Radamel Falcao is a striker who plays for Spanish side Atlético Madrid and the Colombian national team. Falcao set a record as the youngest player to make his debut in Colombian professional football at the age of 13 years and 112 days. Two years later he moved to Argentina and joined River Plate’s youth academy. In 2005, aged 19, he made it into River Plate’s senior team and instantly started building his reputation as a natural goal scorer. In 2007 he had an outstanding year and was called up for his Colombia senior debut, after previously having represented his country at youth levels. He was also named in the 2007 South American Dream Team by sports journalists. With River Plate Falcao won the 2007/08 Argentine Primera Division.

In July 2009 Falcao moved to Europe after having signed for Portuguese team FC Porto. He had a superb first season for Porto, ending up as runner-up top scorer in the Portuguese league and a total of 34 goals in all competitions. He scored his first UEFA Champions League goal against his current club, Atlético Madrid. Porto finished the season as winners of the Portuguese Cup and Falcao as the tournament’s top scorer.

The 2010/11 season established Falcao as one of the best strikers playing in European football. He led Porto to win the Portuguese Cup, the Portuguese league and the UEFA Europa League. Falcao was named Player of the Year in Portugal and set a new record of most goals scored in one season in a European competition, by netting 17 times in the Europa League. He was also named Man of the Match in the Europa League final, after being the match winner in the 1-0 win against Braga.

In August 2011 Falcao was sold to Atlético Madrid for a fee of €40 million, a club record for the Spanish team who bought him to replace Sergio Agüero. Falcao has started his first season in Spanish football like he finished it in Portugal. With five matches to go in the 2011/12 La Liga he has scored 22 goals and only has Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of him with more goals. Atlético has reached the semi-final of the UEFA Europa League where Falcao currently is second amongst the top scorers, having scored eight and chasing Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on ten goals.

Sergio Agüero is a striker who plays for English side Manchester City and Argentina. Agüero came up through the youth system of Argentinian club Independiente. On July 5th 2003 he made his senior debut for the team in the Argentine Primera Division aged 15 years and 35 days. This was a new record, which was previously held by Diego Maradona who made his debut ten days before his 16th birthday. (Maradona is now Agüero’s father-in-law).

In 2005 Agüero won the U-20 World Cup with Argentina and that following season he caught the interest from European clubs. On May 30th 2006, two days before his 18th birthday, Agüero signed for Spanish club Atlético Madrid for a fee of €23 million. In September that year he made his senior debut for the Argentinian national team. In the 2007 U-20 World Cup Argentina again won the title with Agüero winning the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer and the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.
In the 2007/08 season Agüero helped Atlético qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in over ten years. He was also the third highest scorer in La Liga and put on a man-of-the-match performance in a 4-2 win against Barcelona. Agüero scored two, assisted one and also won a penalty.
In the summer he went on to win the 2008 Olympics with Argentina. The next three seasons he continued his prolific goals scoring for Atlético and they won the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League. He played for Argentina in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2011 Copa América.

In July 2011 Agüero signed a five year contract with English club Manchester City, for a fee of €45 million. On 15 August he made an extraordinary debut when he came on as a 59th minute substitute. Agüero scored two goals and assisted one in a 4-0 win against Swansea. Through the season he has kept scoring in the Premier League, the League Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. He scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win against Wigan in September, while he on April 11th scored his 18th and 19th league goals and assisted two more in a 4-0 win against West Bromwich. On May 13th Agüero became the match-winner in a 3-2 win against Queens Park Rangers in the last match of the season. Scoring with the last kick of the game Manchester City won the league title for the first time since 1968.

