Happy Birthday to you!
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| AFP |
In our regular Sunday feature, FIFA.com presents you with some of the biggest names in football who will be celebrating their birthdays over the coming week.
27. Peter Bonetti (74) travelled to two FIFA World Cup™ tournaments with England as a back-up goalkeeper to the legendary Gordon Banks: in 1966, when the Three Lions captured the global crown on home soil, and in 1970 in Mexico, where he started one match. At club level, the reliable custodian enjoyed two successful spells with Chelsea, with whom he twice gained promotion to the English top tier and won the FA Cup, English League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup. Bonetti later turned out for St. Louis Stars and Dundee United.
28. Willy Caballero (34) was part of the Argentina squad that competed at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, where La Albiceleste reached the final. The athletic shot-stopper had previously appeared at the 2004 Men’s Olympic Football Tournament, where the South Americans earned a gold medal, and the FIFA U-20 World Cup, from which he and his team-mates emerged victorious. After starting out at Boca Juniors, where he claimed an Argentinian League title, a Copa Libertadores and an Intercontinental Cup, Caballero moved to Spanish outfit Elche, who loaned him out to Argentinian side Arsenal de Sarandi. A subsequent stint at Malaga, where he put in a series of excellent performances, brought him to the attention of Manchester City, who secured his signature in July 2014.
29. Wolfgang Overath (72) represented West Germany at three successive World Cups, scoring three goals across 19 matches. After losing the 1966 Final to England at Wembley Stadium, the creative midfielder finished third at Mexico 1970 and lifted the trophy at home in 1974, where he played in all of his country’s encounters. A one-club man, Overath spent 14 seasons with Cologne, during which time he clinched a Bundesliga title and two German Cups, a competition in which he topped the scoring charts on one occasion.
30. Olivier Giroud (29) took part in Brazil 2014 with France, where he made five appearances, scoring a goal against Switzerland in the group stage. He had previously made his major tournament debut at UEFA EURO 2012. The robust striker began his career at Grenoble, but it was his scoring exploits at Tours and then Montpellier, where he landed an unexpected Ligue 1 title, that piqued the interest of Arsenal, with whom he put pen to paper in 2012. Since arriving in London, the former Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 top goalscorer has held aloft two FA cups and two FA Community Shields.
1. Mirko Vucinic (32) is one of Montenegro’s greatest football exports, having held his own in one of Europe’s most high-profile leagues for the majority of his career. The talented forward turned professional in his homeland with Sutjeska Niksic, but soon joined Italian side Lecce, where he enjoyed six productive seasons. In 2006, he signed for Roma, with whom he would go on to hoist two Italian Cups and an Italian Super Cup. Five years later, the seven-time Montenegrin Footballer of the Year left the Italian capital for Turin, where he promptly added three Serie A titles and two Italian Super Cups to his CV with Juventus. In July 2014, Vucinic was transferred to Emirati outfit Al-Jazeera, where he recently topped the national scoring charts.
2. José Fonseca (36) starred for Mexico at Germany 2006, where he scored a goal and played in all four of his nation’s matches, including their Round-of-16 defeat by Argentina. The imposing front man also competed at the 2005 Confederations Cup and the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where El Tri reached the final. The Leon native rose to prominence with Pumas, with whom he picked up two Mexican League titles, prior to pulling on the jerseys of Cruz Azul, Benfica, Tigres and Atlante.
3. Jackson Martinez (29) donned the colours of Colombia at Brazil 2014, where he scored twice against Japan. The prolific striker also participated in the 2011 and 2015 Copa America tournaments. After bagging a Colombian Championship and finishing top goalscorer in the league while at Independiente Medellin, he played for Mexican outfit Chiapas and then Porto, with whom he obtained a Portuguese League crown and two Portuguese Super Cups, and ended up the Primeira Liga’s leading scorer three years in a row. At the start of this current season, Martinez committed himself to Atletico Madrid.