1.
FIFA (video game series)
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FIFA, also known as FIFA Football or FIFA Soccer, is a series of association football video games or football simulator, released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. When the series began in late 1993, it was notable for being the first to have a licence from FIFA. The latest installments in the series contain many exclusively-licensed leagues including leagues and teams from around the world, in addition, internationally popular clubs from around the world, including some teams from Greece and South Africa, without those nations entire leagues. As of FIFA17, Marco Reus of Borussia Dortmund, is the face of the franchise, appearing on the front cover of the series and in promotional campaigns and he replaced Lionel Messi, who appeared on four straight covers from FIFA13 to FIFA16. As of 2011, the FIFA franchise has been localised into 18 languages, the series has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling sports video game franchise in the world, and one of the best-selling video game franchises. Also, FIFA12 holds the record for the fastest selling game ever with over 3.2 million games sold. The franchises latest release is FIFA17, released on September 27,2016 in North America and it is available for multiple gaming systems, including the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, among others. While FIFA95 did not add other than the ability to play with club teams. FIFA97 improved on this with polygonal models for players and added an indoor soccer mode and this version featured much improved graphics, a complete World Cup with qualifying rounds and refined gameplay. Months later, World Cup 98, was EAs first officially-licensed tournament game, FIFA games have been met with some minor criticism, such as improvements each game features over its predecessor. As the console market is expanding, FIFA is being challenged directly by other such as Konamis Pro Evolution Soccer series. Both FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer have a following but FIFA sales is rising as much as 23 percent year-on-year. In 2010, the FIFA series had sold over 100 million copies, making it the sports video game franchise in the world. With FIFA12 selling 3.2 million copies in the first week after its September 27 North American debut in 2011, in 2012, EA Sports signed Lionel Messi to the FIFA franchise, luring him away from the competitor Pro Evolution Soccer. Messis likeness was then placed on the cover of FIFA Street. In 2013, the Spanish professional womens footballer Vero Boquete started a petition on Change. org, the petition attracted 20,000 signatures in 24 hours. FIFA16, released on 25 September 2015, included female national teams, tagline, FIFA International Soccer has it all. This greatly hyped football title broke with traditional 16-bit era games by presenting an isometric view rather than the more usual top-down view, side view and it only includes national teams, and real player names are not used
2.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
List of men's national association football teams
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This is a list of the mens national association football teams in the world. This group includes United Nations member and observer states, as well as states who are not members of the UN and this list excludes other teams, which generally play outside of FIFAs recognition. This section lists the current,211 mens national teams affiliated to FIFA. 12 mens national teams who have membership in one of FIFAs affiliated continental confederations. FIFA members are eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup and matches between them are recognized as international matches. Based on their results over the previous four-year period, the FIFA World Rankings, published monthly by FIFA. Some national teams who are members of a confederation but not FIFA members compete in confederation-level and these teams, however, are not allowed to participate in the World Cup. All 22 national governing bodies that form UAFA are also members of both FIFA and either the AFC or CAF, national teams from UAFA member countries are noted in the list below. Members of FIFA and its affiliated confederations include a majority of United Nations member states and they also include several constituent countries, autonomous areas, associated states, dependent territories, and two sovereign states who are neither UN members or observers. The team from the Republic of China is designated as Chinese Taipei by both FIFA and its continental confederations. Some national football associations are members of a federation. These teams are noted in each subsection below, due to the geographical size of Asia, the AFC is subdivided into five sub-federations, West Asian Football Federation – represents nations at the western extremity of the continent, except Iran. East Asian Football Federation – represents nations in Northeast Asia, plus Guam, Central Asian Football Federation – represents nations in Central Asia, plus Iran. South Asian Football Federation – represents nations in South Asia, ASEAN Football Federation – represents nations in Southeast Asia, plus Australia. Council of Southern Africa Football Associations – represents nations regarded as forming Southern Africa. West African Football Union/Union du Football de lOuest Afrique – represents nations in West Africa, Union of North African Federations – represents nations regarded as forming North Africa. Union des Fédérations du Football de lAfrique Centrale – represents some of the nations that form Central Africa, North American Football Union – represents the teams of Canada, Mexico and the USA. Union Centroamericana de Fútbol – represents the seven nations of Central America, the national football teams included in this section are not members of FIFA, or of any of its affiliated continental confederations
5.
Gianni Infantino
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Giovanni Vincenzo Gianni Infantino is a football administrator and current FIFA president. He holds dual nationality, Swiss and Italian and he has been the general secretary of UEFA since 2009 and was elected president of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress on 26 February 2016. Gianni Infantino was born on 23 March 1970 in Brig, Switzerland and he is son of Italian immigrant parents from Calabria and Lombardy. He studied law at the University of Fribourg and he is fluent in Italian, French and German and also knows English, Spanish, and Arabic. Infantino worked as the Secretary General of the International Center for Sports Studies at the University of Neuchâtel, Gianni Infantino started working with UEFA in August 2000 and was appointed as the Director of UEFAs Legal Affairs and Club Licensing Division in January 2004. He became Deputy General Secretary of UEFA in 2007 and Secretary General of UEFA in October 2009, during his time there, UEFA introduced Financial Fair Play and improved commercial support to smaller national associations. He oversaw the expansion of UEFA Euro 2016 to 24 teams and played a role in the conception of the UEFA Nations League and the UEFA Euro 2020 that will take place in 13 European nations. In 2015, the Greek government decided to introduce a new law in response to the recent scandal and acts of violence. Infantino was a member of FIFAs Reform Committee, on 26 October 2015, he received the backing of the UEFA Executive Committee to stand for the position of president in the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress. On the same day, he confirmed his candidacy and submitted the required declarations of support and he promised to expand the FIFA World Cup to 40 teams. On 26 February 2016, he was elected FIFA President for a period of 3 years, with his election, he became the first Italian to hold the Presidency of FIFA. Infantino was implicated in the FIFA corruption scandal in documents released in the Panama Papers and they show UEFA undertook deals with indicted figures where previously they had denied any relationship. Infantino has stated he is dismayed at the reports and that he has never dealt with the parties involved. Infantino is married to Lebanese Leena Al Ashqar, the couple have four children and he is a fan of Italian Serie A club Inter Milan
6.
Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa
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Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa is the President of the Asian Football Confederation since 2 May 2013. He is a member of the FIFA Council and chairman of the FIFA Development Committee, Sheikh Salman is a member of the House of Khalifa, the Royal Family of Bahrain. He graduated from University of Bahrain in 1992 with a degree in English Literature. Since leaving Riffa Club to focus on his studies, Sheikh Salman has held executive positions at the BFA. In 1996, he was appointed Chairman of the National Team and he has also served as the Co-Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee at several FIFA Tournaments such as, the FIFA World Cups, FIFA Beach Tournaments, FIFA Club Championships, etc. He was also Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee at Beijing in 2008, Sheikh Salman was president of the Bahrain Football Association at time of the golden era of Bahraini football. The national team was an away from qualifying to the 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2010 FIFA World Cup. The team also managed to reach the 2004 Asian Cup Semi Final, the national team FIFA ranking also reached its highest in the history of Bahraini Football, as it moved up to the 44th position. On 15 October 2015, Sheikh Salman announced his candidature to become the president of FIFA after the election of February 2016. | Sheikh Salman has three children, two daughters Sheikha Latifa born in 1994 and Sheikha Aysha born in 1998, and a son Sheikh Isa born in 2001
7.
