1.
Iceland women's national football team
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The Iceland womens national football team represents Iceland in international womens football. It is currently ranked as the 20th best national team in the world by FIFA, at the 2013 UEFA Womens Championship theyve taken their first point in a major championship, following and draw against Norway in the opening game. During the qualifiers for 2009 UEFA Þóra Tómasdóttir and Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir followed the team, *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks, the following 23 players were named to the roster for 2017 Algarve Cup. Caps and goals are current as of 26 February 2017, the following is a list of matches in 2016 Official website FIFA profile
2.
UEFA
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The Union of European Football Associations is the administrative body for association football in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world footballs governing body FIFA, UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Until 1959 the main headquarters were located in Paris, and later in Bern, in 1995, UEFA headquarters were transferred to Nyon, Switzerland. Henri Delaunay was the first general secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the first president, UEFA was founded on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. The European football union began with 25 members, that number doubled by the early 1990s, UEFA membership coincides for the most part with recognition as a sovereign country in Europe, although there are some exceptions. Some UEFA members are not sovereign states, but form part of a recognized sovereign state in the context of international law. Some UEFA members are transcontinental states, countries which had been members of the Asian Football Confederation were also admitted to the European football association, particularly Israel and Kazakhstan. Additionally some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their associations main territory to take part in their domestic competition, saarland Football Union 1954–1956 German football association of the German Democratic Republic 1954–1990 Football Federation of the Soviet Union 1954–1991, in 1992 became Russian Football Union. The newly independent 14 Soviet Republics created their own football associations, Football Association of Yugoslavia 1954–1992, became Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia became independent, Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro 1992–2006, became Football Association of Serbia. Montenegro, which became independent, created its own football association, the main competition for mens national teams is the UEFA European Football Championship, started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960, and known as the European Nations Cup until 1964. It is also called UEFA or the EURO, UEFA also runs national competitions at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For womens national teams, UEFA operates the UEFA Womens Championship for senior sides as well as Womens Under-19. UEFA also organized the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup with CAF for youth teams in an effort to boost youth football, UEFA launched the UEFA Regions Cup, for semi-professional teams representing their local region, in 1999. In futsal there is the UEFA Futsal Championship and UEFA Futsal Under-21 Championship, the Italian, German, Spanish and French mens national teams are the sole teams to have won the European football championship in all categories. A second, lower-ranked competition is the UEFA Europa League and this competition, for national knockout cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by UEFA in 1971 as a successor of both the former UEFA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. A third competition, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, which had started in 1960, was absorbed into the UEFA Cup in 1999, in womens football UEFA also conducts the UEFA Womens Champions League for club teams. The competition was first held in 2001, and known as the UEFA Womens Cup until 2009, the UEFA Super Cup pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the Europa League, and came into being in 1973
3.
Captain (association football)
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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.
Aron Gunnarsson
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Aron Einar Malmquist Gunnarsson is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays for Welsh club Cardiff City. He can play either at right back or in central midfield and he began his career at Þór Akureyri, and played one game for Dutch club AZ before joining Englands Coventry City in 2008. After 133 games and 7 goals in three seasons for them, he transferred to Cardiff City, where he was a runner-up in the 2012 Football League Cup Final and played in the 2013–14 Premier League. Aron plays for Iceland at international level, having made his debut in 2008. He has been Icelands captain since mid-2012, skippering them to the quarter-finals at their first major tournament, born in Akureyri, Aron began his career with local side Þór Akureyri in 2005, before moving to the Netherlands a year later to play with AZ. Aron signed for English Championship team Coventry City on 17 June 2008 and he made his debut on the opening day of the Championship season against Norwich City, where Coventry won 2–0. He scored his first career goal on 14 February 2009 in an FA Cup match against Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, during his time at Coventry, Aron attracted Premier League interest leading Coventry City to offer him an improved deal on 12 March. His first league goal came against Crystal Palace, at the end of his first season in England, Aron was voted the Coventry City Supporters Player of the Year as well as the clubs Community Award. The following season, Aron changed his number from 12 to 17, to mirror the squad number of his brother. The following season he continued as a part of the Coventry midfield, throughout the season he made 42 appearances. Coventry City started the 2010–11 season strongly looking like they were pushing for play-off places, Aron opened his seasons goal scoring count with a goal against newly promoted, Millwall, despite Coventry losing 3–1. After three years at Coventry, he scored his first goal at Coventry Citys home ground, the Ricoh Arena, three days later, Aron scored his second goal in two games against Doncaster Rovers. He was out of contract at the end of the season and on 10 December, however the following week, he received his first red card of his career against Norwich City. However a deal for a new contract couldnt be reached between his agent and Coventry, and at the end of the season the club gave him a date to agree to stay. On 8 July 2011, Aron agreed a deal with fellow Championship team Cardiff City on a free transfer. Coventry were due compensation via him being under the age of 24 and he made his debut on 7 August in the first game of the new season, playing the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 away win over West Ham United. In his second game, Aron limped off with an injury after only ten minutes against Bristol City. He returned after the September international break, insisting his injury was behind him, on 22 October, Aron scored two goals in a 5–3 victory against Barnsley, receiving the man of the match award
5.
Cap (sport)
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In British sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a players appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in a match of association football. An early illustration of the first international match between Scotland and England in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls, and the English wearing a variety of school caps. These to be termed International Caps, the act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. Thus, a cap is awarded for each game played and so a player who has played x games, the practice of awarding a physical cap varies from sport to sport. It may be awarded prior to a debut or, particularly for national teams. As an example, the England mens association football teams still awards physical caps, Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given a cap for the competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself. In mens association football, the record belongs to former player Ahmed Hassan of Egypt, the first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of Englands Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England,90 of them he obtained whilst he was a captain, however, it is a players choice to refuse to play for or retire from his or her national team. In cricket, there are two types of caps, firstly, there is the international type, as described above. Some countries also award a domestic type generally known as a county cap, the latter system is most commonly applied in English county cricket. Most counties do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance, instead, indeed, one can play at the highest domestic level for several years, and have a quite significant career in first-class cricket, without ever winning a cap. The world record for the number of caps in Test cricket is held by Sachin Tendulkar of India, Tendulkar also holds the record for One Day Internationals, with 463 caps. In rugby union,35 players have reached 100 international caps as of 5 June 2012, Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British and Irish Lions touring squad. Lions matches are classed as full international tests, and caps are awarded, the Pacific Islanders team, composed of players from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands have a similar arrangement, although no players involved have so far reached 100 caps. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, the record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player & captain Darren Lockyer with 59 games and second place is former New Zealand Kiwis player & captain Ruben Wiki with 55 games. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, mens Records and Facts FIFA Players with 100+ Caps RSSSF Picture of International Football Cap National Museum of Scotland Gallery of International Caps and Honours Caps
6.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
7.
FIFA World Rankings
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The rankings were introduced in December 1992, and eight teams have held the top position, of which Brazil have spent longest ranked first. A points system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of all FIFA-recognised full international matches, the ranking system was most recently revamped after the 2006 World Cup, with the first edition of the new series of rankings issued on 12 July 2006. The most significant change is that the rankings are now based on results over the four years instead of the previous eight years. Alternative systems have been devised, such as the World Football Elo Ratings, based on the Elo rating system used in chess and Go, ranking teams. In December 1992, FIFA first published a listing in order of its member associations to provide a basis for comparison of the relative strengths of these teams. From the following August, this list was more frequently updated, significant changes were implemented in January 1999 and again in July 2006, as a reaction to criticisms of the system. Membership of FIFA has expanded from 167 to 209 since the rankings began, the ranking formula used from August 1993 until December 1998 was very simplistic and quickly became noticed for its lack of supporting factors. When the rankings were introduced, a team received one point for a draw or three for a victory in FIFA-recognised matches – much the same as a traditional league scoring system. This was a simplistic approach, however, and FIFA quickly realised that there were many factors affecting international matches. In order to meet the objective of fairly and accurately comparing the strengths of various national sides. In January 1999, FIFA introduced a system of ranking calculation. For the ranking all matches, their scores and importance were all recorded, only matches for the senior mens national team were included. Separate ranking systems were used for other national sides such as womens and junior teams. The womens rankings were, and still are, based on a procedure which is a version of the Football Elo Ratings. FIFA announced that the system would be updated following the 2006 World Cup. The evaluation period was cut from eight to four years, goals scored and home or away advantage are no longer taken into account, and other aspects of the calculations, including the importance attributed to different types of match, have been revised. The first set of revised rankings and the methodology were announced on 12 July 2006. This change is rooted at least in part in widespread criticism of the ranking system
8.
