1.
Brazil national football team
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The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international mens association football. Brazil is administered by the Brazilian Football Confederation, the body for football in Brazil. They have been a member of the FIFA since 1923 and member of the CONMEBOL since 1916, Brazil is the most successful national football team in the FIFA World Cup with five championships,1958,1962,1970,1994 and 2002. Brazil is the national team to have played in all World Cup editions without any absence nor need for playoffs. The seleção is also the most successful team in the FIFA Confederations Cup with four titles,1997,2005,2009 and 2013. They have also won their continental championship. Brazil is the national team to have won the World Cup on four different continents, once in Europe, once in South America, twice in North America. They also share with Spain a record of 35 consecutive international matches undefeated, a common quip about football is, Os ingleses o inventaram, os brasileiros o aperfeiçoaram. Brazil won 2–0 with goals by Oswaldo Gomes and Osman, though it is claimed that the match was a 3–3 draw, in contrast to its future success, the national teams early appearances were not brilliant. Other early matches played during that time include several friendly games against Argentina, Chile, however, led by the goalscoring abilities of Arthur Friedenreich, they were victorious at home in the South American Championships in 1919, repeating their victory, also at home, in 1922. In 1930, Brazil played in the first World Cup, held in Uruguay in 1930, the squad defeated Bolivia but lost to Yugoslavia, being eliminated from the competition. They lost in the first round to Spain in 1934 in Italy, Brazil were the only South American team to participate in this competition. After being victorious in a third South American Championship in 1949 Brazil first achieved prominence when it hosted the 1950 FIFA World Cup. The team went into the last game of the round, against Uruguay at Estádio do Maracanã in Rio. Uruguay, however, won the match and the Cup in a known as the Maracanazo. The match led to a period of national mourning, Brazil reached the quarter-final, where they were beaten 4–2 by tournament favourites Hungary in one of the ugliest matches in football history, known as the Battle of Berne. For the 1958 World Cup, Brazil were drawn in a group with England and they beat Austria 3–0 in their first match, then drew 0–0 with England. Before the match, coach Vicente Feola made three substitutions that were crucial for Brazil to defeat the Soviets, Zito, Garrincha and Pelé
2.
United States men's national soccer team
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The United States mens national soccer team, often referred to as the USMNT, represents the United States in international soccer. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF, the team has appeared in ten FIFA World Cups and hosted the 1994 edition. They achieved their best result when they reached the semi-final at the 1930 World Cup, finishing third, this remains the highest finish of any team outside of the UEFA and CONMEBOL confederations. After qualifying for the 1934 World Cup, and withdrawing in 1938, after 1950, the U. S. did not qualify for the World Cup again until 1990. Following the 1990 World Cup, the U. S. qualified automatically as hosts of the 1994 World Cup, the team has qualified for all five World Cups since, reaching the quarter-finals of the 2002 tournament, where it lost to Germany 1–0. In 2009 it finished runner-up at the Confederations Cup, eliminating top-ranked Spain 2–0 in the semi-finals before losing to Brazil 3–2 in the final, the teams current head coach is Bruce Arena, who took over in November 2016 and previously managed the team from 1998 to 2006. The first United States national team was constituted in 1885, when it played Canada in the first international match held outside the United Kingdom, Canada defeated the U. S. 1–0 in Newark, New Jersey. The United States had its revenge the following year when it beat Canada 1–0, also in Newark, the United States played its first official international match under the auspices of U. S. Soccer August 20,1916, against Sweden in Stockholm, where the U. S. won 3–2, the U. S fielded a team in the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, the first ever World Cup to ever be played. The U. S. began group play by beating Belgium 3–0, the U. S. then earned a 3–0 victory over Paraguay, with FIFA crediting Bert Patenaude with two of the goals. In November 2006, FIFA announced that it had accepted evidence that Patenaude scored all three goals against Paraguay, and was thus the first person to score a hat trick in a World Cup, in the semifinals, the U. S. lost to Argentina 6–1. Using the overall tournament records, FIFA credited the U. S. with a third-place finish ahead of fellow semi-finalist Yugoslavia. The finish remains the U. S. teams best World Cup result, there was no official soccer tournament in the 1932 Olympic Games. In an informal tournament, the United States finished first, followed by Mexico, the U. S. qualified for the 1934 World Cup by defeating Mexico 4–2. The team played Italy and lost 7–1, eliminating them from the tournament, the Olympic soccer tournament was reinstated in the 1936 Olympic Games. The 1950 World Cup in Brazil was the United Statess next World Cup appearance, the U. S. lost its first match 3–1 against Spain, but then won 1–0 against England at Independência Stadium in Belo Horizonte. Striker Joe Gaetjens was the goal scorer, the result is considered one of the greatest upsets in the history of the World Cups. Months before the famous World Cup loss to the U. S, England had beaten an all-star rest of Europe side 6–1 in an exhibition match
3.
Spain national football team
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The Spain national football team represents Spain in mens International association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Julen Lopetegui after Vicente del Bosque stepped down following Euro 2016, the Spanish side is commonly referred to as La Roja, La Furia Roja, La Furia Española or simply La Furia. Spain became a member of FIFA in 1904 even though the Spanish Football Federation was first established in 1909, Spains national team debuted in 1920. Since then, the Spanish national team has participated in a total of 14 of 20 FIFA World Cups and 9 of 14 UEFA European Championships. These three successive titles make them the national team so far with three consecutive wins of either the applicable continental championship or the World Cup. From 2008 to 2013, a span, the national team won FIFA Team of the Year. Between November 2006 and June 2009 Spain went undefeated for a record-equalling 35 consecutive matches before their loss to the United States. The teams achievements have led many commentators, experts and former players to consider the 2010 and 2012 Spanish sides among the best ever international sides in world football. The first Spain national football team was constituted in 1920, with the objective of finding a team that would represent Spain at the Summer Olympics held in Belgium in that same year. Spain made their debut at the tournament on 28 August 1920 against Denmark, the Spanish managed to win that match by a scoreline of 1–0, eventually finishing with the silver medal. Spain qualified for their first FIFA World Cup in 1934, defeating Brazil in their first game and losing in a replay to the hosts, the Spanish Civil War and World War II prevented Spain from playing any competitive matches between the 1934 World Cup and the 1950 editions qualifiers. At the 1950 finals in Brazil, they topped their group to progress to the final round, until 2010, this had been Spains highest finish in a FIFA World Cup finals, which had given them the name of the underachievers. Spain won its first major title when hosting the 1964 European Championship held in Spain. The victory would stand as Spains lone major title for 44 years, Spain was selected as host of the 1982 FIFA World Cup, reaching the second round, and four years later they reached the quarter-finals before a penalty shootout defeat to Belgium. Javier Clemente was appointed as Spains coach in 1992, leading them to the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup, had the official acknowledged the foul, Spain would have merited a penalty kick. In the 2002 World Cup, Spain won its three group matches, then defeated the Republic of Ireland on penalties in the second round. They faced co-hosts South Korea in the quarter-finals, losing in a shootout after having two goals called back for alleged infractions during regular and extra time, at UEFA Euro 2008, Spain won all their games in Group D. Italy were the opponents in the match, which Spain won 4–2 on penalties
4.
South Africa national football team
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South Africas home ground is FNB Stadium, so named due to a naming rights deal, in Johannesburg. The team is currently under in charge of Stuart Baxter, who was appointed as coach on 5 April 2017, the teams greatest achievement was winning the Africa Cup of Nations at home in 1996. Having played their first match in 1924, they returned to the stage in 1992. In 2010, South Africa became the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup when it hosted the 19th FIFA World Cup in 2010, the teams Siphiwe Tshabalala was also the first player to score in this World Cup during the opening game against Mexico. Football first arrived in South Africa through colonialism in the nineteenth century. From the earliest days of the sport in South Africa until the end of apartheid, South Africa was one of four African nations to attend FIFAs 1953 congress, at which the four demanded, and won, representation on the FIFA executive committee. Thus the four founded the Confederation of African Football in 1956. This was unacceptable to the members of the Confederation and South Africa were disqualified from the competition. At the second CAF conference in 1958 South Africa were formally expelled from CAF, the all-white were admitted to FIFA in the same year, but in August 1960 it was given an ultimatum of one year to fall in line with the non-discriminatory regulations of FIFA. On 26 September 1961 at the annual FIFA conference, the South African association was suspended from FIFA. Sir Stanley Rous, president of The Football Association of England, Rous was adamant that sport, and FIFA in particular, should not embroil itself in political matters and against fierce opposition he continued to resist attempts to expel South Africa from FIFA. The suspension was lifted in January 1963 after a visit to South Africa by Rous in order to investigate the state of football in the country, Rous declared that if the suspension were not lifted, football there would be discontinued, possibly to the point of no recovery. In 1976, after the Soweto uprising, they were expelled from FIFA. After spending nearly two decades in isolation, the South African national team played its first game on 7 July 1992. The team entered the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and was placed in Group 5, along with Mauritius, Zambia and they won one game, away to Mauritius, and drew with Mauritius and Zimbabwe at home. The team finished third in the group and failed to qualify, for the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers South Africa was placed in Group D, along with Congo, Libya and Nigeria. South Africa beat Congo home and away and they drew with Nigeria at home and lost away. South Africa finished second in the group, and failed to qualify for the stage of the qualifiers
5.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
6.
