1.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
2.
Celtic F.C.
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The Celtic Football Club is a professional football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigrant Irish population in the East End of Glasgow and they played their first match in May 1888, a friendly match against Rangers which Celtic won 5–2. Celtic established itself within Scottish football, winning six league titles during the first decade of the 20th century. The club enjoyed their greatest successes during the 1960s and 70s under Jock Stein when they won nine league titles. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 48 occasions, most recently in the 2016–17 season, the Scottish Cup 36 times, Celtic also reached the 1970 European Cup Final, and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final. Celtic have a fierce rivalry with Rangers, and the clubs have become known as the Old Firm. The two clubs have dominated Scottish football, winning 102 league titles between them since the inception of the Scottish League in 1890. The clubs fanbase was estimated in 2003 as being around nine million worldwide, an estimated 80,000 fans travelled to Seville for the 2003 UEFA Cup Final. The club has the nickname, The Bhoys. However, according to the Celtic press office, the established club was known to many as the bold boys. A postcard from the early 20th century that pictured the team, the extra h imitates the spelling system of Gaelic, wherein the letter b is often accompanied by the letter h. On 28 May 1888, Celtic played their first official match against Rangers, Neil McCallum scored Celtics first ever goal. Celtics first kit consisted of a shirt with a green collar, black shorts. The original club crest was a green cross on a red oval background. In 1889 Celtic reached the final of the Scottish Cup, this was their first season in the competition, Celtic again reached the final of the Scottish Cup in 1892, but this time were victorious after defeating Queens Park 5–1 in the final, the clubs first major honour. Several months later the moved to its new ground, Celtic Park. In 1895, Celtic set the League record for the highest home score when they beat Dundee 11–0, in 1897, the club became a Private limited company and Willie Maley was appointed as the first secretary-manager. Between 1905 and 1910, Celtic won the Scottish League Championship six times in a row, in both 1907 and 1908 Celtic also won the Scottish Cup, this was the first time a Scottish club had ever won the Double
3.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club is a professional football club from Inverness, Scotland who compete in the Scottish Premiership. They are currently managed by Richie Foran, Caledonian Thistle F. C. were formed in August 1994 by the merger of Caledonian and Inverness Thistle, both members of the Highland Football League. The new club was formed with a view to applying for one of the two vacancies in the Scottish Football League, created when the league restructured in 1994 to four divisions of ten teams each. They were successful and were elected to the Scottish Third Division along with Highland derby rivals Ross County, the clubs name was amended to Inverness Caledonian Thistle F. C. in 1996 at the request of Inverness District Council. Inverness also knocked other SPL teams out of cup competitions, including Motherwell, over the first ten years of their existence the club had been responsible for a total of 12 shocks and as a result had gained themselves a reputation as being giant killers. On 25 February 2007, Invernesss run of cup victories over Celtic came to an end following two goals in the last two minutes of their fifth round tie at Caledonian Stadium. Having led 1–0 for the majority of the thanks to a Graham Bayne goal. A significant event in the history was the signing of Romanian international Marius Niculae. Niculae was involved in the clubs 2007–08 campaign and played at UEFA Euro 2008 and he later became involved in a dispute with the club over a share of the transfer fee that was not paid to him when he left. As a result, Inverness were ordered by FIFA to pay £133,000 to the player, the club appealed against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and in November 2011, the club won their appeal. Having won the 2009–10 First Division title in their first year back in the division since 2003–04, Season 2014–15 saw the club finish in their best ever placing of third. After a promising start to their campaign in 1994–95, the club eventually finished sixth in the Third Division. The following season, Inverness CT showed improvement with a third-place finish, in Season 1996–97, they won the Third Division Championship following a 4–1 home win over Albion Rovers in front of nearly 3,000 fans. This was just 5 months after moving into the Caledonian Stadium, the club spent two seasons in the Second Division. After a closely fought campaign, they finished runners-up to Livingston in Season 1998–99, Season 2003–2004 could be regarded as the clubs most successful up to that point. This made the club eligible for promotion to the Scottish Premier League, however, SPL rules at that time stated that all member clubs must have a stadium with a minimum capacity of 10,000 seats. Caledonian Stadium did not meet this criterion, leaving the clubs Board with a dilemma, either to remain in the First Division or to groundshare with Aberdeen, over 100 miles away. After consulting with supporters, the Board decided the sacrifice of one season in Aberdeen would be a compromise to ensure Premier League participation for the club
4.
