Gheorghe Hagi (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡe̯orɡe ˈhad͡ʒi] ( listen); born 5 February 1965 in Săcele) is a former Romanian footballer. He was one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s and is considered the greatest Romanian footballer of all time.Galatasaray fans called him 'Commandante' (The Commander) and the Romanians called him 'Regele' (The King).

Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", he is considered a hero in his homeland. He has won his country's "Player of the Year" award six times, and is regarded as one of the best football players of the 20th century.

He played for the Romanian national team in three World Cups in 1990, 1994 and 1998, as well as in three European Football Championships in 1984, 1996 and 2000. He won a total of 125 caps for Romania, being ranked second after Dorinel Munteanu, and scored 35 goals, being ranked first.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Romania by the Romanian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. Hagi is one of the few footballers to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

Adrian Mutu (Romanian pronunciation: [adriˈan ˈmutu] ( listen); born 8 January 1979) is a Romanian footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Cesena and the Romania national team.

Mutu began his professional career with his home club Argeş Piteşti. He made his debut on 15 March 1997 against Oţelul Galaţi and went on to score 11 goals in 41 games before sealing a transfer to Dinamo Bucureşti.

Mutu did not spend long playing in the Romanian capital. He scored 22 goals in 33 games in total and played an important role in Dinamo's league and Romanian Cup success. However by the time that Dinamo lifted these trophies, Mutu had already left to play for Internazionale. Unofficial sources claim that Mutu was delighted to leave Dinamo, as he has been a long-time supporter for Dinamo's fierce rivals Steaua Bucharest.

Having joined Inter midway through the season, Mutu made an immediate impact on his debut for the Italian side, in the Coppa Italia scoring within nine minutes of his appearance against derby rivals A.C. Milan to help Inter to a 3–2 victory. However, Mutu failed to replicate his form in Serie A, playing only ten games for the Nerazzurri without scoring, partially due to 3+2 non-EU quota.

Ali Rıza Sergen Yalçın (born October 5, 1972 in Istanbul) is a former Turkish footballer. The Turkish player who is recognised as one of the greatest footballers to play for Turkey. Sergen has played for every one of Turkey's big four clubs, some of them twice, and had stints at a few others as well. He is currently a football analyst in Turkey.

Sergen began at Beşiktaş JK in 1991, and quickly became renowned for his skill and creativity. His first spell at the club saw him score 46 goals in 158 games – no mean feat for a midfielder. However, it was known that Sergen lacked professionalism. After a 4–1 defeat to Samsunspor, he was publicly criticised by the Beşiktaş deputy president due to his careless lifestyle. Sergen responded to the club official by insulting him.

Subsequently, Beşiktaş imposed a club-record fine of over £150,000. He was later forgiven after apoligising but the fine stayed. Sergen then demanded a new and improved contract which was denied by the board.

As expected, Sergen departed from the club and became Turkey's record signing when he moved to İstanbulspor for £5.5m in 1997. Thereafter, Sergen now desired a move to the European fields and began contract negotiations with Internazionale and AC Milan. Terms could not be met with the Italian giants. After struggling with his weight due to months of inaction, İstanbulspor failed to offload him, so Jet-Pa (a sports company) bought his contract and arranged a loan deal with Fenerbahçe, which involved him wearing a personalised shirt promoting the company.