Gnegneri Yaya Touré also spelt Yahya Touré or Touré Yaya (Arabic pronunciation: Yaheeyaa Tooray, Tooray Yaheeyaa) (born May 13, 1983 in the Ivory Coast), is an Ivorian footballer who currently plays for FC Barcelona. He has 17 caps for the Côte d’Ivoire.

Touré, a midfielder, is the younger brother of Arsenal F.C. defender Kolo Touré. They have a younger brother Ibrahim Touré, who plays for OGC Nice.

Touré joined ASEC Mimosas youth academy in 1996. After two years in KSK Beveren (Belgium) and two more at FC Metalurh Donetsk (Ukraine), he moved to Olympiacos in 2005. He was nicknamed “the new Patrick Vieira” by his brother Kolo. He is said to have attracted the interest of clubs such as Olympique Lyon, Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona, Everton, and A.C. Milan, but has since expressed a wish to play alongside his brother Kolo at Arsenal. Ahead of the 2005/2006 Premiership season he spent a period during pre-season on trial at Arsenal, but failed to seal a permanent move. He was also selected by Eurosport in 2005 as one of the most promising young players worldwide (Javier Mascherano and Sergio Agüero were included in the list as well). It has since emerged that Arsenal made a €7m bid in January 2006 which was rejected as Olympiacos wanted to wait to the summer to consider selling.

Olympiakos decided to accept a mere €4.5m from French Ligue 1 side A.S. Monaco as a result of the players refusal to return to Greece for the team’s pre-season training. Touré accused Olympiacos of not paying his due salaries, while Olympiacos accused him of lying in order to get transferred. On August 15, 2006 Touré completed his move to the Ligue 1 side.

Touré is a central midfielder who stands out because of his physical abilities. Very capable in holding and protecting the ball, he excels in a variety of passes, including long, short and direct. In difficult situations, when his team is under pressure, he has the ability to make forward runs, thus he has been recognized as a box-to-box player.

On 26 June 2007 Spanish La Liga giants FC Barcelona announced the signing of Touré for a reported fee of €10m (£6.7m). He is the Catalan outfit’s second signing of the summer 2007 transfer window following the capture of striker Thierry Henry from Arsenal. At his official presentation with club president Joan Laporta and director of football Txiki Beguiristáin, he was given the number 17 shirt. However, it has since been announced that he will wear the number 24 shirt for Barça which was vacated by Andrés Iniesta and the number 17 will be worn by Giovani dos Santos.

At the Joan Gamper Trophy 2007 match against Internazionale, he scored his first Barcelona goal.

Oleguer Presas i Renom (born February 2, 1980 in Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain) is a Spanish football player. Currently playing for FC Barcelona. He is an economics graduate who missed training at FC Barcelona to complete his finals.

Oleguer, started his career at the modest Lepanto, a club from his hometown of Sabadell. In 1997 he joined Gramenet UEA, making his senior debut in 2001. When he was 21 he signed for the FC Barcelona B team and made his debut for FC Barcelona in 2002 during a Champions League match between Barça and Galatasaray. During the following season he played for both teams, on occasion being a last minute addition to the senior squad.

He was an important player for FC Barcelona as they won La Liga in 2005. He is a speedy and incisive defender and embodies the youth development philosophy of FC Barcelona. He usually plays as a right back, but due to repeated injuries to central defenders in the 2004-2005 season, he was often paired with Carles Puyol. During the 05-06 season, he challenged Juliano Belletti for the right back position, as he presented a more defensive alternative to the more offensive Brazilian.

He has sympathies with left wing and catalan nationalist causes and was asked by Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas to play a charity match in Chiapas, Mexico during the summer of 2005. In late 2005 he was invited to take part in a meeting of shortlisted players for the Spanish national squad, an invitation that he was forced to accept because the spanish punishment laws that would leave him without playing with FC Barcelona however he has never defined about if he would defend the colours of Spain in the next World Cup.

