1.
The Football Association
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The Football Association, also known simply as the FA, is the governing body of association football in England, and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur, the FA sanctions all competitive football matches within its remit at national level, and indirectly at local level through the County Football Associations. It runs numerous competitions, the most famous of which is the FA Cup, the FA is a member of both UEFA and FIFA and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board which is responsible for the laws of the game. As the first football association, it not use the national name English in its title. The FA is based at Wembley Stadium, London, the FA is a member of the British Olympic Association, meaning that the FA has control over the mens and womens Great Britain Olympic football team. All of Englands professional football teams are members of the Football Association, although it does not run the day-to-day operations of the Premier League, it has veto power over the appointment of the League Chairman and Chief Executive and over any changes to league rules. The English Football League, made up of the three professional divisions below the Premier League, is self-governing, subject to the FAs sanctions. Another set of rules, the Sheffield Rules, was used by a number of clubs in the North of England from the 1850s, eleven London football clubs and schools representatives met on 26 October 1863 to agree on common rules. The founding clubs present at the first meeting were Barnes, Civil Service, Crusaders, Forest of Leytonstone, many of these clubs are now defunct or play rugby union. Civil Service FC, who now plays in the Southern Amateur League, is the one of the original eleven football clubs still in existence. There are only three institutions which have been members of the F. A. since 1863, those being Civil Service, Forest School and Kings College. Central to the creation of the Football Association and modern football was Ebenezer Cobb Morley and he was a founding member of the Football Association in 1863. In 1862, as captain of Barnes, he wrote to Bells Life newspaper proposing a governing body for the sport led to the first meeting at The Freemasons Tavern that created the FA. He was the FAs first secretary and its president and drafted the Laws of the Game generally called the London Rules at his home in Barnes. As a player, he played in the first ever match in 1863, the first version of the rules for the modern game was drawn up over a series of six meetings held in The Freemasons Tavern from October till December. Of the clubs at the first meeting, Crusaders, Surbiton and Charterhouse did not attend the subsequent meetings, replaced instead by the Royal Navy School, Wimbledon School, at the final meeting, F. M. Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA, the term soccer dates back to this split to refer to football played under the association rules. The Richmond side were obviously unimpressed by the new rules in practice because they helped form the Rugby Football Union in 1871
The Football Association
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Photo of the original hand written 'Laws of the game' for association Football drafted for and behalf of The Football Association by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863 on display at the
National Football Museum, Manchester.
The Football Association
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The Football Association
The Football Association
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The
FA Cup trophy used from 1911 to 2013
The Football Association
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Prince William is the current President of the FA
2.
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
UEFA
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Henri Delaunay, the first general secretary of UEFA
UEFA
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Union of European Football Associations
3.
Cap (sport)
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In British sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a players appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in a match of association football. An early illustration of the first international match between Scotland and England in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls, and the English wearing a variety of school caps. These to be termed International Caps, the act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. Thus, a cap is awarded for each game played and so a player who has played x games, the practice of awarding a physical cap varies from sport to sport. It may be awarded prior to a debut or, particularly for national teams. As an example, the England mens association football teams still awards physical caps, Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given a cap for the competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself. In mens association football, the record belongs to former player Ahmed Hassan of Egypt, the first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of Englands Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England,90 of them he obtained whilst he was a captain, however, it is a players choice to refuse to play for or retire from his or her national team. In cricket, there are two types of caps, firstly, there is the international type, as described above. Some countries also award a domestic type generally known as a county cap, the latter system is most commonly applied in English county cricket. Most counties do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance, instead, indeed, one can play at the highest domestic level for several years, and have a quite significant career in first-class cricket, without ever winning a cap. The world record for the number of caps in Test cricket is held by Sachin Tendulkar of India, Tendulkar also holds the record for One Day Internationals, with 463 caps. In rugby union,35 players have reached 100 international caps as of 5 June 2012, Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British and Irish Lions touring squad. Lions matches are classed as full international tests, and caps are awarded, the Pacific Islanders team, composed of players from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands have a similar arrangement, although no players involved have so far reached 100 caps. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, the record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player & captain Darren Lockyer with 59 games and second place is former New Zealand Kiwis player & captain Ruben Wiki with 55 games. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, mens Records and Facts FIFA Players with 100+ Caps RSSSF Picture of International Football Cap National Museum of Scotland Gallery of International Caps and Honours Caps
Cap (sport)
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Sports cap awarded to a Perth Academy schoolboy in the UK in the 1930s
4.
Peter Shilton
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Peter Leslie Shilton OBE is a former English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. The IFFHS ranked Shilton among the top ten keepers of the 20th century in 2000 and his 30-year career includes 11 different clubs, two European Cup finals and more than 1,300 competitive matches. Shilton also represented England at UEFA Euro 1980, the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 1986 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1988 and he has the distinction of playing over 100 league games for five different clubs. Shilton did not make his World Cup finals debut until the age of 32, during his time at Nottingham Forest, Shilton won many honours, including the First Division championship, two European Cups, a UEFA Super Cup, and the Football League Cup. Shilton was a 13-year-old pupil at King Richard III Boys School, Leicester and he caught the eye of first-team goalkeeper Gordon Banks, who commented to the coach about how promising he was. Shilton settled into first team thereafter, even managing to score a goal at The Dell against Southampton in October 1967 direct from a clearance at the opposite end of the pitch. The Southampton goalkeeper, Campbell Forsyth, misjudged Shiltons long punt upfield, the Saints lost the game 5–1. It did not go his way, however, as a goal from Manchester Citys Neil Young early in the match was enough to win the game. Despite the many honours and accolades which were to come Shiltons way, despite playing at a lower level, he impressed England manager Alf Ramsey sufficiently to give him his debut against East Germany in November 1970. Little more than six months later, Leicester were promoted back to the First Division, life with Leicester City continued uneventfully as Shiltons England career progressed. His fourth and fifth England caps came towards the end of 1972 before a tragic incident suddenly saw Shilton propelled into the limelight as Englands number one keeper. In October 1972, Gordon Banks was involved in a car crash which resulted in the loss of the sight in one eye, liverpool goalkeeper Ray Clemence was called up to make his debut a month later in Englands opening qualifier for the 1974 World Cup. Shilton ended up with over 100 caps compared to Clemences 61, Shilton in the summer of 1973 kept three clean sheets as England defeated Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Against Scotland Shilton made a right handed save diving to his left from Kenny Dalglishs shot that Shilton considered among his best saves, while drawing with Czechoslovakia earned Shilton his tenth cap – as a warm-up to a crucial World Cup qualifier against Poland in Chorzów a week later. Shilton was selected by Ramsey for the match, walking out behind captain Martin Peters to earn his 15th cap, aside from one incident, Shilton spent most of the game watching the opposing goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski as he kept shot after shot out of Polands net. When the ball finally did get into the net it was at Shiltons end, midway through the second half, Norman Hunter trod on the ball near the touchline and Poland broke away, with Grzegorz Lato feeding the ball across to the onrushing Jan Domarski. As Domarski moved to hit the ball first time, Shilton got into position to attempt to block the shot, domarskis drive, struck beyond defender Emlyn Hughes challenge, was low and not well hit but was aimed inside the near goalpost and very close to Shilton. Shilton needed to deal with the shot but dived late, leaving the shot too close to his body, and Poland scored
Peter Shilton
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Shilton in December 2008
5.
