Lionel Andrés Messi was born on June 24, 1987 in the city of Rosario, Argentina. Everyone knows him now as the best football player in the world. In fact, a lot of people say he might become the greatest player ever. Messi is FIFA World Player of the Year. He also helped his club team Barcelona win the European Champions League and the World Club Championship.

Messi grew up playing football. He joined his first club when he was five. At the age of eight, he signed up for the famous Newell's Old Boys' youth team. Lionel started breaking records as soon as he played his first game for Barcelona in the 2004-05 season. He became the youngest footballer ever to play a La Liga game and the youngest to score a goal. Barcelona won the treble.

Messi has an amazing career ahead of him. He is set to shine in South Africa. Many football experts compare him to the legendary Pele and Maradona. His skills on the ball, ability to get past defenders and his goal-scoring are breathtaking. Top soccer coach Arsene Wenger said Messi is “like a PlayStation. He takes advantage of every mistake teams make”.

Brian Charles Lara is a West Indies cricketer. He was born on May 2, 1969 in Cantaro, Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago. He was nicknamed "The Prince of Port-of-Spain" or simply "The Prince" because of his performance in world cricket. Lara has several times topped the Test batting rankings. He is the current world record holder for the highest individual innings score. From an early age, Lara's father Bunty and one of his older sisters Agnes Cyrus enrolled him in the local Harvard Coaching Clinic at the age of six for weekly coaching sessions on Sundays. As a result, Lara had a very early education in proper batting techniques. Lara began his cricket career while at school at Fatima College. When he was 14, he played in the under-16 and First Divisions of national schoolboys' cricket. When he was 15 years old, he played in his first West Indian under 19 youth tournament. In 1989, he captained West Indies B Team in Zimbabwe and scored 145 for the West Indies, a side that included several players with Test experience. In 1990, at the age of 20, Lara became Trinidad and Tobago's youngest ever captain and won the one-day Geddes Grant Shield. It was also in 1990 that he made his Test debut for West Indies against Pakistan, scoring 44 and 6. Lara captained the West Indies from 1997 to 1999. In September 2004, West Indies won the ICC Champions Trophy in England under his captaincy.