Ruud Gullit (help·info) (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈryt ˈɣʏɫɪt], born as Ruud Dil [ˈryt ˈdɪɫ], September 1, 1962 in Amsterdam) OON is a Dutch football manager and former football player, who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the captain of the Netherlands national team that was victorious at Euro 88 and was also a member of the squad for the 1990 World Cup. He was named the European Footballer of the Year in 1987 and the World Soccer Player of the Year in 1987 and 1989. He was a versatile player, playing in numerous positions during his career. Gullit was working to promote the Belgian-Dutch 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bid.

Gullit was born Ruud Dil in Amsterdam to George Gullit, a Suriname migrant, and Ria Dil, his buitenvrouw, from the Amsterdam Jordaan inner city district. The family lived in one split level room on the top floor of a small apartment building. Gullit's father worked as an economics teacher at a local school, his mother as a custodian at the Rijksmuseum.

Juan Manuel Mata García (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxwan manˈwel ˈmata]; born 28 April 1988) is a Spanish footballer who currently plays for English club Chelsea in the Premier League. He primarily plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger. Mata is known for his creativity, acceleration, speed, versatility, and technical ability and is described as a "creative spark". He has also been described as "a touch of flair" and has earned critical acclaim for his playing style, which has led to the media, fans and player's drawing comparisons to both Spanish international and former Valencia team-mate David Silva and Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola.

Mata began his football career in Spain, playing for Real Oviedo. In 1997, he joined Real Madrid. Mata spent three years in the club's academy progressing through their junior teams and, at the age of 18, made the switch to Real Madrid Castilla for the 2006–07 season, where he finished the season as the side's second best scorer with 10 goals. In the start of the 2007–08 season, Mata signed for fellow La Liga side Valencia CF, through a contractual clause at Real Madrid. He was voted the team's Best young player, at the end of that season. Since making his debut for Valencia in 2007, Mata had become an integral part of the club's midfield, making over 174 appearances for the duration of four seasons. In the 2011–12 season, Mata moved to England, signing for Premier League club Chelsea in August 2011, for a fee in the region of £23.5 million. On 27 August 2011, Mata made his debut and scored a goal for Chelsea against Norwich City, where he came on as a substitute.

Bodo Illgner (born 7 April 1967) is a retired German footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

During his career, he played for 1. FC Köln and Real Madrid, and helped West Germany to the 1990 World Cup, where he became the first goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup final.

Born in Koblenz, Illgner was a product of 1. FC Köln's youth system, and made his debut in the first division on 22 February 1986, in a 3–1 away loss to FC Bayern Munich. From 1987–88 onwards, he became the side's undisputed starter (as successor of Harald Schumacher), being voted as Best European Goalkeeper in 1991.

On 30 August 1996, already having started the season with Köln, Illgner was signed by Real Madrid, and played 40 league matches in his first season, helping the capital side to the league conquest. In the following, he lost his place to Santiago Cañizares, but regained it in time to play in the 1998 UEFA Champions League Final against Juventus FC (1–0 win).

In 1999–2000, Illgner was succeeded by 18-year old Iker Casillas, after which he retired from football altogether.

Christian Vieri (born 12 July 1973 in Bologna) is a retired Italian footballer who played as a centre forward.

Vieri was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. For a number of years he was regarded as one of the finest strikers in Europe, leading to him becoming the world's most expensive footballer in 1999 when Internazionale paid Lazio £32 million for his services. This record has since been broken only a handful of times.

Somewhat of a footballing nomad, Vieri played for no fewer than 12 clubs throughout his career. Most notable were his spells at Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Lazio and Inter; with the latter he hit the net on more than 100 occasions. Vieri has often been described as an old fashioned centre forward, due to his physical presence and outstanding aerial ability, he is the all time top scorer of headed goals in Italian league history.

As well as picking up several winners medals during his career, Vieri also claimed many individual honours including the Pichichi and Capocannoniere (top scorer) titles in Spain and Italy and Italian Footballer of the Year twice. He is one of Italy's highest ever World Cup scorers with 9 goals from 9 matches at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups respectively.

Ray Hudson (born 24 March 1955 in Gateshead, England), is a retired professional football player and former coach who currently works as an English-language football commentator on Gol TV and NBC Sports.

Hudson signed with Newcastle United in 1973 at the age of 17, from local team Whickham Juniors. He made over 40 appearances for Newcastle and fans there nicknamed him "Rocky." After four years in the Football League First Division, Hudson moved to the United States, playing for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 and was named an All-Star five times. He played the winter season of 1983-84 in Germany with Union Solingen, making 10 appearances without scoring. Hudson also played for the Strikers following their move to Minnesota in 1984, which proved to be the NASL's final year. During his stint there, Hudson scored 44 goals in 197 matches with 99 assists.

He followed this with a season playing for Edmonton Brickmen before joining the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the American Soccer League. He continued to play for the Strikers through the 1991 season by which time the team was playing in the American Professional Soccer League. He was released by the Strikers when the club was mired in a four-match scoreless streak to begin the season.