Goalkeeper (association football)
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Goalkeeper, often shortened to keeper or goalie, is one of the major positions of association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport, the goalkeepers primary role is to prevent the opposing team from successfully moving the ball over the defended goal-line. This is accomplished by the moving into the path of the ball. Within the penalty area goalkeepers are able to use their hands, goalkeepers usually perform goal kicks, and also give commands to their defence during corner kicks, direct and indirect free kicks, and marking. Goalkeepers play an important role in directing on field strategy as they have a view of the entire pitch. If an attacker on the opposing team obstructs the keeper from catching or saving the ball, for example, in a corner, it will normally be a free kick. If a goalkeeper is injured or sent off, a goalkeeper has to take their place. In order to replace a goalkeeper who is sent off, a team usually substitutes an outfield player for the backup keeper and they then play the remainder of the match with nine outfield players. Goalkeepers often have longer playing careers than players, many not retiring until their late thirties or early forties. This can be explained by noting that goalkeepers play a physically demanding position that requires significantly less running. For example, Peter Shilton played for 31 years between 1966 and 1997 before retiring at the age of 47. Because only one player can play in goal and the position is so specialised many professional teams on average especially at the highest level have one player as first-choice for many years, for example Gianlugi Buffon has played as first choice keeper for Juventus for more than 15 years. Petr Cech prior to his move to Aresnal was first choice keeper for Chelsea between 2004 and 2015, the squad number for a first choice goalkeeper is generally number 1. Although this is common, some goalkeepers now wear other numbers when in goal, association football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics resulting in the generation and elimination of different positions. Goalkeeper is the position that is certain to have existed since the codification of the sport. The earliest account of football teams with player positions comes from Richard Mulcaster in 1581, the earliest specific reference to keeping goal comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. One of these is appointed by lots, to the one side, there is assigned for their guard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers. Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early 16th century, for example, in John Days play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, Ill play a gole at camp-ball
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
Tim Howard
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Timothy Matthew Tim Howard is an American soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for American club Colorado Rapids and the United States national team. Howard started his career with the North Jersey Imperials before making a move to the MetroStars and his appearances soon attracted the attention of Manchester United, who signed him in 2003. He enjoyed relative success with them as they won the 2003 FA Community Shield, the 2003–04 FA Cup, however, after United signed Edwin van der Sar, Howard went out on loan to Everton to play more first-team soccer and eventually signed permanently with them in February 2007. On January 4,2012, Howard scored a goal, his first as a professional and this made him only the fourth goalkeeper to score a goal in a Premier League match. In 2016 Howard signed to play for the MLS Colorado Rapids, Howard is the most capped goalkeeper of all-time for the United States mens national team, with over 100 caps since his debut in 2002. He was a substitute for the 2006 World Cup but later established himself as first-choice. The team reached the Round of 16 on both occasions, and during the latter Howard set a World Cup record for most saves in a match with 16. Howards book, The Keeper, published in 2014, describes his career and his life with Tourette syndrome, Howard was born in North Brunswick, New Jersey, to Matthew Howard, an African American, and Esther Howard, a native of Hungary. Howard was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome when he was in the sixth grade, however his talent and abilities as a soccer player were far more impressive. Despite his position on his school team, Howard was a far better goalkeeper than he was a midfielder. During high school, he played for Central Jersey Cosmos, in 1995, Howard was part of the U. S. under-17 squad. Howard signed with the Imperials and played in his first professional game before graduating high school. After only six appearances with the USISLs North Jersey Imperials, Howard was brought up to the MetroStars by Mulqueen, Howard was victorious in his MLS debut with the MetroStars on August 18,1998, making five saves in a 4–1 win over Colorado at Giants Stadium. He later played in one game with the Nike Project-40 Team, with the MetroStars during the 1999 MLS season, Howard made eight starts in nine contests. Howard had a 1.58 GAA and won just one match in a season in which the Metros won just seven games. Howard posted a 5–2–2 record with a 1.59 GAA in 2000, Howard won the 2001 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award, recording 146 saves and finishing the year with a 1.33 GAA, four shutouts, and a 13–10–3 record. He also received the MLS Humanitarian of the Year Award, Howard played in 27 of 28 regular season games in 2002 for the MetroStars, recording four shutouts. He was named to the MLS Best XI for the second straight season, before leaving the MetroStars in 2003, he appeared in thirteen games and had three clean sheets as the club challenged for first place during the season’s first half
9.
2005 FIFA Confederations Cup
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The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the tournament was won by 2002 FIFA World Cup winners Brazil, who defeated Argentina 4–1 in the final Waldstadion in Frankfurt. The final was a rematch of the Copa América final also won by Brazil and it was Brazils second win at the Confederations Cup. 1Argentina were awarded a spot in the competition because Brazil had won both the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 2004 Copa América, since both competitions award their winners a place in the Confederations Cup, the runners-up in the Copa América 2004 were called to play. Originally, Kaiserslauterns Fritz-Walter-Stadion was also intended as a venue, however, on 27 May 2004, city authorities withdrew from the bidding process, citing added costs to complete the stadium on time as the reason for the withdrawal. All five venues were reused for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the official match ball for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup was the Adidas Pelias. Adriano received the Golden Shoe award for scoring five goals, in total,56 goals were scored by 29 different players, with none credited as own goals
10.
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup
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The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 June to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Host nation, Brazil successfully defended their title with a 3–0 win over Spain in the final and it was their fourth Confederations Cup title and third in a row, after previous wins in 1997,2005 and 2009. According to then FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the best version of the tournament ever played, the competition was the first national team tournament to employ goal-line technology, which was also used at the 2014 World Cup. 1Note, Italy was awarded a spot in the competition because Spain had won both the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012, since both competitions award their winners a place in the FIFA Confederations Cup, the runner-up of UEFA Euro 2012 received an invitation to the tournament. Six stadiums were used, each in a different city, the draw for the competition was held at the Palácio das Convenções in the Anhembi Convention Center in São Paulo, Brazil on 1 December 2012. Teams from the confederation were not drawn into the same group, therefore one team each from UEFA. Brazil and Spain had automatically been assigned as A1 and B1 respectively, therefore Italy and Uruguay were assigned respectively to Group A, ten trios of officials were announced by FIFA on 13 May 2013. Teams had to name a 23-man squad by the FIFA deadline of 3 June 2013, the squads were announced by FIFA on 7 June 2013. The competitions dates were confirmed by FIFA on 27 July 2011 in the build-up to the draw for the 2014 World Cups preliminary qualification rounds. As the competition partially overlapped with the round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification in Asian zone. However, the AFC decided that the day would only be adjusted for the AFC representative at the Confederations Cup. The official final schedule was presented in Rio de Janeiro on 30 May 2012, all times listed are Brasília official time. All eight teams entered the group stage, the group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals, while the bottom two teams in each group were eliminated from the tournament. In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of playing time, extra time would be played and followed, if necessary. Fernando Torres was awarded the Golden Boot award on tie-breakers, both he and Fred scored five goals and made one assist, but Torres was given the award due to having played fewer minutes over the tournament. In total,68 goals were scored by 38 different players and it was unveiled during the draw for the competition. Former Brazil captain Cafu was invited to unveil the ball. The competing national football associations received prize money from FIFA based on their teams final finishing position
11.
FIFA Confederations Cup
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The FIFA Confederations Cup is an international association football tournament for national teams, currently held every four years by FIFA. It is contested by the holders of each of the six championships, along with the FIFA World Cup holder. Since 2005, the tournament has been held in the nation that will host the FIFA World Cup in the following year, acting as a rehearsal for the larger tournament. However,2022 FIFA World Cup host Qatar will not host 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup as announced by FIFA in 2015 due to Qatars high temperatures during the summer period. This is the first edition, since the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, the reigning Champion is Brazil who won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, by defeating Spain 3–0 in the final for a record fourth title. They will not be able to defend their title, as they were eliminated by Paraguay in a penalty shoot-out in the Quarter-Finals of the 2015 Copa América. The tournament was organized by and held in Saudi Arabia and called the King Fahd Cup, contested in 1992 and 1995 by the Saudi national side. In 1997, FIFA took over the organization of the tournament, named it the FIFA Confederations Cup, since 2005, it has been held every four years, in the year prior to each World Cup in the host country of the forthcoming World Cup. At the same time, participation was optional for the South American and European champions. Generally, the host nation, the World Cup holders, in those cases where a team meets more than one of the qualification criteria, another team is invited to participate, often the runner-up in a competition that the extra-qualified team won. On four occasions teams have not to participate in the tournament. In 1997, Germany were replaced by 1996 runners-up Czech Republic, and in 2003 they were replaced by Turkey, france,1998 World Cup winners, declined their place in the 1999 Confederations Cup, and were replaced by Brazil, the 1998 World Cup runners-up. Italy, UEFA Euro 2000 runners up, declined their place in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, an earlier tournament existed that invited former World Cup winners, the Mundialito, or Copa de Oro which celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the first World Cup. Both of these are considered by some to be a form of a precursor to the Confederations Cup. The 8 qualified teams are drawn into two groups, two teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn in a group, except if there are three teams from the same confederation. Every team plays all teams in their group once, for a total three matches. The top two teams of each advance to the semi-finals, with the winners of each group playing the runners-up of the other group. For the knockout stage if the score is drawn at the end of time, extra time is played and followed, if necessary
12.
2010 FIFA World Cup
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The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010, the matches were played in 10 stadiums in nine host cities around the country, with the final played at the Soccer City stadium in South Africas largest city, Johannesburg. Thirty-two teams were selected for participation via a qualification tournament that began in August 2007. In the first round of the tournament finals, the competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points. These 16 teams advanced to the stage, where three rounds of play decided which teams would participate in the final. In the final, Spain, the European champions, defeated the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time, as a result of their win, Spain represented the World in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. Host nation South Africa,2006 champions Italy and 2006 runners-up France were all eliminated in the first round of the tournament and it was the first time that the hosts had been eliminated in the first round. New Zealand, with their three draws, were the undefeated team in the tournament, but they were also eliminated in the first round. Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010 World Cup as part of a policy, abandoned in 2007. Five African nations placed bids to host the 2010 World Cup, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, following the decision of the FIFA Executive Committee not to allow co-hosted tournaments, Tunisia withdrew from the bidding process. The committee also decided not to consider Libyas solo bid as it no longer met all the stipulations laid down in the official List of Requirements. South Africa, which had failed to win the right to host the 2006 event, was thus awarded the right to host the tournament. Having successfully campaigned for South Africa to be granted host status, during 2006 and 2007, rumours circulated in various news sources that the 2010 World Cup could be moved to another country. Franz Beckenbauer, Horst R. Schmidt and, reportedly, some FIFA executives, expressed concern over the planning, organisation, and pace of South Africas preparations. Blazer stated, I and others on the Fifa executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup. On 6 June 2015, The Daily Telegraph reported that Morocco had actually won the vote, the qualification draw for the 2010 World Cup was held in Durban on 25 November 2007. As the host nation, South Africa qualified automatically for the tournament, as happened in the previous tournament, the defending champions were not given an automatic berth, and Italy had to participate in qualification. With a pool of entrants comprising 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams at the time, some controversies arose during the qualifications
13.