David Gill (executive)
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David Alan Gill is British football executive, formerly chief executive of Manchester United and a vice-chairman of The Football Association. He served as vice-chairman of the G-14 management committee until the G-14 was disbanded and he sits on the UEFA Executive Committee as of 2013. Born and raised in Reading, Berkshire, Gill studied at the University of Birmingham, after a two-year spell in San Francisco, he left the firm in 1986 to join The BOC Group in its corporate finance department, and then Avis Rent a Car System in 1990. At Avis, he was responsible for the disposal of the European leasing business to GE Capital for US$1 billion in August 1992. C. in 1997, Gill joined Manchester United PLC in 1997 as finance director. In August 2000, he was promoted to deputy chief executive whilst retaining his responsibilities as finance director, in September 2003, after the departure of previous chief executive Peter Kenyon to Chelsea F. C. Gill was promoted to chief executive of Manchester United PLC, in 2005, he was appointed chief executive of the private limited company, Manchester United Ltd, that succeeded Manchester United PLC after the takeover by Malcolm Glazer. Gill was also vice-chairman of the management committee of the now defunct G-14, however, in September 2009, he was elected to a two-year place on the board of the European Club Association, the organisation created to replace the G-14. On 20 February 2013, Manchester United announced that Gill would leave his post as executive in the summer of 2013. He was replaced by the executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, on 2 June 2006, Gill was elected onto the board of The Football Association, replacing Arsenal F. C. vice-chairman David Dein. Gill said he was delighted to be working with the board members of the Football Association. One of the first issues he had to deal with was the club-vs. -country row over Wayne Rooneys foot at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, questions were raised by Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez about a potential conflict of interest between Gills roles with Manchester United and the FA. However, Gill dismissed the Spaniards concerns, saying that he had been elected by the other Premier League chief executives, in October 2012, David was appointed vice-chairman of the Football Association, replacing Sir Dave Richards. Gill, along with a number of other European football executives, called for Blatter to resign, Gill said Blatters behavior was totally unacceptable. In May 2013, David Gill was elected to the UEFA Executive Committee at the 2013 UEFA Congress in London, in March 2015, Gill was elected as Britains FIFA Vice-President, replacing Northern Irelands Jim Boyce, sitting on the FIFA Council for a 4-year term. Blatter won re-election for a term, and Gill immediately rejected his role as a FIFA Vice-President. I simply do not see how there will be change for the good of football while Mr Blatter remains in post Gill stated. On 2 June, four days after FIFAs 65th FIFA Congress, Gill has two sons, Adam and Oliver, and a daughter, Jessica. Oliver signed a contract with Manchester United in July 2009
8.
Fatma Samoura
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Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura is a Senegalese senior United Nations official. She was appointed as the first female FIFAs Secretary General on 13 May 2016, after joining the United Nations World Food Programme in 1995, she served as Country Director for WFP in Djibouti and Cameroon and also worked at the WFP headquarters in Rome. She covered numerous complex emergencies, including Kosovo, Liberia, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone and she is based in the town of Abéché, located approximately 80 kilometres west of the border with the Sudans conflict-torn Darfur region. Chad currently hosts over 280,000 refugees and over 170,000 internally displaced persons, most of whom are in the eastern region, and she was tasked with working for their return. The officials functions consist in providing support and guidance to a composed of seven United Nations agencies. In June 2016 she assumed the role of FIFA Secretary General responsible for overseeing commercial and operational side of the organization and she replaced Jerome Valcke who has been implicated in corruption allegations in his role. Within months of landing the job a controversy erupted in the United Kingdom over the rules forbidding the wearing of poppies by players. Samoura declared on 3 November 2016 that England, Scotland and Wales would be punished if they wore the poppy on Remembrance Day as FIFA classes it as a political symbol, Britain is not the only country that has been suffering as a result of war, she said. My own continent has been torn by war for years, the only question is why are we doing exceptions for just one country and not the rest of the world. Prime Minister of Britain Theresa May condemned FIFA and told Parliament that Samouras decision was utterly outrageous
9.
International Olympic Committee
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The International Olympic Committee is the supreme authority of the worldwide Olympic movement. It is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Lausanne and its mission is enshrined in the Olympic Charter, to support the development of competitive sport by ethical and environmentally sustainable means. The IOC was created by Pierre de Coubertin, on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president, today its membership consists of 100 active members,32 honorary members, and 1 honour member. The IOC is the authority of the worldwide modern Olympic movement. The IOC organises the modern Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games, held in summer and winter, the first Summer Olympics organised by the IOC was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896, the first Winter Olympics was in Chamonix, France, in 1924. Until 1992, both Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year, the first Summer Youth Olympics were in Singapore in 2010 and the first Winter Youth Olympics were held in Innsbruck in 2012. In 2009, the UN General Assembly granted the IOC Permanent Observer status and this decision enables the IOC to be directly involved in the UN Agenda and to attend UN General Assembly meetings where it can take the floor. This has provided the possibility to promote sport at a new level, during each proclamation at the Olympics, announcers speak in different languages, French is always spoken first followed by an English translation and the dominant language of the host nation. The stated mission of the International Olympic Committee is to promote Olympic throughout the world and it is the IOC’s supreme organ and its decisions are final. Extraordinary Sessions may be convened by the President or upon the written request of at least one third of the members, among others, the powers of the Session are, To adopt or amend the Olympic Charter. To elect the members of the IOC, the Honorary President, to elect the President, the Vice-Presidents and all other members of the IOC Executive Board. To elect the host city of the Olympic Games, the Olympic Laurel is awarded to individuals for promoting education, culture, development, and peace through sport. For most of its existence, the IOC was controlled by members who were selected by other members, countries that had hosted the Games were allowed two members. When named, they did not become the representatives of their countries to the IOC. The membership of IOC members ceases in the circumstances, Resignation. Non re-election, any IOC member ceases to be a member without further formality if they are not re-elected, age limit, any IOC member ceases to be a member at the end of the calendar year during which they reach the age of 80. Failure to attend Sessions or take part in IOC work for two consecutive years. Transfer of domicile or of main center of interests to an other than the country which was theirs at the time of their election
10.
International Football Association Board
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The International Football Association Board is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB is known to take a conservative attitude regarding changes to the Laws of the Game. It is a body from FIFA, though FIFA is represented on the board. As a legacy of association footballs origins in the British Isles, amendments to the Laws require a three-quarter supermajority vote, meaning that FIFAs support is necessary but not sufficient for a motion to pass. Each UK association has one vote and FIFA has four, IFAB deliberations must be approved by three-quarters of the vote, which translates to at least six votes. Thus, FIFAs approval is necessary for any IFAB decision, as of 2016, all members must be present for a binding vote to proceed. The Board meets twice a year, once to decide on possible changes to the governing the game of Football. The first meeting is called the Annual General Meeting and the second is the Annual Business Meeting, in FIFA World Cup years, the AGM is held at FIFAs offices, otherwise, it rotates between Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland in that order. Four weeks before the AGM, the member associations must send their written proposals to the secretary of the host association, FIFA then prints a list of suggestions that are distributed to all other associations for examination. The AGM is held either in February or March and the ABM is held between September and October, in cases of necessity, the Board can meet in a Special Meeting in addition to the two ordinary annual meetings. As of December 2012, the last Special Meeting was hosted by FIFA in Zurich on 5 July 2012, as well as permanent changes to the Laws, IFAB also authorise trials of potential amendments. Though the rules of football had largely been standardised by the early 1880s and this posed a problem with international matches and when matches were played, the rules of whoever was the home team were used. While this solution was workable, it was hardly ideal, the conference created the first international competition, the British Home Championship, and proposed the establishment of a permanent board to regulate the laws of the game. Therefore, the first meeting of IFAB took place at the FAs offices at Holborn Viaduct in London on Wednesday 2 June 1886, the FA, SFA, FAW and IFA each had equal voting rights. The growing popularity of the game led to the admittance of FIFA representatives to IFAB in 1913. Initially, they only had two votes and decisions required a majority to pass, meaning that the UK associations could still change the laws against FIFAs wishes if they all voted together. In 1958, the Board agreed on its current voting system, since Irish partition in 1921, the IFA has evolved to become the organising body for football in Northern Ireland. Football in the Republic of Ireland is now organised by the Football Association of Ireland, history of IFAB, including minutes of the meetings Soccer South Bay Referee Association FIFA/IFAB paper on the role of the IFAB FIFA
11.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
12.
