Jay-Jay Okocha is 40 today. The former Nigerian midfield maestro needs no introduction in his homeland as he's regarded by many as the greatest player to have donned the green and white jersey.
He is known for his stepovers, skill, technique, and he's 'so good with the ball that they named him twice. He is a dual Turkish-Nigerian citizen, having acquired Turkish citizenship as "Muhammet Yavuz" while playing for Süper Lig team Fenerbahçe.
Okocha never won the African Player of Year award, becoming arguably the best player never to win the award despite coming second twice in 1998 and 2004. He did however win the inaugural BBC African Footballer of the Year and the successive one, becoming the only player to retain the award and win it more than once. In 2004 he was listed in football legend Pelé's FIFA 100 (a list of the greatest 125 living players of all time). In 2007 he was voted number 12 on the greatest African footballers of the past 50 years list, on a poll conducted by CAF to coincide with their 50th anniversary.
Matthew Etherington
Matthew Etherington is 32 today. He is an English footballer who plays for Premier League club Stoke City as a winger. He has also played for other premier league clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and WestHam United but he will infamously be remembered as being a gambling addict.
While he was at West Ham United, the club paid him a £300,000 loan, after he accumulated debts in excess of £800,000. He also spent time at Tony Adams' Sporting Chance Clinic. Matthew's father, Peter, has thanked Stoke City for saving his son's career and helping him to combat his gambling addiction
Giorgio Chiellini
Giorgio Chiellini is 29 today. He is an Italian footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Juventus and the Italian national team. In my books, i rate him as the best defender in the world, yes he's that good. He started out his career as a left back but made his name as a consistent, hard tackling centre back with a penchant for dispatching goals from set-pieces. A popular figure with fans, he is the vice-captain, behind Gianluigi Buffon. He also won the Serie A defender of the year for 3 consecutive years (2008, 2009, 2010).
Cameron Jerome
Cameron Jerome is 27 today. He is an English footballer who plays for Stoke City as a striker. He also played for Cardiff City in the Football League, and for Birmingham City in the Football League and Premier League, at international level has several caps for the England under-21 team.
Tim Tebow
Okocha never won the African Player of Year award, becoming arguably the best player never to win the award despite coming second twice in 1998 and 2004. He did however win the inaugural BBC African Footballer of the Year and the successive one, becoming the only player to retain the award and win it more than once. In 2004 he was listed in football legend Pelé's FIFA 100 (a list of the greatest 125 living players of all time). In 2007 he was voted number 12 on the greatest African footballers of the past 50 years list, on a poll conducted by CAF to coincide with their 50th anniversary.
Matthew Etherington
Matthew Etherington is 32 today. He is an English footballer who plays for Premier League club Stoke City as a winger. He has also played for other premier league clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and WestHam United but he will infamously be remembered as being a gambling addict.
While he was at West Ham United, the club paid him a £300,000 loan, after he accumulated debts in excess of £800,000. He also spent time at Tony Adams' Sporting Chance Clinic. Matthew's father, Peter, has thanked Stoke City for saving his son's career and helping him to combat his gambling addiction
Giorgio Chiellini
Giorgio Chiellini is 29 today. He is an Italian footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Juventus and the Italian national team. In my books, i rate him as the best defender in the world, yes he's that good. He started out his career as a left back but made his name as a consistent, hard tackling centre back with a penchant for dispatching goals from set-pieces. A popular figure with fans, he is the vice-captain, behind Gianluigi Buffon. He also won the Serie A defender of the year for 3 consecutive years (2008, 2009, 2010).
Cameron Jerome
Cameron Jerome is 27 today. He is an English footballer who plays for Stoke City as a striker. He also played for Cardiff City in the Football League, and for Birmingham City in the Football League and Premier League, at international level has several caps for the England under-21 team.
Tim Tebow
Tim tebow is 26 today. He is an American football quarterback and special teamer for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. Tebow is largely known for his outspoken Christian faith as a professional athlete and his charitable work.
In 2010 a new rule for the next NCAA football season banned messages on eye paint. This rule was dubbed "The Tebow Rule" by media because it would have affected him.
During his college football career, he frequently wore references to biblical verses on his eye black. In the 2009 BCS Championship Game, he wore John 3:16 on his eye black; the verse was the highest-ranked Google search term over the next 24 hours, generating over 90 million searches. Additionally, later, when Tebow switched to another verse, there were 3.43 million searches of "Tim Tebow" and "Proverbs 3:5-6" together. Tebow stated of the searches "It just goes to show you the influence and the platform that you have as a student-athlete and as a quarterback at Florida".
Despite the media labeling it as the Tebow rule, the NCAA denies the rule was influenced by Tebow in particular, since many other notable players (Reggie Bush and Terrelle Pryor for example) wear or have worn messages on eye black. An NCAA spokesman said: "When this rule was proposed, the committee did not focus on any one team or student athlete. That measure reinforces what the intended use of eye black is, which is to shade the eyes from the sun."
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