Sandton
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Sandton is an affluent area situated within the metro of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. It is well known for being the richest square mile in Africa, the name comes from the combination of two of its suburbs, Sandown and Bryanston. In 1969 Sandton was promulgated as a municipality in its own right, the remains of an Iron Age smelter was discovered in Lone Hill, a suburb of northern Sandton. One of the first Voortrekker parties to settle in the area were the Esterhuysen family on the farm Zandfontein, a monument to commemorate them may be found just off Adrienne Street in Sandown where the family cemetery is located. Zandfontein, Driefontein and Rietfontein encumbered what was to become Sandton, the municipal coat of arms of Sandton pays homage to the three farms with three round fountain barrels on its chevron. In the late 19th-century the Wilhelmi family of Hanover, Germany acquired the farm Driefontein No.3 while Rietfontein was owned by the Ehler family, the original Driefontein homestead, now within the confines of the Field & Study Centre, was looted during the Anglo-Boer War. The ruins are visible on the bank of the Klein Jukskei River. The Wilhemi family, upon return from Germany built the new 1906 Driefontein Farmhouse on what is present-day Fifteenth Street, the farmhouse served as the icon and headquarters for the now defunct Sandton Historical Foundation and is listed as a City of Johannesburg Owned Heritage Site. Sandton was established as a municipality in 1969 by the office of the Administrator of the Transvaal. It had formerly not formed part of Johannesburg but was managed, in part by the parent city, initially it was very much a residential area consisting mostly of small holdings with a rural horsey lifestyle attracting many of the upper-middle classes and Johannesburg elites. It was subsequently dubbed the mink and manure belt, Rivonia had previously been known as Edenburg and was changed to make itself distinct from Edenburg, Free State. It was named for the surname Riven, Sandton and its constituencies were traditionally relatively more liberal than surrounds. The construction of Sandton City marked a significant change for the Sandton area and it ushered in rapid commercialisation and industrialisation. Sandton came to symbolise the White Flight movement of Johannesburg and secured itself as Johannesburgs second Central Business District, despite this, Sandton is still unofficially earmarked as a distinct region of the city and operates as a macro-suburb. Urban decay in downtown Johannesburg caused many corporate offices to move from the Johannesburg Central Business District to Sandton in the 1990s and it has become the new financial district of South Africa and Johannesburgs premier business centre. Much of the focus of Johannesburg has shifted from the Central Business District to Sandton. However, three of South Africas four largest banks have kept their offices in downtown Johannesburg, along with Transnet. The other bank, Nedbank, has its headquarters in Sandton, a lot of the new money has moved north to Sandton, including investment banks, financial consultants and the like
14.
Ellis Park Stadium
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Ellis Park Stadium is a rugby union and association football stadium in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It hosted the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was won by the national team. The stadium was the countrys most modern when it was upgraded in 1982 to accommodate almost 60,000 people, today, the stadium hosts both football and rugby and is also used as a venue for other large events, such as open-air concerts. It has become synonymous with rugby as the time when rugby was not played at Ellis Park was during 1980 and 1981. The stadium was named after Mr J. D. Ellis. A five-year ZAR450 million naming rights deal was signed in 2008 with The Coca-Cola Company, league, provincial, and international soccer games have all been played at the stadium, and it has seen such teams as Brazil, Manchester United and Arsenal play. Ellis Park hosted six Test matches between 1948 and 1954, but it has not been used for cricket since New Wanderers Stadium opened in 1956 and is now used only for rugby. In 1889 when after a long and hard battle the Transvaal Rugby Football Union was formed and established a domain. The first games were played at the Wanderers Club’s stadium whose grounds were situated where Johannesburg Park Station is today. Rows between the different rugby clubs as well as the Wanderers Clubs claim of the field for the use of cricket games, an area with a quarry and garbage dumps in Doornfontein was identified in,1927 as the possible alternative. The Transvaal Rugby Football Union negotiated with the Johannesburg City Councils, Mr. J. D. Ellis, on 10 October 1927 the final rental agreement was signed. A quote of £600 was accepted for the grass and with a loan from the city council to the amount of £5,000, the stadium was built in eight months and in June 1928 the first test was played against the All Blacks. Thus was born Ellis Park which became renowned and synonymous with rugby. Crowds of between 38,000 and a crowd of 100,000 against the British and Irish Lions attended the matches. Ellis Park played the host for cricket matches after an agreement was reached between Transvaal Rugby Football Union and The Transvaal Cricket Union. From 1947 when the pitch was laid until 1956, Ellis Park was host to various cricket matches with the final games played in the 1953/54 series against New Zealand. Cricket then moved to its new venue where the current Wanderers still is today, on 28 April 1969 the Transvaal Rugby Football Union formed a stadium committee to investigate the possibilities of a new stadium since the one in use did not meet all the modern requirements. Fifteen years later, after the game between Transvaal and the World Team on 31 March 1979, the old Ellis Park was demolished, games were played at the Wanderers while the stadium was being rebuilt
15.
Johannesburg
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Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa and is one of the 50 largest urban areas in the world. It is the capital of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. While Johannesburg is not one of South Africas three capital cities, it is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. In 2011, the population of the city of Johannesburg was 4,434,827, in the same year, the population of Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area was 7,860,781. Some view the surrounding the city of Johannesburg yet more broadly than the metropolitan area, adding Ekurhuleni, West Rand and Lenasia. The land area of the city is large in comparison with those of other major cities, resulting in a moderate population density of 2. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm, the city is commonly interpreted as the modern day El Dorado due to the extremely large gold deposit found along the Witwatersrand. The name is attributed to one or all of three men involved in the establishment of the city, in ten years, the population was 100,000 inhabitants. A separate city from the late 1970s until the 1990s, Soweto is now part of Johannesburg, Soweto, although eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, had been separated as a residential area for blacks, who were not permitted to live in Johannesburg proper. Lenasia is predominantly populated by English-speaking South Africans of Indian descent, controversy surrounds the origin of the name. There were quite a number of people with the name Johannes who were involved in the history of the city. Among them are the principal clerk attached to the office of the surveyor-general Johannes Rissik, Christiaan Johannes Joubert, another was Stephanus Johannes Paulus Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic 1883-1900. Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility, precise records for the choice of name were lost. Rissik and Joubert were members of a delegation sent to England to attain mining rights for the area. Joubert had a park in the city named after him and Rissik Street is today a street where the historically important and dilapidated Post Office, since burnt out. The region surrounding Johannesburg was originally inhabited by San people, the Sotho–Tswana practised farming and extensively mined and smelted metals that were available in the area. The most prominent site within Johannesburg is Melville Koppies, which contains an iron smelting furnace, the main Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes that triggered the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the start of Johannesburg in 1886. The discovery of gold rapidly attracted people to the area, making necessary a name, Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility
16.
2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Final
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The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Final was a football match to determine the winners of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. The match was held at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg, South Africa, on 28 June 2009 and was contested by the United States, despite being two goals down at half-time, Brazil won the match 3–2, with Lúcio scoring the winning goal six minutes from full-time. The match marked the first ever appearance for the United States in the final of a FIFA mens competition and it was Brazils fourth appearance in a Confederations Cup final. Prior to the match, FIFA honoured Cameroonian midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé, one of his three children, Marc-Scott, read a commemorative message towards the memory of his father. 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup knockout stage
17.
Confederation of African Football
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The Confederation of African Football is the administrative and controlling body for African association football. CAF represents the football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions. CAF is the biggest of six continental confederations of FIFA, CAF has been given 5 slots out of the 32 available since the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, this increased to 6 in 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, to include the hosts. The number of places returned to 5 for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and its first headquarters was situated in Khartoum, Sudan for some months until a fire outbreak in the offices of the Sudanese Football Association when the organization moved near Cairo. Youssef Mohammad was the first General Secretary and Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem the president, the administrative center since 2002 is located in 6th of October City, near Cairo. It was initially made up of 4 national associations, currently there are 56 associations,55 full members since the inclusion of Zanzibar in March 2017 and Réunion Island as associate. The current CAF President is Ahmad Ahmad, suketu Patel is the 1st Vice-President, Almamy Kabele Camara is the 2nd Vice-President while Essam El Dine Ahmed is the Acting Secretary General. Hayatou announced that he would seek another term as president for the 16 March 2017 election. On March 16,2017, Ahmad Ahmad from Madagascar was elected president, in July 2016, Total has secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football to support 10 of its principal competitions. Total started with the Africa Cup of Nations that was held in Gabon therefore renaming it Total Africa cup of Nations. Reunion holds associate membership of CAF, Zanzibar held associate membership from 1980 to 2017 when it became a full member - albeit without voting rights for CAF presidency elections, the main competition for mens national teams is the Africa Cup of Nations, started in 1957. In 2009, CAF will be organising another competition for national teams. CAF also runs national competitions at Under-20 and Under-17 levels, a third competition, the CAF Cup, started in 1992 and was absorbed into the CAF Confederation Cup in 2004. The CAF Super Cup, which pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the CAF Confederation Cup, the Afro-Asian Club Championship was jointly organised with AFC between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the winners of the AFC Champions League. The last Afro-Asian Club Championship took place in 1998, * jointly organised with AFC Legend For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown. Teams are sorted by number of appearances, Legend Legend The following clubs are the top 10 clubs in CAF competitions
18.
Italy national football team
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The Italian national football team represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is one of the most successful teams in the history of the World Cup, having won four titles. In 1938, they became the first team to defend their previous World Cup tournament victory and they have also won a European Championship, as well as appearing in two other finals, one Olympic football tournament and two Central European International Cups. Italys highest finish at the FIFA Confederations Cup was in 2013, the national football team is known as Gli Azzurri from the traditional colour of Italian national teams and athletes representing Italy. The primary training ground is at the FIGC headquarters in Coverciano, Florence, the teams first match was held in Milan on 15 May 1910. Italy defeated France by a score of 6–2, with Italys first goal scored by Pietro Lana, some turmoil kept the players of Pro Vercelli, who were the best team in the league, out of the game. At the end of the match, the players received some cigarette packets thrown by the 4,000 spectators as a prize. The Italian team played with a system and consisted of, De Simoni, Varisco, Calì, Trerè, Fossati, Capello, Debernardi, Rizzi, Cevenini I, Lana, first captain of the team was Francesco Calì. The first success in a tournament came with the bronze medal in 1928 Summer Olympics. After losing the semi-final against Uruguay, an 11–3 victory against Egypt secured third place in the competition. In the 1927–30 and 1933–35 Central European International Cup, Italy achieved the first place out of five Central European teams, other stars of that era included Luis Monti, Giovanni Ferrari, Giuseppe Ruffino and Virginio Rosetta. The hosts, Azzurri, defeated Czechoslovakia 2–1 in extra time in Rome, with goals by Raimundo Orsi and they achieved their second title in a 4–2 defeat of Hungary, with two goals by Gino Colaussi and two goals by Silvio Piola in the World Cup that followed. In 1949,10 of the 11 players in the teams initial line-up were killed in the Superga air disaster that affected Torino, Italy did not advance further than the first round of the 1950 World Cup, as they were weakened severely due to the air disaster. The team had travelled by boat rather than by plane, fearing another accident, in the World Cup finals of 1954 and the 1962 that followed, Italy failed to progress past the first round, and did not qualify for the 1958 World Cup. Italy did not take part in the first edition of the European Championship in 1960 and their participation in the 1966 World Cup was ended by a 0–1 defeat at the hands of North Korea. Despite being the tournament favourites, the Azzurri, whose 1966 squad included Gianni Rivera, the Italian team was bitterly condemned upon their return home, while North Korean scorer Pak Doo-ik was celebrated as the David who killed Goliath. In 1968, the Azzurri won their first major competition since the 1938 World Cup, the match holds the distinction of being the only European Championship or World Cup final to go to a replay. After extra time the final ended in a 1–1 draw, and in the days before penalty shootouts, Italy won the replay 2–0 to take the trophy
19.