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
13.
Futsal
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Futsal, or futsala, is a variant of association football played on a hard court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It can be considered a version of five-a-side football, Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlike some other forms of football, the game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball, the surface, ball and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity, and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces. Futsal comes from Spanish fútbol sala or fútbol de salón and from Portuguese futebol de salão, the term is commonly translated as indoor football but a more literal translation is hall/lounge football. During the sports world championships held in Madrid in 1985. Since then, all names have been officially and internationally changed to futsal. The naming was due to a dispute between FIFUSA and FIFA over the name of fútbol, FIFUSA has registered the word fut-sal in 1985, since then FIFA has also started using the term futsal. The name has been translated into Italian as calcio a 5 or football sala, Futsal started in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani, a teacher in Montevideo, Uruguay, created a version of indoor football for recreation in YMCAs. This new sport was developed for playing on basketball courts. The YMCA spread the game immediately throughout South America and it was easily played by everyone, everywhere, and in any weather condition, even in winter, without any difficulty, helping players to stay in shape all year round. These reasons convinced João Lotufo, a Brazilian, to bring this game to his country, initially, the rules were not uniform. In 1956, the rules were modified by Habib Maphuz and Luiz Gonzaga de Oliveira Fernandes within the YMCA of São Paulo Brazil to allow seniors to compete, Luiz de Oliveira wrote the Book of Rules of Fuitsal in 1956, then adopted also at the international level. In 1965 the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol de Salón was formed, consisting of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina, shortly after, a unique tournament was organized. It attracted some interest in South American media, which began to follow futsal. The sport began to spread across South America, and its popularity ensured the formation of a body in São Paulo in 1971. FIFUSA initially comprised Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, the new institution counted 32 participating countries and its first President was João Havelange joined by the secretary Luiz Gonzaga de Oliveira. In 1975, the Federation’s chief passed to FIFA, and in 1980, the Federation then began to work to bring the big event to Europe
14.
Beach soccer
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Beach soccer, also known as beach football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. The game emphasises skill, agility and shooting at goal, whilst football has been played informally on beaches for many years, the introduction of beach soccer was an attempt to codify rules for the game. This was done in 1992 by the founders of Beach Soccer Worldwide and this was a major foundation for what is now known as beach soccer and what has led to the sport rapidly growing in popularity. The irregularity of the playing surface leads to a totally different style of play than is used in football. The compact field, much smaller than a football field, allows players to score from anywhere on the sand. With an average of scoring rate of one every three or four minutes, around eleven goals are scored in total during an average game. Beach soccer started in Brazil, more precisely at Leme beach, Rio de Janeiro, Beach soccer had been played recreationally all over the world for many years and in many different formats. In 1992 the laws of the game were envisioned and an event was staged by the founding partners of BSWW in Los Angeles. By 1993, the first professional beach soccer competition was organized at Miami Beach, with teams from the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Italy taking part. In April 1994 the first event to be covered by network television transmissions was held on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, the competition was won by the host nation, making Brazil the first ever World Champions of Beach Soccer. The success of the tournament saw commercial interest begin to match developments on the field and growing demand for the sport around the world gave rise to the Pro Beach Soccer Tour in 1996. The first Pro Beach Soccer Tour included a total of 60 games in two years across South America, Europe, Asia and the United States, attracting major names both on and off the field. The EPBSL, now known as the Euro BS League, brought together from across the continent and satisfied the demands of the media, sponsors. Only four years on from its creation, the successful first step in the building of a worldwide competition structure for the sport of pro beach soccer had been taken. L. in April 2000. The EPBSL was also flourishing, a nail-biting 2000 season was decided in the match of the final tournament when Spain beat Portugal in an intense encounter. In August 2011, Olympic news outlet Around the Rings reported that beach soccer could be vying for inclusion in the 2016 Summer Olympics, FIFA President Sepp Blatter reportedly spoke recently with Rio 2016 president Carlos Nuzman about including beach soccer on the Olympic agenda. The next four years would see this growth consolidated by further progress both on and off the field, with the EPBSL emerging as the strongest pro beach soccer competition in the world. By 2004, some seventeen nations had entered teams, with this number expected to rise to over stage events, france won the first world cup and the next year Brazil won it at the same venue
15.
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
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FIFA Women's World Cup
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The competition has been held every four years since 1991, when the inaugural tournament, then called the Womens World Championship, was held in China. Under the tournaments current format, national teams vie for 23 slots in a qualification phase. The tournament proper, alternatively called the World Cup Finals, is contested at venues within the host nation over a period of one month. The seven FIFA Womens World Cup tournaments have been won by four different national teams, including the United States, the current champion is the United States, after winning their third title in the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup. Twelve national teams took part in the competition – four from UEFA, the tournament saw European champion Norway defeat Sweden 1–0 in the final to win the tournament, while Brazil clinched third place by beating the hosts in a penalty shootout. The competition was deemed a success and on 30 June FIFA approved the establishment of an official World Cup, again, twelve teams competed, this time culminating in the United States beating Norway in the final 2-1. In the 1999 edition, one of the most famous moments of the tournament was American defender Brandi Chastains victory celebration after scoring the Cup-winning penalty kick against China. She took off her jersey and waved it over her head, showing her muscular torso, the 1999 final in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California had an attendance of 90,185, a world record for a womens sporting event. The 1999 and 2003 Womens World Cups were both held in the United States, in 2003 China was supposed to host it, but the tournament was moved because of SARS. As compensation, China retained its automatic qualification to the 2003 tournament as host nation, germany hosted the 2011 FIFA Womens World Cup, as decided by vote in October 2007. In March 2011, FIFA awarded Canada the right to host the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup, the 2015 edition saw the field expand from 16 to 24 teams. Christie Rampone is the oldest player to play in a Womens World Cup match. In March 2015, FIFA awarded France the right to host the 2019 FIFA Womens World Cup over South Korea, the final tournament has featured between twelve and twenty-four national teams competing over about one month in the host nation. There are two stages, the stage followed by the knockout stage. In the group stage, teams are drawn into groups of four teams each, each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. The last round of matches of group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams. In the 2015 24-team format, the two teams finishing first and second in group and the four best teams among those ranked third qualify for the round of 16. Points are used to rank the teams within a group, since 1994, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss
17.
