1.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
2.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
3.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
4.
R.S.C. Anderlecht
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Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, usually known as Anderlecht or RSCA, is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. They have also won nine Belgian Cups and hold the record for most consecutive Belgian championship titles, founded in 1908, the club first reached the highest level in Belgian football in 1921–22 and have been playing in the first division continuously since 1935–36. They won their first major trophy after World War II with a win in 1946–47. Since then, they have never finished outside the top six of the Belgian first division and they are ranked 12th amongst all-time UEFA club competition winners, tenth in the IFFHS continental Clubs of the 20th Century European ranking and were 41st in the 2012 UEFA team rankings. In 1986, they achieved their best UEFA ranking with a joint first place with Juventus Anderlecht have been playing their matches in the Astrid Park in the municipality of Anderlecht since 1917. Their current stadium, Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, was first opened in 1983 and they play in purple and white outfits. They have long-standing rivalries with Club Brugge and Standard Liège and previously with FC Brussels, founded as Sporting Club Anderlechtois on 27 May 1908 by a dozen football lovers at the Concordia café, the club beat Institut Saint-Georges in their first match by 11–8. They joined the competition in 1909–10, starting at the lowest level in the Belgian football league system. In 1912–13, they gained promotion to the level of football. After only one season at level, the championships were suspended due to World War I. With the popularity of the increasing, Anderlecht had moved to a new stadium in the Astrid Park in 1917. They baptized the stadium Stade Emile Versé in honor of the clubs first major patron, at the end of the 1920–21 season, Anderlecht were promoted to the first division for the first time in their history. In 1933,25 years after their formation, the changed their name to Royal Sporting Club Anderlechtois. Since their promotion in 1935, Anderlecht has remained at the top level of football, with Jef Mermans, a striker signed from K Tubantia FC in 1942 for a record fee of 125,000 Belgian francs, Anderlecht won their first league title in 1947. Their success increased in the years as they won six more titles between 1949–50 and 1955–56 and two more in 1958–59 and 1961–62. In the 1960s, under the coaching of Pierre Sinibaldi and then of Andreas Beres, the club won five titles in a row. The star of this team was Paul Van Himst, Anderlecht played in the first European Champion Clubs Cup in 1955–56, and lost both legs of their tie against Vörös Lobogo. They had to wait until the 1962–63 season to win their first European tie, with a 1–0 victory over Real Madrid, for the first time, they advanced to the second round, where they beat CSKA Sofia before losing to Dundee in the quarter-finals
5.
Dundee F.C.
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Dundee Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland. Founded in 1893, they are nicknamed The Dark Blues or The Dees, the club plays its home matches at Dens Park. Dundee have also won the Scottish Cup once in 1910 and the Scottish League Cup three times. Dundee F. C. was formed in 1893 by the merger of two clubs, East End and Our Boys, with the intention of gaining election to the Scottish Football League. Their application was successful and they played their first League game on 12 August 1893 at West Craigie Park, Dundee struggled during the first 10 years of their existence. Their best league position was fifth which they achieved in seasons 1895–96 and they also reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup in 1894–95 and 1897–98, losing to Renton and Kilmarnock respectively. On 26 October 1895 Dundee lost a game by a record score of 0–11 to Celtic in Glasgow. On 1 January 1894 Dundee defeated Newton Heath 2–1 at their then Carolina Port ground in Dundee, Carolina Port also hosted the first international football match held in Dundee on 21 March 1896 when Scotland defeated Wales 4–0. Dundees goalkeeper Frank Barrett, midfielder Sandy Keillor and inside-forward Bill Thomson were all capped for Scotland during this period of the clubs history. Things began to improve for Dundee with the beginning of the new century, in 1899 they moved from Carolina Port to their present ground of Dens Park. In season 1902–03 they finished runners-up in the championship to Hibernian. Dundee were also league runners-up in 1906–07 and 1908–09 finishing behind Celtic on both occasions, in 1908–09 by just 1 point, in the 10 seasons from 1902–03 Dundee lost just 16 league games at Dens Park out of 154 played and were unbeaten at home during season 1909–10. Although ultimate success eluded Dundee in the league the club achieved success in the Scottish Cup, in season 1909–10 Dundee won their first trophy by defeating Clyde in the Scottish Cup Final. The winning goal in the replay was scored by John Sailor Hunter. In season 1910–11 Dundee defeated Rangers 2–1 at Dens Park in the Scottish Cup quarter-final, in 1919 league football recommenced and good home form once again propelled Dundee up the league. They finished 4th in seasons 1919–20, 1920–21 and 1921–22, and were unbeaten at home during season 1921–22, however, they could not make the breakthrough to win the league championship. Dave Halliday had played on the left for his previous clubs, his hometown side Queen of the South, Halliday went then to Dundee in 1921 with the celebrated Alec Troup already playing on the left wing. With Halliday Dundee reached the 1924–25 Scottish Cup final eliminating the holders en route, Halliday scored 103 goals in 147 league and cup appearances for the Dees
6.
