Stephen "Steve" Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish association football manager and former professional footballer, who was most recently manager of Darlington. He earned 102 caps for the Republic of Ireland national football team, captained his team to the knock-out stage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup and earned his place in the FIFA Century Club.

Staunton enjoyed a distinguished club career with Liverpool and Aston Villa. After retiring, he served as Republic of Ireland national team coach prior to Giovanni Trapattoni.

Born in Drogheda, Ireland, Staunton was an accomplished all-round sportsman. He lived in Dundalk County Louth, and attended the De La Salle College Dundalk. As well as playing soccer for his home club of Dundalk, he played Gaelic football, appearing for Louth GAA's U-16 team.He also played for the his local team St.Domnics underage.

Staunton was spotted by Liverpool playing in Ireland for his home club of Dundalk as a 17-year-old and was signed on 2 September 1986 by manager Kenny Dalglish for the bargain price of £20,000.

Desmond 'Des' Cahill is an Irish sports presenter and commentator with national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. He presents a daily radio programme called Drivetime Sport on RTÉ Radio 1, while on television he has presented The Sunday Game, The Road to Croker, Play It Again, Des, and Up for the Match.

In 2011, he was blacklisted by the Football Association of Ireland.

Cahill was educated at Colaiste Mhuire, in Dublin, and he began his career as a newspaper reporter. While studying journalism in Rathmines, he spent a couple of years working with The Irish Press group, before moving on to two of Ireland's leading provincial newspapers - the Carlow Nationalist and The Kerryman.

Cahill joined RTÉ in 1984 as a TV news reporter, but quickly began reporting for the Sunday Sport programme on RTÉ Radio 1. By 1987 he had taken over as presenter of the flagship programme from Jimmy Magee.

He has presented programmes from many of the world's top sporting events, including some memorable Irish victories at Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups, UEFA European Championships, Tour de France and the Ryder Cup.

John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL (born 8 May 1935 in Ashington, Northumberland) is an English former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup. He is the brother of former Manchester United and England footballer Bobby Charlton.

Charlton was a part of the successful Leeds United side of the 1960s and 1970s, winning a league championship (1969), an FA Cup (1972), a League Cup (1968) and two Fairs Cups (1968 and 1971) and made a club record 773 appearances. He won 35 England caps and played in every game of the successful 1966 World Cup campaign. In 2006, Leeds United supporters voted Charlton into the club's greatest ever XI.

Charlton later became a manager of both domestic and international sides. In his first season as a manager, he led Middlesbrough to the Second Division title, for which he was voted Manager of the Year in 1974. He later took charge of the Republic of Ireland national team, and led them to their first ever World Cup in 1990, where they reached the quarter-finals.

Ian Michael Dempsey (born 16 January 1961) is an Irish presenter of television and breakfast radio. He is the long-running presenter of the breakfast show on Today FM, self-titled The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show, which runs from 7-9am each weekday morning. He has won several major awards for his programmes and remains one of the most popular broadcasters in Ireland, placing 10th in 2007.

On 9 June 2010, he co-hosted the opening ceremony of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games Irish heats at Thomond Park with Des Cahill.

Dempsey began his first experiments in radio in 1967 when at the age of six he made his first radio show in a friend's house. In 1978 he joined Dublin pirate station Capitol Radio, and later worked for Alternative Radio Dublin and Radio 257.

In 1980 he joined the national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann, to present The Weekend Breakfast Show on RTÉ 2fm, and later, shows such as Poparama, The Hotline, Night Train and The Great Giveaway Show. Dempsey later hosted the lunchtime show before moving to the breakfast slot in the mid-1980s. He picked up where Marty Whelan had left off, engaging the audience with his natural personality, a world apart from the 'jocks' that stalked the radio centre at the time. Apart from a brief time off breakfast following 2FM's 1989 relaunch, he has remained on early mornings since. Maxi was placed on the breakfast show at that time but after a few weeks it was apparent to all that her style not suited to the format; Dempsey was promptly reinstated.

Giovanni Trapattoni (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni trapatˈtoni]; born 17 March 1939), sometimes known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football coach and former player, considered the most successful club coach in the history of Serie A. As a player he was part of Italy's squad at the 1962 FIFA World Cup.

Trapattoni is currently the manager of the Republic of Ireland national team. He has led them through a successful UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign after narrowly missing out on the 2010 FIFA World Cup due to a controversial handball incident. Trapattoni coached his native Italian national team to the 2002 FIFA World Cup (where his team were controversially knocked out by South Korea) and UEFA Euro 2004. He has also coached in club football throughout Europe and is the only manager to have won all UEFA club competitions and the Intercontinental Cup. He achieved this with Juventus over his two spells with the club.

One of the most celebrated managers in football history, Trapattoni is one of only four coaches, alongside Ernst Happel, José Mourinho, and Tomislav Ivić to have won the league title (10) in four different countries. Alongside Udo Lattek, he is the only coach to have won all three major European club titles. Also, he is the only one to have won all UEFA club competitions and the World Club title, also having the record of UEFA Cup wins (three).