Robin Van Persie

Robin van Persie (born August 6, 1983 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch footballer currently playing at English FA Premier League team Arsenal as a striker. He can play as a striker (as he normally does for Arsenal) or on either wing, as he primarily does for the Netherlands.

Van Persie was brought up in the Kralingen area of east Rotterdam.


Biography


Early career

Van Persie began his career as a youth player for Dutch side Excelsior Rotterdam and later Feyenoord Rotterdam, earning caps in the process for Netherlands U19 and U21 teams. He was unexpectedly called up to Feyenoord's injury plagued first-team squad soon after he signed a three-and-a-half year deal with the club in January 2002. His performances with Feyenoord, including his playing an integral part in the 3-2 UEFA Cup final victory over Borussia Dortmund at the De Kuip on May 8, 2002, earned him the prestigious Best Young Talent award given by the KNVB for the 2001-02 season.

As a result of a back injury suffered during the summer of 2002, there was uncertainty as to whether Van Persie could start the new season. Van Persie, however, showed no such worries come the beginning of the season, scoring 8 goals in 28 league games as well as playing twice in the UEFA Champions League. Despite his talent Robin Van Persie had a difficult relationship with the Feyenoord manager Bert van Marwijk, a strict discipliniarian, who sent him home on the eve of the European Super Cup against Real Madrid in Monaco.

With Van Persie's Feyenoord contract due to expire in 2005, a disagreement with Bert van Marwijk combined with the fact that the club had not offered him a new contract meant that he spent most of the following season as a fading light at the club.


English Premiership

English club Arsenal, undeterred by a rebuff during the January 2004 transfer window, made a move for the striker at the end of the 2003-04 season. Van Persie also emerged as a target for Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen, and Spanish side Sevilla. However Arsenal fended off other club interest and signed van Persie, despite already having signed Spanish striker José Antonio Reyes from Sevilla. Van Persie completed his move for a fee believed to be in the range of £3 million, to the Premiership on May 17, 2004. Praised by Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger for the strength of his talent, he made his debut for the team in the 3-1 FA Community Shield victory over rivals Manchester United on August 8, 2004. Early on, he played as a left winger, but he predominantly plays as a striker for Arsenal. He is touted as Arsenal's long-term replacement for his idol Dennis Bergkamp.

He spent most of his time on the bench during earlier parts of the season and looked to have earned himself a permanent place there with his sending off against Southampton which cost Arsenal two points, and caused Wenger to display uncharacteristic anger in public with a player. To his credit, Van Persie redoubled his efforts in training during his suspension and was reintroduced in to the team when injuries to Thierry Henry forced Wenger's hand. His return to the first team has been marked with numerous goals, the pinnacle of his achievements (at that time) coming in the FA Cup semi-final against Blackburn Rovers where he scored two goals to secure victory for Arsenal. He also scored the vital breakthrough goal against West Bromwich Albion to help Arsenal secure second place in the Premiership after the Albion defence had proved difficult to break down. As a result of his good play he won the The Barclay's Premiership Player of the Month.

Van Persie scored in the first game of the 2005-06 season and he continued to show good form, winning the prestigious Player of the Month award in November after scoring six goals in just four starts. He signed a contract extension keeping him at the North London club until 2011. In the early part of the 2006-07 season, against Charlton Athletic, he scored one of the greatest volleys of all time, an airborne wonder goal from around 25 yards. Arsene Wenger described it as 'technically perfect'.