List of FIFA Member Associations
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This is a list of the mens national association football teams in the world. This group includes United Nations member and observer states, as well as states who are not members of the UN and this list excludes other teams, which generally play outside of FIFAs recognition. This section lists the current,211 mens national teams affiliated to FIFA. 12 mens national teams who have membership in one of FIFAs affiliated continental confederations. FIFA members are eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup and matches between them are recognized as international matches. Based on their results over the previous four-year period, the FIFA World Rankings, published monthly by FIFA. Some national teams who are members of a confederation but not FIFA members compete in confederation-level and these teams, however, are not allowed to participate in the World Cup. All 22 national governing bodies that form UAFA are also members of both FIFA and either the AFC or CAF, national teams from UAFA member countries are noted in the list below. Members of FIFA and its affiliated confederations include a majority of United Nations member states and they also include several constituent countries, autonomous areas, associated states, dependent territories, and two sovereign states who are neither UN members or observers. The team from the Republic of China is designated as Chinese Taipei by both FIFA and its continental confederations. Some national football associations are members of a federation. These teams are noted in each subsection below, due to the geographical size of Asia, the AFC is subdivided into five sub-federations, West Asian Football Federation – represents nations at the western extremity of the continent, except Iran. East Asian Football Federation – represents nations in Northeast Asia, plus Guam, Central Asian Football Federation – represents nations in Central Asia, plus Iran. South Asian Football Federation – represents nations in South Asia, ASEAN Football Federation – represents nations in Southeast Asia, plus Australia. Council of Southern Africa Football Associations – represents nations regarded as forming Southern Africa. West African Football Union/Union du Football de lOuest Afrique – represents nations in West Africa, Union of North African Federations – represents nations regarded as forming North Africa. Union des Fédérations du Football de lAfrique Centrale – represents some of the nations that form Central Africa, North American Football Union – represents the teams of Canada, Mexico and the USA. Union Centroamericana de Fútbol – represents the seven nations of Central America, the national football teams included in this section are not members of FIFA, or of any of its affiliated continental confederations
18.
Confederation of African Football
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The Confederation of African Football is the administrative and controlling body for African association football. CAF represents the football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions. CAF is the biggest of six continental confederations of FIFA, CAF has been given 5 slots out of the 32 available since the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, this increased to 6 in 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, to include the hosts. The number of places returned to 5 for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and its first headquarters was situated in Khartoum, Sudan for some months until a fire outbreak in the offices of the Sudanese Football Association when the organization moved near Cairo. Youssef Mohammad was the first General Secretary and Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem the president, the administrative center since 2002 is located in 6th of October City, near Cairo. It was initially made up of 4 national associations, currently there are 56 associations,55 full members since the inclusion of Zanzibar in March 2017 and Réunion Island as associate. The current CAF President is Ahmad Ahmad, suketu Patel is the 1st Vice-President, Almamy Kabele Camara is the 2nd Vice-President while Essam El Dine Ahmed is the Acting Secretary General. Hayatou announced that he would seek another term as president for the 16 March 2017 election. On March 16,2017, Ahmad Ahmad from Madagascar was elected president, in July 2016, Total has secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football to support 10 of its principal competitions. Total started with the Africa Cup of Nations that was held in Gabon therefore renaming it Total Africa cup of Nations. Reunion holds associate membership of CAF, Zanzibar held associate membership from 1980 to 2017 when it became a full member - albeit without voting rights for CAF presidency elections, the main competition for mens national teams is the Africa Cup of Nations, started in 1957. In 2009, CAF will be organising another competition for national teams. CAF also runs national competitions at Under-20 and Under-17 levels, a third competition, the CAF Cup, started in 1992 and was absorbed into the CAF Confederation Cup in 2004. The CAF Super Cup, which pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the CAF Confederation Cup, the Afro-Asian Club Championship was jointly organised with AFC between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the winners of the AFC Champions League. The last Afro-Asian Club Championship took place in 1998, * jointly organised with AFC Legend For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown. Teams are sorted by number of appearances, Legend Legend The following clubs are the top 10 clubs in CAF competitions
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Asian Football Confederation
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The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. Three other states located along the fringe of Asia – Cyprus, Armenia. Hong Kong and Macau, although not independent countries, are members of the AFC. One of FIFAs six continental confederations, the AFC was formed officially on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, the main headquarters is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The current president is Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, the Asian Football Confederation was founded on 8 May 1954. Afghanistan, Burma, Republic of China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, the Asian Ladies Football Confederation is the section of the AFC who manage womens football in Asia. The group was founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia. In 1986 the ALFC merged with the AFC, the Asian Ladies Football Confederation helped organise the AFC Womens Asian Cup, first held in 1975, as well as the AFCs AFC U-19 Womens Championship and the AFC U-17 Womens Championship. The AFC has 47 member associations split into five regions, all three competitions are held every four years. The top-ranked AFC competition is the AFC Champions League, which started in the 2002–03 season and gathers the top 1–4 teams of each country, a second, lower-ranked competition is the AFC Cup. This competition was launched by AFC in 2004, a third competition, the AFC Presidents Cup, which had started in 2005, was absorbed into the AFC Cup in 2015. The AFC also runs an annual Asian futsal club competition, the AFC Futsal Club Championship
20.
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
21.
CONCACAF
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Three South American entities—the independent nations of Guyana and Suriname and the French department of French Guiana—are also members. CONCACAFs primary functions are to organize competitions for teams and clubs. Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, CONCACAF is the third-most successful FIFA confederation. Mexico dominated CONCACAF mens competition early on and has won the most Gold Cups since the beginning of the tournament in its current format. The Mexican national team is the only CONCACAF team to win an official FIFA tournament by winning the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup and they have also reached the Round of 16 for the past 6 World Cups. Between them, Mexico and the U. S. have won all, in recent years Costa Rica has become a power in the region and in 2014 became the 4th CONCACAF country after the United States, Cuba, and Mexico to make the World Cup quarterfinals. CONCACAF is led by a General Secretary, Executive Committee, Congress, the Executive Committee is composed of eight members — one president, three vice-presidents, three members, and one female member. Each of the three zones in CONCACAF is represented by one vice-president and one member. The Executive Committee carries out the various statutes, regulations, in 1969, he was succeeded in the role by Mexican Joaquín Soria Terrazas, who served as president for 21 years. His successor Jack Warner was the CONCACAF president from 1990 to 2011, Warner was suspended as president on 30 May 2011 due to his temporary suspension from football related activity by FIFA following corruption allegations. Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary during the same period, the vice-president of CONCACAF, Alfredo Hawit, acted as president until May 2012. In May 2012, Cayman Islands banker Jeffrey Webb was installed as President of CONCACAF, on 27 May 2015, Webb was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland on corruption charges in the U. S. Victor Montagliani, leader of the Canadian Soccer Association, was elected as president of CONCACAF in May 2016, CONCACAF is a non-profit company registered in Nassau, Bahamas. The headquarters of the CONCACAF are currently located in the Admiral Financial Center, George Town, previously, they were based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago under the presidency of Jack Warner. The administration office of CONCACAF is located in Miami—the home town of Enrique Sanz, Enrique Sanz was appointed as the CONCACAF General Secretary in July 2012. It was previously located in Trump Tower, New York when Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary, there is also an office in Guatemala City, which is shared with UNCAF and an office in New York. CONCACAF has 41 member associations,27 from the Caribbean 7 from Central America 4 from North America 3 from South America M = Mens National Team. Bonaire were promoted from a member to a full member at the XXIX Ordinary CONCACAF Congress in São Paulo on 10 June 2014
22.