World Football Elo Ratings
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The World Football Elo Ratings is a ranking system for mens national association football teams that is published by the website eloratings. net. It is based on the Elo rating system but includes modifications to take various football-specific variables into account, like the margin of victory, importance of a match, and home field advantage. Other implementations of the Elo rating system are possible and there is no single nor any official Elo ranking for football teams. The FIFA World Rankings, not based on the Elo method, is the national teams rating system used by the international governing body of football and is therefore more prevalent. The ratings consider all international A matches for which results could be found, Ratings tend to converge on a teams true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches. Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional, the FIFA Womens World Rankings system uses a modified version of the Elo formula whereas the FIFA mens ranking system uses a non-Elo formula. The following table shows the top 100 teams in the World Football Elo Ratings on 29 March 2017, each national teams FIFA World Rankings are shown as they were in the latest release on 6 April 2017. Time averaged Elo or Elo-like scores are used to compare chess player strengths. The following is a list of the teams with the highest average Elo score from 1 January 1970 to 1 January 2017. Before this time intercontinental play was limited and many nations in Africa, North America. The team in each confederation that has achieved the highest rank is shown in color, the following is a list of national football teams ranked by their highest Elo ranking ever reached. Note that for the highest ranking/rating of a football team the Elo ratings website ignores the ranking/rating before 30 matches have been played. The table below shows the teams with the best average Elo score per decade, a list of the 16 matches between teams with the highest combined Elo ratings. A list of the matches with the biggest point exchange, the nations points before the matches are given. In 1997 Bob Runyan adapted the Elo rating system to international football and he was also the first maintainer of the World Football Elo Ratings web site, now maintained by Kirill Bulygin. The Elo system was adapted for football by adding a weighting for the kind of match, an adjustment for the home advantage. Ratings tend to converge on a teams true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches, Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional. There is no first step as in the FIFA system where a team receives points for the result
9.
Faroe Islands national football team
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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
10.
Faroe Islands
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The Faroe Islands, also spelled the Faeroes, is an archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic, about halfway between Norway and Iceland,320 kilometres north-northwest of Scotland. Its area is about 1,400 square kilometres with a population of 49,188 in 2016, the Faeroe Islands is an autonomous country within the Danish Realm. The land of the Faeroes is rugged, and these islands have an oceanic climate, windy, wet, cloudy. Despite this island groups northerly latitude, temperatures average above freezing throughout the year because of the Gulf Stream, between 1035 and 1814, the Faeroes were part of the Hereditary Kingdom of Norway. In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel granted Denmark control over the islands, the Faroe Islands have been a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. The Faroese have control of most domestic matters, areas that remain the responsibility of Denmark include military defence, the police department, the justice department, currency, and foreign affairs. However, as they are not part of the customs area as Denmark, the Faroe Islands have an independent trade policy. The islands also have representation in the Nordic Council as members of the Danish delegation, the people of the Faroe Islands also compete as national team in certain sports. In Danish, the name Færøerne may reflect an Old Norse word fær, the morpheme øerne represents a plural of ø in Danish. The Danish name thus translates as the islands of sheep, in Faroese, the name appears as Føroyar. Oyar represents the plural of oy, older Faroese for island, the modern Faeroese word for island is oyggj. In the English language, their name is sometimes spelled Faeroe, archaeological evidence shows settlers living on the Faroe Islands in two successive periods prior to the arrival of the Norse, the first between 400 and 600 and the second between 600 and 800. Scientists from the University of Aberdeen have also found early cereal pollen from domesticated plants, archaeologist Mike Church noted that Dicuil mentioned what may have been the Faroes. He also suggested that the living there might have been from Ireland, Scotland or Scandinavia. A Latin account of a made by Brendan, an Irish monastic saint who lived around 484–578. This association, however, is far from conclusive in its description, Dicuil, an Irish monk of the early 9th century, wrote a more definite account. 800, bringing Old West Norse, which evolved into the modern Faroese language, according to Icelandic sagas such as Færeyjar Saga, one of the best known men in the island was Tróndur í Gøtu, a descendant of Scandinavian chiefs who had settled in Dublin, Ireland. Tróndur led the battle against Sigmund Brestursson, the Norwegian monarchy, a traditional name for the islands in Irish, Na Scigirí, possibly refers to the Skeggjar Beards, a nickname given to island dwellers
11.
Denmark national football team
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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
12.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese
13.
Malta national football team
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The Malta national football team represents Malta in international football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association. Malta played its first international game on 24 February 1957 against Austria, the sides first competitive victory arrived in 1975 against Greece. Considered to be one of the sides in Europe, Malta has never made it to the finals of any major international competition. They have however never ranked at the bottom of the FIFA World Rankings and their highest ever position is 66th. Malta played its first international game on 24 February 1957 at the Empire Stadium and that match was played in front of a capacity crowd at the old Empire Stadium. The Malta Football Association joined FIFA in 1959 and UEFA a year later, the international side first competed in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA European Nations Cup in 1962, and in FIFA World Cup qualification in 1971. Maltas first competitive draw ended 1–1 against Greece in 1970, maltas first two competitive wins were victories of 2–0 and 2–1 at home to Greece and Iceland in European Championship qualifiers in 1975 and 1982 respectively. Maltas third competitive win came with a 1–0 victory away to Estonia in a 1993 World Cup qualifier in which Kris Laferla scored, in October 1994 Malta held Czech Republic 0–0 in a qualifier for the UEFA Euro 1996, in which the latter ended runners-up. In June 2000 Malta played England, then managed by Kevin Keegan, trailing 2–1 going into the final minutes Malta were awarded a penalty, however David Carabotts effort was saved by Richard Wright. Through November 2001 and May 2002 Malta played and remained undefeated in 6 international matches, during 2005, Malta drew 1–1 against Croatia and Bulgaria. Another positive result was the 1–1 home draw in a match against Northern Ireland. On 11 October 2006, Malta managed another victory, a 2–1 triumph over Hungary in the European Championship qualifying with Andre Schembri scoring twice. On 7 February 2007, Malta drew 1–1 with one of the hosts of Euro 2008, the game was played to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first international match played by the Maltese national team. On 8 September 2007 Malta managed another draw against Turkey in a Euro 2008 qualifying match, on 26 March 2008, Malta achieved its largest ever victory, a 7–1 defeat of Liechtenstein in a friendly at the Ta Qali Stadium, with Michael Mifsud scoring five goals. A 2–0 friendly win over Georgia followed in 2009, in May 2010, sponsorship of the Maltese national side was taken on by sportswear firm Givova, who also designed a range of new kits for the team. One month later, however, the side had fallen to their lowest ever FIFA world ranking position, in 2009, Malta had a 0–0 draw with Albania at home. This was their only point for the 2010 World Cup qualifying, on 11 August 2010 Malta drew 1–1 at home against FYR Macedonia in a European Championship qualifying game, with Michael Mifsud scoring a brilliant diving header for Malta. In February 2011 the side achieved a 0–0 draw against Switzerland, Mifsud scored twice on 10 August 2011, when Malta beat the Central African Republic 2–1 at home
14.
Copenhagen
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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
15.
