Welcome to the World Cup of Sportspeople! With the Women's Football World Cup in full swing just finished and the Men's World Cup being a resounding success last year, we'll be following on with a tournament, not of countries, but of the sports-men and women themselves. This contest is designed to select the greatest sportspeople from each continent through a number of rounds, selecting the best of the best, and pitting them together to show who we really think is the best sportsperson of them all!

This is the Voting stage for Europe. We received 193 different nominations in all - taking away our auto-qualifiers, Roger Federer and Cristiano Ronaldo, this gives us four groups of 47/48 players*. Here's how this stage is going to work.

- You can vote for up to 25 sportspeople, but you must vote for at least 10.
- You must rank your votes in order of preference, either by numbering or by the standard Buzzjack +25, +24 ... +1 (Or down to however many you vote for)
- You must vote for sportspeople from at least three different sports
- You must vote for at least one male and one female sportsperson.
- Each sportsperson has been given a short description of their major achievements to make it easier for you to make up your mind.
- The seven sportspeople with the most votes in each group will advance to the Final, whilst the three next highest players will advance to the Intercontinental Playoffs. Everyone else will be booted out.

*Group 3 is slightly smaller as a result of some nominated sportspeople being ineligible:
Lennox Lewis is ineligible as he most recently competed for Canada

Group 3

Ben Ainslie (England - Sailing - 4 Olympic Golds, 8 World Championship Golds)
Fernando Alonso (Spain - Formula One - Won two Championships, 32 Grand Prix wins)
Boris Becker (Germany - Tennis - 49 career titles, won 6 Grand Slam titles)
David Beckham (England - Football - Won 19 trophies in his career, won Champions League in 1999)
Gerhard Berger (Austria - Formula One - 10 Grand Prix wins)
Eric Cantona (France - Football - Won four Premier League titles with Manchester United, won two League/FA Cup doubles)
Petr Cech (Czech Republic - Football - A record 100 clean sheets in his first 180 games, most clean sheets in Premier League history)
Bobby Charlton (England - Football - Held record for England's most capped player, held record for England's all-time top scorer)
Kenny Dalglish (Scotland - Football - Won PFA Player's Player in 1983 and Footballer of the Year twice, won 20 trophies with Liverpool)
Jessica Ennis-Hill (England - Athletics - 2012 Olympic gold, three World Championship golds)
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (England - Cricket - 2005 Ashes 'Man of the Series', regarded as one of the top international all-rounders)
Ruud Gullit (Netherlands - Football - Captained The Netherlands to 1998 Euros victory, won Ballon d'Or in 1987)
Sally Gunnell (England - Athletics - Won 1992 Olympic gold, 1993 World Championship Gold and 5 Commonwealth golds)
Mika Hakkinen (Finland - Motor Racing - Won two Championships, 20 Grand Prix wins)
Leigh Halfpenny (Wales - Rugby Union - Third highest points scorer for Wales)
Justine Henin (Belgium - Tennis - 42 Career Titles, 7 Grand Slam wins)
Bernard Hinault (France - Cycling - Won Tour de France times, Giro three times and Vuelta twice)
Katinka Hosszu (Hungary - Swimming - 3 Olympic Golds, 24 World Championship golds)
Steph Houghton (England - Football - Captains Manchester United and England, over 100 international caps)
Chris Hoy (Scotland - Cycling - 6 Olympic golds, 11 World Championship golds)
Jade Jones (Wales - Taekwondo - 2 Olympic Golds, 2019 World Championships gold and 6 Grand Prix golds)
Franz Klammer (Austria - Skiing - 1976 Olympic gold, two World Championship golds)
Vitali Klitschko (Ukraine - Boxing - Won 45 out of 47 fights, 41 by KO)
Miroslav Klose (Germany - Football - Won 2014 World Cup with Germany, top goalscorer in the World Cup, top scorer of all time for Germany)
Carolina Kluft (Sweden - Athletics - 2004 Olympic gold, three World Championship golds)
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic - Tennis - 34 Career titles, won Wimbledon twice)
Eddy Merckx (Belgium - Cycling - Won Tour de France 5 times, Giro d'Italia 5 times and Vuelta once)
Alexander Ovechkin (Russia - Ice Hockey - Led NHL in goalscoring 8 times, won World Championship three times with Russia)
Victoria Pendleton (England - Cycling - Won two Olympic golds, 9 World Championship golds)
Kevin Pietersen (England - Cricket - Fastest player to cross 2000 runs in ODI cricket, topped ICC ODI rankings)
Andrea Pirlo (Italy - Soccer - Won World Cup with Italy where he was Man of the Match three times, won Champions League and Serie A twice with AC Milan)
Eusebio (Portugal - Football - Scored 733 goals in 745 matches, won Ballon d'Or in 1965, won Portugese League 11 times with Benfica)
Ferenc Puskas (Hungary - Football - Top scorer of the 20th century, named best player of 1954 World Cup)
Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland - Tennis - 22 Career titles, reached the Final of Wimbledon in 2012)
Kimi Raikkonen (Finland - Formula One - Won 2007 Championship, 21 Grand Prix wins)
Sergio Ramos (Spain - Football - won 20 major honours with Real Madrid, won 2010 World Cup with Spain)
Valentino Rossi (Italy - Motorcycling - Won on 250cc and one 125cc Championship)
Henrik Sedin (Sweden - Ice Hockey - Won 2006 Olympic Gold with Sweden, Vancouver Kanucks leading points scorer three times)
Laura Kenny (Trott) (England - Track Cycling - 4 Olympic Golds, 7 World Championship Golds, 12 European Championship golds)
Marco Van Basten (Netherlands - Football - Won Euro 1988 and named Player of the Tournament, won three Eredevisie and three Serie A titles)
Robin van Persie (Netherlands - Football - Club record of 35 goals in 2011, won two Premier League Golden Boots)
Gianluca Vialli (Italy - Football - Won Serie A with Sampdoria and Juventus, won Champions League with Juventus)
Marianne Vos (Netherlands - Cycling - Won the Women's Giro 3 times, 2012 Olympic gold, 7 World Championship golds)
Ellan White (Reached semi-finals of the 2015 and 2019 World Cup, scored 35 goals in 88 games)
Mats Wilander (Sweden - Tennis - 33 career titles, won 7 Grand Slam tournaments)
Johnny Wilkinson (England - Rugby Union - Won 2003 World Cup with England, acknowledged as one of the best players of all time)
Katarina Witt (Germany - Figure Skating - Two Olympic golds, four World Championship golds)