Oceania Football Confederation
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The Oceania Football Confederation is one of the six continental confederations of international association football, consisting of New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, and other Pacific Island countries. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, OFC is predominantly made up of island nations where association football is not the most popular sport. Consequently, the OFC has little influence in the football world. In 2006, the OFCs largest and most successful nation, Australia, left to join the Asian Football Confederation, david Chung is the current President of OFC. Rajesh Patel is the Senior Vice President, Lee Harmon is the Vice-President while Tai Nicholas is the General Secretary, OFC is made up of 11 full member associations and 3 associate members. Associate member of the OFC, but non-FIFA member.2, unincorporated territories of the United States.3. Free associated state with New Zealand.4, Australia Chinese Taipei Though Israel played in some OFC competitions in the 1970s to 1980s they were not a member of the OFC. Other sovereign states and dependencies in the Pacific Ocean that are not members of the OFC are, Chinese Taipei were an OFC member from 1975 to 1989. In 1996 FIFA confirmed the OFC as a confederation and granted it a seat on the FIFA executive. In 1998 the OFC unveiled a new logo and an official magazine, on 24 May 2004, New Caledonia became the 11th member of the OFC. On 1 January 2006, Australia left the OFC again and joined the Asian Football Confederation, in 2008 an associate member, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, also left the OFC and in 2009 joined the AFC as a quasi-member. In late 2009 the Palau Soccer Association also applied for the status with the AFC. Since 1996, OFC members also play for the OFC Nations Cup, which was held every second year, the OFC also organises the Oceania Club Championship, a competition that has received surprisingly high levels of media support within New Zealand in its debut season. It serves primarily to determine the Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cup, in 2007, the OFC replaced the current club competition with the OFC Champions League which began in 2007. From 2007, the winner has no longer gained direct entry to the FIFA Club World Cup – and it is not clear whether this is permanent, or even if it could change if the Oceania entrant were to outperform entrants from other Confederations. Of the confederations current teams, only New Zealand has ever competed in the FIFA World Cup, founding member Australia also competed in the World Cup finals, in 1974 and 2006. At the conclusion of Germany 2006, Australias exit from the OFC was finalised, the other minor exception to this has been the participation of the Solomon Islands in the 2006,2007 and 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The winner of the OFC Cup also receives a berth in the FIFA Confederations Cup, New Zealand and Tahiti are the only current members of the OFC to have participated in this event
23.
CONMEBOL
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The South American Football Confederation is the continental governing body of association football in South America and it is one of FIFAs six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay, CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American footballs major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA, CONMEBOL national teams have won nine FIFA World Cups, and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each, Brazil has won one Olympic gold medal and it is considered one of the strongest confederations in the world. Currently, the Confederation is planning to create the first womens qualification to the FIFA Womens World Cup to replace the Copa América Femenina. Juan Ángel Napout was the president of CONMEBOL until December 3,2015 when he was arrested in a raid in Switzerland as part of the U. S. Justice Departments widening bribery case involving FIFA. Wilmar Valdez was interim president until January 26,2016 when Alejandro Domínguez was elected president, the first and second vice-presidents are Ramón Jesurum and Laureano González. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered together in order to create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. The constitutional congress on December 15 of that same year ratified the decision, over the years, the other football associations in South America joined, with the last being Venezuela in 1952. Guyana, Suriname, and the French overseas department of French Guiana, with ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land-based FIFA confederation. The main competition for national teams is the Copa América. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under-20, Under-17 and Under-15 levels, for womens national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under-20 and Under-17 championships. In futsal there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20, the Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the womens equivalent to the mans tournament. A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999, in womens football CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009, the Recopa Sudamericana pits the past years winners of the Copa Libertadores against the winners of the Copa Sudamericana, and came into being in 1989. The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organised with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners. S, department of Justice on charges of corruption, money laundering, and racketeering. Those swept up in the operation include former CONMEBOL Presidents Eugenio Figueredo and Nicolás Léoz and several football federations presidents such as Carlos Chavez, on 3 December 2015, the CONMEBOL President Juan Ángel Napout was arrested also
24.
Sepp Blatter
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Joseph Sepp Blatter is a Swiss football administrator who was the eighth president of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. Blatter was re-elected in 2002,2007,2011, and 2015, like his predecessor Havelange, Blatter sought to increase the influence of African and Asian countries in world football through the expansion of participating teams in various FIFA tournaments. He has persistently been dogged by claims of corruption and financial mismanagement, criminal proceedings were announced against Blatter by the Swiss Attorney Generals office on 25 September 2015, regarding criminal mismanagement. On 24 February 2016, a FIFA appeals committee upheld the suspension, issa Hayatou served as the acting President of FIFA until an extraordinary FIFA Congress was held in late February, electing Gianni Infantino as the 9th president of FIFA. Blatter was born in Visp in the Swiss canton of Valais with the name of Josef. He studied in Saint Maurice, before getting a degree in business, Blatter has had a long and varied career, including posts such as head of public relations for the tourist board of his native canton, as well as general secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. He was Director of Sports Timing and Relations of Longines S. A. and was involved in the organization of the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. From 1975 onwards, Blatter worked at FIFA, first as director, then general secretary. He was re-elected as head of FIFA in 2002, and was re-elected unopposed for four years on 31 May 2007. Blatter and FIFA have often been dogged by controversy and allegations of corruption and his tenure has seen controversy over allegations of financial mismanagement and the acceptance of bribes resulting in Qatars successful 2022 World Cup bid. Blatter has attracted criticism from the media, senior figures and players. These include the claim that Latin American countries would applaud John Terry for having an affair. He also drew criticism at the 2014 FIFA World Cup seeding, when he interrupted a one-minute silence for former South-African president Nelson Mandela, who died the day before, after eleven seconds. Michael van Praag, the chairman of the Royal Dutch Football Association, called his behavior preposterous, in order to avoid protest, no speeches were given at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Sepp Blatters 1998 election to the presidency of FIFA over UEFA President Lennart Johansson occurred amidst much controversy and he later claimed to regret his words and promised to officially apologise to Ivanov. However, this apology was never given, and the referee was removed from further officiating, Blatter was criticized in 2007 and 2008 for trying to change European Union employment law regarding the number of foreign players that football clubs could field at any one time. His plans were to set a restriction of five foreign players, Blatter believed this would help the countries national sides by having more national players playing in their leagues. Eleven bids were submitted in March 2009 covering 13 nations, five of the remaining nine bids—South Korea, Qatar, Japan, Australia and the United States—were only for the 2022 World Cup, while all the others were bidding for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups
25.