Belgium national football team
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The Belgian national football team has officially represented Belgium in association football since their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in Europe by UEFA—both of which were co-founded by the Belgian teams supervising body. Periods of regular Belgian representation at the highest international level, from 1920 to 1938, most of Belgiums home games are played at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. Belgiums national team has participated in three major football competitions. Other notable performances are victories over four reigning world champions—West Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium has long-standing football rivalries with its Dutch and French counterparts, having played both teams nearly every year from 1905 to 1967. The squad has been known as the Red Devils since 1906, during the national player career of forward Paul Van Himst, the most-praised Belgian footballer of the 20th century, Belgium took third place at Euro 1972. After that, they experienced two golden ages with many gifted players, in the first period, which lasted from the 1980s to the early 1990s, the team finished as runners-up at Euro 1980 and fourth in the 1986 World Cup. In the second, under guidance of Marc Wilmots in the 2010s, between September 2016 and October 2017, they are competing in the European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. Belgium was one of the first mainland European countries to play association football and its practice in Belgium began on 26 October 1863, after an Irish student walked into the Josephites College of Melle with a leather ball. Initially an elitist pastime, during the following decades association football supplanted rugby as Belgiums most popular football sport, on 11 October 1900, Beerschot AC honorary president Jorge Díaz announced that Antwerp would host a series of challenge matches between Europes best football teams. After some organisational problems, on 28 April 1901, Beerschots pitch hosted its first tournament, in which a Belgian A-squad, Belgium won, and beat the Netherlands in all three follow-up games, FIFA does not recognise these results because Belgium fielded some English players. On 1 May 1904, the Belgians played their first official game, against France at the Stade du Vivier dOie in Uccle, twenty days later, the football boards of both countries were among the seven FIFA founders. At that time, the Belgian squad was chosen by a committee drawn from the six or seven major clubs. From 1912, UBSSA governed football only and was renamed UBSFA, during the Great War, the national team only played unrecognised friendlies, with games in and against France. This triumph led them to a high second place in the World Football Elo Ratings. In the three 1920s Summer Olympics, they achieved results, and played their first intercontinental match. Over the following decade, however, Belgium lost all of their matches at the first three FIFA World Cup final tournaments, according to historian Richard Henshaw, The growth of in Scandinavia, Central Europe, and South America left Belgium far behind. Although World War II hindered international football events in the 1940s, Belgium qualified for only one of eight major tournaments during the 1950s and the 1960s, the 1954 World Cup
7.
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise
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The club is one of the most successful in the history of Belgian football, but currently plays in the second division. The club won eleven Belgian championships between 1904 and 1935, making it the most successful Belgian club before World War II, the team colours are blue and yellow and its matricule is the n°10. The club was founded in 1897 and obtained its first of eleven titles as Champion of Belgium in 1904, from 1933 to 1935 the team played 60 consecutive matches undefeated, setting a still unbeaten record in Belgium. In the early 1900s the club also had a dominant spell in some of the very first European Cup competitions that took place, prior to officially sanctioned UEFA competitions. Between 1958 and 1965 the club had a spell of European success, playing the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In 1963, however, the club was relegated to the second division, note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality, head Coach Marc Grosjean Assistant Coach Grégory Vanmelkebeke Goalkeeper Coach Florent Delstanche Kiné Ali Errachidi Nick Parijs Christophe Goumotsios Official website
8.
Belgium national rugby union team
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The Belgium national rugby union team represents Belgium in international rugby competitions. Rugby union in Belgium is administered by the Belgian Rugby Federation, Belgium have been ranked in the Top 30 since 2010. Belgium have yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, Belgium participates in the European Nations Cup. The Belgium rugby team played their first match on 13 March 1932 against the Netherlands and they contested annual games against the Netherlands for half a decade starting in 1932. They drew the 1932 game, but lost subsequent matches during the 1930s and they also played Italy and Germany in 1937, losing both games. During the 1950s, Belgium continued playing the Netherlands, as well as teams like Spain and they managed to obtain a draw in the 1960s against Portugal. In the 1970s they won the majority of their games, as well as playing a range of European nations. This trend continued throughout the 1980s, Belgium had a six-game winning streak in the late 1980s. They began playing games against their regular European opponents as they entered the 1990s. A Belgium side played the Argentina national rugby union prior to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. A Belgium XV played the Barbarians on 24 May 2008, since their induction to the first 30 rugby nations in the international ranking, they have managed to maintain their place. Belgium had a successful campaign during the 2010-2012 European Nations Cup. They gained promotion to the ENC 1A for the 2012-14 competition, where they play against sides such as Spain, Portugal, jacques Rogge, the current International Olympic Committee president, was a member of the Belgium national team. 1987 - Not invited 1991 - Did not qualify 1995 - Did not qualify 1999 - Did not qualify 2003 - Did not qualify, finished last in 2001 Round 2 Pool B.2007 - Did not qualify. Finished second behind Germany in 2005-06 Round 3A, finished second behind Ukraine in 2008-2010 ENC 2A. 2016-2017 Rugby union in Belgium http, //www. rugbyevents. be Belgian Rugby Federation Belgium XV Official Games Belgium on rugbydata. com
9.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
10.
