1.
Spanish naming customs
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Spanish naming customs are historical traditions for naming children practised in Spain. According to these customs, a persons name consists of a name followed by two family names. The first surname is usually the fathers first surname, and the second the mothers first surname, in recent years, the order of the surnames can be reversed at birth if it is so decided by the parents. Currently in Spain, people bear a single or composite given name, a composite given name comprises two single names, for example Juan Pablo is considered not to be a first and a second forename, but a single composite forename. The two surnames refer to each of the parental families, traditionally, a persons first surname is the fathers first surname, and the second one is the mothers first surname. From 2013, if the parents of a child are unable to agree on order of surnames, the law also grants a person the option, upon reaching adulthood, of reversing the order of their surnames. Each surname can also be composite, the parts usually linked by the y or e. For example, a name might be Juan Pablo Fernández de Calderón García-Iglesias, consisting of a forename, a paternal surname. There are times when it is impossible, by inspection of a name, for example, the writer Sebastià Juan Arbó was alphabetised by the Library of Congress for many years under Arbó, assuming that Sebastiá and Juan were both given names. However, Juan was actually his first surname, to resolve questions like this, which typically involve very common names, one must consult the person involved, or legal documents. A man named José Antonio Gómez Iglesias would normally be addressed as either señor Gómez or señor Gómez Iglesias instead of señor Iglesias, because Gómez is his first surname. Furthermore, Mr. Gómez might be addressed as José Antonio, José, Pepe, Antonio, or Toño Jose, Joselito, Josito, Joselillo, Josico or Joselín, Antoñito, Tonín or Nono. Very formally, he could be addressed with an honorific as don José Antonio or don José, colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez is sometimes incorrectly referred to in English media as Mr. Márquez, when it should be Mr. García Márquez or, simply, Mr. García. It is not unusual, when the first surname is very common, for example, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is often called simply Zapatero, the name he inherited from his mothers family, since Rodríguez is a common surname and may be ambiguous. The same occurs with another former Spanish Socialist leader, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, with the poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca, as these peoples paternal names are very common, they are often called with their maternal names. It would nonetheless be a mistake to index José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero under Z as Zapatero, a practical option to spare an explanation is using a single surname composed of two separate words. Parents choose their childs name, which must be recorded in the Registro Civil to establish his or her legal identity. With few restrictions, parents can now choose any name, common sources of names are the parents taste, honouring a relative, the General Roman Calendar nomina, legislation in Spain under Franco legally limited cultural naming customs to only Christian and typical Spanish names
2.
Argentina national football team
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The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentinas home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires, la Selección, also known as the Albicelestes, has appeared in five World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which they lost 4–2 to Uruguay. Argentina won in their final appearance in 1978, beating the Netherlands at extra time. Argentina, led by Diego Maradona won again in 1986, a 3–2 victory over West Germany and they again made the World Cup finals in 1990, and lost 1–0 to West Germany following a controversial penalty call in the 87th minute. Argentina made their appearance in a World Cup final in 2014, again losing to Germany. Argentinas World Cup winning managers are César Luis Menotti in 1978, Argentina has been very successful in the Copa América, winning it 14 times and also winning the extra South American Championships in 1941,1945 and 1946. The team also won the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992, and the Argentine olympic team won the Olympics football tournaments in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Argentina, Brazil and France are the national teams that have won the three most important mens titles recognized by FIFA, the World Cup, the Confederations Cup. They have also won their continental championship. Argentina is known for having rivalries with Brazil, Uruguay, England, the first match ever recorded by Argentina was against Uruguay. The game was held in Montevideo on 16 May 1901 and Argentina won 3–2, during the first years of its existence, the Argentina national team only played friendly matches against other South American teams. The reasons for this varied, including long travel times between countries and World War I, la Selección, also known as the Albicelestes, has appeared in five World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which they lost, 4–2, to Uruguay. Argentina won in their final in 1978, beating the Netherlands. Argentina, led by Diego Maradona won again in 1986, a 3–2 victory over West Germany and their most recent World Cup final was in 2014, which they lost 1–0 to Germany. Previous to this their last World Cup final was in 1990, argentinas World Cup winning managers are César Luis Menotti in 1978, and Carlos Bilardo in 1986. Argentina has been successful in the Copa América, winning it 14 times. The team also won the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992, and an Argentina team won the Olympics football tournaments in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Argentina also won six of the 14 football competitions at the Pan American Games, in March 2007, Argentina reached the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time
3.
2018 FIFA World Cup
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The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the mens national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, the final tournament will involve 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities, the final will take place on 15 July in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium. The winners will qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup, the bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest. During the bidding process, the three remaining non-UEFA nations gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, and the UEFA nations were thus ruled out of the 2022 bid. As such, there were four bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, England, Russia, Netherlands/Belgium. The twenty-two-member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments, Russia won the right to be the 2018 host in the second round of voting. The Spain/Portugal bid came second, and that from Belgium/Netherlands third, Englands bid to host its second tournament fell at the first hurdle. For the branding, a typeface called Dusha was created by Portuguese design agency Brandia Central in 2014, apart from Russia, who qualified automatically for the tournament as the hosts, all FIFA member associations were eligible to enter the qualification process. On 12 March 2015, prior to the start of qualification, Indonesia were suspended and then expelled before playing a single qualifying match, as part of punishment for government interference in the Football Association of Indonesia. The qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, qualifying matches for AFC and CONCACAF started in March 2015, prior to the qualifying draw. The allocation of slots for each confederation was decided to be unchanged by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich, on 13 May 2016, Gibraltar and Kosovo became FIFA members and eligible for the World Cup qualifying. In October 2013, UEFA President Michel Platini proposed that the World Cup finals should be expanded from 32 to 40 teams starting from 2018, the format would have been the same, but in groups of five instead of four. This was in response to FIFA President Sepp Blatters comments that Africa and Asia deserved more spots in the World Cup finals at the expense of European and South American teams. Russia proposed the following host cities, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Yekaterinburg. All the cities are in or just outside European Russia to reduce time for the teams in the huge country. The bid evaluation report stated, The Russian bid proposes 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, three of the 16 stadiums would be renovated, and 13 would be newly constructed. In October 2011 Russia decreased the number of stadiums from 16 to 14, the final choice of host cities was announced on 29 September 2012
4.