Wayne Rooney
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Wayne Mark Rooney is an English professional footballer who plays for and captains both Manchester United and the England national team. He has played much of his career as a forward, and he is the record goalscorer for the England national team and for Manchester United. Aged nine, Rooney joined the team of Everton, for whom he made his professional debut in 2002 at the age of 16. He spent two seasons at the Merseyside club, before moving to Manchester United for £25.6 million in the 2004 summer transfer window, in September 2013, Rooney scored his 200th goal for Manchester United. He is currently on 250 goals in all competitions which makes him the top goalscorer of all time. His 195 Premier League goals make him the second top scorer of all time. Rooney holds the record for most goals for one club in the Premier League, Rooney made his senior international debut in February 2003 aged 17, becoming the youngest player to represent England and he is Englands youngest ever goalscorer. He played at UEFA Euro 2004 and scored four goals, briefly becoming the youngest goalscorer in the history of the European Championship, Rooney has since featured at the 2006,2010 and 2014 World Cups and is widely regarded as his countrys best player. He has won the England Player of the Year award four times, with 53 goals in 118 international caps, Rooney is Englands all-time record goalscorer and second most-capped player, behind Peter Shilton. Along with David Beckham, Rooney is the most red carded player for England, in 2009–10, Rooney was awarded the PFA Players Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year. He has won the Premier League Player of the Month award five times and he came fifth in the vote for the 2011 FIFA Ballon dOr and was named in the FIFPro World 11 for 2011. Rooney was born in Croxteth, Liverpool, to Jeanette Marie and he is of Irish descent and was brought up as a Roman Catholic with younger brothers Graham and John, all three attended Our Lady and St Swithins primary school and De La Salle School. Rooney began playing for Liverpool Schoolboys and scored 72 goals in one season, at age nine, Rooney played for Copplehouse boys club in the local Walton and Kirkdale junior league and scored 99 goals in his final season before being spotted by Everton scout Bob Pendleton. Rooney joined Everton at age nine, and was the Everton mascot for the Merseyside derby against Liverpool as an 11-year-old. In the 1995–96 season, he scored 114 goals in 29 games for Evertons under-10s and 11s and he scored eight goals in eight games during Evertons run to the FA Youth Cup final in 2002. This included one goal in the defeat against Aston Villa and, upon scoring, he revealed a T-shirt that read, Once a Blue. Rooney was included in Evertons first team squad for their camp in Austria in the summer of 2002. Rooney was a substitute in Evertons 1–0 away win over Southampton on 20 April 2002
Wayne Rooney
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Wayne Rooney in 2015
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney
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Rooney in a February 2008 match against Arsenal
Wayne Rooney
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Rooney takes on
Andrés Iniesta and
Sergio Busquets of
Barcelona during the
2009 UEFA Champions League Final.
6.
Wembley Stadium
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Wembley Stadium is a football stadium in Wembley, London, England, which opened in 2007, on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002–2003. The stadium hosts football matches including home matches of the England national football team. The stadium will be the home of Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur while White Hart Lane is being demolished. Wembley Stadium is owned by the body of English football. The FA headquarters are based in the stadium, with 90,000 seats, it is the largest football stadium in England, the largest stadium in the UK and the second-largest stadium in Europe. Designed by Populous and Foster and Partners, it includes a retractable roof. The stadium was built by Australian firm Multiplex at a cost of £798 million, a UEFA category four stadium, Wembley hosted the 2011 and 2013 UEFA Champions League Finals, and will host both the semi-finals and final of UEFA Euro 2020. The stadium hosted the Gold medal matches at the 2012 Olympic Games football tournament, the stadium also hosts rugby leagues Challenge Cup final, the NFL International Series and music concerts. The design of the services was carried out by Mott MacDonald. It is one of the most expensive ever built at a cost of £798 million. The all-seater stadium is a design with a capacity of 90,000. It can also be adapted as a stadium by erecting a temporary platform over the lowest tier of seating. The stadiums signature feature is a circular section lattice arch of 7 m internal diameter with a 315 m span, erected some 22° off true and it supports all the weight of the north roof and 60% of the weight of the retractable roof on the southern side. The archway is the worlds longest unsupported roof structure, a platform system has been designed to convert the stadium for athletics use, but its use would decrease the stadiums capacity to approximately 60,000. No athletics events have taken place at the stadium, and none are scheduled, the conversion for athletics use was a condition of part of the lottery funding the stadium received, but to convert it would take weeks of work and cost millions of pounds. Demolition officially began on 30 September 2002, with the Twin Towers being dismantled in December 2002, delays to the construction project started as far back as 2003. In December 2003, the constructors of the arch, subcontractors Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company of Darlington, Cleveland Bridge withdrew from the project and replaced by Dutch firm Hollandia with all the attendant problems of starting over. In October 2005, Sports Minister Richard Caborn announced, They say the Cup Final will be there, by November 2005, WNSL were still hopeful of a handover date of 31 March, in time for the cup final on 13 May
Wembley Stadium
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UEFA
Wembley Stadium
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Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
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Wembley Stadium exterior
Wembley Stadium
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Wembley Stadium interior
7.
List of FIFA country codes
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FIFA assigns a three-letter country code to each of its member and non-member countries. These are the codes used by FIFA and its continental confederations as name abbreviations of countries and dependent areas. There are currently 211 FIFA members, each one with its country code. The following codes refer to countries or dependent areas that are not affiliated with FIFA. Even though they are members or associate members of their regional confederations, the following codes are obsolete because a country has ceased to exist, changed its name, changed its code, or has become part of another country. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation Usenet group
List of FIFA country codes
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Asia
8.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
Kit (association football)
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Pavel Nedvěd pictured in 2006 wearing a typical modern football kit
Kit (association football)
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Modern turf shoes, which are designed to be used on hard artificial turf or sand.
Kit (association football)
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Various styles of goalkeeping gloves
Kit (association football)
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Referee
Howard Webb wearing a black strip
9.
FIFA World Rankings
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The rankings were introduced in December 1992, and eight teams have held the top position, of which Brazil have spent longest ranked first. A points system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of all FIFA-recognised full international matches, the ranking system was most recently revamped after the 2006 World Cup, with the first edition of the new series of rankings issued on 12 July 2006. The most significant change is that the rankings are now based on results over the four years instead of the previous eight years. Alternative systems have been devised, such as the World Football Elo Ratings, based on the Elo rating system used in chess and Go, ranking teams. In December 1992, FIFA first published a listing in order of its member associations to provide a basis for comparison of the relative strengths of these teams. From the following August, this list was more frequently updated, significant changes were implemented in January 1999 and again in July 2006, as a reaction to criticisms of the system. Membership of FIFA has expanded from 167 to 209 since the rankings began, the ranking formula used from August 1993 until December 1998 was very simplistic and quickly became noticed for its lack of supporting factors. When the rankings were introduced, a team received one point for a draw or three for a victory in FIFA-recognised matches – much the same as a traditional league scoring system. This was a simplistic approach, however, and FIFA quickly realised that there were many factors affecting international matches. In order to meet the objective of fairly and accurately comparing the strengths of various national sides. In January 1999, FIFA introduced a system of ranking calculation. For the ranking all matches, their scores and importance were all recorded, only matches for the senior mens national team were included. Separate ranking systems were used for other national sides such as womens and junior teams. The womens rankings were, and still are, based on a procedure which is a version of the Football Elo Ratings. FIFA announced that the system would be updated following the 2006 World Cup. The evaluation period was cut from eight to four years, goals scored and home or away advantage are no longer taken into account, and other aspects of the calculations, including the importance attributed to different types of match, have been revised. The first set of revised rankings and the methodology were announced on 12 July 2006. This change is rooted at least in part in widespread criticism of the ranking system
FIFA World Rankings
10.
World Football Elo Ratings
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The World Football Elo Ratings is a ranking system for mens national association football teams that is published by the website eloratings. net. It is based on the Elo rating system but includes modifications to take various football-specific variables into account, like the margin of victory, importance of a match, and home field advantage. Other implementations of the Elo rating system are possible and there is no single nor any official Elo ranking for football teams. The FIFA World Rankings, not based on the Elo method, is the national teams rating system used by the international governing body of football and is therefore more prevalent. The ratings consider all international A matches for which results could be found, Ratings tend to converge on a teams true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches. Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional, the FIFA Womens World Rankings system uses a modified version of the Elo formula whereas the FIFA mens ranking system uses a non-Elo formula. The following table shows the top 100 teams in the World Football Elo Ratings on 29 March 2017, each national teams FIFA World Rankings are shown as they were in the latest release on 6 April 2017. Time averaged Elo or Elo-like scores are used to compare chess player strengths. The following is a list of the teams with the highest average Elo score from 1 January 1970 to 1 January 2017. Before this time intercontinental play was limited and many nations in Africa, North America. The team in each confederation that has achieved the highest rank is shown in color, the following is a list of national football teams ranked by their highest Elo ranking ever reached. Note that for the highest ranking/rating of a football team the Elo ratings website ignores the ranking/rating before 30 matches have been played. The table below shows the teams with the best average Elo score per decade, a list of the 16 matches between teams with the highest combined Elo ratings. A list of the matches with the biggest point exchange, the nations points before the matches are given. In 1997 Bob Runyan adapted the Elo rating system to international football and he was also the first maintainer of the World Football Elo Ratings web site, now maintained by Kirill Bulygin. The Elo system was adapted for football by adding a weighting for the kind of match, an adjustment for the home advantage. Ratings tend to converge on a teams true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches, Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional. There is no first step as in the FIFA system where a team receives points for the result
World Football Elo Ratings
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Asia
11.
