CAIRO WEST MAGAZINE FEATURE spot as French national icon of his era. He regularly topped the newspaper Journal du Dimanche’s periodic vote for most popular Frenchman. Zidane almost inspired a flawed French team to a second World Cup, but late in the final, after Marco Materazzi allegedly questioned the virtue of his female relatives, Zidane headbutted the Italian and was sent off. Cristiano Ronaldo ( 2002 - ) Born Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro on February 5, 1985, in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, a small island off the western coast of the country, Ronaldo is the youngest of four children born to Maria Dolores dos Santos and Jose Dinis Aveiro. He was named after Ronald Reagan, a favourite actor of his father’s. Ronaldo grew up in a largely working class neighbourhood, his home a small tin roofed shack that overlooked the ocean. His early life was shaped by hardship; his father, a gardener, often drank too much, and eventually died from kidney problems in 2005. Ronaldo’s mother worked as a cook and cleaner. By his early teens, Ronaldo’s talent and legend had grown considerably. After a stint with Nacional da liha da Madeira, he signed with Sporting Portugal in 2001. That same year, at the tender age of 16, Ronaldo turned heads with a mesmerizing performance against Manchester United, wowing even his opponents with his footwork and deft skill. He made such an impression that a number of United players asked their manager to try and sign the young player. It wasn’t long before the club 44 43 paid Ronaldo’s team more than £12 million for his services - a record fee for a player of his age. In Manchester, first as a winger and later as a striker, he racked up the prizes: three straight league titles from 2007 through 2009, and the Champions League in 2008. That night in Moscow he scored United’s only goal with a header, but missed his penalty in the shootout. He won the 2008 Ballon d’Or for European Footballer of the year. In 2009 Real Madrid bought him for a world record transfer fee of $132 million. In hindsight, Ronaldo might have done better to stay at United. The team he joined was a disjointed outfit with too many stars. Even after Jose Mourinho became manager, Madrid could rarely match Barcelona. Since moving to Spain, Ronaldo has won just one Spanish Cup. Meanwhile Portugal has gone into decline. Often apparently despairing of his teammates (as his perma-frown makes all too clear), he has become more of an individualist, shooting from all angles, but with brilliant results: it took him just over two years to notch 100 goals for Madrid. A ballet dancer built like a truck, he is the ultimate mix of power, grace and style. To move up the rankings, he needs just a couple more big trophies. Leonil Messi ( 2003 - ) Lionel Messi was born Luis Lionel Andres Messi on <strong>June</strong> 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. As a young boy, he tagged along when his two older brothers played soccer with their friends. At the age of 8, he was recruited to join the youth system of Newell’s Old Boys, a Rosario-based club. Recognizably smaller than most of the kids in his age group, Messi was eventually diagnosed by doctors as suffering from a hormone deficiency that restricted his growth. Messi’s parents, Jorge and Ceclia, decided on a regimen of nightly growth-hormone injections for their son, though it soon proved impossible to pay several hundred dollars per month for the medication. So, at the age of 13, when Messi was offered the chance to train at soccer powerhouse FC Barcelona’s youth academy, La Masia, and have his medical bills covered by the team, Messi’s family picked up and moved across the Atlantic to make a new home in Spain. Although he was often homesick in his new country, Messi moved quickly through the junior system ranks, and by the age of 16, he had made his first appearance for Barcelona. Messi put himself in the record books on May 1, 2005, as the youngest player to ever score a goal for the franchise. That same year, he led Argentina to the title in the under-20 World Cup, scoring on a pair of penalty kicks to propel the team over Nigeria. Messi eventually grew to 5 feet and 7 inches, and with his short stature, speed and relentless attacking style, he drew comparisons to another famous Argentinean footballer: Diego Maradona. Messi steered Barcelona to a wealth of success, most notably in 2009, when the left-footer’s team captured the Champions League, La Liga, and Spanish Super Cup titles. That same year, after two consecutive runner-up finishes, he took home his first FIFA “World Player of the Year” honor/Ballon d’Or award. Even the great Maradona gushed about his fellow countryman. “I see him as very similar to me,” the retired player told the BBC. “He’s a leader and is offering lessons in beautiful football. He has something different to any other player in the world.” All information is sourced from: biography.com
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