On the March 30, 2006 he published his first book with recollections on his youth, early career and the La Liga triumph of 2004-2005. The book, called Camí d’Itaca (The road to Ithaca) dealt with such varied subjects as childhood anorexia, the antifascist struggle and the previous Spanish governments involvement in both Gulf Wars. The book also touched on his love of tennis and the experience of the street parade through the Avinguda Diagonal in Barcelona on winning La Liga in 2005. Oleguer was injured with a muscle strain in the match against AC Milan at San Siro and missed the return leg of the draw which Barça won on aggregate (0-1) and two further league matches. He was absent in the league winning match against Celta de Vigo on 3 May 2006 but he returned to play in the next match at the Camp Nou, where the trophy was presented to the team. True to form, Oleguer celebrated wrapped in the colours of the senyera, the Catalan flag.

On 17 May 2006 Barça beat Arsenal F.C. to win the European Cup, or UEFA Champions League for the second time in their history. Oleguer was in the first eleven, but on the day he appeared tense and slow, struggling to neutralise Freddie Ljungbergs runs down the wing and more importantly not being able to stop Sol Campbell scoring the opening goal. In the 71st minute he was substituted by Juliano Belletti, a significant decision by manager Frank Rijkaard, as Belletti went on to score his first goal for Barça and the Champions League winning goal on the night.

He signed a contract extension in July 2006, keeping him with the club until 2010. Oleguer had the honour of captaining the team for the first time in their initial pre season game of the 2006-07 campaign, in recognition of his work over the last few seasons. With the arrival of Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram, Oleguer has found himself coming on from the bench in the first few matches of the 2006-07 La Liga season. On 29 November 2006 He was awarded the President Companys award for his efforts in promoting the official recognition of Catalan sports at an international level. Midway through the 2006-07 season coach Frank Rijkaard has opted to keep Oleguer in the starting eleven in the right back position.

On the 7 February 2007, in an article written for Basque language newspaper Berria, he questioned the validity and independence of legal and judicial processes in the Spanish state, using the example of ETA member Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos and his hunger strike intended to question said processes. His decision to write the article brought veiled criticism from his coach Frank Rijkaard and Barça President Joan Laporta. As a direct result of this he lost his boot sponsorship with Spanish sports firm Kelme. Oleguer has been the subject of a strong public backlash in Spain and is regularly heckled and booed in some of the country football stadiums due to his anti-government, anti-system and pro-radical Catalan stance. When asked about whether he felt that he should have not written the piece, Oleguer replied: “The consequences I suffer are nothing compared to what many people go through. What did sadden me, though, was that most didn’t actually read the piece. If people engaged in dialogue with intelligence and disagreed, then fine, but they didn’t.”

Eric Abidal (born July 11, 1979 in Lyon) is a left-sided French football defender of Martiniquean descent who currently plays for FC Barcelona in La Liga. He is married with an Algerian woman and became a Muslim with Islamic name Bilal.
Club career
Abidal was trained in Lyon-La Duchère, a team playing in the suburbs of Lyon. He started his professional career with AS Monaco on September 16, 2000, where he earned 22 first-team appearances. He moved to Lille OSC where he was reunited with his former manager Claude Puel and earned 62 first-team appearances. At the end of 2004, he returned to his native region by joining Olympique Lyonnais, which had just won its second successive Ligue 1 championship. During his time in France he was considered one of the best fullbacks in the Ligue 1. In the Lyon defense, he played alongside other French internationals (Grégory Coupet, François Clerc and Anthony Réveillère) and two Brazilian internationals (Cris and Caçapa).

Eric Abidal and the FC Barcelona
On 30 June 2007, Abidal moved to Barcelona for €15 million, after repeatedly stating that he would not return to training if he did not get the move, signing a four-year contract and taking the number 22 jersey, as the number 20 he wore at Lyon was already taken by Deco. Barça president Joan Laporta also mentioned that Abidal’s contract would contain a €90 million release clause, and that Lyon would receive an extra €500,000 if Barcelona win the Champions League in any of the next four seasons.

National team
Abidal has earned 22 caps with the French national team, having earned his début cap on August 18, 2004. Despite numerous injuries and disagreements with FIFA in the past few seasons, Abidal played on the French team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, starting at left back and playing every minute of the tournament with the exception of France’s match against Togo, from which he was suspended after earning two yellow cards over the previous two games. Mikaël Silvestre filled Abidal’s left back slot for that game. When France and Italy were forced into a penalty shootout in the Final, he was placed third in France’s five shooters. Abidal made his shot, putting it past Yashin Award winning Gianluigi Buffon, but the French team lost the shootout 5-3.

