Josep Guardiola

Josep "Pep" Guardiola i Sala (born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player. Guardiola played as a defensive midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career with FC Barcelona, whom he currently manages. He was part of Johan Cruyff's dream team that won Barcelona's first European Cup. Guardiola also played for Brescia Calcio and A.S. Roma in Italy; Al-Ahli in Qatar; and for Dorados de Sinaloa in Mexico while attending managing school. While playing in Italy, he served a four-month ban for a positive drug test although he was cleared of wrongdoing twice on appeal in 2009 before the Courts of Justice of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and the Federal Anti-Doping Courts of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). As an international, he played for Spain and friendly matches with Catalonia.

After retiring as a player, Guardiola became coach of FC Barcelona B. On 8 May 2008, Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that Guardiola would succeed Frank Rijkaard as the first team manager. He signed his contract on 5 June 2008. In his first season as manager, Barcelona won the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. In doing so, Guardiola became the youngest UEFA Champions League winning manager ever. The following season, Guardiola and Barcelona won the Supercopa de España against Athletic Club Bilbao, the UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, and the FIFA Club World Cup against Estudiantes, bringing the manager's tally to the maximum of six trophies in six competitions in one year, thus completing the first ever sextuple.

On 8 September 2011, Guardiola was awarded the Catalan Parliament parliament's Gold Medal, its highest honour.

On January 9, 2012 Guardiola received the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award.

Personal Life

Pep Guardiola was born in Santpedor, to Dolors and Valentí. He has two older sisters, Francesca and Olga, and younger brother, Pere who is an agent for Liverpool striker Luis Suárez. Guardiola has a wife, Cristina Serra, whom he met the first time in a clothing store when he was 18. The couple have three children: Maria (born 28 December 2003), Màrius (born 2001) and Valentina (born 5 May 2008).

He is a close friend of water polo great Manuel Estiarte, whom he has known since 1992. His close friends also include Raúl, Luis Enrique, Tito Vilanova, Juan Manuel Lillo, and Johan Cruyff.

From : www.wikipedia.org

José Antonio Camacho

José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (born 8 June 1955) is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a left defender, and the current coach of the China PR national football team.

He played for 15 professional years with Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping it to 19 major titles, including nine La Liga championships. Subsequently, he embarked in a lengthy manager career, which included two very brief spells with his main club.

Camacho gained more than 80 caps with Spain, representing it in two World Cups and as many European Championships. He also managed the national team during four years, taking it to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup.

Playing Career

Camacho was born in Cieza, Murcia. After playing youth football at Albacete Balompié, he moved to La Liga giants Real Madrid at age 18, being almost immediately cast into the first team and its starting XI, his debut being handed by manager Luis Molowny.

During his spell with Real Madrid, Camacho played in nearly 600 official matches (414 in the league alone), forming a proficient left-wing partnership with Rafael Gordillo, who played mainly as a midfielder then. In January 1978, he suffered a serious injury in training, which put his career on hold for nearly two years, but returned strong, being instrumental as the capital side won consecutive UEFA Cups.

Camacho also played 81 games for the Spanish national team, his debut coming at not yet 20, on 5 February 1975 in Valencia, in a 1–1 draw against Scotland for the UEFA Euro 1976 qualifiers.

For the following 13 years, Camacho was a defensive mainstay for the national side, being selected – and always as first-choice – for the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups, as well as Euro 1984 and 1988; after the 0–2 group stage loss against West Germany in the latter competition, he retired from the international scene, aged 33.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Luis Aragonés

José Luis Aragonés Suárez (born July 28, 1938), usually referred to as Luis Aragonés and sometimes simply as Luis, is a former Spanish footballer and national coach.

Aragonés has spent the majority of his career as a player and coach at Atlético Madrid. He was a prominent player and then coach of the successful Atlético team of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The team won La Liga four times, reached the final of the European Cup and won the Intercontinental Cup. Between 1964 and 1974 he played 265 La Liga games for Atlético and scored 123 goals. Aragonés has coached the club on four separate occasions. He has also played with several other clubs, most notably Real Betis, and played 11 times for Spain, scoring three goals. Apart from Atlético he has also coached seven other La Liga clubs as well as the Spanish national football team whom he led to their 2nd European Championship title in 2008. He became the head coach of the Turkish football team Fenerbahçe after Euro 2008, and this is the first time that Aragonés has coached outside of his native Spain.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias (born Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler; May 8, 1975) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and occasional actor, popular in both the Latin market and the Hispanic American market in the United States. He is the son of the famous Spanish singer Julio Iglesias. Within five years of beginning his musical career in the 1990s, he became the biggest seller of Spanish-language albums of that decade. He made his crossover into the mainstream English language market before the turn of the millennium, signing a multi-album deal with Universal Music Group for an unprecedented US$50,000,000 with Universal Music Latino to release his Spanish albums and Interscope to release English albums. In 2010, he parted with Interscope and signed with another Universal Music Group label, Universal Republic.