Midfielder
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A midfielder is an association football position. Midfielders are generally positioned on the field between their teams defenders and forwards, some midfielders play a disciplined defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are otherwise known as defensive midfielders. Others blur the boundaries, being mobile and efficient in passing, they are commonly referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box. The number of midfielders on a team and their assigned roles depends on the teams formation, most managers assign at least one midfielder to disrupt the opposing teams attacks, while others may be tasked with creating goals, or have equal responsibilities between attack and defence. Midfielders are the players who typically travel the greatest distance during a match, central or centre midfielders are players whose role is divided roughly equally between attack and defence. When the opposing team has the ball, a midfielder may drop back to protect the goal or move forward. The 4–3–3 and 4–5–1 formations each use three central midfielders, the 4−4−2 formation may use two central midfielders, and in the 4–2–3–1 formation one of the two deeper midfielders may be a central midfielder. The term box-to-box midfielder refers to central midfielders who have abilities and are skilled at both defending and attacking. These players can track back to their own box to make tackles and block shots. A good box-to-box midfielder needs good passing, vision, control, stamina, tackling and marking in defence, left and right midfielders have a role balanced between attack and defence, similar to that of central midfielders, but they are positioned closer to the touchlines of the pitch. They may be asked to cross the ball into the penalty area to make scoring chances for their teammates. Common modern formations that include left and right midfielders are the 4−4−2, the 4−4−1−1, the 4–2–3–1, a notable example of a right midfielder is David Beckham. Defensive midfielders are players who focus on protecting their teams goal. These players may defend a zone in front of their teams defence, defensive midfielders may also move to the full-back or centre-back positions if those players move forward to join in an attack. Sergio Busquets described his attitude, The coach knows that I am an obedient player who likes to help out and if I have to run to the wing to cover someones position, great. A good defensive midfielder needs good positional awareness, anticipation of play, marking, tackling, interceptions, passing and great stamina. A holding or deep-lying midfielder stays close to their teams defence, a player in this role will try to protect their goal by disrupting the opponents attacking moves and stopping long shots on the goal. The holding midfielder may also have responsibilities when their team has the ball and this player will make mostly short and simple passes to more attacking members of their team but may try some more difficult passes depending on the teams strategy
5.
Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba
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Club Deportivo Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba, known simply as Godoy Cruz, is an Argentine sports club from Godoy Cruz, Mendoza. The club is best known for its team, that plays in the Primera División. Other activities practised at Godoy Cruz are basketball, team handball, field hockey, tennis, Godoy Cruz was born as an institution in 1921. It all started when a group of friends, gathered in the Victoria Bar, decided to found a club, thus was born on June 1,1921, the Club Sportivo Godoy Cruz with the novice presidency of Don Romero Garay. The club was founded on 21 June 1921 under the name sportivo Godoy Cruz, in 1959, Godoy Cruz stadium, the, was constructed. The stadium is nicknamed La Bodega and holds 21,000 people, Godoy Cruz played in the regional league for several years before reaching the national level. Winning the Torneo del Interior in 1994, Godoy Cruz reached the Primera B Nacional that year, twenty-year-old Enzo Pérez scored the first goal by Godoy Cruz in the Argentine Primera, in a 1–1 draw with Belgrano on 9 September 2006. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Godoy Cruz was relegated from the Primera after losing their promotion/relegation play-off with Huracán. Their stay in the division was short, as they earned automatic promotion to the first division after finishing runners-up to San Martín de Tucumán during the 2007–08 season. Godoy Cruz secured their best ever position of 3rd place under Omar Asads management during the 2010 Clausura. In that tournament, they achieved the best-ever point total for a team indirectly affiliated to the Argentine Football Association. These results qualified them for the 2011 Copa Libertadores, their first appearance in this tournament, Godoy Cruz is the first club in Mendoza and the fifth regional to play CONMEBOL tournaments. In that same group I dispute parties with Peñarol of Montevideo, the Tomba was eliminated in the group stage. In September of 2011 plays the Copa Sudamericana, arriving until 8 ° of end, in 2012 he plays his second Copa Libertadores, playing in the group stage against Peñarol, Universidad de Chile and Atlético Nacional The Express could not pass another instance more than this phase. In 2014, Godoy Cruz would play the second Copa Sudamericana, being eliminated before Club Atlético River Plate in parties of ida and return. Godoy Cruzs classic rival is Andes Talleres Sport Club, a classic that has not been played since 1993, thanks to the Tomba promotions. In addition, Godoy Cruz has provincial classics such as San Martín de Mendoza, Independiente Rivadavia, Huracán Las Heras and he also has a rivalry with San Martin de San Juan, with whom he plays the Cuyo Classic. Godoy Cruz is nicknamed Tomba and Bodeguero, in reference to the wine selling activity of the Deportivo Bodega Antonio Tomba, since the stadium is located near a railway, the club is also called El Expreso
6.
Estudiantes de La Plata
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Club Estudiantes de La Plata, simply referred to as Estudiantes, is an Argentine sports club based in La Plata. The clubs football team competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its history. The club is amongst the most successful teams in Argentina, in 1967, Estudiantes was the first team outside of the traditional big five to win a professional league title. Since then, the squad has won four league titles to bring the total to five. It has had even greater success, having won six international titles. Estudiantes international silverware consists of four Copa Libertadores, an Intercontinental Cup, the club was founded in 1905 when a group of players and fans decided to break away from Gimnasia de La Plata, which favored indoor sports over football. Matches between the two clubs are known as the Clásico Platense, the Estudiantes home stadium is undergoing renovations, so the team plays in the city-owned Estadio Único de La Plata. Other sports where Estudiantes competes are basketball, team handball, field hockey, golf, swimming, judo, and volleyball. Thus, on August 4,1905, in the shoestore New York on 7th Street and its first president, Miguel Gutiérrez, was elected on the very same night, when the club charter was drafted by card-carrying member #1, Alfredo Lartigue. In those days, teams like Lomas A. C. Quilmes, on 28 February 1906 Estudiantes adopted a jersey design of striped red and white, in honor of Alumni, that had won ten championships between 1900 and 1911. However, during the years, Estudiantes had to use a red shirt with a white stripe in the chest. A year later, Estudiantes enrolled in the Associación Amateurs de Football, the stadium on 1st Avenue opened on 25 December 1907. Estudiantes first achievement was the 1911 Primera B title which allowed the team to play at the top division of Argentine football, just two years later Estudiantes won its first title in Primera, playing at the dissident Federación Argentina de Football. That season the team disputed 18 matches, winning 14 with only 1 lost, in 1914 Estudiantes made another great campaign but the team finished 2nd to Porteño. 1919 saw Estudiantes finishing 2nd to champion Boca Juniors although the Association put an end to the tournament with 14 fixtures still to be played, the Association alleged that the championship took longer than expected so it was suddenly finished. In subsequent years, Estudiantes made irregular campaigns, in some cases finishing at the bottom of the table, nevertheless, the team made a great performance in 1928 when finishing 3rd to champion Huracán and Boca Juniors. The last year of amateur era saw Estudiantes being runner-up to Boca Juniors, the team totalized 56 points in 35 matches, with 27 won and 7 losses. Alberto Zozaya scored the first goal of professional football in Argentina and was the top goalscorer of the first professional tournament
7.