2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids
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The bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups was the process by which the Fédération Internationale de Football Association selected locations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. Two of the remaining nine bids applied only to the 2022 World Cup, over the course of the bidding, all non-European bids for the 2018 event were withdrawn, resulting in the exclusion of all European bids from consideration for the 2022 edition. By the time of the decision, bids for the 2018 World Cup included England, Russia, a joint bid from Belgium and Netherlands, bids for the 2022 World Cup came from Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, and the United States. Indonesias bid was disqualified due to lack of support. On 2 December 2010, Russia and Qatar were selected as the locations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups respectively, the bidding process involved several controversies. Two members of the FIFA Executive Committee had their voting rights suspended following allegations that they would accept money in exchange for votes, more allegations of vote buying arose after Qatars win was announced. In October 2007, FIFA ended its continental rotation policy, other factors in the selection process include the number of suitable stadiums, and their location across candidate nations. Voting is done using a multiple round exhaustive ballot system whereby the receiving the fewest votes in each round is eliminated until a single candidate is chosen by the majority. Following the selection of the 2006 World Cup hosts, FIFA had decided on a policy for determining the hosts of future editions, the six world confederations—roughly corresponding to continents—would rotate in their turn of providing bids, for a specific edition, from within their member national associations. This system was used only for the selection of the 2010 and 2014 World Cup hosts, open only to CAF and CONMEBOL members, respectively. In September 2007, the system came under review. This proposal was adopted on 29 October 2007, in Zurich, under this policy, a 2018 bid could have come from North America, Asia, Europe, or Oceania, as Africa and South America are ineligible. Likewise, no CONMEBOL member could have made a 2022 bid, the United States, the last non-European candidate in the 2018 bidding cycle, withdrew its bid for that year, hence the 2018 tournament would have to be held in Europe. The multiple round exhaustive ballot system was used to determine the tournament host, all eligible members of the FIFA Executive Committee had one vote. The candidate country that received the fewest votes in each round was eliminated until a candidate was chosen by the majority. In the event of a vote, FIFA President Sepp Blatter would have had the deciding vote. There are twenty-four members on the Committee, but two of those were suspended due to accusations of selling votes, eleven bids were submitted in March 2009 covering thirteen nations, with two joint bids, Belgium-Netherlands and Portugal-Spain. Mexico also submitted a bid, but withdrew theirs on 28 September 2009, while Indonesia had their bid rejected for lack of government support on 19 March 2010
26.
Qatar
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Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a sovereign country located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its surrounded by the Arabian Gulf. A strait in the Arabian Gulf separates Qatar from the island country of Bahrain, as well as sharing maritime borders with the United Arab Emirates. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in the early 20th century until gaining independence in 1971, Qatar has been ruled by the House of Thani since the early 19th century. Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani was the founder of the State of Qatar, Qatar is a hereditary monarchy and its head of state is Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Whether it should be regarded as a constitutional or a monarchy is a matter of opinion. In 2003, the constitution was approved in a referendum. In early 2017, Qatars total population was 2.6 million,313,000 Qatari citizens and 2.3 million expatriates, Qatar is a high income economy, backed by the worlds third largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves. The country has the highest per capita income in the world, Qatar is classified by the UN as a country of very high human development and is the most advanced Arab state for human development. Qatar is a significant power in the Arab world, supporting several rebel groups during the Arab Spring both financially and through its globally expanding media group, Al Jazeera Media Network. For its size, Qatar wields disproportionate influence in the world, Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first Arab country to do so. A century later, Ptolemy produced the first known map to depict the peninsula, the map also referenced a town named Cadara to the east of the peninsula. The term Catara was exclusively used until the 18th century, after which Katara emerged as the most commonly recognised spelling, eventually, the modern derivative Qatar was adopted as the countrys name. In Standard Arabic, the name is pronounced, while in the local dialect it is, Human habitation of Qatar dates back to 50,000 years ago. Settlements and tools dating back to the Stone Age have been unearthed in the peninsula, Mesopotamian artefacts originating from the Ubaid period have been discovered in abandoned coastal settlements. Al Daasa, a settlement located on the western coast of Qatar, is the most important Ubaid site in the country and is believed to have accommodated a small seasonal encampment. Kassite Babylonian material dating back to the second millennium BC found in Al Khor Islands attests to trade relations between the inhabitants of Qatar and the Kassites in modern-day Bahrain, among the findings were 3,000,000 crushed snail shells and Kassite potsherds. It has been suggested that Qatar is the earliest known site of shellfish dye production, in 224 AD, the Sasanian Empire gained control over the territories surrounding the Persian Gulf
27.
2015 FIFA corruption case
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In 2015, U. S. federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with FIFA, the governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. The United States Attorney General simultaneously announced the unsealing of the indictments, the investigation mostly revolved around collusion between officials of continental football bodies CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, and sports marketing executives. The investigation lasted several years, with the first arrest, of former CONCACAF president Jack Warners son Daryll, in total, seven current FIFA officials were arrested at the Hotel Baur au Lac in Zürich on May 27. They were preparing to attend the 65th FIFA Congress, which was scheduled to include the election of the president of FIFA and they are expected to be extradited to the United States on suspicion of receiving US$150 million in bribes. There was also a raid on the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami. Two further arrests of FIFA officials at the hotel occurred in December 2015, the arrests case triggered Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany and Switzerland to open or intensify separate criminal investigations into top FIFA officials for corruption. In December 2010, federal law enforcement agents secured the cooperation of American soccer executive. In December 2011, IRS-CI became aware of what the FBI was up to from news reports and they were investigating Blazers involvement in the bidding process for host countries for the FIFA World Cups from the early 1990s onwards. Blazer agreed to cooperate almost immediately after two agents approached him in New York and confronted him with proof of his tax crimes, in November 2013, Blazer pleaded guilty to 10 criminal charges including wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and offenses involving income tax and banking. Blazers guilty plea had aimed to stave off a serious charge of racketeering. Blazer would later make secret recordings of meetings with FIFA officials, the information against Blazer was revealed on May 27,2015, the same day that the arrests were made in Zurich. In 2011, Phaedra Al-Majid, who was part of the successful 2022 Qatari World Cup Bid and she claimed that Qatar paid $1. She later stated that she had fabricated her claims for media attention, Al-Majid co-operated with the Garcia Report. In November 2014, she stated that she was coerced into withdrawing her allegations as she feared for her safety, as of June 2015, she was in FBI protective custody, when she stated, The FBI have everything. There are people who are annoyed with me, and what really irks them is that Im a female, I just dont think Blatter actually intends to quit. Everything he does is very calculated, hell try very hard to save himself, Im sure of it. In 2013, former FIFA President João Havelange and the Brazilian Football Confederation President Ricardo Teixeira were both found to have taken bribes worth millions of dollars, FIFA executive committee member Manilal Fernando was sanctioned with a lifetime ban for bribery and corruption. The payment is a key piece of the American prosecutors indictment that accuses Warner of taking a bribe in exchange for helping South Africa secure the right to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup
28.