Dutch language
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It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official name for Dutch is Nederlands, and its dialects have their own names, e. g. Hollands, West-Vlaams. The use of the word Vlaams to describe Standard Dutch for the variations prevalent in Flanders and used there, however, is common in the Netherlands, the Dutch language has been known under a variety of names. It derived from the Old Germanic word theudisk, one of the first names used for the non-Romance languages of Western Europe. It literarily means the language of the people, that is. The term was used as opposed to Latin, the language of writing. In the first text in which it is found, dating from 784, later, theudisca appeared also in the Oaths of Strasbourg to refer to the Germanic portion of the oath. This led inevitably to confusion since similar terms referred to different languages, owing to Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English term came to refer exclusively to the Dutch. A notable exception is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a West Central German variety called Deitsch by its speakers, Jersey Dutch, on the other hand, as spoken until the 1950s in New Jersey, is a Dutch-based creole. In Dutch itself, Diets went out of common use - although Platdiets is still used for the transitional Limburgish-Ripuarian Low Dietsch dialects in northeast Belgium, Nederlands, the official Dutch word for Dutch, did not become firmly established until the 19th century. This designation had been in use as far back as the end of the 15th century, one of them was it reflected a distinction with Hoogduits, High Dutch, meaning the language spoken in Germany. The Hoog was later dropped, and thus, Duits narrowed down in meaning to refer to the German language. g, in English, too, Netherlandic is regarded as a more accurate term for the Dutch language, but is hardly ever used. Old Dutch branched off more or less around the same time Old English, Old High German, Old Frisian and Old Saxon did. During that period, it forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, on the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in nowadays France and Germany. The division in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, one of the few moments linguists can detect somewhat of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age, the Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups, East, West, and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots, Frisian, Low German and High German
11.
Leopold III of Belgium
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Leopold III reigned as King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of the heir apparent, his son Baudouin. From 1944 until 1950, Leopolds brother, Charles, served as regent while Leopold was declared unable to rule. In 1950, the debate about whether Leopold could resume his royal functions provoked a crisis known as the Royal Question. Leopold was born in Brussels and succeeded to the throne of Belgium on 23 February 1934 following the death of his father, King Albert I. He was invested as Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1923, Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword in 1927, Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, was sent by his father to Eton College in the United Kingdom in 1915. After the war, in 1919, the Duke visited the Old Mission and Saint Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara and he married Princess Astrid of Sweden in a civil ceremony in Stockholm on 4 November 1926, followed by a religious ceremony in Brussels on 10 November. The marriage produced three children, Joséphine-Charlotte, Princess of Belgium, born at the Royal Palace of Brussels on 11 October 1927 and she was married on 9 April 1953 to Prince Jean, later Grand-Duke of Luxembourg. She died at Fischbach Castle on 10 January 2005, Albert, Prince of Liège, Prince of Belgium, who became the sixth King of the Belgians as Albert II, born at Stuyvenberg on 6 June 1934. Leopold married Lilian Baels on 11 September 1941 in a secret, religious ceremony, with no validity under Belgian law. They originally intended to wait until the end of the war for the marriage, but as the new Princesse de Réthy was soon expecting their first child. They had three children in total, Alexandre, Prince of Belgium, born in Brussels on 18 July 1942, in 1991, he married Lea Inga Dora Wohlman, a marriage revealed only seven years later. He died on 29 November 2009, marie-Christine, Princess of Belgium, born in Brussels on 6 February 1951. Her first marriage, to Paul Drucker in 1981, lasted 40 days, marie-Esméralda, Princess of Belgium, born in Brussels on 30 September 1956, a journalist, her professional name is Esmeralda de Réthy. She married Salvador Moncada, a noted pharmacologist, in 1998 and they have a son and a daughter. When World War II broke out in September 1939, the French, Leopold and his government refused, maintaining Belgiums neutrality. On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht invaded Belgium, after a short running battle that eventually involved the armies of all four belligerents, Belgium was overwhelmed by the numerically superior and better-prepared Germans. Nevertheless, the Belgian perseverance prevented the British Expeditionary Force from being outflanked and cut off from the coast, after his military surrender, Leopold remained in Brussels to surrender to the victorious invaders, while his entire civil government fled to Paris and later to London. On 24 May 1940, Leopold, having assumed command of the Belgian Army, the ministers urged the king to leave the country with the government
12.
City of Brussels
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The City of Brussels is the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region, and the de jure capital of Belgium. The City of Brussels covers most of the Regions centre, as well as northern outskirts where it borders municipalities in Flanders and it is the administrative centre of the European Union. On 1 January 2016, the City of Brussels had a population of 178,552. The total area is 32.61 km2 which gives a density of 5,475 inhabitants per square kilometre. As of 2007, there were approximately 50,000 registered non-Belgians in the City of Brussels, at first, the City of Brussels was simply defined, being the area within the second walls of Brussels, the modern-day small ring. As the city grew, the villages grew as well, eventually growing into a contiguous city. The construction of Avenue Louise was commissioned in 1847 as an avenue bordered by chestnut trees that would allow easy access to the popular recreational area of the Bois de la Cambre. However, fierce resistance to the project was put up by the town of Ixelles through whose land the avenue was supposed to run. After years of negotiations, Brussels finally annexed the narrow band of land needed for the avenue plus the Bois de la Cambre itself in 1864. That decision accounts for the unusual southeastern protrusion of the City of Brussels, the Université Libre de Bruxelles Solbosch campus is also part of the City of Brussels, partially accounting for the bulge in the southeast end. Unlike most of the municipalities in Belgium, the ones located in the Brussels-Capital Region were not merged with others during mergers occurring in 1964,1970, however, a few neighbouring municipalities have been merged into the City of Brussels, including Haren, Laken and Neder-Over-Heembeek in 1921. These comprise the northern bulge in the municipality, to the south-east is also a strip of land along Avenue Louise that was annexed from the Ixelles municipality
13.
