1.
Football in Argentina
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Football is Argentinas most popular sport, the one with the most players and is the most popular recreational sport, played from childhood into old age. The percentage of Argentines that declare allegiance to an Argentine football club is about 90%, Football was introduced to Argentina in the later half of the 19th century by the British immigrants in Buenos Aires. The first Argentine league was contested in 1891, making it the fifth oldest recognised league of a FIFA member, the Argentine Football Association was formed in 1893 and is the eighth oldest in the world. The Argentine national team is one of the eight to have won the football World Cup, having done so in 1978 and 1986, and also being runner-up in 1930,1990, and 2014. They have also won the top tournament, the Copa América, on fourteen occasions. The nations Olympic representative has won two Gold Medals, while the team has won a record six U-20 World Cups. At club level, Argentine teams have won the most Intercontinental Cups, womens football has a national league since 1991, the Campeonato de Fútbol Feminino. In turn, the national representative qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2007. In futsal, Argentina were FIFUSA/AMF Futsal World Cup champions in 1994 and they also compete in the FIFA code of futsal, where they finished third in the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Cup. The team also won the FIFA Futsal Copa América in 2003, moreover, Argentina was world champion in futsal for the visually impaired in 1998. Argentina also compete in the beach football World Cup, where their best finish was third in 2001. British citizens founded social and sports clubs where they could practise their sports, such as bowls, cricket, football, golf, horse riding, rugby union and tennis amongst others. Two English immigrants Thomas and James Hogg organized a meeting on 9 May 1867 in Buenos Aires where the Buenos Aires Football Club was founded. The first recorded match in Argentina took place on this pitch on 20 June 1867. This newspaper, published in Argentina, was the first one to cover football matches in the country, the game was played between two teams of British merchants, the White Caps and the Red Caps. In the 19th century it was practice for teams to be distinguished by caps rather than jerseys. The teams consisted of 8 players each as the organisers were unable to more players for the match. The line-ups were, Thomas Hogg, James Hogg, William Forrester, T. B. Smith, J. W. Bond, Smith, William Heald, T. R. Best, U
2.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
3.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
4.
Argentine Football Association
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The Argentine Football Association is the governing body of football in Argentina. It organises the Primera División and lower divisions, the Argentine Cup, Supercopa Argentina, the association is based in the city of Buenos Aires. Secondly, it organizes the amateur leagues for women, children, youth, Futsal. The Argentine Association Football League was founded on 21 February 1893 by Alexander Watson Hutton, the Argentine Association is the oldest in South America and one of the oldest to be formed outside Europe. In 1906 Florencio Martínez de Hoz became the first Argentine-born President of the Association, some teams moved to the FAF were Gimnasia y Esgrima, Independiente, Estudiantes de La Plata and Atlanta. The league lasted until 1914 when rejoining Asociación Argentina de Football forming a league for the 1915 season. The second dissident league was formed in 1919 and named Asociacion Amateurs de Football, the first round of the recently created professional championship was on 31 May 1931. With 75 presidents of different Argentine clubs voting, the day of the elections something went wrong when the final count resulted in a draw of 38 to 38, the explanation given was that one of the electors put a double vote and that mistake was not reported. As a result, the committee decided to postpone the election. After some meetings to put an end to the conflict, both agreed to have another election in June 2016. In June 2016, AFA president Luis Segura was charged with aggravated administrative fraud, Segura has been replaced on an interim basis by the AFAs executive secretary, Damián Dupiellet. The body has been renamed several times since its establishment in 1893,3 Expelled by the Argentine military dictatorship. 5 Then translated into Spanish as Asociación del Fútbol Argentino in 1946, official site Argentina at FIFA site
5.
