1.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
2.
FC Barcelona
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Futbol Club Barcelona, commonly known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led by Joan Gamper, unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the second most valuable team in the world, worth $3.56 billion. The official Barcelona anthem is the Cant del Barça, written by Jaume Picas, Barcelona was ranked first in the IFFHS Club World Ranking for 1997,2009,2011,2012 and 2015 and currently occupies the third position on the UEFA club rankings. The club has a rivalry with Real Madrid, matches between the two teams are referred to as El Clásico. Barcelona is one of the most supported teams in the world, Barcelonas players have won a record number of Ballon dOr awards, as well as a record number of FIFA World Player of the Year awards. Barcelona is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never relegated from the top division, along with Athletic Bilbao. In 2011, the club became European champions again and won five trophies, by winning their fifth Champions League trophy on 6 June 2015, Barcelona became the first European club in history to achieve the continental treble twice. On 22 October 1899, Hans Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club, FC Barcelona had a successful start in regional and national cups, competing in the Campionat de Catalunya and the Copa del Rey. In 1902, the club won its first trophy, the Copa Macaya and he said in a meeting, Barcelona cannot die and must not die. If there is nobody who is going to try, then I will assume the responsibility of running the club now on. Club president on five occasions between 1908 and 1925, he spent 25 years in total at the helm. One of his achievements was ensuring Barça acquire its own stadium. On 14 March 1909, the moved into the Camp de la Indústria. To celebrate their new surroundings, the club conducted a logo contest the following year, Carles Comamala won the contest, and his suggestion became the crest that the club still wears – with some minor changes – as of the present day. The contest was the most prestigious in that era, from the inaugural year in 1910 to 1913, Barcelona won the competition four consecutive times. Carles Comamala played a part of the four-time champion, managing the side along with Amechazurra. The latter became the clubs first full-time coach in 1917, the last edition was held in 1914 in the city of Barcelona, which local rivals Espanyol won
3.
Athletic Bilbao
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Athletic Club, also commonly known as Athletic Bilbao, is a professional football club, based in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. They are known as Los Leones because their stadium was built near a church called San Mamés, mammes was a semi-legendary early Christian thrown to the lions by the Romans. Mammes pacified the lions and was made a saint. The club is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never relegated from the top division. Athletic have won La Liga on eight occasions, fourth most in the history of the league, in the table of Copa del Rey titles, Athletic is second only to Barcelona, having won it 24 times. The club also has one of the most successful teams in Spain. The club is known for its policy of bringing young Basque players through the ranks. Since its foundation, Athletic has played exclusively with players meeting the criteria to be deemed as Basque players and this can be seen as a unique case in European football, it has gained Athletic both admirers and critics. The club has been praised for promoting home grown players and club loyalty, Athletic is one of only three professional clubs in Spain in La Liga that is not a sports corporation, it is owned and operated by its club members. Athletics main rivals are Real Sociedad, against whom it plays the Basque derby, Football was introduced to Bilbao by two distinct groups of players, both with British connections, British steel and shipyard workers and Basque students returning from schools in Britain. In the late 19th century, Bilbao was a port of an important industrial area with iron mines. It was the force of the Spanish economy and as a result attracted many migrant workers. Among them were miners from the north-east of England, and shipyard workers from Southampton, Portsmouth, the British workers brought with them the game of football. In the early 1890s, these workers came together and formed Bilbao Football Club, meanwhile, sons of the Basque educated classes had made the opposite journey and went to Britain to complete their studies in civil engineering and commerce. While in the United Kingdom, these developed a interest in football. In 1898, students belonging to the Gymnasium Zamacois founded the Athletic Club, in 1901, a meeting was held in the Café García, which established more formal rules and regulations. In 1902, the two Bilbao clubs formed a team, known as Bizcaya, in the first Copa del Rey. They returned with the trophy after defeating Barcelona in the final and this would lead to the eventual merger of the two clubs as Athletic Club in 1903
4.