Brussels International Exposition (1935)
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The Brussels International Exposition of 1935 a Universal exhibition held in Heysel, near Brussels in Belgium, between 27 April and 6 November 1935. Officially sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions, twenty-five countries officially participated, the theme was colonization, on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Congo Free State. The expo attracted some twenty million visitors, the Belgian art exposition prominently displayed the work of contemporary Belgian artists, including Paul Delvaux, René Magritte and Louis Van Lint, boosting their careers. The Palais des Expositions, and at least three other of the 1935 structures, were re-used for Expo 58 which was held at the site in 1958
14.
UEFA Champions League
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The UEFA Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations and contested by top-division European clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, the UEFA Champions League final is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. The final of the 2012–13 tournament had the highest TV ratings to date, the pre-1992 competition was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s, the format was expanded, incorporating a round-robin group stage to include clubs that finished runner-up of some nations top-level league. Clubs that finish next-in-line in each top level league, having not qualified for the UEFA Champions League competition. In its present format, the UEFA Champions League begins in mid-July with three qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams enter the stage, joining 22 other teams qualified in advance. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams, the eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match in May. The winner of the UEFA Champions League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup, Real Madrid is the most successful club in the competitions history, having won the tournament 11 times, including its first five seasons. Spanish clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories, followed by England, the competition has been won by 22 different clubs,12 of which have won it more than once. Since the tournament changed name and structure in 1992, no club has managed consecutive wins, Milan were the last holders to defend their title. The reigning champions are Real Madrid, who secured their title in the competition after defeating Atlético Madrid on penalties following a 1–1 draw in the 2016 final. The first pan-European tournament was the Challenge Cup, a competition between clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Mitropa Cup, a competition modelled after the Challenge Cup, was created in 1927, an idea of Austrian Hugo Meisl, and played between Central European clubs. In 1930, the Coupe des Nations, the first attempt to create a cup for national clubs of Europe, was played and organised by Swiss club Servette. Held in Geneva, it brought together ten champions from across the continent, the tournament was won by Újpest of Hungary. Latin European nations came together to form the Latin Cup in 1949 and it was conceived in Paris in 1955 as the European Champion Clubs Cup. The first edition of the European Cup took place during the 1955–56 season, the first European Cup match took place on 4 September 1955, and ended in a 3–3 draw between Sporting CP and Partizan. The first goal in European Cup history was scored by João Baptista Martins of Sporting CP, the inaugural final took place at the Parc des Princes between Stade de Reims and Real Madrid
15.
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
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The UEFA Cup Winners Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA, the first competition was held in the 1960–61 season — but not recognised by the governing body of European football until two years later. The final tournament was held in 1998–99, after which it was absorbed into the UEFA Cup, in the 1985–86 season, English clubs were banned from European competition. Consequently, Manchester United, Everton, Coventry City, Wimbledon, from 1972 onwards, the winner of the tournament progressed to play the winner of the European Cup in the UEFA Super Cup. Since the abolition of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, the UEFA Super Cup place previously reserved for the Cup Winners Cup winner has been taken by the winner of the UEFA Cup, now UEFA Europa League. The competitions official name was originally the European Cup Winners Cup, in common with other UEFA club tournaments, the away goal applied when aggregate scores was parity. Following the influx of new UEFA member nations during the 1990s, however, if this team also qualified for the European Champions Cup then they would default on their place in the Cup Winners Cup and no other team would replace them. In 1998–99, the final year, Heerenveen of the Netherlands entered the Cup Winners Cup despite only reaching the semi-final of the previous seasons Dutch Cup. This was due to both Dutch Cup finalists Ajax and PSV Eindhoven qualifying for the recently expanded Champions League. The European Cup had proven to be a success and the Fairs Cup had also proven popular – as a result. One proposal was for a tournament based upon the format of the European Cup, but with national cup winners rather than league champions taking part, the inaugural Cup Winners Cup was held in the 1960–61 season and was basically a semi-official pilot tournament. It was essentially only in England, Scotland and to a lesser extent Germany, for the tournaments second season in 1961–62, UEFA took over the running of all aspects of the competition and this time all the clubs eligible to enter accepted the opportunity. By 1968, all UEFA member nations had set up domestic cup competitions due to the success of the Cup Winners Cup, UEFA regarded it as the second most prestigious competition, behind the European Cup and ahead of the Fairs Cup. Nevertheless, many commentators and fans regarded the Cup Winners Cup as weaker than the UEFA Cup, no club managed to retain the Cup Winners Cup, although eight times a winning side followed up their victories with a losing appearance in the following seasons final. After the establishment of the UEFA Champions League in the early 1990s, with the expansion of the Champions League in 1997 to allow more than one team from the highest-ranked member associations to enter, the Cup Winners Cup began to look noticeably inferior. Since then, domestic cup winners who do not otherwise qualify for the Champions League are given a place in the Europa League, the Cup Winners Cup trophy itself is a property of UEFA and it is not assigned to any club. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation UEFA website
16.