Airdrieonians F.C.
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Airdrieonians Football Club are a Scottish professional football team based in Airdrie who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and play in the SPFL Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club following the liquidation of the original club, the clubs official name was changed in 2013 with the approval of the SFA to the traditional name of Airdrieonians. As with the team of the same name, this is often colloquially shortened to simply Airdrie. The club have won two trophies in their short history – the Scottish Second Division in 2003–04 and the Challenge Cup in 2008–09, once described as the luckiest team in the Scottish League, the club have benefited in league division placements on three occasions. The club was formed in 2002 as Airdrie United, following the bankruptcy of the original Airdrieonians, Airdrieonians had finished runners-up in the Scottish First Division in the 2001–02 season but went out of business with debts approaching £3 million. The collapse of The Diamonds, as they were due to their distinctive kits. Accountant and Airdrieonians fan Jim Ballantyne attempted, with the help of others and their application however was rejected as the then English Northern Premier League side Gretna were preferred by league members over the new Airdrie United. Their debut season saw the club only narrowly fail to achieve promotion by one point due to a late goal from Brechin City which saw them promoted instead. During the rest of Stewarts tenure the club reached the final of the Challenge Cup in 2003, in November 2006, Stewart was sacked and replaced by former Airdrieonians player and Airdrie United coach Kenny Black, his first management post. Under Kenny Black the club suffered four successive defeats, In the 2006–07 season as relegation play-off finalists. In the 2007–08 season as promotion play-off finalists, in the 2008–09 season as relegation play-off finalists. Unlike the previous two seasons there was no reprieve, the club won the Challenge Cup in 2008, defeating Ross County 3–2 on penalties after a 2–2 draw, and after this success manager Kenny Black signed a long term contract. After big financial cutbacks saw all players released in May 2010, in June manager Kenny Black was relieved of his duties, with Jimmy Boyle appointed interim manager. Boyle was appointed manager on a permanent basis in September 2010, with the running until the end of season 2011–2012. The clubs decision to focus on developing youth was vindicated in January 2011, the first league game between Airdrie United and local rivals Albion Rovers took place at New Broomfield on 10 September 2011, with Airdrie winning 4–0. As Airdrie were runners up in the previous seasons Second Division promotion play-offs, a season in the First Division came to an end in May 2013, with the club finishing bottom of the league and relegated to Division Two. In June 2013, the officially changed its name from Airdrie United Football Club to Airdrieonians Football Club. The name change revived the name of the club it was formed to replace in 2002, the Airdrieonians all red club crest was also revived, with an alternate black and red version used for the away kits
5.
Stranraer F.C.
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Stranraer Football Club is a Scottish semi-professional football club based in the town of Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway. The club was founded in 1870, making it the third oldest football club in Scotland behind Queens Park and Kilmarnock, the club currently competes in the Scottish League One as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. They also won the Scottish Second Division on two occasions, most recently in 1997–98 as well as coming runners-up in 2004–05 and 2014–15 and their only ever national cup final came in 1996, when the club defeated First Division champions St Johnstone 1–0 in the Scottish Challenge Cup final. Stranraers home ground is Stair Park, which has the capacity to seat around 1,830 spectators and 4,178 including standing, the ground was opened in 1907 and is located in the east of Stranraer. They were founded in 1870 and play their football at Stair Park, however they had taken part in the Scottish Cup since their debut in the national tournament in 1877–78. In 1955 C Division was abolished and the Blues found themselves in B Division and they would remain in the bottom tier until their first-ever promotion eventually arrived under the clubs legendary manager Alex McAnespie in 1993–94. With Campbell Money at the helm Stranraer spent three seasons in the Second Division before winning back to the First Division at the end of the 1997–98 season. Once again, they finished bottom of the league, with the points total as before and 29 defeats. During that season a league win was secured at Easter Road against Hibernian. During Moneys reign the club lifted the Scottish League Challenge Cup, saints Danny Griffin was the unfortunate scorer of an own goal. However, the cup run did not reflect their league form, as they finished ninth in the Second Division. However, the teams fortunes improved from there, as, under Neil Watt, they won the Third Division at the first attempt, in season 2004–05, the team shocked most people, as they stayed in the top two for most of the campaign. The team had an unsuccessful campaign in 2006–07, with heavy defeats by relegation rivals Peterhead. They finished ninth, which resulted in a play-off with Third Division promotion contenders East Fife, a 4–2 aggregate defeat saw them relegated to the Third Division. On 21 January 2009, club chairman Nigel Redhead stated that Stranraer F. C. owed £250,000, and had a 50–50 chance of survival to the end of the season. In response, on 22 January 2009, a small consortium launched the Friends of Stranraer F. C. to try to secure the future through donations from the football community at www. savestranraerfc. com. On 23 January 2009, as part of efforts to reduce costs to a manageable level, on 24 January 2009, Stirling Albion defeated Stranraer 8–2. Shortly after the game, Stranraer and team manager Derek Ferguson parted company by mutual consent and Keith Knox took over the reins
6.
