Dirk Kuyt
Charity on my mind: He and his wife Gertrude, a former nurse, set up the Dirk Kuyt Foundation for homeless children in 2006. One project was to help street children in Brazil while another was to build a home for children with HIV in Nepal. “I just like to make people happy,” he had said.

Robin van Persie
Gloria in Excelsior: Van Persie eschewed the arty lifestyle of his parents — his father is a sculptor and mother designs jewellery — and specialised in scoring. Not forgetting his roots, he has been providing funds for the youths at Excelsior, the Rotterdam club where he first started as a child.