1.
Georgian Football Federation
–
The Georgian Football Federation was founded in 1936. It was part of the Football Federation of Soviet Union from 1936 to 1989, the Independent Georgian Football Federation was established on 15 February 1990. It is the body of football in Georgia. It organizes the league, the Georgian Premier League. Georgia womens national football team Georgia womens football championship Official website Georgia at FIFA site Georgia at UEFA site
2.
UEFA
–
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
3.
Captain (association football)
–
The team captain is usually identified by the wearing of an armband. The only official responsibility of a captain specified by the Laws of the Game is to participate in the toss prior to kick-off. Contrary to what is said, captains have no special authority under the Laws to challenge a decision by the referee. However, referees may talk to the captain of a side about the general behaviour when necessary. At an award-giving ceremony after a fixture like a cup competition final, any trophy won by a team will be received by the captain who will also be the first one to hoist it. The captain also generally leads the teams out of the room at the start of the match. The captain generally provides a point for the team, if morale is low. Captains may join the manager in deciding the first team for a certain game, in youth or recreational football, the captain often takes on duties, that would, at a higher level, be delegated to the manager. A club captain is usually appointed for a season, if he is unavailable or not selected for a particular game, then the club vice-captain will be appointed to perform a similar role. The match captain is the first player to lift a trophy should the team win one, a good example of this was in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final when match captain Peter Schmeichel lifted the trophy for Manchester United as club captain Roy Keane was suspended. In the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, match captain Frank Lampard jointly lifted the trophy for Chelsea with club captain John Terry, a club may appoint two distinct roles, a club captain to represent the players in a public relations role, and correspondent on the pitch. After Neville retired in 2011, regular starter Nemanja Vidić was named as club captain, são Paulos Rogério Ceni is the player who has worn the captains armband the most times. A vice-captain is a player that is expected to captain the side when the captain is not included in the starting eleven, or if, during a game. Examples include Manuel Neuer succeeding Philipp Lahm at Bayern Munich, Marcelo attaining from Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid C. F, gary Cahill being the understudy of John Terry at Chelsea FC and Lionel Messi taking over from Andrés Iniesta at FC Barcelona. Similarly, some clubs also name a 3rd captain to take the role of captain when both the captain and vice-captain are unavailable, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Germany had three captains. Michael Ballack had skippered the team since 2004, including the successful qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. Lahm ended up becoming the permanent captain of Germany, as Ballack was never called up for the national team
4.
Jaba Kankava
–
Jaba Kankava is a Georgian footballer. He currently plays in Midfield for Reims, having played for Dinamo Tbilisi, Alania Vladikavkaz, Arsenal Kyiv. In 2004 Jaba Kankava Started his football career in Dinamo Tbilisi and he started to create a new club with youngsters, so Jaba became a main member of them. In his first year, Kankava won Georgian Cup, and played successfully on European League and he scored the winning goal against Slavia Prague and qualified Georgians most titled Club - Dinamo, on group stages of Uefa league. After a successful season in Dinamo, Jaba moved to Alanya Vladikavkaz, in 2005, Kankava changed club and signed a contract with Arsenal Kyiv. He played 24 matches and scored 4 goals, in 2007, Jaba agreed to sign a 3-year contract with new club Dnipro. After spending 8 years in Dnipro, he played 91 matches, from 2015, Jaba is the member of Ligue 1 club - Reims. Kankava played 5 games in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying and 9 games in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying and he also played 2 friendlies i 4 in 2006,2 in 2007 and 2 in 2008. Kankava scored a goal against Croatia in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, scores and results list Georgias goal tally first. On 12 April 2014 before Dnipro played Metalurh Zaporizhya at the Dnipro Arena, Jaba Kankava – FIFA competition record Jaba Kankava at National-Football-Teams. com Jaba Kankava
5.
Cap (sport)
–
In British sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a players appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in a match of association football. An early illustration of the first international match between Scotland and England in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls, and the English wearing a variety of school caps. These to be termed International Caps, the act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. Thus, a cap is awarded for each game played and so a player who has played x games, the practice of awarding a physical cap varies from sport to sport. It may be awarded prior to a debut or, particularly for national teams. As an example, the England mens association football teams still awards physical caps, Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given a cap for the competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself. In mens association football, the record belongs to former player Ahmed Hassan of Egypt, the first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of Englands Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England,90 of them he obtained whilst he was a captain, however, it is a players choice to refuse to play for or retire from his or her national team. In cricket, there are two types of caps, firstly, there is the international type, as described above. Some countries also award a domestic type generally known as a county cap, the latter system is most commonly applied in English county cricket. Most counties do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance, instead, indeed, one can play at the highest domestic level for several years, and have a quite significant career in first-class cricket, without ever winning a cap. The world record for the number of caps in Test cricket is held by Sachin Tendulkar of India, Tendulkar also holds the record for One Day Internationals, with 463 caps. In rugby union,35 players have reached 100 international caps as of 5 June 2012, Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British and Irish Lions touring squad. Lions matches are classed as full international tests, and caps are awarded, the Pacific Islanders team, composed of players from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands have a similar arrangement, although no players involved have so far reached 100 caps. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, the record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player & captain Darren Lockyer with 59 games and second place is former New Zealand Kiwis player & captain Ruben Wiki with 55 games. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, mens Records and Facts FIFA Players with 100+ Caps RSSSF Picture of International Football Cap National Museum of Scotland Gallery of International Caps and Honours Caps
6.
Levan Kobiashvili
–
Levan Kobiashvili is a retired Georgian footballer and the current president of the Georgian Football Federation. He played primarily as a wingback or left winger. During his career, Levan played for Gorda Rustavi, Dinamo Tbilisi, Alania Vladikavkaz, Kobiashvili is the most-capped Georgian player with 100 caps for Georgia. On 4 October 2015, he was elected president of the Georgian Football Federation, Kobiashvili began his career in hometown club Avaza Tbilisi. His first professional club was Gorda Rustavi where he debut in the Umaglesi Liga in 1993. After spending two years with the Rustavi-based club, Kobiashvili moved to Dinamo Tbilisi in 1995, under the guidance of famous former player and then-Dinamo coach David Kipiani, Kobiashvili became one of the key players of the club. At the start of the year 1997, Alania Vladikavkaz declared their interest in Georgian midfielder, Dinamo Tbilisi let Kobiashvili leave the club on a season long loan deal. Kobiashvili joined a few of his compatriots there, including Mikheil Ashvetia, Giorgi Gakhokidze and he made 21 appearances for the club, scoring five goals in Russian Top League. Kobiashvili played in the UEFA Cup as well, scoring a goal in four appearances. After spending a season on a loan at SC Freiburg. During his spell with the Breisgau-Brasilianer, Kobiashvili became one of the key players of Volker Finkes system and he was joined some Georgian players in Germany as well, Alexander Iashvili and Levan Tskitishvili his teammates in Freiburg. SC Freiburg finished sixth in the 2000–01 Bundesliga season which granted them a qualification for 2001–02 UEFA Cup and this was the second time the club has ever participated in a UEFA tournament. SC Freiburg were eliminated in the round by the future champions Feyenoord. Kobiashvili played all six games of the club during the tournament, eventually Freiburg got relegated from Bundesliga. Kobiashvili decided to stay at the club and helped team to get promotion to the top tier again during the following season. He scored ten goals for the club, during summer 2003, Kobiashvilis contract with Freiburg expired and he decided to leave the club. He received an offer from the future UEFA Cup winners CSKA Moscow, the coach of the Russian team, Valeri Gazzaev, was interested in signing the Georgian midfielder with whom he worked in Alania five years ago. However, Kobi decided to stay in Germany and signed a deal with Schalke 04
7.