FIFA World Cup
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The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is Germany, which won its title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. 32 teams, including the qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about a month. The 20 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national teams, Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The worlds first international match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the edition of the British Home Championship. After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906 and these were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition, planned by The Football Association, Englands football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain won the gold medals and they repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm. With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between clubs from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. Lipton invited West Auckland, a side from County Durham. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title, in 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a world football championship for amateurs, and took responsibility for managing the event. This paved the way for the worlds first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928. Those were also the first two world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFAs professional era. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a championship itself. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, in total,13 nations took part, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America
16.
2018 FIFA World Cup
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The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the mens national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, the final tournament will involve 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities, the final will take place on 15 July in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium. The winners will qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup, the bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest. During the bidding process, the three remaining non-UEFA nations gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, and the UEFA nations were thus ruled out of the 2022 bid. As such, there were four bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, England, Russia, Netherlands/Belgium. The twenty-two-member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments, Russia won the right to be the 2018 host in the second round of voting. The Spain/Portugal bid came second, and that from Belgium/Netherlands third, Englands bid to host its second tournament fell at the first hurdle. For the branding, a typeface called Dusha was created by Portuguese design agency Brandia Central in 2014, apart from Russia, who qualified automatically for the tournament as the hosts, all FIFA member associations were eligible to enter the qualification process. On 12 March 2015, prior to the start of qualification, Indonesia were suspended and then expelled before playing a single qualifying match, as part of punishment for government interference in the Football Association of Indonesia. The qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, qualifying matches for AFC and CONCACAF started in March 2015, prior to the qualifying draw. The allocation of slots for each confederation was decided to be unchanged by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich, on 13 May 2016, Gibraltar and Kosovo became FIFA members and eligible for the World Cup qualifying. In October 2013, UEFA President Michel Platini proposed that the World Cup finals should be expanded from 32 to 40 teams starting from 2018, the format would have been the same, but in groups of five instead of four. This was in response to FIFA President Sepp Blatters comments that Africa and Asia deserved more spots in the World Cup finals at the expense of European and South American teams. Russia proposed the following host cities, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Yekaterinburg. All the cities are in or just outside European Russia to reduce time for the teams in the huge country. The bid evaluation report stated, The Russian bid proposes 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, three of the 16 stadiums would be renovated, and 13 would be newly constructed. In October 2011 Russia decreased the number of stadiums from 16 to 14, the final choice of host cities was announced on 29 September 2012
17.
FIFA World Cup 2018
–
The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the mens national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, the final tournament will involve 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities, the final will take place on 15 July in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium. The winners will qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup, the bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest. During the bidding process, the three remaining non-UEFA nations gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, and the UEFA nations were thus ruled out of the 2022 bid. As such, there were four bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, England, Russia, Netherlands/Belgium. The twenty-two-member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments, Russia won the right to be the 2018 host in the second round of voting. The Spain/Portugal bid came second, and that from Belgium/Netherlands third, Englands bid to host its second tournament fell at the first hurdle. For the branding, a typeface called Dusha was created by Portuguese design agency Brandia Central in 2014, apart from Russia, who qualified automatically for the tournament as the hosts, all FIFA member associations were eligible to enter the qualification process. On 12 March 2015, prior to the start of qualification, Indonesia were suspended and then expelled before playing a single qualifying match, as part of punishment for government interference in the Football Association of Indonesia. The qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, qualifying matches for AFC and CONCACAF started in March 2015, prior to the qualifying draw. The allocation of slots for each confederation was decided to be unchanged by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich, on 13 May 2016, Gibraltar and Kosovo became FIFA members and eligible for the World Cup qualifying. In October 2013, UEFA President Michel Platini proposed that the World Cup finals should be expanded from 32 to 40 teams starting from 2018, the format would have been the same, but in groups of five instead of four. This was in response to FIFA President Sepp Blatters comments that Africa and Asia deserved more spots in the World Cup finals at the expense of European and South American teams. Russia proposed the following host cities, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Yekaterinburg. All the cities are in or just outside European Russia to reduce time for the teams in the huge country. The bid evaluation report stated, The Russian bid proposes 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, three of the 16 stadiums would be renovated, and 13 would be newly constructed. In October 2011 Russia decreased the number of stadiums from 16 to 14, the final choice of host cities was announced on 29 September 2012
18.
UEFA European Championship
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Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Starting with the 1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form UEFA Euro, prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations compete in a qualifying process. The championship winners earn the opportunity to compete in the following FIFA Confederations Cup, to date, Spain is the only team in history to have won consecutive titles, doing so in 2008 and 2012. It is the second most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup, the Euro 2012 final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million. The most recent championship, hosted by France in 2016, was won by Portugal, in honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. The 1960 tournament, held in France, had four competing in the finals out of 17 that entered the competition. It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a final in Paris. Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the USSR because of two political protests, of the 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable absentees were England, the Netherlands, West Germany and Italy. The hosts beat the holders, the Soviet Union, 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The tournament format stayed the same for the 1968 tournament, hosted, for the first and only time a match was decided on a coin toss and the final went to a replay, after the match against Yugoslavia finished 1–1. More teams entered this tournament, a testament to its burgeoning popularity, Belgium hosted the 1972 tournament, which West Germany won, beating the USSR 3–0 in the final, with goals coming from Gerd Müller and Herbert Wimmer at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. This tournament would provide a taste of things to come, as the German side contained many of the key members of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Champions. The 1976 tournament in Yugoslavia was the last in which four teams took part in the final tournament. Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout, after seven successful conversions, Uli Hoeneß missed, leaving Czechoslovakian Antonín Panenka with the opportunity to score and win the tournament. An audacious chipped shot, described by UEFA as perhaps the most famous spot kick of all time secured the victory as Czechoslovakia won 5–3 on penalties, the competition was expanded to eight teams in the 1980 tournament, again hosted by Italy. It involved a stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final. West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2–1, Horst Hrubesch scored early in the first half before René Vandereycken equalised for Belgium with a penalty in the second half. With two minutes remaining, Hrubesch headed the winner for West Germany from a Karl-Heinz Rummenigge corner, the format also changed, with the top two teams in each group going through to a semi-final stage, instead of the winners of each group going straight into the final
19.
UEFA Euro 2016
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It was held in France from 10 June to 10 July 2016. Spain were the defending champions, having won the 2008 and 2012 tournaments. Portugal won the tournament for the first time, following a 1–0 victory after extra time over the host team, France, for the first time, the European Championship final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format used since 1996. Under the new format, the finalists contested a group consisting of six groups of four teams. France was chosen as the host nation on 28 May 2010, after a process in which they beat Italy. The matches were played in ten stadiums in ten cities, Bordeaux, Lens, Lille Métropole, Décines-Charpieu, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Étienne and it was the third time that France hosted the finals, after the inaugural tournament in 1960 and the 1984 finals. As the winners, Portugal earned the right to compete at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, four bids came before the deadline on 9 March 2009. France, Italy and Turkey put in single bids while Norway, Norway and Sweden eventually withdrew their bid in December 2009. The host was selected on 28 May 2010, Round 1, Each of the thirteen members of the UEFA Executive Committee ranked the 3 bids first, second, and third. First place ranking received 5 points, second place 2 points, Executive members from the countries bidding were not allowed to vote. Round 2, The same thirteen-member committee voted for either of the two finalists, the qualifying draw took place at the Palais des Congrès Acropolis in Nice, on 23 February 2014, with the first matches being played in September 2014. A total of 53 teams competed for 23 places in the tournament to join France. Gibraltar competed in a European Championship qualifying for the first time since their affiliation to UEFA in 2013, the seeding pots were formed on the basis of the UEFA national team coefficients, with the Euro 2012 champions Spain and hosts France automatically top seeded. The 53 national sides were drawn into eight groups of six teams, the group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team qualify directly for the final tournament. The remaining eight third-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers, in March 2012, Gianni Infantino, the UEFA General Secretary at the time, stated that UEFA would review the qualification competition to ensure that it was not boring. In May 2013, Platini confirmed a similar qualifying format would be discussed during the September 2013 UEFA executive committee meeting in Dubrovnik. Thirteen of the sixteen teams qualified for Euro 2012 qualified again for the 2016 final tournament. Romania, Turkey, Austria and Switzerland all returned after missing out in 2012, with the Austrians qualifying for just their second final Euro tournament, five teams secured their first-ever qualification to a UEFA European Championship final tournament, Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales
20.
