1.
Football in Argentina
–
Football is Argentinas most popular sport, the one with the most players and is the most popular recreational sport, played from childhood into old age. The percentage of Argentines that declare allegiance to an Argentine football club is about 90%, Football was introduced to Argentina in the later half of the 19th century by the British immigrants in Buenos Aires. The first Argentine league was contested in 1891, making it the fifth oldest recognised league of a FIFA member, the Argentine Football Association was formed in 1893 and is the eighth oldest in the world. The Argentine national team is one of the eight to have won the football World Cup, having done so in 1978 and 1986, and also being runner-up in 1930,1990, and 2014. They have also won the top tournament, the Copa América, on fourteen occasions. The nations Olympic representative has won two Gold Medals, while the team has won a record six U-20 World Cups. At club level, Argentine teams have won the most Intercontinental Cups, womens football has a national league since 1991, the Campeonato de Fútbol Feminino. In turn, the national representative qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2007. In futsal, Argentina were FIFUSA/AMF Futsal World Cup champions in 1994 and they also compete in the FIFA code of futsal, where they finished third in the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Cup. The team also won the FIFA Futsal Copa América in 2003, moreover, Argentina was world champion in futsal for the visually impaired in 1998. Argentina also compete in the beach football World Cup, where their best finish was third in 2001. British citizens founded social and sports clubs where they could practise their sports, such as bowls, cricket, football, golf, horse riding, rugby union and tennis amongst others. Two English immigrants Thomas and James Hogg organized a meeting on 9 May 1867 in Buenos Aires where the Buenos Aires Football Club was founded. The first recorded match in Argentina took place on this pitch on 20 June 1867. This newspaper, published in Argentina, was the first one to cover football matches in the country, the game was played between two teams of British merchants, the White Caps and the Red Caps. In the 19th century it was practice for teams to be distinguished by caps rather than jerseys. The teams consisted of 8 players each as the organisers were unable to more players for the match. The line-ups were, Thomas Hogg, James Hogg, William Forrester, T. B. Smith, J. W. Bond, Smith, William Heald, T. R. Best, U
2.
Buenos Aires
–
Buenos Aires is the capital and most populous city of Argentina. The city is located on the shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata. The city of Buenos Aires is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the Provinces capital, rather, in 1880, after decades of political infighting, Buenos Aires was federalized and removed from Buenos Aires Province. The city limits were enlarged to include the towns of Belgrano and Flores, the 1994 constitutional amendment granted the city autonomy, hence its formal name, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Its citizens first elected a chief of government in 1996, previously, Buenos Aires is considered an alpha city by the study GaWC5. Buenos Aires quality of life was ranked 81st in the world and one of the best in Latin America in 2012 and it is the most visited city in South America, and the second-most visited city of Latin America. Buenos Aires is a top tourist destination, and is known for its preserved Spanish/European-style architecture, Buenos Aires held the 1st Pan American Games in 1951 as well as hosting two venues in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Buenos Aires will host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and the 2018 G20 summit, Buenos Aires is a multicultural city, being home to multiple ethnic and religious groups. Several languages are spoken in the city in addition to Spanish, contributing to its culture, the hill was known to them as Buen Ayre, as it was free of the foul smell prevalent in the old city, which is adjacent to swampland. During the siege of Cagliari, the Aragonese built a sanctuary to the Virgin Mary on top of the hill, in 1335, King Alfonso the Gentle donated the church to the Mercedarians, who built an abbey that stands to this day. In the years after that, a story circulated, claiming that a statue of the Virgin Mary was retrieved from the sea after it miraculously helped to calm a storm in the Mediterranean Sea, the statue was placed in the abbey. Spanish sailors, especially Andalusians, venerated this image and frequently invoked the Fair Winds to aid them in their navigation, a sanctuary to the Virgin of Buen Ayre would be later erected in Seville. Pedro de Mendoza called the city Holy Mary of the Fair Winds, mendoza’s settlement soon came under attack by indigenous people, and was abandoned in 1541. For many years, the name was attributed to a Sancho del Campo, a second settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who sailed down the Paraná River from Asunción. Garay preserved the name chosen by Mendoza, calling the city Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María del Buen Aire. The short form Buenos Aires became the common usage during the 17th century, the usual abbreviation for Buenos Aires in Spanish is Bs. As. It is common as well to refer to it as B. A. or BA /ˌbiːˈeɪ/ bee-AY), while BA is used more by expats residing in the city, the locals more often use the abbreviation Baires, in one word. Seaman Juan Díaz de Solís, navigating in the name of Spain, was the first European to reach the Río de la Plata in 1516 and his expedition was cut short when he was killed during an attack by the native Charrúa tribe in what is now Uruguay
3.
