Our footballers may speak different languages, come from different countries, wear different colors, but in the end they teach us one indispensable lesson: if you really want it, work for it.

When Ryan Babel first picked up a football and trod the streets of Amsterdam as a seven-year-old kid, he knew exactly where he was heading. Ten years later, the skills he perfected on the urban training ground took him all the way to a first team debut in the Dutch Eredivisie – and p ...