The hard player: Quinton Fortune
Born on 21 May 1977 in Cape Town, South Africa, Quinton Fortune was a midfielder and left-back who made a name for himself far beyond the African continent. Trained at Tottenham Hotspur, he caught the eye in Spain with Atlético de Madrid B (81 games, 7 goals) and on loan at RCD Mallorca (12 games), before a brief stint with Atlético de Madrid’s first team (10 games).
His move to Manchester United changed everything. He spent six seasons there, making 126 appearances and scoring 10 goals, winning three league titles (2000, 2001 and 2003) and an FA Cup (2004). For the Bafana Bafana, he earned 47 caps, featured at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, and played in three Africa Cup of Nations – reaching the final in 1998. Only 37% of players managed to identify this well-travelled South African.
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PlayThe medium player: Stefano Fiore
Born on 17 April 1975 in Cosenza, Stefano Fiore was an Italian international midfielder who ran the length of Serie A. Developed at Cosenza Calcio (46 games, 9 goals), he spread his wings to Udinese (87 games, 19 goals) before joining Lazio Roma, the club of his peak years, where he made 133 appearances and scored 30 goals.
He also had stints at Parma AC (106 games, 5 goals) and a loan spell at Fiorentina (41 games, 7 goals). At international level, he represented the Italy Olympic team, earning 3 caps and scoring 1 goal. Stefano Fiore retired from football in 2011.
The easy player: Hakan Şükür
Born on 1 September 1971 in Sapanca, in the province of Sakarya, Hakan Şükür is a striker of Albanian origin who spent almost his entire career wearing Galatasaray’s colours. Three separate stints at the Istanbul club, racking up over 500 appearances and more than 290 goals : he was simply the property of the yellow and red.
Beyond his many Galatasaray chapters, he had spells at Bursaspor (63 games, 14 goals) and Sakaryaspor (43 games, 11 goals). In 2004, at UEFA’s request, the Turkish Football Federation named him the best Turkish player of the last fifty years. After his playing days, he turned to politics.