UEFA
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The Union of European Football Associations is the administrative body for association football in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world footballs governing body FIFA, UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Until 1959 the main headquarters were located in Paris, and later in Bern, in 1995, UEFA headquarters were transferred to Nyon, Switzerland. Henri Delaunay was the first general secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the first president, UEFA was founded on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. The European football union began with 25 members, that number doubled by the early 1990s, UEFA membership coincides for the most part with recognition as a sovereign country in Europe, although there are some exceptions. Some UEFA members are not sovereign states, but form part of a recognized sovereign state in the context of international law. Some UEFA members are transcontinental states, countries which had been members of the Asian Football Confederation were also admitted to the European football association, particularly Israel and Kazakhstan. Additionally some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their associations main territory to take part in their domestic competition, saarland Football Union 1954–1956 German football association of the German Democratic Republic 1954–1990 Football Federation of the Soviet Union 1954–1991, in 1992 became Russian Football Union. The newly independent 14 Soviet Republics created their own football associations, Football Association of Yugoslavia 1954–1992, became Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia became independent, Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro 1992–2006, became Football Association of Serbia. Montenegro, which became independent, created its own football association, the main competition for mens national teams is the UEFA European Football Championship, started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960, and known as the European Nations Cup until 1964. It is also called UEFA or the EURO, UEFA also runs national competitions at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For womens national teams, UEFA operates the UEFA Womens Championship for senior sides as well as Womens Under-19. UEFA also organized the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup with CAF for youth teams in an effort to boost youth football, UEFA launched the UEFA Regions Cup, for semi-professional teams representing their local region, in 1999. In futsal there is the UEFA Futsal Championship and UEFA Futsal Under-21 Championship, the Italian, German, Spanish and French mens national teams are the sole teams to have won the European football championship in all categories. A second, lower-ranked competition is the UEFA Europa League and this competition, for national knockout cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by UEFA in 1971 as a successor of both the former UEFA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. A third competition, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, which had started in 1960, was absorbed into the UEFA Cup in 1999, in womens football UEFA also conducts the UEFA Womens Champions League for club teams. The competition was first held in 2001, and known as the UEFA Womens Cup until 2009, the UEFA Super Cup pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the Europa League, and came into being in 1973
20.
2006 FIFA World Cup
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The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process, along with the host nation, Germany and it was the second time that Germany staged the competition, and the tenth time that it was held in Europe. Italy won the tournament, claiming their fourth World Cup title and they defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shootout in the final, after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish in third place, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Serbia and Montenegro, Trinidad and Tobago, and Togo made their first appearances in the finals. The 2006 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in history, garnering an estimated 26.29 billion non-unique viewers. The final attracted an audience of 715.1 million people. The 2006 World Cup ranks fourth in non-unique viewers, behind the World Cup in 1994,2002, as the winner, Italy represented the World in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. The vote to choose the hosts of the 2006 tournament was held in July 2000 in Zürich and it involved four bidding nations after Brazil had withdrawn three days earlier, Germany, South Africa, England and Morocco. Three rounds of voting were required, each round eliminating the nation with the least votes, the first two rounds were held on 6 July 2000, and the final round was held on 7 July 2000, which Germany won over South Africa. Accusations of bribery and corruption have marred the success of Germanys bid from the very beginning, on the very day of the vote, a hoax bribery affair was made public, leading to calls for a re-vote. Oceania delegate Charlie Dempsey, who had initially backed England, had then been instructed to support South Africa following Englands elimination and he abstained, citing intolerable pressure on the eve of the vote. Just a week before the vote, the German government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder lifted their arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, daimlerChrysler invested several hundred million Euro in Hyundai, while one of the sons of the companys founders was a member of FIFAs executive committee. Both Volkswagen and Bayer announced investments in Thailand and South Korea, whose respective delegates Worawi Makudi, the sum of 6.7 million Euro was later demanded back by Dreyfus. In order to retrieve the money, the Organizing Committee paid an aquivalent sum to the FIFA, allegedly as a German share for the cost of a closing ceremony, the DFB announced they would consider seeking legal action against Der Spiegel. During a press conference on 22 October 2015, Nierbach repeated his stance, according to Niersbach, the payment had been agreed upon during a meeting between Franz Beckenbauer and FIFA president Blatter, with the money being provided by Dreyfus. On the same day, FIFA contradicted Niersbachs statement, saying, By our current state of knowledge, the following day, former DFB president Theo Zwanziger publicly accused Niersbach of lying, saying, It is evident that there was a slush fund for the German World Cup application. According to Zwanziger, the 6.7 million Euros went to Mohamed Bin Hammam, on 22 March 2016 it was announced that the FIFA Ethics Committee was opening proceedings into the bid
21.
CONCACAF
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Three South American entities—the independent nations of Guyana and Suriname and the French department of French Guiana—are also members. CONCACAFs primary functions are to organize competitions for teams and clubs. Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, CONCACAF is the third-most successful FIFA confederation. Mexico dominated CONCACAF mens competition early on and has won the most Gold Cups since the beginning of the tournament in its current format. The Mexican national team is the only CONCACAF team to win an official FIFA tournament by winning the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup and they have also reached the Round of 16 for the past 6 World Cups. Between them, Mexico and the U. S. have won all, in recent years Costa Rica has become a power in the region and in 2014 became the 4th CONCACAF country after the United States, Cuba, and Mexico to make the World Cup quarterfinals. CONCACAF is led by a General Secretary, Executive Committee, Congress, the Executive Committee is composed of eight members — one president, three vice-presidents, three members, and one female member. Each of the three zones in CONCACAF is represented by one vice-president and one member. The Executive Committee carries out the various statutes, regulations, in 1969, he was succeeded in the role by Mexican Joaquín Soria Terrazas, who served as president for 21 years. His successor Jack Warner was the CONCACAF president from 1990 to 2011, Warner was suspended as president on 30 May 2011 due to his temporary suspension from football related activity by FIFA following corruption allegations. Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary during the same period, the vice-president of CONCACAF, Alfredo Hawit, acted as president until May 2012. In May 2012, Cayman Islands banker Jeffrey Webb was installed as President of CONCACAF, on 27 May 2015, Webb was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland on corruption charges in the U. S. Victor Montagliani, leader of the Canadian Soccer Association, was elected as president of CONCACAF in May 2016, CONCACAF is a non-profit company registered in Nassau, Bahamas. The headquarters of the CONCACAF are currently located in the Admiral Financial Center, George Town, previously, they were based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago under the presidency of Jack Warner. The administration office of CONCACAF is located in Miami—the home town of Enrique Sanz, Enrique Sanz was appointed as the CONCACAF General Secretary in July 2012. It was previously located in Trump Tower, New York when Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary, there is also an office in Guatemala City, which is shared with UNCAF and an office in New York. CONCACAF has 41 member associations,27 from the Caribbean 7 from Central America 4 from North America 3 from South America M = Mens National Team. Bonaire were promoted from a member to a full member at the XXIX Ordinary CONCACAF Congress in São Paulo on 10 June 2014
22.
2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
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The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States from 6 June to 24 June 2007 and this competition was the third tournament without guests from other confederations. As the winner, the United States represented CONCACAF at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, for a complete list of participating squads see,2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup squads The twelve teams that qualified were divided into three groups. The top two teams in each group advanced to the stage along with the best two of the third-place teams, filling out the knockout field of eight. That win sent the Ticos through to the round, Guadeloupe also qualified as one of the best two third-place finishers. Haiti, the current Caribbean Nations Cup champions, were knocked out at the group stage, all games were played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. Guatemala finished in place, despite an early loss to the U. S. by beating fellow Central Americans El Salvador. El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago failed to advance, all games were played at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Four-time Gold Cup champion Mexico were defeated 2–1 by eventual group winner Honduras on the day of group play. The controversial match saw two Canaleros sent off but they made the quarterfinals by finishing as one of the two best third-placed teams. Cuba, initially impressive against Mexico and Panama, finished in last place, all games were played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey and Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. Two members of the Cuban team, striker Lester Moré and midfielder Osvaldo Alonso, Guadeloupe reached the final four with a 2–1 victory over Honduras. Their participation ended in the semifinal against Mexico, as El Tri overcame Guadeloupe to win 1–0, the final match between Mexico and the United States, the two highest-ranked teams in CONCACAF, resulted in a 2–1 victory, and a successful title defense, for the United States. The All-Tournament Team was selected by the CONCACAF Technical Study Group, the player selections were made from the eight teams that reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
23.
