Carlo Ancelotti is an Italian retired footballer and most recently the former manager of English side Chelsea.
As a player Ancelotti came up through Parma’s youth ranks before transferring to AS Roma, where he was made captain. After eight years at Roma he went to the AC Milan team dominating in Europe at the time. Ancelotti also played 26 times for Italy and appeared for them in the 1986 and the 1990 FIFA World Cups. As a player he played in midfield.
Ancelotti took over as Chelsea manager in August 2009. He started his managerial career at his local Italian side Reggiana back in 1995, with whom he won promotion to Serie A. He then went to his old club Parma, followed by Juventus, before also coming back to AC Milan as a manager. With Milan he won the Italian Cup, Serie A and twice the UEFA Champions League before heading to London and Chelsea. In Ancelotti’s first season at Chelsea they won the English double. In the second season Chelsea went trophy-less and despite being runners-up in the Premier League Ancelotti was sacked.

Florent Malouda is a left winger who plays for English side Chelsea and the French national team. Malouda grew up playing street football in his native French Guiana. At age sixteen he was swept up to play professional football in France and eventually arrived at Olympique Lyon. At Lyon he attracted international attention and following his first season there he made his debut playing for France. With Lyon he won four consecutive league titles. He was in the French team to be runners-up in the 2006 FIFA World Championship.

Real Madrid had experienced Malouda first-hand, when he delivered a Man of the Match performance against them in the Champions League. The Spanish club was one of several trying to lure him away from Lyon but it was Chelsea who got his signature in July 2007. He has well established himself with the English club and has extended his contract until 2013. After having won the FA Cup with Chelsea in 2008-09 they went on to win the league & cup double the following season.

Fernando Torres is a striker who plays for English side Chelsea and the Spanish national team. Before joining Liverpool in 2007 he played six years for Atlético Madrid, after having spent six years in Atlético’s youth squad prior to that. He also worked his way up through the Spanish national side’s youth ranks, usually as the top scorer, from U-15 until he made his debut in the senior team at the age of 19. That season he was also named as Atlético’s captain. In the qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Torres was Spain’s top scorer, which led to several English club’s being interested in bringing him to the Premier League. The following season was his last for Atlético Madrid, who brought in Diego Forlan to replace Torres. He signed a six year contract with Liverpool in a record transfer for the club.
Torres immediately settled in with Liverpool. In his first season at the club he scored 29 goals and was runner-up (to Ronaldo) in Player of the Year in England. Despite several injury problems in the next two seasons Torres performed at the highest level until late in the 2009/10 season. Since then he has struggled a bit to find back to his normal top form. For his national side he was at his very best when Spain won the 2008 UEFA European Championship. Torres scored the match-winning goal in the final against Germany and was named Man of the Match. Torres also played in Spain’s 2010 FIFA World Championship winning squad, although he was not performing at his best. After much speculation whether he would leave Liverpool he signed a new 3 year contract with the club in August 2010. However on the last day of the following transfer window, January 2011, Chelsea signed Torres for an English record £50 fee. His debut for Chelsea was on February 6th, against Liverpool! After a long time coming, Torres scored his first goal for Chelsea on April 23rd in a 3-0 win against West Ham. Torres scored the second goal of the match and assisted the third.

Yosef Benayoun is an attacking midfielder who plays for English side Chelsea and Israel. Benayoun came up through youth level at Israeli club Hapoel Be’er Sheva. At age 15 he joined the famous Ajax youth academy in Netherlands. Benayoun instantly impressed at Ajax as the youth team’s top scorer and was offered a professional contract. However he and his family didn’t feel settled in Amsterdam and went back to Israel the following season. He continued to play with Hapoel Be’er Sheva before two years later joining Maccabi Haifa. With Maccabi he won two league titles before moving on to Racing de Zantander in the Spanish Primera Division. Following three seasons in Spain, newly promoted Premier League team West Ham secured his signature in July 2005. In his second season West Ham lost the FA Cup final to Liverpool. Soon after this Benayoun shifted to Liverpool, after having initially agreed on a new contract with West Ham. He stayed three seasons at Liverpool, with various success. At times his starts were limited but he still scored some important goals for the club, including three hat-tricks.
In July 2010 Benayoun signed a three year contract with Chelsea. He scored his first goal for the club in August but got injured the following month with a ruptured Achilles tendon. This will keep him out of play for most of the 2010-11 season.