctuated by injury, Robben moved to Spanish club Real Madrid for €35 million. In August 2009, Robben transferred to Bayern Munich for a fee of around €25 million, scoring two goals on his debut. In his first season in Munich, Bayern won the league title, Robben's fifth league title in eight years, and Robben scored the winning goal, also being Man of the Match, in the 2013 Champions League final. After his first season with the Bavarian club, the player was also named Footballer of the Year in Germany.
Manuel Peter Neuer is a German footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bayern Munich and the Germany national football team. He is often described as a "sweeper-keeper" because of his unique playing style and is known for his quick reflexes, excellent shot-stopping abilities, command of his area and accurate distribution of the ball. Neuer won the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Germany as well as the Golden Glove award for being the best goalkeeper in the tournament. Neuer was born in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. He attended Gesamtschule Berger Feld, like many other notable footballers, such as Mesut Özil. His brother Marcel is currently a football referee in the Verbandsliga. He got his first football when he was two. He had his first game on 3 March 1991, 24 days before his fifth birthday. Neuer's hero and idol as a child was fellow German and former Schalke goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.