Rostov-on-Don
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Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative center of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the part of the East European Plain on the Don River,32 kilometers from the Sea of Azov. The southwestern suburbs of the city abut the Don River delta, from ancient times, the area around the mouth of the Don River has held cultural and commercial importance. Ancient indigenous inhabitants included the Scythian, Sarmat, and Savromat tribes and it was the site of Tanais, an ancient Greek colony, Fort Tana, under the Genoese and Fort Azak in the time of the Ottoman Empire. In 1749, a house was established on the Temernik River, a tributary of the Don, by edict of Empress Elizabeth. It was co-located with a named for Dimitry of Rostov. Azov, a closer to the Sea of Azov on the Don. In 1756, the Russian commercial and trading company of Constantinople was founded at the settlement on the high bank of the Don. In 1796, the settlement was chartered and in 1797, it became the seat of Rostovsky Uyezd within Novorossiysk Governorate, in 1806, it was officially renamed Rostov-on-Don. During the 19th century, due to its connections with Russias interior, Rostov developed into a major trade center. A railway connection with Kharkiv was completed in 1870, with further links following in 1871 to Voronezh, concurrent with improvements in communications, heavy industry developed. Coal from the Donets Basin and iron ore from Krivoy Rog supported the establishment of a foundry in 1846. In 1859, the production of pumps and steam boilers began, the harbor was one of the largest trade hubs in southern Russia, especially for the export of wheat, timber, and iron ore. In 1779, Rostov-on-Don became associated with a settlement of Armenian refugees from the Crimea at Nakhichevan-on-Don, the two settlements were separated by a field of wheat. In 1928, the two towns were merged, the former town border lies beneath the Teatralnaya Square of central Rostov-on-Don. By 1928, following the incorporation of the neighboring city of Nakhichevan-on-Don. In the early 20th century, epidemics of cholera during the months were not uncommon. During the Russian Civil War, the Whites and the Reds contested Rostov-on-Don, by 1928, the regional government had moved from the old Cossack capital of Novocherkassk to Rostov-on-Don
21.
Icelandic language
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Icelandic /aɪsˈlændɪk/ is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. It is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages, historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the colonisation of the Americas. Icelandic, Faroese, Norn, and Western Norwegian formerly constituted West Nordic, Danish, Eastern Norwegian, modern Norwegian Bokmål is influenced by both groups, leading the Nordic languages to be divided into mainland Scandinavian languages and Insular Nordic. Most Western European languages have reduced levels of inflection, particularly noun declension. In contrast, Icelandic retains a four-case synthetic grammar comparable to, Icelandic is distinguished by a wide assortment of irregular declensions. Icelandic also has many instances of oblique cases without any governing word, for example, many of the various Latin ablatives have a corresponding Icelandic dative. The vast majority of Icelandic speakers—about 320, 000—live in Iceland, more than 8,000 Icelandic speakers live in Denmark, of whom approximately 3,000 are students. The language is spoken by some 5,000 people in the United States. Notably in the province of Manitoba, while 97% of the population of Iceland consider Icelandic their mother tongue, the language is in decline in some communities outside Iceland, particularly in Canada. Icelandic speakers outside Iceland represent recent emigration in almost all cases except Gimli, Manitoba, the state-funded Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies serves as a centre for preserving the medieval Icelandic manuscripts and studying the language and its literature. Since 1995, on 16 November each year, the birthday of 19th-century poet Jónas Hallgrímsson is celebrated as Icelandic Language Day, the oldest preserved texts in Icelandic were written around 1100 AD. Much of the texts are based on poetry and laws traditionally preserved orally, the most famous of the texts, which were written in Iceland from the 12th century onward, are the Icelandic Sagas. They comprise the historical works and the eddaic poems, the language of the sagas is Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse. Danish rule of Iceland from 1380 to 1918 had little effect on the evolution of Icelandic, though more archaic than the other living Germanic languages, Icelandic changed markedly in pronunciation from the 12th to the 16th century, especially in vowels. The modern Icelandic alphabet has developed from an established in the 19th century. The later Rasmus Rask standard was a re-creation of the old treatise, with changes to fit concurrent Germanic conventions. Various archaic features, as the letter ð, had not been used much in later centuries, rasks standard constituted a major change in practice. Later 20th-century changes include the use of é instead of je, apart from the addition of new vocabulary, written Icelandic has not changed substantially since the 11th century, when the first texts were written on vellum
22.
2014 FIFA World Cup
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The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for mens national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014 and it was the second time that Brazil staged the competition, and the fifth time that it was held in South America. Thirty-one national teams advanced through qualification competitions to join the host nation in the final tournament, a total of 64 matches were played in 12 venues located in as many host cities across Brazil. For the first time at a World Cup finals, match officials used goal-line technology, FIFA Fan Fests in each host city gathered a total of 5 million people, and the country received 1 million visitors from 202 countries. Every World Cup-winning team since the first edition in 1930 – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Spain, the title holders, were eliminated at the group stage, along with England and Italy. Uruguay were eliminated in the round of 16, and France exited in the quarter-finals, Brazil, who had won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, lost to Germany 7–1 in the semi-finals and eventually finished in fourth place. Germany became the first European team to win a World Cup staged in the Americas, as the winners, Germany qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. With 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa, it would be the second consecutive World Cup outside of Europe and it was also second in the Southern Hemisphere. Only Brazil and Colombia formally declared their candidacy but, after the withdrawal of the latter from the process, following qualification matches played between June 2011 and November 2013, the following 32 teams – shown with their last pre-tournament FIFA world ranking – qualified for the final tournament. Twenty-four of these teams were returning participants from the 2010 World Cup, Bosnia and Herzegovina were the only team with no previous appearance at the World Cup finals. Colombia qualified for the World Cup after 16 years of absence, while Russia, the highest ranked team to not qualify was Ukraine, while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was Australia. The 32 participating teams were drawn into eight groups, in preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots with the seven highest-ranked teams joining host nation Brazil in the seeded pot. As with the tournaments, FIFA aimed to create groups which maximised geographic separation. The draw took place on 6 December 2013 at the Costa do Sauípe resort in Bahia, under the draw procedure, one randomly drawn team – Italy – was firstly relocated from Pot 4 to Pot 2 to create four equal pots of eight teams. In March 2013, FIFA published a list of 52 prospective referees, each paired, on the basis of nationality, on 14 January 2014, the FIFA Referees Committee appointed 25 referee trios and eight support duos representing 43 different countries for the tournament. Yuichi Nishimura from Japan acted as referee in the opening match whereas Nicola Rizzoli from Italy acted as referee in the final, as with the 2010 tournament, each teams squad consists of 23 players. Each participating national association had to confirm their final 23-player squad no later than 10 days before the start of the tournament, teams were permitted to make late replacements in the event of serious injury, at any time up to 24 hours before their first game. During a match, all remaining squad members not named in the team are available to be one of the three permitted substitutions
23.