Scotland national football team
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The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the two professional tournaments, the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship. Scotland, as a constituent country of the United Kingdom, is not a member of the International Olympic Committee, the majority of Scotlands home matches are played at the national stadium, Hampden Park. Scotland is the joint oldest national team in the world, alongside England. Scotland has a rivalry with England, whom they played annually from 1872 until 1989. The teams have met six times since then, most recently in November 2016. Scotland have qualified for the FIFA World Cup on eight occasions and the UEFA European Championship twice, the team have achieved some noteworthy results, such as beating the 1966 FIFA World Cup winners England 3–2 at Wembley Stadium in 1967. Archie Gemmill scored what has been described as one of the greatest World Cup goals ever in a 3–2 win during the 1978 World Cup against the Netherlands, in their qualifying group for UEFA Euro 2008, Scotland defeated 2006 World Cup runners-up France 1–0 in both fixtures. Scotland supporters are known as the Tartan Army. The Scottish Football Association operates a roll of honour for every player who has more than 50 appearances for Scotland. Kenny Dalglish holds the record for Scotland appearances, having played 102 times between 1971 and 1986, Dalglish scored 30 goals for Scotland and shares the record for most goals scored with Denis Law. Scotland and England are the oldest national teams in the world. Teams representing the two sides first competed at the Oval in five matches between 1870 and 1872, the two countries contested the first official international football match, at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Scotland, on 30 November 1872. The match ended in a goalless draw, all eleven players who represented Scotland that day played for Glasgow amateur club Queens Park. Over the next forty years, Scotland played matches exclusively against the other three Home Nations—England, Wales and Ireland, the British Home Championship began in 1883, making these games competitive. The encounters against England were particularly fierce and a rivalry quickly developed, Scotland lost just two of their first 43 international matches. It was not until a 2–0 home defeat by Ireland in 1903 that Scotland lost a match to an other than England. This run of success meant that Scotland would have topped the Elo ratings
Scotland national football team
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Illustrations of the
first international football match, hosted by Scotland against
England in 1872.
Scotland national football team
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Scotland
Scotland national football team
Scotland national football team
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Matt Busby was due to manage Scotland at the
1958 FIFA World Cup, but was unable due to his injuries from the
Munich air disaster.
12.
1872 Scotland vs England football match
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Scotland v England was the first ever official international association football match to be played. It was contested by the teams of Scotland and England. The match took place on 30 November 1872 at West of Scotland Cricket Clubs ground at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, the match finished in a 0–0 draw and was watched by 4,000 spectators. Scotland did not record a win in all five matches, the second match was played on 19 November 1870, England 1–0 Scotland,25 February 1871, England 1–1 Scotland,18 November 1871, England 2–1 Scotland,24 February 1872 England 1–0 Scotland. All players selected for the Scottish side in these early internationals were mainly from the London area, the only player affiliated to a Scottish club was Robert Smith of Queens Park FC, Glasgow, who played in the November 1870 match and both of the 1871 games. Robert Smith and James Smith were both listed publicly for the February 1872 game, but neither played in the actual match, after the 1870 matches there was resentment in Scotland that their team did not contain more home grown players. Alcock himself was categorical about where he felt responsibility for this lay, writing in the Scotsman newspaper. The fault lies on the heads of the players of the north, to call the team London Scotchmen contributes nothing. The match was, as announced, to all intents and purposes between England and Scotland, Alcock then proceeded to offer another challenge with a Scottish team drawn from Scotland and proposed the north of England as a venue. Charles W Alcock, Hon Sec of Football Association and Captain of English Eleven, one reason for the absence of a response to Alcocks challenge may have been different football codes being followed in Scotland at the time. A written reply to Alcocks letter above states, Mr Alcocks challenge to meet a Scotch eleven on the borders sounds very well and is doubtless well meant. But it may not be well known that Mr Alcock is a very leading supporter of what is called the association game. Devotees of the rules will find no foemen worthy of their steel in Scotland. Despite this the FA were hoping to play in Scotland as early as February 1872, in 1872, Queens Park, as Scotlands leading club, took up Alcocks challenge, despite the fact there was as yet no Scottish Football Association to sanction it as thus. Appropriately enough, the match was arranged for St Andrews Day, all eleven Scottish players were selected from Queens Park, the leading Scottish club at this time. Scotland had hoped to obtain the services of Arthur Kinnaird of The Wanderers and Henry Renny-Tailyour of Royal Engineers, the English side was selected from nine different clubs and was selected by Charles Alcock, who himself was unable to play due to injury. The match, initially scheduled for 2pm, was delayed for 20 minutes, the 4,000 spectators paid an entry fee of a shilling, the same amount charged at the 1872 FA Cup Final. The Scots wore dark blue shirts, the jerseys having the thistle embroidered
1872 Scotland vs England football match
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Iillustrations of
the first international at
Hamilton Crescent, by William Ralston.
1872 Scotland vs England football match
1872 Scotland vs England football match
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Robert Smith
13.
Partick
–
Partick is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch and to the east, Hillhead, Partick was a Police burgh from 1852 until 1912 when it was incorporated into the city. Partick is the area of the city most connected with the Highlands, some ATMs in the area display Gaelic. The modern name derives from the ancient Cumbric Peartoc and this was adopted into Scottish Gaelic as Peartaig, giving modern Gaelic Pearraig or Pàrtaig. Older anglicised forms include Perdyc and Perthick, Partick, of old Perdyec, from the Gaelic aper dhu ec, meaning the place at the confluence or mouth of the dark river. Although Partick remained a village until the middle of the 18th century, the Kings of Strathclyde had a residence there, and in 1136 David I granted the lands of Perdyc to the see of Glasgow. The Bishops of Glasgow had a seat in Partick. It was later the site of Partick Castle, a home of George Hutcheson. It is historically divided into three areas, south of Dumbarton Road, north of Dumbarton Road and the Partick Hill grand villas. Being within the sphere of influence of the University of Glasgow, traditional industries for the area were shipbuilding and the huge Meadowside Granary employed many residents also. The main street in Partick, Dumbarton Road, has a number of services for residents to use, Partick Burgh Hall is a venue located within Partick. It regularly holds community events and is owned and managed by Culture & Sport Glasgow, the hall was originally built in 1872 and has multiple rooms. The hall is staffed in order to accommodate events and to handle security, private events are also held in the hall. Partick Community Council is an organization which exists in the area to deal with issues within the community and it is the oldest community group in Partick and consists of around twenty elected members. The boundary of this runs from Byres Road to Crow Road. The council is funded by Glasgow City Council by way of an annual grant, examples of activities of the Community Council include, Neighbourhood Watch coordination. Partick Thistle Football Club were formed in the area in 1876, Partick railway station is a trunk station serving as an interchange between the local rail, Glasgow Subway and local bus systems. As well as being the fifth busiest train station in Scotland and it replaced the former Partickhill railway station in 1979
Partick
–
Partick
Partick
–
Doocot beside railway line.
14.
Belfast
–
Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998
Belfast
–
Top: Skyline of Belfast Middle top left to right,
Queen's University Belfast,
Albert Memorial Clock, Belfast, The Boat,
Titanic Belfast Bottom left to right:
Belfast City Hall, view of Belfast with
Samson and Goliath.
Belfast
–
Belfast Castle
Belfast
–
Donegall Square in the early 1900s
Belfast
–
Aftermath of the Blitz in May 1941
15.