CONMEBOL
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The South American Football Confederation is the continental governing body of association football in South America and it is one of FIFAs six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay, CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American footballs major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA, CONMEBOL national teams have won nine FIFA World Cups, and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each, Brazil has won one Olympic gold medal and it is considered one of the strongest confederations in the world. Currently, the Confederation is planning to create the first womens qualification to the FIFA Womens World Cup to replace the Copa América Femenina. Juan Ángel Napout was the president of CONMEBOL until December 3,2015 when he was arrested in a raid in Switzerland as part of the U. S. Justice Departments widening bribery case involving FIFA. Wilmar Valdez was interim president until January 26,2016 when Alejandro Domínguez was elected president, the first and second vice-presidents are Ramón Jesurum and Laureano González. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered together in order to create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. The constitutional congress on December 15 of that same year ratified the decision, over the years, the other football associations in South America joined, with the last being Venezuela in 1952. Guyana, Suriname, and the French overseas department of French Guiana, with ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land-based FIFA confederation. The main competition for national teams is the Copa América. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under-20, Under-17 and Under-15 levels, for womens national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under-20 and Under-17 championships. In futsal there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20, the Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the womens equivalent to the mans tournament. A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999, in womens football CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009, the Recopa Sudamericana pits the past years winners of the Copa Libertadores against the winners of the Copa Sudamericana, and came into being in 1989. The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organised with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners. S, department of Justice on charges of corruption, money laundering, and racketeering. Those swept up in the operation include former CONMEBOL Presidents Eugenio Figueredo and Nicolás Léoz and several football federations presidents such as Carlos Chavez, on 3 December 2015, the CONMEBOL President Juan Ángel Napout was arrested also
24.
Iraq national football team
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The Iraq national football team (Arabic, المنتخب العراقي لكرة القدم represents Iraq in international football. It is known by its fans as Usood Al-Rafidain which means Lions of Mesopotamia. Iraq is one of the most successful teams in the AFC, winning the AFC Asian Cup once, winning the medal at the Asian Games once. Iraq has participated in the FIFA World Cup once and in the FIFA Confederations Cup once, the team has been ranked as high as 39th in the FIFA World Rankings, which they achieved in October 2004. The current manager of the team is Radhi Shenaishil, who led Iraq to a fourth-place finish at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. As early as 1923, an Iraqi team known as Baghdad XI, controlled by the Baghdad Football Association, the Baghdad FA soon disbanded though, and it wasnt until 8 October 1948 that the Iraq Football Association was founded. The Iraq FA joined FIFA in 1950 and on 2 May 1951, Iraq played their first match and this was not a FIFA A international game though. Iraq were eventually knocked out in the stage of that tournament. In 1962, Iraq appointed their first foreign manager, Romanian coach Cornel Drăgușin, Iraq won their first trophy in 1964 when they hosted and won the Arab Nations Cup, winning three and drawing one of their four games. The next year, they participated in the Pan Arab Games for the second time, the following year, they lost the final of the 1966 Tripoli Fair Tournament to Morocco, but also retained their Arab Nations Cup title that year, beating Syria 2–1 in the final. In 1967, Iraq claimed the Tripoli Fair Tournament title with two wins and one draw, and two later they finished fifth at the Jaam-e-Doosti Cup, hosted in Iran. In 1972, Iraq hosted, and reached the final of and that year, Iraq also played at their first ever AFC Asian Cup but failed to win a game in the tournament. In March 1973, Iraq played their first ever FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign and they finished second in their group, a point behind Australia, therefore failing to qualify for the next round. The 1976 Asian Cup would be the last Asian Cup that Iraq appeared in for the next 20 years, the 1980s was arguably Iraqs most successful period in their history. They started the decade off disappointingly, being knocked out in the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification first round of qualifiers for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, after all this success, Iraq topped it off by qualifying for the 1986 FIFA World Cup with a win over Syria. This was the first and last time to date that Iraq have achieved this, Iraqs only goal in the tournament was scored by Ahmed Radhi, the second-highest goalscorer in Iraqs history with 62 goals, behind Hussein Saeed who scored 78 goals. Overall, Iraq won nine competitions in the 1980s and played in their only ever World Cup, however, things werent as great off the pitch as they were on it. In the 1992 Jordan International Tournament, Iraq recorded their biggest ever win, Iraq reached the final of the tournament but lost 2–0 to Jordan
25.
Asian Football Confederation
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The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. Three other states located along the fringe of Asia – Cyprus, Armenia. Hong Kong and Macau, although not independent countries, are members of the AFC. One of FIFAs six continental confederations, the AFC was formed officially on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, the main headquarters is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The current president is Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, the Asian Football Confederation was founded on 8 May 1954. Afghanistan, Burma, Republic of China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, the Asian Ladies Football Confederation is the section of the AFC who manage womens football in Asia. The group was founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia. In 1986 the ALFC merged with the AFC, the Asian Ladies Football Confederation helped organise the AFC Womens Asian Cup, first held in 1975, as well as the AFCs AFC U-19 Womens Championship and the AFC U-17 Womens Championship. The AFC has 47 member associations split into five regions, all three competitions are held every four years. The top-ranked AFC competition is the AFC Champions League, which started in the 2002–03 season and gathers the top 1–4 teams of each country, a second, lower-ranked competition is the AFC Cup. This competition was launched by AFC in 2004, a third competition, the AFC Presidents Cup, which had started in 2005, was absorbed into the AFC Cup in 2015. The AFC also runs an annual Asian futsal club competition, the AFC Futsal Club Championship
26.
2007 AFC Asian Cup
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The 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its history, the competition was co-hosted by four nations, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, for the first time in the nations history, Iraq won the continental title after it defeated Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the final. As the winner, Iraq represented the AFC in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, before 2007 and every four years, Asia often held its continental tournament from 1956 until China in 2004. With the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship also held in the year as the Asian Cup. Beginning in 2007, Asia will hold its continental tournament a year earlier, an estimated worldwide television audience of 650 million people tuned in to watch the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Australia participated for the first time moving to the AFC from the OFC. Australia happened to also be the tournaments first nation aside from the co-hosts to qualify for the 2007 Asian Cup, mohammed Bin Hammam proposed and presented a move to have four host nations for the 2007 Asian Cup. However, he regretted this decision and called it his mistake, citing the financial. He said that It is proving difficult for have to have four organising committees, four media centres. He also revealed that definitely it, if he had the choice, in June 2005, the Asian Football Confederation warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On 12 August of the year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup. However, in October 2006, Thailand was again warned to improve its facilities in 90 days, the qualification round ran from 22 February 2006, to 15 November 2006. For the first time, the defending champions needed to attend the qualification stage, twenty-four nations would be split into six four-team groups for the qualification phase of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. As the four co-hosts – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam – were already granted automatic qualification, for the first time, the seeds are based on the October 2006 FIFA World Rankings instead of the basis of the performance from the previous AFC Asian Cup competition. This was to ensure that the number of strong teams do not meet in the early stage. The four seeded teams were announced on 19 December 2006, the seeds comprised Pot 4 in the draw. Pot 1 consists of the teams from all co-hosts, on 19 December 2006, the draw was held in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The Official Match Ball for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was launched by Nike on 15 May 2007, the Nike Mercurial Veloci AC features four blue stripes with gold trim with each host citys name inscribed, as well as the AFC Asian Cup logo
27.
Egypt national football team
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The team plays its home games at Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria, and their current head coach is Héctor Cúper. Egypt has also been as high as ninth in the FIFA World Rankings, despite their continental record, Egypt has so far made only two appearances in the World Cup, failing to win a game on both occasions. The Egypt national team was the first African and Middle Eastern team to qualify for the World Cup, the first Egyptian national football team was constituted in 1920 to compete in the Summer Olympics in Belgium. The opening match of their campaign was a loss against the Italians, Egypt qualified to the FIFA world cup twice in 1934 and 1990. Egypt was the first African country to qualify to the World Cup and lost to the Hungary 4–2 in their first and they only scored one goal in the 1990 World Cup scored by Magdy AbdelGhany to give the Egyptians their first point of the tournament. Egypt first participated in the first Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 1957, in their first game, which was a semi-final, they faced Sudan, winning 2–1 with goals from Raafat Attia and Ad-Diba, enabling Egypt to play in their first final. In the final, they faced Ethiopia, in which Egypt won 4–0, with goals being scored by Ad-Diba. The top scorer of tournament was Ad-Diba from Egypt with five goals. In their second participation in the Africa Cup of Nations in 1959, there were only three teams in that tournament, being Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt itself. Egypt again was undefeated in tournament, like in the previous tournament in 1957. Their fourth appearance came in 1963 in Ghana, Egypt was placed in Group B with Sudan and Nigeria, winning Nigeria with a score of 6–3, but drawing 2–2 against Sudan. Despite being undefeated in the stage, they were ranked second, behind Sudan by goal difference. Egypt, as runners-up in Group B, participated in the 3rd place match, playing against Ethiopia, for the 1965 Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt did qualify for the tournament, but they withdrew because of their diplomatic relationship with Tunisia, who were hosts of the tournament. Again, Egypt withdrew from the 1968 Africa Cup of Nations, in the 1970 Africa Cup of Nations, hosted again in Sudan, Egypt were in Group B along with Ghana, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Congo-Kinshasa back then. In their opening match, Egypt defeated Guinea by a score of 4–1, in which Ali Abo Greisha scored twice, Hassan El-Shazly scored once, and Taha Basry also scored once during that game. Egypts next game was against Ghana, which ended as a 1–1 draw, with Ibrahim Sunday scoring for Ghana, in their third game in this tournament, they faced Congo-Kinshasa, in which Egypt won 1–0 by a goal from Abo Greisha. Egypt ended being in first place, thus advancing to the next round, however, in the third place match, they won Ivory Coast by a score of 3–1, making Egypt become third place again in this tournament. For the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt failed to qualify for the first time in this tournament after being eliminated by Morocco by a score of 5–3
28.
2008 Africa Cup of Nations
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The tournament was staged at four venues around Ghana between 20 January and 10 February 2008. Egypt won the tournament, beating Cameroon 1–0 in the final, with 99 goals, it was the highest-scoring Africa Cup of Nations ever. Ghana won the right to host the tournament after defeating Libya 9–3 in a vote among Confederation of African Football executive committee members in Cairo, south Africa withdrew their bid after winning the right to host the 2010 World Cup. The entrants were divided into 12 groups, all group winners and the best three runners-up from groups with four teams qualified for the finals. Qualifying took place between 2 September 2006 and 13 October 2007, the draw for the tournament took place on 19 October 2007. The sixteen teams were divided into four pots according to their performances in past Cup of Nations tournaments, Ghana, as host, were automatically seeded as the top team in Group A. Egypt, the defending champions, were seeded as the top team in Group C. Each group consists of four teams, one drawn from each of the pots, however, for the 2008 tournament, Adidas made a special ball, clearly different from the Adidas Europass going to be used five months later for the Euro. The ball was named Wawa Aba and was designed to include host nation Ghana’s red, yellow, the ball was later used for the other African competitions. For the Akan culture originating from Western Africa, the name Wawa Aba is a symbol of persistence, people there particularly believe in the strength and team spirit of a community. The Wawa Aba is the seed of the Wawa tree, one of the strongest and most processible woods of Africa, for the population, the Wawa Aba mainly has mystical significance. These are people who don’t let failure discourage them, who seize all opportunities successfully, all times given as local time Essam El-Hadary The following players were selected as the best in their respective positions, based on their performances throughout the tournament. Their performances were analysed by the tournaments Technical Study Group, who picked the team. com Africa Cup of Nations on BBC 1Xtra African Cup of Nations 2008 coverage on Reuters. co. uk
29.