Croatia national football team
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The Croatia national football team represents Croatia in international football. The team is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body of football. A FIFA-sanctioned national side previously represented the short-lived Banovina of Croatia and this team was dissolved in 1945 as Croatia became a constituent federal republic of SFR Yugoslavia. In the period between 1945 and 1990, Croatia was ineligible to field a team for competitive matches. The modern Croatian team was formed in 1990, shortly before Croatias independence from Yugoslavia, the team played their first competitive matches in the successful qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 1996, leading to their first appearance at a major tournament. In Croatias FIFA World Cup debut in 1998 the team finished third and provided the top scorer. Since becoming eligible to compete in tournaments, Croatia have failed to qualify for only one World Cup. The team was undefeated in its first 36 home competitive matches at Maksimir, the teams traditional nickname is Vatreni. The team was named FIFAs Best Mover of the Year in 1994 and 1998, Association football was first introduced to Croatia by English expatriates working on industrial projects in Rijeka and Županja in 1873. By 1907, local clubs had established in Croatia and a modern edition of the sports laws was translated and published. A hastily arranged Croatian side, managed by Hugo Kinert, played a few matches in 1918–19, in 1940, Jozo Jakopić led an unofficial national team representing the Banovina of Croatia in four friendly matches, against Switzerland and Hungary. Following invasion by the Axis powers, the Croatian Football Federation became briefly active, joining FIFA on 17 July 1941, the side, led by Rudolf Hitrec, went on to play 15 friendly matches,14 of those as a member of FIFA. Croatias first recorded result as a FIFA member was a 1–1 draw with Slovakia on 8 September in Bratislava. The Independent State of Croatia continued playing matches until 1945 and the end of World War II, from 1950 to 1956, unofficial Croatian teams were briefly active—they won games against Indonesia and a Yugoslav team playing as Serbia. The Yugoslavia squad at the 1956 Summer Olympics included Croatian footballers, as did Yugoslavia in World Cup, the last Yugoslav team to field a considerable Croatian contingent played against Faroe Islands on 16 May 1991, days before Croatias independence referendum. However, an unofficial Croatian team was formed shortly before, and played the teams first modern international game, the game, which Croatia won 2–1, was one of three games played under caretaker manager Dražan Jerković. The match against the American side also marked the introduction of Croatias national jersey, although Croatia was still officially part of Yugoslavia until its independence declaration on 8 October 1991, this team already served as a de facto national side. Croatia went on to win two more games under Jerković, against Romania in December 1990 and Slovenia in June 1991
24.
Netherlands national football team
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The Netherlands national football team represents the Netherlands in international football. It is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association, the body for football in the Netherlands. The team is referred to as Het Nederlands Elftal and Oranje. Like the country itself, the team is sometimes referred to as Holland. The Dutch hold the record for playing the most World Cup finals without winning the tournament. They finished second in the 1974,1978 and 2010 World Cups, losing to West Germany, Argentina and Spain respectively, the Netherlands played their first international match in Antwerp against Belgium on 30 April 1905. The players were selected by a commission from the Dutch football association. After 90 minutes, the score was 1–1, but because the match was for a trophy, the Netherlands made their first appearance at the World Cup final tournament in 1934. After a second appearance in 1938 they did not appear in another World Cup until 1974, the 1970s saw the invention of Total Football, pioneered by Ajax and led by playmaker Johan Cruyff and national team coach Rinus Michels. The Dutch made significant strides, qualifying for two World Cup finals in the decade. The captain of the Brazilian team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup, Carlos Alberto, went on to say, since then everything looks more or less the same to me. Their carousel style of play was amazing to watch and marvellous for the game, in 1974, the Netherlands beat both Brazil and Argentina in the second group stage, reaching the final for the first time in their history. However, the team lost to West Germany in the final in Munich, however, a converted penalty by Paul Breitner and the winner from Gerd Müller led to a victory for the Germans. By comparison, Euro 76 was a disappointment, the Netherlands lost in the semi-finals to Czechoslovakia, as much because of infighting within the squad and the coach George Knobel, as well as the skill of the eventual winners. In 1978, the Netherlands again reached the final of a World Cup, only to be beaten by the hosts and this side played without Johan Cruijff, Willem van Hanegem, and Jan van Beveren, who refused to participate in the World Cup. It still contained Johan Neeskens, Johnny Rep, Arie Haan, Ruud Krol, Wim Jansen, Jan Jongbloed, Wim Suurbier, the Netherlands were less impressive in the group stages. They qualified as runners-up, after a draw with Peru and a loss to Scotland, in the second group phase, however, the Netherlands topped a group including Italy and West Germany, setting up a final with Argentina. However, the Dutch finished as runners up for the second World Cup in a row as they ultimately lost 3–1 after two extra time goals from Argentina, Rensenbrink hit the Argentinian post in the last minute of normal time, with the score 1–1
25.
France national football team
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The France national football team represents France in international football. The teams colours are blue, white and red, and the coq gaulois its symbol, France are colloquially known as Les Bleus. France play home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, and they have won one FIFA World Cup, two UEFA European Football Championships, an Olympic tournament, and two FIFA Confederations Cups. France experienced much of its success in three major, in the 1950s, 1980s, and late 1990s/early 2000s respectively, which resulted in numerous major honours. In 1958, the team, led by Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, in 1984, France, led by Ballon dOr winner Michel Platini, won UEFA Euro 1984. Under the leadership of Didier Deschamps and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, two years later, the team triumphed at UEFA Euro 2000. France won the Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2003, and reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the team also reached the final of UEFA Euro 2016, where they lost 1–0 to Portugal in extra time. France, Argentina and Brazil are the national teams that have won the three most important mens titles recognized by FIFA, the World Cup, the Confederations Cup. They have also won their continental championship. The following year, on 12 February 1905, France contested their home match against Switzerland. The match was played at the Parc des Princes in front of 500 supporters, France won the match 1–0 with the only goal coming from Gaston Cyprès. Due to disagreements between FIFA and the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, the sports union. In 1919, the CFI transformed themselves into the French Football Federation, in 1921, the USFSA finally merged with the FFF. In July 1930, France appeared in the inaugural FIFA World Cup, in their first-ever World Cup match, France defeated Mexico 4–1 at the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo. Lucien Laurent became notable in the match as he scored not only Frances first World Cup goal, conversely, France also became the first team to not score in a match after losing 1–0 to fellow group stage opponents Argentina. Another loss to Chile resulted in the team bowing out in the group stage, the following year saw the first selection of a black player to the national team. Raoul Diagne, who was of Senegalese descent, earned his first cap on 15 February in a 2–1 defeat to Czechoslovakia. Diagne later played with the team at the 1938 World Cup, alongside Larbi Benbarek, at the 1934 World Cup, France suffered elimination in the opening round, losing 3–2 to Austria
26.
FIFA
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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
27.
1954 FIFA World Cup
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The 1954 FIFA World Cup, the fifth staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerland was chosen as hosts in July 1946, the tournament set a number of all-time records for goal-scoring, including the highest average goals scored per game. The tournament was won by West Germany, who defeated Hungary 3–2 in the final, Switzerland was awarded the tournament unopposed on 22 July 1946, the same day that Brazil was selected for the 1950 World Cup, in Luxembourg City. The hosts and the champions qualified automatically. Of the remaining 14 places,11 were allocated to Europe, scotland, Turkey and South Korea made their World Cup debuts at this tournament. Austria appeared for the first time since 1934, Turkey would not participate at a finals again until the 2002 competition, while South Koreas next appearance would be in 1986. The third and fourth teams from 1950, Sweden and Spain. In a shock result, Spain was eliminated by Turkey, after the two countries had tied a series, Turkey progressed by drawing of lots. German teams were allowed to qualify again, after having been banned from the 1950 FIFA World Cup, West Germany qualified against fellow Germans from the Saarland, while East Germany had not entered, cancelling international football games after the East German uprising of 1953. Argentina declined to participate for the third World Cup in succession, the 1954 tournament used a unique format. The sixteen qualifying teams were divided into four groups of four teams each, each group contained two seeded teams and two unseeded teams. Only four matches were scheduled for each group, each pitting a team against an unseeded team. This contrasts with the usual round-robin in which team plays every other team. Two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw, the two teams with the most points from each group progressed to the knockout stage. If the first and second placed teams were level on points, lots were drawn to decide which team would top the group. However, if the second and third placed teams were level on points and it turned out that two of the four groups required play-offs, and the other two required drawing of lots between the two top teams. The play-offs were between Switzerland and Italy, and Turkey and West Germany, in matches the unseeded teams repeated earlier victories against the seeds to progress. In the other two groups, lots were drawn to determine the teams, resulting in Uruguay and Brazil finishing above Austria and Yugoslavia
28.
