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!

We're finally at the Finals! This is the Group Stage, where the best of the best battle it out to be in the Final Final. The 100 qualifiers have been split into 10 groups. All 100 who made it to this stage will be in the countdown, but only half will make the Final Ranking.

- You must rank all 10 sportspeople, from 1st to 10th.
- Each sportsperson has been given a short description of their major achievements to make it easier for you to make up your mind. There is also a list of the names in the first post without the descriptions/flags
- The top three sportspeople in each group will advance directly through to the Final. The sportspeople in positions 4 to 7 will face off against each other in the Playoffs, whilst the bottom three athletes will be automatically eliminated.

Group 1

Carlos Alberto (Brazil - Football - Captained Brazil to 1970 World Cup, regarded as one of the best defenders of all time)

Scott Dixon (New Zealand - Motor Racing - 45 IndyCar wins, won series 5 times)

Roger Federer (Switzerland - Tennis - Won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, 120 career titles)

Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil - Motor Racing - Won two championships, 14 Grand Prix wins)

Garrincha (Brazil - Football - Led Brazil to 1962 World Cup victory, first player to win the Golden Boot, Golden Ball and World Cup in the same tournament)

Ryan Giggs (Wales - Football - Won Premier League 13 times and Champions' League twice, won PFA Young Player of the Year twice)

Rod Laver (Australia - Tennis - Won 11 Grand Slam singles titles, 200 Career titles)

Rafael Nadal (Spain - Tennis - 18 Grand Slam wins, 82 career titles)

Manny Pacquiao (Philippines - Boxing - Won 61 of 70 fights, eight-division world champion)

Ian Thorpe (Australia - Swimming - Five Olympic golds, 13 World Championship golds)

The deadline is 23:59 Sunday 1st September. Get voting!

Copy-paste list:

Carlos Alberto

Scott Dixon

Roger Federer

Emerson Fittipaldi

Garrincha

Ryan Giggs

Rod Laver

Rafael Nadal

Manny Pacquiao

Ian Thorpe

10- Roger Federer

9- Rafael Nadal

8- Rod Laver

7- Manny Pacquiao

6- Ian Thorpe

5- Emerson Fittipaldi

4- Garrincha

3- Scott Dixon

2- Ryan Giggs

1- Carlos Alberto

1st place - Roger Federer

2nd - Rafael Nadal

3rd - Garrincha

4. Manny Pacquiao

5. Rod Laver

6. Ryan Giggs

7. Carlos Alberto

8. Ian Thorpe

9. Scott Dixon

10. Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi

Carlos Alberto

Roger Federer

Scott Dixon

Garrincha

Ryan Giggs

Rafael Nadal

Manny Pacquiao

Rod Laver

Ian Thorpe

1st - Roger Federer

2nd - Rafael Nadal

3 - Rod Laver

4 - Ryan Giggs

5 - Manny Pacquiao

6 - Emerson Fittipaldi

7 - Ian Thorpe

8 - Garrincha

2 - Carlos Alberto

1 - Scott Dixon

1. Roger Federer

2. Rafael Nadal

3. Manny Pacquiao

4. Garrincha

5. Carlos Alberto

6. Ian Thorpe

7. Rod Laver

8. Ryan Giggs

9. Scott Dixon

10. Emerson Fittipaldi

1 Roger Federer

2 Rafael Nadal

3 Ryan Giggs

4 Emerson Fittipaldi

5 Garrincha

6 Carlos Alberto

7 Ian Thorpe

8 Manny Pacquiao

9 Scott Dixon

10 Rod Laver

Results

1. Roger Federer
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Manny Pacquiao
4. Garrincha
5. Emerson Fittipaldi
6. Ryan Giggs
7. Rod Laver
8. Carlos Alberto
9. Ian Thorpe
10. Scott Dixon

The Top 2 were clear from the start, however Pacquiao going straight through to the Final is somewhat of a shock, particularly since he only just made it through the qualifying round!

Federer and Nadal have achieved so much so they deserve to go through. I didn't know much about Manny Pacquiao but I put him 4th on my list after reading his wiki page.