Spanish Famous Soccer Players

Soccer is the most popular sport in Spain. The Spain soccer team is a superior team and has produced the famous Spanish soccer players for years. As a national team, Spain was not able to achieve any success in FIFA world cup except the 1998 world cup. The team reached the quarterfinal stage by winning eight matches. This was only the best impressive performance in FIFA games where they lost to France. Spain participated in eleven world cups and it was ranked number four in 1950.

Though superior, the world cup squad never gave good results. The famous Spanish soccer players are Luis Suarez, Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Kubala, Alfredo Di Stefano, and the goalkeeper Zamora. Also, Michel, Santillana, and Butragueno are the rising stars of Spanish national team. Most interestingly, the world famous Spanish clubs such as Real Madrid and Barcelona have provided Spanish soccer with best world famous players. The Spanish clubs are more popular around the world and let us have a look at few big names.

Raul Gonzalez Blanco was born in Madrid, Spain on June 27, 1977. On the club level, Raul as a member of Real Madrid is the most impressive soccer player who was responsible for the victory in Champions League in 1998. Again, in 2002, he was the leading player who allowed Real Madrid to win the Champions league. He was a real hero in the whole tournament and scored the famous two goals that turned the whole situation of the game.

The famous Spanish soccer players include names of world famous goalkeepers. Ricardo Zamora was named as the best goalkeeper in 1958. The place of Zamora has remained unchallenged and not a single goalkeeper in Spain is able to reach his height. He is the greatest goalkeeper produced by Spain and played with the national team for more than 46 occasions. Also, he played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid. Spain has managed to provide steady goalkeepers like Luis Arconada and Andoni Zubizarreta. Edson Arantes Do Nascimento also nicked as Pele, is regarded as one of the famous Spanish soccer players of all time.

Most of the star players from around the world are involved in the famous Spanish soccer players list. The players signed by Real Madrid include big names such as Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Robinho, and so on. To add on the world famous Barcelona soccer club granted Spanish nationality to Brazilian world famous player Ronaldinho and Mexican player Giovani.

The world cup winning captain of Argentina, Diego Maradona is related to world famous Spanish club Barcelona. The other famous players related to Barcelona club are Marcelo Trobbiani, Alberto Acosta, Marcelo Saralegui, Nicolas Hernandez, etc. Barcelona club from Spain is considered to be one of the top 10 clubs in the world.

Though the Spain soccer national team is not successful on international level, the Spanish soccer has got great respect on world sports platform. The Spanish soccer has great future and the list of famous Spanish soccer players is definitely going to rise in coming years.

French Soccer Players

The French soccer team is the most competitive soccer team in international football. France is a multi cultural country and the national team includes French soccer players of all origins and playing styles. The French soccer team is famous for their tradition playing style that includes strong defense and lot of common sense. The French soccer team won the FIFA world cup in 1998 and prestigious European Championship in 2000. Also, they reached the semi finals in 1958, 1982, and 1986.

The top six French soccer players of all times are Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Eric Cantona, Fabien Barthez, and Didier Deschamps. The French soccer era can be divided into Platini age and Zidane age.

Michel Platini was born on June 21, 1955 in Joeuf. As a soccer player, he started his career at the age of 17. His remarkable performance in the club matches opened the gates for him in the national team in 1976. By 1977, Platini was known as the rising star in French soccer. Soon he was appointed as the captain of French soccer team and he managed to improve the French record in FIFA world cup. France finished fourth in 1982 and third in 1986. It was under his captaincy France managed to win Euro cup in 1984 and Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles. He was the top goal scorer and was declared as the best player of the tournament in 1984 Euro cup. Michel Platini is on the top of the list in French soccer players.

Zinedine Zidane was born on 23 June in 1972 in Marseille. He is best known as an attacking mid fielder and is regarded as one of the greatest players in the world. He is a true magician and is perhaps the best talented player after Pele. Zidane is regarded as a genius in French soccer players. It was the result of his perfect technique the French team won the world cup finals in 1998. The world champion Brazilian team were amazed by his game and stood effortless in the hands of Zidane. Also, they won the runner up trophy in 2006 world cup. Zidane was also a crucial member of world famous Spanish club, Real Madrid. The famous acrobatic goal in 2001 allowed his team to win the Champions League final.

Didier Deschamps was another excellent defensive midfielder in French line up. Thanks to Zidane, it was under his captaincy that the French team was declared as the world champions in 1998. Soon the same year French team managed to win the Euro cup, and hence this great player became the first captain in French soccer playersý history to win two major trophies in single year.

Eric Cantona was popular, compelling, and brilliant player in French line up. He played most of his career for Manchester United and nearly scored 64 goals in 140 matches. Thierry Henry is another rising star in French soccer players list. His technique, incredible speed, nasty shots has made him the best striker in French squad.

