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The UEFA Champions League gives the world’s best footballers the chance to perform on the biggest stage. In 2009/10, 76 nations from six continents were represented during the tournament. The multinational diversity is impressive – but so is the quality. As a rule of thumb, 80% of players on the pitch are full internationals. Thirteen players who started the 2006 FIFA World Cup final – and the last six Ballon d’Or winners – have all featured in the tournament this season.
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Miralem Pjanic
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS
Born in Zvornik, in the former Yugoslavia, Pjanic and his family left for Luxembourg when he was a few months old. His father saw Bosnia’s descent to war coming. His club, FK Drina Zvornik, only released him after his wife begged on her husband’s behalf, cradling her infant son Miralem in her arms. Pjanic played for Luxembourg’s FC Schifflange 95 as a boy but joined FC Metz aged 14, signing professional forms in 2007. Olympique Lyonnais snapped him up just a season later. This season, Pjanic’s 75th-minute goal knocked out Real Madrid CF in the last 16.
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Didier Drogba
CÔTE D’IVOIRE CHELSEA FC
When Didier was five, he was sent to live with his uncle Michel Goba, a professional footballer in France, but headed home to Abidjan after three years. Drogba returned to France in 1989 and his uncle, seeing his nephew playing at right-back in one game, shouted: “Get up front! In football, people only look at strikers.” Drogba took heed. In 1999 when he was 21 he turned professional with Le Mans Union Club 72. Free- scoring spells upfront at En Avant de Guingamp FC and Olympique de Marseille earned him a €36milllion move to Chelsea FC.
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Andrei Arshavin
RUSSIA ARSENAL FC
Russia’s gifted attacking midfielder was born to a working-class family iin 1981. When he was seven, he signed for hometown club FC Zenit St Petersburg. After his parents’ divorced when he was ten, he and his mother slept on the floor of their cramped flat. Arshavin’s father, a fine amateur footballer, died at the age of 40. His shattered son was determined to enjoy the career his father had dreamed of. Joining Arsenal in February 2009, the No23 scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League against Celtic FC last August.
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Park Ji-Sung
SOUTH KOREA MANCHESTER UNITED FC
As a boy growing up in an industrial town south of Seoul, Park’s diminutive frame counted against him until Kyoto Purple Sanga FC offered him a contract in 2000 when he was 18. The energetic midfielder’s father made him drink boiled frog juice because he believed the nutrients would make his son grow. After impressing at Sanga and under Guus Hiddink with the national team, Park’s mentor took him to PSV Eindhoven where, in 2005 against AC Milan, he became the first Asian player to score in a semi-final of the UEFA Champions League.
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