Racing Club de Avellaneda
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Racing Club, also known simply as Racing, is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of Greater Buenos Aires. Founded in 1903, Racing has been considered one of the big five clubs of Argentine football. Racing currently plays in the Primera División, the top division of the Argentine league system, Racing has won the Primera División 17 times, apart from winning 12 National cups such as five Copa Ibarguren, four Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires and one Copa Beccar Varela. Due to those achievements the team was nicknamed La Academia which still identifies the club, in addition, Racing won two Campeonato Rioplatense Copa Dr. Ricardo C. Aldao and one Copa de Honor Cousenier, the first team plays its home games in the Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Perón, nicknamed El Cilindro de Avellaneda. Apart from football, other sports practised at Racing are artistic gymnastics, basketball, boxing, field hockey, handball, martial arts, roller skating, tennis and volleyball. On 12 May 1901, a group of students of Colegio Nacional Central founded the Football Club Barracas al Sud, with Pedro Werner becoming its first president. Less than one year after the establishment, a conflict about what color of jersey should be adopted caused a group of members to found Colorados Unidos. This division did not last too long, and in March 1903, the club took its name from a French car racing magazine, brought to Argentina by Germán Vidaillac. The suggestion was received and the name Racing Club was immediately approved. Racing was the first football team formed by criollos. The first shirts worn by Racing were white, until 25 July 1904, nevertheless, the new jersey only lasted a week, being replaced by a design proposed by president Luis Carbone. The jersey had four squares, two blue and two pink. This light blue and pink design would be worn until 1908, finally, Racing adopted the light blue and white colors in 1910, in commemoration of the May Revolutions 100th anniversary that same year. Racing affiliated to the Argentine Football Association in 1905, and began playing in the divisions of Argentine football league system. One year later Racing competed in a playoff for a place in the Primera División, Racing were promoted to Primera in 1910, winning the playoff final against Boca Juniors with an attendance of 4,000. The line-up that won the promotion was, Fernández, Seminario, Allan, Winne, Juan Ohaco, Angel Betular, Oyarzábal, A. Ohaco, Firpo, Frers, Frers and Ohaco were the scorers for Racing. In 1911 they competed in the AFA Championship Cup, finishing in fourth place, one year later, Racing won its first domestic cup, the Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires
6.
Estudiantes de Buenos Aires
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Club Atlético Estudiantes, usually called Estudiantes de Caseros or Estudiantes de Buenos Aires, is an Argentine football club from Caseros, Buenos Aires. The club is known for its football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Metropolitana. Apart from football, the club hosts other disciplines such as handball, karate, roller skating, by 1897 football in Argentina was practised almost exclusively by English people that lived in Buenos Aires. Three of those immigrants, called Hansen, McHardy and Fitz Simons, the club was officially founded on August 15,1898, and the name was taken from the High School they attended, Colegion Nacional Sur. The young native players soon learned from the English men, who taught them the basics of playing football, by 1899 the name had been changed to Estudiantes, which was easier to pronounce by teams followers from the standgrounds. In 1904 Estudiantes promoted to Primera División, by then, the club had built a stadium, placed in Palermo, Buenos Aires where it played its home games. During the amateur years Estudiantes won its first title, the Copa de Competencia Jockey Club in 1910, the team also reached three Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires finals in 1906,1909 and 1913 but could not won the trophy. The recognition earned during those years encouraged the managers to put the team on tours over other provinces of Argentina and these tours would also help to spread the playing of football in the rest of Argentina, increasing the popularity of this sport amongst its population. The first tour was in 1907 where Estudiantes played some matches against local teams, one of them was on May 5,1907, when Estudiantes defeated Newells Old Boys by 3–2. That was the first team the Rosarino team faced a squad from Buenos Aires, nevertheless, the most important tour took part in Brazil in 1910. Never before an Argentine football team had played outside the Río de la Plata, Estudiantes played four matches in Brazil, winning all of them. The squad scored 24 goals and conceded 3, back in Buenos Aires, the players were received and acclaimed by a crowd and were also invited to numerous receptions due to their great performance. In 1928 Estudiantes merged with Sportivo Devoto, which allowed the club to some players from that club who would become notable playing for Estudiantes. Some of them were wing Nardini, forward Luis Sánchez and midfielders Horacio Méndez and those players, along with Estudiantes former players such as Muschetti, Closas and Camilo Méndez formed a team that played memorable matches against Boca Juniors and River Plate. Nevertheless, the difference between called small teams and the big ones was considerable and that was more visible when the Professional era began in 1931 in Argentina with the creation of Liga Argentina. Estudiantes remained in the league, which soon lost interest so fans choose the professional championship. Moreover, most of Estudiantes notable players were seduced by good offers from other clubs, some of the footballers that left Estudiantes were Nardini and Martínez, Huesito Sánchez, Closas and Camilo Méndez. Once the fusion the between Professional League and Amateur League was done, Estudiantes started its run at the second division, in 1940 the club was sent down to the third division after finishing in the penultimate position of the tournament
7.
Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata
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Apart from football, GELP also hosts other activities such as athletics, basketball, fencing, futsal, gymnastics, field hockey, martial arts, tennis, roller skating and volleyball. The Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata was founded on 3 June 1887 as a civil association, the club also claims to be the oldest football club in the Americas, despite other football clubs, such as Peruvian Lima Cricket F. C. have older foundation dates. Its foundation came barely five years after the creation of the City of La Plata in 1882, the first sports offered to its members were, as its Spanish name indicates, gymnastics and fencing. Clubs supporting these sports were common among the classes at the end of the 19th century. Later on, other disciplines were added, including track and field, football, basketball, the institution changed name a few times, from April to December 1897 it was called a Club de Esgrima because fencing was the only activity practised at that moment. On 17 December 1897 it returned to its name, Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima. From July 1952 to 30 September 1955, the club was named Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima de Eva Perón, because the city of La Plata itself had been renamed Eva Perón in 1952, after Eva Peróns death. The city returned to its previous name during the government of the Liberating Revolution, however, it remained unduly identified legally as Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata, a mistake that was corrected on 7 August 1964 after the new statute was approved. Gimnasia y Esgrima was promoted to the first division after becoming champions of the División Intermedia of Argentine football in 1915, later, in 1929, the club won its first Primera División championship. During successive years, Gimnasia became champion of Primera B in 1944,1947 and 1952, additionally, the squad has been a runner-up in the Primera División on five occasions. The club has remained at the top level of Argentine football for 73 seasons, the Clásico Platense is the nickname given to the match between La Platas two main football teams, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata and Estudiantes de La Plata. The first official derby took place as part of the Primera División season on 27 August 1916, on that occasion, Gimnasia won 1–0 over Estudiantes, with an own goal by Ludovico Pastor. The first derby of the era took place on 14 June 1931. Between 12 August 1932 and 9 September 1934 Gimnasia won five consecutive La Plata derbies, on 25 June 1963 Gimnasia obtained a 5–2 victory, this being the best result so far against Estudiantes. On the other hand, Gimnasias worst result was a 7–0 defeat on 15 October 2006, a curiosity among the derbies occurred on 5 April 1992, when Gimnasia won over Estudiantes 1–0 at the latters stadium. On that date, as the stands erupted and Gimnasias fans shouted in celebration at the goal being scored and that goal was scored by the Uruguayan José Perdomo on a freekick, and it has been known ever since as El gol del terremoto. Through more than 120 years of history, the Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata has had 56 Presidents, many of them contributed to the growth of the club over the years. Some of them have remained vivid in the fans memory for their achievements or outstanding works
8.
San Lorenzo de Almagro
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Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, known as San Lorenzo de Almagro or San Lorenzo, is an Argentine sports club based in the Boedo, neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its team, which plays in the Primera División. San Lorenzo is also considered one of the big five of Argentine football by Argentine press, with Independiente, River Plate, Boca Juniors, San Lorenzo plays its home games at Estadio Pedro Bidegain, popularly known as Nuevo Gasómetro. The stadium and sports facilities are located in Bajo Flores, neighborhood of the city of Buenos Aires, Clubs previous stadium was the Viejo Gasómetro, located in Boedo neighborhood. After the match was played there in 1979, the Gasómetro was expropriated by the de facto Government of Argentina, the club currently has five headquarters, three in Boedo, one in Monserrat, and one at Bajo Flores, all of them in the city of Buenos Aires. San Lorenzo also plans to expand its main seat on La Plata Avenue, San Lorenzos historical rival is Huracán, located in Parque Patricios. The two clubs play one of the older derbies in Argentina, some supporters consider this derby as the third most important after Superclásico and Clásico de Avellaneda, in addition to being one of the most uneven derbies of Argentine Soccer. Other sports practised at the club are artistic roller skating, basketball, field hockey, futsal, handball, martial arts, roller hockey, swimming, tennis, some years ago, San Lorenzo had also opened a rugby union section, but it is no longer active. San Lorenzo gained international recognition in March 2013 with the election of Pope Francis, the players played with the Popes photo on their shirts during a league match against Colón de Santa Fe on 16 March 2013. The institution is known because of the actor Viggo Mortensen, supporter of the team. The roots of the institution can be found in a formed by a group of kids that used to play football in the corner of México. Due to the traffic in the city, playing football at the streets became a risky activity for the boys. Lorenzo Massa, the catholic priest of the church, saw how a tram almost knocked down one of the boys while they were playing in the streets. As a way to prevent more accidents, he offered the boys to play in the churchs backyard, on 1 April 1908, an assemble was held in the Almagro district of Buenos Aires with the purpose of establishing a club. During the meeting, several names were proposed, the first option was Los Forzosos de Almagro, which did not sound good to Father Massa. The other proposal was to name the club San Lorenzo as an homage to Massa, other founder member, Federico Monti, suggested to add the name of the neighbourhood, Almagro where most of the members lived in, which was accepted by the assemble. Due to the not having its own a stadium, San Lorenzo began to play its home games in a field property of the Club Martínez. The squad played its first match on 26 April 1914, and this title allowed San Lorenzo to dispute the playoffs in order to promote to the Argentine Primera División, which finally obtained after beating Club Honor y Patria by a score of 3–0