Shota Arveladze
–
Shota Arveladze is a Georgian former professional footballer and current manager. Arveladze played at Dinamo Tbilisi, Trabzonspor, Ajax, Rangers, AZ and he is Georgia’s all-time top scorer with 291 goals in his 410 league games for his clubs and 26 goals in his 61 games for the national team. His 27 goals scored in the UEFA Cup competition ranks him 5th in the tournaments history and he has the best strike record of independent Georgian Football. He was nominated as the best player of Georgia as well as the best player by the Georgian Professional Football league survey, Arveladze played at Dinamo Tbilisi, Trabzonspor, and Ajax, and finished at least one season as the top goal scorer at all three. In 1993 he scored an effective first Euro Tournament goal in the history of independent Georgian Football in the match against Linfield, Northern Ireland. When he led Trabzonspor in goals in 1995–96, he led the Süper Lig. He is recorded as most loved foreign player for Trabzonspor supporters, Arveladze joined Rangers from Ajax for £2 million in 2001. During a legal case in 2015, Arveladzes agent claimed that the transfer fee had been 12 million Euro. Arveladze scored the 300th goal in the SPL and was part of Rangers squads that won the treble in 2002–03. He departed Rangers for Dutch side AZ on a transfer in 2004–05. In July 2007, Arveladze passed a medical and agreed a contract with the Spanish club Levante. Shota Arveladze was a regular in the Georgian national team and is its leading scorer with 26 goals in his 61 games. Quick feet and decision-making, an eye for goal, great technique, after retiring from football as a player, Arveladze was appointed as assistant manager of AZ under head coach and former Ajax coach Louis van Gaal in July 2008. He maintained this position in the 2009–10 season under Ronald Koeman, for the 2010–11 season, Arveladze served as manager of Turkish side Kayserispor. From 2012 to 2015, Arveladze managed Istanbul-based Kasımpaşa SK, on 3 July 2015, Arveladze was named manager of Turkish side Trabzonspor. Arveladze resigned on November 2015 after back to poor results with the team. In June 2016 Arveladze was announced as the new coach of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv F. C. Around the middle of the season, Arveladze was fired due to series of results on his side
8.
Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena
–
With a capacity of 54,549, the stadium is the largest in Georgia. Prior to the construction of Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, the stadium of Dinamo Tbilisi was the Central Stadium with an approximate capacity of 35,000 spectators. The demand for a bigger stadium was increased with the successful performance of Dinamo Tbilisi in the mid 1970s. After the inauguration of the stadium, it became the third-largest in the Soviet Union, on 29 September 1976, the first official match was played at the newly built stadium between Dinamo Tbilisi and Welsh Cardiff City. The game ended with a 3–0 victory for Dinamo, the stadium hosted many glorious days during Dinamos 1978 and 1979 triumphs. Holding lighted torches,80,000 fans came in 1981 just to congratulate the 1980–81 European Cup Winners Cup winning team Dinamo Tbilisi, the Dinamo Arena is now one of the largest stadiums in Eastern Europe. Most of the seats in the second tier are covered by the roof, the USSR national football team played several international matches on the Dinamo Arena. Football clubs Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Kiev often played their autumn international matches at the stadium,100,000 fans attended the opening game of the First Georgian Championship, match between FC Dinamo Tbilisi and FC Kolkheti-1913 Poti. In the Soviet Union, the stadium had the record for the highest average attendance, in 1995, the stadium was renamed to Boris Paichadze National Stadium, after the former Georgian football player. The National Stadium has been the ground of the Georgian National Football Team for several years. Georgia achieved memorable wins against Wales, and Poland, the stadium was refurbished in 2006 and became an all-seater stadium. This reduced the capacity to 54,549, the newly built Dinamo stadium, housing 23,000 spectators, was inaugurated in Tbilisi in 1936. The author of the design was architect Archil Kurdiani. The reconstructed Dinamo Arena stadium was inaugurated on 26 September 1976, architects Archil Kurdiani and Gia Kurdiani, along with the construction designer Shalva Gazashvili extended the capacity of the stadium to 74,354. Fragments of the 1936 Stadium were partly maintained, and yet quite complex architectural-designing construction elements were realized, the facility represented a console system supported by 58 pylons. Each of these pylons been supported by 24 poles, where the depth of each ranged from 8 to 12 meters, the console system comprised several elements. The evacuation terrace was arranging spectators ascending by 23 staris between the II and I tiers, the II tier, like the evacuation terrace, represented an element of indivisible console system. The solution for Roofing of II tier was also of the console design,30 meter console-design roofing protects spectators against precipitations
9.
Kit (association football)
–
In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
10.
FIFA World Rankings
–
The rankings were introduced in December 1992, and eight teams have held the top position, of which Brazil have spent longest ranked first. A points system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of all FIFA-recognised full international matches, the ranking system was most recently revamped after the 2006 World Cup, with the first edition of the new series of rankings issued on 12 July 2006. The most significant change is that the rankings are now based on results over the four years instead of the previous eight years. Alternative systems have been devised, such as the World Football Elo Ratings, based on the Elo rating system used in chess and Go, ranking teams. In December 1992, FIFA first published a listing in order of its member associations to provide a basis for comparison of the relative strengths of these teams. From the following August, this list was more frequently updated, significant changes were implemented in January 1999 and again in July 2006, as a reaction to criticisms of the system. Membership of FIFA has expanded from 167 to 209 since the rankings began, the ranking formula used from August 1993 until December 1998 was very simplistic and quickly became noticed for its lack of supporting factors. When the rankings were introduced, a team received one point for a draw or three for a victory in FIFA-recognised matches – much the same as a traditional league scoring system. This was a simplistic approach, however, and FIFA quickly realised that there were many factors affecting international matches. In order to meet the objective of fairly and accurately comparing the strengths of various national sides. In January 1999, FIFA introduced a system of ranking calculation. For the ranking all matches, their scores and importance were all recorded, only matches for the senior mens national team were included. Separate ranking systems were used for other national sides such as womens and junior teams. The womens rankings were, and still are, based on a procedure which is a version of the Football Elo Ratings. FIFA announced that the system would be updated following the 2006 World Cup. The evaluation period was cut from eight to four years, goals scored and home or away advantage are no longer taken into account, and other aspects of the calculations, including the importance attributed to different types of match, have been revised. The first set of revised rankings and the methodology were announced on 12 July 2006. This change is rooted at least in part in widespread criticism of the ranking system
11.
World Football Elo Ratings
–
The World Football Elo Ratings is a ranking system for mens national association football teams that is published by the website eloratings. net. It is based on the Elo rating system but includes modifications to take various football-specific variables into account, like the margin of victory, importance of a match, and home field advantage. Other implementations of the Elo rating system are possible and there is no single nor any official Elo ranking for football teams. The FIFA World Rankings, not based on the Elo method, is the national teams rating system used by the international governing body of football and is therefore more prevalent. The ratings consider all international A matches for which results could be found, Ratings tend to converge on a teams true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches. Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional, the FIFA Womens World Rankings system uses a modified version of the Elo formula whereas the FIFA mens ranking system uses a non-Elo formula. The following table shows the top 100 teams in the World Football Elo Ratings on 29 March 2017, each national teams FIFA World Rankings are shown as they were in the latest release on 6 April 2017. Time averaged Elo or Elo-like scores are used to compare chess player strengths. The following is a list of the teams with the highest average Elo score from 1 January 1970 to 1 January 2017. Before this time intercontinental play was limited and many nations in Africa, North America. The team in each confederation that has achieved the highest rank is shown in color, the following is a list of national football teams ranked by their highest Elo ranking ever reached. Note that for the highest ranking/rating of a football team the Elo ratings website ignores the ranking/rating before 30 matches have been played. The table below shows the teams with the best average Elo score per decade, a list of the 16 matches between teams with the highest combined Elo ratings. A list of the matches with the biggest point exchange, the nations points before the matches are given. In 1997 Bob Runyan adapted the Elo rating system to international football and he was also the first maintainer of the World Football Elo Ratings web site, now maintained by Kirill Bulygin. The Elo system was adapted for football by adding a weighting for the kind of match, an adjustment for the home advantage. Ratings tend to converge on a teams true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches, Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional. There is no first step as in the FIFA system where a team receives points for the result
12.
