1.
UEFA Europa League
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The UEFA Europa League, previously called the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organized by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues, previously called the UEFA Cup, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League since the 2009–10 season, following a change in format. For UEFA footballing records purposes, the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League are considered the same competition, in 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup was abolished and merged with the UEFA Cup. For the 2004–05 competition a group stage was added prior to the knockout phase, the 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and changed qualifying criteria. The winner enters at least at the round, and will enter the group stage if the berth reserved for the Champions League title holders is not used. The title has been won by 27 different clubs,12 of which have won the more than once. The UEFA Cup was preceded by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971, the competition grew from 11 teams during the first cup to 64 teams by the last cup which was played in 1970–71. It had become so important on the European football scene that in the end it was taken over by UEFA, the UEFA Cup was first played in the 1971–72 season, with an all-English final of Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs taking the first honours. The title was retained by another English club, Liverpool in 1973, Borussia would win the competition in 1975 and 1979, and reach the final again in 1980. Liverpool won the competition for the time in 1976, beating Club Brugge in the final. During the 1980s, IFK Göteborg and Real Madrid won the competition twice each,1989 saw the commencement of the Italian clubs domination, when Maradonas Napoli beat Stuttgart. The 1990s started with two finals, and in 1992, Torino lost the final to Ajax on the away goals rule. Juventus won the competition for a time in 1993 and Internazionale kept the cup in Italy the following year. 1995 saw a third final, with Parma proving their consistency. The only final with no Italians during that decade was in 1996, Parma won the cup in 1999, which ended the Italian club era. Liverpool won the competition for the time in 2001 and Porto triumphed in the 2003 and 2011 tournaments. In 2004, the cup returned to Spain with Valencia being victorious, either side of Sevillas success, two Russian teams, CSKA Moscow in 2005 and Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2008, had their glory and yet another former Soviet club, Ukraines Shakhtar Donetsk, won in 2009. Atlético Madrid would themselves win twice in three seasons, in 2010 and 2012, the latter in another all-Spanish final, in 2013, Chelsea would become the first Champions League holders to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League the following year
2.
Paris Saint-Germain F.C.
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Paris Saint-Germain Football Club is a French professional football club based in Paris, whose first team play in the highest tier of French football, the Ligue 1. The club was formed in 1970 by the merger of Paris FC, Paris Saint-Germain remain the only club to have never been relegated from Ligue 1. The Parisians are also one of only two French clubs to win a European title – the other being arch-rivals Olympique de Marseille, PSG are the most successful French club in terms of trophies won, with 32. Domestically, Paris SG have won six Ligue 1 titles, a record ten French Cups, in international club football, Paris have won one UEFA Cup Winners Cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. PSG have always represented both Paris and nearby Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the capital side play their games in Paris at the Parc des Princes, while the Camp des Loges is located in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Paris SG spent their formative years using the Stade Municipal Georges Lefèvre, located in front of the Camp des Loges, Paris SG shares an intense rivalry with Marseille and contest the most notorious football match in France, known as Le Classique. PSG is the second-highest supported football club in France after OM, red, blue and white are the clubs traditional colours. And Paris est magique. are PSGs most popular mottos, the Red-and-Blues have hosted the Tournoi de Paris at the Parc des Princes since 1975. During the tournaments 2010 edition, PSG unveiled Allez Paris Saint-Germain, to the tune of Go West by Village People, Qatar Sports Investments has been the clubs owner since 2011. The takeover made Paris Saint-Germain the richest club in France and amongst the richest in the world. Currently, PSG have the sixth-highest revenue in the world with an annual revenue of €520.9 million. Towards the end of the 1960s, an group of businessmen decided to create a major club in the French capital. After a petition was signed by 20,000 people, Paris Saint-Germain Football Club were founded on 12 August 1970 with the merger of Paris FC, PSG are today the citys largest club by far, as well as Frances most successful club in terms of trophies won. Paris SG won the Ligue 2 title in their inaugural season, PSG have never formally been relegated from Ligue 1. However, the split into two in 1972. The professional arm of the continued life in the top-flight under the name of Paris FC. Paris returned to Ligue 1 in 1974, ironically the year that Paris FC were relegated. Since then, PSG have always played in Ligue 1, the clubs trophy cabinet welcomed its first major silverware in the shape of the French Cup in 1981–82
3.