Heysel Stadium disaster
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39 people—mostly Italians and Juventus fans—were killed and 600 were injured in the confrontation. Approximately an hour before the Juventus-Liverpool final was due to kick off, Liverpool supporters charged at Juventus fans and this came after a period of hostility between the two sets of fans which saw missiles thrown from both teams supporters. The instigators of violence are still unknown, with varying accounts, Juventus fans ran back on the terraces and away from the threat into a concrete retaining wall. Fans already standing near the wall were crushed, eventually the wall collapsed, many people climbed over to safety, but many others died or were badly injured. The game was played despite the disaster, with Juventus winning 1–0, the disaster was later described as the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions. In May 1985, Liverpool were the defending European Champions Cup winners, again they would face Italian opposition, Juventus, who had won, unbeaten, the 1983–84 Cup Winners Cup. Both teams were placed in the two first positions in the UEFA club ranking at the end of the last season and were regarded by the press as the best two sides in the continent at the time. Both teams had contested the 1984 European Super Cup five months before, despite its status as Belgiums national stadium, Heysel was in a poor state of repair by the time of the 1985 European Final. The 55-year-old stadium had not been maintained for several years. For example, the wall had been made of cinder block. They were also surprised that Heysel was chosen despite its condition, especially since Barcelonas Camp Nou. However, UEFA refused to consider a move, the stadium was crammed with 58, 000–60,000 supporters, with more than 25,000 for each team. The two ends behind the goals comprised all-standing terraces, each end split into three zones, the Juventus end was O, N and M and the Liverpool end was X, Y and Z as deemed by the Belgian court after the disaster. However, the tickets for the Z section were reserved for neutral Belgian fans in addition to the rest of the stadium and this meant the Juventus fans had more sections than the Liverpool fans with the Z section occupied by neutrals which is thought to have heightened prematch tensions. At the time Brussels, like the rest of Belgium, already had a large Italian community, added to this, many tickets were bought up and sold by travel agents, mainly to Juventus fans. A small percentage of the tickets ended up in the hands of Liverpool fans, at approximately 7 p. m. local time, an hour before kick-off, the trouble started. The Liverpool and Juventus supporters in sections X and Z stood merely yards apart, the boundary between the two was marked by temporary chain link fencing and a central thinly policed no-mans land. Fans began to throw stones across the divide, which they were able to pick up from the crumbling terraces beneath them, as kick-off approached, the throwing became more intense
17.
National stadium
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Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a countrys national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to a football stadium. Usually, a stadium will be in or very near a countrys capital city or largest city. It is generally the countrys largest and most lavish sports venue with a history of hosting a major moment in sports. In many, but not all cases, it is used by a local team. Many countries, including Spain and the United States, do not have a national stadium designated as such, Stadium Australia, currently known under a sponsorship deal as ANZ Stadium, the 2000 Sydney Olympic Stadium with a capacity of 84,000. There exists a popular rivalry between ANZ Stadium and the MCG due to lasting rivalries between football codes and the respective cities, there was an implied claim to being the new national stadium when it opened in 1999 with the name Stadium Australia. Cricket is no longer played at the venue, while Australian rules will not be played there beyond 2016, large sports events are commonly held in alternate venues. The second largest and most well known stadium in Brazil is Estádio do Maracanã located at Rio de Janeiro, the national team plays at several venues throughout the country. Likewise, Canadian football and lacrosse, two prominent sports unique to Canadian culture, play at venues across the nation. Prior to confederation into Canada, the Dominion of Newfoundland used King George V Park as its national stadium, Estádio da Várzea Stade Barthélemy Boganda Stade Idriss Mahamat Ouya Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pradanos Beijing National Stadium Chinese football national team does not have a national stadium. The team plays games in Beijing Workers Stadium, Shanghai Hongkou Stadium, Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, Stade Omar Bongo Independence Stadium Boris Paichadze Stadium The German national football team usually plays at different stadiums throughout the country. See the Northern Ireland section for other cases, teddy Stadium Sammy Ofer Stadium Nokia Arena Canada Stadium The Italian national football team usually plays at different stadiums throughout the country. Stadio Olimpico In the case of union, the national team plays matches throughout the country. Previously, Stadio Flaminio served the same purpose, darius and S. Mexicos national baseball and basketball teams play at various venues throughout the country. Zimbru Stadium Stade Louis II Podgorica City Stadium Marrakesh Stadium Hage Geingob Stadium Olympisch Stadion The national football team has no dedicated stadium and it plays at venues around the country. However the most commonly used stadium is the Amsterdam ArenA in Amsterdam, Stadion Narodowy - home stadium of Poland national football team. National Rugby Stadium, rugby union national stadium Estádio do Jamor, however, the national football team very seldom plays there
18.
1985 European Cup Final
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The 1985 European Cup Final was a football match between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy on 29 May 1985 at the Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Belgium. It was the match of the 1984–85 season of the European Cup. Liverpool were the champions and were appearing in their fifth final. Juventus were appearing in their third European Cup final, they had lost their two appearances in 1973 and 1983. Each club needed to progress through four rounds to reach the final, matches were contested over two legs, with a match at each teams home ground. All but one of Juventus matches were won by two goals or more, in the semi-finals, they beat French team Bordeaux 3–2 on aggregate. Liverpool also won the majority of their matches by more than two goals, except in the round when they beat Portuguese team Benfica 3–2 on aggregate. The match is remembered for the disaster that occurred before the kick-off. Liverpool fans breached a fence separating the two groups of supporters and charged the Juventus fans, the resulting weight of people caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 people and injuring hundreds. Despite calls for an abandonment, the match went ahead because it was felt that further trouble would otherwise occur, the disaster prompted UEFA to ban English clubs from European football for five years. Watched by a crowd of 59,000, the first half was goalless, the score remained the same throughout the remainder of the match and Juventus won 1–0, achieving their first European Cup win. Juventus gained entry to the competition by winning the 1983–84 Serie A and their opponents in the first round were Ilves of Finland. The first leg in Finland was held at the Ratina Stadion was won 4–0 by Juventus with a hat-trick by Paolo Rossi and they won the second leg 2–1 at their home ground, Stadio Comunale, to win the tie 6–1 on aggregate. In the second round, Juventus were drawn against Swiss team Grasshopper, Juventus won the first leg 2–0 in Italy, and achieved a 4–2 victory in the second leg in Switzerland, which meant that they won the tie 6–2 on aggregate. Juventus opponents in the quarter-finals were Sparta Prague of Czechoslovakia, goals from Marco Tardelli, Paolo Rossi and Massimo Briaschi ensured a 3–0 victory for Juventus in the first leg in Italy. They lost the leg at Spartas home ground, Letná stadium 1–0. In the semi-finals, Juventus played French team Bordeaux and won the first leg 3–0 in Italy with goals from Zbigniew Boniek, Briaschi, the second leg was held at Bordeauxs home ground, the Stade Chaban-Delmas. Despite winning the match 2–0, Bordeaux lost 3–2 on aggregate, Liverpool were the reigning European champions, they defeated Roma to win the 1983–84 European Cup, and were also the reigning English champions, having won the English league during the same season
19.
