Equipment

Soccer

		Diego Maradona is regarded by many as the greatest player in the history of the game. He was born on October 30^th, 1960 in Lanus outside Buenos Aires. There he joined Argentina Juniors. At age 16 he was Argentina’s youngest ever international when he played against Hungary. Two years later he captained the World Youth Cup winners and was soon transferred to Boca Juniors for £1,000,000. The success continued and he was voted South American Player of the Year in 1979. Maradona continued playing for many years and became Argentina’s international team captain
	Edson Aranres do Nascimento, or better known as Pele was born October 23^rd, 1940. He went on to become perhaps the best player of all time. He made his senior debut for Santos in 1956, a month before his 16^th birthday and 10 months later he played for Brazil against Argentina. Pale missed the first 2 months of the 1958 World Cup, before making his debut against Russia. His first World Cup goal came in the 1-0 quarter-final win over Wales and he scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and 2 more in the final over host nation Sweden. At age 17, Pele became the youngest ever winner of the World. Pele is the only player to win 3 World Cups. After Pele had many victories and medals, Brazil actually made a law saying that Pele couldn’t be traded to any teams outside of Brazil, probably the only player ever in soccer history to have that happen.

		Luíz Nazário, or Ronaldo, is quite simply one of the best strikers in the history of international soccer. He is capable of leaving an entire team behind with his quick runs and dribbling ability, voted FIFA World Player of the year on 3 occasions and already a 2 time FIFA World Cup winner. These honors are just are simply a little spec of Ronaldo’s record-breaking career. Despite all of his awards, Ronaldo has had many injusries, such as in April of 2000 he tore a ligament in his knee but returned a year later in September of 2001, and he is still playing like a champ till this day.
	Zinadine Zidane’s began in Marsielles where, at age 14 was spotted by a talent scout and offered a place at the academy of AS Cannes. Before he had even turned 17, Zinadine broke through into the Cannes first team and during the 1990/91 season, he was already a part of the starting 11. After, Zinadine signed up for Bordeaux so he could continue to improve his talents at the highest level. Zinadine retired after last season and let someone else take over as captain.
		David Beckham is one of the world’s most recognized sportsmen. Years of success on the fields at real Madrid and now L.A. Galaxy, combined with a high-profile lifestyle off it, had ensured him a rare level of wealth and celebrity even before he became part of Real Mdrid’s Galácticos project in 2003. Beckham had become captain of the England international team in 2000. Beckham is now ono the L.A. Galaxy and has a 250 million dollar contract for 5 years.
	Despite being honored with breathtaking skill and almost supernatural ball control, the modest Ronaldinho Guacho still blushes when he is mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Zico or Pele. Ronaldinho may not be a legend like Garrinch, Didi, or Vava, but with each passing game he becomes better and may become one of the greatest players the world has ever seen.