UEFA Euro 2008
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It took place in Austria and Switzerland from 7 to 29 June 2008. The tournament was won by Spain, who defeated Germany 1–0 in the final, Spain were only the second nation to win all their group stage fixtures and then the European Championship itself - an accomplishment matched by France in 1984. Spain were also the first team since Germany in 1996 to win the tournament undefeated, Greece were the defending champions going into the tournament, having won UEFA Euro 2004. They recorded the worst finish in Euro 2008, losing their three fixtures and collecting the least amount of prize money. Throughout 31 matches, the participating nations totalled 77 goals, the same as the previous tournament, Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified as hosts, the remaining 14 teams were determined through qualifying matches, which began in August 2006. As European champions, Spain earned the right to compete for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, Austria had previously bid to host Euro 2004 with Hungary, but they eventually lost out to Portugal. Austria/Switzerland, Greece/Turkey, and Hungary were recommended before the final vote, Greece and Turkey were rejected and let Hungary and Austria/Switzerland battle for the win. The Austria/Switzerland bid is the successful joint bid in the competitions history, following the UEFA Euro 2000 hosted by Belgium. The following tournament, held in Poland and Ukraine, became the third jointly hosted tournament, qualification for Euro 2008 started in August 2006, just over a month after the end of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. England was the only seeded team not to qualify for the tournament proper, in contrast, Germany and Portugal were deemed to have an easy draw, as the tournament structure meant they could not meet Italy, France, the Netherlands or Spain until the final. In the group stage, Croatia, Spain and the Netherlands all qualified with maximum points, Austria and Switzerland were not expected to progress, despite the advantage of being the hosts. In Group A, the Swiss lost their captain, Alexander Frei, to injury in their first game and became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament, Switzerland managed to beat the group winner Portugal in their last game. In Group B, Austria managed to set up a final game against Germany. However, they lost by one goal, making Euro 2008 the first European Championship not to have one of the host nations present in the knockout phase, in the same game, goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was shown a red card for pushing Czech striker Jan Koller to the ground. The Turks joined Portugal as the qualifiers from Group A, France were the high-profile victims of Group C, recording just one point from a goalless draw against Romania in their opening game. Italy beat the French, on the day, to finish on four points. Finally, in Group D, Greece failed to reproduce the form of their shock 2004 win, Russia qualified at the expense of Sweden, after beating them in a final game decider, joining Spain in the knockout phase. Turkey continued their streak of wins, equalising at the end of extra-time against Croatia
30.
New Zealand national football team
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The New Zealand national football team represents New Zealand in international association football. The team is controlled by the body for football in New Zealand New Zealand Football. The teams official nickname is the All Whites, being one of national team nicknames related to the All Blacks. New Zealand is a five-time OFC champion, the team represented New Zealand at the FIFA World Cup tournaments in 1982 and 2010, and the FIFA Confederations Cup tournaments in 1999,2003 and 2009. New Zealands first international match was played in Dunedin at the old Caledonian Ground on 23 July 1904 against a team representing New South Wales. New Zealand lost by the only goal, but drew with the same team 3–3 in a game at Athletic Park. Of these three matches they won one, lost one, and drew one, the results were two 3–1 wins to New Zealand and a 1–1 draw in Wellington. Since the 1990s, United States college soccer has played a significant role in the development of New Zealand players. This influence began when former Scotland international Bobby Clark returned to the U. S. after his 1994–96 stint as New Zealand head coach to take the coaching job at Stanford University. Clark began recruiting in New Zealand, and former New Zealand national players Ryan Nelsen, the trend that Clark started has continued to the present, more than two dozen New Zealanders are now playing for NCAA Division I mens programs in the U. S. S. However, Lathams speculation did not prove true, as only one MLS player made the New Zealand squad for the World Cup, New Zealand formerly competed against Australia for top honours in the OFC. However, after Australia left to join the AFC in 2006, New Zealand qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup though exited the competition after the first round despite being the only team not to lose a game during the tournament. The tournament also featured one of New Zealands most notable results, New Zealand drew their other two pool games with Slovakia and Paraguay and inevitably finished above Italy, who placed last, in the group. New Zealand drew all three games and finished third in their group, in August 2014, Anthony Hudson was appointed manager of the All Whites. Hudsons first game in charge of the team was a 3–1 defeat away to Uzbekistan in September 2014. The All Whites record since that time is 8 wins,5 draws and 4 losses and this includes defeating Oman, who were ranked 67 places higher at 92nd place in the FIFA World Rankings, in a 1–0 victory. The supporters of the New Zealand national team are known as the White Noise, New Zealands long time rivals are Trans-Tasman neighbors Australia. The two teams dates back to 1922, where they first met in both their international debuts
31.
Oceania Football Confederation
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The Oceania Football Confederation is one of the six continental confederations of international association football, consisting of New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, and other Pacific Island countries. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, OFC is predominantly made up of island nations where association football is not the most popular sport. Consequently, the OFC has little influence in the football world. In 2006, the OFCs largest and most successful nation, Australia, left to join the Asian Football Confederation, david Chung is the current President of OFC. Rajesh Patel is the Senior Vice President, Lee Harmon is the Vice-President while Tai Nicholas is the General Secretary, OFC is made up of 11 full member associations and 3 associate members. Associate member of the OFC, but non-FIFA member.2, unincorporated territories of the United States.3. Free associated state with New Zealand.4, Australia Chinese Taipei Though Israel played in some OFC competitions in the 1970s to 1980s they were not a member of the OFC. Other sovereign states and dependencies in the Pacific Ocean that are not members of the OFC are, Chinese Taipei were an OFC member from 1975 to 1989. In 1996 FIFA confirmed the OFC as a confederation and granted it a seat on the FIFA executive. In 1998 the OFC unveiled a new logo and an official magazine, on 24 May 2004, New Caledonia became the 11th member of the OFC. On 1 January 2006, Australia left the OFC again and joined the Asian Football Confederation, in 2008 an associate member, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, also left the OFC and in 2009 joined the AFC as a quasi-member. In late 2009 the Palau Soccer Association also applied for the status with the AFC. Since 1996, OFC members also play for the OFC Nations Cup, which was held every second year, the OFC also organises the Oceania Club Championship, a competition that has received surprisingly high levels of media support within New Zealand in its debut season. It serves primarily to determine the Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cup, in 2007, the OFC replaced the current club competition with the OFC Champions League which began in 2007. From 2007, the winner has no longer gained direct entry to the FIFA Club World Cup – and it is not clear whether this is permanent, or even if it could change if the Oceania entrant were to outperform entrants from other Confederations. Of the confederations current teams, only New Zealand has ever competed in the FIFA World Cup, founding member Australia also competed in the World Cup finals, in 1974 and 2006. At the conclusion of Germany 2006, Australias exit from the OFC was finalised, the other minor exception to this has been the participation of the Solomon Islands in the 2006,2007 and 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The winner of the OFC Cup also receives a berth in the FIFA Confederations Cup, New Zealand and Tahiti are the only current members of the OFC to have participated in this event
32.
Miss World 2008
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Miss World 2008, the 58th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 13 December 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. 109 contestants from all over the world compete for the crown, zhang Zilin of China crowned Ksenia Sukhinova of Russia as the brand new Miss World. Miss World 2008 had a total of 109 contestants, Miss World 2008 contestants were judged based upon the criteria of glamour, beauty, intelligence and poise. Some of the judges were representatives of the Miss World Organization, some of the contestants, such as Ksenia Sukhinova, communicated with the judges using a translator. Some event judges congregated with contestants outside of and before the event itself, such as during rehearsals. Judges for the event were, Julia Morley – Chairwoman of the Miss World Organization, egypt – Meriam George was replaced by Sanaa Ismail Hamed at the last minute for some undisclosed reasons. Hong Kong China – Miss Hong Kong 2008 winner Edelweiss Cheung was replaced by the 1st runner-up, philippines – Janina San Miguel was replaced by Bb. Pilipinas 1st runner-up, Danielle Castaño due to Janinas personal decision to give up her crown, Vietnam – Miss Vietnam World 2008 Trần Thị Thùy Dung was not allowed to compete after it was revealed that she did not graduate from high school. This also applied to all runners-up and/or finalists who competed at the same pageant, the 2nd runner-up of Miss Universe Vietnam 2008, Dương Trương Thiên Lý, was designated to represent Vietnam at Miss World 2008. Estonia – Due to lack of funding and sponsorship Macedonia FYRO – Suzana Al-Salkini withdrew due to lack of funding and sponsorship, panama – Kathya Saldaña had problems with the regional organisation and didnt obtain a South African visa in time. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015
33.
Zhang Zilin
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Zhang Zilin is a Chinese actress, singer, fashion model and beauty queen who won Miss China World in 2007 and later was crowned as Miss World 2007. Zhang was born in Weihai, Shandong, on March 22,1984 and she then moved to Haidian District, Beijing, where she attended high school from 1996 to 2002. She later completed her studies at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, Zhang is now working as a fashion model. Having grown up in an academically oriented family, Zhang has always valued her education and has many achievements in her studies. Both a scholar and an athlete, Zhang Zilin began training in various types of sports at the age of eight. She excels in the Triple Jump and Hurdles and has professional training in the 100 meter Hurdles. In 2002, Zhang finished high school and commenced her studies at the University of Science, as an undergraduate, she competed and won many athletic competitions. In 2005, she won the Sports Advance Distinction Award at her university, zhangs career in modeling and pageantry started in 2003 where she participated in a beauty pageant organized by New Silk Road Modeling Agency. As a first timer in pageantry, Zhang only managed to land herself in the top 10 due to lack of experience, however, she was later discovered by the executive manager of the agency, Lee Xiaobai. Since then Zhang has graced the runways in major capitals of the world including Paris. In 2006, she was shortlisted as one of the top ten professional supermodels during the Chinese Fashion, after that she participated in Giorgio Armanis 2007 Autumn/Winter Collection show in Paris and later earned herself the title of Top Model of the Year from New Silk Road modeling agency. On December 1,2007, she was crowned Miss World 2007 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, during her reign, she traveled to the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Vietnam and South Africa. Zhang made her debut in 2011 film The Underdog Knight 2 and 2014 Hong Kong fantasy film The Monkey King, in 2013, she married Neil Nie in Phuket, Thailand. And April 2016 she gave birth to daughter Zhang lent her voice for the 2008 Summer Olympics soundtrack and also appeared in the music video for the same song entitled Beijing Welcomes You
34.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
35.