Concrete masonry unit
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A concrete masonry unit is a standard size rectangular block used in building construction. Those that use cinders are called cinder blocks in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand, breeze blocks in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and hollow blocks in the Philippines. In Australia they are known as Besser blocks or besser bricks. Clinker blocks use clinker as aggregate, in non-technical usage, the terms cinder block and breeze block are often generalized to cover all of these varieties. Concrete blocks are made from cast concrete, lower density blocks may use industrial wastes, such as fly ash or bottom ash, as an aggregate. Lightweight blocks can also be produced using autoclaved aerated concrete, Concrete blocks may be produced with hollow centers to reduce weight or improve insulation. The use of blockwork allows structures to be built in the masonry style with layers of staggered blocks. In the US, the most common size is 16 in ×8 in ×8 in. In Ireland and the UK, blocks are usually 440 mm ×215 mm ×100 mm excluding mortar joints, in New Zealand and Canada, blocks are usually 390 mm ×190 mm ×190 mm excluding mortar joints. Block cores are typically tapered so that the top surface of the block has a surface on which to spread a mortar bed. Most CMUs have two cores, but three- and four-core units are also produced, a core also allows for the insertion of steel reinforcement, tying individual blocks together in the assembly, with the goal of greatly increased strength. To hold the reinforcement in proper position and to bond the block to the reinforcement, reinforcement is primarily used to impart greater tensile strength to the assembly, improving its ability to resist lateral forces such as wind load and seismic forces. A variety of specialized shapes exist to allow special construction features, u-shaped blocks or knockout blocks with notches to allow the construction of bond beams or lintel assemblies, using horizontal reinforcing grouted into place in the cavity. Blocks with a channel on the end, known as jamb blocks, blocks with grooved ends permit the construction of control joints, allowing a filler material to be anchored between the un-mortared block ends. Other features, such as radiused corners known as bullnoses may be incorporated, a wide variety of decorative profiles also exist. Concrete masonry units may be formulated with special aggregates to produce specific colors or textures for finish use, special textures may be produced by splitting a ribbed or solid two-block unit, such factory-produced units are called split-rib or split-face blocks. Blocks may be scored by grooves the width of a joint to simulate different block modules. For example, an 8-by-16-inch block may be scored in the middle to simulate 8-by-8-inch masonry, with the grooves filled with mortar, American suburban houses typically employ a concrete foundation vibrant and slab with a concrete block wall on the perimeter
20.
Track and field
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Track and field is a sport which includes athletic contests established on the skills of running, jumping, and throwing. The name is derived from the sports venue, a stadium with an oval running track enclosing a grass field where the throwing and jumping events take place. Track and field is categorised under the sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running. The foot racing events, which include sprints, middle- and long-distance events, the jumping and throwing events are won by the athlete who achieves the greatest distance or height. Regular jumping events include long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault, while the most common throwing events are shot put, javelin, discus and hammer. There are also combined events or multi events, such as the pentathlon consisting of five events, heptathlon consisting of seven events, in these, athletes participate in a combination of track and field events. Most track and field events are individual sports with a victor, the most prominent team events are relay races. Events are almost exclusively divided by gender, although both the mens and womens competitions are held at the same venue. It is one of the oldest sports, in ancient times, it was an event held in conjunction with festivals and sports meets such as the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece. The ancient Olympic Games began in the year 776 BC, when Koroibos, a cook from the city of Elis, won the stadium race. According to some traditions, this was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic festivals. In modern times, the two most prestigious track and field competitions are athletics competition at the Olympic Games and the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The International Association of Athletics Federations is the governing body. Records are kept of the best performances in specific events, at world and national levels, however, if athletes are deemed to have violated the events rules or regulations, they are disqualified from the competition and their marks are erased. In North America, the track and field may be used to refer to other athletics events, such as the marathon. The sport of track and field has its roots in human prehistory, Track and field-style events are among the oldest of all sporting competitions, as running, jumping and throwing are natural and universal forms of human physical expression. The first recorded examples of organized track and field events at a festival are the Ancient Olympic Games. At the first Games in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, only one event was contested, Track and field events were also present at the Panhellenic Games in Greece around this period, and they spread to Rome in Italy around 200 BC
21.
