Arsenal Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Holloway, London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups. Arsenal holds the record for the longest uninterrupted period in the English top flight and would be placed first in an aggregated league of the entire 20^th century. It is the second side to complete an English top flight season unbeaten (in the 2003–04 season), and the only one to do it across 38 matches.

Arsenal was founded in 1886 in Woolwich and in 1893 became the first club from the south of England to join the Football League. In 1913, it moved north across the city to Arsenal Stadium in Highbury. In the 1930s the club won five League Championship titles and two FA Cups. After a lean period in the post-war years it won the League and FA Cup Double, in the 1970–71 season, and in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century won two more Doubles and reached the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. Arsenal has a long-standing rivalry with neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, with whom it contests the North London derby. Arsenal is the fourth most valuable association football club in the world as of 2012, valued at $1.3 billion.

Football Club Internazionale Milano S.p.A., commonly referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy. The club is commonly known as Inter Milan outside of Italy. They have spent their entire history in the top flight First Division (known as Serie A since 1929). Internazionale have won 30 domestic trophies, including the league eighteen times, the Coppa Italia seven and the Supercoppa Italiana five. From 2006 to 2010 the club won five successive league titles, equalling the all-time record. They have won the Champions League three times; two back-to-back in 1964 and 1965 and then another in 2010. The last completed an unprecedented Italian treble with the Coppa Italia and the Scudetto. The club has also won three UEFA Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Inter's home games are played at San Siro, also known as the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The stadium, which is shared with A.C. Milan, is the largest in Italian football, with a total capacity of 80,018. Milan are considered one of their biggest rivals, and matches between the two teams are called Derby della Madonnina, which is one of the most followed derbies in football. As of 2010, Inter is the second most supported team in Italy, and the eighth most supported team in Europe. The current president and owner of Inter is Massimo Moratti. The club is one of the wealthiest and most valuable in Italian and world football. It was a founding member of the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs as well as its replacement, the European Club Association.

Dennis Nicolaas Bergkamp (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdɛnɪs ˈbɛrχkɑmp] ( listen); born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer who is the assistant manager to Frank de Boer at Ajax. Originally a wide midfielder and subsequently a main striker, he was deployed as a second striker, where he remained throughout his playing career. Bergkamp has been described by Jan Mulder as having "the finest technique" of any Dutch international and a "dream for a striker" by teammate Thierry Henry.

The son of an electrician, Bergkamp was born in Amsterdam and played as an amateur in the lower leagues. He was spotted by Ajax at the age of 11 and made his professional debut in 1986. Good form led to an international call-up a year later, attracting the attention of several European clubs. Bergkamp signed for Italian club Internazionale in 1993 where he had two disappointing seasons, before joining Arsenal in 1995. It was at Arsenal where Bergkamp rejuvenated his career, helping the club to win three Premier League titles, four FA Cup trophies and reach the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final, which marked his last appearance as a player. With the Netherlands national team, Bergkamp surpassed Faas Wilkes's record to become the Netherlands' top goalscorer of all time in 1998, later surpassed by Patrick Kluivert.

Kieran James Ricardo Gibbs (born 26 September 1989) is an English footballer who plays for Arsenal and was a product of their academy who came to prominence during 2006–07 FA Youth Cup by scoring in the semi-final prior to his first-team breakthrough. He plays as a left back for Arsenal and made his début for the Senior England national team in a friendly against Hungary at Wembley Stadium on 11 August 2010. He attended Riddlesdown High School in Purley, London.

Gibbs began his career at the Wimbledon academy but moved to Arsenal along with Abu Ogogo and James Dunne when Wimbledon disbanded in 2004 and became Milton Keynes Dons. He played in the centre midfield position and also on the left wing. He has featured regularly for Arsenal's U18 and reserves teams and also played in pre-season friendlies against Barnet and Inter Milan.

In September 2007, Gibbs signed a professional contract with Arsenal, and was named in the club's 2007–08 UEFA Champions League squad and given squad number 34. He made his first-team debut for the club when he started a League Cup match against Sheffield United on 31 October 2007, and made his second appearance coming on as a substitute for Eduardo da Silva in Arsenal's quarter-final against Blackburn Rovers on 18 December 2007.

Mesut Özil (German pronunciation: [ˈmeːzut ˈøːzil], Turkish pronunciation: [me̞ˈsut ˈø̞zil]) (born 15 October 1988) is a German footballer who plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and the Germany national football team. Özil has been a youth national team member since 2006, and a member of the German national team since 2009. He gained international attention during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and was nominated for the Golden Ball Award, which is awarded to the tournament's best player. Following his breakout performance at the World Cup, he was transferred from Werder Bremen to Real Madrid in August 2010.

Özil is acclaimed for his finesse and improvisation as an attacking midfielder. His style and knack for providing assists for his team-mates has been compared to that of Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane. In 2011, he ranked second in assists in La Liga with 17, and first in major European competitions with 25.

Özil began his youth career playing for various clubs in Gelsenkirchen and then played five years for Rot-Weiss Essen.