S.L. Benfica
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Sport Lisboa e Benfica, commonly known as Benfica, is a Portuguese sports club based in Lisbon, Portugal. It is best known for the football team playing in the Primeira Liga. Benfica are the current Portuguese champions, having won three league titles. The team is nicknamed Águias for the symbol atop the clubs crest, since 2003, their home ground has been the Estádio da Luz, which replaced the original one. Benfica is the most supported Portuguese club, with a fan base of 14 million supporters worldwide. By August 2015, it had 156,916 paying members, the clubs official anthem, Ser Benfiquista, refers to its supporters who are called Benfiquistas. Benfica is honoured in three Portuguese Orders, those of Christ, of Merit and of Prince Henry. Benfica is the most successful Portuguese club in terms of domestic and overall titles –79 including the Latin Cup – and is the only one to have won all national competitions. They have won a record 35 Primeira Liga titles, a record 25 Taça de Portugal, internationally, Benfica won two consecutive European Cup titles, in 1961 and 1962, a unique feat in Portuguese football. In addition, they were runners-up at the Intercontinental Cup in 1961 and 62, at the European Cup in 1963,65,68,88 and 90 and they have reached ten European finals, which ranks seventh all-time among UEFA clubs and is a domestic record. Furthermore, they hold the European record for the most consecutive wins in domestic league, in the 1972–73 campaign, Benfica became the first undefeated Portuguese champions. In 2000, Benfica was ranked twelfth in the FIFA Club of the Century award, Benficas all-time top goalscorer is Eusébio, who won one Ballon dOr and two European Golden Boots while at the club. On 28 February 1904, a group of students from the Real Casa Pia de Lisboa. Their goal was to form a social and cultural football club, there were a total of 24 people who attended the meeting, including the 18-year-old co-founder and future soul of the club, Cosme Damião. In this meeting, José Rosa Rodrigues was appointed as president, along with Daniel Brito as secretary. It was defined that the colours would be red for bravery. The founders also decided that the crest would be composed of an eagle, the motto E pluribus unum, on 1 January 1905, Benfica played their first match ever, winning 1–0 against Campo de Ourique. Despite important victories in the first few years, the club suffered because of operating conditions
8.
Valencia CF
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Valencia Club de Fútbol are a Spanish football club based in Valencia. They play in La Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish football, Valencia have won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey trophies, two Fairs Cups, one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Cup Winners Cup and two UEFA Super Cups. They also reached two UEFA Champions League finals in a row, losing to La Liga rivals Real Madrid in 2000, Valencia were also members of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs. In total, Valencia have reached seven major European finals, winning four of them, Valencia were founded in 1919 and have played their home games at the 55, 000-seater Mestalla since 1923. They were due to move into the new 75, 000-seater Nou Mestalla in the north-west of the city in 2013, Valencia have a fierce rivalry with fellow Valencian club Villarreal CF, with whom they contest the Derby de la Comunitat. The rivalry is fueled by the fact that they are the two most successful clubs in the region. They also have a rivalry with Levante UD, also located in the city of Valencia. Valencia is the third-most supported football club in Spain, behind heavyweights Real Madrid, over the years, the club has achieved a global reputation for their prolific youth academy, or cantera. Products of their academy include world-class talents such as Raúl Albiol, Andrés Palop, Miguel Ángel Angulo, David Albelda, Gaizka Mendieta, current stars of the game to have graduated in recent years include Isco, Jordi Alba, Juan Bernat, and Paco Alcácer. The club was established on 5 March 1919 and officially approved on 18 March 1919, with Octavio Augusto Milego Díaz as its first president, incidentally, the club played its first competitive match away from home on 21 May 1919 against Valencia Gimnástico, and lost the match 1–0. Valencia CF moved into the Mestalla Stadium in 1923, having played its matches at the Algirós ground since 7 December 1919. The first match at Mestalla pitted the side against Castellón Castalia. In another match the day after, Valencia won against the same opposition, Valencia won the Regional Championship in 1923, and was eligible to play in the domestic Copa del Rey cup competition for the first time in its history. The Spanish Civil War halted the progress of the Valencia team until 1941, in the 1941–42 season, the club won its first Spanish La Liga championship title, although winning the Copa del Rey was more reputable than the championship at that time. The club maintained its consistency to capture the title again in the 1943–44 season. In 1995 they lost 2012 they lost 6-1 to CD Binefar In the 1950s, a restructuring of Mestalla resulted in an increase in spectator capacity to 45,000, while the club had a number of Spanish and foreign stars. Players such as Spanish international Antonio Puchades and Dutch forward Faas Wilkes graced the pitch at Mestalla, in the 1952–53 season, the club finished as runners-up in La Liga behind Barcelona. In the following season, the club won its third Copa del Rey, Valencia beat holders Barça 3–0 in the final in front of over 110,000 spectators at the Estadio Chamartín, then the home ground of Real Madrid
9.
FIFA World Cup
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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
10.
2014 FIFA World Cup
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The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for mens national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014 and it was the second time that Brazil staged the competition, and the fifth time that it was held in South America. Thirty-one national teams advanced through qualification competitions to join the host nation in the final tournament, a total of 64 matches were played in 12 venues located in as many host cities across Brazil. For the first time at a World Cup finals, match officials used goal-line technology, FIFA Fan Fests in each host city gathered a total of 5 million people, and the country received 1 million visitors from 202 countries. Every World Cup-winning team since the first edition in 1930 – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Spain, the title holders, were eliminated at the group stage, along with England and Italy. Uruguay were eliminated in the round of 16, and France exited in the quarter-finals, Brazil, who had won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, lost to Germany 7–1 in the semi-finals and eventually finished in fourth place. Germany became the first European team to win a World Cup staged in the Americas, as the winners, Germany qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. With 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa, it would be the second consecutive World Cup outside of Europe and it was also second in the Southern Hemisphere. Only Brazil and Colombia formally declared their candidacy but, after the withdrawal of the latter from the process, following qualification matches played between June 2011 and November 2013, the following 32 teams – shown with their last pre-tournament FIFA world ranking – qualified for the final tournament. Twenty-four of these teams were returning participants from the 2010 World Cup, Bosnia and Herzegovina were the only team with no previous appearance at the World Cup finals. Colombia qualified for the World Cup after 16 years of absence, while Russia, the highest ranked team to not qualify was Ukraine, while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was Australia. The 32 participating teams were drawn into eight groups, in preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots with the seven highest-ranked teams joining host nation Brazil in the seeded pot. As with the tournaments, FIFA aimed to create groups which maximised geographic separation. The draw took place on 6 December 2013 at the Costa do Sauípe resort in Bahia, under the draw procedure, one randomly drawn team – Italy – was firstly relocated from Pot 4 to Pot 2 to create four equal pots of eight teams. In March 2013, FIFA published a list of 52 prospective referees, each paired, on the basis of nationality, on 14 January 2014, the FIFA Referees Committee appointed 25 referee trios and eight support duos representing 43 different countries for the tournament. Yuichi Nishimura from Japan acted as referee in the opening match whereas Nicola Rizzoli from Italy acted as referee in the final, as with the 2010 tournament, each teams squad consists of 23 players. Each participating national association had to confirm their final 23-player squad no later than 10 days before the start of the tournament, teams were permitted to make late replacements in the event of serious injury, at any time up to 24 hours before their first game. During a match, all remaining squad members not named in the team are available to be one of the three permitted substitutions
11.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
12.