Iglesias has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling Spanish language artists of all time. He has had five Billboard Hot 100 top five singles, including two number-ones, and holds the record for producing 22 number-one Spanish-language singles on the Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks. He has also had ten number-one songs on Billboard's Dance charts, more than any other single male artist. Altogether, Iglesias has amassed 55 number-one hits on the various Billboard charts. Billboard has called him The King of Latin Pop and The King of Dance. Billboard also named Enrique the number two Latin artist of the years 1986–2011 (Luis Miguel taking the first spot).

Early Life

Iglesias was born in Madrid, Spain, and is the third and youngest child of singer Julio Iglesias and socialite and magazine journalist Isabel Preysler. His mother is a Spanish Filipino and his father is of Spanish ancestry from Galicia. His parents' marriage was annulled in 1979.

In 1986, Iglesias' grandfather, Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga, was kidnapped by the armed Basque separatist group ETA. For their safety, Enrique and his brother, Julio Iglesias, Jr., were sent to live with their father in Miami. He also lived in Belgrade, Serbia, for one year with his mother. As his father's career kept him on the road, the young Iglesias was raised by the family nanny. He attended Gulliver Preparatory School and went on to study business at the University of Miami.

Iglesias did not want his father to know about his plans for a musical career and did not want his famous surname to help advance his career. He borrowed money from his family nanny and he recorded a demo cassette tape which consisted of a Spanish song and two English songs. 

Approaching his father's former publicist, Fernan Martinez, the two promoted the songs under the stage name 'Enrique Martinez' with the backstory of being an unknown singer from Guatemala. Iglesias was signed by a record label called Fonovisa. After dropping out of college, he went to Toronto to record his first album.

Personal Life

Iglesias started dating tennis player Anna Kournikova in late 2001 (she appeared in his video, "Escape"), and rumors that the couple had secretly married circulated in 2003 and again in 2005. Kournikova herself has consistently refused to directly confirm or deny the status of her personal relationships. But in May 2007, Enrique Iglesias was (mistakenly, as he would clarify later) quoted in the New York Sun that he had no intention of marrying Kournikova and settling down because they had split up. The singer would later deny these rumors of "divorce" or simply separation. In June 2008, Iglesias told the Daily Star that he had married Kournikova the previous year and that they are currently separated. In an interview with Graham Norton in 2010, Kournikova confirmed that she and Iglesias have been together for over eight years but have no plans to marry in the near future. Kournikova and Iglesias have been in a long term on/off relationship for 10 years now.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Javier Bardem

Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los Lunes al sol and Mar adentro.

As well as the Academy Award, Bardem has been awarded a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA, five Goya awards, two European Film Awards, a Prize for Best Actor at Cannes and two Coppa Volpis at Venice for his work. He is the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Oscar (Best Actor, 2000, for Before Night Falls, lost to Russell Crowe for Gladiator), as well as the first Spanish actor to win an Academy Award. He received his third Academy Award nomination, and second Best Actor nomination, for the film Biutiful.

Early Life

Bardem was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands (Spain). His mother, Pilar Bardem, is an actress, and his father, José Carlos Encinas Doussinague, was a businessman who was involved in environmental work; the two separated shortly after his birth. His mother raised him alone. Bardem comes from a long line of filmmakers and actors who have been working since the earliest days of Spanish cinema; he is the grandson of actors Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, and the nephew of screenwriter and director Juan Antonio Bardem. Both his older brother and sister, Carlos and Mónica, are actors. Bardem was raised Roman Catholic by his grandmother. He also comes from a very political background, his uncle Juan Antonio was imprisoned by Franco for his anti-fascist films.

As a child he hung around theatres and film sets. At age six he made his first film appearance in Fernando Fernán Gómez's El Pícaro (The Scoundrel). He played rugby for the underage Spanish National Team. Though he grew up in a family full of actors, Bardem didn't see himself going into the family business. In actuality painting was his first love. He went on to study painting for four years at Madrid's 'Escuela de Artes y Oficios'. In need of money he took acting jobs to support his painting but, has expressed to have been a bad painter eventually leaving it. In 1989, for the Spanish comedy show El Día Por Delante (The Day Ahead) he had to wear a Superman costume for a comedic sketch, the job made him question whether he wanted to be an actor at all. Bardem has confessed to have worked as a stripper (for one day only) during his struggling acting career.

