Volkan Demirel is a Turkish coach, pundit and former professional footballer. He is the manager of the Turkish club Hatayspor. For many years, he was the starting goalkeeper of Fenerbahçe and the Turkey national team.
Mark Clattenburg is an English professional football referee.
Martin Atkinson is an English referee coach and retired professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League. He is a member of the West Riding County Football Association.
Emre Aşık is a Turkish former international footballer. He played centre-back for several clubs in the Turkish Süper Lig, most notably, Galatasaray. Aşık began his career with Sönmez Filamentspor in the TFF Third League, and also played for Balıkesirspor, Fenerbahçe, İstanbulspor and Beşiktaş; he is one of thirteen footballers who has played for both Galatasaray and Beşiktaş.
Ivan Rakitić is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a central or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Sevilla.
Mehmet Topal is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He was nicknamed Örümcek (Spider), due to his ability to use his long legs to win loose balls or cut passes.
Football is the most popular sport in Turkey, followed by basketball, tracing its roots to the Ottoman Empire. The first matches were played in Ottoman Salonica in 1875. The sport was introduced by English residents. The Turkish football league system comprises five professional leagues, one of which is dedicated to female athletes.
Luiz Gustavo Dias is a Brazilian professional footballer who last played as a defensive midfielder for Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr. He began his career as a left back, but has played mostly as a defensive midfielder, and also as a centre back.
Serge Gumienny is a former Belgian football referee. He frequently operates in the Belgian First Division, Belgian Second Division and Belgian Cup. Occasionally he referees a matches in the Dutch Eredivisie, the UEFA Intertoto Cup, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Champions League. He also has whistled matches overseas and frequently operates as fourth official in the games refereed by Frank De Bleeckere. On 25 December 2008, he was promoted to the European A-category. He has whistled 250 games in the Belgian first division.
Eduardo dos Reis Carvalho, known simply as Eduardo, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
The 2011 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, the 40th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the second season since it was renamed from UEFA Cup to UEFA Europa League. The match was played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, on 18 May 2011, between two Portuguese teams – Porto and Braga – for the first time in UEFA competition finals.
Volkan Şen is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a winger. He is under contract with Adana Demirspor. He is mostly known for his long shots, his dribbling and speed.
The 2010–11 Fenerbahçe S.K. season was the club's 53rd consecutive season in the Süper Lig and their 104th year in existence. They also competed for a short while in the UEFA Champions League, eliminated in the third qualifying round. On 22 May, 2011, Fenerbahçe won 18th Turkish league title, but refused entry to next season's UEFA Champions League due to match-fixing.
Cüneyt Çakır is a former Turkish football referee. He is best known for refereeing the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final between Juventus and Barcelona. He was FIFA listed since 2006 and a member of the UEFA Elite since 2010 until his retirement.
Björn Kuipers is a former Dutch football referee. He has been a FIFA listed referee from 2006 to 2021 and an UEFA Elite group referee from 2009 to 2021. He was assisted during international matches by Sander van Roekel and Erwin Zeinstra. A supermarket owner by occupation, Kuipers has officiated at two World Cups and three European Championship tournaments. It was announced on 29 July 2021 that Kuipers would be retiring from refereeing, officiating his final match between Ajax and PSV on 7 August in the 2021 Johan Cruyff Shield.
The 2011–12 season was Fenerbahçe's 54th consecutive season in the Süper Lig and their 105th year in existence.
Milorad Mažić is a former Serbian international association football referee. He became a FIFA referee in 2009. Beside working in the Serbian football league system, Mažić officiated numerous matches in the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League, as well as the 2016 UEFA Super Cup. He refereed matches at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016, 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. He was selected as a referee for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was awarded a Silver Medal for Merits of the Republic of Serbia. He was selected the best Serbian referee nine times in a row.
Daniele Orsato is an Italian football referee. Over his career, which spans three decades, Orsato has refereed a UEFA Champions League final and has received accolades from the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, but he has also been the subject of much controversy. A mistake he made in a 2018 match between Inter Milan and Juventus handed the Serie A title to Juventus over rivals S.S.C. Napoli. Orsato himself acknowledged the mistake years later. Ballon d'Or winner and Croatia national football team captain Luka Modrić has defined Orsato, who refereed the semi-final between Croatia and Argentina at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, as "one of the worst" referees, describing his performance in that game as "a disaster."
Ivan Šunjić is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for EFL Championship club Birmingham City. He previously played for Lokomotiva and Dinamo Zagreb, and spent the 2022–23 season on loan to Bundesliga club Hertha BSC. Internationally, he was a regular in Croatia's youth teams from under-16 through to under-21 level, and was capped once for the senior team in 2017.
The 2021 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. It was played on 26 May 2021 at the Stadion Gdańsk in Gdańsk, Poland, between Spanish club Villarreal and English club Manchester United.