RCD Espanyol
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Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona, commonly known as RCD Espanyol, or simply as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded in 1900, the plays in La Liga, the highest division of Spanish football. It has won the Copa del Rey four times, most recently in 2006, the team compete in the Derbi barceloní against FC Barcelona. Espanyol play at the 40, 500-capacity Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, having played at grounds including the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. Espanyol was founded on 28 October 1900 by Ángel Rodríguez Ruiz, the clubs original home was in the well-off district of Sarrià and was initially known as the Sociedad Española de Football. One year later, the changed its name to Club Español de Fútbol. Espanyol was the first club in Spain to be formed exclusively by Spanish fans of the game, the club originally played in bright yellow shirts, with the colour of the shorts being left to the individual player. A friend of the club owned a textile business and happened to have an abundance of yellow material left over from a job. In 1910, the changed its name to Club Deportivo Español and chose blue and white stripes as shirt colours. The club were successful from the beginning, winning the Campionat de Catalunya in 1903. In 1906, the club folded due to financial reasons and most of the joined the X Sporting Club. This club won the Campionat de Catalunya three times between 1906 and 1908, in 1909, this club was effectively relaunched as Club Deportivo Español, and in 1910, they adopted their present-day colours. Espanyol are one of several Spanish football clubs granted patronage by the Spanish crown and thus entitled to use Real in their names and this right was granted to Espanyol in 1912 by Alfonso XIII and the club subsequently became known as Real Club Deportivo Español. After the Spanish Civil War, the name reverted, the club took the Catalan spelling for its name in February 1995. The word Deportiu in Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona is a Catalanised form of the original word Deportivo and this choice was made in order to retain the initials RCD in the clubs name. In 1994, Espanyol created its reserve team, Espanyol B, with their win in the Copa del Rey the previous season, Espanyol entered the UEFA Cup. Following a 5–3 aggregate success against Slovak side Artmedia Bratislava, they were drawn in Group F alongside Ajax, Belgian minnows Zulte Waregem, Espanyol were group winners, victorious in all four of their ties. Their opponent in the Round of 32 was Livorno, who had just scraped into the knockout stages, Espanyol were 4–1 victors on aggregate, recording a 2–1 win in Tuscany and finishing the job 2–0 in Barcelona
5.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
6.
Getxo
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Getxo is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the north of Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has about 80,000 inhabitants, Getxo is mostly an affluent residential area, as well as being the third largest municipality of Biscay. Getxo was a parish, originally an area, including a large beach at the mouth of the Estuary of Bilbao. The parish council met at the church of Getxoko Andra Mari or Santa María de Getxo, the towns coat of arms has an oak with two cauldrons chained to its branches and the motto Kaltea Dagianak Bizarra Lepoan. With industrialisation in the 19th century, some parts of Getxo evolved into residential areas for the bourgeois class. A residential area called Neguri came into being, near Areeta / Las Arenas, on the other side of the road to Bilbao, there grew a working-class district called Erromo, similar to the one that grew near Neguri, Neguri Langile. Finally, in the 20th century, urban development reached the areas of Getxoko Andra Mari. Getxo, as well as the area known as Uribe-Kosta. While in the early 80s the town had only 50,000 inhabitants, the surrounding towns of Leioa, Berango and Sopelana have also seen multiplied their population in the same period. Getxo was hit by the Basque Conflict several times, with the town being the location of many ETA attacks, the deadliest of these was an ambush in October 1978 when three civil guards were killed and the most recent the car bomb attack on May 19,2008. Many activists of the organisation have been born in Getxo, such as Arkaitz Goikoetxea and it is located 14 km north of Bilbao, in the province and historical Territory of Biscay, in the community of the Basque Country, in the north of Spain. It has a surface of 11.64 km² and it borders in the north with Sopelana, in the east with Berango and Lejona, in the south with Portugalete and in the west with the Bay of the Cove. The municipality officially encompasses the neighborhoods of Las Arenas, Algorta, Romo, Neguri, but for the inhabitants of Getxo there is a more thorough division, Las Arenas, Las Mercedes, Santa Ana, Zugazarte y Antiguo Golf. Algorta, Algorta centre, Alango, María Cristina, Sarrikobaso, Arrigunaga, Villamonte, La Humedad, Aldapas, Fadura, Ereaga, Usategui, Portu Zaharra / Puerto Viejo and Bidezábal. Aiboa Santa María de Guecho / Getxoko Andra Mari, Aixerrota, Malakate, Punta Galea, Avenida del Ángel, Las Arenas and Neguri arose in the late nineteenth century as residential areas for the Basque industrial bourgeoisie. Neguri neighborhood is characterized by the palaces in which lived the elite of the bourgeoisie, the name of Neguri was coined by Resurrección María de Azkue, since previously it was called Aretxetaurre. Neguri comes from the merger of two Basque words, negu and uri, Neguko hiri, Neguri, the city designed, as has been noted. The neighborhood of Algorta is the district of largest population of Getxo, the greatest expansion was in the 70s when middle-class families decided to find a more comfortable place to live rather than in the neighborhoods of the left bank of the Nervion
Spain
Tojo
Martyn Veitch![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
