1.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
2.
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
3.
Lille OSC
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LOSC Lille is a French association football club based in Lille. The club was founded in 1944 as a result of a merger and currently play in Ligue 1, Lille has played its home matches since 2012 at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in nearby Villeneuve dAscq, which replaced the clubs previous home of Stade Lille-Metropole in the same community. The team is captained by French international Rio Mavuba, Lille was founded as a result of a merger between Olympique Lillois and SC Fives. Both clubs were founding members of the French Division 1 and Lillois was the inaugural champions. Under the Lille emblem, the club has won three titles in 1946,1954, and 2011 and six Coupe de France titles. Lille and Red Star FC are the only French clubs in the history to win the Coupe de France in three consecutive seasons. Lilles most successful period was the decade from 1946 to 1956 when the team was led by managers George Berry, Lille have a long-standing rivalry with its neighbours RC Lens. The two clubs regularly contest the Derby du Nord, Lille is presided over by Gérard Lopez, an entrepreneur-investor and an active Luxembourgish-Spanish businessman that invests in the sports industry. Before the Second World War, the city of Lille had two clubs in Ligue 1, Olympique Lillois and Sporting Club Fivois, weakened by the war, the two clubs decided to merge in the autumn of 1944, giving birth to Lille Olympique Sporting Club. Within its first decade of existence, the new club won two titles and reached the second place for four consecutive seasons. In the Coupe de France the club accumulated five wins in seven finals, the final of the Latin Cup was also reached. Lille was relegated for the first time in 1956, the club became a mid-table side and in the late 1960s, after a long period of anonymity, and weighed down by a lack of facilities and resources, Lille abandoned its professional status. It was feared that the club might disappear, however, some young leaders, such as Max Pommerolle, came and gave new impetus to the club. Nevertheless, the results remained erratic and the titles that ignited the fans passions were won in the Second Division. In July 1980, Lille was the first French club to opt for the status of a Mixed Economy Company, the team of presidents Amyot, Deschot and Dewailly all struggled to compete with the top teams in the country. Jacques Amyots resignation in 1990 led to three more years for the club which compromised its very existence. It took Bernard Lecomtes arrival in 1993 to set the club finances on the road to recovery, after a final relegation in 1997, the team trained by Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodžić was soon promoted back to the elite, in the same year the French Football League was privatised. In just its first season back in the top flight 2000–01 French Division 1, Lille qualified for Europe for the first time in the clubs history, booking its place in the 2000–01 Champions League
4.
FC Spartak Trnava
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FC Spartak Trnava is a Slovak professional football club based in Trnava. The clubs official anthem is Il Silenzio, the club was founded on 30 May 1923 by the merger of Šk Čechie and ČšŠk into TSS Trnava. After a communist takeover it became affiliated with the industry and was renamed to TJ Kovosmalt. In 1952, the club gained its current name, the Golden era of Spartak began in the 1966–67 season. The team of legendary coach Anton Malatinský was top of the league by the autumn, great success was achieved in the Mitropa Cup. Spartak beat teams like Budapest Honvéd, Lazio and Fiorentina and in the final they defeated Újpest of Hungary, in the following season Spartak gained their most memorable European results. They reached the semi-final of the European Cup to face Ajax and it is their greatest success to date. Under the management of Ján Hucko, the also won a second championship. In 1970–71 and 1971–72, Trnava won their third and fourth titles under coaches Valér Švec. The team also reached the quarter-final of the European Cup in 1973 and 1974, the fifth and the last league title in 1972–73 beckoned the end of Spartaks golden era. In 1976, Karol Dobiaš was in the squad won the UEFA Euro 1976. Although Spartak finished 16th in the last unified Czechoslovak league season in 1992–93, in the 1995–96 season, Spartak finished third and its popularity grew. The 1996–97 season was a memorable on for the fans of Spartak, Karol Pecze almost led the team to its first Slovakian league title but got beaten to it by Košice in the final week of competition. The following season, under new coach Dušan Galis the team achieved second place. Since the 1993–94 Slovak League Top scorer, the main ultras group is called Ultras Spartak. They are universally considered to be the best fans in Slovakia, Trnava has had the highest average attendances in the republic for a long period of time. Between 1988 and 2006, Spartak ultras had a friendship with Baník Ostrava fans, good relations. Traditionally, the club has great support in the city and its districts, the greatest rival is Slovan Bratislava
5.
Slovakia national football team
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The Slovakia national football team represents Slovakia in association football and is controlled by the Slovak Football Association, the governing body for football in Slovakia. Slovakias home stadium from 2016 is reconstructed Štadión Antona Malatinského in Trnava, Slovakia is one of the youngest national football teams in the world, having split from the Czechoslovakia national team after the dissolution of the unified state in 1993. Slovakia maintains its own national side competes in all major professional tournaments since. Slovakia qualified for two national tournaments, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016. The team have achieved some results, however, such as the aforementioned win over the then title holders Italy at the 2010 World Cup. They also only scored seven goals in the group, only more than minnows Andorra, in these two meetings, the teams drew 2–2 in Bratislava with the Slovaks winning 2–1 in Prague. But before that, they also playing each other in Euro 2008 qualifying, the first official match of the first Slovak Republic was played in Bratislava against Germany on 27 August 1939, and ended in a 2–0 victory for Slovakia. After the Second World War, the football team was subsumed into the team of Czechoslovakia. During this period, they contributed several key players to the Czechoslovak team, Slovakias first official international after regaining independence was a 1–0 victory in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates on 2 February 1994. Their match back on Slovak soil was the 4–1 win over Croatia in Bratislava on 20 April 1994, Slovakia suffered their biggest defeat since independence on 22 June 1995, in Mendoza, against Argentina. Their biggest wins have come against Liechtenstein in 2004 and San Marino in 2007, in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, Slovakia finished fourth in their six-team group with five wins, one draw and four defeats. Their first four games in this were all wins, with one of these against their Czech neighbors, on 14 October 2009, they clinched qualification with a 1–0 away win against Poland. The result led Slovakia to the stage and eliminated Italy. The result of this meant that for the first time in World Cup history, both finalists from the previous tournament had been eliminated from the first round, champion Italy. For Euro 2012 qualification, Slovakia was drawn against Russia, the Republic of Ireland, Armenia, Macedonia and Andorra. In October, however, the nations form slipped steadily, as Repre was easily beaten in Armenia, at that point, Russia topped the group charts with nine points, with Slovakia, Armenia and Ireland all within a two-point gap of the leaders. Playing in Ireland in a six-point match, despite creating better chances, in the final two group matches, Slovakia was beaten at home by Russia and drew 1–1 in Macedonia, finishing in a mediocre fourth-place position and scoring only seven goals in the entire process. Also, for the first time since Euro 1996 qualifying, Slovakia finished a campaign with a negative goal differential
