Happy Birthday Alessandro Nesta and Kolo Touré

Alessandro Nesta was born in Rome, Italy and turns 32 today. He plays centre back and is one of the best players in the world. He joined Lazio's youth academy when he was 9 years old and joined their professional team in 1993 when he was 17. He played on Lazio until 2002 and made over 190 appearances including a goal. He helped them win Serie A in 2000 and Coppa Italia in 1998 and 2000. He joined AC Milan in 2002 and has been there ever since. Nesta has made over 150 appearances for Milan including 3 goals. He helped AC win Serie A in 2004, Coppa Italia in 2003 and the Champions League in 2003 and 2007.

Nesta represented his country in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups. He has capped for Italy 78 times and was a member of the World Cup winning squad in 2006. He was also on the Italian squad that won the 1996 Under-21 European Championship.

He was named to the FIFA 100 list which was a list that Pelé made of the 125 greatest living players. He was named to the UEFA Team of the Year in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007. He was the Serie A defender of the year in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 and the Serie A young player of the year in 1998.

Kolo Touré was born in Bouake, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and turns 27 today. Touré played on ASEC Mimosas's youth team from 2000 to 2002. ASEC Mimosas is in the Ivory Coast and is known as one of the best youth academies in Africa. It has produced stars like Emmanuel Eboué (Arsenal), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Yaya Touré (Barcelonas) and others. Kolo was bought by Arsenal in 2002 for £150,000.

He has capped for the Gunners over 270 times scoring 13 goals. Kolo plays centre back for Arsenal. He has also capped for his country over 40 times and represented them in the 2006 World Cup. He has too younger brothers who play professionally as well. Yaya Touré is on Barcelona and Ibrahim Touré is on Metalurh Donetsk (Ukraine).