Ball (association football)
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A football, soccer ball, or association football ball is the ball used in the sport of association football. The name of the ball according to whether the sport is called football, soccer. The balls spherical shape, as well as its size, weight, additional, more stringent, standards are specified by FIFA and subordinate governing bodies for the balls used in the competitions they sanction. Early footballs began as animal bladders or stomachs that would fall apart if kicked too much. Improvements became possible in the 19th century with the introduction of rubber, the modern 32-panel ball design was developed in 1962 by Eigil Nielsen, and technological research continues today to develop footballs with improved performance. In 1863, the first specifications for footballs were laid down by the Football Association, previous to this, footballs were made out of inflated leather, with later leather coverings to help footballs maintain their shapes. In 1872 the specifications were revised, and these rules have been essentially unchanged as defined by the International Football Association Board. Differences in footballs created since this rule came into effect have been to do with the used in their creation. Footballs have gone through a change over time. During medieval times balls were made from an outer shell of leather filled with cork shavings. Another method of creating a ball was using animal bladders for the inside of the making it inflatable. However, these two styles of creating footballs made it easy for the ball to puncture and were inadequate for kicking and it was not until the 19th century that footballs developed into what a football looks like today. In 1838, Charles Goodyear introduced the use of rubber and their discoveries of vulcanisation, Vulcanization is the treatment of rubber to give it certain qualities such as strength, elasticity, and resistance to solvents. Vulcanization of rubber also helps the football resist moderate heat and cold, Vulcanization helped create inflatable bladders that pressurise the outer panel arrangement of the football. Charles Goodyears innovation increased the ability of the ball and made it easier to kick. Most of the balls of this time had tanned leather with eighteen sections stitched together and these were arranged in six panels of three strips each. During the 1900s, footballs were made out of rubber and leather which was perfect for bouncing and kicking the ball, however, when heading the football it was usually painful. This problem was most probably due to absorption of the leather from rain
36.
Adidas
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Adidas AG is a German multinational corporation, headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second biggest in the world, Adidas revenue for 2016 was listed at €19.29 billion. Adidas was registered on 18 August 1949 by Adolf Dassler, following a feud at the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik company between him and his older brother Rudolf. Rudolf had earlier established Puma, which became the business rival of Adidas. The companys clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the motif is incorporated into Adidass current official logo. The brand name is uncapitalized and is stylized with a case a. Christoph Von Wilhelm Dassler was a worker in a shoe factory, after leaving school, their son, Rudolf Rudi Dassler, joined his father at the shoe factory. When he returned from fighting in World War I, Rudolf received a management position at a porcelain factory, Adolf Adi Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mothers wash kitchen in Herzogenaurach after his return from World War I. In July 1924, his brother Rudolf returned to Herzogenaurach to join his brothers business. Following Owens haul of four medals, his success cemented the good reputation of Dassler shoes among the worlds most famous sportsmen. Letters from around the world landed on the desks. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of every year before World War II. After Rudolf was later picked up by American soldiers and accused of being a member of the Waffen SS, American occupying forces subsequently became major buyers of the Dassler brothers shoes. Although it is a urban myth that the name is an acronym for All Day I Dream About Sports. Puma and Adidas entered into a fierce and bitter rivalry after the split. Indeed, the town of Herzogenaurach was divided on the issue, even the towns two football clubs were divided, ASV Herzogenaurach club was supported by Adidas, while 1 FC Herzogenaurach endorsed Rudolfs footwear. When handymen were called to Rudolfs home, they would deliberately wear Adidas shoes, Rudolf would tell them to go to the basement and pick out a pair of free Pumas. The two brothers were never reconciled and although both are now buried in the cemetery, they are spaced as far apart as possible
37.
Sotho language
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Like all Bantu languages, Sesotho is an agglutinative language, which uses numerous affixes and derivational and inflexional rules to build complete words. Within the Sotho-Tswana group, Sesotho proper is most closely related to Lozi, the Northern Sotho group is geographical, and includes a number of dialects also closely related to Sesotho-Lozi. Tswana is also known as Western Sesotho, Sotho is a tribal suffix, i. e. the name of the Sotho people or Basotho, while Sesotho is the term for the language of the Basotho. Use of Sesotho rather than Sotho language in English has seen increasing use since the 1980s, especially in South African English, the Nguni language Phuthi has been heavily influenced by Sesotho, its speakers have mixed Nguni and Sotho–Tswana ancestry. It seems that it is sometimes treated erroneously as a dialect of Sesotho called Sephuthi, however, Phuthi is mutually unintelligible with standard Sesotho and thus cannot in any sense be termed a dialect of it. These were the first peoples to be called Basotho, before many of their descendants, the situation is even further complicated by various historical factors, such as members of parent clans joining their descendants or various clans calling themselves by the same names. According to the South African National Census of 2011, there were almost four million first language Sesotho speakers recorded in South Africa – approximately eight per cent of the population. Sesotho is also the language spoken by the people of Lesotho. The census fails, to record other South Africans for whom Sesotho is a second or third language, such speakers are found in all major residential areas of Metropolitan Municipalities - such as Johannesburg, and Tshwane - where multilingualism and polylectalism are very high. Sesotho is one of the official languages of South Africa. Sesotho is one of the languages from which the pseudo-language Tsotsitaal is derived. Tsotsitaal is not a language, as it is primarily a unique vocabulary. It is a part of the culture in most Southern Gauteng townships and is the primary language used in Kwaito music. The sound system of Sesotho is unusual in many respects and it has ejective consonants, click consonants, a uvular trill, a relatively large number of affricate consonants, no prenasalised consonants, and a rare form of vowel-height harmony. In total, the language contains some 39 consonantal and 9 vowel phonemes and it also has a large number of complex sound transformations which often change the phones of words due to the influence of other sounds. The most striking properties of Sesotho grammar, and the most important properties which reveal it as a Bantu language, are its noun gender, the grammatical gender system does not encode sex gender, and indeed, Bantu languages in general are not grammatically marked for gender. Another well-known property of the Bantu languages is their agglutinative morphology, additionally, they tend to lack any grammatical case systems, indicating noun roles almost exclusively through word order. Sotho calendar Sotho people South African Translators Association Sesotho Online A gentle introduction to the Sesotho language, weblog on Sesotho Translate. org. za Project translating Free and Open Source Software into South African languages, including Sesotho
38.
Adidas Teamgeist
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The +Teamgeist ball was the official football for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The plus sign in its name was introduced for trademark purposes, since the regular German word Teamgeist, meaning team spirit, the +Teamgeist ball differs from previous balls in having just 14 curved panels, rather than the 32 that have been standard since 1970. Like the 32 panel Roteiro which preceded it, the +TeamGeist panels are bonded together, rather than stitched and it is claimed to be rounder and to perform more uniformly regardless of where it is hit, and being almost waterproof, it does not get heavier in wet weather. Each of the 32 qualified federations received 40 match balls for training purposes, match balls for the 2006 FIFA World Cup were personalized with the name of the stadium, the teams, the match date, and the kick-off time of each individual game, under a protective coating. A special match ball was used for the final game — the +Teamgeist Berlin, the design is the same as the other match balls, but accented in gold, with black and white details. Both qualified federations received 20 of these versions for training purposes. There is also a gold +Teamgeist ball, although it had been planned to include an electronic tracking system in the ball, this was abandoned after a trial at the 2005 World Under-17 Championship in Peru. The Teamgeist was the first World Cup ball to not have the traditional 32 panels. Instead, the ball is made up of 14 panels, which means that the number of three-panel touch points is reduced by 60%, building on the introduction of thermal bonding technology in 2004, the Teamgeist ball is the first time Adidas has used this in a World Cup. Loughborough University conducted extensive testing on the ball, along with the Adidas football laboratory in Scheinfeld. While Swiss international Johann Vogel and David Beckham, both sponsored by Adidas, and others were reported to be happy with the new ball, it was criticized by many top players before the World Cup. Players such as Brazils Roberto Carlos and Paul Robinson of England were among the critics of the new ball, the ball has fewer seams, reducing air resistance and thus altering flight patterns. The Wawa Aba ball of the Africa Cup of Nations was criticised by the player of the tournament, Hosny Abd Rabo of Egypt, the Teamgeist 2 was introduced by Adidas as an update of the ball during the 2007 Club World Cup in Japan. The ball was then introduced in 2008. Adidas has produced multiple variants of the +Teamgeist and Teamgeist 2 for various competitions, variants of this ball include the Adidas Teamgeist 2 Magnus Moenia, used in the 2008 Olympic Games, as well as the related Adidas Europass used for UEFA Euro 2008. Association football Adidas Europass Adidas Teamgeist site Teamgeist explained
39.
