The hard player: Lorik Cana
Born on 27 July 1983 in Pristina, Lorik Cana is one of the rare players to have worn both the PSG and Marseille shirts, experiencing one of French football’s fiercest rivalries from the inside. Deployed as a defensive midfielder or centre-back, he racked up 81 appearances for Paris and 175 for Marseille. His story also holds a remarkable footnote: he played in four Coupe de France finals at the Stade de France – two with PSG, then two with OM – with mixed results each time.
After France, he moved on to Sunderland in England (35 games), then Galatasaray in Turkey (31 games) and Lazio in Italy (111 games). With Albania, he earned 93 caps and scored 1 goal, featuring at Euro 2016. The son of professional footballer Agim Cana, he ended his career as a Grassroots ambassador in Albania, appointed by the Albanian Football Association on 26 October 2017.
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PlayThe medium player: Robbie Keane
Born on 8 July 1980 in Dublin, Robbie Keane turned professional in 1997 and didn’t hang up his boots until 2018 – twenty years of a career as relentless as it was prolific. Across 737 appearances for eleven different clubs, he scored 325 goals, with Tottenham as his spiritual home: 107 goals in 254 games across his two spells at the club. At Wolverhampton he scored 27 goals in 85 games before moving on to Leeds United.
With the Republic of Ireland, Keane is an untouchable icon: 68 goals in 146 caps make him the all-time leading scorer in his country’s history. After hanging up his boots, he moved into coaching – first as assistant to the Irish national team under Mick McCarthy, then assistant at Middlesbrough, before taking charge of Ferencváros TC in 2025.
The easy player: Erling Haaland
Born on 21 July 2000 in Leeds, Erling Haaland grew up in a footballing family – his father Alf-Inge Håland was himself a professional footballer. He came through the ranks at Bryne FK, making his professional debut there in 2016, before moving to Molde FK and then joining Red Bull Salzburg in January 2019. There, he announced himself on the biggest stage, scoring more than a goal per game during the first half of the 2019-2020 Champions League campaign.
Borussia Dortmund swooped mid-season and were rewarded with 86 goals in 89 games. In 2022, Manchester City came calling – 162 goals in 198 Premier League appearances later, the verdict is clear. On the international stage, he finished as top scorer at the 2019 Under-20 World Cup, and since 10 October 2024 he has been Norway’s all-time leading scorer.