Diego Armando Maradona was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award.
Hernán Jorge Crespo is an Argentine professional football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of UAE Pro League club Al Ain.
Gabriel Omar Batistuta is an Argentine former professional footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol as well as El Ángel Gabriel. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in 2004.
Antônio de Oliveira Filho, better known as Careca, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. They are the reigning champions in Italy, having won the Serie A title in the 2022–23 season. In its history, Napoli has won three Serie A titles, six Coppa Italia titles, two Supercoppa Italiana titles, and one UEFA Cup.
Ariel Arnaldo Ortega is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. His nickname is "El Burrito", thus he is called "Burrito Ortega".
Thomas Jürgen "Icke" Häßler is a German former professional footballer. He played as a midfielder throughout his career. At club level, he made a century of appearances for four teams: 1. FC Köln, Karlsruher SC and 1860 Munich in Germany and Roma in Italy, and spent a season apiece with Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and SV Salzburg. Häßler also appeared over 100 times for the Germany national team.
Oscar Alfredo Ruggeri is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as centre-back. Nicknamed El Cabezón, Ruggeri achieved success at the international level with the Argentina national team, being part of the teams that won the 1986 FIFA World Cup, two editions of the Copa América and the 1992 FIFA Confederations Cup. At the club level, Ruggeri's most successful stint was with Argentine club River Plate, where he won the 1986 Copa Libertadores the 1986 Copa Interamericana and the 1986 Intercontinental Cup. Known for his rough style of play when marking opposing players and aerial ability, Ruggeri is considered one of the all-time best defenders to come out of Argentina. Following his retirement as a player, Ruggeri turned to managing, where he held posts in Argentina, Mexico and Spain. His last job as a manager was in 2006 with Argentine club San Lorenzo. Since then, Ruggeri went on to have a career on Argentine television, as commentator on football shows. He is currently a member of 90 Minutos de Fútbol, which airs on ESPN Argentina Latin America.
The Argentina–Brazil football rivalry is a sports rivalry between the national football teams of the two countries and their respective sets of fans. Games between the two teams are often marked by notable and controversial incidents. The rivalry has also been referred to as the Battle of the Americas or the Superclassic of the Americas. FIFA has described it as the "essence of football rivalry". CNN ranked it second on their top 10 list of international football rivalries—only below the older England–Scotland football rivalry.
Ricardo Rogério de Brito, better known by his nickname Alemão, is a former Brazilian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. His nickname means German in the Portuguese language. A tenacious and physical yet technically gifted player, Alemão was a strong, consistent, hard-working, and versatile midfielder, who excelled in a holding role as either a defensive midfielder or deep-lying playmaker, due to his tactical intelligence, energy, tackling, and his ability to read the game, as well as his capacity to start attacking plays after winning back possession.
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium is an association football stadium in Doha, Qatar, located about 5 kilometres west from the centre of Doha. It is the home of the Al Sadd Sports Club's association football team, who play in the top-flight Qatar Stars League, and is occasionally used by the Qatar men's and women's national football teams as one of their home grounds. Named after the then-Qatari Minister of Youth and Sports Jassim bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, who had provided permission for Al Sadd's founding members to form the group in 1969, the stadium was opened in 1975, and has since been renovated twice; once for the 17th Arabian Gulf Cup in 2004, and again in 2010. In addition to hosting all matches of the Arabian Gulf Cup in 2004, the stadium has hosted numerous international association football matches throughout its history, including matches of the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup, the football tournaments at the 2006 Asian Games and 2011 Pan Arab Games, and two editions of the Italian super cup, the Supercoppa Italiana.
Sandro Cois is an Italian former professional footballer. He enjoyed a lengthy career, playing primarily as a defensive midfielder for Italian clubs Torino, Saviglianese, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, and Piacenza. Due to his tactical intelligence, passing, stamina, tenacity, and versatility, he was capable of playing in several midfield and defensive positions. At international level, he represented Italy on three occasions between 1998 and 1999, and was member of the team that took part at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
Fernando De Napoli is an Italian former professional footballer, who played either as a central midfielder or as a winger during the 1980s and 1990s. He is best known in club football for being a regular in the Napoli team that won 4 major trophies in 4 seasons between 1986 and 1990. He then joined Milan who won numerous trophies in his two seasons there although he made less than 10 league appearances when at Milan. At international level, he represented Italy at two FIFA World Cups, and at UEFA Euro 1988.
Unione Sportiva Borgo a Buggiano 1920 is an Italian football club based in Borgo a Buggiano, a frazione of Buggiano, Tuscany.
Juan Sebastián Verón is an Argentine former professional footballer and current chairman of Estudiantes de La Plata, where he had served as Director of Sports. In 2004, Verón was included in the FIFA 100 list of the 125 greatest living footballers, selected by Pelé as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. Verón has both Argentine and Italian citizenship. His nickname is "La Brujita", a nod to his father Juan Ramón who was known as "La Bruja" and was also a championship winning player with Estudiantes.
Elif Elmas is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the North Macedonia national team. A versatile player, Elmas can be deployed as a central midfielder, right midfielder, winger or forward.
King Saud University Stadium (KSUS), known as Al-Awwal Park due to sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In September 2020, SMC obtained the management rights for operating the stadium. In October 2020, SMC signed a deal with Al Nassr FC for the Al-Awwal Park to become their home stadium.
Moeka Minami is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a defender for Italian Serie A club A.S. Roma and the Japan national team.
Milena Bertolini is an Italian former footballer and manager who last coached the Italy women's national team. As the national team coach, she led Italy to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup following a twenty-year absence.