UEFA Europa League
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The UEFA Europa League, previously called the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organized by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues, previously called the UEFA Cup, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League since the 2009–10 season, following a change in format. For UEFA footballing records purposes, the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League are considered the same competition, in 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup was abolished and merged with the UEFA Cup. For the 2004–05 competition a group stage was added prior to the knockout phase, the 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and changed qualifying criteria. The winner enters at least at the round, and will enter the group stage if the berth reserved for the Champions League title holders is not used. The title has been won by 27 different clubs,12 of which have won the more than once. The UEFA Cup was preceded by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971, the competition grew from 11 teams during the first cup to 64 teams by the last cup which was played in 1970–71. It had become so important on the European football scene that in the end it was taken over by UEFA, the UEFA Cup was first played in the 1971–72 season, with an all-English final of Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs taking the first honours. The title was retained by another English club, Liverpool in 1973, Borussia would win the competition in 1975 and 1979, and reach the final again in 1980. Liverpool won the competition for the time in 1976, beating Club Brugge in the final. During the 1980s, IFK Göteborg and Real Madrid won the competition twice each,1989 saw the commencement of the Italian clubs domination, when Maradonas Napoli beat Stuttgart. The 1990s started with two finals, and in 1992, Torino lost the final to Ajax on the away goals rule. Juventus won the competition for a time in 1993 and Internazionale kept the cup in Italy the following year. 1995 saw a third final, with Parma proving their consistency. The only final with no Italians during that decade was in 1996, Parma won the cup in 1999, which ended the Italian club era. Liverpool won the competition for the time in 2001 and Porto triumphed in the 2003 and 2011 tournaments. In 2004, the cup returned to Spain with Valencia being victorious, either side of Sevillas success, two Russian teams, CSKA Moscow in 2005 and Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2008, had their glory and yet another former Soviet club, Ukraines Shakhtar Donetsk, won in 2009. Atlético Madrid would themselves win twice in three seasons, in 2010 and 2012, the latter in another all-Spanish final, in 2013, Chelsea would become the first Champions League holders to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League the following year
13.
UEFA Champions League
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The UEFA Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations and contested by top-division European clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, the UEFA Champions League final is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. The final of the 2012–13 tournament had the highest TV ratings to date, the pre-1992 competition was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s, the format was expanded, incorporating a round-robin group stage to include clubs that finished runner-up of some nations top-level league. Clubs that finish next-in-line in each top level league, having not qualified for the UEFA Champions League competition. In its present format, the UEFA Champions League begins in mid-July with three qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams enter the stage, joining 22 other teams qualified in advance. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams, the eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match in May. The winner of the UEFA Champions League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup, Real Madrid is the most successful club in the competitions history, having won the tournament 11 times, including its first five seasons. Spanish clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories, followed by England, the competition has been won by 22 different clubs,12 of which have won it more than once. Since the tournament changed name and structure in 1992, no club has managed consecutive wins, Milan were the last holders to defend their title. The reigning champions are Real Madrid, who secured their title in the competition after defeating Atlético Madrid on penalties following a 1–1 draw in the 2016 final. The first pan-European tournament was the Challenge Cup, a competition between clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Mitropa Cup, a competition modelled after the Challenge Cup, was created in 1927, an idea of Austrian Hugo Meisl, and played between Central European clubs. In 1930, the Coupe des Nations, the first attempt to create a cup for national clubs of Europe, was played and organised by Swiss club Servette. Held in Geneva, it brought together ten champions from across the continent, the tournament was won by Újpest of Hungary. Latin European nations came together to form the Latin Cup in 1949 and it was conceived in Paris in 1955 as the European Champion Clubs Cup. The first edition of the European Cup took place during the 1955–56 season, the first European Cup match took place on 4 September 1955, and ended in a 3–3 draw between Sporting CP and Partizan. The first goal in European Cup history was scored by João Baptista Martins of Sporting CP, the inaugural final took place at the Parc des Princes between Stade de Reims and Real Madrid
14.
Real Madrid C.F.
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Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly known as Real Madrid, or simply as Real outside Spain frontiers, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the team has worn a white home kit since inception. The word Real is Spanish for Royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the crown in the emblem. The team has played its matches in the 85, 454-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European sporting entities, Real Madrids members have owned and operated the club throughout its history. The club was estimated to be worth €3.24 billion in 2015, the club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Real Madrid is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never relegated from the top division, along with Athletic Bilbao. The club holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with Barcelona, Real Madrid established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s, winning five consecutive European Cups and reaching the final seven times. This success was replicated in the league, where the club won five times in the space of seven years. In domestic football, the club has won a record 32 La Liga titles,19 Copa del Rey, nine Supercopa de España, a Copa Eva Duarte, and a Copa de la Liga. Real Madrid was recognised as the FIFA Club of the 20th Century on 23 December 2000, the club received the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit in 2004. The club is ranked first in the latest IFFHS Club World Ranking, setting a new ranking-points record, the club also leads the current UEFA club rankings. They founded Football Club Sky in 1897, playing on Sunday mornings at Moncloa and it split into two clubs in 1900, New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Madrid Football Club. On 6 March 1902, after a new Board presided by Juan Padrós had been elected, three years after its foundation, in 1905, Madrid FC won its first title after defeating Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final. The club became one of the sides of the Royal Spanish Football Federation on 4 January 1909. After moving between grounds the team moved to the Campo de ODonnell in 1912, in 1920, the clubs name was changed to Real Madrid after King Alfonso XIII granted the title of Real to the club. In 1929, the first Spanish football league was founded, Real Madrid led the first league season until the last match, a loss to Athletic Bilbao, meant they finished runners-up to Barcelona. Real Madrid won its first League title in the 1931–32 season, Real won the League again the following year, becoming the first team to have won the championship twice
15.
Chelsea F.C.
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Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, that competes in the Premier League. Founded in 1905, the home ground since then has been Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had their first major success in 1955, when they won the league championship and they then won various cup competitions between 1965 and 1996. The clubs greatest period of success has come during the last two decades, winning 21 trophies since 1997. Chelsea are the only London club to win the UEFA Champions League, and one of four clubs, Chelseas regular kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks. The clubs crest has changed several times in attempts to re-brand the club. The current crest, featuring a lion rampant regardant holding a staff, is a modification of the one introduced in the early 1950s. The club have the sixth-highest average all-time attendance in English football and their average home gate for the 2015–16 season was 41,500, the seventh highest in the Premier League. Since 2003, Chelsea have been owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, in 2016, they were ranked by Forbes magazine as the seventh most valuable football club in the world, at £1.15 billion. In 1904, Gus Mears acquired the Stamford Bridge athletics stadium with the aim of turning it into a football ground, an offer to lease it to nearby Fulham was turned down, so Mears opted to found his own club to use the stadium. Chelsea were founded on 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub, opposite the main entrance to the ground on Fulham Road. The club won promotion to the First Division in their second season and they reached the 1915 FA Cup Final, where they lost to Sheffield United at Old Trafford, and finished third in the First Division in 1920, the clubs best league campaign to that point. Chelsea attracted large crowds and had a reputation for signing big-name players, former Arsenal and England centre-forward Ted Drake became manager in 1952 and proceeded to modernise the club. The following season saw UEFA create the European Champions Cup, but after objections from The Football League, Chelsea failed to build on this success, and spent the remainder of the 1950s in mid-table. Drake was dismissed in 1961 and replaced by player-coach Tommy Docherty, Docherty built a new team around the group of talented young players emerging from the clubs youth set-up and Chelsea challenged for honours throughout the 1960s, enduring several near-misses. They were on course for a treble of League, FA Cup and League Cup going into the stages of the 1964–65 season, winning the League Cup. In three seasons the side were beaten in three major semi-finals and were FA Cup runners-up, under Dochertys successor, Dave Sexton, Chelsea won the FA Cup in 1970, beating Leeds United 2–1 in a final replay. Chelsea took their first European honour, a UEFA Cup Winners Cup triumph, the year, with another replayed win
16.