The deadline is 23:59 Sunday 28th July. Get voting!

Copy-paste list without brackets:

Ben Ainslie

Fernando Alonso

Boris Becker

David Beckham

Gerhard Berger

Eric Cantona

Petr Cech

Bobby Charlton

Kenny Dalglish

Jessica Ennis-Hill

Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff

Ruud Gullit

Sally Gunnell

Mika Hakkinen

Leigh Halfpenny

Justine Henin

Bernard Hinault

Katinka Hosszu

Steph Houghton

Chris Hoy

Jade Jones

Franz Klammer

Vitali Klitschko

Miroslav Klose

Carolina Kluft

Petra Kvitova

Eddy Mercx

Alexander Ovechkin

Victoria Pendleton

Kevin Pietersen

Andrea Pirlo

Eusebio

Ferenc Puskas

Agnieszka Radwanska

Kimi Raikkonen

Sergio Ramos

Valentino Rossi

Henrik Sedin

Laura Kenny

Marco Van Basten

Robin van Persie

Gianluca Vialli

Marianne Vos

Ellan White

Mats Wilander

Johnny Wilkinson

Katarina Witt

+25 Eddy Merckx

+24 Bernard Hinault

+23 Eusebio

+22 Bobby Charlton

+21 Marianne Vos

+20 Petr Cech

+19 Ferenc Puskas

+18 Justine Henin

+17 Marco Van Basten

+16 Boris Becker

+15 Mats Wilander

+14 Jessica Ennis-Hill

+13 Laura Kenny

+12 Ruud Gullit

+11 Johnny Wilkinson

+10 Vitali Klitschko

+9 Chris Hoy

+8 Ben Ainslie

+7 Victoria Pendleton

+6 Kenny Dalglish

+5 Miroslav Klose

+4 Jade Jones

+3 Andrea Pirlo

+2 Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff

+1 Robin van Persie

 