The list of French soccer players is long and never ending. As a soccer-playing nation, the team has good prospects in the future. The young players are hard working and committed to follow the footsteps of Zidane and Platini.

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Review of Players Short Listed for the FIFA 2007 Player of the Year Award

It is time of the year where the FIFA world player of the year is decided by the votes of coaches and captains of national team worldwide.

But before we go into the discussion of the list of players drawn for 2007, an introduction of the mechanism of the system would be discussed first. The award was started in 1991 for the male player and in 2001 for the female player categories respectively. Basically, the coaches and national team captains would vote for players drawn by the technical committees of FIFA. The system used is called the Borda count where each coach and captain would get three votes (one of five points, one of three points and one of one point) to cast for the players of his choice. And the winner would be determined by the total of points received. The winner last year is Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro of Real Madrid.

Now to the list of players short listed for the award this year. Heading the list are five players of Italian descent, they are Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon, Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta and Andrea Pirlo. Except for Cannavaro and Buffon (Juventus), the remaining three players of the UEFA 2006-2007 champions league winners AC Milan. However the chances of an Italian repeating the feat of winning is slim this year as the national team did not perform to its best after World Cup 2006 and as for domestically, the Serie A is recovering from the scars of the scandal hit season.

Next up would be the discussion of the English contenders for the title. They are Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea) and Wayne Rooney (Manchester United). Looking at chances of the English contenders, none of them have high chances of clinching the title as the English national team has a difficult Euro 2008 qualifying campaign so far and they did not any outstanding club exploits last season. The other reasons are although Manchester United and Chelsea went head to head in the Premiership race, they failed to impress at the UEFA Champions league level. As for Gerrard, if Liverpool did won the last season UEFA Champions league final against AC Milan, then his chances would be different. However they did not and Liverpool had another of its forgettable seasons in the league again.

As for the French, they have Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Lillan Thuram (Barcelona) and Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan) short listed. At the moment, the chances of the French are as slim as the English for similar reasons. Henry has been a world class player, but he could not inspire Arsenal to the Premiership title and for this season, he is still adapting to his new club, Barcelona. Ribery also did not have the best of seasons last year and has changed clubs in the summer, leaving for Bungesliga Giants, Munich from the sleeping giants of French Football, Marseille. In Vieria's case, Inter Milan did retain their Serie A title last season, but as mentioned above, the title seen to be given to Inter midst point deduction for several Serie A clubs and demotion of Juventus. Hence he would not have a high chance in this year's competition for the best player's title. For Thuram, it is even more gloomer as he did not feature in a lot of his club's games last season and Barcelona failed to defend its La Liga title.

Brazil has three players short listed in Kaka (AC Milan), Juninho (Lyon) and Ronaldinho (Barcelona). Although the Brazilians have a forgettable world cup 2006, however one of three can be considered as a highly possible contender for the title. He is Kaka. The reason is that he has also won the FIFPro 2007 Player of the year award and it was he that inspired AC Milan to winning the UEFA Champions League midst a disappointing Serie A 2006-2007 campaign. As for Ronaldinho, a previous two time winner (2004 and 2005), his chances this year are quite slim as he was not in the best form last season with the Catalans Giants as they lost out to Real Madrid in the La Liga title. In the case of Juninho, other than inspiring Lyon to six consecutive French Ligue 1 titles, he had no major efforts of note last season.

As for Brazil's South American rival, Argentina too has three players short listed in Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Juan Roman Riquelme (River) and Carlos Tevez (Manchester United). Of the three, Messi's chances are the highest as he has continued where he left off last season with eight goals in as many games this season. Tevez had a difficult season in which his transfer reeks of a drama serial while Riquelme with his talent to a lot of people has choked on the big stages once too often.

Another highly possible contender for the title is Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United. With his 23 goals, English Premiership Player of the year award and PFA player's player of the year award last season, he can be seen as a major reason why Manchester United managed to regain the English Premiership title. Furthermore, in midst of enduring an anti-Ronaldo season after his antics at World Cup 2006, it is a wonder that he could conjure up such a wonderful season. Another Portuguese short listed is Deco of Barcelona who for all his talents was a bit player for Catalans last season and hence his chances are not very high then.

The remaining players of the short list are Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool), Ruud Van Nistelrroy (Holland, Real Madrid), Petr Cech (Czech Republic, Chelsea), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea), Michael Essien (Ghana, Chelsea), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, Barcelona) and Rafael Marquez (Mexico, Barcelona). Of seven remaining players, Ruud Van Nistelrroy may have the best chance as he was the top scorer for Real Madrid in their title winning squad last season and has continued his fine form this season. As for players of Chelsea and Barcelona, their failure in defending the title and poor UEFA Champions League showing would count against them. Lastly, Torres, the sole Spanish in the list, like Henry has traded clubs where he left his boyhood club, Atletico Madrid for English side Liverpool in the summer. His chances are very slim as during his time as Atletico Madrid, the team failed to establish it as La Liga contenders and as for his new club, he is still adapting there.

