Lionel Andrés “Leo” Messi (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team. He serves as the captain of his country’s national football team. By the age of 21, Messi had received Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year, in 2009, he won his first Ballon d’Or[2] and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He followed this up by winning the inaugural FIFA Ballon d’Or in 2010, and again in 2011[4] and 2012.[5] He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. At the age of 24, Messi became Barcelona’s all-time top scorer in all official club competitions. At age 25, Messi became the youngest player to score 200 La Liga goals. Consistently rated by commentators, coaches and colleagues as the best footballer in the world and as one of the greatest players in the history of the game, Messi is the first football player in history to win four FIFA/Ballons d’Or, all of which he won consecutively. Messi has won five La Ligas, two Copas del Rey, five Supercopas de España, three UEFA Champions Leagues, two Super Cups and two Club World Cups. In March 2012, Messi made Champions League history by becoming the first player to score five goals in one match. He also matched José Altafini’s record of 14 goals in a single Champions League season. Messi became the first player to top-score in four successive Champions League campaigns. He set the European record for most goals scored in a season during the 2011–12 season, with 73 goals. In the same season, he set the current goalscoring record in a single La Liga season, scoring 50 goals. On 16 February 2013, Messi scored his 300th Barcelona goal. On 30 March 2013, Messi scored in 19 consecutive La Liga games, becoming the first footballer in history to net in consecutive matches against every team in the league.

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH, (born 5 February 1985), commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and who serves as captain of the Portuguese national team. Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer in history after moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer worth £80 million (€93.9 million/$131.6 million). In addition, his contract with Real Madrid, in which he is paid €12 million per year, makes him one of the highest-paid footballers in the world, and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract.

Xavier “Xavi” Hernández i Creus (born 25 January 1980), is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national football team. Xavi came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at the age of 11. He made his first-team debut against RCD Mallorca on 18 August 1998. Since then he has played 697 matches, scored 78 goals and made more than 180 assists for over 50 players. Xavi is the first player in the FC Barcelona’s history to play 150 international matches. Considered one of the finest playmakers of the 21st century, he was an integral part of the sextuple-winning Barcelona side in 2009, the only time which a club has achieved six titles in a year.

Andrés Iniesta Luján (born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team. Iniesta came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy – after an early emigration from his birthplace and impressed from an early age. He made his first-team debut in 2002, aged 18. He began playing regularly during the 2004–05 season, and has remained in the side ever since. He was an integral part of the Barcelona side in 2009, the only time which a club has achieved six titles in two seasons.

Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Swedish national team for which he is captain. Ibrahimović started his career at Malmö FF in the late 1990s under Roland Andersson. He was signed by Ajax, and made a name for himself under Ronald Koeman. He later signed with Juventus for €16 million. Ibrahimović gained fame in Serie A, benefiting from his strike partnership with David Trezeguet.

Radamel Falcao García Zárate (10 February 1986), commonly known simply as Falcao, a name given to him by his father as a tribute to the Brazilian coach Paulo Roberto Falcão, is a Colombian football striker, who currently plays for Atletico Madrid and represents the Colombia national football team. Falcao is sometimes nicknamed as El Tigre (Spanish for The Tiger) and King of the Europa League. Falcao is considered by many experts to be the ‘deadliest’ striker in the world and among the best, having surpassed Jürgen Klinsmann’s record of 15 goals (17) in a single annual international club football European competition UEFA Champions League/UEFA Europa League campaign. He also played a key role in guiding Porto to a second UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League title, as well as finishing undefeated in the 2010–11 Primeira Liga season. In July 2011, Falcao was regarded as the fifth best player in Europe during the 2010–11 season through balloting by 53 sportswriters of the UEFA member associations. Falcao had also received the Portuguese Golden Ball award in 2011, becoming the first Colombian to do so. Falcao had won both the GQ Spain award for sportsman of the year and the Globe Best Footballer in 2012. In 2012, Falcao was listed 6th in The 100 best footballers in the world by The Guardian. Falcao was listed into the FIFA XI for 2012.

Robin van Persie (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrɔbɪn vɑn ˈpɛrsi] ( listen); born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United and the Dutch national team. He is a youth product of Feyenoord. Having joined Arsenal in 2004, Van Persie became the club captain on 16 August 2011, one year before he joined rivals Manchester United. His playing style and ability have drawn comparison to Dutch legend Marco van Basten at his peak in the 1980s and early 1990s. The son of two artists, Van Persie was encouraged to follow in his parents’ footsteps, but he instead preferred football and joined SBV Excelsior’s youth squad. He made his breakthrough at another hometown club Feyenoord, where he spent three seasons and won the 2002 UEFA Cup. He was named the Dutch Football Talent of the Year for the 2001–02 season. Disagreements with manager Bert van Marwijk culminated in a change of club and Van Persie moved to Premier League side Arsenal for £2.75 million in 2004 as a long-term replacement for Dennis Bergkamp. He won the FA Community Shield and the FA Cup in his first season with the London club but did not win another major trophy for the rest of his eight-year spell at Arsenal. Van Persie has been named Premier League Player of the Month three times.

Andrea Pirlo, Ufficiale OMRI (born 19 May 1979), is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus and for the Italian national team. He is usually deployed as a deep-lying playmaker for both Juventus and Italy and is regarded as a leading exponent of this position. Praised for his technique, dribbling, control, incredible vision, inventive play and his accurate passing ability, he is also a set-piece specialist and is known for his long distance shooting and passing. Fellow players on the Italian team gave him the nickname l’architetto (“the architect”), because his long passes frequently set up goal-scoring opportunities for the Italy national football team. In recent years, Juventus fans also dub him il professore (“the professor”) and Mozart, as a fun reference to the Austrian composer’s prodigious ability. Pirlo has played for the Italian youth teams U15, U18 and U21, captaining and leading the latter to victory in the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship as the Golden Player and Top Scorer of the tournament. He joined the Italian senior side during the qualification round for World Cup 2002 and captained the national team to a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics. Later, he was instrumental in their victory in the 2006 World Cup, finishing as the top assist provider. He was named man of the match three times, including the final, more than any other player in the tournament, and ultimately won the Bronze Ball (third best player in tournament) also being elected to be part of the Team of the Tournament. He was also elected as part of the Euro 2012 Team of the Tournament, after leading Italy to the final, winning three-man of the match awards in the process, the most of any player along with Andrés Iniesta.