Lionel Andrés Messi (born 24 June 1987 in Rosario) is an Argentine international football player who currently plays for FC Barcelona in the Primera División, and appears on Argentina’s national team. Often touted in the media as New Maradona, Messi has been publicly named as his “successor” by Diego Maradona himself.
Video: Best of Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi was born in Santa Fe Province on 24 June 1987. At the age of five, he started playing football for Grandoli, a club coached by his father. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell’s Old Boys. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. River Plate showed interest in Messi’s progress, but did not have enough money to pay for the treatment of the illness, which cost over £500 a month. As Argentina’s economy was collapsing, Carles Rexach, then sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of Messi’s talent, and Barcelona signed him after watching him play, offering to pay for the medical bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Spain. His family moved with the young player to Europe and he starred in the club’s youth teams.

He soon found himself starting for the Barcelona B team, averaging more than a goal per game, by scoring 35 goals in 30 matches.

In October 2004, Messi made his official début for the first team against RCD Espanyol, becoming the third-youngest player ever to play for FC Barcelona. When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompié on May 1, 2005, Messi was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old, becoming the youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for FC Barcelona.

Sylvinho (full name Sylvio Mendes Campos Junior, sometimes alternatively spelt as Silvinho, born April 12, 1974 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian football player, who currently plays for FC Barcelona of the Spanish La Liga. He usually plays on the left, either as full back or wing back.

He started his career at Corinthians from 1994 until 1999. In 1999 he moved to English club Arsenal, where he played for two years, but in his second season at the club he was displaced by Ashley Cole. In 2001 he moved to Celta de Vigo and played there for three years. In 2004, after a transfer fee of €2 million[2], he was signed by his current club, FC Barcelona, where he has won the last two domestic leagues in 2005 and 2006, as well as the 2006 Champions League. His current contract with FC Barcelona will end in June 2008.[3]

Although he is a Brazilian international who has won six caps for his country, Sylvinho has a Spanish passport, granted to him in 2004 after completing three years’ residency in Spain. This allows him to bypass the non-EU player restrictions in La Liga.

Andrés Iniesta Luján (born 11 May 1984 in Fuentealbilla, Albacete) is a Spanish attacking midfielder currently playing for FC Barcelona. He is generally deployed by coach Frank Rijkaard in a central midfield role and is a favourite amongst the Barça fans.

At the age of 12, Iniesta was spotted by Barça scouts at his local club Albacete Balompié. He was switftly signed and worked his way up the club ranks. Louis van Gaal handed him his debut on 29 October, 2002, a UEFA Champions League game against Club Brugge KV. He appeared eleven times in the league in 2003-04, mostly as a deputy for Camp Nou favourite Ronaldinho, as Barça sealed second place, scoring once.

In the 2004-05 season Iniesta successfully secured a permanent slot in the first team and figured in 37 of 38 league games – more than any other player. He displayed an unselfish attitude by regularly aiding strikers Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho but was unfortunate in front of goal – denied by the woodwork on several occasions, he found the net just twice.

Iniesta’s improvement as a player continued in the 2005-06 and because of the absence of Xavi due to injury, he was given regular starts in midfield. The increased playing time offered to him at the highest level gave him the opportunity to blossom into a superb midfielder. His contribution to the team was praised by Coach Frank Rijkaard. His callup to the Spanish squad for the World Cup came as no surprise to football pundits.

On the 22nd of August, 2006 Andres lifted the prestigious Joan Gamper Trophy as the captain of the team after defeating German side Bayern München 4-0.

His current contract with FC Barcelona ends in June of 2010.[2] On July 19th he was linked with a move to rivals Real Madrid. Reports in newspapers suggested Real was prepared to pay 60 million euros for him [3] which would trigger his release clause. However, he reiterated his desire to remain with Barça by saying “I can’t do anything about it but I’d like to insist once again that I want to stay here. When I say I want to retire in Barça, I say it with all my heart.” [4]

For the 2007/08 season, Iniesta has been given the number ‘8′ shirt for Barça after it was vacated following Ludovic Giuly’s transfer to A.S. Roma.