Georgia (country)
–
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
13.
Lithuania national football team
–
The Lithuania national football team is under the auspices of the Lithuanian Football Federation. It played its first match in 1923, in 1940, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, the country regained its independence in 1990 and played their first match as a new nation against Georgia on 27 May of that year. Since 2012 the team plays its matches in LFF Stadium. In the 1990s, Lithuania established a presence in World Cup and European Championship qualifiers. Although finishing fifth in their 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying group, Lithuania drew with world champions Italy 1–1 in Naples in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying game on 2 September 2006, in the first competitive game that Italy played since the World Cup final. On 6 September 2008, Lithuania defeated Romania 3–0 in a World Cup 2010 qualifier, the victory was regarded by many as a historic win. It was followed by another successful 2–0 performance against Austria in Marijampolė, the following players have been called up for the friendly match against Czech Republic on 22 March 2017 and 2018 World Cup qualifier against England on 26 March 2017. Caps and goals correct as of,26 March 2017 after the game against England, the following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months. RET Retired from the national team, as of March 26,2017, the ten highest scorers for Lithuania are, Bold denotes players still playing international football. As of March 26,2017, the ten players with the most caps for Lithuania are, Lithuanian Football Association Official Site All Lithuanian Team Games 1923–1930 Reports for all matches of Lithuania national team Lithuanian football videos Lithuanian Football TV
14.
Tbilisi
–
Tbilisi, commonly known by its former name Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgias ancient precursor the Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus. Tbilisis varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, Middle Eastern, Art Nouveau, historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC, according to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisis founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the wooded region with a falcon. The Kings falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from Old Georgian Tbilisi, and further from Tpili, the name Tbili or Tbilisi was therefore given to the city because of the areas numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground. King Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of Colchis. It was, however, the city of Eastern Georgia/Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the wall that lined the citys new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade. Tbilisis favourable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgias/Iberias capital, in the year 627, Tbilisi was sacked by the Byzantine/Khazar armies and later, in 736–738, Arab armies entered the town under Marwan II Ibn-Muhammad. After this point, the Arabs established an emirate centered in Tbilisi, in 764, Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the Khazars. In 853, the armies of Arab leader Bugha Al-Turki invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to Abbasid allegiance, the Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about 1050. In 1068, the city was again sacked, only this time by the Seljuk Turks under Sultan Alp Arslan. In 1122, after fighting with the Seljuks that involved at least 60,000 Georgians and up to 300,000 Turks. After the battles for Tbilisi concluded, David moved his residence from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, making it the capital of a unified Georgian State, from 12–13th centuries, Tbilisi became a dominant regional power with a thriving economy and a well-established social system/structure
15.
Armenia national football team
–
The Armenia national football team represents Armenia in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Armenia, the governing body for football in Armenia. After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, the team played its first international match on October 12,1992, Armenias home ground is the Republican Stadium in Yerevan and their head coach is Artur Petrosyan. Armenia became an independent state in 1991, the Armenian SSR having previously played for the Soviet Union national football team, the Football Federation of Armenia was founded on 18 January 1992 and established relations with FIFA in 1992 and with UEFA in 1993. The history of the Armenia national team began on 14 October 1992 and that meeting ended in a goalless draw. Since 1996, the team is a member of qualifiers European, Armenia has competed in every UEFA Euro qualification and FIFA World Cup qualification since 1994. The first head coach of the Armenian national squad was Soviet Armenian football star Eduard Markarov, Armenian winner of the UEFA Jubilee Awards and fellow Soviet Armenian football great Khoren Hovhannisyan also became a head coach. Many of the coaches of the national team never stayed for longer than two years. Scottish coach Ian Porterfield became head coach in 2006 and began to lead the team to some of its first successes in the international stage. Under his leadership, the Armenian team had played a series of matches with victories over Kazakhstan 2–1, Poland 1–0 and Portugal 1–1. But then tragedy struck, the 62-year-old Porterfield died of cancer, an acting assistant coach, Vardan Minasyan, became acting head coach following Porterfields death. Minasyan learned much from Porterfield and Samvel Darbinyan, another head coach of Armenia. In the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches, Minasyan led Armenia in Group B against Russia, Slovakia, Ireland, Macedonia, the Armenian team scored the most goals out of Group B, with a total of 22. Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Armenia scored 6 goals, the most goals scored by a player in Group B. The national team almost made the draw, but controversially lost in a decisive match against Ireland 1–2. Armenian goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky was given a red card by Spanish referee Eduardo Gonzalez at the 26th-minute for supposedly touching the ball outside the goal area, however, replays clearly showed the ball touched his chest and never touched his hands. Replays also showed that Ireland striker Simon Cox had actually touched the ball with his right hand, despite this, Gonzalez did not penalize Cox. Cox would later admit he touched the ball with his hand, had Cox’s offence been punished, Armenia would have been awarded a free-kick. Berezovsky was substituted with 19-year-old debuting Arsen Petrosyan, valeri Aleksanyan later accidentally scored an own goal on Petrosyan, which ended up deciding the match
16.
Romania national football team
–
The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation. Romania is one of four national teams from Europe, the other three being Yugoslavia, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first FIFA World Cup in 1930. Since that performance, Romania have qualified for the 1934,1938,1970,1990,1994 and 1998 editions and they also reached the last eight in 1960 and 1972, and qualified for the 1984,1996,2008 and 2016 tournaments. The Romanian Football Federation was established in October 1909 in Bucharest, Romania played their first international match on 8 June 1922, a 2–1 win over Yugoslavia in Belgrade, being coached by Teofil Moraru. Several temporary coaches were employed, before Moraru resumed control in August 1924, Romania enjoyed some success during the 1930s, manager Costel Rădulescu took them to the first three FIFA World Cup tournaments, a feat matched only by Brazil, Belgium and France. Romania qualified for the next World Cup in 1934 after beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a repeat of their first international. At the finals, Romania played only one game in a new format, losing 2–1 to Czechoslovakia in Trieste, Italy. Romania qualified by default for the 1938 World Cup after their playoff opponents Egypt withdrew. They suffered a defeat in the finals in France, losing to minnows Cuba, who, like Romania, had only qualified due to the withdrawal of their qualifying opponents. The first match at the Stade Chapou in Toulouse ended 3–3 after extra time, angelo Niculescus promising side were given the toughest of draws, in Group 3 with holders England, giants Brazil and Czechoslovakia. A Geoff Hurst goal gave England a narrow victory in Romanias first match at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, chances were improved with a 2–1 win over the Czechs. Despite going behind early to a Ladislav Petráš goal, Romania turned it around after half-time with Alexandru Neagu, even then, only a win over the excellent Brazilians would take them into the quarter-finals. But Brazil played some of the best football of the competition, with Pelé scoring twice, Romania battled bravely, Dumitrache pulled the score back to 2–1 before the break and a late Emerich Dembrowski goal made it 3–2, but they were out. On 26 September 1973, under new coach Valentin Stanescu, Romania suffered a significant defeat to East Germany in Leipzig, the East Germans won 2–0 to effectively seal their first ever qualification for the World Cup, which would be held over the border in West Germany. With East Germany scoring a predictable 4–1 win in Albania, Romania were out, Romania continued to suffer poor form in the UEFA European Championship. In their qualifying group for the 1976 European Football Championship, they were out-qualified by Spain despite an impressive 1–1 draw in the away match, Romania failed to win matches, drawing twice with Scotland and Spain and dropping points in Denmark with a dismal goalless draw. Romania were again beat by Spain for a place in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, despite a 1–0 win in Bucharest, Romania lost a bizarre match at home to Yugoslavia 6–4 having led 3–2 at half time. Spain won 1–0 in Belgrade to seal passage to South America, Romanias sole successful qualifying campaign was for the European Championships in 1984 in France
17.
