*This series is now closed to new entries. Thanks to all who contributed.*

In this series readers and fellow bloggers will be contributing articles about their favourite footballers, explaining the reasons behind their affection for that player and hopefully giving a few insights into the minds of football fans around the world.

From global superstars to local heroes, we’ve got some interesting profiles lined up for the next few weeks:

Juan Román Riquelme by Chris Mann

Alessandro Del Piero by Adam Digby

Steve Bull by Adam Bate

Robin Friday by Russell Hammant

Muzzy Izzet by David Bevan

Adel Taarabt by Tom Goulding

Xavi Hernández by Liam Blackburn

Dimitar Berbatov by Charlie Anderson

Gianfranco Zola by David Dickson

Neville Southall by Ollie Irish

John Barnes by Tim Hill

Ian Rush by Amanda Musch

Roberto Baggio by Angelo Fiorini

Paolo Maldini by Chris Nee

Ronaldo by Andy Brassell

Rivaldo by Julien Elango and Alex Stokes

Nándor Hidegkuti by Dave Hartrick

Michael Owen by Joshua Askew

Juan Sebastian Veron by Jamie Rooney

Dean Ashton by Ben Edwards

Peter Odemwingie by Andrew Gibney

Dennis Bergkamp by James Reiff

David Beckham by Jamie Lindsay

Paul Scholes by Robert Martinez

David Hirst by Chris Ledger

Robbie Fowler by Simon Pilkington

Giorgio Chinaglia by Martha

Rogério Ceni by Jack Lang

Pat Nevin by Stuart Egan

Martijn Reuser by Damon Threadgold

Michael Essien by Dave Whelan

Lucas Radebe by James Appell

Dennis Bergkamp (II) by Carlos Vieira Reis

Matthew Le Tissier by Michael Wade

Steven Gerrard by Thomas Levin

Lee Trundle by Tim Morgan

Ryan Giggs by Andrew Thomas

Andrei Arshavin by Anluan Hennigan

Paul Gascoigne by Mark Critchley

Pavel Nedved by Suhail Seedat

Ronaldo (II) by Martin Palazzotto

Marco van Basten by Brent Atema

Freddie Ljungberg by Andrew Weber

Michael Ballack by Quazi Zulquarnain

Tony Yeboah by Josh Clarke

Jay-Jay Okocha by Chris Glover

Elano Blumer by Mark Booth

Ally McCoist by Alasdair Sim