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 5

Boris Becker (Germany - Tennis - 49 career titles, won 6 Grand Slam titles)

Margaret Court (Australia - Tennis - Won 24 Grand Slam titles, 129 career titles)

Billie Jean King (USA - Tennis - Won 12 Grand Slam titles, 129 career titles)

Laura Kenny (Trott) (England - Track Cycling - 4 Olympic Golds, 7 World Championship Golds, 12 European Championship golds)

Diego Maradona (Argentina - Football - Led Argentina to 1986 World Cup victory and won Golden Ball)

Marta (Brazil - Football - Most goals scored at World Cup tournaments, won World Player of the Year 6 times, first footballer of either gender to score at 5 World Cups)

Lionel Messi (Argentina - Football - Won Ballon D'Or a record 5 times, won a club-record 34 trophies with Barcelona, most goals ever in La Liga)

Martina Navaratilova (USA - Tennis - Won 18 Grand Slam singles and 31 Grand Slam doubles titles, 168 Singles career titles and 186 Doubles titles)

Jesse Owens (USA - Athletics - Won four Golds at the 1936 Olympics)

Ronaldo (Brazil - Football - Won FIFA World Player of the Year three times and Ballon d'Or twice, second-highest goalscorer for Brazil)

The deadline is 23:59 Sunday 8th September. Get voting!

Copy-paste list:

Boris Becker

Margaret Court

Billie Jean King

Laura Kenny

Diego Maradona

Marta

Lionel Messi

Martina Navaratilova

Jesse Owens

Ronaldo

 

(blame random.org :mellow:)

10- Martina Navaratilova

9- Lionel Messi

8- Jessie Owens

7- Diego Maradona

6- Laura Kenny

5- Billie Jean King

4- Ronaldo

3- Boris Becker

2- Marta

1- Margaret Court

 

The Group of Death this.

1st

Jessie Owens

Lionel Messi

Martina Navaratilova

Diego Maradona

Laura Kenny

Boris Becker

Ronaldo

Margaret Court

Marta

Billie Jean King

Edited September 8, 20195 yr by Severin

1. Lionel Messi

2. Laura Kenny

3. Marta

4. Jesse Owens

5. Margaret Court

6. Martina Navaratilova

7. Billie Jean King

8. Diego Maradona

9. Boris Becker

10. Ronaldo

1st place - Margaret Court

2nd - Martina Navratilova

3rd - Diego Maradona

4 - Jesse Owens

5 - Lionel Messi

6 - Marta

7 - Billie Jean King

8 - Laura Kenny

9 - Boris Becker

10 - Ronaldo

1st Martina Navaratilova

2 Jesse Owens

3 Billie Jean King

4 Diego Maradona

5 Boris Becker

6 Ronaldo

7 Margaret Court

8 Laura Kenny

9 Lionel Messi

10 Marta

 

 

1 Margaret Court

2 Laura Kenny

3 Lionel Messi

4 Martina Navaratilova

5 Ronaldo

6 Billie Jean King

7 Marta

8 Jesse Owens

9 Boris Becker

10 Diego Maradona

Results

1. Martina Navaratilova
2. Lionel Messi
3. Jesse Owens
4. Laura Kenny
5. Margaret Court
6. Diego Maradona
7. Billie Jean King
8. Marta
9. Ronaldo
10. Boris Becker

So Argentina triumphs over Brazil in this round as Marta and Ronaldo crash out. Interesting to see Laura Kenny in amongst the established names!

In some way surprised that Becker finished bottom.