U.S. Department of Justice
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The department was formed in 1870 during the Ulysses S. Grant administration. In its early years, the DOJ vigorously prosecuted Ku Klux Klan members, the Department of Justice administers several federal law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The department has responsibility to investigate instances of fraud, to represent the United States in legal matters such as in the Supreme Court. The department also has responsibilities to review actions of law enforcement conduct by the Violent Crime Control. The Department is headed by the United States Attorney General, who is nominated by the President, the current Attorney General is Jeff Sessions. The U. S. Attorney General was initially a one-person and it was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, but this grew with the bureaucracy. At one time the Attorney General gave legal advice to the U. S. Congress as well as the President, until March 3,1853, the salary of the Attorney General was set by statute at less than the amount paid to other Cabinet members. Early Attorneys General supplemented their salary by engaging in private practice of law. Following unsuccessful efforts to put the Attorney Generals Office on a footing, in 1869. On February 19,1868, Lawrence introduced a bill in Congress to create the Department of Justice, President Ulysses S. Grant then signed the bill into law on June 22,1870. The Department of Justice officially began operations on July 1,1870, just prior to the Civil War, in February 1861, the Confederate States of America established a Department of Justice. Grant appointed Amos T. Akerman as Attorney General and Benjamin H. Bristow as Americas first Solicitor General, both Akerman and Bristow used the Department of Justice to vigorously prosecute Ku Klux Klan members in the early 1870s. In the first few years of Grants first term in there were 1000 indictments against Klan members with over 550 convictions from the Department of Justice. The result was a decrease in violence in the South. Akerman gave credit to Grant and told a friend that no one was better or stronger then Grant when it came to prosecuting terrorists. Akermans successor, George H. Williams, in December 1871, the law did create a new office, that of Solicitor General, to supervise and conduct government litigation in the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1884, control of federal prisons was transferred to the new department, new facilities were built, including the penitentiary at Leavenworth in 1895, and a facility for women located in West Virginia, at Alderson was established in 1924. The U. S. Department of Justice building was completed in 1935 from a design by Milton Bennett Medary, upon Medarys death in 1929, the other partners of his Philadelphia firm Zantzinger, Borie and Medary took over the project
29.
Money laundering
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Money laundering is the process of transforming the profits of crime and corruption into ostensibly legitimate assets. Most anti-money laundering laws openly conflate money laundering with terrorism financing when regulating the financial system, some countries define money laundering as obfuscating sources of money, either intentionally or by merely using financial systems or services that do not identify or track sources or destinations. Other countries define money laundering to include money from activity that would have been a crime in that country, the concept of money laundering regulations goes back to ancient times and is intertwined with the development of money and banking. Money laundering is first seen with individuals hiding wealth from the state to avoid taxation or confiscation or a combination of both, in China, merchants around 2000 BCE would hide their wealth from rulers who would simply take it from them and banish them. In addition to hiding it, they would move it and invest it in businesses in remote provinces or even outside China, over the millennia many rulers and states imposed rules that would take wealth from their citizens and this led to the development of offshore banking and tax evasion. One of the methods has been the use of parallel banking or Informal value transfer systems such as hawala that allowed people to move money out of the country avoiding state scrutiny. In the 20th century, the seizing of wealth again became popular when it was seen as a crime prevention tool. The first time was during the period of Prohibition in the United States during the 1930s and this saw a new emphasis by the state and law enforcement agencies to track and confiscate money. Organized crime received a major boost from Prohibition and a source of new funds that were obtained from illegal sales of alcohol. In the 1980s, the war on drugs led governments again to turn to money-laundering rules to try and seize proceeds of crime to catch the organizers. It also had the benefit from a law enforcement point of view of turning rules of evidence upside down, Law enforcers normally have to prove an individual is guilty to get a conviction. But with money laundering laws, money can be confiscated and it is up to the individual to prove that the source of funds is legitimate if they want the funds back and this makes it much easier for law enforcement agencies and provides for much lower burdens of proof. The September 11 attacks in 2001, which led to the Patriot Act in the US and similar legislation worldwide, starting in 2002, governments around the world upgraded money laundering laws and surveillance and monitoring systems of financial transactions. Anti money laundering regulations have become a larger burden for financial institutions. During 2011–2015 a number of major banks faced ever-increasing fines for breaches of money laundering regulations and this included HSBC, which was fined $1.9 billion in December 2012, and BNP Paribas, which was fined $8.9 billion in July 2014 by the US government. For example, in 2006, Australia set up the AUSTRAC system, Money obtained from certain crimes, such as extortion, insider trading, drug trafficking, and illegal gambling is dirty. It needs to be cleaned to appear to have derived from legal activities so that banks. Money can be laundered by many methods, which vary in complexity, some of these steps may be omitted, depending on the circumstances
30.
Michel Platini
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Michel François Platini is a French former football player, manager and administrator. Nicknamed Le Roi for his ability and leadership, he is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon dOr three times, in 1983,1984 and 1985, and came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. In recognition of his achievements, he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1985, during his career, Platini played for the clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus. Together with the midfielders Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana, Platini was his countrys record goalscorer until 2007, and holds the record for most goals scored in the European Championship despite only appearing in the victorious 1984 edition. Following his retirement as a player, Platini was the French national team coach for four years, from 2007, he served as the president of the Union of European Football Associations. He also held the positions of chairman of FIFAs Technical and Development Committee, in 2015, however, he was banned from football administration for conflict of interest by the FIFA Ethics Committee. Born in Jœuf, in the Lorraine region, Platini is the son of Aldo and Anna, Aldo was a professional footballer and a long-time director for AS Nancy, the club where Michel started his professional career. Platini was called up for a trial with Metz, but missed out on the opportunity due to injury and he returned to regional league football with Jœuf. Another trial at Metz went horribly wrong when a breathing test on a spirometer caused Platini to faint, the doctors verdict on Platinis breathing difficulties and weak heart ended any hopes Platini had of playing for his boyhood favorites. He then joined the side of his fathers club Nancy in September 1972. Platini was quick to make a big impression at his new club, further outstanding displays put him in contention for a place in the Nancy first team. His introduction to the squad was inauspicious. On the substitutes bench for a match against Valenciennes, Platini was spat on, playing for the reserves a few days later, a hefty challenge from an opponent left Platini with a bad ankle injury. His season would finish on a positive note, and he would go on to make his league debut against Nîmes on 3 May 1973. In March 1974, he suffered a setback when he sustained a fracture of his left arm in a match at OGC Nice. Platini missed the remainder of the season as a result, unable to assist Nancy in a bid to avoid relegation from Ligue 1. The following season saw Nancy win promotion back to the French first division with ease, Platini became the teams most important player, scoring 17 goals, a number of which were scored from free-kicks, as was becoming Platinis specialty. Saint-Étienne, the then reigning French league champions, were knocked out of the French Cup with two goals from Platini free-kicks, Platini practised his free-kicks with the help of his friend, goalkeeper Moutier, and using a row of dummies to form a defensive wall of sorts
31.
History of FIFA
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FIFA is the international governing body of association football. It is one of the worlds oldest and largest NGOs, being founded on 21 May 1904 and it has since expanded to include 209 member associations. The first official match between representatives of two nations was between England and Scotland in 1872 at Hamilton Crescent, Partick, Glasgow, finishing in a 0–0 draw, the following year at The Oval, England enjoyed a 4–2 victory over the travelling Scots. This was followed by the creation of the second national football association. Previously the Football Association had been the only governing body. With the number of inter-nation matches increasing as football spread, the need for a governing body emerged. Initially, it was intended to reflect the role of the British in footballs history. This was led by rejection from Football Association president Lord Kinnaird, the initial statutes of FIFA stated that, Only the represented National Associations would be recognised. Clubs and players could play for two National Associations at a time. All Associations would recognise the suspension of a player in any Association, Matches were to be played according to the Laws of the Game of the Football Association Ltd. Each National Association was to pay a fee of 50 French Francs. Only FIFA could organise International Matches and these statutes came into effect on 1 September, by which time Germany had also joined by Telegram. The first FIFA Congress was held on 23 May 1904 – Robert Guérin was elected President, early attempts at the organization of a tournament began, but without the British countries this failed. England, however, joined on 14 April 1905, thanks to efforts by Baron Edouard de Laveleye who was made the first honorary member of FIFA. In 1906, Daniel Burley Woolfall took over as president, making strides to uniformity in the globes laws, FIFA continued to expand in federations and influence, being able to monopolize international matches. However, its organizational skills were still not refined, and it was the Football Association which organized the football tournaments at the 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games, in 1909 South Africa joined, and Argentina and Chile followed in 1912. The United States and Canada entered just before World War I in 1913, however, the British associations withdrew in protest against the inclusion of countries from the Central Powers. They re-joined in the early 20s, but withdrew again in 1928 following a disagreement with FIFA regarding payments to amateur players, in 1920, Jules Rimet of France was elected Chairman, becoming President in 1921
32.