International Career

Robin Van Persie received his first full international cap against Romania on 4th June 2005. Despite not being an automatic first choice to start for Arsenal, Van Persie was selected as one of Holland's forwards for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by national coach Marco Van Basten. His first World Cup goal came in the group match against Côte d'Ivoire, a blistering free kick in the 23rd minute. Despite the Netherlands premature exit out of the world elite competition, Van Persie has forced himself into the first eleven following impressive displays in Germany

During the Euro 2008 qualifiers, van Persie made an instant impact during games against Luxembourg and Belarus. Despite a unconvincing 1-0 win against the central European minnows, Luxembourg, Van Persie was a constant threat surging forwards throughout the match. Yet his performance against the Belarussians surely illustrated why van Basten has handed him the coveted number 7 shirt. Two perfectly struck goals in either halves and a clinical cross to feed Dirk Kuyt helped the Netherlands claim a comfortable 3-0 win. He continued his great form in the next two games, scoring against Bulgaria in a 1-1 draw and also in the 2-1 victory against Albania a few days later.

Personal life

Van Persie's mother is a teacher and his father an artist. His father brought him up as a single parent. He grew up in a rough neighbourhood of Rotterdam alongside its large immigrant population. He had a series of behavioural problems at school and was often excluded from classes.[1] He is married to Bouchra, a Dutch-Moroccan. They live in Hampstead, North London.[2] While some sources claim he is a convert to Islam,[3] Van Persie has never disclosed his faith in interviews.[1] [2] [4] [5]

During the 2005 close season van Persie was accused of rape by a Dutch beauty queen. Dutch police eventually released van Persie without charge after they completed their investigations.[6]

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Zinédine Yazid Zidane

Zinédine Yazid Zidane (born 23 June 1972 in Marseille, France), popularly nicknamed Zizou , is a former French football player of Amazigh Berber ethnicity, whose parents immigrated to France from Kabyle, Algeria. Zidane has starred for both the French national team and four European club teams, most recently Real Madrid.

In the 1998 World Cup final, Zidane attracted international attention with two headed goals against Brazil that won his country's first ever FIFA World Cup title. He contributed to his teams' victories in the Euro 2000, the UEFA Champions League, and domestic championships in Italy and Spain.

Zidane was elected FIFA World Player of the Year a record-equalling three times (1998, 2000, 2003) and was named European Footballer of the Year in 1998. The world-record fee of € 66 million for his transfer to Real Madrid in 2001 remains unequalled. In 2004, he topped the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll on Best European football player of the past 50 years, and was included in the FIFA 100, Pelé's list of the 125 greatest living footballers. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he played an inspiring role in his team's advancement to the final and was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, receiving the Golden Ball.

As announced on 25 April 2006,[2] Zidane retired from football after the 2006 World Cup Final on 9 July 2006.

Club career

Early career, Cannes and Bordeaux (1988–1996)

Zidane got his start in football at an early age when he joined the junior team of US Saint-Henri, his local club in the La Castellane district of Marseille. On the recommendation of Saint-Henri's coach, he was then signed by Septemes Sports Olympiques. At the age of 14, Zidane left Septemes and participated in the first year junior selection for the league championship, where Jean Varraud, AS Cannes' recruiter, took notice of him. Zidane went to Cannes for what was intended to be a six-week stay, but remained at the club for four years to play with professionals. Afterwards, Zidane spent four years with FC Girondins de Bordeaux, leading them to victory in the 1995 Intertoto Cup and to a 2nd place in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup tournament. In Bordeaux, he met Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry, with whom he played a set of midfield combinations that would become the trademark of both Bordeaux and the 1998 French national team. In 1996, he was transferred to Italy's Juventus F.C. for a fee of £ 3 million.

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Nicholas Anelka

Nicolas Sebastian Anelka (born 14 March 1979 in Versailles) is a French football player playing in the forward position, who currently plays for Premier League club Bolton Wanderers. Previous clubs he has played for include Paris Saint-Germain (1996-97, 2000-02), Arsenal (1997-99), Real Madrid (1999-2000), Liverpool (2002), Manchester City (2002-2005) and Fenerbahçe (2005-2006). He was the PFA Young Player of the Year for 1998-1999 Premiership season.

