David Beckham

David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE^[2] (born 2 May 1975)^[3] is an Englishfootballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer,^[4]having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C. Milan, as well as the England national team, for whom he holds the all-time appearance record for an outfield player.^[5]

Beckham's career began when he signed a professional contract with Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17.^[6] During his time there, United won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999.^[6] He left Manchester United to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, where he remained for four seasons,^[7] clinching the La Liga championship in his final season with the club.^[8] In January 2007, it was announced that Beckham would leave Real Madrid for the Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy,^[9]signing a five-year contract with them on 1 July 2007. While a Galaxy player, he spent two loan spells in Italy with Milan in 2009 and 2010.

In international football, Beckham made his England debut on 1 September 1996, at the age of 21. He was made captain from 15 November 2000^[10] until the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals,^[11] during which he played 58 times. He earned a much-publicised hundredth cap against France on 26 March 2008,^[12] and became the all-time outfield player appearance record holder on 28 March 2009 when he surpassed Bobby Moore's total of 108 caps.^[5] With 115 career appearances to date he has stated that he does not intend to retire from international football, having missed the 2010 World Cup through injury and not featuring in England manager Fabio Capello's post-World Cup plans.^[13]

Beckham has twice been runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year^[6] and in 2004 was the world's highest-paid footballer when taking into account salary and advertising deals.^[14] Beckham was the first British footballer to play 100Champions League matches.^[6] He is third in the Premier League's all time time assist provider chart, with 152 assists in 265 appearances.^[15] He was Google's most searched of all sports topics in both 2003 and 2004.^[16] With such global recognition he has become an elite advertising brand and a top fashion icon.^[17][18]When joining the MLS in 2007 he was given the highest player salary in the league's history, with his playing contract with the Galaxy over the next three years being worth US$6.5m per year.^{[19][20][21][22]}

He is married to Victoria Beckham and they have four children, Brooklyn Joseph, Romeo James, Cruz David, and Harper Seven. As of 2009, the couple's joint wealth is estimated at £125 million.^[23]

David Beckham

Personal information
Full name	David Robert Joseph Beckham
Date of birth	2 May 1975 (age 36)
Place of birth	Leytonstone, London, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Los Angeles Galaxy
Number	23
Youth career
	Brimsdown Rovers
1987–1991	Tottenham Hotspur
1991–1993	Manchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1993–2003	Manchester United	266	(61)
1995	→ Preston North End (loan)	5	(2)
2003–2007	Real Madrid	116	(13)
2007–	Los Angeles Galaxy	74	(11)
2009	→ Milan (loan)	18	(2)
2010	→ Milan (loan)	11	(0)
National team‡
1992–1993	England U18	3	(0)
1994–1996	England U21	9	(0)
1996–	England	115	(17)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 October 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 3 November 2009

Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi^[3] (born 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Argentina) is an Argentinefootballer who plays for FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team, mainly as astriker. Messi received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21, and won in 2009^[4][5][6][7] and 2010.^[8] His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi as his "successor."^[9][10]

Messi began playing football at a young age and his skill and potential was soon realized by Barcelona. He left Rosario-based Newell's Old Boys's youth team in 2000 and moved with his family to Europe, as Barcelona offered treatment for his growth hormone deficiency. Making his debut in the 2004–05 season, he broke his team record for the youngest footballer to score a league goal. Major honours soon followed as Barcelona won La Liga in Messi's debut season, and won a double of the league and Champions League in 2006. His breakthrough season was in the 2006–07 season; he became a first team regular, scoring a hat-trick in El Clásico and finishing with 14 goals in 26 league games. Messi then had the most successful season of his playing career, the 2008–09 season, in which he scored 38 goals to play an integral part in a treble-winning campaign. This record-breaking season was then eclipsed in the following 2009–10 campaign, where Messi scored 47 goals in all competitions, equallingRonaldo's record total for Barcelona. He surpassed this record again in the 2010–11 seasonwith 53 goals in all competitions.

Messi has won five La Liga titles, three Champions League titles, scoring in two of those finals, against Manchester United in both 2009 and 2011. He was not on the pitch as Barcelona defeated Arsenal in 2006, but received a winners' medal from the tournament. After scoring 12 goals in the 2010–11 Champions League, Messi became only the third player (afterGerd Müller and Jean-Pierre Papin) to top-score in three successive European Champion Clubs' Cup campaigns. However, Messi is the first one to win the Champions League top scorer titles for three consecutive years after Champions League changed its format in 1992.^[11]

Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with six goals, including two in the final game. Shortly thereafter, he became an established member of Argentina's senior international team. In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play in the FIFA World Cup and he won a runners-up medal at the Copa América tournament the following year. In 2008, in Beijing, he won his first international honour, an Olympic gold medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team. At international level Messi has scored 18 goals in 65 games.