FIFA
–
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is the international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer. FIFA is responsible for the organisation of major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930. FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 211 national associations, although FIFA does not control the rules of football, it is responsible for both the organization of a number of tournaments and their promotion, which generate revenue from sponsorship. In 2013, FIFA had revenues of over 1.3 billion U. S. dollars, for a net profit of 72 million and those among these officials who were also indicted in the U. S. are expected to be extradited to face charges there as well. Many officials were suspended by FIFAs ethics committee including Sepp Blatter, in early 2017 reports became public about FIFA president Gianni Infantino attempting to prevent the re-elections of both chairmen of the ethics committee during the FIFA congress in May 2017. The need for a body to oversee association football became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The French name and acronym are used even outside French-speaking countries, the founding members were the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Also, that day, the German Association declared its intention of affiliating through a telegram. The first president of FIFA was Robert Guérin, Guérin was replaced in 1906 by Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by then a member of the association. Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1909, Argentina in 1912, Canada and Chile in 1913, and the United States in 1914. During World War I, with players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl Hirschmann and it was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations, who cited an unwillingness to participate in international competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home Nations later resumed their membership, the FIFA collection is held by the National Football Museum at Urbis in Manchester, England. The first World Cup in the world was in 1930 in Montevideo, FIFA is headquartered in Zürich, and is an association established under the Law of Switzerland. FIFAs supreme body is the FIFA Congress, a made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. Each national football association has one vote, regardless of its size or footballing strength, the Congress assembles in ordinary session once every year, and extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. The congress makes decisions relating to FIFAs governing statutes and their method of implementation and application, only the Congress can pass changes to FIFAs statutes
4.
Association football
–
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
5.
Argentina
–
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
6.
Argentine Football Association
–
The Argentine Football Association is the governing body of football in Argentina. It organises the Primera División and lower divisions, the Argentine Cup, Supercopa Argentina, the association is based in the city of Buenos Aires. Secondly, it organizes the amateur leagues for women, children, youth, Futsal. The Argentine Association Football League was founded on 21 February 1893 by Alexander Watson Hutton, the Argentine Association is the oldest in South America and one of the oldest to be formed outside Europe. In 1906 Florencio Martínez de Hoz became the first Argentine-born President of the Association, some teams moved to the FAF were Gimnasia y Esgrima, Independiente, Estudiantes de La Plata and Atlanta. The league lasted until 1914 when rejoining Asociación Argentina de Football forming a league for the 1915 season. The second dissident league was formed in 1919 and named Asociacion Amateurs de Football, the first round of the recently created professional championship was on 31 May 1931. With 75 presidents of different Argentine clubs voting, the day of the elections something went wrong when the final count resulted in a draw of 38 to 38, the explanation given was that one of the electors put a double vote and that mistake was not reported. As a result, the committee decided to postpone the election. After some meetings to put an end to the conflict, both agreed to have another election in June 2016. In June 2016, AFA president Luis Segura was charged with aggravated administrative fraud, Segura has been replaced on an interim basis by the AFAs executive secretary, Damián Dupiellet. The body has been renamed several times since its establishment in 1893,3 Expelled by the Argentine military dictatorship. 5 Then translated into Spanish as Asociación del Fútbol Argentino in 1946, official site Argentina at FIFA site
7.
Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires
–
Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima is an Argentine multi-sports club placed in the city of Buenos Aires. The institution is one of the oldest in the country, having established in 1880. Gimnasia y Esgrima is also one of largest clubs of Argentina, léon Marchand was designed the first president of the club. Three years later, in 1883, the changed its name to Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima. In 1909 Ricardo Camilo Aldao became president of the institution, the football team took part in the Primera División championships since 1909, when the squad won the second division title, therefore promoting to the top division. Gimnasia played in Primera from 1910 to 1917 when the team was relegated to the División Intermedia after finishing 20th of 21 teams, the club disaffiliated from the Association soon later, although football has remained as one of the sports practised up to present days. In 1912, Gimnasia y Esgrima was part of the first break up in Argentine football, Gimnasia stated that its members should not pay for tickets because of their membership, which allowed them to take part of all the activities, including free access to the stadium. The club also claimed a higher percentage of the income for tickets sold, other clubs followed Gimnasia y Esgrima joining the new league, such as Porteño, Estudiantes de La Plata, Independiente, and other teams from the second division. The new league organized its own championships from 1912 to 1915, the clubs stadium was the field where the Argentina national team played its home games since 1910, making its debut during the Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo held there. In the final match of tournament, played against Uruguay, a riot occurred after the suspension of the match was announced. After the stadium was rebuilt, many football games held there, in 1920 Gimnasia y Esgrima disaffiliated from all the football associations of Argentina to organise its own championships. By 1928 GyE had more than 120 members with 8 teams formed, ten years later there were more than 400 members registered to play football. Because of the growth of the activity, the club built one field more, after leaving the official football leagues in the decade of 1920, rugby union was one of the predominant sports of Gimnasia y Esgrima, winning the Torneo de la URBA titles of 1911 and 1912. The club won two titles in 1932 and 1939, its last championship to date. Gimnasia y Esgrima currently plays in the Grupo II, the division of the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires league system. In 1942 president Aldao moved to the distinguished guest apartment. The only condition required by Aldao to live there was the payment of a monthly rent which would be the 6% of the investments made by the club when the apartment was built. In 1947 and after 40 years as president of the institution, on September 2014, the rugby union senior squad returned to the first division after defeating Manuel Belgrano by 23-16 at playoffs
8.
Estudiantes de La Plata
–
Club Estudiantes de La Plata, simply referred to as Estudiantes, is an Argentine sports club based in La Plata. The clubs football team competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its history. The club is amongst the most successful teams in Argentina, in 1967, Estudiantes was the first team outside of the traditional big five to win a professional league title. Since then, the squad has won four league titles to bring the total to five. It has had even greater success, having won six international titles. Estudiantes international silverware consists of four Copa Libertadores, an Intercontinental Cup, the club was founded in 1905 when a group of players and fans decided to break away from Gimnasia de La Plata, which favored indoor sports over football. Matches between the two clubs are known as the Clásico Platense, the Estudiantes home stadium is undergoing renovations, so the team plays in the city-owned Estadio Único de La Plata. Other sports where Estudiantes competes are basketball, team handball, field hockey, golf, swimming, judo, and volleyball. Thus, on August 4,1905, in the shoestore New York on 7th Street and its first president, Miguel Gutiérrez, was elected on the very same night, when the club charter was drafted by card-carrying member #1, Alfredo Lartigue. In those days, teams like Lomas A. C. Quilmes, on 28 February 1906 Estudiantes adopted a jersey design of striped red and white, in honor of Alumni, that had won ten championships between 1900 and 1911. However, during the years, Estudiantes had to use a red shirt with a white stripe in the chest. A year later, Estudiantes enrolled in the Associación Amateurs de Football, the stadium on 1st Avenue opened on 25 December 1907. Estudiantes first achievement was the 1911 Primera B title which allowed the team to play at the top division of Argentine football, just two years later Estudiantes won its first title in Primera, playing at the dissident Federación Argentina de Football. That season the team disputed 18 matches, winning 14 with only 1 lost, in 1914 Estudiantes made another great campaign but the team finished 2nd to Porteño. 1919 saw Estudiantes finishing 2nd to champion Boca Juniors although the Association put an end to the tournament with 14 fixtures still to be played, the Association alleged that the championship took longer than expected so it was suddenly finished. In subsequent years, Estudiantes made irregular campaigns, in some cases finishing at the bottom of the table, nevertheless, the team made a great performance in 1928 when finishing 3rd to champion Huracán and Boca Juniors. The last year of amateur era saw Estudiantes being runner-up to Boca Juniors, the team totalized 56 points in 35 matches, with 27 won and 7 losses. Alberto Zozaya scored the first goal of professional football in Argentina and was the top goalscorer of the first professional tournament
9.