France 2
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France 2 is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4, France 5, France Télévisions also participates in ARTE, EuroNews, several cable/satellite thematic channels, and Mediamétrie. Since 03,20 CET on 7 April 2008, all France 2 programming has been broadcast in 16,9 widescreen format over the analog SECAM air frequencies and the French DVB-T multiplex frequencies. An HD version of France 2 has been broadcasting via DVB-S Service CanalSat since 1 July 2008, originally under the ownership of the RTF, the channel went on the air for the first time on 1 January 1964 as RTF Télévision 2. Within a year, ORTF was rebranded as La Deuxième Chaîne, originally, the network was broadcast on 625-line transmitters only in preparation for the discontinuation of 819-line black & white transmissions and the introduction of color. The switch to color occurred at 14,15 CET on 1 October 1967, La Deuxième Chaîne became the first color television channel in France although TF1 would not commence color broadcasting on 625-lines until 20 December 1975. Such technology later allowed the network to air programming in NICAM stereo, the present channel is the direct successor of Antenne 2, established under a 1974 law that mandated the breakup of ORTF into seven distinct organisations. Antenne 2 and the corporations were constituted as limited companies with the state controlling 100% of their capital. Although the three channels were set up as competitors vying for advertisers, they retained a monopoly over television broadcasting in France that was not repealed until 1981. Privately owned channels such as Canal+ and La Cinq soon became major competitors to the channels after the state monopoly was lifted. TF1 was privatised in 1987, radically affecting the balance of the French television market, the remaining state-owned channels came under severe pressure from their private competitors and lost 30% of their market share between 1987 and 1989. In an effort to save them, a single director-general was appointed to manage both Antenne 2 and FR3 and the two merged to form the France Télévisions group. They were renamed in 1992 as France 2 and France 3 respectively, the focus on ratings led to strong rivalry with TF1, for instance prompting the two channels to broadcast popular shows and news programmes in the same timeslots. TF1 and France 2 compete for the demographics, dramas, game shows. Since 11 December 2006, France 2 was again made available across Italy on Digital terrestrial television until 7 June 2007, France 2 is now only available in Aosta Valley due to Italian self-government laws, and in the border zones because of natural spillover. In March 1986, an Antenne 2 news team was kidnapped in Beirut while reporting on the Lebanese Civil War, Philippe Rochot, Georges Hansen, Aurel Cornéa and Jean-Louis Normandin were four of many Western hostages held by terrorists during the conflict. Within a year, most of the team had been released and returned to France. On 30 September 2000 France 2 aired the footage of the shooting of Muhammad al-Durrah in the Gaza Strip
4.
France 3
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France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô. The channel also broadcasts various national programming and national and international news from Paris, the channel was known as FR3 or France Régions 3 until its official replacement by France 3 in September 1992. Prior to the establishment of Outre-Mer 1ère, it also broadcast to the various French overseas territories, La 3e Chaîne Couleur began broadcasting at 7, 00pm CET on 20 December 1972. Upon launch, Jean-Louis Guillaud and the head of ORTF, Arthur Conte, went on the air, on 7 October 1974, law reforms signalled the breakup of the ORTF into seven separate state-owned companies. FR3 was launched on 6 January 1975 with its PDG, Claude Contaime, choosing to concentrate on film, debate, by 22 March 1975, daily local programming for the regions had commenced. Some national programming, including Les Jeux de 20 Heures, made use of the regional network by linking up to studios around the country for live features. On the programming front, the networks first national news programme was introduced in 1978 in the form of Soir 3,21 October 1981 saw FR3 begin regular live coverage of the ministers questions of the National Assembly. Advertising was introduced to the network in January 1983, by September 1983, the twelve broadcasting centres around the country were airing an average of 3 hours a day of regional output. Popular programming on Saturday night included the first airings of the American soap opera Dynasty, National and regional news at peaktime was integrated into a new nightly programme, 19|20, launched on 6 May 1986. In 1986, the government of Jacques Chirac put forward the proposal of privatising one of the three public television companies. The original suggestion was to turn FR3 into a private body, changes to the schedule included a supplementary Friday night edition of Thalassa- le magazine de la mer whilst an televised opera was aired every Wednesday night. Popular quiz show Questions pour un champion made its broadcasting début in November 1988, La Classe, an entertainment programme which replaced Les Jeux de 20 heures and followed 19|20, was also introduced. In 1990, the State, through the Conseil Supérieure de lAudiovisuel, at the same time, FR3 was already closing down on Saturday afternoons to allow nine hours of airtime to the educational station La Sept. The arrangement continued until 1992 when the launch of the Franco-German network Arte led to the broadcasters demise, on FR3 itself, the network aired current affairs programming on Saturday mornings including Continentales and LEurojournal, both presented by Alex Taylor. On 7 September 1992, FR3 and Antenne 2 formed France Télévisions and rebranded as France 3, in 1998, France 3 partnered with TPS to launch a satellite station called Régions. Between 2000 and 2005, La Cinquième, RFO and France 4 joined France 2, the late night news programme Soir 3 was given a new, fixed timeslot of 11 pm. With the establishment of digital television, France 3 has seen its national audience share down to under 10%. France 3 is an entertainment channel which has missions to deliver domestic
5.