Lastly to summarize my views on FIFA 2007 Player of the year, my choice of player to win is the Kaka of AC Milan with Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) to give him a run for the title. The results would be out this December 2007 at the FIFA World Player Gala in Zurich.

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3 Players to Look Out For This World Cup

The 2010 Fifa World Cup is just a few short days away and excitement is building day by day. We all know about exciting players such as Argentina's Lionel Messi, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and England's Wayne Rooney, but every World Cup, a new star or two are born. Someone hardly anybody has heard of will attain superstardom. Who will be the breakout star this World Cup? Here are 3 contenders:

1) Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (Mexico)

Javier Hernandez was a relatively unknown forward for Guadalajara (also known as Chivas) in Mexico until Manchester United signed him in April 2010. The son of Javier Hernandez Gutierrez, who played in Mexico '86, Hernandez is more commonly known as Chicharito or "little pea" for his hazel eyes. His goal scoring form for his club led to a national call up where he scored an amazing 4 goals in 7 games. Already a big star on Youtube, Chicharito has a huge future ahead of him. Will he be able to fire Mexico to glory? With Mexico playing in the first match of the World Cup against hosts South Africa, we may not have to wait for too long to find out.

2) Adam Johnson (England)

Only recently, Adam Johnson was playing second fiddle to Stewart Downing in the Middleborough lineup. With Middlesborough's relegation from the Premier league, his chance for superstardom seemed to have been lost. However a shock transfer to Manchester City in February 2010 gave him a new lease of life. Johnson has been in excellent form and has settled quickly in a team of superstars such as Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor. His excellent form has led to a surprise inclusion in Fabio Capello provisional team of 30. If he survives the cut, Johnson could very well be the solution to England's left midfield problem.

3) Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina)

Cristiano Ronaldo has been the superstar this season for Real Madrid, but striker Gonzalo Higuain isn't far behind. Often overshadowed by his more glamorous counterparts such as Raul and van Nistelrooy, Higuain has never disappointed after being called upon and has been one of the most outstanding strikers in Spain this season. It has been the same at international level where Higuain was only called up for the last 2 matches of Argentina's qualification campaign. Higuain had a amazing debut, scoring the crucial first goal against Peru and playing a big part in Argentina's eventual qualification.

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Number of Players - FIFA Law 3

Some of FIFA's 17 laws may be obscure, since they govern aspects of the game that fans take for granted. Law 3 - the number of players - is one such law. However, it is very important in determining critical aspects of play and allows match officials to take appropriate action in special or uncommon circumstances.

== Number of teams and players ==

The first aspect of law three states the obvious-that a football match takes place between two teams. Each team must have a maximum of 11 players, but not less than 7 players. Law 3 dictates that a match cannot commence with less than seven players on the field on play. In high-level or professional soccer matches, the number of players is rarely an issue. However, in some amateur games played under the auspices of a member confederation, some teams have fewer than 11 players available to at the start of play. Under Law 3, the referee is aware that the fixture can begin, even if one team has seven players to the opponents' eleven.

== Substitutes ==

In official competitions, a maximum of three substitutions are allowed. However, the rules governing a particular competition can stipulate more substitutions, up to a maximum of seven. For national A team matches (international friendly games) a team can make up to six substitutions. In all other games, teams can use a larger number of substitutes once two conditions are satisfied:

i) There is an agreement between both teams concerning the maximum number of substitutions
ii) The referee is informed prior to the start of the match

Provision ii) is very important, because if the referee is not informed before the match, the referee would allow a maximum of six substitutions.

== Substitution procedure ==

Law 3 indicates the correct procedure for the substitution as well. First, the referee must be informed of a proposed substitution. Usually, the fourth official or assistant referee is responsible for informing the referee. The referee must give a signal to the substitute before he enters the field of play and the substitute can only enter the field of play once the substituted teammate has completely left the field of play.

The substitute only enters the field of play at the halfway line and once there is a stoppage in the game. The substituted player ceases to take part in the match, even though he can return to his team's technical area. A team cannot use the substituted player as a subsequent substitute. Law 3 also indicates that substitutes and substituted players are under the authority and jurisdiction of the referee.

== Goalkeeper change ==

Sometimes, in a football match, a player might have to change places with the goalkeeper through injury, expulsion or team tactics. FIFA's law indicates that any player can change places with the goalkeeper, once the referee is informed before the change is made and the change occurs only during a stoppage in the game.