Personal Life

He credits the group AC/DC for his fluency in English as well as learning how to curse and has stated he loves heavy metal music. Bardem has admitted in interviews he cannot drive, only getting behind the wheel for film roles, and he consistently refers to himself as a "worker" and not an actor.

Bardem is an atheist. Following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain in 2005, Bardem incited controversy when he stated that if he were gay, he would "get married tomorrow, just to fuck with the Church" (mañana mismo, sólo para joder a la Iglesia). In May 2011 Bardem teamed up with The Enough Project's co-founder John Prendergast to raise awareness about conflict minerals in eastern Congo.

Bardem began dating then co-star Penélope Cruz in 2007, although the couple have maintained a low public profile. The two are famously private and won't talk about their personal lives. According to the Associated Press, the two were married in July 2010 in the Bahamas. On 14 September 2010, it was announced that Cruz was four and a half months pregnant with their first child. The Hollywood Reporter quoted the Spanish magazine ¡Hola! that Cruz gave birth to a boy on 22 January 2011, three days before Bardem received his third Oscar nomination, for his role in Biutiful. The couple's son is reportedly named Leo Encinas Cruz.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Mariano Rajoy

Mariano Rajoy Brey (born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish People's Party politician and is the Prime Minister of Spain as of 21 December 2011.

Under Prime Minister José María Aznar, Rajoy was Minister of Public Administration from 1996 to 1999 and Minister of Education from 1999 to 2000; he then served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2000 to 2003. Rajoy led the People's Party into the March 2004 general election, but that election was won by the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the aftermath of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Subsequently Rajoy was Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2011.

Early Life and Education

Born in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Rajoy graduated from the University of Santiago de Compostela. At the age of 24, he passed the competitive examination required in Spain to enter into the civil service, becoming the youngest ever property registrar.

Early Political Career

Rajoy started his political career in 1981, as a member of the right-wing party People's Alliance (AP), becoming a deputy in the inaugural legislature of the Galician Parliament. In 1982, he was appointed by Galician regional President, Antonio Rosón Pérez, as Minister of Institutional Relations of the Xunta de Galicia. On June 11, 1986, Rajoy was elected President of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra, a position he held until July 1991.

In the General Elections of 22 June 1986, he obtained a seat in the Congress of Deputies as the head of the AP's list for Pontevedra, although he resigned in November to take up the post of vice-president of the Xunta of Galicia following the resignation of Xosé Luis Barreiro and the rest of the ministers. He occupied this latter position until the end of September 1987.

When in 1989 the AP merged with other parties to form the People's Party (PP), with Manuel Fraga as its president, Rajoy was named a member of its National Executive Committee and delegate for Pontevedra. He was reelected to parliament in 1993. Before the PP's triumph in the 1996 elections, he was a PP-designated member of the "Commission of Parliamentary Control of the RTVE".

From : www.wikipedia.org

Florentino Pérez

Florentino Pérez Rodríguez (born 8 March 1947) is a Spanish businessman, civil engineer, former politician, and current president of Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, as well as ACS. He is most famous for ushering Real Madrid's period of Los Galácticos, a time in which he paid extremely high transfer fees for elite footballers.

Biography

Pérez joined the Democratic Center Union party in 1979, serving among other in the city council of Madrid.

In 1986, Pérez ran in the Spanish general elections as candidate for the Partido Reformista Democrático. He attended Polytechnic University of Madrid.

In 1993, he was named president of OCP Construcciones, S.A. After the fusion of OCP with Gines y Navarro into Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. (ACS) in 1997, he became president of the new company.

Real Madrid

Florentino Pérez first ran for the presidency of Real Madrid Club de Fútbol in the 19 February 1995 election. He campaigned on the poor financial situation of the club and the alleged mismanagement by the board extensively, but lost to the incumbent Ramón Mendoza by 700 votes.

First term : His second attempt was more successful when he took over as president in 2000, beating the current chairman at that time, Lorenzo Sanz. Sanz assumed that the recently won European Cups in 1998 and 2000 would give him enough credit to win the elections, but Pérez's campaign, once again highlighting the financial problems of the club and claims of mismanagement by the previous boards, proved otherwise. Pérez's promise to bring in Luís Figo from arch-rivals FC Barcelona also played a decisive role in the elections. Pérez was reelected in 2004 with 94.2% of the total votes.