Hungary national football team
–
The Hungary national football team represents Hungary in international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. Hungary has a football history, having won three Olympic titles, finishing runners-up in the 1938 and 1954 FIFA World Cups, and third in the 1964 UEFA European Football Championship. The national side first appeared at the Summer Olympic Games in 1912 in Stockholm, the team had to ask for donations in order to be able to go to the games. Hungary lost 7–0 to England and thus were eliminated, after the Olympic Games Hungary played two matches against Russia in Moscow. The first match was won 9–0 and the second 12–0, which is still a record for the national side, the top scorer of the two matches was Imre Schlosser who scored seven goals. The beginning of World War I had a impact on the thriving Hungarian football. Both the country and the clubs were suffering financial problems, during World War I Hungary played Austria 16 times. In 1919 England claimed the exclusion of the Central Powers from FIFA, when FIFA refused Englands plea, the British and Irish associations decided to resign from FIFA. Budapest was denied the opportunity to host the 1920 Summer Olympics, the countries of the Central Powers were excluded from the Olympics. During this period the Fogl brothers played in the national team, the formation the Hungarians used was 2–3–5 which was unique at that time. The national team played at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, in the first match Hungary beat Poland but in the second round they lost to Egypt. As a consequence, both the coach and the head of the Hungarian Football Federation resigned. Between 1927 and 1930, Hungary participated in the Europa Cup, which is considered to be the first international tournament, with Austria, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Russia, in the final, Hungary lost to Russia. On 12 June 1927, Hungary beat France by 13–1, which is still a record, the first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930, but Hungary were not invited and did not take part in the tournament, there were no qualification matches. Hungary first appeared in the 1934 World Cup in Italy, Hungarys first World Cup match was against Egypt on 27 May 1934, a 4–2 win. The goals were scored by Pál Teleki, Géza Toldi and Jenő Vincze, in the quarter-finals, Hungary faced neighbouring arch-rivals Austria but lost 2–1, the only Hungarian goal coming from György Sárosi. Hungary entered the 1936 Olympics, where in the first round they were eliminated by Poland, the 1938 World Cup was held in France. The first match was played against Dutch East Indies and Hungary won 6–0, Sárosi and Gyula Zsengellér each scored twice while Vilmos Kohut and Toldi scored one goal each
Hungary national football team
–
Alfréd Hajós, who won two gold medals in
swimming in the first
Olympic Games in
1896, was one of the first managers of the national team
Hungary national football team
–
Hungary
Hungary national football team
–
The Hungarian national team at the
1912 Summer Olympics
Hungary national football team
–
Hungary versus
Great Britain at the
1912 Summer Olympics
16.
Budapest
–
Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary, one of the largest cities in the European Union and sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. It has an area of 525 square kilometres and a population of about 1.8 million within the limits in 2016. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the Danube river with the unification of Buda and Óbuda on the west bank, the history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia. Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century and their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–1242. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture by the 15th century, following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity, and Budapest became a global city after its unification in 1873. It also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a power that dissolved in 1918. Budapest was the point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils in 1919, the Battle of Budapest in 1945. Budapest is an Alpha- global city, with strengths in arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts the Budapest Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks and it is the highest ranked Central and Eastern European city on Innovation Cities Top 100 index. Budapest attracts 4.4 million international tourists per year, making it the 25th most popular city in the world, further famous landmarks include Andrássy Avenue, St. It has around 80 geothermal springs, the worlds largest thermal water system, second largest synagogue. Budapest is home to the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the European Police College, over 40 colleges and universities are located in Budapest, including the Eötvös Loránd University, Central European University and Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Budapest is the combination of the city names Buda and Pest, One of the first documented occurrences of the combined name Buda-Pest was in 1831 in the book Világ, written by Count István Széchenyi. The origins of the names Buda and Pest are obscure, according to chronicles from the Middle Ages, the name Buda comes from the name of its founder, Bleda, brother of the Hunnic ruler Attila. The theory that Buda was named after a person is also supported by modern scholars, an alternative explanation suggests that Buda derives from the Slavic word вода, voda, a translation of the Latin name Aquincum, which was the main Roman settlement in the region. There are also theories about the origin of the name Pest. One of the states that the word Pest comes from the Roman times. According to another theory, Pest originates from the Slavic word for cave, or oven, the first settlement on the territory of Budapest was built by Celts before 1 AD
Budapest
Budapest
–
From top, left to right:
Hungarian Parliament,
Fisherman's Bastion,
Sándor Palace guard,
Heroes' Square,
National Theatre,
St. Stephen's Basilica and
Széchenyi Chain Bridge by night
Budapest
Budapest
17.
FIFA World Cup
–
The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is Germany, which won its title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. 32 teams, including the qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about a month. The 20 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national teams, Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The worlds first international match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the edition of the British Home Championship. After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906 and these were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition, planned by The Football Association, Englands football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain won the gold medals and they repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm. With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between clubs from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. Lipton invited West Auckland, a side from County Durham. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title, in 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a world football championship for amateurs, and took responsibility for managing the event. This paved the way for the worlds first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928. Those were also the first two world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFAs professional era. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a championship itself. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, in total,13 nations took part, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America
FIFA World Cup
–
The 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony
FIFA World Cup
–
Estadio Centenario, the location of the first World Cup final in 1930 in
Montevideo,
Uruguay
18.
1950 FIFA World Cup
–
The 1950 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950, was the fourth FIFA World Cup. It was the first World Cup since 1938, the planned 1942 and 1946 competitions having been cancelled owing to World War II. It was won by Uruguay, who had won the competition in 1930. It was also the first tournament where the trophy was referred to as the Jules Rimet Cup, because of World War II, the World Cup had not been staged since 1938, the planned World Cups of 1942 and 1946 were both cancelled. After the war, FIFA were keen to resurrect the competition as soon as possible, in the aftermath of the war, much of Europe lay in ruins. Brazils new bid was very similar to the mooted 1942 bid and was quickly accepted, having secured a host nation, FIFA would still dedicate some time to persuading countries to send their national teams to compete. The Italians were eventually persuaded to attend, but travelled by boat rather than by plane, Brazil and Italy qualified automatically, leaving 14 places remaining. Of these, seven were allocated to Europe, six to the Americas, both Germany and Japan were not permitted to participate in qualification. The British nations were invited to take part, having rejoined FIFA four years earlier, after 17 years of self-imposed exile and it was decided to use the 1949–50 British Home Championship as a qualifying group, with the top two teams qualifying. England finished first and Scotland second, argentina, Ecuador and Peru in South America withdrew after the qualifying draw. This meant that Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay qualified from South America by default, in Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Burma all withdrew, leaving India to qualify by default. In Europe, Austria withdrew, claiming its team was too inexperienced, belgium also withdrew from the qualification tournament. These withdrawals meant that Switzerland and Turkey qualified without having to play their round of matches. Before the qualification competition, George Graham, chairman of the Scottish Football Association, had said that Scotland would only travel to Brazil as winners of the Home Championship, Turkey also withdrew, citing financial problems and the cost of travelling to South America. FIFA invited Portugal, Ireland and France, who had both been eliminated in qualifying, to fill the left by Scotland and Turkey. Portugal and Ireland refused, but France initially accepted, and was entered into the draw, the draw, held in Rio on 22 May 1950, allocated the fifteen remaining teams into four groups, The teams pre-tournament Elo rankings are shown in parenthesis. France also withdrew, citing the amount of travel that would be required in Group 4, there was not enough time to invite further replacement teams or to reorganise the groups, so the tournament featured only thirteen teams, with just two nations in Group 4. Of the thirteen teams that competed, only one, England, was making its debut, several of the Latin American teams were competing for the first time since the inaugural 1930 tournament—this included undefeated Uruguay, as well as Mexico, Chile, Paraguay and Bolivia
1950 FIFA World Cup
–
Maracanã Stadium
1950 FIFA World Cup
1950 FIFA World Cup
–
Rio de Janeiro
1950 FIFA World Cup
19.
1966 FIFA World Cup
–
The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the Jules Rimet Trophy, with this victory, England won their first FIFA World Cup title and became the third World Cup host to win the tournament after Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1934. The 1966 Final, held at Wembley Stadium, was the last to be broadcast in black, the tournament held a FIFA record for the largest average attendance, for 28 years, until it was surpassed by the United States in 1994. England was chosen as host of the 1966 World Cup in Rome, Italy on 22 August 1960, over bids from West Germany. Despite the Africans absence, there was another new number of entries for the qualifying tournament. After all the arguments, FIFA finally ruled that ten teams from Europe would qualify, along with four from South America, one from Asia and one from North, Portugal and North Korea qualified for the first time. Portugal would not qualify again until 1986, while North Koreas next appearance was at the 2010 tournament and this was also Switzerlands last World Cup finals until 1994. Notable absentees from this tournament included 1962 semi-finalists Yugoslavia and 1962 finalists Czechoslovakia, the Africans felt that winning their zone was enough in itself to merit qualification for the finals. They also protested against the readmission of South Africa to FIFA in 1963, South Africa was subsequently assigned to Asia and Oceania qualifying group, before being suspended again under pressure from other African nations in October,1964. The format of the 1966 competition remained the same as 1962,16 qualified teams were divided into four groups of four, each group played a round-robin format. Two points were awarded for a win and one point for a draw, the top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage. In the knockout games, if the teams were tied after 90 minutes,30 minutes of time were played. For any match other than the final, if the teams were tied after extra time. The final would have been replayed if tied after extra time, in the event, no replays or drawing of lots was necessary. The 1966 World Cup had a rather unusual hero off the field, in the build-up to the tournament, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen from an exhibition display. A nationwide hunt for the icon ensued and it was later discovered wrapped in newspaper as the dog sniffed under some bushes in London. The FA commissioned a replica cup in case the cup was not found in time. This replica is held at the English National Football Museum in Manchester, where it is on display
1966 FIFA World Cup
–
Eusébio finished as the tournament's top scorer, and also featured in the all-star team
1966 FIFA World Cup
–
1966 FIFA World Cup official logo
1966 FIFA World Cup
–
London
1966 FIFA World Cup
20.