Bucharest
–
Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km north of the Danube River, Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture and its architecture is a mix of historical, interbellum, communist-era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the citys elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of Little Paris. Although buildings and districts in the city centre were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic, in 2016, the historical city centre was listed as endangered by the World Monuments Watch. According to the 2011 census,1,883,425 inhabitants live within the city limits, the urban area extends beyond the limits of Bucharest proper and has a population of about 1.9 million people. Adding the satellite towns around the area, the proposed metropolitan area of Bucharest would have a population of 2.27 million people. According to Eurostat, Bucharest has an urban zone of 2,183,091 residents. According to unofficial data, the population is more than 3 million, Bucharest is the sixth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits, after London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, and Paris. Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania and is one of the industrial centres. The city has big convention facilities, educational institutes, cultural venues, traditional shopping arcades, the Romanian name București has an uncertain origin. Tradition connects the founding of Bucharest with the name of Bucur, who was a prince, an outlaw, a fisherman, in Romanian, the word stem bucurie means joy, and it is believed to be of Dacian origin. Other etymologies are given by scholars, including the one of an Ottoman traveler, Evliya Çelebi. A native or resident of Bucharest is called a Bucharester, Bucharests history alternated periods of development and decline from the early settlements in antiquity until its consolidation as the national capital of Romania late in the 19th century. First mentioned as the Citadel of București in 1459, it became the residence of the famous Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler, the Ottomans appointed Greek administrators to run the town from the 18th century. A short-lived revolt initiated by Tudor Vladimirescu in 1821 led to the end of the rule of Constantinople Greeks in Bucharest, the Old Princely Court was erected by Mircea Ciobanul in the mid-16th century. Under subsequent rulers, Bucharest was established as the residence of the royal court
18.
Romania
–
Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
19.
Denmark national football team
–
Denmarks home ground is Telia Parken in the Østerbro district of Copenhagen, and their head coach is Åge Hareide. Denmark were the winners of the Football at the 1906 Intercalated Games and they also managed to win the 1995 Confederations Cup, defeating Argentina in the final. Their best FIFA World Cup result was achieved in 1998, where they narrowly lost 3–2 in a quarter-final against Brazil. Apart from the mens senior A-level team, Denmark competes with a national team. Historically, the A-level team competed in the Olympics until and including the 1988 tournament, in addition to the A-level team and youth teams, Denmark also have a special league national team named Ligalandsholdet, with the best Danish footballers from the Nordic leagues. Ligalandsholdet was created in January 1983, and has ever since, each year played some games for the national team. Sometimes the media also refer to Ligalandsholdet as Denmarks B-team, as the best Danish footballers selected for the A-team often play in leagues outside of the Nordic countries. The team to represent Denmark was compiled of players from the Copenhagen Football Association, and they managed to win the event, two years later, in the first official football tournament at the 1908 Olympics, Denmark won a silver medal. Although Denmark figured fairly prominently in the pre-World Cup era, international success would elude them for years from the first World Cup in 1930 and forward. When DBU decided to set their sights higher, they allowed the team to start contesting the Olympics again. After the team reached the quarter-final at the 1952 Olympics. Denmark experienced their next revival at the 1960 Olympics, with a set of Olympic silver medals. This was followed by another performance in the Euro 1964. The fourth place was however by many considered as being more the result of a comparatively easy draw. In order for Denmark to qualify for the semifinal, they only had to beat Malta, Albania, at the semifinal, Denmark received a clear 0–3 defeat against the Soviet Union, and then finally also lost the bronze match to Hungary. The new sponsorship enabled DBU, to hire Sepp Piontek from Germany in July 1979, the full transition of the national team from amateurism to professionalism had now been accomplished, and indeed, this would soon lead to a vast improvement in the performances of the team. Qualification for the Euro 1984 saw the team beat England at Wembley Stadium when Allan Simonsen converted a penalty kick for a 1–0 win. Denmark qualified for their first international tournament since 1964, and the team was dubbed Danish Dynamite in a competition for the official Danish Euro 1984 song
20.
Copenhagen
–
Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen
21.
Denmark
–
The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
22.
Romanization of Georgian
–
Romanization of Georgian is the process of transliterating the Georgian language from the Georgian script into the Latin script. The system was already in use, since 1998, on driving licenses and it is also used by BGN and PCGN since 2009. Despite its popularity this system leads to ambiguity. The system is used in social networks, forums, chat rooms. The system is influenced by the common case-sensitive Georgian keyboard layout that ties each key to each letter in the alphabet. ISO9984,1996, Transliteration of Georgian characters into Latin characters, was last reviewed and confirmed in 2010, Transliteration web utility for the National and ISO transliteration of Georgian
23.
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
24.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
25.
UEFA Euro 1996
–
It took place in England from 8 to 30 June 1996. It was the first European Championship to feature 16 finalists, following UEFAs decision to expand the tournament from eight teams. Germany won the tournament, beating the Czech Republic 2–1 in the final with a goal during extra time. This was also Germanys first major title won as a unified nation, at the time of the bidding process, it had not yet been confirmed that sixteen teams would be participating. Instead, the bids were largely prepared as if hosting an eight-team tournament, all candidates had to submit their plans by 10 December 1991. The hosting of the event was contested by five bids, Austria, England, Greece, the English bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Lisbon on 5 May 1992. In the year preceding the decision, the English FA had dropped out plans to bid for the 1998 World Cup in order to gain the support of other UEFA members who were planning to bid for that event. The hosts, England, drew 1–1 with Switzerland in the match of Group A when Alan Shearers 23rd-minute goal was equalled by a late Kubilay Türkyilmaz penalty kick. England defeated rivals Scotland 2–0 in their game, and then produced one of their finest performances ever with a 4–1 win over the Netherlands. Patrick Kluiverts late goal for the Netherlands secured his second place in the group. Group B had Western European France and Spain, along with Balkan World Cup participants Romania and Bulgaria. France and Spain dominated the group, with France avenging Bulgaria for the 1994 qualification debacle, groups C and D saw the Czech Republic and Croatia, whose national teams had only recently come into existence, qualify for the knockout stages. The Czechs lost to Germany, the group winners, in their opener. Italys defeat meant they had to beat Germany in their game to progress. In Group D, Croatia qualified for the quarter-finals, with wins over Turkey, the loss to the Croats ultimately sent the Danes, the surprise champions of 1992, home. Turkey became the first team since the introduction of a stage to be eliminated without gaining a point or scoring a goal. The other three quarter-finalists were Portugal, Spain, and a France team featuring a young Zinedine Zidane. The knockout stages were characterised by negative, defensive play, as a result, only nine goals were scored in the seven games, the first quarter-final between the hosts and Spain ended goalless, after Spain had two goals disallowed and two claims for a penalty denied
26.
Moldova national football team
–
The Moldova national football team represents Moldova in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Moldova, the governing body for football in Moldova. Moldovas home ground is Zimbru Stadium in Chișinău and their coach is Igor Dobrovolski. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, they played their first match against Georgia on July 2,1991, two of their three best results in the 1990s years, came during the qualifiers for the Euro 96, with wins over Georgia in Tbilisi and Wales in Chișinău. In 2007 Moldova obtained a good result, beating Hungary 3–0 in Chișinău in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Their best recent result was a 5–2 win over Montenegro during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, the team has never qualified for the final stages of the European Championship or the FIFA World Cup. Following Moldovas 4–0 defeat to England in September 1997, the British writer and comedian Tony Hawks travelled to Moldova to challenge and beat all 11 Moldovan international footballers at tennis. The feature film version of the book of the name, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, was filmed in and around Chișinău in May. The Moldovan Football Federation was founded in 1990, however, Moldova did not play an official international match until 1991, when Moldova lost to Georgia. Moldovas first attempt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup was in 1998, the following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months. Players in bold are still active, last match updated was against Serbia on 7 October 2016. Last match updated was against Republic of Ireland on 9 October 2016, the Official kit provider is currently manufactured by German sports company Jako since 2000
27.
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
28.