2014 UEFA Europa League Final
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It was played at the Juventus Stadium in Turin, Italy on 14 May 2014, between Spanish side Sevilla and Portuguese side Benfica. Sevilla won the match 4–2 on penalties, following a 0–0 draw after extra time, Sevilla secured their third title in eight years, after winning the competition in 2006 and 2007. With this triumph, they joined Juventus, Internazionale and Liverpool as the teams with the most wins, Benfica lost their second consecutive UEFA Europa League final, following their defeat against Chelsea in the 2013 final. Including their runner-up finish in 1983, Benfica are the team with the most lost finals in the competition, as the winners, Sevilla earned the right to play against 2013–14 UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid in the 2014 UEFA Super Cup. The Juventus Stadium in Turin, Italy, was chosen as the venue of the match at a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Istanbul, Turkey and it is the home stadium of Juventus since 2011. This was the first time that a final was hosted in Turin. Previous UEFA Cup finals contested over two legs have had one of their matches played in Turin, the first legs of the 1977 UEFA Cup Final and the 1990 UEFA Cup Final, both contested by Juventus, were played at the Stadio Comunale. After a comeback by their opponents Valencia, who had lost the first leg 2–0, Benfica reached their second consecutive Europa League final, after defeating Juventus 2–1 on aggregate and denying their opponents a chance to play the final at their home stadium. It was the first time a club has reached consecutive finals in the competition, both of their previous UEFA Cup/Europa League finals, in 1983 and 2013, ended in defeats. They had also played in seven European Cup finals, after winning successive European titles in 1961 and 1962, they had lost seven straight major European finals. The final was Sevillas 19th match in the competition, having started their participation in the qualifying round against Montenegrin side Mladost Podgorica. They only qualified for the competition after Málaga were banned and Rayo Vallecano were denied a UEFA license, Benfica transitioned from the Champions League group stage, after finishing third in their group, behind Paris Saint-Germain and Olympiacos. They became the first team to reach the Europa League final without conceding a defeat, registering six wins, the only previous meeting between Sevilla and Benfica in European competition was in the 1957–58 European Cup preliminary round. The first leg at Estadio de Nervión, won by Sevilla 3–1, the second leg at Estádio da Luz ended 0–0, giving Sevilla the victory on aggregate, and they later reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champions Real Madrid. Note, In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first, former Italy international and Juventus player Ciro Ferrara, who won the UEFA Cup in 1989 with Napoli, was named as the ambassador for the final. UEFA unveiled the visual identity of the final on 30 August 2013, the international ticket sales phase for the general public ran from 27 February to 25 March 2014. Tickets were available in four categories, €150, €100, €70. German referee Felix Brych was named by UEFA on 7 May 2014 as the referee of the final, Benfica were not able to play either Enzo Pérez or Lazar Marković, both of whom were sent off in the second leg of their semi-final
17.
Sevilla FC
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Sevilla Football Club, S. A. D. or simply Sevilla, is Spain’s oldest club solely devoted to football practice. Sevilla FC is based in Seville, capital and largest city of the community of Andalusia. Sevilla FC is one of the teams play in Spain’s top flight. The club was formed on 25 January 1890, Scot Mr. Edward Farquharson Johnston being their first president. A few years later, on October 14,1905, the articles of association were registered in the Civil Government of Seville under the presidency of the Jerez-born José Luis Gallegos Arnosa. Sevilla FC is also the most successful club in Andalusia, winning a league title in 1945–46, five Spanish Cups, one Spanish Super Cup, five UEFA Cups. Sevilla FCs main rivalry is with their cross-city rivals Real Betis de Sevilla, matches between the two are referred to as Seville derby. Its reserve side Sevilla Atlético, founded in 1958, currently play in the Segunda B league, other clubs related to Sevilla FC include their womens team, futsal team and former Superleague Formula team. The Club’s home ground is the 45, 000-seat Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium and it is located in the neighborhood of Nervión and owes its name to Mr. Sánchez Pizjuan, who was Sevilla FC’s President for 17 years. Sevilla FC has contributed many players to the Spanish National Football Team throughout their history, Sevilla Fútbol Club was founded on 25 January 1890 as Sevilla Foot-ball Club. Sevilla was duly formed on 25 January 1890 while a group of young British, mainly Scots, along with young men of Spanish origin. After a deal of talk and a consumption of small beer. Hugh Maccoll, another Scottish young man, an engineer who at that time had moved to Seville to work as the technical manager of Portilla White foundry, was their first captain. One of Maccoll’s partners in the Portilla White foundry in Seville and he was the son of an English entrepreneur who founded the aforesaid company, one of the major foundries in Spain at the end of the 19th century. In order to celebrate the foundation of the club, Isaias White sent a letter to Recreativo de Huelva and that letter was published by the Spanish newspaper La Provincia. Huelva Recreation accepted the invitation and the took place on 8 March 1890. Sevilla FC won that historical match 2–0, with the first goal in a match in Spanish football history scored by the Seville team player Ritson. Isaias lived at Calle Bailen 41 in Seville making this the first home of Sevilla FC, in 1907, Sevilla Balompíe was founded, followed by Betis Football club in 1909, Recreativo de Sevilla and Español de Sevilla
18.
Juventus F.C.
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Juventus Football Club S. p. A. colloquially known as Juve, is a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont. The clubs fan base is larger than any other Italian football club and is one of the largest worldwide, support for Juventus is widespread throughout the country and abroad, mainly in countries with a significant presence of Italian immigrants. Juventus is the most successful club in Italian football and one of the most awarded globally, Juventus were founded as Sport-Club Juventus in late 1897 by pupils from the Massimo DAzeglio Lyceum school in Turin, but were renamed as Foot-Ball Club Juventus two years later. The club joined the Italian Football Championship during 1900, during this period the team wore a pink and black kit. Juventus first won the championship in 1905 while playing at their Velodrome Umberto I ground. By this time the colours had changed to black and white stripes. There was a split at the club in 1906, after some of the staff considered moving Juve out of Turin, President Alfred Dick was unhappy with this and left with some prominent players to found FBC Torino which in turn spawned the Derby della Mole. Juventus spent much of this period steadily rebuilding after the split, fiat owner Edoardo Agnelli gained control of the club in 1923, and built a new stadium. This helped the club to its second scudetto in the 1925–26 season beating Alba Roma with a score of 12–1. With star players such as Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari, Juventus moved to the Stadio Comunale, but for the rest of the 1930s and the majority of the 1940s they were unable to recapture championship dominance. After the Second World War, Gianni Agnelli was appointed honorary president, the club added two more league championships to its name in the 1949–50 and 1951–52 seasons, the latter of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver. Two new strikers were signed during 1957–58, Welshman John Charles and Italo-Argentine Omar Sívori and that season saw Juventus awarded with the Golden Star for Sport Excellence to wear on their shirts after becoming the first Italian side to win ten league titles. In the same season, Sívori became the first ever player at the club to win the European Footballer of the Year, the following season they beat Fiorentina to complete their first league and cup double, winning Serie A and Coppa Italia. Boniperti retired in 1961 as the top scorer at the club, with 182 goals in all competitions. During the rest of the decade, the won the league just once more in 1966–67, The 1970s, however. Under former player Čestmír Vycpálek, they won the scudetto in 1971–72 and 1972–73, with such as Roberto Bettega, Franco Causio. During the rest of the decade, they won the league twice more, the Trapattoni era was highly successful in the 1980s, the club started the decade off well, winning the league title three more times by 1984. This meant Juventus had won 20 Italian league titles and were allowed to add a golden star to their shirt
19.