UEFA European Football Championship
–
Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Starting with the 1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form UEFA Euro, prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations compete in a qualifying process. The championship winners earn the opportunity to compete in the following FIFA Confederations Cup, to date, Spain is the only team in history to have won consecutive titles, doing so in 2008 and 2012. It is the second most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup, the Euro 2012 final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million. The most recent championship, hosted by France in 2016, was won by Portugal, in honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. The 1960 tournament, held in France, had four competing in the finals out of 17 that entered the competition. It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a final in Paris. Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the USSR because of two political protests, of the 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable absentees were England, the Netherlands, West Germany and Italy. The hosts beat the holders, the Soviet Union, 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The tournament format stayed the same for the 1968 tournament, hosted, for the first and only time a match was decided on a coin toss and the final went to a replay, after the match against Yugoslavia finished 1–1. More teams entered this tournament, a testament to its burgeoning popularity, Belgium hosted the 1972 tournament, which West Germany won, beating the USSR 3–0 in the final, with goals coming from Gerd Müller and Herbert Wimmer at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. This tournament would provide a taste of things to come, as the German side contained many of the key members of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Champions. The 1976 tournament in Yugoslavia was the last in which four teams took part in the final tournament. Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout, after seven successful conversions, Uli Hoeneß missed, leaving Czechoslovakian Antonín Panenka with the opportunity to score and win the tournament. An audacious chipped shot, described by UEFA as perhaps the most famous spot kick of all time secured the victory as Czechoslovakia won 5–3 on penalties, the competition was expanded to eight teams in the 1980 tournament, again hosted by Italy. It involved a stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final. West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2–1, Horst Hrubesch scored early in the first half before René Vandereycken equalised for Belgium with a penalty in the second half. With two minutes remaining, Hrubesch headed the winner for West Germany from a Karl-Heinz Rummenigge corner, the format also changed, with the top two teams in each group going through to a semi-final stage, instead of the winners of each group going straight into the final
UEFA European Football Championship
–
The UEFA Euro 2012 opening ceremony
UEFA European Football Championship
–
UEFA European Championship Trophy
21.
UEFA Euro 1968
–
The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third European Football Championship, an event held four years. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968 and it was in this year that the tournament changed its name from the European Nations Cup to the European Championship. There were also changes in the tournaments qualifying structure, with the two-legged home-and-away knock-out stage being replaced by a group phase. Only four countries played in the final tournament, there were semi-finals, the final and a third place match. The hosts were announced after the qualifying round, which meant that they had to qualify along with all the others for the final stage. The qualification competition was played in two stages, a stage and the quarter-finals. There were eight qualifying groups of four teams each with the exception of group 4, the matches were played in a home-and-away basis. Victories were worth 2 points, draws 1 point, and defeats 0 points, only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis, the winners of the quarter-finals would go through to the final tournament. The following teams participated in the tournament, In all matches but the final, extra time. If the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner, seven goals were scored by six different players in the five matches, for an average of 1.4 goals per game. None of the goals were credited as own goals, yugoslavias Dragan Džajić was the top scorer by virtue of being the only player to score more than one goal. 2 goals Dragan Džajić1 goal Luigi Riva Angelo Domenghini Pietro Anastasi Geoff Hurst Bobby Charlton UEFA Team of the Tournament
UEFA Euro 1968
UEFA Euro 1968
–
UEFA Euro 1968 official logo
UEFA Euro 1968
UEFA Euro 1968
22.
UEFA Euro 1996
–
It took place in England from 8 to 30 June 1996. It was the first European Championship to feature 16 finalists, following UEFAs decision to expand the tournament from eight teams. Germany won the tournament, beating the Czech Republic 2–1 in the final with a goal during extra time. This was also Germanys first major title won as a unified nation, at the time of the bidding process, it had not yet been confirmed that sixteen teams would be participating. Instead, the bids were largely prepared as if hosting an eight-team tournament, all candidates had to submit their plans by 10 December 1991. The hosting of the event was contested by five bids, Austria, England, Greece, the English bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Lisbon on 5 May 1992. In the year preceding the decision, the English FA had dropped out plans to bid for the 1998 World Cup in order to gain the support of other UEFA members who were planning to bid for that event. The hosts, England, drew 1–1 with Switzerland in the match of Group A when Alan Shearers 23rd-minute goal was equalled by a late Kubilay Türkyilmaz penalty kick. England defeated rivals Scotland 2–0 in their game, and then produced one of their finest performances ever with a 4–1 win over the Netherlands. Patrick Kluiverts late goal for the Netherlands secured his second place in the group. Group B had Western European France and Spain, along with Balkan World Cup participants Romania and Bulgaria. France and Spain dominated the group, with France avenging Bulgaria for the 1994 qualification debacle, groups C and D saw the Czech Republic and Croatia, whose national teams had only recently come into existence, qualify for the knockout stages. The Czechs lost to Germany, the group winners, in their opener. Italys defeat meant they had to beat Germany in their game to progress. In Group D, Croatia qualified for the quarter-finals, with wins over Turkey, the loss to the Croats ultimately sent the Danes, the surprise champions of 1992, home. Turkey became the first team since the introduction of a stage to be eliminated without gaining a point or scoring a goal. The other three quarter-finalists were Portugal, Spain, and a France team featuring a young Zinedine Zidane. The knockout stages were characterised by negative, defensive play, as a result, only nine goals were scored in the seven games, the first quarter-final between the hosts and Spain ended goalless, after Spain had two goals disallowed and two claims for a penalty denied
UEFA Euro 1996
–
Group A game
Scotland v
Netherlands at
Villa Park
UEFA Euro 1996
–
UEFA Euro 1996 official logo Football Comes Home
UEFA Euro 1996
–
View of
Wembley Stadium from
Wembley Way before the
Germany v
England semi-final
UEFA Euro 1996
23.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
England
–
Stonehenge, a
Neolithic monument
England
–
Flag
England
–
Boudica led an uprising against the
Roman Empire
England
–
Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial
helmet from the
Kingdom of East Anglia, found at
Sutton Hoo
24.
Football in England
–
Today Englands top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in the world, with six of the ten richest football clubs in the world. The England national football team is one of only 8 teams to win the World Cup, a total of five English club teams have won the UEFA Champions League. Football was played in England as far back as medieval times, kicking ball games are described in England from 1280. An account of an exclusively kicking game from Nottinghamshire in the fifteenth century bears similarity to association football. By the 16th centuries references to organised teams and goals had appeared, there is evidence for refereed, team football games being played in English schools since at least 1581. The eighteenth-century Gymnastic Society of London is, arguably, the worlds first football club, the Cambridge rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, during the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School also devised a set of rules. These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association in 1863, the Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games. A match between Sheffield and Hallam F. C. on 29 December 1862 was one of the first matches to be recorded in a newspaper, on 8 March 1873, the England national teams 4–2 win over Scotland at the Oval was the first ever victory in international football. The late nineteenth century was dominated by the split between the amateur and professional teams, which was roughly aligned along a North-South divide. Northern clubs were keen to adopt professionalism as workers could not afford to play on an amateur basis, preston North End were inaugural winners in 1888–89, and were also the first club to complete the double of both winning the league and the FA Cup. Aston Villa repeated the feat in 1896–97 and it remained at 40 until the league was suspended after the 1914–15 season with the outbreak of World War I. Other clubs to win titles in this period include Sheffield United, Manchester United. During the war, competitive football was suspended, however, an unofficial Wartime Football league was played from 1915–16 to 1918–19, although the FA Cup was suspended until after the war. The next season the league was expanded with the Third Division divided into North and South sections. In the 1923–24 season the Third Division North was expanded to 22 clubs, Bolton Wanderers defeated West Ham United to win this landmark game. Bolton Wanderers would win the FA Cup on three occasions during the 1920s, by the turn of the 1930s, the national side regularly played against other national teams from outside the British Isles
Football in England
–
The
England national team playing at
Wembley (2007).