Luís Figo also marked the start of Pérez's policy to bring one of the best football players in the world to Real Madrid each season. The strategy was initially known as that of Zidanes y Pavones - in which superstars would play alongside the Canteranos, but the players were soon popularly referred to as Galácticos. In 2001, Zinedine Zidane was signed from Juventus for a world record transfer fee of €73.5 million. He was followed by Ronaldo in 2002, David Beckham in 2003, Michael Owen in 2004, and Robinho for a short while in 2005. Initially, Pérez's policy worked to great success, because each Galáctico built their squads around the player, and had a more proper team balance of attack and defense. In his first years in office, Real Madrid won two Spanish Championships and its record ninth European Cup.

Pérez claimed success in clearing the club's debt; however, this was contradicted by director Ramón Calderón.

After the 2002–03 season, Pérez decided not to renew Vicente del Bosque's contract, despite Real capturing a 29th La Liga title. Del Bosque was able to balance the many different modern player egos in the star studded team. It was widely believed that there was a political split, with del Bosque and his players (Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes, Steve McManaman, and Claude Makélélé) on one side, and Pérez on the other. All of the aforementioned players left the club in 2003 in Pérez's shakeup bid to regain control.

In particular, Claude Makélélé, considered one of the best defensive midfielders at the time and a key component to Real's successes, decided to ask for an improved contract with the support of teammates Zidane, Raúl, Steve McManaman, and Fernando Morientes. Up to this time, Makélélé was also one of Real Madrid's most under-paid members, earning a fraction of what was paid to the Galácticos, but Pérez flatly refused to consider Makélélé's request. Upset, Makélélé handed in a transfer request, whereupon he was promptly dispatched to Chelsea. Pérez infamously poured scorn on Makélélé's footballing abilities and proclaimed that Makélélé would not be missed, saying: "We will not miss Makélélé. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and 90% of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways."

After Makélélé was sold, Pérez signed a number of high-profile attackers, including Michael Owen, Júlio Baptista, and Robinho, in accordance with his Galáctico policy. Unfortunately, all of the Galáticos were attacking players, with generally limited defensive roles and abilities, and Pérez failed to adequately replace Makélélé in the holding midfielder's role. Negotiations to sign Patrick Vieira from Arsenal in 2004 failed because of Pérez's refusal to pay high wages for "defensive players".

Several years after leaving Real, McManaman and Morientes stated that Makélélé was the most important and least appreciated midfielder, the latter saying "The loss of Makélélé was the beginning of the end for Los Galácticos... You can see that it was also the beginning of a new dawn for Chelsea." From the 2003–04 season onward, with the absence of del Bosque and Makélélé, Real Madrid failed to win a trophy.

Though Pérez's policy resulted in increased financial success based on the exploitation of the club's high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia, it came under increasing criticism for being focused too much on marketing the Real Madrid brand and not enough on the football.

He announced his resignation on 27 February 2006, acknowledging that the team and the club as a whole needed a new direction.

Second term : On 14 May 2009, Pérez announced his candidacy for President of Real Madrid in a press conference at the Hotel Ritz Madrid. On 1 June 2009, given that he was the only candidate able to provide the €57,389,000 guarantee necessary to run for the presidency, Pérez was announced as the new president of Real Madrid.

Pérez has continued with the Galácticos policy pursued in his first term. On 8 June 2009, he bought Kaká from Milan for just under £60 million. On 11 June, Manchester United accepted an £80 million offer for Cristiano Ronaldo, which would once again break the world record. On 25 June, Pérez and Real Madrid announced the signing of Valencia centre-back Raúl Albiol for €15 million. On 1 July, Pérez bought Karim Benzema from Olympique Lyonnais for at least £30 million and could rise to £35 million, depending on his success.

On 5 August 2009, Real Madrid confirmed the signing of Xabi Alonso from Liverpool for £30 million, becoming the second Liverpool player to join Real Madrid in the same transfer window after full-back Álvaro Arbeloa's £3.5 million switch to the Santiago Bernabéu in July.

On 31 May 2010, Florentino Perez presented José Mourinho as new coach of Real Madrid for £6.8M.

On 1 July 2010 Real Madrid announced that Sergio Canales will join the team from Racing Santander. The fee was believed to be €4.5 million plus incentives.

On 8 July Real Madrid signed Argentina International Ángel di María from Benfica. The transfer fee was a total of €25 million plus €11 million on incentives.

On 15 July 2010, Real Madrid confirmed the transfer of Pedro León for €10 million from Getafe.

On 30 July 2010 Real Madrid signed Germany international Sami Khedira from VfB Stuttgart for €14 million.