France 4
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France 4 is a French public channel owned by France Télévisions, dedicated to entertainment. Originally launched as Festival, the channel took its current name in 2005, the colour of France 4 is purple. It is accessible on French DTT, on cable, on satellite, on 24 June 1996, France Télévision established Festival, a satellite channel for the TPS satellite service, which France Télévision co-owned at the time. Festival offered a selection of films and television series, many of them previously seen on France 2, France 3, France Télévisions thus only had space for one more new channel. The group eventually proposes the existing Festival to be the new channel, on October 23,2002, the Conseil supérieur de laudiovisuel authorised Festival to appear in digital. The newly created France 4 proposed to present a variety of entertainment, sports, fiction, cinema, since July 2009, France 4 began broadcasting in 16,9. Since 6 October 2011, France 4 is available in high definition
6.
Canal+
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Canal+ is a French premium cable television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA, the channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted. Unencrypted programming can be viewed free of charge on Canal+ and on satellite on Canal+ Clair, after the announcement about the launch of the fourth French television channel, Canal+ started broadcasting on 4 November 1984. In 1986, the channel had one million subscribers and it has produced numerous films of auteurs, including David Lynchs The Straight Story, Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire. With the launch of the satellite channel CanalSatellite on 27 April 1996. A fourth channel, called Canal+ Vert came along on 31 August 1998, the channels changed their names to Canal+ Confort, Canal+ Cinéma and Canal+ Sport in 1 November 2003. In September 2005, Canal+, Canal+ Cinéma and Canal+ Sport started broadcasting in the French digital terrestrial television network, the free-to-air parts of Canal+ had already been broadcasting for a few months by then. In August 2008, Canal+ started broadcasting the encrypted parts of its channel in high-definition in the terrestrial network. Canal+ announced plans to turn off the analogue signals by 2010. In February 2013, for €29 million per year, Canal+ bought the TV rights for the FIA Formula One World Championship, the same year, the group bought the rights of the English Premier League, the most watched football league in the world. In July 2014, the launch of a new pan-African TV channel - A+ - was announced, based in Abidjan, it aims to become the leading television company in French-speaking Africa. American animated TV Shows, American Dad, drawn Together, Family Guy, South Park and The Tom and Jerry Show. American reality TV Shows, The Simple Life, japanese animated TV Shows, Fullmetal Alchemist, Monster, Noir and Samurai Champloo. British TV Shows, Skins, Merlin, Wire in the Blood, The Office, canadian TV shows, Flashpoint, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Life with Derek, Naturally Sadie, Total Drama, Revenge of the Island. Canadian/French TV Shows, Donkey Kong Country French erotic TV series, X Femmes South Korean TV Series, prior to 2008 it was called Canal+ Le Bouquet. As Canal+ was launched in new markets the brand has used in several countries. When launching additional channels the channels were usually given colour-coded names, such as Canal+ Blue, Canal+ Green, many of these subsidiaries have been sold and as of 2007, only the Spanish and Polish Canal+ were partially owned by French Canal+. Canal+ Spain, launched in 1990 in Spain by Sogecable as a pay channel
7.
Single-elimination tournament
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Where more than two competitors can play in each match, such as in a shootout poker tournament, players are removed when they can no longer play until one player remains from the group. This player moves on to the next round, some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a final stage called playoffs. The round before the quarterfinals is sometimes called the round of sixteen, Last Sixteen, or pre-quarterfinals, earlier rounds are typically numbered counting forwards from the first round, or by the number of remaining competitors. If some competitors get a bye, the round at which they enter may be named the first round, with the matches called a preliminary round. Many Olympic single-elimination tournaments feature the bronze medal if they do not award bronze medals to both losing semifinalists. The FIFA World Cup has long featured the third place match, the number of distinct ways of arranging a single-elimination tournament is given by the Wedderburn–Etherington numbers. Brackets are set up so that the top two seeds could not possibly meet until the round, none of the top four can meet prior to the semifinals. If no seeding is used, the tournament is called a random knockout tournament. One version of seeding is where brackets are set up so that the quarterfinal pairings would be the 1 seed vs. the 8 seed,2 vs.7,3 vs.6 and 4 vs. This may be done after each round, or only at selected intervals, in American team sports, for example, the MLS, NFL and WNBA employ this tactic, but the NBA does not. MLB does not have teams in its playoff tournament where re-seeding would make a large difference in the matchups. In international fencing competitions, it is common to have a group stage, participants are divided in groups of 6–7 fencers who play a round-robin tournament, and a ranking is calculated from the consolidated group results. Single elimination is seeded from this ranking, the single-elimination format enables a relatively large number of competitors to participate. There are no dead matches, and no matches where one competitor has more to play for than the other, the format is less suited to games where draws are frequent. In chess, each fixture in a single-elimination tournament must be played multiple matches, because draws are common. In association football, games ending in a draw may be settled in extra time, another perceived disadvantage is that most competitors are eliminated after relatively few games. Variations such as the tournament allow competitors a single loss while remaining eligible for overall victory
2018–19 Coupe de la Ligue
