Your Complete World Cup Player Profiles

There's no doubting Uruguay coach Óscar Tabárez' admiration for defender Diego Godín. “He has principles, I’ve never seen him behave badly,” says Tabárez. “He’s a key player in the team and I trust him completely when it comes to welcoming new players into the squad. We have lived many things together and beyond football he is an extraordinary person. He is a man, in every sense of the word.”.....I think he likes him, don't you?

Defender Guillermo Varela was David Moyes' first signing as Man U manager. He started ten times for United, mainly in the cups and Europa League. He spent 2016-17 on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt, but was injured for eight months – and when he came back he disobeyed club orders and had a tattoo done. It immediately became infected, and the loan was cancelled.

Striker Luis Suárez is averaging a bite goal every other game for his country.

Fellow hitman Edinson Cavani is Uruguay's second top ever goal scorer - behind Suárez.

Peru keeper Pedro Gallese said before the tournament :  “It’s been 36 years waiting. It won’t be simple, but the plan is to keep on making history.” Well, a narrow defeat to France and victory over the Aussies...a little bit of Peruvian footballing history there, I reckon, lad.

Croatia keeper Lovre Kalinic is one of the tallest players in the tournament, clocking in at 2.01 metres, or 6'6 feet.

Round of 16 penalty shoot-out hero, keeper Danijel Subasic, didn't become first choice stopper until he was 30 years old. He's now 33.

Atletico defender Sime Vrsaljko likes keeping up with his missed calls and texts. After Atletico's defeat to Seville in the Copa del Rey earlier this year he was so immersed in checking messages on his phone that, upon leaving the stadium, he made his way on to the wrong bus – the one with Sevilla players. A member of security put him right.

Defender Vedran Corluka can be a good tipper who once gave a £36,000 diamond-encrusted wrist watch as a tip to a waiter in a Mayfair restaurant...sorry, but I can't see this, mate. 36 grand??!!

Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren will no doubt be keeping his Speedos on during his downtime in Russia. During the 2014 World Cup, he went on the warpath with the domestic media when paparazzi invaded the privacy of Croatia’s Brazilian resort to take pictures of his bare arse relaxing by the pool.

Defender Domagoj Vida has thankfully calmed down over the years. At Dinamo Zagreb, he once opened a can of beer on the team bus heading for an away game and started drinking before the coach, Ante Cacic – later his boss in the national team – went ballistic and threw him out in the middle of the street (the bus hadn’t even left the city)

After changing his court testimony in the corruption case against the former Dinamo Zagreb chief executive Zdravko Mamic, midfielder Luka Modric was charged with perjury last year. His “I don’t remember” quote found its way on to a number of internet memes and insulting graffiti started appearing all over the country. And although the trial date hasn’t been set yet, all that – the key role on the field and legal troubles off it – will be a lot to bear, even for the one of the best players in the world.

Midfielder Marcelo Brozovic has officially registered his trademark “EpicBrozo” goal celebration (essentially putting a thumb and an index finger on your chin while trying to look cool) I emphasize 'trying'.

If you ever get the chance to talk to striker Mario Mandzukic, don’t mention the tattoo on his back. He’s a bit arsey about it. It was supposed to read “What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger”, but he wanted it in Hebrew, which was beyond his tattoo artist. So not only does it actually translate as “If it’s not to kill me, it will make me stronger”, it’s also written from left to right, so it literally reads: “Regnorts em ekam lliw ti, em llik ot ton s’ti fi.”

Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois is rumoured to be leaving Chelsea pretty soon. His children have remained in the Spanish capital and Courtois has admitted he expects to return there “one day”. Hmmm...

Fellow keeper Simon Mignolet has a degree in social and political science and owns his own coffee shop. Café de Mignolet?

Defender Thomas Meunier has a shot of Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory as the screensaver on his phone, and spends his spare time producing his own paintings.

Defender Dedryck Boyata played his part in a second straight treble for Celtic, but his reputation for being error-prone is set – which is why Roberto Martínez’s decision to include him raised so many eyebrows.

Midfielder Axel Witsel moved to the Chinese Super League a year ago and invests quite a bit of his £300,000 per week wages in playing Biggles. He's invested in an aviation company and is aiming for his own pilot's licence.

Midfielder Kevin De Bruyne's English mother grew up in Ealing, west London. 

70s funk singer midfielder Marouane Fellaini utters three words at the end of every training session: “Thank you, coach,”,  not "Right on, man."

Midfielder Yannick Carrasco always knew where his destiny lay. He famously wrote only five words in his maths exam when he was 16 before handing it in: “I will become a pro.”

Midfielder Nacer Chadli posed naked for Cosmopolitan magazine in 2014 to raise awareness of testicular cancer. “I had a lot of good reaction. It was for a good cause so I’m proud of it,” he said.

Striker Romelu Lukaku was having none of it when a teacher took the seven year old's football from him. “Give me my ball back,” he demanded. “We are poor at home. With football I can earn money to give to my mum.”

Chelsea striker Eden Hazard keeps all his trophies and medals in his children's play room. "I've given them to my kids. I don't have a cabinet for that in the house."

Striker Thorgan Hazard was named after Thorgal Aegirsson, a character from a Belgian fantasy comic who was born on another planet and raised by Vikings after his spaceship crashed on Earth. He says of his brother : “When we were little, I went in goal and Eden would shoot at me like a madman.”

Who will striker Michy Batshuayi play for after the World Cup? He may stay at Chelsea or rejoin Dortmund in a permanent move. One factor that could influence his decision: his love of certain cartoon characters. “Dortmund are black and yellow,” he explained in February. “Black and yellow is Batman. Black and yellow is Spongebob.”  That's it, lad, think it through carefully now.

Sweden keeper Karl-Johan Johnsson, when asked this year whether Zlatan Ibrahimovic should return to the Swedish national team, replied : “The team is a collective now whereas Zlatan is more of an individualist.” His comment made some headlines but, hey, last 16 with a good chance of the Quarters?

Defender Ludwig Augustinsson is a huge fan of so-called “återhämtningsbyxor” (recovery trousers), which he spends thousands of pounds on. They have five different zones that inflate and apply pressure to the leg before relaxing again, helping the muscles to recover. Sounds like something they made you wear on those school camping trips, eh.

Defender Pontus Jansson has his own song at Leeds : “Oh Pontus Jansson’s magic / He wears a magic hat / And if you throw a brick at him / He heads the fucker back / He heads them to the left / He heads them to the right / And if we win promotion / We'll sing this song all night!”...erm, cue very long silence, then.

Seattle Sounders midfielder Gustav Svensson is enjoying life in MLS. "But things are a bit strange sometimes. We have a forward who is sponsored by a pizza chain and every time he scores he runs off the pitch to have a bite from a pizza slice. That’s a bit, er, different …”

Midfielder Viktor Claesson, when asked by Aftonbladet (Swedish newspaper) who in the world he would most like to have dinner with, he replied: “Donald Trump, even if I don’t like him.”

32/32

Er, Germany keeper, their defence, midfield, and forward line, coach, physios the lot, all pissed off early and haven't got a lot to say for themselves really...


That's your lot.