On 10 August 2010, Real Madrid signed Ricardo Carvalho for a reported fee of £8 million on a 2–year contract with an optional third from Chelsea.

On 17 August 2010 Real Madrid confirmed that they secured the signing of Germany's World Cup 2010 star Mesut Özil from Werder Bremen for €15 million.

Real Madrid's signings for the 2010/11 season (Canales, di María, Pedro León, Khedira, Carvalho and Özil) were presented at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium before the match against Peñarol kicked-off. The fans at the stadium gave each player a clamourous welcome.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Amancio Ortega Gaona

Amancio Ortega Gaona (born March 28, 1936) is a Spanish fashion entrepreneur. He is the founder, along with his then-wife Rosalía Mera, and chairman of the Inditex Group. He is ranked by Forbes as Spain's richest man; Europe's second richest man; and the seventh richest man in the world in 2011. He currently lives with his second wife in a discreet apartment building in the centre of A Coruña.

Ortega arrived at La Coruña, Spain, at the age of 14, due to the job of his father, a railway worker. Starting as a gofer in various shirt stores in La Coruña, Galicia, in 1972 he founded Confecciones Goa (his initials in reverse), which made bathrobes. In 1975 he opened the first store in what would grow into the enormously popular chain of fashion stores called Zara. He owns 59.29% of the Inditex group (Industrias de Diseño Textil Sociedad Anónima) which includes the brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Zara Home, Kiddy's Class, Tempe, Stradivarius, Pull and Bear/Often and Bershka and has more than 92,000 employees.

Ortega keeps a very low profile and there are practically no photographs of him (except from one photo published at the Inditex website). He refuses to wear a tie, and likes to dress in blue jeans and T-shirts. He is said to take a very active part in the production and design process in the company.

When he made a public appearance in 2000 - as part of the warm-up prior to floating his company on the stock market in 2001 - it made headlines in the Spanish financial press. However, he has never given an interview, and his secrecy has led to the publication of books such as Amancio Ortega: DE CERO A ZARA (From Zero to Zara).

Ortega, announced his imminent retirement from the fast-fashion giant Inditex, parent company of the Zara chain, stating that he will ask Inditex vice-president and CEO Pablo Isla to take his place at the helm of the textile empire.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (born 12 February 1980) is a professional tennis player, and a former world no. 1 player, from Spain. He captured the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year, he became the 21st player to hold the world no. 1 ranking. He was also the runner-up at the 2002 French Open and the 2003 US Open. His nickname is "Mosquito" due to his speed and his slight physical stature.

Personal life

Ferrero began playing tennis at age seven with his father, Eduardo, who often travels with son. He has two sisters, Ana and Laura and admires the play of former no. 1 and two-time Roland Garros champion Jim Courier. Ferrero's inspiration has been his mother, Rosario, who died from cancer when he was 17. He is one of only a handful of players in the tennis open era to have reached the quarterfinal stage at all four Grand Slam events. In July 2007, he bought an old cottage in Bocairente, 50 minutes south from Valencia and refurbished it into "Hotel Ferrero", which features 12 luxury suites. He is also a part owner of the Valencia Open 500 tournament. His fitness trainer is Miguel Maeso, and he is coached by Antonio Martinez (since 1989) and Salvador Navarro (since May 2008), who travels most of the time with him.

Playing Style & Equipment

Although Ferrero was known as one of the best clay-court players during his prime, he has distinguished himself as an all-court and all-round player through his solid performance on hard- and grass-court tournaments. He actually said during an interview that he prefers to play on hard courts. Tennis experts agreed that Ferrero's clay-court game translated well to the hard court due to his aggressive style of playing. He also has one of the greatest forehands in the game and immense speed on the court. He is sponsored by Joma for his attire and Prince Sports for his racquets.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Carlos Moyá

Carlos Moya Llompart (Catalan: Carles Moyà, Spanish: Carlos Moyá; born 27 August 1976) is a retired former world no. 1 tennis player from Spain. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he helped his country win the Davis Cup. He currently resides in Switzerland. Although he plays with his right hand, he is naturally left-handed, the opposite of fellow Majorcan Rafael Nadal.

Personal life

Moyá was born in Palma, Spain. He began playing tennis at six with his parents. He turned professional in 1995 and won his first tour title later that year in Buenos Aires. He previously dated Italian Flavia Pennetta. The two split in 2007. He is dating Spanish actress Carolina Cerezuela, with whom he has a daughter, Carla, born by C-section on 18 August 2010 at the USP Clínica Palmaplanas in Palma, Majorca.

From : www.wikipedia.org