Obafemi Martins

Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins (born 28 October 1984) is a Nigerian footballer who plays as a forward for Seattle Sounders FC and the Nigeria national team. He is known for his speed on the ball. After leaving Nigeria for Italy at age 16, he has since played for a number of top-division clubs around Europe. He began his senior career in 2002 at the Italian Serie A club Inter Milan, before moving to the English Premier League club Newcastle in 2006, and then the German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg in 2009. Having joined Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan in July 2010, they loaned him to Birmingham City in January 2011.

In club football, Martins has won the Italian Serie A title, the Italian Cup (twice), and the Super Cup, all with Inter. With Birmingham he scored the winning goal in the 2011 Football League Cup Final. He has played European football with Inter, Newcastle and Wolfsburg, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup with Newcastle. His highest scoring league seasons so far have seen him score 11 goals in the 2004–05 Serie A, and 17 in both the 2006–07 English Premier League and 2014 MLS. In international football, Martins has been in the Nigerian squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006, 2008 and 2010, and for the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

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Shanghai Greenland Shenhua F.C.

Shanghai Greenland Shenhua Football Club (simplified Chinese: 上海绿地申花足球俱乐部; traditional Chinese: 上海綠地申花足球俱樂部; pinyin: Shànghǎi Lǜdì Shēnhuā Zúqiú Jùlèbù), is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term shen hua literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in English – shen is one of the alternative names of Shanghai and hua means flower in Chinese. The team is based in Kangqiao, Shanghai and their home stadium is the Hongkou Football Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 33,060. Their current majority shareholder is Chinese developer the Greenland Group who officially took over the operation of the club when they bought the 28.5% share from previous majority shareholder Zhu Jun on 31 January 2014.

The club's predecessor was called Shanghai F.C. and they predominantly played in the top tier, where they won several domestic league and cup titles. On 10 December 1993 the club was reorganised to become a completely professional football club so they could play in the 1994 Chinese Jia-A League season making them one of the founding members of the first fully professional top tier league in China. Since then, they have won the 1995 league title and 1998 Chinese FA Cup.

Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional soccer club based in Seattle, Washington. The Sounders compete in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, as an MLS expansion team, making it the 15th team in the league and the third Seattle soccer club to share the name.

The club's majority owner is Adrian Hanauer, and its minority owners are Joe Roth, Paul Allen and Drew Carey. Two-time MLS Cup winner Sigi Schmid is the club's head coach. The Sounders play their home matches at CenturyLink Field. Along with several organized groups, a 53-member marching band called 'Sound Wave' supports the club at each home match. Seattle competes with rival MLS clubs Portland and Vancouver in the Cascadia Cup.

The Sounders played its inaugural match on March 19, 2009, winning 3–0 over the New York Red Bulls. Seattle has set MLS records for average attendance, led the league in season ticket sales, and qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs in each of its first seven seasons. The Sounders have led MLS attendance since their inaugural season, consistently drawing an average of 50-65% more than the next highest-drawing team in the league, LA Galaxy. The club's announced attendance average was 43,144 in 2012. The team's players have included United States men's national soccer team captain Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, Academy product and current Sunderland player DeAndre Yedlin, striker Fredy Montero, and Osvaldo Alonso.

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao F.C.

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and their home stadium is the Tianhe Stadium which has a seating capacity of 58,500. Their current majority shareholders are the Evergrande Real Estate Group (60%) and the e-commerce company Alibaba Group (40%).

Originally founded in 1954, their biggest achievements were winning several second tier titles before they became professional in 1993 and achieved an upswing in results, leading to a runners-up spot in China's top tier. Unable to improve upon these results the club would go through a period of stagnation and then decline before they experienced a brief revival when they won the 2007 second division; however, in 2009 the club were embroiled in a match-fixing scandal. This saw them punished with relegation; however, the Evergrande Real Estate Group decided to purchase the club and pumped significant funds into the team which saw them immediately win promotion as well as gain their first ever top tier title in the following campaign in the 2011 season. The club is the first and only Chinese football club to win AFC Champions League twice, in 2013 and 2015 respectively. The club is also the first ever Chinese club to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup, making its first appearance in 2013.