Royal Belgian Football Association
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The Royal Belgian Football Association is the governing body of football and futsal in Belgium. It is a member of the international federations FIFA and UEFA. The association is based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium, as of 2015, it is presided over by chairman François De Keersmaecker. The Royal Belgian Football Association organizes the Belgium mens, womens, the two federations dissolved the joint league and reestablished their own top-level womens leagues. In 1992, the FIFA awarded the Belgian Football Association the FIFA Fair Play Award and this is a home for street children in the industrial Mexican city Toluca, to which the football players donated part of their tournament bonuses. During 25 years, the RBFA stayed committed with this project and helped 500 children to meals, National Centre After organizing UEFA Euro 2000 together with the Dutch association, both federations decided to reinvest the reported profit of €10 million each in the development of youth players. The KBVB decided to invest half of the €10 million in building of a National Centre for football in Tubize, the first stone of the building, however, was not laid before 8 April 2005. The Geel – Namur promotion incident At the end of 2006–07 season, however, the club did not receive its license and could not access to the second division, allowing Namur to be promoted. Geel eventually gained its license in appeal in front of the License Appeal Commission, the tribunal of Namur cancelled the decision to grant the license to Geel, but did not allow Namur to play the second division. The Football Association subsequently announced that clubs would play the third division in 2008–09. Both clubs then asked for a judgement, respectively in front of the courts of Namur. On 7 September 2007, the court of Namur suspended the second, the Geel incident At the end of the 2005–06 season, a case of corruption during the 2004–05 season involving players of the club of Geel came to light. Geel subsequently went to court of Brussels and the justice allowed Geel to play the final round, official website Belgium at FIFA site Belgium at UEFA site
33.
Danish Football Association
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The Danish Football Association is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and it is based in the city of Brøndby and is a founding member of both FIFA and UEFA. The DBU has also been the body of futsal in Denmark since 2008. The DBU was founded in 1889 and was the first Football Association outside of Great Britain, however, it did not register games officially before the 1908 Summer Olympics, meaning that the win in the 1906 Intercalated Olympics tournament was not officially recorded by the DBU. Greenland is not a member of FIFA or any continental federation, the DBU awards the best national team players each year, with an award to the best senior team player, as well as the best player in three of the DBUs six national youth teams. Player of the Year Since 1963, the DBU has awarded the Danish Player of the Year in a vote amongst the Danish players, the record number of award wins is four, by Brian Laudrup. DBU found new sponsor DONG, an oil company, in 2004, official site in Danish and English Denmark at FIFA site Denmark at UEFA site
34.
French Football Federation
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The French Football Federation is the governing body of association football in France, as well as the overseas departments and the overseas collectivities and also in Monaco. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, the FFF was a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the game of football in France, both professional and amateur. The French Football Federation is a member of UEFA and joined FIFA in 1907 after replacing the USFSA. The Fédération Française de Football was formed on 7 April 1919 following the transformation of the Comité Français Interfédéral into the Fédération Française de Football Association, the USFSA later developed friction with FIFA and the IOC, which led to disorganization and in 1913, became semi-affiliated with the CFI. On 7 April 1919, the CFI transformed themselves into the Fédération Française de Football with Jules Rimet being installed as the federations first president and its legal status is placed under the French Association loi de 1901 jurisdiction. The FFF has been affiliated to FIFA since 1907, when the CFI succeeded the USFSA as Frances representative, two years later after the CFIs transformation, the USFSA officially merged with the federation. On 28 June 2010, the current president, Jean-Pierre Escalettes. On 23 July, Fernand Duchaussoy was installed as the interim president and, on 18 December. On 18 June 2011, following as election, Nöel Le Graët was named as the federations 12th president, to defend the moral and material interests of French football. To maintain all appropriate relations with foreign associations affiliated with FIFA, as well as their sporting organizations, the LFP, however, still operate under the authority of the federation. The federation is responsible for appointing the management of the mens, womens. In 2010, the FFF had 2,107,924 licenses, the federation unveiled its new crest in 2007. The French Football Federation runs numerous competitions, the most famous of which is the annual Coupe de France, the Coupe de France is managed under the authority of the Federal Commission of the Coupe de France, which is directly attached to the Federal Council of the FFF. The federation also governs youth leagues, such as the Championnat National of the under-19s, the FFF also oversee the organization of the Coupe Gambardella and the Coupe Nationale for the under-15 and under-13 club teams. The federation organizes all three divisions of football in France and oversee the Challenge de France, the womens premier cup competition. Located 50 km southwest of Paris in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines, Clairefontaine is arguably the finest football academy in the world and it has a high reputation of producing some of the most gifted French players including Nicolas Anelka, Louis Saha, William Gallas and national team top scorer Thierry Henry. Registration for new players at an academy begins in October the year before players enroll at the academy when prospective applicants are 12 years of age. Players have until December to register with their club for acceptance into the academy, the first set of trials are carried out by each district within its respective region
35.
Royal Dutch Football Association
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The Royal Dutch Football Association is the governing body of football in Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues, the leagues, the KNVB Cup. The KNVB is based in the municipality of Zeist. It is the single largest sports association in the Netherlands, in 1889, the Nederlandschen Voetbal en Athlestischen Bond was founded. Due to certain disagreements several football clubs ended their association with it and it was one of the founding members of FIFA in 1904 and one of the first non-British football association in Europe. The first Dutch football club was formed in 1879 in Haarlem, the Netherlands Football League Championship had already existed for a decade unofficially when the association was founded. The KNVB strongly disapproved the professionalism of football in 1909 and it said that it will protest against it by all means necessary. In 2012 KNVB launched an 11-point action plan, called Football for Everyone to promote gay football players in coming out and it released a 30-second video named Gay. It doesnt matter, prepared by broadcaster BNN, the video was also broadcast during the Dutch national footballs teams World Cup qualifier match against Andorra held in October 2012. During FIFA World Cup 2014 it collaborated with Royal Philips to open six football clinics across Brazil, bert van Oostveen is the current Secretary-General of KNVB. KNVB. nl – Official website of the KNVB english. KNVB. nl Netherlands National Football Team History Netherlands at FIFA site Netherlands at UEFA site
36.
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
37.
Royal Spanish Football Federation
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The Royal Spanish Football Federation is the governing body of football in Spain. It is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas and it administers the competition committee of the Campeonato Nacional de Liga, the Primera División and the Segunda División, even though they are organized by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional. It organizes the Segunda División B as well as the Tercera División with the assistance of the football federations. It is also responsible for appointing the management of the Spanish national football team, womens, the Spain national futsal team, also belongs to the federation
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Germany (2014)
United States (2015)
Brazil (2016)
England (2017)
North Korea (2016)
Nigeria (2015)
Peru (2014)
China PR (2014)
Real Madrid (2016)
Argentina (2016)
Olympique Lyonnais (2017)
