Football

of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million

players in over 200 countries, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by using any part of the body besides the arms and hands to get the football into the opposing goal.

their hands or arms while it is in play and

then only in their penalty area. Outfield players mostly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, but may use their head or torso to strike the ball instead. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout depending on the format of the competition. The Laws of the Game were originally Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football  which organises a World Cup every four years.

of whom must be the goalkeeper. Competition rules may state a

minimum number of players-7 Goalkeepers are the only players allowed to play the ball with their hands or arms, provided they do so within the penalty area in front of their own goal. Though there are a variety of positions in which the outfield (non-goalkeeper) players are strategically placed by a coach, these positions are not defined or required by the Laws.

played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, Milan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Paris Saint-Germain, and

the England national team for which he holds the appearance record for an outfield player.

in four countries (which were England, Spain, the United States

and France).

the 2012–13 Ligue 1 season on 16 May 2013 and, on 18

May 2013, played his final game of his storied 20-year career.

Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team. He serves as the

captain of his country's national football team.

Player of the Year nominations. The following year, in 2009, he

won his first Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He followed this up by winning the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, and then again in 2011 and 2012. He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. At the age of 24, Messi became Barcelona's all-time top scorer in all official club competitions. At age 25, Messi became the youngest player to score 200 La Liga goals.

a Portuguese footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Portugal national team.

He became the most expensive footballer in history when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth £80 million (€94 million/$132 million).

he is paid €21 million per year (after taxes), makes him

the highest-paid footballer in the world, and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract.

Spanish professional foot-baller who plays as a centre-back for FC Barcelona.

for Manchester United in 2004, where he remained for four years, before

returning to Barça under Pep Guardiola's leadership, helping the club become the first ever to complete a Sextuple. Piqué is one of four players to have won the UEFA Champions League two years in a row with different teams.

2009. He played an integral role in the Spain team

that won the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012.

is a deep-lying playmaker. Alonso began his career at Real Sociedad captain.

Alonso succeeded in the role, taking Real Sociedad to second place in the 2002–03 season

Champions League in his first season at the club, scoring the

equalising goal in the Final. The following season, he won the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield. He moved to Real Madrid for the start of the 2009–10 season in a deal worth around £30 million.

is the third-highest goalscorer in Champions League history with 59

goals as of 10 March 2011. Shevchenko is ranked as the third top goalscorer in all European competitions with 67 goals. With a tally of 175 goals scored for Milan, Shevchenko is the second most prolific player in the history of the club, and is also the all-time second-best scorer of the Derby della Madonnina with 14 goals. In addition, he is the all-time top scorer for the Ukrainian national team with 48 goals.

prestigious of which was the Ballon d'Or in 2004 . He won

the UEFA Champions League in 2003 with Milan, and he has also won various league and cup titles in Ukraine, Italy, and England. He is also a UEFA Champions League runner-up in 2005 and 2008.

captain to the quarter-finals in their first ever FIFA World Cup appearance

in 2006. He is capable of playing centre-forward or attacking from the left wing and is effective with set-pieces and penalties.Even though mostly he was a striker, upon his return to Kiev he was used as a left winger.

as a goalkeeper. He has played for Dynamo Kyiv in the Vyscha Liha, the

top level of Ukrainian football, since 1993.

for FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the Ukrainian Premier League and the Ukraine national team. His

main position is left-sided winger.
A full international since 2010, Konoplyanka played for Ukraine when they co-hosted Euro 2012.

with good vision, passing, pace, dribbling, and creativity.
Tactically, he plays

a free attacking and occasionally a playmaking role. He is comfortable attacking on either wing or through the centre of the pitch. He began in a deeper role but he has found his best form as left winger in a flexible 4-2-3-1.

League club FC Zenit Saint Petersburg and captains the Ukrainian national team. He is

"a deep-lying midfielder who is comfortable on the ball and capable of ferocious long-range shooting."

League and the Ukraine national football team. He is left-footed.
In 2013 Andriy

Yarmolenko became the highest scoring foreign born player for the Ukraine national football team surpassing Tymerlan Huseynov, a native of Dagestan, (Russian Federation).