Football in England
–
Duncan Edwards was a highly rated midfielder died as a result of the
Munich Air Disaster in 1958
Football in England
–
Memorial to the 1989
Hillsborough disaster at the stadium. The disaster resulted in a modernisation of English stadia.
Football in England
–
Under Scottish manager
Alex Ferguson,
Manchester United were the dominant team in the first 20 years of the
Premier League
25.
Scotland v England (1872)
–
Scotland v England was the first ever official international association football match to be played. It was contested by the teams of Scotland and England. The match took place on 30 November 1872 at West of Scotland Cricket Clubs ground at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, the match finished in a 0–0 draw and was watched by 4,000 spectators. Scotland did not record a win in all five matches, the second match was played on 19 November 1870, England 1–0 Scotland,25 February 1871, England 1–1 Scotland,18 November 1871, England 2–1 Scotland,24 February 1872 England 1–0 Scotland. All players selected for the Scottish side in these early internationals were mainly from the London area, the only player affiliated to a Scottish club was Robert Smith of Queens Park FC, Glasgow, who played in the November 1870 match and both of the 1871 games. Robert Smith and James Smith were both listed publicly for the February 1872 game, but neither played in the actual match, after the 1870 matches there was resentment in Scotland that their team did not contain more home grown players. Alcock himself was categorical about where he felt responsibility for this lay, writing in the Scotsman newspaper. The fault lies on the heads of the players of the north, to call the team London Scotchmen contributes nothing. The match was, as announced, to all intents and purposes between England and Scotland, Alcock then proceeded to offer another challenge with a Scottish team drawn from Scotland and proposed the north of England as a venue. Charles W Alcock, Hon Sec of Football Association and Captain of English Eleven, one reason for the absence of a response to Alcocks challenge may have been different football codes being followed in Scotland at the time. A written reply to Alcocks letter above states, Mr Alcocks challenge to meet a Scotch eleven on the borders sounds very well and is doubtless well meant. But it may not be well known that Mr Alcock is a very leading supporter of what is called the association game. Devotees of the rules will find no foemen worthy of their steel in Scotland. Despite this the FA were hoping to play in Scotland as early as February 1872, in 1872, Queens Park, as Scotlands leading club, took up Alcocks challenge, despite the fact there was as yet no Scottish Football Association to sanction it as thus. Appropriately enough, the match was arranged for St Andrews Day, all eleven Scottish players were selected from Queens Park, the leading Scottish club at this time. Scotland had hoped to obtain the services of Arthur Kinnaird of The Wanderers and Henry Renny-Tailyour of Royal Engineers, the English side was selected from nine different clubs and was selected by Charles Alcock, who himself was unable to play due to injury. The match, initially scheduled for 2pm, was delayed for 20 minutes, the 4,000 spectators paid an entry fee of a shilling, the same amount charged at the 1872 FA Cup Final. The Scots wore dark blue shirts, the jerseys having the thistle embroidered
Scotland v England (1872)
–
Iillustrations of
the first international at
Hamilton Crescent, by William Ralston.
Scotland v England (1872)
Scotland v England (1872)
–
Robert Smith
26.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
United Kingdom
–
Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
–
Flag
United Kingdom
–
The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
–
The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
27.
UEFA European Championship
–
Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Starting with the 1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form UEFA Euro, prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations compete in a qualifying process. The championship winners earn the opportunity to compete in the following FIFA Confederations Cup, to date, Spain is the only team in history to have won consecutive titles, doing so in 2008 and 2012. It is the second most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup, the Euro 2012 final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million. The most recent championship, hosted by France in 2016, was won by Portugal, in honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. The 1960 tournament, held in France, had four competing in the finals out of 17 that entered the competition. It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a final in Paris. Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the USSR because of two political protests, of the 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable absentees were England, the Netherlands, West Germany and Italy. The hosts beat the holders, the Soviet Union, 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The tournament format stayed the same for the 1968 tournament, hosted, for the first and only time a match was decided on a coin toss and the final went to a replay, after the match against Yugoslavia finished 1–1. More teams entered this tournament, a testament to its burgeoning popularity, Belgium hosted the 1972 tournament, which West Germany won, beating the USSR 3–0 in the final, with goals coming from Gerd Müller and Herbert Wimmer at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. This tournament would provide a taste of things to come, as the German side contained many of the key members of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Champions. The 1976 tournament in Yugoslavia was the last in which four teams took part in the final tournament. Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout, after seven successful conversions, Uli Hoeneß missed, leaving Czechoslovakian Antonín Panenka with the opportunity to score and win the tournament. An audacious chipped shot, described by UEFA as perhaps the most famous spot kick of all time secured the victory as Czechoslovakia won 5–3 on penalties, the competition was expanded to eight teams in the 1980 tournament, again hosted by Italy. It involved a stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final. West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2–1, Horst Hrubesch scored early in the first half before René Vandereycken equalised for Belgium with a penalty in the second half. With two minutes remaining, Hrubesch headed the winner for West Germany from a Karl-Heinz Rummenigge corner, the format also changed, with the top two teams in each group going through to a semi-final stage, instead of the winners of each group going straight into the final
UEFA European Championship
–
The UEFA Euro 2012 opening ceremony
UEFA European Championship
–
UEFA European Championship Trophy
28.
FIFA Confederations Cup
–
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
FIFA Confederations Cup
–
Germany against
Brazil in the
Grundig-Stadion in
Nuremberg, Germany in the
2005 FIFA Confederations Cup
29.
1990 FIFA World Cup
–
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, teams representing 116 national football associations entered, and qualification began in April 1988. A total of 22 teams qualified from this process, along with host nation Italy, the tournament was won by West Germany, their third World Cup title. They beat Argentina 1–0 in the final, a rematch of the final four years earlier. Italy finished third, and England fourth, after both lost their semi-finals in penalty shootouts and this was the last tournament to feature a team from the divided Germany, with the country being reunified later in 1990. Costa Rica, Ireland and the UAE made their first appearances in the finals, the official match ball was the Adidas Etrusco Unico. The 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the poorest World Cups and it generated an average 2.21 goals per game – a record low that still stands – and a then-record 16 red cards, including the first ever dismissal in a final. This World Cup saw the introduction of the pre-match Fair Play Flag to encourage fair play, negative tactics led to the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992, and three points for a win instead of two at future World Cups. Nonetheless, the 1990 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history and this was the first World Cup to be officially recorded and transmitted in HDTV by the Italian broadcaster RAI in association with Japans NHK. At the time it was the most watched World Cup in history in non-unique viewers, the vote to choose the hosts of the 1990 tournament was held on 19 May 1984 in Zürich, Switzerland. Here, the FIFA Executive Committee chose Italy ahead of the rival bid. This awarding made Italy only the nation to host two World Cup tournaments, after Mexico had also achieved this with their 1986 staging. Italy had previously had the event in 1934, where they had won their first championship, Austria, England, France, Greece, West Germany and Yugoslavia also submitted initial applications for 31 July 1983 deadline. A month later, only England, Greece, Italy and the Soviet Union remained in the hunt after the other contenders all withdrew, all four bids were assessed by FIFA in late 1983, with the final decision over-running into 1984 due to the volume of paperwork involved. In early 1984, England and Greece also withdrew, leading to a race in the final vote. 116 teams entered the 1990 World Cup, including Italy as host nation and Argentina as reigning World Cup champions, thus, the remaining 22 finals places were divided among the continental confederations, with 114 initially entering the qualification competition. Due to rejected entries and withdrawals,103 teams eventually participated in the qualifying stages, thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams, three by CONMEBOL teams, two by CAF teams, two by AFC teams, and two by CONCACAF teams. The remaining place was decided by a play-off between a CONMEBOL team and a team from the OFC, chile were also banned from the 1994 qualifiers for this offence
1990 FIFA World Cup
–
Rome
1990 FIFA World Cup
–
1990 FIFA World Cup official logo
1990 FIFA World Cup
1990 FIFA World Cup
30.