Wales national football team
–
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales, the body for football in Wales. During their history, Wales have qualified for two international tournaments. They reached the quarter-finals of the 1958 FIFA World Cup and they reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 after beating Belgium in the quarter-final match on 1 July 2016. This was, therefore, the first time that Wales had reached the semi-final of a major tournament, Wales also progressed through UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying to the quarter-final, which was played on a home and away leg basis but they did not feature in the finals tournament. At all levels including the teams the Welsh national team draws players primarily from clubs in the English football league system. The main professional Welsh clubs play in the English leagues, with some full-time and part-time professional clubs playing in the Welsh football league system. Wales played its first competitive match on 25 March 1876 against Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland took the spoils winning 2–0. Wales first match against England came in 1879 – a 2–1 defeat at the Kennington Oval, London and in 1882 Wales faced Ireland for the first time, the associations of the four Home Nations met in Manchester on 6 December 1882 to set down a set of worldwide rules. This meeting saw the establishment of the International Football Association Board to approve changes to the rules, the 1883–84 season saw the formation of the British Home Championship, a tournament which was played annually between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, until 1983–84. Wales were champions on 12 occasions, winning seven times whilst sharing the title five times. As a result, Wales did not enter the first three World Cups, in 1932 Wales played host to the Republic of Ireland, the first time they played against a side from outside the four home nations. A year later, Wales played a match outside the United Kingdom for the first time when they travelled to Paris to take on France in a match which was drawn 1–1. The top two teams were to qualify for the finals in Brazil, but Wales finished bottom of the group. The 1950s were an age for Welsh football with stars such as Ivor Allchurch, Cliff Jones, Alf Sherwood, Jack Kelsey, Trevor Ford, Ronnie Burgess, Terry Medwin. Wales made its only World Cup finals tournament appearance in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, however, their path to qualification was unusual. In the Asian/African qualifying zone Egypt and Sudan had refused to play against Israel following the Suez crisis, as a result, FIFA proclaimed Israel winners of their respective group. However, FIFA did not want a team to qualify for the World Cup finals without actually playing a match and so lots were drawn of all the second placed teams in UEFA
29.
Bulgaria national football team
–
The Bulgarian teams home ground is the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia and Petar Hubchev is the current national manager. The countrys finest hour came in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, despite losing to Italy and Sweden in an eventual fourth-place finish, Bulgarias major 1994 World Cup campaign provided the tournaments top scorer and future Ballon dOr recipient Hristo Stoichkov. The Bulgaria national team was founded in 1922, in 1923, the Bulgarian Football Union was established and the teams first match was held in Vienna on 21 May 1924, against Austria. Bulgaria was invited to participate in the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, the Bulgarian team at this time could not progress in qualifying for any major tournaments from 1930 to 1960. They would end up finishing, on occasions, in second or third place in their qualifying group and proceeding to the play-offs. Bulgaria, however, did many strong teams in international games during those years. The only tournaments they were able to qualify for were smaller tournaments, such as the Balkan Cup, which they have won four times. They qualified for the World Cup for the time in 1962 Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1962. The team, however finished third in their group three out of the four times, Bulgaria won the first leg 3–2, but lost the second by a 2–0 score to lose 4–3 in aggregate. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, the won the silver medal. They finished first in Group D by beating Thailand 7–0, Guatemala 2–1 and they advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Israel and the semifinals by beating host Mexico. In the final, the team was defeated by Hungary, in 1976, the team won the Balkan Cup by beating Romania in the two-legged final 1–0 and 3–2. Bulgaria finally qualified to their first international tournament, the 1962 world cup, Bulgaria was placed in a group alongside England, Argentina and Hungary. Bulgaria would open up their campaign with a narrow 0–1 loss to Argentina then would lose their second match 1–6 to Hungary, mathematically eliminated from progressing to the next round, Bulgaria drew England 0–0 to finish fourth in the group with only one point. Bulgaria would qualify for their second World Cup in 1966 and they were placed in a group, alongside Hungary, Portugal and a Pelé-led Brazil. Bulgaria would open their campaign match with a 0–2 loss to Brazil thanks to two goals by Pelé and Garrincha. Later on, Bulgaria would lose 0–3 to the Eusébio-led Portugal and they would finish fourth in their group zero points earned. A month-and-a-half after the Euro came the Olympics, which Bulgaria had qualified for the time in their history
30.
1998 FIFA World Cup
–
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998, the country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the second time in the history of the tournament, defeating Morocco in the bidding process. It was the time that France staged the competition. Qualification for the finals began in March 1996 and concluded in November 1997, for the first time in the competition, the group stage was expanded from 24 teams to 32, with eight groups of four. A total of 64 matches were played in 10 stadiums located across 10 different host cities, with the match and final staged at the Stade de France. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3–0 in the final, France won their first title, becoming the seventh nation to win a World Cup, and the sixth to win the tournament on home soil. Croatia, Jamaica, Japan and South Africa made their first appearances in the finals, France was awarded the 1998 World Cup on 2 July 1992 by the executive committee of FIFA during a general meeting in Zürich, Switzerland. They defeated Morocco by 12 votes to 7, Switzerland withdrew, due to being unable to meet FIFAs requirements. This made France the third country to host two World Cups, after Mexico and Italy in 1986 and 1990 respectively, France previously hosted the third edition of the World Cup in 1938. England, who hosted the competition in 1966 and won it, were among the original applicants, blazer stated that we facilitated bribes in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup. Since France won the selection process it was thought the bribery came from its bid committee. It eventually transpired that the payment was from the failed Moroccan bid. The qualification draw for the 1998 World Cup finals took place in the Musée du Louvre, as tournament hosts, France was exempt from the draw as was Brazil the defending champions. 174 teams from six confederations participated, up 24 from the previous round, in Europe, fourteen countries qualified excluding France. Ten were determined after group play, nine group winners and the best second-placed team, the other eight group runners-up were drawn into pairs of four play-off matches – the winners of which qualifying for the finals as well. The winner of the Oceanian zone advanced through to an intercontinental play-off against the runner-up of the Asian play-off, four nations qualified for the World Cup for the first time, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan and South Africa. The last team to qualify was Iran by virtue of beating Australia in a tie on 29 November 1997. It marked their first appearance in the finals since 1978, the last time Tunisia also qualified for the tournament, chile qualified for the first time since 1982
31.
Poland national football team
–
The Poland national football team represents Poland in association football and is controlled by the Polish Football Association, the governing body for football in Poland. Polands home ground is the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw and their current head coach is Adam Nawałka, the most renowned Polish team was the one of the mid-1970s that held England to a draw at Wembley Stadium to qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. They defeated Brazil 1–0 to claim third place in the tournament, Poland also finished third in the 1982 tournament, beating France 3–2 in the third-place play-off. Poland also won the medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the silver medal in 1976 in Montreal. Their Olympic success was helped by an amateur squad, similar to other nations behind the Iron Curtain. Poland first qualified for the UEFA European Championship in 2008 and they also qualified automatically for Euro 2012 by virtue of being joint hosts alongside Ukraine. They finished bottom of their group on both occasions and their first win in the Euros was on 12 June 2016 in a group stage match of Euro 2016 against Northern Ireland. They went on to reach the quarterfinals, the Polish Football Federation was established on 20 December 1919 in Warsaw. Poland would play its first official match on 18 December 1921 in Budapest. Their first international win would come on 28 May 1922 where they took on Sweden in Stockholm and beat them 2–1. Poland qualified for their first ever World Cup in 1937 when they beat Yugoslavia 4–0, during their debut in the World Cup, Poland would play Brazil in a match which would become one of the most memorable matches in World Cup history. Despite Brazil not being regarded as the top team in the 1930s. Under these circumstances, the Polish team – which had never participated on such a level – was expected to lose the game against the South Americans. Thus, the defeat was not a sensation, however, all fans were surprised at the style with which the Poles played their lone game of the tournament. The white and reds got to the time, only then losing 5–6. Ernest Wilimowski, who played for Ruch Chorzów at the time, scored four of Polands five goals, Poland played what would be their last international match before the outbreak of World War II against Hungary, the runners-up in the 1938 World Cup. The match stands out as an achievement as Poland defeated the strongly favored Hungarian side 4–2, on 11 June 1946, following the aftermath of World War II, Poland played their first international friendly match, against Norway in Oslo, a 3–1 defeat. The biggest success in the years after the war was the victory against one of Europes best at the time
32.