1958 FIFA World Cup
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The 1958 FIFA World Cup, the sixth staging of the World Cup, was hosted by Sweden from 8 to 29 June. The tournament was won by Brazil, who beat Sweden 5–2 in the final for their first title, the tournament is also notable for marking the debut on the world stage of a then largely unknown 17-year-old Pelé. Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Sweden expressed interest in hosting the tournament, swedish delegates lobbied other countries at the FIFA Congress held in Rio de Janeiro around the opening of the 1950 World Cup finals. Sweden was awarded the 1958 tournament unopposed on 23 June 1950, the hosts and the defending champions qualified automatically. Of the remaining 14 places, nine were allocated to Europe, FIFA had imposed a rule that no team would qualify without playing at least one match, something that had happened in several previous World Cups. Wales won the play-off and qualified, on 8 February 1958, in Solna, Lennart Hyland and Sven Jerring presented the results of the draw where the qualified teams were divided into four groups. It also marked the debuts of the Soviet Union and Northern Ireland, Argentina appeared for the first time since 1934. This would be Paraguays last finals appearance until 1986, Northern Irelands last until 1982 and this FIFA World Cup finals remains the only occasion on which Italy failed to qualify. Other teams that failed to qualify included Uruguay, Spain and Belgium, two points were awarded for a win and one point for a draw. If the first two teams finished on equal points then goal average would decide who was placed first and second, as in 1954, if the second and third placed teams finished on the same points, then there would be a play-off with the winner going through. If a play-off resulted in a draw, goal average from the games would be used to determine who went through to the next round. If the goal averages were equal then lots would have been drawn and these arrangements had not been finalised by the time the tournament started and were still being debated as it progressed. This was the first time that goal average was available to teams in a World Cup. It was used to separate the teams finishing first and second in one of the groups, however all three playoffs finished with decisive results and so it was not needed to separate the teams involved in a tied playoff. Almost all the matches kicked off simultaneously in each of the three rounds of the phase, as did the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The exceptions were Swedens three group matches, all of which were televised by Sveriges Radio, these started at other times so Swedes could attend other matches without missing their own teams. Apart from these, one match per round was televised, many Swedes bought their first television for the World Cup. The official ball was the Top-Star VMbollen 1958 model made by Sydsvenska Läder & Remfabriks AB in Ängelholm and it was chosen from 102 candidates in a blind test by four FIFA officials
29.
Estonia national football team
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The Estonia national football team in international football and is controlled by the Estonian Football Association, the governing body for football in Estonia. Estonia play their matches at the A. Le Coq Arena in Tallinn, Estonia, Estonias first match was held against Finland in 1920, being a 6–0 defeat. The team participated in the 1924 Olympic Games tournament, their only participation, Estonia have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship. In 1940, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and did not regain independence until 1991. Estonias first FIFA recognised match as an independent nation after the break-up of the Soviet Union, was against Slovenia on 3 June 1992, a 1–1 draw in the Estonian capital city of Tallinn. The record for the most international caps by an international is held by Martin Reim with 157, in September 2016, Reim was appointed team manager. The record for most goals is held by Andres Oper with 38, Estonians were introduced to the game of football by English sailors in the first years of the 20th century, when the land was still part of the Russian Empire. The national team was formed after the war of independence and it played its first match on 17 October 1920 in Helsinki, Finland which ended in a 6–0 defeat. The game took place on a surface, which was a first for the Estonians. The Estonian Football Association was founded on 14 December 1921 and affiliated with FIFA in 1923 joining Yugoslavia, Latvia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, Estonias only participation in a major tournament took place in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris. Estonians lost their match in the tournament to the United States 1–0. The Estonian league season usually lasted from the end of May to September, in 1928 the first Baltic football contest was held involving all three nations, it was held nine times during this period. Four of them were held in Latvia, two in Estonia and three in Lithuania, Estonia was particularly notable for winning the edition of the tournament in 1938. In the crucial meeting between them and Latvia at the Kadrioru Stadium,2,000 out of the 12,000 spectators were Latvians, Estonias first FIFA World cup qualifying match took place on 11 June 1933 in Stockholm, Sweden. Match ended with Swedish 6–2 win and this match was also worlds first FIFA world cup qualifying match. Since later on Sweden also defeated Lithuania, match between Estonia and Lithuania was cancelled, because Sweden had already won the group. Estonias first points in the FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds were gained in 1938, playing the matches in 1937
30.
Tallinn
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Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland,80 km south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm, from the 13th century until 1918, the city was known as Reval. Tallinn occupies an area of 159.2 km2 and has a population of 444,591, approximately 33% of Estonias total population lives in Tallinn. Tallinn was founded in 1248, but the earliest human settlements date back 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest capital cities of Northern Europe. The initial claim over the land was laid by the Danes in 1219 after a raid of Lyndanisse led by Valdemar II of Denmark. Due to its location, the city became a major trade hub, especially from the 14th to the 16th century. Tallinns Old Town is one of the best preserved cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tallinn is the political, financial, cultural and educational center of Estonia. Often dubbed the Silicon Valley of Europe, it has the highest number of startups per person in Europe and is a birthplace of international companies. The city is to house the headquarters of the European Unions IT agency, providing to the global cybersecurity it is the home to the NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. It is ranked as a city and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Turku in Finland and it has been suggested that Quwri may have denoted a predecessor of the modern city. The earliest names of Tallinn include Kolyvan, which is known from East Slavic chronicles, up to the 13th century, the Scandinavians and Henry of Livonia in his chronicle called the town Lindanisa (or Lyndanisse in Danish, Lindanäs in Swedish and Ledenets in Old East Slavic. It has been suggested that the archaic Estonian word linda is similar to the Votic word lidna. According to this suggestion, nisa would have the meaning niemi, producing Kesoniemi, another ancient historical name for Tallinn in Finnish is Rääveli. The Icelandic Njals saga mentions Tallinn and calls it Rafala, which is a variant of the name Raphael, after the Danish conquest in 1219, the town became known in the German, Swedish and Danish languages as Reval. The name originated from Revelia Revala or Rävala, the adjacent ancient name of the surrounding area and it is usually thought to be derived from Taani-linn, after the Danes built the castle in place of the Estonian stronghold at Lindanisse. However, it could also have come from tali-linna, or talu-linna, the element -linna, like Germanic -burg and Slavic -grad / -gorod, originally meant fortress, but is used as a suffix in the formation of town names
31.
UEFA Euro 2004
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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
32.
Scotland national football team
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The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the two professional tournaments, the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship. Scotland, as a constituent country of the United Kingdom, is not a member of the International Olympic Committee, the majority of Scotlands home matches are played at the national stadium, Hampden Park. Scotland is the joint oldest national team in the world, alongside England. Scotland has a rivalry with England, whom they played annually from 1872 until 1989. The teams have met six times since then, most recently in November 2016. Scotland have qualified for the FIFA World Cup on eight occasions and the UEFA European Championship twice, the team have achieved some noteworthy results, such as beating the 1966 FIFA World Cup winners England 3–2 at Wembley Stadium in 1967. Archie Gemmill scored what has been described as one of the greatest World Cup goals ever in a 3–2 win during the 1978 World Cup against the Netherlands, in their qualifying group for UEFA Euro 2008, Scotland defeated 2006 World Cup runners-up France 1–0 in both fixtures. Scotland supporters are known as the Tartan Army. The Scottish Football Association operates a roll of honour for every player who has more than 50 appearances for Scotland. Kenny Dalglish holds the record for Scotland appearances, having played 102 times between 1971 and 1986, Dalglish scored 30 goals for Scotland and shares the record for most goals scored with Denis Law. Scotland and England are the oldest national teams in the world. Teams representing the two sides first competed at the Oval in five matches between 1870 and 1872, the two countries contested the first official international football match, at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Scotland, on 30 November 1872. The match ended in a goalless draw, all eleven players who represented Scotland that day played for Glasgow amateur club Queens Park. Over the next forty years, Scotland played matches exclusively against the other three Home Nations—England, Wales and Ireland, the British Home Championship began in 1883, making these games competitive. The encounters against England were particularly fierce and a rivalry quickly developed, Scotland lost just two of their first 43 international matches. It was not until a 2–0 home defeat by Ireland in 1903 that Scotland lost a match to an other than England. This run of success meant that Scotland would have topped the Elo ratings
33.