History of the England national football team
–
The history of the England national football team begins with the first ever international football match in 1870. They have won one World Cup, in 1966 on home soil, however, the team has never made it to the final of the competition, their best performances being a semi final in Euro 1968 and Euro 1996. Englands first ever international matches were arranged by influential sports administrator CW Alcock under the auspices of the Football Association. The first five matches, which all took place at The Oval. However, these are not considered full internationals by FIFA because the Scotland teams were composed entirely of London-based Scottish players, Englands first FIFA recognised international football match was a 0–0 draw against Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Glasgow, on 30 November 1872. In this game, Scotland was represented by players from Glasgows Queens Park F. C, the first official English team was, R Barker, goal, E H Greenhalgh, three-quarter back, R C Welch, half back, F Chappell, fly-kick, capt. Cuthbert Ottaway, middle, C J Chenery, middle, J C Clegg, middle, A S Kirke Smith, middle, J Brockbank right side, W J Maynard left side, the following year, England beat Scotland 4–2 at the Kennington Oval. But in 1878, a resurgent Scotland thrashed England 7–2 at Hampden Park in Glasgow, the record defeat stood for 77 years, until England beat Scotland 7–2 at Wembley Stadium during the 1955 British Home Championships. Over the next 40 years, England played mostly Scotland, Wales and this was partly due to the dominance of the United Kingdom in international football, and the problems of arranging continental internationals before the advent of air travel. England faced its first continental opposition in a tour of Central Europe in 1908, the English team beat Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. Englands first defeat outside the British Isles was a 4–3 loss to Spain in Madrid in 1929, although the FA had joined FIFA in 1906, the relationship with the British associations was fraught. In 1928, the British nations withdrew from FIFA, in a dispute over payments to amateur players and this meant that England did not enter the first three World Cups. However, they did defeat 1934 World Cup winners Italy 3–2, on 1 December 1937, Stanley Matthews scored a hat-trick in Englands 5–4 victory over Czechoslovakia. The England team also included Vic Woodley, Wilf Copping, Stan Cullis, Len Goulden, Willie Hall, John Morton, in May 1938, England toured Europe. The first match was against Germany in Berlin, adolf Hitler wanted the game to be a showcase for Nazi propaganda. Reluctantly the England team raised their arms, except for Stan Cullis who refused. The game was watched by 110,000 people as well as senior Nazis, including Hermann Göring, the game included a goal scored by Len Goulden that Stanley Matthews described as the greatest goal I ever saw in football. According to Matthews, On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, three days later, Neville Chamberlain declared war on Germany
History of the England national football team
–
The Sun headline in November 1993. 18 months earlier Taylor had been targeted by the paper as a "Turnip", after a defeat by Sweden.
History of the England national football team
–
England: 2006's FIFA World Cup
History of the England national football team
–
Capello
31.
Hamilton Crescent
–
Hamilton Crescent is a cricket ground located in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club, Hamilton Crescent hosted the first ever international football match, played between Scotland and England. The game was played on 30 November 1872, ended in a goalless draw, further international matches were held here in 1874 and 1876, before being moved to Hampden Park. The Scottish Cup Final of 1877 was also held at Hamilton Crescent
Hamilton Crescent
–
Hamilton Crescent
32.
Home Nations
–
The Home Nations, or Home Countries, refers collectively to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and in certain sports contexts, to England, Scotland, Wales and the whole island of Ireland. The term Home Countries is also used, and is synonymous. The Crown Dependencies are not part of the United Kingdom, but are associated with it. In association football, the Home Nations originally referred to the four national teams of the United Kingdom, England, Ireland, Scotland. The English Football Association, and the media used the term Home Nations to describe the parties to the debate. In the event, a team consisting only of English and Welsh players took part, in 1883, the first Home Nations Championship was played between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. At this point in its history, the competition contained only teams from the UK, in 1910, France officially joined the competition and it was renamed the Five Nations Championship. Since the admission of Italy in 2000, the tournament has been known by its current name, victory by any Home Nation over the other three Home Nations is a Triple Crown. The Home Nations also contribute players to a team known as the British and Irish Lions. Southern Hemisphere teams who beat all four nations in one tour are said to have a Grand Slam Tour. The Amateur Four Nations competition in rugby league, run annually from 2002 to 2007 for the A sides of Wales, terminology of the British Isles Countries of the United Kingdom
Home Nations
–
A map of the Home Nations of the
UK White:
England; Yellow:
Northern Ireland; Blue:
Scotland; and Red:
Wales
33.
Wales national football team
–
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales, the body for football in Wales. During their history, Wales have qualified for two international tournaments. They reached the quarter-finals of the 1958 FIFA World Cup and they reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 after beating Belgium in the quarter-final match on 1 July 2016. This was, therefore, the first time that Wales had reached the semi-final of a major tournament, Wales also progressed through UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying to the quarter-final, which was played on a home and away leg basis but they did not feature in the finals tournament. At all levels including the teams the Welsh national team draws players primarily from clubs in the English football league system. The main professional Welsh clubs play in the English leagues, with some full-time and part-time professional clubs playing in the Welsh football league system. Wales played its first competitive match on 25 March 1876 against Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland took the spoils winning 2–0. Wales first match against England came in 1879 – a 2–1 defeat at the Kennington Oval, London and in 1882 Wales faced Ireland for the first time, the associations of the four Home Nations met in Manchester on 6 December 1882 to set down a set of worldwide rules. This meeting saw the establishment of the International Football Association Board to approve changes to the rules, the 1883–84 season saw the formation of the British Home Championship, a tournament which was played annually between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, until 1983–84. Wales were champions on 12 occasions, winning seven times whilst sharing the title five times. As a result, Wales did not enter the first three World Cups, in 1932 Wales played host to the Republic of Ireland, the first time they played against a side from outside the four home nations. A year later, Wales played a match outside the United Kingdom for the first time when they travelled to Paris to take on France in a match which was drawn 1–1. The top two teams were to qualify for the finals in Brazil, but Wales finished bottom of the group. The 1950s were an age for Welsh football with stars such as Ivor Allchurch, Cliff Jones, Alf Sherwood, Jack Kelsey, Trevor Ford, Ronnie Burgess, Terry Medwin. Wales made its only World Cup finals tournament appearance in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, however, their path to qualification was unusual. In the Asian/African qualifying zone Egypt and Sudan had refused to play against Israel following the Suez crisis, as a result, FIFA proclaimed Israel winners of their respective group. However, FIFA did not want a team to qualify for the World Cup finals without actually playing a match and so lots were drawn of all the second placed teams in UEFA
Wales national football team
–
John Charles on international duty for Wales, against Scotland, 1954
Wales national football team
–
Wales
Wales national football team
–
Carl Fletcher playing for Wales in
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 4 in 2008 against
Russia
Wales national football team
–
The Wales team on 11 October 2011 ahead of their
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against
Bulgaria in
Sofia
34.
FIFA
–
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is the international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer. FIFA is responsible for the organisation of major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930. FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 211 national associations, although FIFA does not control the rules of football, it is responsible for both the organization of a number of tournaments and their promotion, which generate revenue from sponsorship. In 2013, FIFA had revenues of over 1.3 billion U. S. dollars, for a net profit of 72 million and those among these officials who were also indicted in the U. S. are expected to be extradited to face charges there as well. Many officials were suspended by FIFAs ethics committee including Sepp Blatter, in early 2017 reports became public about FIFA president Gianni Infantino attempting to prevent the re-elections of both chairmen of the ethics committee during the FIFA congress in May 2017. The need for a body to oversee association football became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The French name and acronym are used even outside French-speaking countries, the founding members were the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Also, that day, the German Association declared its intention of affiliating through a telegram. The first president of FIFA was Robert Guérin, Guérin was replaced in 1906 by Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by then a member of the association. Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1909, Argentina in 1912, Canada and Chile in 1913, and the United States in 1914. During World War I, with players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl Hirschmann and it was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations, who cited an unwillingness to participate in international competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home Nations later resumed their membership, the FIFA collection is held by the National Football Museum at Urbis in Manchester, England. The first World Cup in the world was in 1930 in Montevideo, FIFA is headquartered in Zürich, and is an association established under the Law of Switzerland. FIFAs supreme body is the FIFA Congress, a made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. Each national football association has one vote, regardless of its size or footballing strength, the Congress assembles in ordinary session once every year, and extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. The congress makes decisions relating to FIFAs governing statutes and their method of implementation and application, only the Congress can pass changes to FIFAs statutes
FIFA
–
FIFA headquarters
FIFA
–
Map of the members of FIFA according to their confederation
35.