Belgian franc
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The Belgian franc was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, known as centimes, centiem or Centime, the conquest of most of western Europe by revolutionary and Napoleonic France led to the French francs wide circulation. In the Austrian Netherlands, the replaced the kronenthaler. This was in turn replaced by the Dutch guilder when the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed, Belgian mint working during the late 19th century was innovative and Belgium was the first country to introduce coins made of cupronickel, in 1860. In the 1870s the gold value was made the fixed standard, the Belga was tied to the British pound at a rate of 35 belgas =1 pound and was thus put on a gold standard of 1 Belga =209.211 mg fine gold. The 1921 monetary union of Belgium and Luxembourg survived, however, in 1935, the Belgian franc was devalued by 28% to 150.632 mg fine gold and the link between the Luxembourg and Belgian francs was revised to 1 Luxembourgish franc = 1 1⁄4 Belgian francs. Following Belgiums occupation by Germany in May 1940, the franc was fixed at a value of 0.1 Reichsmark, reduced to 0.08 Reichsmark in July 1940. Following liberation in 1944, the franc entered into the Bretton Woods system and this was changed to 43.8275 in 1946 and then to 50 following the devaluation of the British pound in September 1949. The Belgian franc was devaluated again in 1982, like 10 other European currencies, the Belgian/Luxembourgish franc ceased to exist on 1 January 1999, when it became fixed at 1 EUR=40.3399 BEF/LUF, thus a franc was worth €0.024789. Old franc coins and notes lost their legal status on 28 February 2002. In later 20th century issues, the text is almost without exception divided between two types of coins, with Flemish issues reading België and Frank, and French issues reading Belgique, initially, the currency was monolingual in French. From 1886, some Belgian coins also carried the Dutch language legends, some later coins featured inscriptions in both languages. Some commemorative coins were issued with German inscriptions but none for circulation, the Francs value compared to the US dollar varied over the years. After 1971, its lowest mark was in February 1985, when one dollar would have bought 66.31 franc and its highest standing was in July 1980, when it stood at 27.96 to the dollar. After 1 January 1999, the rates are calculated from the Francs fixed conversion rate to the Euro. Between 1832 and 1834, copper 1,2,5 and 10 centime, silver 1⁄4, 1⁄2,1,2 and 5 franc, some of the early 1 and 2 centimes were struck over Dutch 1⁄2 and 1 cent coins. The 40 franc was not issued after 1841, whilst silver 2 1⁄2 francs, silver 20 centimes replaced the 1⁄4 franc in 1852. In 1860, cupro-nickel 20 centimes were introduced, followed by cupro-nickel 5 and 10 centimes in 1861, the silver 5 franc was discontinued in 1876
22.
Baudouin of Belgium
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Baudouin reigned as 5th King of the Belgians, following his fathers abdication, from 1951 until his death in 1993. He was the last Belgian king to be sovereign of Congo and he was the elder son of King Leopold III and his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden. Because he had no children with his wife, Fabiola de Mora, the crown passed to his younger brother, Albert II, following his death. Baudouin was born in the Château du Stuyvenberg, near Laeken, Brussels, in Belgium, in 1930, the son of Prince Leopold, the then Duke of Brabant and his father became King of the Belgians, as Leopold III, in 1934. Baudouins mother died in 1935 in an automobile accident, part of Leopold IIIs unpopularity was the result of a second marriage in 1941 to Mary Lilian Baels, an English-born Belgian commoner, later known as Princess de Réthy. Though reinstated in a plebiscite, the controversy surrounding Leopold led to his abdication, during the war the king was deported by command of Adolf Hitler to Hirschstein. He ascended the throne and became the fifth King of the Belgians upon taking the oath on 17 July 1951. The Congolese called the young king Mwana Kitoko, on 15 December 1960, Baudouin was married in Brussels to Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón. The King and Queen had no children, all of the Queens five pregnancies ended in miscarriage, during Baudouins reign the colony of Belgian Congo became independent. During the last ceremonial inspection of the Force Publique, the sabre of the king was stolen during a parade by Ambroise Boimbo. The photograph, taken by Robert Lebeck, was published in world newspapers. The next day the king attended the reception, he gave a speech that received a blistering response by Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Baudouin attended the State funeral of John F, in 1990, when Baudouin refused to sign into law a bill permitting abortion, the cabinet assumed the power to promulgate the law while he was treated as unable to govern for twenty-four hours. In 1976, on the 25th anniversary of Baudouins accession, the King Baudouin Foundation was formed and he was the 1, 176th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1960 and the 930th Knight of the Order of the Garter. Baudouin was a devout Roman Catholic, through the influence of Leo Cardinal Suenens, Baudouin participated in the growing Renewal Movement and regularly went on pilgrimages to the French shrine of Paray-le-Monial. In 1990, when a law submitted by Roger Lallemand and Lucienne Herman-Michielsens that liberalised Belgiums abortion laws was approved by Parliament and this was unprecedented, although Baudouin was de jure Belgiums chief executive, Royal Assent has long been a formality. However, due to his religious convictions, Baudouin asked the Government to declare him temporarily unable to reign so that he could avoid signing the measure into law, the Government under Wilfried Martens complied with his request on 4 April 1990. According to the provisions of the Belgian Constitution, in the event the King is temporarily unable to reign, all members of the Government signed the bill, and the next day the Government declared that Baudouin was capable of reigning again
23.