Portugal national football team
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The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in international mens association football competition since 1921. It is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the body for football in Portugal. Portugals first participation in a tournament finals, at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup finals were in 1986 and 2002, going out in the first round both times. Portugal also made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 1984 final tournament, losing 3–2 after extra time to the hosts and eventual winners France. The team reached the semi-finals of Euro 2000, the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012, as well as the final of Euro 2004, the latter on home soil. At Euro 2016, Portugal won its first ever trophy, defeating hosts France 1–0 after extra time. With the win, Portugal qualified and will make its first appearance in the FIFA Confederations Cup held the year in Russia. The teams home stadium is the Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras, the current head coach is Fernando Santos and the captain is Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the team records for most caps and goals. Portugal was not invited to the 1930 World Cup, which featured a final stage. In the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification, the Seleção played one game against Switzerland in a ground, held in Milan, losing 2–1 against the Swiss. Because of the conflict due to the World War II, there was no World Cup held until the 1950 competition and subsequently. On the restart of games, the team was to play a round against Spain. After a 5–1 defeat in Madrid, they managed to draw in the second game 2–2, for the qualification of the 1954 World Cup, the team would play Austria. The Austrians won the first game with a humiliating 9–1 result, the best the national team could do was hold the team to a goalless draw in Lisbon, and the round ended with a 9–1 defeat. In the 1958 qualification, Portugal won a match for the first time. Nevertheless, they finished last in the stage that also featured Northern Ireland, only the first-placed team, Northern Ireland. The year 1960 was the year that UEFA created the European Football Championship, the first edition was a knock-out tournament, the last four teams participating in final stage that only featured one leg while the older stages had two legs
34.
Hungary national football team
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The Hungary national football team represents Hungary in international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. Hungary has a football history, having won three Olympic titles, finishing runners-up in the 1938 and 1954 FIFA World Cups, and third in the 1964 UEFA European Football Championship. The national side first appeared at the Summer Olympic Games in 1912 in Stockholm, the team had to ask for donations in order to be able to go to the games. Hungary lost 7–0 to England and thus were eliminated, after the Olympic Games Hungary played two matches against Russia in Moscow. The first match was won 9–0 and the second 12–0, which is still a record for the national side, the top scorer of the two matches was Imre Schlosser who scored seven goals. The beginning of World War I had a impact on the thriving Hungarian football. Both the country and the clubs were suffering financial problems, during World War I Hungary played Austria 16 times. In 1919 England claimed the exclusion of the Central Powers from FIFA, when FIFA refused Englands plea, the British and Irish associations decided to resign from FIFA. Budapest was denied the opportunity to host the 1920 Summer Olympics, the countries of the Central Powers were excluded from the Olympics. During this period the Fogl brothers played in the national team, the formation the Hungarians used was 2–3–5 which was unique at that time. The national team played at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, in the first match Hungary beat Poland but in the second round they lost to Egypt. As a consequence, both the coach and the head of the Hungarian Football Federation resigned. Between 1927 and 1930, Hungary participated in the Europa Cup, which is considered to be the first international tournament, with Austria, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Russia, in the final, Hungary lost to Russia. On 12 June 1927, Hungary beat France by 13–1, which is still a record, the first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930, but Hungary were not invited and did not take part in the tournament, there were no qualification matches. Hungary first appeared in the 1934 World Cup in Italy, Hungarys first World Cup match was against Egypt on 27 May 1934, a 4–2 win. The goals were scored by Pál Teleki, Géza Toldi and Jenő Vincze, in the quarter-finals, Hungary faced neighbouring arch-rivals Austria but lost 2–1, the only Hungarian goal coming from György Sárosi. Hungary entered the 1936 Olympics, where in the first round they were eliminated by Poland, the 1938 World Cup was held in France. The first match was played against Dutch East Indies and Hungary won 6–0, Sárosi and Gyula Zsengellér each scored twice while Vilmos Kohut and Toldi scored one goal each
35.
Austria national football team
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The Austria national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Austria in international competition and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association. Austria has qualified for seven World Cups, most recently in 1998, the country played in the European Championship for the first time in 2008 when it co-hosted the event with Switzerland and most recently qualified in 2016. The Austrian Football Association was founded on 18 March 1904 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the team enjoyed success in the 1930s under coach Hugo Meisl becoming a dominant side in Europe and earning the nickname Wunderteam. The teams star was Matthias Sindelar, on 16 May 1931, they were the first continental European side to defeat Scotland. In the 1934 FIFA World Cup, Austria finished fourth after losing 1–0 to Italy in the semi-finals and they were runners-up in the 1936 Olympics, again losing to Italy 2–1, despite having been beaten in quarter-finals by Peru, following the Peruvians withdrawal. However, according to an investigation, the victory by Peru was deliberately annulled by Adolf Hitler to favour the Austrians. The team then qualified for the 1938 FIFA World Cup finals, on 28 March, FIFA was notified that the Austrian FA had been abolished, resulting in the nations withdrawal from the World Cup. Instead the German team would represent the former Austrian territory, in a later rematch, the Germans took revenge, winning 9–1. As a result, five players from Austria Wien, Rapid Wien and Vienna Wien were part of the team only managed a 1–1 draw in Round 1 against Switzerland. With Rapid Wiens forward Pesser having been sent off, and not satisfied with two others, Herberger had to alter the line-up on six positions to fulfill the 6,5 quota again, after World War II, Austria was again separated from Germany. Austrias best result came in 1954 with a team starring midfielder Ernst Ocwirk and they lost in the semi-finals 6–1 to eventual champions Germany, but finished third after beating defending champions Uruguay 3–1. This remains their best result ever, and unfortunately the last time for decades that Austria reached the end round of a major tournament, over the years, a strong yet mainly lopsided rivalry with Germany developed. At the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, the Austrian team was a disappointment, defeats to the eventual champions Brazil, the emerging Soviet Union and a draw against a weakened England prevented the team to reach the next round. Still holding to the popularity in the country, under new coach Decker again made an international sensation in the era. In front of a crowd of over 90,000 spectators, made possible by the expansion of the Prater Stadium. Due to lack of money, however, Austria decided not to participate at the 1962 World Cup in Chile, and the team fell apart. Abrupt end of Austria’s success in the postwar period eventually formed the clear 0–6 loss against Czechoslovakia in 1962, of many players. After the end of Decker era, the team was unable for a time to connect to the old successes
36.
Roy Hodgson
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Roy Hodgson is an English football manager and former player. Hodgson has managed sixteen different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad BK in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup and qualification for Euro 1996, Switzerland had not qualified for a major tournament since the 1960s. Other clubs that Hodgson has managed include Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Malmö FF, Grasshoppers, FC Copenhagen, Udinese, Fulham, Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion. Hodgson served several times as a member of UEFAs technical study group at the European Championships and was also a member of the FIFA technical study group at the 2006 World Cup. Hodgson speaks five languages and has worked as a pundit in several of the countries in which he has coached. On 1 May 2012, Hodgson was appointed as manager of the England national team and he resigned on 27 June 2016 after England were knocked out by Iceland in the Round of 16 of Euro 2016. Hodgson was born in Croydon, Surrey and his mother was a baker in the town and his father, who was an Everton fan, originally from Walton, Liverpool, worked in a chemical factory. Hodgsons family lived in the building as Steve Kember, one of Hodgsons schoolmates at John Ruskin Grammar School. The two played on the football team, a side which also included Lennie Lawrence. Bob Houghton, who would go on to play a prominent part in Hodgsons career, Hodgson was a moderately successful youth player with Crystal Palace, but was never able to break into the first team. After leaving Crystal Palace he played football for several years with Tonbridge Angels. At the age of 23, he completed training to become a qualified coach. He then joined Maidstone United, where he played and also served as assistant manager to Bob Houghton, in 1972, after a year at Maidstone, he moved to Ashford Town, while also working as a P. E. teacher at Alleyns School in south London. The following year, he moved to Pretoria, South Africa to play for Berea Park, in 1974 Hodgson returned to England for his final playing spell, joining Carshalton Athletic. Again he supported himself by teaching, this time at Monks Hill Comprehensive. later renamed to The Quest Academy, Hodgson started his managerial career in 1976 at Allsvenskan side Halmstads BK, having been recommended by then-Malmö FF manager Bob Houghton. Hodgson spent five years at Halmstad, winning the championship in 1976 and 1979. His success with Halmstad in 1976 is considered one of the biggest surprises of all time in Swedish football, the year before, Halmstad had struggled against relegation, surviving only on goal difference and before the 1976 campaign began they were almost universally tipped for relegation
37.
