Madrid odds and ends

(More Spaniards and canteranos please).

One. Marca had an interesting article in Monday’s edition, where they reported that UEFA sort of requires clubs to have – out of the 25 players on the first team – eight that were formed in the same country as the club (Spain in this case) regardless of nationality, and four out of the eight have to be from the club’s own youth teams.  With Guti and Raúl most likely leaving, that means that we’re at the minimum for this requirement.  The four from the youth team would be Iker, Arbeloa (yes, he does count), Adán and Granero, with the other four Spaniards being Xabi Alonso, Albiol, Sergio Ramos and apparently Sergio Canales.  So, if Madrid ends up dealing Granero away, they’ll have to look for alternatives at home.  The case of Adán will be easier, since Madrid’s third goalkeeper always comes from Castilla.

And I say sort of requires because while this is not a binding rule, any team that doesn’t follow it will see the number of players they can inscribe for UEFA competitions reduced.  So if Madrid only has three players from the youth teams, then they’ll only be able to inscribe 24 players.  UEFA has no requirements on whether those players actually have to be called up or even play.

Two. Kaká’s wife Carol Celico has released an online album of gospel songs, including a duet with Ricky!  That one is called Presente de Deus (present of God), which are the vows that Kaká said to her on their wedding day.  Take a listen here.  Even if it’s quite obvious that they’re not professional singers, you have to admit this is very sweet!

Three. With all that talk about how Zidane started the rebellion of the French national team (which he has denied) here is some positive news on the Zizou front: a spot he filmed with Drogba for the United Nations Development Program to kick out poverty.  I like this side of Zidane the best.  He’s been an UNDP Goodwill Ambassador since 2001.

Four. And Raúl is lending his support to the FAO, which he has done for quite some time, in a special Spanish Elle issue to fight world hunger.

Five. Meanwhile, Cristiano is also doing charity work – he’s joined 1goal to provide education for 72 million children around the world by 2015.

Six. There are also a lot of new Cristiano for Nike pictures floating around, but this one is my favorite.  You can totally tell it’s him.  See here or here.

There’s also this one, where his stance is the same, but where he looks like his statue.

He’s also the star of this Nike for Portugal video, in which he appears taking off his shirt.  There’s a longer version out there, but the rest just has Cristiano looking pouty.

Seven. Cris also made an appearance in the British version of GQ magazine’s July issue (they issued five different covers with four different football stars and Fabio Capello).  See the rest of the pictures here.