Thierry Henry, France. His “hand of god” goal allowed the World Champions of 1998 to qualify for the World Cup.
Fernando Torres, Spain. He scored the clincher against Germany in the Euro 2008 football championship final.
Wayne Rooney, England, is the country’s goal-scoring hope. He has already netted 34 this season for Manchester United.
Arjen Robben helped Bayern München into the Champions League final. Can he do the same for the Netherlands in the World Cup?
Alex Frei, caption of the Swiss team, suffered bad luck in the Euro 2008. An injury in the opening game resulted in him sitting out the rest of the tournament. He is hoping for better days in South Africa.
Gerardo Torrado. The midfielder has been on Mexico’s team since 1999, the year it won the Fifa Confederations Cup.
Lionel Messi. The European and World footballer of the year 2009 would like to help Argentina win a third World Cup title.
Kaká, for whom Real Madrid paid €65 million (SFr93 million) in 2009, is just one of the many stars in the Brazilian Seleção.
Elrio van Heerden is one of the unknown international players in the host country’s team. He plays for Sivasspor in Turkey.
This World Cup is the last chance for German captain Michael Ballack to win the title. South Africa is his third World Cup after Japan and South Korea in 2002 and Germany in 2006.
Gianluigi Buffon is the most expensive goalie in the world and it will be his job to keep the balls out of defending champion Italy’s net.
With 43 goals in 66 games, captain Didier Drogba is the Ivory Coast’s top scorer. The team faces Brazil in the World Cup group G.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the star Portuguese player, moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid for the record sum of €93 million.
The real star of the Swiss team is its highly successful trainer Ottmar Hitzfeld.
Football king Pelé, world champion in 1958, 1962 and 1970, is one of the 18 legends that Gregor Gilg has depicted for the magazine.
Footballers as seen by artists.
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The Swiss magazine “tschutti heftli” is a mix of culture and football. It has produced a collector’s album in honour of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, featuring the works of 37 illustrators from Switzerland and Germany. The images are of 445 current players and 18 football legends and the proceeds from this alternative to the Panini sticker album will go to a charitable project in Mozambique. (Text: Geraldo Hoffmann/swissinfo.ch)
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You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.