Kosovo national football team
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The Kosovo national football team represents Kosovo in international mens football. It is controlled by the Football Federation of Kosovo, the body for football in Kosovo. They have been a member of UEFA and FIFA since May 2016, the team is coached by Albert Bunjaki, who took charge in July 2009. The squads of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia at international competitions often included players from Kosovo, such as Fadil Vokrri, three football players were part of the Yugoslavia team that won the gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics and silver medal at the 1960 European Championship. The unofficial national team of Kosovo was formed following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, most of these friendly matches were played against club teams, although a number were played against national teams of other countries. On 6 May 2008, after the declaration of independence from Serbia, FIFA reverted that decision on 22 May 2012, stating that Kosovo may play other countries in international friendlies according to Article 79 of the FIFA Statutes. In a meeting held in May 2012, FIFA decided to allow matches to be played. Some players, especially Kosovo Serbs, continued to play for the Serbia national football team, a new meeting was planned to be held at FIFA on 27 and 28 September in which the Kosovo issue was again planned to be discussed, which was then postponed until December. In February 2013, FIFA announced that they would allow Kosovo to play against other nations in non-official competitions providing that they did not display national symbols, even club teams would be allowed to play friendlies after a FIFA Emergency Committee meeting. However, it was stipulated that clubs and representative teams of the may not display national symbols or play national anthems, the go-ahead was given after meetings between the Serbian Football Association and Blatter. Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi welcomed the decision and expressed his hope that the country would be a member of FIFA and UEFA in the near future. Following FIFAs ruling, it was announced that Kosovos first officially sanctioned international match would be against Haiti on 5 March in Mitrovica, in March 2015 Michel Platini, UEFAs president, declared that Kosovo will be likely accepted in UEFA in 2016. At the Ordinary Congress on 3 May 2016, Kosovo were accepted into UEFA after members voted 28–24 in favor of Kosovo, on 13 May 2016 Kosovo was accepted in FIFA during their 66th congress in Mexico with 141 votes in favour and 23 against. The association joined Gibraltar as the 210th and 211th members of FIFA, Kosovo has played a number of unofficial international friendlies. The first one was against Albania on 14 February 1993, lost 1–3, one of the most important international matches was a 1–0 win over Saudi Arabia, played in Ankara, Turkey, on 15 June 2007. It was the first time that Kosovo played a team that has part in the FIFA World Cup. The biggest win for Kosovo is the 7–1 defeat of Monaco, however, I want to emphasize that our players have been fantastic. The fact that we do not play international matches may have inspired the players to give it their all this time
38.
Argentina national football team
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The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentinas home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires, la Selección, also known as the Albicelestes, has appeared in five World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which they lost 4–2 to Uruguay. Argentina won in their final appearance in 1978, beating the Netherlands at extra time. Argentina, led by Diego Maradona won again in 1986, a 3–2 victory over West Germany and they again made the World Cup finals in 1990, and lost 1–0 to West Germany following a controversial penalty call in the 87th minute. Argentina made their appearance in a World Cup final in 2014, again losing to Germany. Argentinas World Cup winning managers are César Luis Menotti in 1978, Argentina has been very successful in the Copa América, winning it 14 times and also winning the extra South American Championships in 1941,1945 and 1946. The team also won the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992, and the Argentine olympic team won the Olympics football tournaments in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Argentina, Brazil and France are the national teams that have won the three most important mens titles recognized by FIFA, the World Cup, the Confederations Cup. They have also won their continental championship. Argentina is known for having rivalries with Brazil, Uruguay, England, the first match ever recorded by Argentina was against Uruguay. The game was held in Montevideo on 16 May 1901 and Argentina won 3–2, during the first years of its existence, the Argentina national team only played friendly matches against other South American teams. The reasons for this varied, including long travel times between countries and World War I, la Selección, also known as the Albicelestes, has appeared in five World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which they lost, 4–2, to Uruguay. Argentina won in their final in 1978, beating the Netherlands. Argentina, led by Diego Maradona won again in 1986, a 3–2 victory over West Germany and their most recent World Cup final was in 2014, which they lost 1–0 to Germany. Previous to this their last World Cup final was in 1990, argentinas World Cup winning managers are César Luis Menotti in 1978, and Carlos Bilardo in 1986. Argentina has been successful in the Copa América, winning it 14 times. The team also won the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992, and an Argentina team won the Olympics football tournaments in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Argentina also won six of the 14 football competitions at the Pan American Games, in March 2007, Argentina reached the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time
39.
Nigeria national football team
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The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in international association football and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Federation. They are three time African Champions, with their recent title in 2013, defeating Burkina Faso in the final, during April 1994, the Super Eagles ranked 5th in the FIFA World Rankings, the highest FIFA ranking ever achieved by an African football team. They have qualified for five of the last six FIFA World Cups, missing only the 2006 FIFA World Cup hosted in Germany and their first World Cup appearance was the USA94 World Cup hosted in the United States. After playing other colonies in unofficial games since the 1930s, Nigeria played its first official game in October 1949, the team played warm-up games in England against various amateur teams including Dulwich Hamlet, Bishop Auckland and South Liverpool. The teams first major success was a medal in the 2nd All-Africa games. In 1980, with such as John Chiedozie and Tunji Banjo of Leyton Orient. Nigeria won the football event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, beating Mexico, Brazil. They were runners-up in the event in Beijing, losing to Argentina in a rematch of the 1996 event. In 1984 and 1988, Nigeria reached the Cup of Nations final, three of the four African titles won by Cameroon have been won by defeating Nigeria. Missing out to Cameroon on many occasions has created a rivalry between both nations. Nigerias national team image has undergone much evolution throughout its history, prior to independence, they were called the Red Devils due to their red topped kits. The name was changed to the Green Eagles after independence in reference to their colors as well as the eagle which adorns the countrys state flag, today, only the senior mens national team uses the nickname. The Womens national team are called the Super Falcons, and Nigerias underage teams are nicknamed the Flying Eagles, many important and long running strings of important matches have been played against various nations who could be considered occasional rivals. Of these nations, Ghana is widely considered to be Nigerias primary rival as the two sides have met one more than any other opponent. The overall record is dominated by Ghana though Nigeria has enjoyed periods of success, the most notable of these periods are at the earliest points of the rivalry in the 1950s, and the early 2000s. FIFA lists the first official match between the two as a World Cup qualifier match which took place in 1960, however both national teams had already engaged in numerous domestic friendlies and tournaments between themselves and other nations dating back to 1950. The national teams of these two West African countries were formed while both were still protectorates of the British Empire, the two sides played for several rivalry and tournament cups during this early period in which full international competition was barred to them. Nigerias direct neighbors to the east, Cameroon, have played Nigeria a number of times over the years, the teams have played three times in the African Cup of Nations Finals with Cameroon winning all three meetings
(7 June 2018)
1 (11 July 2018)
Faroe Islands 0–1 Iceland 
Iceland 0–3 Denmark 
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Nigeria
Croatia
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Hungary
Kosovo
90'
Norway
Ghana
Larissa
Maccabi Tel Aviv
