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PLAYERS
DAVID BECKHAM
TOP
SPV's
David and Victoria Beckham Page
The most media-adulated man in Spanish football has
his own page in Spain and Portugal for Visitors.
ROBERTO
CARLOS TOP
The
Official Site
The Brazilian Roberto Carlos is perhaps the most
public member of Real Madrid's star line-up, his amiability
having made him popular with the press. A spectacular
site, sponsored by Pepsi, with technical tips and videos
as well as the usual biographical details. Very entertaining,
as is appropriate.
LUIS FIGO
TOP
Figo
HomePage
One of the greatest and most expensive players in
the world, Luis Figo is also probably the most famous
contemporary Portuguese personality in the world, now
playing with Real Madrid after being at Sporting Lisbon
and Barça. I cannot find an official site,
probably because of Figo's famous desire to protect
his family's privacy. This is a fansite with
plenty of faultless content, including a biography,
stats, photos, information about the Portuguese team,
and a section dedicated to Figo's wife (the gorgeous
model Helene Svedin). The English is sometimes less
than perfect and I would have preferred a little less
Java, but that is just griping.
Luis
Figo
A starstruck biography from the boys at AskMen.com,
who drool over the Portuguese player in a way they usually
reserve for Monica Bellucci.
RAUL GONZALEZ
TOP
The
Official Site (Icons.com)
A veteran at not yet twenty-five, Raúl Gonzalez
(invariably called just Raúl here) has
spent practically his whole sporting career with Real
Madrid and has gone from strength to strength. In spite
of this and his de facto position as captain of the
national side, he has an unassuming, retiring character.
A word of warning about this page: you will need to
register to get most of the information, but that does
give you access to a host of supposedly official pages
about other Spanish and English players. Unfortunately
and ridiculously, English only for English players and
Spanish only for Spanish players.
Raúl
González - Unofficial Site
I have not been able to get this page to load, but it
is well rated elsewhere.
Raúl
González - Pictures
A very sketchy bio and a photo gallery.
JULEN
GUERRERO TOP
The
Official Site (Icons.com)
The Leonardo di Capprio of Spanish football is the captain
of Athletic Bilbao.
Julen
Guerrero - The Lion King
The contrived name refers to the fact that heart-throb
Guerrero used to be referred to as a cub among the lions
of San Mamés, Athletic's ground. Amateur fansite,
with lots of info and in English.
GAIZKA
MENDIETA
TOP
Gaizka
Mendieta
The Basque midfielder now playing for Lazio. Outline
bio and articles from SoccerAge.com.
MANUEL
RUI COSTA
TOP
The
Official Site
Really flashy intro for a highly entertaining site about
this Portuguese midfielder.
VALERÓN
TOP
Juan
Carlos Valerón
The Depor' corner of the Raúl-Valerón-Tristán
triumverate. Sketchy bio and articles from SoccerAge.com.
ZINEDINE
ZIDANE TOP
The
Official Site
Like Figo, the French player Zidane is one of the greatest
and most expensive contemporary players, and like Pele,
having that certain something that goes beyond the sport
itself. If he was not already there, Zizou passed
into sporting history with the goal that clinched the
2001-2002 Champions' League for Real Madrid, one of
those transcendental moments even football philistines
could appreciate the genius of. This site is impeccable,
as is to be expected, with information about Real Madrid,
the French team, and so on. The section "the Other
Zidane" contains stuff about his day-to-day life
that makes being a sporting superstar seem almost tedious:
"I have breakfast with my children and I take Enzo
to school."
Zidaneweb.com
Best of the Net
A tremendously slick fansite which used to go under
the name of Ahmed Rehab's Zidane WebSite. News, stats,
photos, videos, a chat room... all brilliantly put together.
Really impressive.
MANAGERS/COACHES
CAMACHO
TOP
José
Antonio Camacho
The seleccionador, manager, of the Spanish national
side is a likeable chap, adored by the press for his
not always intentional quotability. (A random quote,
before a Real Madrid-Espanyol encounter: "As soon
as the game is over, I'll go and shake Jorge (Valdano)'s
hand and tell him not to worry, it'll be his turn to
win another day.") As a player, he lasted over
sixteen years with Real Madrid, which speaks for itself.
His express reason for becoming a coach (which requires
a master's degree in Spain) was to train Real Madrid
- instead, he was given Spain. This site is from a sporting
newspaper and so is in Spanish only.
VALDANO
TOP
Jorge
Valdano
The Argentinian Valdano is the Sporting Director of
Real Madrid, which now has a team of managers. He is
nicknamed "El filósofo," the
philosopher, but I seem him as more of a poet of football,
as he has a way with words few professional writers
can match. Unfortunately, this excellent fansite is
in Spanish only and the biography is not up to date.
OWNERS
JESÚS
GIL TOP
Jesús
Gil
The owner of the Atlético de Madrid and suspended
mayor of Marbella has been jailed a number of times.
Given his lack of scruples and bullying personality,
it is difficult to believe that he has followers, yet
he does. Here is a potted but complete biography from
an unusually forceful Andalucia.com.
'Embezzler'
Gil in Solitary Confinement
Gil's most recent prison visit, from the Guardian.
RUÍZ
MATEOS
TOP
Ruiz
Mateos
The owner of Rayo Vallecano (yes, I know it is in his
wife' name), José María Ruiz Mateos (Y
Jiménez de Tejada, if you want the full version),
is marginally less detestable than Jesús Gil,
but not much less sinister. From an aristocratic, far-right-wing
background, he was once president of a vast holding
company which was expropriated on the initiative of
the then Socialist government. He was imprisoned and
escaped to Germany, the terms of his subsequent extradition
making it impossible for him to be convicted. He became
even more famous by dressing up in ridiculous costumes
(Superman was the most famous and least becoming) and
haranguing passers-by to protest against his treatment.
It must be said that, while there is no question of
his misdoings, there are doubts about the legality of
the actions against him. Why he puts his curriculum
on the Internet is a mystery to me - perhaps he needs
a job.
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