UEFA Euro 2000
–
The finals of Euro 2000 were co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, between 10 June and 2 July 2000. Spain and Austria also bid to host the event, the final tournament was contested by 16 nations. With the exception of the teams of the hosts, Belgium and the Netherlands. France won the tournament, by defeating Italy 2–1 in the final, Romania was the other qualifier from the group, beating England with a late penalty in their last group game. Belgium had an exit in the group stage, winning the tournaments first game against Sweden. They finished third in Group B, behind Italy and Turkey, the other co-host and favourite, the Netherlands, progressed as expected from Group D, along with World Cup winners France. The Netherlands won the group, by beating France in their last group match, also in Group D, Denmarks three losses with eight goals conceded and none scored set a new record for the worst team performance in the group stages of a Euros. Group C was memorable for the match between FR Yugoslavia and Spain, Spain needed a win to ensure progression, but found themselves trailing 3–2, after Slobodan Komljenović scored in the 75th minute. The Spanish side rescued their tournament by scoring twice in injury time to record a 4–3 victory, FR Yugoslavia managed to go through as well, despite losing because Norway and Slovenia played to a draw. Italy and Portugal maintained their records in the quarter-finals, beating Romania and Turkey, respectively. Spain fell 2–1 to France, Raul missed a penalty that ended Spanish hopes. Italy eliminated the Netherlands in the semi-finals, despite going down to ten men, in the other semi-final, Portugal lost in extra time to France after Zinedine Zidane converted a controversial penalty kick. Several Portuguese players challenged the awarding of the penalty for a handball and were given lengthy suspensions for shoving the referee. In Britain, Match of the Day named Stefano Fiores goal against Belgium the Goal of the Tournament, ahead of Patrick Kluiverts against France, qualification for the tournament took place throughout 1998 and 1999. Forty-nine teams were divided into nine groups and each played the others in their group, the winner of each group and the best runner-up qualified automatically for the final tournament. The eight other runners-up played a set of play-off matches to determine the last four qualifiers. Belgium and the Netherlands automatically qualified for the tournament as co-hosts, the following 16 teams participated in the tournament, The composition of pots 1 to 3 was based on the teams UEFA coefficient at the end of 1999. The finals draw took place on 12 December 1999, the 16 national teams each stayed in their own team base camp during the tournament
33.
UEFA Euro 2004
–
The final tournament was hosted for the first time in Portugal, from 12 June to 4 July 2004, after their bid was selected on 12 October 1999, over those of Spain and Austria/Hungary. A total of thirty-one matches were played in ten venues across eight cities – Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Guimarães, Faro/Loulé, Leiria, Lisbon and Porto. As in the 1996 and 2000 editions, the tournament was contested by 16 teams – the hosts plus the 15 teams that successfully overcame the qualification round. Latvia secured their first participation in a tournament after overcoming Turkey in the play-offs. The tournament was rich in surprises and upsets, Germany, Spain and Italy were eliminated in the stage, while France. The Portuguese team recovered from a defeat against Greece to reach the final, eliminating England. For the first time in a football tournament, the last match featured the same teams as the opening match. Portugal was defeated by Greece with a goal from Angelos Charisteas, Greeces triumph was unexpected, considering that they had only qualified for two other major tournaments, the UEFA Euro 1980 and the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where they failed to win a single match. In the closing ceremony, Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado performed her single and official tournament theme song, Group A opened with a shock as Greece, ranked outsiders from start, defeated the hosts 2–1. Giorgos Karagounis put the Greeks ahead after only seven minutes, an injury time goal from Cristiano Ronaldo proved no more than a consolation. Greece then drew with Spain, before losing to Russia in their last group stage game, Portugal, meanwhile, recovered from their opening defeat by defeating Russia 2–0, who had their keeper Sergei Ovchinnikov sent off. Nuno Gomes scored the goal against Spain, which ensured Portugal finished first place in Group A. Greece advanced to the quarter-finals as runners-up, ahead Spain on goals scored, France, the holders, and England ended their Group B encounter in furious fashion as the French scored twice in injury time to go from 1–0 down to 2–1 winners. Zinedine Zidane scored in the first minute of time and two minutes later, an error by the English defence gave a France penalty and Zidane fired in the winner. Englands other two games were memorable for the performances of their young star Wayne Rooney, only 18 at the time, Rooneys goal-scoring ability proved instrumental in victories over Switzerland and Croatia. France and England qualified from the group as winners and runners-up, Group C featured a three-way tie between Sweden, Denmark and Italy for first spot. All matches between the three sides had ended in draws and all three had beaten Bulgaria, Italy were ultimately eliminated on the number of goals scored between the three sides, after Sweden and Denmark drew 2–2 and qualified to the quarter-finals as group winners and runners-up. The Italians went so far as to accuse Sweden and Denmark of fixing their match, the Czech Republic took the first place in Group D after becoming the only team to win all three of their group matches
34.
Russia national football team
–
The Russia national football team represents Russia in association football and is controlled by the Russian Football Union, the governing body for football in Russia. Russias home grounds are Otkrytie Arena, Luzhniki Stadium and Lokomotiv Stadium, Russia qualified for three World Cups, and they have automatically qualified for 2018 as hosts. They have also qualified for five European Championships, led by manager Pavel Sadyrin, Russia were in Group 5 for the qualification campaign for the 1994 FIFA World Cup which consisted of Greece, Iceland, Hungary and Luxembourg. The suspension of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia reduced the group to five teams, Russia eventually qualified alongside Greece with six wins and two draws. Russia went to the USA to start a new era of Russian football as an independent country, in the final tournament, Russia was drawn into group B with Cameroon, Sweden, and Brazil. This was considered a group with Russia having limited chances of qualifying for the second round. In their first two games Russia lost 2–0 to Brazil and 3–1 to Sweden, teetering on elimination, Russia defeated Cameroon 6–1 with Oleg Salenko scoring record five goals in a single match. Russia was eliminated from the tournament with three points from one win and two losses, Sadyrin was later sacked following what was a poor performance. After Sadyrin was sacked, Oleg Romantsev was appointed coach to lead Russia to Euro 96, Romantsev was expected to qualify Russia for the final tournament and perform well. In his squad he selected many players from the 1994 FIFA World Cup such as Viktor Onopko, Aleksandr Mostovoi, Vladimir Beschastnykh, and Valery Karpin. During qualifying, Russia overcame Scotland, Greece, Finland, San Marino, in the final tournament Russia was in Group C with Germany, Czech Republic, and Italy. Group C was considered the group of death with Russia dubbed the weakest team, Russias last game against the Czech Republic ended 3–3. Germany and Czech Republic went on to meet in the final, in the qualifying stage Russia was in Group 5 with Bulgaria, Israel, Cyprus, and Luxembourg. Russia and Bulgaria were considered the two contenders to qualify from the group with Israel considered a minor threat. Russia began the campaign with two victories against Cyprus and Luxembourg and two draws against Israel and Cyprus and they continued with victories against Luxembourg and Israel. Russia suffered their only defeat of the campaign with a 1–0 loss to Bulgaria and they ended the campaign with a 4–2 victory in the return game over Bulgaria and qualify for the play-off spot. In the play-offs, Russia was drawn with Italy, in the first leg Russia drew 1–1. In the away leg, Russia were defeated 1–0 and failed to qualify for the World Cup, after failing to qualify for the World Cup in France, Russia were determined to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2000 co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands
35.