Argentino de Quilmes
–
Club Atlético Argentino de Quilmes, simply known as Argentino de Quilmes, is an Argentine football club from Quilmes, Buenos Aires. The team currently plays in Primera C, the division of the Argentine football league system. Unlike Quilmes AC, which honored visiting players with the tea, the recently founded club Argentino de Quilmes offered mate. That originated the nickname which Argentino would be known for, in 1902 Argentino affiliated to Argentine Football Association and began participating in the domestic championships, making its debut in Primera División in 1912. The team lasted there until 1918 when it was relegated to the second division, in 1938 Argentino de Quilmes won the Primera B title after defeating its main rival Quilmes Atlético Club, and therefore promoting to Primera División. Nevertheless, during the 1939 season Argentino made its worst campaign ever, obtaining only 4 points over 34 matches played, Argentino conceded 148 goals, scoring only 35, being relegated to the second division. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Argentino was relegated to Primera D, Primera B,1938 Primera C,1945, 1988–89 Primera D, 2012–13 Official website Ultimamente berazategui se lo vive gar chan do
10.
Columbian Football Club
–
Columbian Football Club was an Argentine football team that played in the Primera División. The club is a predecessor of the present-day Club Almagro, around 1911, a group of young immigrants from Galicia who owned a store in Buenos Aires established a club under the name Pontevedra Sporting Club. In 1913 the club joined the recently formed Federación Argentina de Football under the name Club Hispano Argentino, in its first year of official competition, the team finished 6th out of 10. That same year the took on some members from Argentino de Quilmes who were in disagreement with the executives of that club. In 1914 the team finished 6th again, out of 8 participating teams, the clubs player Norberto Carabelli was also the top scorer of the tournament, with 11 goals. In 1915 when the two associations Asociación Argentina de Football and Federación Argentina de Football merged into one, the number of participating in the league increased to 25. The next year the club changed its name to Columbian Football Club, the team did not have much success during the succeeding years, and was about to be relegated to a lower division in 1918 when it finished 18th out of 20. In 1919 there was a new split in Argentine football, so both leagues played at the time, the official Asociación Argentina de Football and the dissident Asociación Amateurs de Football. During that season, the club was going through an economic crisis. Some executives of recently promoted Club Almagro, led by Miguel de Zárate, Almagro was renamed Sportivo Almagro and continued playing in the Primera División (debuting in the 7th match vs Platense under its new denomination, which saved the club from being disaffiliated. The stadium was located between Vélez Sársfield and Iriarte streets in Buenos Aires and it had been inaugurated on May 28,1911 in a match vs. Estudiantes de Buenos Aires
11.
Defensores de Belgrano
–
Club Atlético Defensores de Belgrano is an Argentine sports club from Belgrano, Buenos Aires. The football team plays in Primera B, the regionalised second division of the Argentine football league system. Defensores has never played in the top flight of Argentine football since the professional era begun, Defensores de Belgrano was founded on 25 May 1906 by a group of young people who wanted to participate in the football leagues of Buenos Aires. The team made its debut in Primera División in 1915, being relegated to the division at the end of that season. During the amateur era, the colors were light blue and light pink but would later be changed to the red. The stadium was at the Plaza Alberti in the suburb of Belgrano, in 1934 two players of the club, Ernesto Belis and Luis Izetta went on to play for the Argentina national team in the 1934 FIFA World Cup held in Italy that year. For many decades Defensores played the games between the B and the C Leagues, gaining promotion and also being relegated. Throughout that period a rivalry against Platense was developed, on August 2011, the veteran 37-year-old player Ariel Ortega was signed by Defensores de Belgrano. The Burrito made his debut in the match against Deportivo Morón scoring a goal by penalty shot, the Estadio Juan Pasquale is located in the Nuñez district of Buenos Aires. It is approximately 10 walking blocks away from Monumental stadium, the capacity of the stadium holds 9,000 people. Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. The club operates its junior divisions, beginning from age categories of Sub-7 until Sub-20 level, División Intermedia,1914 FAF,1917 Primera B,1967, 2000–01 Primera C,1953,1958,1972, 1991–92 Official website Defe Defelandia
