Diamantbollen, Swedish for The Diamond Ball, an annual award for Sweden's best female football player. The award is currently given out by the Swedish Football Association and Sydsvenskans newspaper. The award is given in conjunction with its male equivalent, the Guldbollen.

Diamantbollen was established in 1990 and was given out in cooperations between SvFF and magazine network until 2000. Since 2001, the awards has been given out by the Swedish Football Association and Sydsvenskan. The precursor of this award, Årets Fotbollstjej, was given out by the Swedish Football Association and Dagens Nyheter from 1980 to 1989.

Since 2002, the recipient of the award has received a blown crystal structure designed by Melainie Rydoff. The award is in the shape of a kernel with smooth concave top. At the top of the award, there is a silver leaf. The logo and player name are made by calligrapher Gun Larson.

Yao Ming (born September 12, 1980) is a retired Chinese professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). At the time of his final season, he was the tallest active player in the NBA, at 2.29 m (7 ft 6 in).

Yao, who was born in Shanghai, started playing for the Shanghai Sharks as a teenager, and played on their senior team for five years in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), winning a championship in his final year. After negotiating with the CBA and the Sharks to secure his release, Yao was selected by the Houston Rockets as the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. Yao was selected to start for the Western Conference in the NBA All-Star Game eight times, and was named to the All-NBA Team five times. He reached the NBA Playoffs four times, and the Rockets won a first-round series in the 2009 postseason, their first playoff series victory since 1997. However, Yao missed 250 regular-season games due to foot and ankle injuries in his final six seasons.

Yi Jianlian (Chinese: 易建联) is a Chinese professional basketball player who plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also played in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, and Washington Wizards. Yi played power forward for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in 2002 and subsequently won the Rookie of the Year Award. In five years with the Tigers, he won three CBA titles, as well as playing with the Chinese national basketball team in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Championships. In the 2007 NBA Draft, he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks as the sixth overall pick. Initially, Yi declined to sign with the Bucks for several months before agreeing to a contract with them on August 29, 2007.

There has been controversy over Yi's age, as several reports have testified that his officially listed birth date of October 27, 1987, was intentionally falsified so he would be able to play longer in junior competitions. Yi has refused to comment on his age.