Malkhaz Asatiani
–
Malkhaz Asatiani is a retired Georgian football defender who last recently played for Lokomotiv Moscow. He started as a midfielder but his displays at the back earned him a solid reputation as a central defender. Mostly playing as center-back at his club, Asatiani is often used as a playmaker for the national team and his passing, technical skills and eye for decisive goals make him an extremely versatile player. His club career started in Torpedo Kutaisi, during his stay of three and a half years the team won the Georgian league title three years in a row. He then earned a transfer to Russian team Lokomotiv Moscow and he plays mostly as a defender at the club and mostly as a midfielder in the national team. Asatiani told the Russian newspaper, Sport-Express, that he will be leaving Lokomotiv in the end of 2010 on a free transfer, on 21 December such departure was made official. In August 2008, Asatiani was bought on a year loan by Dynamo Kyiv. For the National Team, Malkhaz has played 18 international matches, one of the goals came against rivals Russia in a Euro 2004 qualifying match, something for which Asatiani received praise. He also scored important goals in the 2006 World Cup qualifying phase. com
36.
2006 FIFA World Cup
–
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process, along with the host nation, Germany and it was the second time that Germany staged the competition, and the tenth time that it was held in Europe. Italy won the tournament, claiming their fourth World Cup title and they defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shootout in the final, after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish in third place, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Serbia and Montenegro, Trinidad and Tobago, and Togo made their first appearances in the finals. The 2006 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in history, garnering an estimated 26.29 billion non-unique viewers. The final attracted an audience of 715.1 million people. The 2006 World Cup ranks fourth in non-unique viewers, behind the World Cup in 1994,2002, as the winner, Italy represented the World in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. The vote to choose the hosts of the 2006 tournament was held in July 2000 in Zürich and it involved four bidding nations after Brazil had withdrawn three days earlier, Germany, South Africa, England and Morocco. Three rounds of voting were required, each round eliminating the nation with the least votes, the first two rounds were held on 6 July 2000, and the final round was held on 7 July 2000, which Germany won over South Africa. Accusations of bribery and corruption have marred the success of Germanys bid from the very beginning, on the very day of the vote, a hoax bribery affair was made public, leading to calls for a re-vote. Oceania delegate Charlie Dempsey, who had initially backed England, had then been instructed to support South Africa following Englands elimination and he abstained, citing intolerable pressure on the eve of the vote. Just a week before the vote, the German government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder lifted their arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, daimlerChrysler invested several hundred million Euro in Hyundai, while one of the sons of the companys founders was a member of FIFAs executive committee. Both Volkswagen and Bayer announced investments in Thailand and South Korea, whose respective delegates Worawi Makudi, the sum of 6.7 million Euro was later demanded back by Dreyfus. In order to retrieve the money, the Organizing Committee paid an aquivalent sum to the FIFA, allegedly as a German share for the cost of a closing ceremony, the DFB announced they would consider seeking legal action against Der Spiegel. During a press conference on 22 October 2015, Nierbach repeated his stance, according to Niersbach, the payment had been agreed upon during a meeting between Franz Beckenbauer and FIFA president Blatter, with the money being provided by Dreyfus. On the same day, FIFA contradicted Niersbachs statement, saying, By our current state of knowledge, the following day, former DFB president Theo Zwanziger publicly accused Niersbach of lying, saying, It is evident that there was a slush fund for the German World Cup application. According to Zwanziger, the 6.7 million Euros went to Mohamed Bin Hammam, on 22 March 2016 it was announced that the FIFA Ethics Committee was opening proceedings into the bid
37.
Albania national football team
–
The Albania national football team is the mens football team that has represented Albania in international competition since 1946. It is controlled by the Albanian Football Federation, the body for football in the country. Albania was the winner of the 1946 Balkan Cup and the 2000 Malta Rothmans International Tournament, at the UEFA Euro 2016, Albania made its first debut at a major mens football tournament. Albania scored their first ever goal in a tournament and secured first ever win in European Championship. The National Arena will be after its completion in 2018, the ground of the national team. Albanias highest FIFA World Rankings was 22nd in August 2015, although it never played any matches, the Albanian national football team existed before the Albanian Football Association was created in 1930. FSHF was founded on 6 June 1930, and in, Albania joined FIFA, Albania played its first international match against Yugoslavia in 1946 which ended in a 3–2 home defeat at Qemal Stafa Stadium. In 1946, Albania also participated for the first time in Balkan Cup in which Albania won by beating Romania 1–0 in the final, in 1954, Albania was one of the founding members of UEFA. At the end of the tournament Albania ranked 9th in Europe, Albania participated for the first time in a qualifying phrase of a World Cup in the qualifiers of the 1966 edition in England. The team was drawn in the Group 5 which finished in the last position only one point from six matches. In the qualifiers of the UEFA Euro 1968 Albania had a draw 0–0 against West Germany that denied the Germans the participation to the UEFA Euro 1968 finals. In later years, Albania did not participate in the qualifiers of the World Cup 1970, UEFA Euro 1972, UEFA Euro 1976, World Cup 1978 and UEFA Euro 1980 for unknown political reasons. The qualifiers of the World Cup 1990 were probably the worst qualifier in Albanias history as there were 6 losses in as many games with no memorable matches. In the qualifiers of the World Cup 2002, Albania recorded a 2–0 win over Greece which was the team that they beat during the qualifiers. Albania was able to make impact in the qualifying of the UEFA Euro 2004 by beating 3–1 Russia at Loro Boriçi Stadium. This match was also the debut of the German coach Hans-Peter Briegel who led Albania to a run at home matches. Albania finished the group in the spot with only eight points. In the qualifiers of the World Cup 2006 Albania recorded some historical results, two months after Greece beat Portugal to win the European Championship, Albania defeated Greece 2–1 in a match which Albania scored goals in the 2nd and 11th minutes
38.
Kazakhstan national football team
–
The Kazakhstan national football team represents Kazakhstan in international mens association football and is directed by Football Federation of Kazakhstan. They split from the Soviet Union national football team after independence in 1991, after failing to qualify for the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup they joined UEFA, but are yet to qualify for a FIFA World Cup or a UEFA European Championship. The country of Kazakhstan declared independence from the Soviet Union on December 16,1991 and its national team then split from the Soviet Union national football team and joined the Asian Football Confederation. At the time, they were one of strongest teams in Central Asia, the team played their first match against another former-Soviet debutant, Turkmenistan, on June 1,1992, as part of a Central Asian tournament. The tournament also saw the debuts of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. After beating Libya in a friendly in North Korea on July 3, Kazakhstan played the remainder of its Central Asian fixtures and avoided defeat in all of them. They beat Uzbekistan 1–0 at home on July 16, then drew 1–1 away in Turkmenistan on September 14, in Kyrgyzstan on September 26, the final match was a 2–0 home victory over Kyrgyzstan on October 25. Kazakhstan entered qualification for the first time, in the attempt to reach the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in the first round they were placed in Group 9 alongside Pakistan and Iraq. Kazakhstans first qualifying match was won 3–0 at home in Almaty on May 11,1997, on June 6 they travelled to Baghdad to face Iraq and won 2–1, then five days later won an away match against Pakistan, 7–0 in Lahore. The result in Lahore remains Kazakhstans biggest-ever international win and they retained the 100% start to World Cup football by beating Iraq at home 3–1 on June 29. In the second and final round of qualification, Kazakhstan came last in the group and their only victory was on October 18,1997, when they beat the United Arab Emirates 3–0 at home. Kazakhstan drew three other games – all at home, in the first round of Asian qualifying, Kazakhstan were placed in Group 6 alongside Iraq, Nepal and Macau. All games in the group were to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after an Iraqi protest, the first three games for each team were moved to Baghdad, Iraq. Kazakhstan started off well in Baghdad by beating Nepal 6–0 with two goals by Oleg Litvinenko on April 12, and Macau 3–0 two days later, on April 16 they held Iraq to a 1–1 draw in front of 50,000. Ruslan Baltiev put the Kazakhs in front in the 6th minute, in Almaty Central Stadium, Kazakhstan beat Nepal 3–0 with two goals by Maksim Igorevich Shevchenko on April 21. Two days later they beat Macau 5–0, Dmitriy Byakov and Igor Avdeyev scored two each after a goalless first half, the final game on April 25 saw a 1–1 draw against Iraq in front of 25,000. Litvinenko put Kazakhstan ahead in the 32nd but Iraq equalised ten minutes later, despite being level on points, Iraq advanced on goal difference mainly due to a 9–1 victory over Nepal. They had to wait until the 2002 FIFA World Cup finished on June 30 before making the switch, the following players have also been called up to the Kazakhstans squad in the last 12 months
39.