Wembley Stadium (1923)
–
The Original Wembley Stadium was a football stadium located in Wembley Park, London. It stood on the now occupied by its successor, the new Wembley Stadium. The great Brazilian footballer Pelé once said of the stadium, Wembley is the cathedral of football and it is the capital of football and it is the heart of football in recognition of its status as the worlds best-known football stadium. It also hosted music events, including the 1985 Live Aid charity concert. The twin towers were an icon for England and Wembley, debris from the Original Wembley Stadium was used to make the award-winning Northala Fields in Northolt, Ealing. The stadiums first turf was cut by King George V, much of Humphrey Reptons original Wembley Park landscape was transformed in 1922–23 during preparations for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924–25. First known as the British Empire Exhibition Stadium or simply Empire Stadium, the stadium cost £750,000, and was constructed on the site of an earlier folly called Watkins Tower. The architects were Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton and the Head Engineer Sir Owen Williams, the stadium had gone into liquidation, after it was pronounced financially unviable. Elvin offered to buy the stadium for £127,000, using a £12,000 downpayment and they then immediately bought it back from Elvin, leaving him with a healthy profit. Instead of cash he received shares, which gave him the largest stake in Wembley Stadium, the electric scoreboard and the all-encircling roof, made from aluminium and translucent glass, were added in 1963. The stadiums distinctive Twin Towers became its trademark and nickname, also well known were the 39 steps needed to be climbed to reach the Royal box and collect a trophy. Wembley was the first pitch to be referred to as Hallowed Turf, in 1934, the Empire Pool was built nearby. The Wembley Stadium Collection is held by the National Football Museum, the stadium closed in October 2000, and demolition commenced in December 2002, completing in 2003 for redevelopment. The top of one of the towers was erected as a memorial in the park on the north side of Overton Close in the Saint Raphaels Estate. Wembley is best known for hosting football matches, having hosted the FA Cup Final annually as well as numerous England International fixtures, the Empire Stadium was built in exactly 300 days at the cost of £750,000. Described as the worlds greatest sporting arena, it was ready only 4 days before the White Horse Final in 1923, the FA had not considered admission by ticket, grossly underestimating the number of fans who arrived at the 104 gates on match day. However, after the game, every event, apart from the 1982 replay, was ticketed, the first event held at the stadium was the FA Cup Final on 28 April 1923 between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United. This is known as the White Horse Final, the crowds overflowed onto the pitch as there was no room on the terraces
Wembley Stadium (1923)
–
View from
Wembley Way before the
Germany v
England semi-final at
Euro 96
Wembley Stadium (1923)
–
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (1923)
–
The Twin Towers of Wembley Stadium, 1995.
Wembley Stadium (1923)
–
The Royal Box in 1986.
36.
England v United States (1950)
–
The United States mens soccer team defeated England 1–0 on June 29,1950, in a group match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup at Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The result is notable as one of the biggest shocks in the tournaments history, before the game, England were heavy favorites against a hastily assembled U. S. team, which was composed of part-time players. The games only goal was scored by the U. S. s Haitian-born center forward Joe Gaetjens. This game and the U. S. team were profiled by author Geoffrey Douglas in his book The Game of Their Lives, each team had played one previous match in the group, England having beaten Chile 2–0 and the United States losing 3–1 to Spain. At the time, the English had a reputation as the Kings of Football, with a record of 23 wins,4 losses. They had beaten the Italians 4–0 and the Portuguese 10–0 in Lisbon two weeks before that, the odds were 3–1 the English would win the Cup, and 500–1 for the U. S. As such, the committee opted to stay with the team that had just defeated Chile. Matthews would be saved for later, supposedly more difficult, opponents, as there were no substitutes allowed in those days, Matthews watched the game with the other reserves. The American team consisted of players, most of whom had other jobs to support their families. Walter Bahr was a school teacher, Frank Borghi drove a hearse for his uncles funeral home. One player, Ben McLaughlin, had to withdraw from the tournament because he could not get time off work. S, citizens—had been added to the roster just before that game. We have no chance, recently appointed coach Bill Jeffrey told the press, the English Daily Express newspaper wrote, It would be fair to give the U. S. three goals of a start. England won the toss and elected to kick off, within ninety seconds, Stanley Mortensen sent a cross from the left wing to Roy Bentley, who let off a shot that was barely pushed aside by U. S. goalkeeper Frank Borghi. By the 12th minute, England had six shots on goal but could not convert. The U. S. struggled to move to the offense, and finally managed a shot on goal in the 25th minute, the English counterattacked with three successive clear shots at the goal in minutes 30,31, and 32, but failed to score. Mortensen twice went over the crossbar, and Tom Finneys header to the top corner was tipped away by Borghi, the crowd exploded as the U. S. improbably led 1–0. As the half drew to a close, Finney had a chance to equalize, the crowd, initially 10,000, increased as Brazilian locals heard radio coverage of the match. Attendants were mostly supporting for the underdog Americans, cheering with Borghis defenses, according to Bahr, The overwhelming majority was Brazilians, but they rooted for us the entire time
England v United States (1950)
–
United States
37.
Republic of Ireland national football team
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The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland and plays its home fixtures at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, the team made their debut at the 1924 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals. Between 1924 and 1936, the team competed as the Irish Free State and from then until 1950, Northern Ireland was allowed to use the title Ireland by FIFA in the Home International Competition until it was discontinued in 1984. The Republic of Ireland was the first nation from outside the United Kingdom to defeat England at home at a fixture played at Goodison Park, Liverpool, the team also reached the quarter-final stage of the 1964 European Nations Cup, where they lost to the eventual winners Spain. Charltons successor Mick McCarthy lost out on the two major tournaments but ultimately qualified for the 2002 World Cup, making it to the last 16. Under Giovanni Trapattoni, the narrowly lost out on qualification for the 2010 World Cup during a controversial play-off. The team failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Republic of Ireland also fell to a record low FIFA ranking of 59th, then a record low of 70th in June 2014. The Boys in Green reached the Round of 16 stage at that tournament and were knocked out by the hosts, between 1882 and 1924, Ireland was represented by a single national football team organised by the Belfast-based Irish Football Association. In 1923, the FAIFS was recognised by FIFA as the body of the Irish Free State and at the 1924 Summer Olympics. On 28 May, at the Stade Olympique, they beat Bulgaria 1–0, as a result, they qualified for the quarter-finals. On 14 June 1924, the Irish Free State made their debut against the United States. Ed Brookes scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 home win at Dalymount Park, the Irish Free State did not play their next game until 21 March 1926, an away game against Italy lost 3–0. In subsequent years, the status of the Olympic Games football competition was downgraded and as a result, on 25 February 1934, the Irish Free State made their FIFA World Cup debut, drawing 4–4 with Belgium at Dalymount Park in a 1934 FIFA World Cup qualifier. Paddy Moore scored all four of the Free States goals and became the first player ever to four goals in a World Cup game. After 1936, they reverted to the designation Football Association of Ireland, during this entire period, there were two Irish international football teams, chosen by two rival Associations. FIFA eventually intervened when both teams entered 1950 World Cup qualification, the first time they had entered the same competition, four players – Tom Aherne, Reg Ryan, Davy Walsh, Con Martin – actually played for the two different teams in the same FIFA World Cup tournament. All four players concerned had been born in the Irish Free State and this may have alarmed the FAI, since they subsequently lobbied FIFA to prevent the IFA from picking Southern-born players. e. Initially the FIFA World Cup and subsequently the European Nations Cup, FIFA decreed that the FAI team officially be called the Republic of Ireland while the IFA team was to be named Northern Ireland
Republic of Ireland national football team
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Ireland playing
Netherlands at the
Citrus Bowl in
Orlando, Florida, USA where they lost 2–0 in the Round of 16 of the
3 (16 October 2017)
(5 July 2017)
Scotland 0–0 England 
Hungary 7–1 England 
.jpg)
Martyn Margetson
Slovakia, 4 September 2017 INJ
Slovenia, 5 October 2017 INJ
France, 13 June 2017
Scotland, 10 June 2017 INJ
Lithuania, 26 March 2017
Spain, 15 November 2016
Germany, 22 March 2017 INJ
69'
47'
1930
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1976 USA Bicentennial Cup Tournament
1998 King Hassan II International Cup Tournament