Lionel Messi

Personal information
Full name	Lionel Andrés Messi[1]
Date of birth	24 June 1987 (age 24)[2]
Place of birth	Rosario[2], Argentina
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)[2]
Playing position	Striker / Second striker
Club information
Current club	Barcelona
Number	10
Youth career
1995–2000	Newell's Old Boys
2000–2003	Barcelona
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003	Barcelona C	8	(5)
2004–2005	Barcelona B	22	(6)
2004–	Barcelona	188	(133)
National team‡
2005	Argentina U20	7	(6)
2008	Argentina U23	5	(2)
2005–	Argentina	64	(18)
Honours[show]
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:58, 6 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11:26, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro^[2], OIH, (born 5 February 1985),^[3] commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger or strikerfor Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and is the captain of the Portuguese national team. Ronaldo became the most expensive player in football history after moving fromManchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer deal worth £80 million (€94m, US$132m). In addition, his contract with Real Madrid, in which he was to be paid £11 million per year over the following six years, made him the highest-paid football player in the world at the time,^[4] and his buyout clause was valued at €1 billion as per his contract.^[5]

Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for Andorinha, where he played for two years, before moving to Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal. Ronaldo's precocious talent caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who signed the 18-year-old for £12.24 million in 2003. The following season, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the FA Cup and played at Euro 2004with Portugal. Ronaldo scored his first international goal in the opening game of the tournament against Greece and helped Portugal reached the final, which they again lost to Greece.

Ronaldo was the first player to win all four main PFA and FWA awards, doing so in 2007. In 2008, Ronaldo won the Champions League with United, was named best forward andplayer of the tournament and was the competition's top goalscorer as well as winning theEuropean Golden Shoe, becoming the first winger to do so, and topping the Premier League Golden Boot award. He won three of the four main PFA and FWA trophies, only missing the PFA Young Player of the Year, and was named the FIFPro, World Soccerand Onze d'Or Footballer of the Year^[6][7][8] and the FIFA World Player of the Year, in addition to becoming Manchester United's first Ballon d'Or winner in 40 years.^[9] Ronaldo holds the distinction of being the first player to win the FIFA Puskás Award, an honour handed by FIFA to the best goal of the year. He scored that goal from 40 yards out against FC Porto in a UEFA Champions League quarter-final match, while playing for Manchester United.^[10] Three-time Ballon d'Or winner Johan Cruyff said in an interview on 2 April 2008, "Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United."^[11]

On 15 May 2011, Ronaldo became the highest goalscorer in a season in the history of Real Madrid with 51 goals, surpassing the club's previous high of 49 by Ferenc Puskás. He would later finish the season with a total of 53 goals, making him the first Real Madrid player to ever reach and surpass 50 goals in a season. Six days later, Ronaldo broke the record of most goals ever scored in a season in La Liga with 40, surpassing Telmo Zarra's mark established in 1951 and Hugo Sanchez's mark matched in 1990. Ronaldo also broke Zarra's record of most goals per minute, with a goal scored every 70.7 minutes. The newspaper Marca, the official deliverer of the Pichichi Trophy (the top La Liga goalscorer award), claimed that Ronaldo scored 41 goals. By doing so, he won theEuropean Golden Shoe award once again, becoming the first player to win the trophy in two different championships.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo playing for Real Madrid
Personal information
Full name	Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Date of birth	5 February 1985 (age 26)
Place of birth	Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Playing position	Winger Striker
Club information
Current club	Real Madrid
Number	7
Youth career
1993–1995	Andorinha
1995–1997	Nacional
1997–2001	Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2003	Sporting CP	25	(3)
2003–2009	Manchester United	196	(84)
2009–	Real Madrid	74	(79)
National team‡
2001–2002	Portugal U17	9	(6)
2003	Portugal U20	5	(1)
2002–2003	Portugal U21	6	(3)
2004	Portugal U23	3	(1)
2003–	Portugal	85	(30)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:57, 6 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:36, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Quaid - e - Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (December 25, 1876 – September 11, 1948) was an Indian Muslim (of Hindu ancestry) lawyer, politician, statesman and the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader) and Baba-e-Qaum (Father of the Nation).

Jinnah served as leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's independence on August 14, 1947, and as Pakistan's first Governor-General from August 15, 1947 until his death on September 11, 1948. Jinnah rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress initially expounding ideas of Hindu-Muslim unity and helping shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress; he also became a key leader in the All India Home Rule League. He proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India.

Jinnah later advocated the two-nation theory embracing the goal of creating a separate Muslim state as per the Lahore Resolution. The League won most reserved Muslim seats in the elections of 1946. After the British and Congress backed out of the Cabinet Mission Plan Jinnah called for a Direct Action Day to achieve the formation of Pakistan. This direct action by the Muslim League and its Volunteer Corps resulted in massive rioting in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus. As the Indian National Congress and Muslim League failed to reach a power sharing formula for united India, it prompted both the parties and the British to agree to the independence of Pakistan and India. As the first Governor-General of Pakistan, Jinnah led efforts to lay the foundations of the new state of Pakistan, frame national policies and rehabilitate millions of Muslim refugees who had migrated from India. Jinnah also assumed the role and title of 'Protector General of the hindu minority' during hindu-muslim riots after 1947. Jinnah died aged 71 in September 1948, just over a year after Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire. After his death, Jinnah left a deep and respected legacy in Pakistan, and according to Stanley Wolpert, Jinnah remained Pakistan's greatest leader since the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.