UEFA Euro 2008
–
It took place in Austria and Switzerland from 7 to 29 June 2008. The tournament was won by Spain, who defeated Germany 1–0 in the final, Spain were only the second nation to win all their group stage fixtures and then the European Championship itself - an accomplishment matched by France in 1984. Spain were also the first team since Germany in 1996 to win the tournament undefeated, Greece were the defending champions going into the tournament, having won UEFA Euro 2004. They recorded the worst finish in Euro 2008, losing their three fixtures and collecting the least amount of prize money. Throughout 31 matches, the participating nations totalled 77 goals, the same as the previous tournament, Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified as hosts, the remaining 14 teams were determined through qualifying matches, which began in August 2006. As European champions, Spain earned the right to compete for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, Austria had previously bid to host Euro 2004 with Hungary, but they eventually lost out to Portugal. Austria/Switzerland, Greece/Turkey, and Hungary were recommended before the final vote, Greece and Turkey were rejected and let Hungary and Austria/Switzerland battle for the win. The Austria/Switzerland bid is the successful joint bid in the competitions history, following the UEFA Euro 2000 hosted by Belgium. The following tournament, held in Poland and Ukraine, became the third jointly hosted tournament, qualification for Euro 2008 started in August 2006, just over a month after the end of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. England was the only seeded team not to qualify for the tournament proper, in contrast, Germany and Portugal were deemed to have an easy draw, as the tournament structure meant they could not meet Italy, France, the Netherlands or Spain until the final. In the group stage, Croatia, Spain and the Netherlands all qualified with maximum points, Austria and Switzerland were not expected to progress, despite the advantage of being the hosts. In Group A, the Swiss lost their captain, Alexander Frei, to injury in their first game and became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament, Switzerland managed to beat the group winner Portugal in their last game. In Group B, Austria managed to set up a final game against Germany. However, they lost by one goal, making Euro 2008 the first European Championship not to have one of the host nations present in the knockout phase, in the same game, goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was shown a red card for pushing Czech striker Jan Koller to the ground. The Turks joined Portugal as the qualifiers from Group A, France were the high-profile victims of Group C, recording just one point from a goalless draw against Romania in their opening game. Italy beat the French, on the day, to finish on four points. Finally, in Group D, Greece failed to reproduce the form of their shock 2004 win, Russia qualified at the expense of Sweden, after beating them in a final game decider, joining Spain in the knockout phase. Turkey continued their streak of wins, equalising at the end of extra-time against Croatia
40.
Scotland national football team
–
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the two professional tournaments, the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship. Scotland, as a constituent country of the United Kingdom, is not a member of the International Olympic Committee, the majority of Scotlands home matches are played at the national stadium, Hampden Park. Scotland is the joint oldest national team in the world, alongside England. Scotland has a rivalry with England, whom they played annually from 1872 until 1989. The teams have met six times since then, most recently in November 2016. Scotland have qualified for the FIFA World Cup on eight occasions and the UEFA European Championship twice, the team have achieved some noteworthy results, such as beating the 1966 FIFA World Cup winners England 3–2 at Wembley Stadium in 1967. Archie Gemmill scored what has been described as one of the greatest World Cup goals ever in a 3–2 win during the 1978 World Cup against the Netherlands, in their qualifying group for UEFA Euro 2008, Scotland defeated 2006 World Cup runners-up France 1–0 in both fixtures. Scotland supporters are known as the Tartan Army. The Scottish Football Association operates a roll of honour for every player who has more than 50 appearances for Scotland. Kenny Dalglish holds the record for Scotland appearances, having played 102 times between 1971 and 1986, Dalglish scored 30 goals for Scotland and shares the record for most goals scored with Denis Law. Scotland and England are the oldest national teams in the world. Teams representing the two sides first competed at the Oval in five matches between 1870 and 1872, the two countries contested the first official international football match, at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Scotland, on 30 November 1872. The match ended in a goalless draw, all eleven players who represented Scotland that day played for Glasgow amateur club Queens Park. Over the next forty years, Scotland played matches exclusively against the other three Home Nations—England, Wales and Ireland, the British Home Championship began in 1883, making these games competitive. The encounters against England were particularly fierce and a rivalry quickly developed, Scotland lost just two of their first 43 international matches. It was not until a 2–0 home defeat by Ireland in 1903 that Scotland lost a match to an other than England. This run of success meant that Scotland would have topped the Elo ratings
41.
Faroe Islands national football team
–
The Faroe Islands national football team, represents the Faroe Islands in association football and is controlled by the Faroe Islands Football Association. The Faroe Islands became a member of FIFA in 1988 and UEFA in 1990 and is the fourth smallest UEFA country by population, Faroe Islands have never advanced to the finals of the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship. They took part in the Island Games in 1989 and 1991 and they also took part in the Nordic Football Championship for the first time in 2000–01, the last time the competition was played. In the Faroe Islands the team is known as the landsliðið, home matches are played at Tórsvøllur. From 1930 to 1988, before international membership, the Faroe Islands only played friendly matches against Iceland, Shetland, Orkney Islands, Greenland. None of these fixtures were considered either by FIFA, nor the Faroe Islands Football Association. The Faroe Islands gained membership of FIFA on 2 July 1988, the first official victory was a 1–0 win, in a friendly against Canada in 1989. Faroe Islands participated in two Island Games, winning tournaments in 1989 and 1991. They never entered the tournament again, as the opponent teams were considered too weak a match for the Faroese side, Faroe Islands pulled one of the biggest upsets in footballing history when they beat Austria 1–0 in their first ever competitive international on 12 September 1990. The game, a Euro 92 qualifier, was played in Landskrona, Sweden, torkil Nielsen, a salesman for his local builders company scored the goal. Guðlaugsson pre-match speech goes, Think of the Faroese flag, take it with you on that field. Throw yourself into the tackles against those arrogant Austrians with one mission – to win the game for your nation, tonight you pay back your childhood home. You have the opportunity now and it is an irrepaple blow if you dont cease it, the win was against all odds and to this day, this is the story about Faroese football – and the story about sports in the Faroe Islands. American sports magazine Soccerphile rated the Faroese victory number 10 of all-time football greatest upsets, one month later the Faroe Islands lost 4–1 to Denmark at Parken, Copenhagen. The same team got another good result in the qualifying tournament, the Faroe Islands lost the remaining five matches of the tournament. Since Landskrona, Faroese football stepped up to the challenge, regurlarly getting good results against better teams, however, it was a surprise to many around Europe when Allan Simonsen in 1994 was appointed the new coach for the Faroese national team. Having had a career in Borussia Monchengladbach and F. C. Barcelona. Allan Simonsen was in charge of the Faroese team for seven years, among other things he asked the Football Association to lengthen the season, and also asked the clubs for fitter players
1 (7 June 2018)
(20 April 2018)
Georgia 2–2 Lithuania 
Romania 5–0 Georgia 
Denmark 6–1 Georgia 
Soviet Union
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2020
Saint Kitts and Nevis
52', 73' (pen.)
Cyprus
Belarus
Estonia
Latvia
Andorra
Gimnàstic
Ivo Šušak
Héctor Cúper
Vladimír Weiss
Bulgaria
Italy
Hungary
Uruguay
Turkey
Scotland
Albania
Azerbaijan
Cameroon
Egypt
Faroe Islands
Finland
Gibraltar
Greece
Iceland
Iran
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Montenegro
New Zealand
Nigeria
Northern Ireland
Norway
Paraguay
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Slovenia
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