Iniesta is a versatile player who can play in a variety of midfield roles. He is usually used in a central midfield role – sometimes as a creative midfielder and sometimes as a holding midfielder. He has also played on the right hand side of midfield on occasion. During the match between Barcelona and PFC Levski Sofia in the UEFA Champions League 2006/07, Iniesta was playing the role of a striker instead of midfield and he scored twice in the two games that Barcelona played against them. He was also assigned to cover Steven Gerrard at the right flank, meaning he had to play as left back in the matches against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League first knockout round in 2007 and performed considerably well.

He has good skill on the ball, great passing and movement all rounded off with a sound footballing brain. His superb passing has unhinged many resolute defences – he played a big part in the first Barça goal against Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League final of 2006. He also has the ability to win the ball, and is an extremely tidy player who works hard for the team.

Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard describes Iniesta’s passing ability as “like watching somebody hand out sweets”.

Rafael Márquez Álvarez, better known as Rafa Márquez (born on February 13, 1979 in Zamora, Michoacán) is an international Mexican football player, specializing as both a centre back and defensive midfielder, who is currently playing for FC Barcelona in the Spanish La Liga and for the Mexican national team as their team captain.

Rafael Márquez began his career at Mexican club Atlas de Guadalajara, for whom he debuted in 1996 at only 17 years old. Márquez rose to prominence while with Atlas, making 77 appearances for the team and being runner-up in the league losing the final against Club Toluca in penalties. He debuted for the Mexican national team, before moving on in 1999. In that year, French club Monaco purchased Márquez for €6 million. Márquez was an immediate success with Monaco, helping lead the team to the French title in his first season with the club. Despite pressures from larger clubs, Márquez would remain with the club until 2003, when Barcelona purchased him for €5 million.

In his first season with Barcelona, Márquez appeared 21 times, helping the team to a second place finish in La Liga. During his second season he was moved from his typical position as a central defender to the defensive mid-field, due to injuries to players Motta, Edmilson and Gerard. He completed a great season, being one of the main players that helped Barcelona win its 17th Spanish League on May 14, 2005 after a 1-1 tie with Levante. After an injury in his left knee, he returned after a month to play against Milan in the first leg of the 2006 UEFA Champions League Semifinal. Barcelona, the away team, won 1-0. On May 17, 2006, he won the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona, making him the first ever Mexican football player to do so. After the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Rafael Marquez renovated his contract to 38.5 million dollars for 4 years in FC Barcelona, ending his contract in June 2010.

Gabriel Alejandro Milito (born 7 September 1980, Bernal, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine professional football defender, currently playing for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona.

Previously, Milito played for Argentine first division Independiente from 1997 to 2003. During that time, he had to face his older brother Diego Milito, who played for Independiente’s arch-rivals Racing Club, and who as of the end of the 2006-07 season was his teammate at Real Zaragoza.

In 2003, he was due to be transferred to Real Madrid, but the Spanish team rejected the player after some medical results that, so the club said, showed a not-fully-recovered knee injury. To many, it was a political move against Madrid’s football director Jorge Valdano, who wanted the player in the team. It was also suggested that he was rejected because he was not a very famous player internationally, and therefore would not fit the galactico team which Real Madrid presented at the time.[citation needed] Milito decided to stay in Spain, and signed for Real Zaragoza.

With the Argentine national football team he participated in the Confederations Cup 2005 and was part of the squad which qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, performing well in the first-round match of Argentina against Netherlands national football team.

On July 10 Real Zaragoza reached an agreement with FC Barcelona for 20.5 million euros(£13.9m), with this agreement Milito has become a new player of FC Barcelona. Milito has signed a contract with FC Barcelona for the next four seasons earning approximately 4 millions euros (£2.7m) for each season.

On July 19 Milito passed his medical at FC Barcelona and signed a four-year deal with the club. He has been given the number ‘3′ shirt to wear at present after the number was free due to Thiago Motta’s transfer to Atlético Madrid.

Xavier Hernández Creus (born January 25, 1980, Terrassa, Catalonia, Spain), normally known as Xavi is a Spanish footballer who plays in central midfield for Barcelona. He currently plays for FC Barcelona and has been capped 43 times for the Spanish national team. He played for his country at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. He is renowned throughout Europe for his exceptional passing ability and technique.