25- Chris Hoy

24- Eusebio

23- Laura Kenny

22- Vitali Klitschko

21- Ruud Gullit

20- Eric Cantona

19- Mika Hakkinen

18- Fernando Alonso

17- Bobby Charlton

16- Johnny Wilkinson

15- Marco Van Basten

14- Ben Ainslie

13- Kimi Raikkonen

12- Boris Becker

11- Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff

10- Ferenc Puskas

9- Franz Klammer

8- Valentino Rossi

7- David Beckham

6- Gerhard Berger

5- Justine Henin

4- Jessica Ennis-Hill

3- Mats Wilander

2- Petra Kvitova

1- Carolina Kluft

 

25pts Bobby Charlton

24 Ben Ainslie

23 Kevin Pietersen

22 Chris Hoy

21 Eusebio

20 Andrew Flintoff

19 Boris Becker

18 Bernard Hinault

17 Justine Henin

16 David Beckham

15 Ruud Gullit

14 Vitali Klitschko

13 Mats Wilander

12 Kenny Dalglish

11 Jessica Ennis-Hill

10 Ferenc Puskas

9 Robin Van Persie

8 Franz Klammer

7 Eddy Mercx

6 Laura Kenny

5 Miroslav Klose

4 Jade Jones

3 Marco Van Basten

2 Johnny Wilkinson

1 Petr Cech

+25

Fernando Alonso

Ferenc Puskas

Chris Hoy

Eric Cantona

Mika Hakkinen

Eusebio

Bobby Charlton

Kenny Dalglish

Jessica Ennis-Hill

Marco Van Basten

Gerhard Berger

Boris Becker

Victoria Pendleton

Kevin Pietersen

Valentino Rossi

Vitali Klitschko

Miroslav Klose

Eddy Mercx

Petra Kvitova

Andrea Pirlo

Kimi Raikkonen

Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff

Sally Gunnell

Mats Wilander

Johnny Wilkinson

 

25+ Chris Hoy

24+ Eusebio

23+ Bobby Charlton

22+ Eddy Merckx

21+ Laura Kenny

20+ Boris Becker

19+ Eric Cantona

18+ Fernando Alonso

17+ Ben Ainslie

16+ David Beckham

15+ Mats Wilander

14+ Sally Gunnell

13+ Bernard Hinault

12+ Andrea Pirlo

11+ Robin van Persie

10+ Jessica Ennis-Hill

9+ Vitali Klitschko

8+ Jade Jones

7+ Ferenc Puskas

6+ Agnieszka Radwanska

5+ Steph Houghton

4+ Kenny Dalglish

3+ Petr Cech

2+ Victoria Pendleton

1+ Johnny Wilkinson

 

RESULTS

Finalists:
Ben Ainslie
Boris Becker
Bobby Charlton
Eusebio
Chris Hoy
Vitali Klitschko
Ferenc Puskas



Advance to Playoffs:
Laura Kenny
Eddy Mercx
Fernando Alonso


Eliminated:
(7th: 63pts)
(10th: 61pts)

61 Eric Cantona (By virtue of having '22' as the highest vote compared to '25'
56 Jessica Ennis-Hill
55 Bernard Hinault
51 Marco Van Basten
48 Ruud Gullit
48 Mats Wilander
40 Justine Henin
40 Mika Hakkinen
40 Kenny Dalgish
39 David Beckham
37 Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff
35 Kevin Pietersen
31 Johnny Wilkinson
24 Petr Cech
22 Victria Pendleton
21 Marianne Vos
21 Gerhard Berger
21 Robin van Persie
21 Andrea Pirlo
19 Miroslav Klose
19 Valentino Rossi
18 Kimi Raikkonen
18 Sally Gunnell
17 Franz Klammer
16 Jade Jones
9 Petra Kvitova
6 Agnieszka Radwanska
5 Steph Houghton
1 Carolina Kluft
0 Leigh Halfpenny
0 Katinka Hosszu
0 Alexander Ovechkin
0 Sergio Ramos
0 Henrik Sedin
0 Gianluca Vialli
0 Ellan White
0 Katarina Witt

Going through to the final we have a mix of great British Olympians, a tennis legend, one of the great heavyweight champions in boxing, and a mix of football greats.