4. Coup of the Century
With all due respect to Heskey and Ballack, it’s Del Piero’s signature that has world football talking. Even the Taiwan News couldn’t resist running banner headlines. True, most early international reports went something along the lines of “what the….?” But that just underlines his coup status. For sheer audaciousness, though, don’t rule out the late run by Ballack and his WSW bid team. The fledgling club already had a full quota of foreign signings when it managed to pull an extra spot out of its FFA to take the whole league by surprise. Close but not good enough.
Rating: ADP 10, Ballack 8, Heskey 7

5. Water Cooler Potential
Del Piero will prompt some fiery “he’s ours” debates between Sydney FC members and the Euro-snobs, while there’ll be plenty of verbal arm-wrestling over whether Heskey is a waste of space or an inspired choice. But we think Ballack is the dark horse for this award. The former Chelsea great has never strayed far from controversy whether it’s bagging out former teammates or incurring the wrath of the game’s governing body. Like the time he grabbed a megaphone and led Leverkusen fans in some abusive chants against their Schalke 04 rivals. Committed club man or a bad role model for the kiddies? Then there was his decision to end his international career two games short of the century, labelling an offer to make up the shortfall with a couple of friendlies as a “farce” and disrespectful. A short-sighted fool or a moral giant? Head to the nearest water cooler and discuss.
Rating: Ballack 9, ADP 7, Heskey 7

6. Best Trivial Pursuit Subject
Tricky one to be honest and it really depends on whether you like your questions leaning towards the more lurid or quirky. Football fans are a pretty eclectic bunch so we figure a bit of each. Any one of the following would be a good conversation starter. Which World Cup winner once contemplated being a lorry driver in order to see the world? Name the former Die Mannschaft captain who was told as a student his body type was best suited to speed skating. And, which former EPL star’s wife once earned a crust as a part-time waitress in a Liverpool lap-dancing bar? If you can worm one of these into the next poll on who is Australia’s preferred prime minister you’ll be doing us all a favour.
Rating: 8 all round.

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