Livingston F.C.
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Livingston Football Club, is a Scottish football club based in Livingston, West Lothian. Livingston currently play in the Scottish League One and were founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle, the club was admitted to the Scottish Football League and renamed as Meadowbank Thistle in 1974, and played its matches at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh. In 1995, the club was relocated to Livingston, West Lothian, since then Livingston have played their home games at the Almondvale Stadium. However, the club hit financial problems in 2004, and was relegated to the Scottish First Division in 2006, in July 2009 the club faced further financial problems and were on the verge of suffering a liquidation event before a deal was struck. Livingston were subsequently demoted to the Scottish Third Division, but the club achieved consecutive promotions, the club began life as Ferranti Amateurs in 1943. A works team of the Ferranti engineering company, they played in the Edinburgh FAs Amateur Second Division. During this period the club won the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup in 1963, in 1969 the club moved to the City Park ground in Edinburgh. In 1972 the club members of SFA which allowed them to enter the Scottish Qualifying Cup which they won in 1973 which previously had not been open to them. The clubs first match in the Scottish Cup was on 16 December 1972 against Duns. In 1974, as a result of the demise of Third Lanark seven years earlier, after beating off competition from four Highland League sides, Hawick Royal Albert and Gateshead United, Ferranti Thistle were accepted into the league by a vote of 21–16 over Inverness Thistle. The local council offered use of Meadowbank Stadium, a stadium built in 1970. After an Edinburgh Evening News campaign to find a name for the club and this was approved by the SFL in time for the new season. Having had little time to form a squad from the existing Ferranti squad, Meadowbank played their first competitive match in the League Cup, eventually losing 1–0 to Albion Rovers. In 1983 the club achieved promotion to the First Division but ultimately were relegated back to the Second Division at the end of the 1984–85 season, in the 1986–87 season, Meadowbank won the Second Division championship and won promotion to the First Division. They finished runners-up in the First Division in the following season, the part-time club began to struggle, and it became a limited company in 1993 but was relegated a short time after at the end of the 1992–93 season to the Second Division. Meadowbank suffered a relegation in 1994–95, finishing second from bottom in the Second Division. After this, Chairman Bill Hunter claimed Meadowbank had run into financial difficulties and were facing closure as a result. C. In their first season as Livingston they were crowned champions of the Third Division for the 1995–96 season, Three years later, in 1998–99, they won promotion again as Second Division champions
7.
Carnoustie Panmure F.C.
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Carnoustie Panmure Football Club are a Scottish Junior football club from the town of Carnoustie, Angus. Formed in 1936, they are nicknamed the Gowfers due to the towns well-established links to the sport of golf and they play at Laing Park, to which they moved in 2004, having previously played at Westfield Park. The club received significant investment in the late 1990s, which has allowed them to emerge as one of the stronger Tayside clubs participating in the East Region, the pinnacle of their achievements was winning the Scottish Junior Cup in 2004. The club currently plays in the Scottish Junior Football Associations East Region Super League, the club has an Academy with players aged 6–8yrs, a youth set up with teams from 9s to under-19s, two amateur teams using the Carnoustie YM name and four girls teams from Monifieth Ladies. In 2013 the club became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation to provide a pathway for players from Youth to Adult football, in 2013 the club had 350 players across 18 teams
Chris Sutton
Stephen Pearson
Martin O'Neill
FC Copenhagen
VfB Stuttgart
Panathinaikos
NK Željezničar
Girondins de Bordeaux
Vllaznia
Perugia
Norway
Faroe Islands
Lithuania
Netherlands
Romania
Estonia
Trinidad and Tobago