Anelka is the son of two parents from Martinique, Margeurite and Jean-Philippe, who emigrated to Metropolitan France in 1974. In 2002 he converted to Islam [1] and took the Muslim name Abdul-Salam Bilal.

Club Career
Anelka started out at Paris Saint-Germain as a youth player but in November 1996, at the age of 17, he joined Arsenal for a fee of £500,000, soon after the appointment of Arsène Wenger as manager. His first team opportunities were limited in the 1996-97 season but in 1997-98 he broke into the first team (especially after a long-term injury to Ian Wright) and was a key player in Arsenal's Premiership and FA Cup double success that season. Anelka scored the second goal in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Newcastle United in that season's FA Cup final.

A player with exceptional pace and finishing ability, in 1998-99 he won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award, but Arsenal failed to defend their Premiership title and made little progress in the UEFA Champions League. In addition, Anelka made it clear he wanted a better salary than the one Arsenal were offering him. Rumors of his older brothers (who doubled as his agents) galvanizing his career decisions also emerged as the star was renowned for his temperaments with his clubs, forcing him to be left with the unenviable nickname of the 'Incredible Sulk'. He was eventually transferred to Spanish giants Real Madrid in the summer of 1999, for £22.3m. In all he made 90 appearances for Arsenal (including 17 as a substitute), scoring 28 goals and establishing himself as a top class striker.

Anelka spent just one season at Real Madrid, and played in the side that won the European Cup final, beating

Valencia 3-0. However, his form was remarkably worse than it had been at Arsenal – scoring only four goals in 29 appearances – and his inability to mix with his teammates (with the exception of good friend Steve McManaman) as well as to cope with media attention led to him leaving in the summer of 2000, to begin his second spell at Paris St-Germain for £20 million.

After one season at Paris St-Germain, Anelka returned to the English Premiership, signing a one-year loan deal with Liverpool. But he failed to hold down a regular first team place and manager Gerard Houllier decided not to offer him a permanent deal after the end of the season. Instead he opted to join newly promoted Manchester City and the £12 million fee paid by manager Kevin Keegan was a club record.
In his three seasons at Manchester City, although scoring freely, the addition of Anelka to the club's squad hardly made a drastic difference to its playing fortunes. They finished ninth in 2002-03, 16th in 2003-04 and midway through the 2004-05 season they were looking set for a mid-table finish at best. There was increasing speculation as to whether Anelka was going to be transferred to a bigger club.

On

January 27, 2005, the speculation ended when Manchester City announced that it had agreed to a fee (£7 million) for Anelka's transfer to Turkish team Fenerbahçe. Anelka helped the Turkish club win the league title in 2005. In August of that same year there was considerable speculation in the press that Anelka was being courted by Newcastle United for a return to English football although the transfer never came about. Anelka stayed on at the Turkish club where he played with them in the UEFA Champions League, but they finished bottom of their group. They also fell short in the title race in 2006 as rivals Galatasaray won the title on the season's final day.

During the summer transfer window of 2006, press reports once again linked Anelka with a return to English football. Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp was allegedly willing to either pay £8.2 million to bring the striker to Fratton Park, or take him on a season long loan. However, Bolton Wanderers swooped in and on August 25 2006, manager Sam Allardyce announced that he had signed Anelka on a four year deal for a club record of £8m. This brought his total combined transfer fees to approximately £69.8

International Career

At junior level, Anelka played for the French junior team in the 1997

FIFA World Youth Championship. Anelka had made his senior team debut for France in a goalless draw with Sweden on April 21, 1998 but was overlooked for the France 98. He was part of France's Euro 2000 and Confederations Cup 2001 squads. However, in 2002, he again was left out of the World Cup. After France's disastrous defense of their title in Japan & Korea manager Roger Lemerre was replaced by Jacques Santini. Anelka was not called up for international duty between 2002 and 2005, after a fallout with Santini, when he snubbed a call up for a friendly cause of an injury. However he enjoyed a revival of sorts, as Santini's replacement Raymond Domenech recalled him to the squad for a round of friendly fixtures in November 2005, culminating in him scoring his first international goal for over 3 years in a 3-2 win over Costa Rica on the island of Martinique. As of March 2006, he has won 31 caps for France, scoring seven goals.