Hatem Ben Arfa is a winger who plays for English side Newcastle United and France. Ben Arfa joined Olympique Lyon’s youth academy aged 15 and was after two years given a professional contract. Already in that 2004/05 season Ben Arfa came into the senior team in leaps and bounds, also getting his first taste of Champions League football. With Lyon he won four consecutive league titles and one French Cup before being transferred to Olympique Marseille. There were a lot of interest from foreign clubs but with Marseille Ben Arfa won another league title and a league cup already in the first season. After two season with Marseille Ben Arfa went on a season long loan to English club Newcastle in August 2010. Ben Arfa instantly made a positive impact at Newcastle but only played a couple of matches before breaking his left leg, in a bad tackle made by Manchester City’s Nigel De Jong. This ruled him out for the remainder of the season but in the January transfer window Newcastle still went ahead and signed him permanently. The 2011/12 season has gradually seen him return to his best and most influential form.
Ben Arfa has played for France at all youth levels. He was also eligible to play for Tunisia, like his father Kamel Ben Arfa did, but chose to stay with France. He made his seniour debut in October 2007.

Papiss Cissé is a striker who plays for English side Newcastle United and Senegal. Cissé left his home town of Dakar in Senegal to sign his first professional contract with French club FC Metz in June 2005. Even though he was a Metz player for the next four-and-a-half-years he spent long times on loan to lower league clubs. In a friendly match for Metz against German side FC Freiburg in the summer of 2009 Cissé scored one goal and assisted the other in a 2-1 win. His performance impressed and in December that year Freiburg secured his signature for €1.6 million. He quickly settled in with the club and scored six goals during the remainder of the season. The 2010/11 season followed and established Cissé as a prolific goal scorer. He scored 22 league goals which was club record for Freiburg and Cissé finished as runner-up top scorer in the Bundesliga. Only beaten by Bayern München’s Mario Gómez‎. Cissé was named as the most efficient striker in the league.

On 17 January 2012, while at the Africa’s Cup of Nations, Cissé was sold to English club Newcastle United for a fee of £10 million. At Newcastle he joined his fellow Senegalese striker Demba Ba. Cissé signed a five-and-a-half-year deal and was given the legendary number 9 shirt. Cissé immediately announced his arrival in the Premier League, having scored 10 goals in his first nine games.

Demba Ba is a striker who plays for English side Newcastle United and Senegal. Ba was born and raised in France and at first struggled to get a contract with a top club. He had unsuccessful trials with Olympique Lyon and Auxerre before making a move to English club Watford as a 19 year old. When Watford changed manager he fell out of favour and soon had to return to France. He secured a one year contract with Rouen for the 2005/06 season, who had just been relegated as a professional team. Ba instantly made an impression in the French amateur league they were playing in. The following season he transferred to Mouscron in Belgium, the then holders of the Belgian Cup. Ba instantly continued his goal scoring in the Belgian top division but then fractured his leg and was sidelined for eight months of the season. He still finished the season on a high with seven goals in nine games. He was called up for his first appearance for Senegal against Tanzania in June 2007, scoring in his debut.

In August 2007 Ba was sold to German club 1899 Hoffenheim, who had just won promotion to 2. Bundesliga and their first season as a professional team. They finished the season as runners-up and were promoted to 1. Bundesliga, the top tier in German football. That following season Ba and his fellow strikers Vedad Ibišević and Chinedu Obasi showed extraordinary form and at Christmas time Hoffenheim were Bundesliga leaders. Injuries and suspensions within the team saw them drop in the second half of the season and ended up in 9th place. Demba Ba had made a name for himself in German football and impressed with a hattrick in a 3-3 draw against Stuttgart. Stuttgart wanted to buy him at the end of the season but Ba failed a medical with the club and the deal fell over. Instead he signed a new contract with Hoffenheim which should have taken him through to 2013. However, in January 2011 he left the club over a disagreement and moved to England where he was searching for Premier League football.
Hoffenheim agreed on a transfer to Stoke City but again Ba failed a medical test, believed to be due to knee problems. Instead he signed a three year contract with West Ham United. Ba scored seven goals in twelve games and became West Ham’s top scorer but when the club was relegated from the Premiership he moved on again. He took advantage of a release clause in his contract and moved to Newcastle United on a free transfer on 17 June 2011.
This season Ba has steadily been scoring for Newcastle, including two hattricks, making him their top scorer with 16 league goals so far. The Premier League managers have also voted Ba as signing of the season. After the Africa Cup of Nations in January Newcastle have strenghten their squad with another proven Senegalese striker, Papiss Cissé, who is only nine days younger than Ba (both born 1985).