Jorge Jesus
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Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus is a former Portuguese footballer who played as a midfielder, and the current coach of Sporting CP. He started his career with Sporting, going on to play for 12 other clubs in 17 years as a professional, in 1990 Jesus began a coaching career, and his first stop in the main category was with Felgueiras in the 1995–96 campaign. He went on to work with teams, arriving at Benfica in 2009 and winning ten major titles. He is well known for losing matches at 90+2 and 88 minutes. C, olhanense on loan from the Lions. He played with Sportings first team in the 1975–76 season, appearing in 12 matches, subsequently, released, he played in the countrys top flight in seven of the following eight years, representing C. F. Os Belenenses, Grupo Desportivo Riopele, Juventude de Évora, União de Leiria, Vitória de Setúbal, farense, amassing totals in the category of 166 games and 14 goals. Jesus retired in 1990 at the age of 36, after spells in the second, after starting as a manager with lowly Amora FC, Jesus moved in November 1993 to F. C. In 2003–04 he helped Vitória de Guimarães narrowly avoid relegation, finishing two points ahead of first relegated team F. C. Alverca, on 20 May 2008, one day after leaving Belenenses, Jesus took over at S. C. Braga, leading the Minho side to the position in the league. Highlights in the competition included a 3–0 home win against Portsmouth. He won the last edition of the UEFA Intertoto Cup, something never achieved by other Portuguese club, on 17 June 2009, Jesus replaced Quique Flores at the helm of S. L. On 5 October 2009 Jesus achieved his 100th victory in the Portuguese League, after a 2–0 win at VfB Stuttgart for the seasons Europa League, Benficas first ever victory in Germany, Jesus surpassed the record held by Jimmy Hagans 1972–73 team, with 16 consecutive wins. During the league campaign, which started without departed Ángel Di María and Ramires, the lack of rotation caused a fatigue in the most used players. In the 2011–12 season, Jesus guided Benfica to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League and second place in the league, and won the clubs fourth League Cup. On 10 December 2012, after a 3–1 away victory against Sporting, Jesus became the most successful Portuguese coach in the derby with seven wins in a total of nine. On 26 January of the year he defeated former side Braga at the Estádio Municipal de Braga for the first time. He briefly led the league with a five-point advantage but did not maintain it, on 4 June 2013, Jesus renewed his contract for a further two seasons. The Portuguese Football Federation gave him a 30-day suspension, which meant he would miss four league matches, on 11 February 2014, Jesus won his tenth game against Sporting, which draw two and won only one as an opposing coach
20.
LPFP Primeira Liga Player of the Year
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The Portuguese League for Professional Football Primeira Liga Player of the Year is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in Primeira Liga. Between 2006 and 2010 the winner was only by a vote amongst the members of Sports National Press Club. Since 2011, thanks to new sponsorship agreements, all the related to football belong to Portuguese League for Professional Football and are chosen by a vote amongst their associated. The award has been presented officially since the 2005–06 season, when the winner was Ricardo Quaresma. That trophy was delivered during the celebration of Sports National Press Club 40th anniversary, since the 2011–12 season, the award ceremony takes place at Palácio do Freixo, in Porto, Portugal. All Primeira Liga draws are also performed during the same event, the first non-Portuguese to win the title was Lisandro López after the 2007–08 season. In 2012, Hulk became the first player to win the award twice, jonas became the second player to win the award twice, in 2015 and 2016. This award has been presented on 9 occasions as of 2013, the table indicates the winners and their information, including country, club and position. Winners by country Winners by club Winners by position The official website of LPFP The official website of CNID
21.
La Liga
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The Primera División, commonly known as La Liga and as La Liga Santander for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. A total of 60 teams have competed in La Liga since its inception, nine teams have been crowned champions, with Real Madrid winning the title a record 32 times and Barcelona 24 times. Real Madrid dominated the championship from the 1950s through the 1980s, from the 1990s onwards, Barcelona and Real Madrid both dominated, though La Liga also saw other champions, including Atlético Madrid, Valencia, and Deportivo de La Coruña. In more recent years, Atlético Madrid has joined a coalition of now three teams dominating La Liga alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona. Its clubs have won the most UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup titles, and its players have accumulated the highest number of Ballon dOr awards. La Liga is one of the most popular sports leagues in the world. The competition format follows the usual double round-robin format, during the course of a season, which lasts from August to May, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 38 matchdays. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss, teams are ranked by total points, with the highest-ranked club at the end of the season crowned champion. A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Primera División and the Segunda División, the top teams in La Liga qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The first, second, and third placed teams enter the group stage. Teams placed fifth and sixth play in the UEFA Europa League, if both teams in the cup final finish in the top six, an additional berth in the Europa League is given to the team that finishes in seventh. In April 1927, José María Acha, a director at Arenas Club de Getxo, first proposed the idea of a national league in Spain. After much debate about the size of the league and who would take part, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Arenas Club de Getxo and Real Unión were all selected as previous winners of the Copa del Rey. Atlético Madrid, Espanyol and Europa qualified as Copa del Rey runners-up, only three of the founding clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, have never been relegated from the Primera División. They were also runners-up in 1932 and 1933, in 1935, Real Betis, then known as Betis Balompié, won their only title to date. Primera División was suspended during the Spanish Civil War, in 1937, the teams in the Republican area of Spain, with the notable exception of the two Madrid clubs, competed in the Mediterranean League and Barcelona emerged as champions. Seventy years later, on 28 September 2007, Barcelona requested the RFEF to recognise that title as a Liga title and this action was taken after RFEF was asked to recognise Levante FCs Copa de la España Libre win as equivalent to Copa del Rey trophy. Nevertheless, the body of Spanish football has not made an outright decision yet
22.