Xavi has spent all of his footballing life at the Camp Nou having joined Barça when he was only at the tender age of 11 years. He quickly made his way through the youth and reserve teams and was a key member of Jordi Gonzalvo’s FC Barcelona B team that won promotion to the Segunda División.
Video: the best of Xavi

Xavi was born in the famous street of Barcelona, La Rambla. but believe it or not Xavi was a RCD Espanyol fan this was because his family was strong Espanyol fans. His grandfather Julio Hernandez was team captain in the 1968 season also Xavi’s younger brother Quique plays for Espanyols B team.

His exceptional growth throughout the teams earned him a full debut on August 11, 1998. He quickly went on to become a key member of Louis van Gaal’s title winning first team.

He won his first Spanish cap on November 15, 2000 against Holland and has since been a regular fixture in the Spanish squad. Xavi has endeared many fans with his long-range passing ability and deft touches to open opposition teams up. These, coupled with his steady composure, qualify him as one of the classiest midfielders in Europe. When on the pitch he shows no nerves whatsoever as he guides the team with an extraordinarily cool head. Since taking on the mantle of playmaker at Barca he has shown incredible vision on the pitch.

Even though he is most used as one of the more attacking midfielders he is more than capable of playing at the position just in front of the defense, where he exceptionally controls the pace of the game.

Since the title-winning season 2004/2005 he has been third captain of the team.

His trip to the World Cup was in doubt due to a knee ligament injury, but Xavi recovered well in time and was named as part of Luis Aragonés’ squad. His importance to the team was summed by Aragonés when he said “People say it is a gamble to take Xavi with us, but I say it would be a crazy gamble to leave him at home.”

Throughout the tournament Xavi showed his importance to Spain, consistently setting up his teammates with his well placed passes. Xavi was named Man of the Match in Spain’s first match against Ukraine and played in all of Spain’s other three matches, before they were knocked out in the second round.

Xavi is contracted to Barca until 2010, which carries a buyout clause of £100 million.

On sunday,september 2 2007, Xavi played his 250th game with barca, at the age of 27.

Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen (born September 15, 1978 in Reykjavík), known in English as Eidur Gudjohnsen, is an Icelandic football player who is a striker with FC Barcelona, having signed for the Spanish club on 14 June 2006. For the six previous years he had been a midfielder/striker with the English Premiership club Chelsea, having made his name with Bolton Wanderers in what is now Football League Championship. He is the captain of the Iceland national team and is often referred to as the greatest Icelandic player who is currently still in the game. For Barcelona he wears the number 7 shirt and for Iceland number 9. So far in his professional football career, Guðjohnsen has scored 128 goals in all competitions.

Eidur Gudjohnsen and the FC Barcelona
With Chelsea making several big-name signings in the 2006 off-season, notably strikers Andriy Shevchenko and Salomon Kalou and midfielder Michael Ballack, there was growing speculation concerning Guðjohnsen’s opportunities for playing time in the 2006-07 Premier League season and his future at Chelsea. Despite being linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid, amongst others, on 14 June 2006 it was announced that he had joined Barcelona on a three year contract, with the option of an additional year. He was signed to replace Henrik Larsson, who had decided to finish his career at his home town club of Helsingborg in Sweden.The fee was claimed to be €12 million with an additional €3 million depending on appearances and performances. On 28 August 2006, he made his La Liga debut in a match against Celta Vigo. With three minutes remaining in the match, he scored the game-winning goal, leading Barcelona to a 3-2 win. When a Celta defender stumbled over Guðjohnsen’s first attempt at a shot, the ball bounced in the air and Guðjohnsen volleyed it past the keeper. Guðjohnsen scored against Chelsea in the Champions League in October 2006, and recorded a brace against Mallorca in mid-November. Guðjohnsen scored one of the goals against Werder Bremen, 2-0, to take FC Barcelona to the final sixteen of the Champions League. Guðjohnsen also gained fame in the United States when he scored an impressive goal against Mexican champions Club Deportivo Guadalajara in front of nearly 100,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

On 6 March 2007, Guðjohnsen scored for Barcelona as they fought to overturn their disadvantage in a UEFA Champions League match against Liverpool at Anfield. Despite winning the match, Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League on away goals.