Southern Ndebele people
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The Southern African Ndebele are one of the Nguni tribes. The two Ndebele groups are separated not only geographically but also by differences in their languages and cultures, the Ndebele of the Northern Province consist mainly of the BagaLanga and the BagaSeleka tribes who, by and large, adopted the language and culture of their Sotho neighbours. However, they were concentrated in the districts of Pietersburg, Bakenberg. The Springbok Flats separated the North Ndebele and those in the east from one another, King Musi was a polygamist and fathered the following sons, Skhosana, Manala, Ndzundza, Thombeni, Sibasa, Mhwaduba and Mphafuli and others. The first born son of king Musi was Skhosana from the third wife, the name “sombuka” means to begin, hence the first son was called Masombuka. Manala was the first son from the wife and Ndzundza was the son of the second wife. According to Ndebele custom, the heir to the throne of the king is the first born son from the great wife, when the great wife of King Musi died, King Musi was blind through old age and was sickly. He was nursed by his second wife and mother of Ndzundza. Due to the fact that Musi was very old, he was worried about the Kingship of the Ndebele Nation. Musi did not want Manala to be the King of the Nation hence one day Musi instructed Manala to come and see him in the morning. Musi then instructed Manala to go and hunt for the iMbuduma, after Manala had left to hunt for the Wildebeest Musi instructed his wife to call her son Ndzundza. King Musi then gave Ndzundza the accessory to the throne, customarily passed on from the incumbent to the successor and this accessory called namrhali was a mysterious object that cries like a child, used to fortify the king. Musi then instructed Ndzundza to call a Royal meeting and notify the nation that he is the King, many people believed him and a few did not want to follow him. Ndzundza then left with a number of people. When Manala came back from the hunt he realised that Ndzundza had received the namrhali and his father informed him that he had already given away the namrhali to Ndzundza. Manala called a Royal meeting with the few left behind. Musi then instructed Manala that if he wants to be a king he must pursue Ndzundza and bring him back to the royal household. Manala caught up with Ndzundza who was with Thombeni and Skhosana, his half brothers, the two factions fought at Cullinan
40.
Pretoria
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Pretoria is a city in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the three capital cities, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government. Pretoria is the part of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality which was formed by the amalgamation of several former local authorities including Centurion. There have been proposals to change the name of Pretoria itself to Tshwane, the elder Pretorius had become a national hero of the Voortrekkers after his victory over Dingane and the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River. The elder Pretorius also negotiated the Sand River Convention, in which Britain acknowledged the independence of the Transvaal and it became the capital of the South African Republic on 1 May 1860. The founding of Pretoria as the capital of the South African Republic can be seen as marking the end of the Boers settlement movements of the Great Trek, during the First Boer War, the city was besieged by Republican forces in December 1880 and March 1881. The peace treaty ended the war was signed in Pretoria on 3 August 1881 at the Pretoria Convention. The Second Boer War resulted in the end of the Transvaal Republic, the city surrendered to British forces under Frederick Roberts on 5 June 1900 and the conflict was ended in Pretoria with the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902. The Pretoria Forts were built for the defence of the city just prior to the Second Boer War, though some of these forts are today in ruins, a number of them have been preserved as national monuments. The Boer Republics of the ZAR and the Orange River Colony were united with the Cape Colony, Pretoria then became the administrative capital of the whole of South Africa, with Cape Town the legislative capital and Bloemfontein served as the judicial capital. Between 1910 and 1994, the city was also the capital of the province of Transvaal, on 14 October 1931, Pretoria achieved official city status. When South Africa became a republic in 1961, Pretoria remained its administrative capital and it lies at an altitude of about 1,339 m above sea level, in a warm, sheltered, fertile valley, surrounded by the hills of the Magaliesberg range. Pretoria has a subtropical climate with long hot rainy summers and short cool to cold. The city experiences the typical winters of South Africa with cold, clear nights, although the average lows during winter are mild it can get bitterly cold due to the clear skies, with nighttime low temperatures in recent years in the range of 2 to −5 °C. The average annual temperature is 18.7 °C, rain is chiefly concentrated in the summer months, with drought conditions prevailing over the winter months, when frosts may be sharp. Snowfall is a rare event, snowflakes were spotted in 1959,1968 and 2012 in the city. During a nationwide heatwave in November 2011, Pretoria experienced temperatures that reached 39 °C, similar record-breaking extreme heat events also occurred in January 2013, when Pretoria experienced temperatures exceeding 37 °C on several days. The year 2014 was one of the wettest on record for the city, a total of 914 mm fell up to the end of December, with 220 mm recorded in this month alone
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Bloemfontein
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Bloemfontein is the capital city of the province of Free State of South Africa, and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africas three national capitals. Bloemfontein is the sixth largest city in South Africa, Bloemfontein was popularly and poetically known as the city of roses, owing to the abundance of these flowers and the annual rose festival held there. The citys Sesotho name is Mangaung, meaning place of cheetahs, Bloemfontein has since 2011 formed part of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, having previously been part of the Mangaung Local Municipality. Bloemfontein is situated at an altitude of 1,395 m above sea level, the city is home to 369,568 residents, while the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has a population of 645,455. Although modern day Bloemfontein has a reputation for its flowers in an arid region. Bloemfontein literally means fountain of flowers or flower spring in Dutch, with colonial policy shifts, the region changed into the Orange River Sovereignty and eventually the Orange Free State Republic. From 1902–10 it served as the capital of the Orange River Colony, in 1910 it became the Judicial capital of the Union of South Africa. Warden originally chose the site largely because of its proximity to the route to Winburg, the spacious open country. Bloemfontein was the farm of Johannes Nicolaas Brits born 21 February 1790, owner. Johann – as he was known – sold the farm to Maj Warden, as the capital of the Orange Free State Republic the growth and maturing of the Republic resulted in the growth of the town. Numerous public buildings remain in use today were constructed. This was largely facilitated by the excellent governance of the Republic, the old Orange Free States presidential residence the Old Presidency is currently a museum and cultural space in the city. A railway line was built in 1890 connecting Bloemfontein to Cape Town. The writer J. R. R. Tolkien was born in the city on 3 January 1892, though his family left South Africa following the death of his father, Arthur Tolkien and he recorded that his earliest memories were of a hot country. In 1899 the city was the site of the Bloemfontein Conference, the conference was a final attempt to avert a war between Britain and the South African Republic. With its failure the stage was set for war, which broke out on 11 October 1899, the rail line from Cape Town provided a centrally located railway station, and proved critical to the British in occupying the city later. On 13 March 1900, following the Battle of Paardeberg, British forces captured the city and built a concentration camp nearby to house Boer women and children. The National Womens Monument, on the outskirts of the city, the hill in town was named Naval Hill after the naval guns brought in by the British in order to fortify the position against attack
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Loftus Versfeld Stadium
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Loftus Versfeld Stadium is a rugby and soccer stadium situated in the Arcadia suburb of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,762 for rugby union, owned by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, the stadium is the home ground of the Bulls franchise of the Super Rugby tournament and the Blue Bulls union in South Africas Currie Cup. It also hosted the 2009 Super 14 Final which the Bulls won 61 -17 against the Waikato Chiefs, and the 2009 Currie Cup final, also, the South Africa national rugby union team has played several test matches at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium. They played New Zealand in 1970,1996,1999,2003 and 2006, Australia in 1967,1997,2001,2005,2010 and 2012, England in 1994,2000 and 2007, and Ireland in 1998. In June 2010, the stadium hosted opening round games and one game of the round of 16 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the stadium was named after Robert Loftus Owen Versfeld, the founder of organized sports in Pretoria. Through the years the stadium has undergone name changes as sponsors came and went. From 11 June 1998 to 4 February 2003 the stadium was officially named Minolta Loftus after Minolta became the name sponsor. Sponsorship was taken over by security giant Securicor, who announced the name Securicor Loftus on 5 February 2003, on 1 September 2005 the renaming process went full circle when cellular provider Vodacom, taking over sponsorship from Securicor, renamed the stadium back to the original Loftus Versfeld. The site of the stadium was first used for sports in 1906, the first concrete structure was erected there by the City Council in 1923. The original structure could only accommodate 2000 spectators and did not have sports facilities. In 1928, mostly because of the All Blacks tour to South Africa that year, the Pretoria sub-union made a large profit which they used to erect changing rooms and toilets. When Mr Loftus Versfeld died suddenly in May 1932 the Pretoria sub-union renamed the Eastern Sports Ground after him as a tribute to a man that had done so much to develop sport in the area, the stadium has been known as Loftus Versfeld Stadium ever since. It has been upgraded on several occasions, most recently in 1984, Loftus Versfeld now has a large amount of world-class facilities which make it a wonderful place to play or to watch sports matches or events. There are many suites for enjoying a hospitality package, accessible restrooms, the stadium is a non-smoking stadium and patrons are not allowed to access the stadium seating areas with alcohol. Loftus Versfeld has many viewing points all over the stadium. Loftus hosted some matches during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Loftus Versfeld was one of the venues for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. It hosted the Group B matches USA vs. Italy, USA vs, minimal upgrading was undertaken in order for Loftus Versfeld to qualify as a venue for first and second round matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The floodlights, sound system, scoreboards and stadium roof were improved, as roads, while expected to be finished in August 2008, renovation was completed in January 2009
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Free State Stadium
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It was originally built for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and was one of the venues for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The primary rugby union tenants of the facility are, The Central Cheetahs, the Free State Cheetahs, which participate in South Africas domestic competition, the Currie Cup. The primary association football tenant is, Bloemfontein Celtic, who play in South Africas domestic Premier Soccer League, the stadium was one of the host venues for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It hosted first round matches in Pool C during the tournament, the Free State Stadium was one of venues used for the 1996 African Cup of Nations. It hosted six matches and a quarter-final match, The Free State Stadium was one of the host venues for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. In advance of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a second tier was added to the grandstand on the western side of the ground. Additionally, new turnstiles were created, the upgraded, electronic scoreboards installed, the sound system revamped to the required standards. Bloemfontein received R221 million to upgrade the stadium, though cost estimates were at R245 million, the city decided to stand in for the R24m shortfall. Tenders were advertised in February & March 2007, upgrade work started in July 2007. List of stadiums in South Africa List of African stadiums by capacity Bloemfontein, Official municipality website 360 View
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Royal Bafokeng Stadium
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The Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace is a football, rugby and athletics stadium in Phokeng near Rustenburg, South Africa. It was built and is managed by the Royal Bafokeng Nation and it is used as the home stadium for Premier Soccer League club Platinum Stars. The Leopards rugby team host large attendance matches during the Currie Cup at the stadium, instead of their home ground. The capacity of the stadium was increased from 38,000 to 42,000 to be able to host five first round matches, for the 2010 tournament, the main west stand was upgraded and enlarged and given a new cantilever roof. Other improvements include the installation of new scoreboards, new seats. The stadium upgrade was completed in March 2009 for hosting 4 matches of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, Royal Bafokeng Stadium was one of the host venues for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. In the World Cup, the hosted five first round matches. Royal Bafokeng Stadium served as one of the host venues for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, list of stadiums in South Africa Media related to Royal Bafokeng Stadium at Wikimedia Commons 360 View Official Site Link
Brazil (3rd title)
United States
Spain
South Africa
Italy
Iraq
Egypt
New Zealand
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10'
Andrea Dossena (against Brazil)