Diego Maradona
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Diego Armando Maradona is an Argentine retired professional footballer. He has served as a manager and coach at other clubs as well as the team of Argentina. Many in the sport, including writers, players, and fans. He was joint FIFA Player of the 20th Century with Pelé.9 million. He played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newells Old Boys during his career, and is most famous for his time at Napoli. In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and his presence on the pitch had a great effect on his teams general performance, while he would often be singled out by the opposition. A precocious talent, Maradona was given the nickname El Pibe de Oro, in the 1986 World Cup quarter final, he scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over England that entered football history for two different reasons. Maradona became coach of Argentina in November 2008 and he was in charge of the team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa before leaving at the end of the tournament. He coached Dubai-based club Al Wasl in the UAE Pro-League for the 2011–12 season, in August 2013, Maradona joined Argentine Primera D club Deportivo Riestras staff as spiritual coach. He was the first son after three daughters and he has two younger brothers, Hugo and Raúl, both of whom were also professional football players. He was the child and first son of Diego Maradona Chitoro. In 1950, they left Esquina and settled in Buenos Aires, at age eight, Maradona was spotted by a talent scout while he was playing in his neighbourhood club Estrella Roja. He became a staple of Los Cebollitas, the team of Buenos Airess Argentinos Juniors. As a 12-year-old ball boy, he amused spectators by showing his wizardry with the ball during the intermissions of first division games. He named Brazilian playmaker Rivelino and Manchester United winger George Best among his inspirations growing up, on 20 October 1976, Maradona made his professional debut for Argentinos Juniors,10 days before his 16th birthday. He entered to the pitch wearing the number 16 jersey, and after the game stated, Maradona scored his first goal in the Primera División against Marplatense team San Lorenzo on 14 November 1976, two weeks after turning 16. Maradona spent five years at Argentinos Juniors, from 1976 to 1981, Maradona received offers to join other clubs, including River Plate who offered to make him the clubs best paid player. Nevertheless, Maradona expressed his will to be transferred to Boca Juniors, Maradona signed a contract with Boca Juniors on 20 February 1981
23.
Exhibition game
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An exhibition game is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the players or the teams rankings is either zero or otherwise greatly reduced. In team sports, matches of this type are used to help coaches and managers select. If the players play in different teams in other leagues. The games can be held between separate teams or between parts of the same team, international competitions like the Olympic Games may also hold exhibition games as part of a demonstration sport. In the early days of football, known simply as football or soccer. However, since the development of The Football League in England in 1888, league tournaments became established, in addition to lengthy derby, since the introduction of league football, most club sides play a number of friendlies before the start of each season. Friendly football matches are considered to be non-competitive and are used to warm up players for a new season/competitive match. There is generally nothing competitive at stake and some rules may be changed or experimented with, although these events may involve sponsorship deals and the awarding of a trophy and may even be broadcast on television, there is little prestige attached to them. Frequently such games take place between a club and small clubs that play nearby, such as those between Newcastle United and Gateshead. International teams also play friendlies, generally in preparation for the qualifying or final stages of major tournaments and this is essential, since national squads generally have much less time together in which to prepare. The biggest difference between friendlies at the club and international levels is that international friendlies mostly take place during club league seasons and this has on occasion led to disagreement between national associations and clubs as to the availability of players, who could become injured or fatigued in a friendly. Players can be booked in international friendlies, and can be suspended from international matches based on red cards or accumulated yellows in a specified period. Caps and goals scored also count towards a players career records, in the UK and Ireland, exhibition match and friendly match refer to two different types of matches. A bounce game is generally a non-competitive football match played between two sides usually as part of an exercise or to give players match practice. Managers may also use bounce games as an opportunity to observe a player in action before offering a contract, usually these games are played on a training ground rather than in a stadium with no spectators in attendance. Exhibition fights were common in boxing. Jack Dempsey fought many exhibition bouts after retiring, joe Louis fought a charity fight on his rematch with Buddy Baer, but this was not considered an exhibition as it was for Louis world Heavyweight title. Muhammad Ali fought many exhibitions, including one with Lyle Alzado, in more modern times, Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Jorge Castro have been involved in exhibition fights
24.
Ghana national football team
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The Ghana national football team represents Ghana in international association football and has done so since the 1950s. The team is nicknamed the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in the Flag of Ghana and it is administered by the Ghana Football Association, the governing body for football in Ghana and the oldest football association in Africa. Prior to 1957, the team played as the Gold Coast, the team has won the Africa Cup of Nations four times and has been runner-up 5 times. After going through 2005 unbeaten, the Ghana national football team won the FIFA Best Mover of the Year Award and reached the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, they became only the third African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, and in 2014 they competed in their third consecutive World Cup. The Gold Coast Football Association was founded in 1920 then succeeded by the Ghana Football Association in 1957 and they also reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1–0 on each occasion, to DR Congo and Sudan respectively. Their domination of this tournament earned the Black Stars team the nicknames of the Black Stars of West Africa, after three failures to reach the tournament final, the 1992 African Cup of Nations saw the Black Stars finish second. In 2008, Ghana reached a ranking of 14 according to the FIFA World Rankings. The Black Stars went on to secure a 100 percent record in their campaign, winning the group. In the final tournament, the competed in Group D with Germany. Ghana reached the round of 16 where they played the United States, in 2013 Ghana became the only team in Africa to reach four consecutive semi-finals of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations twice, from 1963 and 1970 and from 2008 and 2013. Ghana was sufficiently highly ranked by FIFA to start their qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in the Second round and they won the group, and in the following round qualified for the 2014 World Cup finals in November 2013, beating Egypt 7–3 on aggregate in a two-legged play-off. Ghana was drawn in Group G for the finals, where they faced Germany, Portugal, there is no home stadium for the Black Stars. Some smaller, regional stadia were used in the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying and 2004 African Cup of Nations qualification qualifying campaigns. The black star is present on the Flag of Ghana and national coat of arms in the center of the national crest. Adopted following the independence of Ghana in 1957, the star has always been included in its kits. The Black Stars kits were sponsored by Puma SE from 2005, the Black Star kit is used instead of the original gold, green, and red coloured football kit that coordinates with the colours of the Ghana national flag. The Black Stars are sporting an all-white and partly black football kit which was worn from the years 1957 to 1989, the Ghana national football team football kit is ranked as the best conceptual artistic and designed football kit of any other football team
25.
Alejandro Sabella
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Alejandro Javier Sabella is an Argentine football manager and former player. Born in Buenos Aires, he began his career with River Plate in his home country before moving to England in 1978 to play for Sheffield United. Sabella had scheduled his resignation to take effect after the conclusion of the World Cup, alejandro Sabella was born to a wealthy, upper-middle-class family in Buenos Aires well-off Barrio Norte neighborhood. He was an excellent student at school, and was admitted to the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires, despite his wealthy background, as a young man Sabella was politically active in the left-wing Peronist Youth and worked to aid the urban poor in the slums. He stated, I felt a growing need to be always on the side of solidarity and of the distribution of wealth for a fairer, more egalitarian society, in which we can all have equal opportunities. As a footballer, Sabella rose through the divisions of River Plate in the early 1970s. His style reflected Alonsos, with emphasis on technique and short passes. His slow pace gained him the nickname of Pachorra, in 1975, River Plate won their first title after an 18-year drought, and Alonso became the fans undisputed hero. Sabella got his break in 1976, when Alonso was transferred to Marseille and he played a key role when River won the 1977 Metropolitano championship. Nevertheless, when Alonso returned to River Plate, Sabella was again relegated to the bench, Sheffield United had tried to sign the teenage Diego Maradona from Argentinos Juniors, however, the club decided that Maradona was too expensive. Therefore, United turned to Sabella, who signed for £160,000 on 19 July 1978. Known as Alex while in England, Sabella made his debut for the Blades in a 2–1 defeat against Leyton Orient on 19 August 1978, Sabella played for United until 1980, scoring eight league goals in 76 appearances. After relegation to the Third Division, manager Harry Haslam agreed a fee of £600,000 with Second Division club Sunderland, however, Sabella had ambitions to play in the First Division and refused to go. His final appearance for United came with a goal in the County Cup Final victory over Sheffield Wednesday on 8 May 1980, during the close season, Sabella was sold to Leeds United for £400,000. He played for Leeds without much success between 1980 and 1981, making 23 appearances and scoring two goals, john Lukic used to give him a lift to training and matches from Sabellas digs in Sheffield. In December 1981, Sabella started looking for an Argentine club and was sold to Estudiantes de La Plata. Under coach Carlos Bilardo, the reached the semi-finals of the Nacional tournament. The Argentine midfielder then moved to Brazilian Grêmio, where he played from 1985 to 1986 and he subsequently returned to Estudiantes, but retired after a short spell in the Mexican league with Irapuato in 1989
26.