He was not, however, selected for the World Cup Germany 2006 and even when Djibril Cissé was forced out of the tournament due to injury, Lyon's Sidney Govou was called up as Cissé's replacement rather than Anelka, who declared in response, "My absence is a real shame. I was completely available and ready to play in this World Cup. I think I could have helped France."

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Franck Ribéry


Franck Ribéry (born April 1, 1983, in Boulogne-Sur-Mer) is a French football player who currently plays for Olympique Marseille either as an attacking midfielder or a left- or right-sided winger, and recently has been touted by the media as the successor to the French national team talisman Zinedine Zidane, due to his increasingly impressive performances. At the age of two he was thrown through the windshield in a car crash that resulted in scars on the right side of his face and his forehead.

He was born and raised in a tough urban district of Boulogne-sur-Mer, the English Channel port that was also the birthplace of Jean-Pierre Papin. He was thrown out of the Lille academy for not paying attention at school but went on to join his hometown club. Ribery broke into the first team in the 2001-02 season and played only one full senior campaign there before moving to Ales. He moved on again to Brest a year later. All those three clubs were in the third division but he stepped up when signed by Metz in 2004.

He signed a contract with Turkish club Galatasaray in January 2005, and went on to help them win the 2005 Turkish Cup by scoring a key goal in a 1-0 victory in the semi-final and scoring a goal and assisting another in a 5-2 win in the final. The Galatasaray fans were impressed with the young Frenchman's skills, and quickly gave him the nickname, "FerraRibery". But in June of that year, he abruptly left the Istanbul club and joined Olympique Marseille, the sixth club of his career. The move was a controversial one, especially in Turkey: Galatasaray claimed Ribéry's contract was still good and that all back wages had been paid to Ribery, but Ribéry claimed the contract was void because, he claimed, that the club's management owed him back wages. The case is under FIFA arbitration as of June 2006. The move to Marseille has since earned him top French player honours for the months of August, October and November 2005.


On June 12, 2006, he was named in the starting lineup of the French team for their opener in the 2006 FIFA World Cup against Switzerland. His first international goal proved to be a crucial one, levelling France at 1-1 with Spain in the 41st minute of their knockout round match after calmly rounding the Spanish keeper, Iker Casillas. Though Spain were the favourites, France went on to win that game 3-1 to book a quarter-final slot against Brazil.[1]

Upon facing Brazil on July 1, 2006, Ribéry was substituted in the 75th minute of the 1-0 victory following an impressive performance.He also played in the World Cup final defeat to Italy where he went close with a low shot in the first half of extra-time. [2]

After a much-praised performance throughout the tournament, Ribéry was consequently linked with a possible move to Arsenal, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Internazionale or Olympique Lyonnais. However, he has recently stated that he plans on seeing out the next four years at Marseille.[3]. In a confusing turn of events, shortly after making this statement, Ribéry claimed during an interview for french top channel TF1 that he had changed his mind and will eventually quit Olympique de Marseille.Marseille's president has since specifically denied that any offer for Ribéry has been made to Marseille by any club whatsoever. However, it is understood that Tottenham Hotspur could make a significant last minute offer in the August transfer window. Ribery has stated before that he would prefer to play for a club that is playing Champions League football although the lure of the Premiership and playing London may sway his decision. [4]

Ribéry is a Muslim, having converted to Islam[5] around the time he married his Muslim fiance Wahiba Belhami who is of Algerian descent (originally from Nedroma, Tlemcen).[6] Ribéry has adopted the Arabic name Bilal. They have one daughter together, Hizya, who was born on July 18, 2005.[7]

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