Top best Soccer Player 2007

TOP World Best Soccer Players 2006/2007

1. Kaka
Kaka's World Cup ended early in disappointment as Brazil failed to live up to their early billing and failed to reach the final for the first time since 1990. Personally the young playmaker was under pressure in the following months at both club level, where he was expected to fill the void left at AC Milan by Andriy Shevchenko's departure to Chelsea, and for Brazil where new coach Dunga began his reign by dropping Kaka to the bench in the friendly against Argentina. In both cases Kaka delivered the perfect answer by firing AC Milan to the Champion's League final and by regaining his Brazil starting spot in style.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo
No longer is the young Portuguese winger known as "the other Ronaldo" in world footballing circles as his performances for Manchester United, in both domestic and European competition, have catapulted him into the upper echelon of world soccer's greats. Skilful with either foot and deceptively strong in the air, Ronaldo has taken his game to an all new level this season, mixing the skilful showboating with plenty of end product in terms of goals and assists as Manchester United look set for the Premiership title and a possible league and cup double. Double Player of the Year awards haven't flattered him at all.

3. Steven Gerrard
While we usually clamour more for the skilful artists and big goalscorers when it comes to handing out awards, it would be completely remiss to leave Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard out of any list of the world's top players over the past season. Strength and skill personified, Gerrard is the engine room of a hard working Liverpool side that has now made it's way to a second European Cup final in three years and stand on the verge of bringing a 6th European Cup back to Anfield. If one player espouses all that is good about English football over the years, it is Steven Gerrard.

4. Ronaldinho
Unarguably one of the major disappointments at last summer's World Cup was the lacklustre performance of Barcelona's Brazilian star Ronaldinho. Long touted as the world's finest player he seemed slow and tired when given the chance to prove his worth on the biggest international soccer stage after a gruelling season winning La Liga and the Champion's League with Barcelona. 2006/2007 again saw his detractors aim digs at his weight and apparent disinterest in the game but 24 goals in 53 games tells a different story as the puppet master again has lit up world soccer at the most vital of moments.

5. Lionel Messi
It's been a tough year for Argentinian wonderkid Lionel Messi as injury robbed him of a lot of the 2006 part of the season for both club and country as he tries to establish himself in one of club football's most entertaining strikeforces at Barcelona and take on the international mantle of legend Diego Maradona, which is no small feat in itself! Messi has responded by firing in an average of a goal every other game for Barcelona and Argentina this season and with an unending bag of tricks is really my number one young player to watch over the next few years. "The new Maradona"-maybe not but then who ever could be?

Volunteer for UEFA EURO 2008

Over 8,400 volunteer applications for UEFA EURO 2008™

Zurich – The chance to experience UEFA EURO 2008™ as a volunteer has generated enormous

interest. To date, 8,442 men and women have applied via the tournament website

http://www.euro2008.com/ to work as volunteers at the world's third largest sports event.

Most applications are from Switzerland and Austria, although many Germans also seem keen

to relive the emotions of last summer's successful World Cup. Applications from overseas are

also flooding in: football fans from a total of 120 countries in all continents have applied to be

volunteers at the European Championship final round from 7 to 29 June 2008.

The tournament organisers are looking for 5,000 volunteers in all. The two main host cities,

Vienna and Basle, will each need 1,000 volunteers, while the other six cities require 500 each.

So far, a total of 5,208 people have applied for Switzerland and 3,234 for Austria. The city with

most applications so far is Vienna (1,945 applications), followed by Zurich (1,910) and Basle

(1,258). Applicants for Klagenfurt have a good chance of success, since only 177 people have

applied there so far.

70% of the applicants are men. The age range is fairly well balanced, with interest shown by

people of all ages, from students to senior citizens. Of the 14 deployment areas, "Guest

Services" (first point of contact for visitors) is the favourite, followed by "Media" and "Welcome

Services" (looking after UEFA guests and VIPs). There is still a need for volunteers in the

"Transport" sector, where Basle and Vienna each need 160 drivers. Anyone who wishes to

experience UEFA EURO 2008™ in this role and knows their way around either of these two cities

has the best chance of being selected.

In Switzerland, interviews with future volunteers are being held at weekends, while those in

Austria are taking place during the week. Between 15 and 20 people are conducting the

interviews in each of the eight host cities. Around 100 interviews are held on each recruitment

day. All interviews last around 30 minutes. Until the 5,000 UEFA EURO 2008™ volunteers have all

been recruited, it is estimated that more than 120 people will spend around 5,000 hours on 100

days interviewing up to 10,000 candidates.

The final selections will be made by April 2008 at the latest. Approximately 75% of all the

applicants are also interested in working as volunteers at the final round draw in Lucerne on 2

December 2007. These volunteers will be chosen in the first phase, which ends in November

2007. The second recruitment phase will begin as soon as the final round draw is made and will

last until February 2008.

Photo download

Images of the event can be downloaded free of charge at:

ftp://publicftp.uefa.com/

Username: MediaEuro2008

Password: Media2008

(Folder 08_Zurich_06Oct07)

For further information:

Media Desk: Tel. +41 (0) 22 707 2001 - Fax +41 (0) 22 707 2002 - E-mail: media@euro2008.com