2014 FIFA World Cup Final
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The 2014 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place on 13 July 2014 at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to determine the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion. The match was the final between the two countries, a World Cup record, after their 1986 and 1990 matches, and billed as the worlds best player versus the worlds best team. Before the match, Germany had reached the World Cup final seven times, the result marked Germanys fourth World Cup title, their first since German reunification, and the first World Cup won by a European team in the Americas. It was also the first time three consecutive World Cup finals were still tied after 90 minutes. With the win, Germany qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, the two teams had met in 20 previous matches, with nine wins for Argentina, six wins for Germany and five draws. In these games, both teams had scored a total of 28 goals, six of these matches were at a World Cup, two of them in the final. The 2014 final was the seventh World Cup match between them, equalling a tournament record for meetings between two teams, in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, Argentina and West Germany played a 0–0 draw in the group stage. FIFA cautioned Argentina for its violent style against the Germans which saw Argentine Rafael Albrecht get sent off, the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final saw two Argentine players get sent off and West Germany won 1–0 due to a controversial penalty kick late in the match. The most recent meeting between the two teams was a match played on 15 August 2012 at Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt am Main. Before the tournament, a friendly was scheduled for 3 September 2014, Germany manager Joachim Löw was the assistant manager in 2006 and the manager in 2010. The match ball for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final, announced on 29 May 2014, featured a variation of the Adidas Brazuca named the Adidas Brazuca Final Rio. Whilst the technical aspects of the ball were the same, the design was different from the Brazuca balls used in the stages and other playoffs, with a green, gold. It was the special ball for FIFA World Cup final matches, after the +Teamgeist Berlin. Earlier in the 2014 World Cup, Rizzoli took charge of the Spain–Netherlands and Nigeria–Argentina matches in the stage. He had previously taken charge of the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final and he was also one of the referees at the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He became the third Italian referee to take charge of a World Cup final, after Sergio Gonella in 1978, both teams named unchanged starting line-ups from their semi-finals, but German midfielder Sami Khedira withdrew during the warm-up with a calf injury. He was replaced by Christoph Kramer, who had two brief substitute appearances during the tournament. Kramer himself was injured after a collision with Ezequiel Garay inside the penalty area
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Germany national football team
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The Germany national football team is the mens football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association, founded in 1900, ever since the DFB was reinaugurated in 1949 the team has represented the Federal Republic of Germany. Both have been absorbed along with their records by the current national team, the official name and code Germany FR was shortened to Germany following the reunification in 1990. Germany is one of the most successful teams in international competitions, having won a total of four World Cups. They have also been three times in the European Championships, four times in the World Cup, and a further four third-place finishes at World Cups. East Germany won Olympic Gold in 1976, Germany is the only nation to have won both the mens and womens World Cups. At the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Germany earned the highest Elo rating of any football team in history. Germany is also the only European nation that has won a FIFA World Cup in the Americas, the current manager of the national team is Joachim Löw. Germanys first championship title was won in Switzerland. At that time the players were selected by the DFB, as there was no dedicated coach, the first manager of the Germany national team was Otto Nerz, a school teacher from Mannheim, who served in the role from 1926 to 1936. After a poor showing at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, in 1937 he put together a squad which was soon nicknamed the Breslau Elf in recognition of their 8–0 win over Denmark in the then German city of Breslau, Lower Silesia. In the 1938 World Cup that began on 4 June, this united German team managed only a 1–1 draw against Switzerland and that early exit stands as Germanys worst World Cup result. During World War II, the team played over 30 international games between September 1939 and November 1942, when national team games were suspended, as most players had to join the armed forces. After the Second World War, Germany was banned from competition in most sports until 1950, the DFB was not a full member of FIFA, and none of the three new German states — West Germany, East Germany, and Saarland — entered the 1950 World Cup qualifiers. The Federal Republic of Germany, which was referred to as West Germany, with recognition by FIFA and UEFA, the DFB maintained and continued the record of the pre-war team. Switzerland was once again the first team that played West Germany in 1950, West Germany qualified for the 1954 World Cup. The Saarland, under French control between 1947 and 1956, did not join French organisations, and was barred from participating in pan-German ones and it sent their own team to the 1952 Summer Olympics and to the 1954 World Cup qualifiers. In 1957, Saarland acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1949, the communist German Democratic Republic was founded
28.
Manuel Lanzini
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Manuel Lanzini is an Argentine footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for English club West Ham United. He has previously played for River Plate and Fluminense and international football for Argentina U20 and he is described as possessing phenomenal dribbling ability, as well as fantastic acceleration and vision and the ability to ghost past defenders. He is nicknamed the jewel and holds an Italian passport, born in Ituzaingó, Buenos Aires, Lanzini made his professional debut for River Plate as a 17-year-old on August 8,2010, in a 1–0 home win over Tigre, playing 45 minutes. Lanzini spent the 2011–12 season on-loan with Fluminense in Brazil and he scored his debut goal on 1 September 2011, in a 2–1 victory over São Paulo, at the Estádio do Morumbi. He went on to play 37 games in all competitions, scoring five goals and he returned from a loan in the summer of 2012 and took the number 10 shirt. He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–2 home defeat to Belgrano, in 2014 Lanzini became the youngest foreign player, at 21, to play in the UAE Arabian Gulf League when he signed a four-year deal for Al Jazira Club. He had been courted by clubs in England, Spain, Italy and Turkey, on 22 July 2015, Lanzini signed for Premier League side West Ham United on a season-long loan, with an option to make the move permanent. His league debut came on 15 August as a 76th-minute substitute for Cheikhou Kouyaté in a 1–2 home defeat to Leicester City, in March 2016, a permanent deal to sign Lanzini with effect from 1 July 2016 was announced by West Ham. In May 2016, Lanzini was named in Argentinas provisional 35-man squad for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and he withdrew from the squad in July 2016 following a knee injury sustained while training in Miami, Florida. He returned to London for treatment and training with West Ham, Lanzini has an older brother, Tomás Lanzini, who plays for Chilean club Ñublense. He is also of Italian origin and holds an Italian passport
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Paraguay