1996 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final
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The 1996 UEFA Cup Winners Cup Final was a football match contested between Paris Saint-Germain of France and Rapid Wien of Austria. It was the match of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners Cup. The final was held at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on 8 May 1996, Paris Saint-Germain won the match 1–0, thanks to a free kick from Bruno NGotty. 1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners Cup 1996 UEFA Champions League Final 1996 UEFA Cup Final UEFA Cup Winners Cup results at Rec. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation
24.
UEFA Euro 2000
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The finals of Euro 2000 were co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, between 10 June and 2 July 2000. Spain and Austria also bid to host the event, the final tournament was contested by 16 nations. With the exception of the teams of the hosts, Belgium and the Netherlands. France won the tournament, by defeating Italy 2–1 in the final, Romania was the other qualifier from the group, beating England with a late penalty in their last group game. Belgium had an exit in the group stage, winning the tournaments first game against Sweden. They finished third in Group B, behind Italy and Turkey, the other co-host and favourite, the Netherlands, progressed as expected from Group D, along with World Cup winners France. The Netherlands won the group, by beating France in their last group match, also in Group D, Denmarks three losses with eight goals conceded and none scored set a new record for the worst team performance in the group stages of a Euros. Group C was memorable for the match between FR Yugoslavia and Spain, Spain needed a win to ensure progression, but found themselves trailing 3–2, after Slobodan Komljenović scored in the 75th minute. The Spanish side rescued their tournament by scoring twice in injury time to record a 4–3 victory, FR Yugoslavia managed to go through as well, despite losing because Norway and Slovenia played to a draw. Italy and Portugal maintained their records in the quarter-finals, beating Romania and Turkey, respectively. Spain fell 2–1 to France, Raul missed a penalty that ended Spanish hopes. Italy eliminated the Netherlands in the semi-finals, despite going down to ten men, in the other semi-final, Portugal lost in extra time to France after Zinedine Zidane converted a controversial penalty kick. Several Portuguese players challenged the awarding of the penalty for a handball and were given lengthy suspensions for shoving the referee. In Britain, Match of the Day named Stefano Fiores goal against Belgium the Goal of the Tournament, ahead of Patrick Kluiverts against France, qualification for the tournament took place throughout 1998 and 1999. Forty-nine teams were divided into nine groups and each played the others in their group, the winner of each group and the best runner-up qualified automatically for the final tournament. The eight other runners-up played a set of play-off matches to determine the last four qualifiers. Belgium and the Netherlands automatically qualified for the tournament as co-hosts, the following 16 teams participated in the tournament, The composition of pots 1 to 3 was based on the teams UEFA coefficient at the end of 1999. The finals draw took place on 12 December 1999, the 16 national teams each stayed in their own team base camp during the tournament
25.
Royal Belgian Football Association
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The Royal Belgian Football Association is the governing body of football and futsal in Belgium. It is a member of the international federations FIFA and UEFA. The association is based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium, as of 2015, it is presided over by chairman François De Keersmaecker. The Royal Belgian Football Association organizes the Belgium mens, womens, the two federations dissolved the joint league and reestablished their own top-level womens leagues. In 1992, the FIFA awarded the Belgian Football Association the FIFA Fair Play Award and this is a home for street children in the industrial Mexican city Toluca, to which the football players donated part of their tournament bonuses. During 25 years, the RBFA stayed committed with this project and helped 500 children to meals, National Centre After organizing UEFA Euro 2000 together with the Dutch association, both federations decided to reinvest the reported profit of €10 million each in the development of youth players. The KBVB decided to invest half of the €10 million in building of a National Centre for football in Tubize, the first stone of the building, however, was not laid before 8 April 2005. The Geel – Namur promotion incident At the end of 2006–07 season, however, the club did not receive its license and could not access to the second division, allowing Namur to be promoted. Geel eventually gained its license in appeal in front of the License Appeal Commission, the tribunal of Namur cancelled the decision to grant the license to Geel, but did not allow Namur to play the second division. The Football Association subsequently announced that clubs would play the third division in 2008–09. Both clubs then asked for a judgement, respectively in front of the courts of Namur. On 7 September 2007, the court of Namur suspended the second, the Geel incident At the end of the 2005–06 season, a case of corruption during the 2004–05 season involving players of the club of Geel came to light. Geel subsequently went to court of Brussels and the justice allowed Geel to play the final round, official website Belgium at FIFA site Belgium at UEFA site
26.
Constant Vanden Stock Stadium
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Constant Vanden Stock Stadium is a football stadium in the municipality of Anderlecht, Brussels. It also hosted the UEFA Euro 1972 semifinal Hungary against Soviet Union and it was in 1917 that R. S. C. Anderlecht installed, on the border of the Meir Park, a new stadium with one wooden stand. They called it Émile Versé Stadium, in the name of a generous patron, later, concrete stands were set up. Though, in 1983, the stadium was rebuilt and took the name of the clubs then chairman Constant Vanden Stock. Its capacity was decreased to 28,063, with 6,900 standing places behind the goals and 21,163 seated places, during European competitions, the stadium is all-seated, which decreases its capacity. These works should be finished in 2013. In summer 2012, rail seats for safe standing were fitted on the terracing behind each goal, the stadium address is Avenue Théo Verbeecklaan 2, B-1070 Anderlecht. It is located near Saint-Guidon/Sint-Guido metro station, rival supporters must stop at Aumale metro station for UEFA Champions League matches due to security measures. The stadium hosts a former restaurant and a cafeteria, as well as the official club fanshop. Stadium Guide Article Stadium Database Article Constant Vanden Stock Stadium – information & photo Images of the expansion of the stadium at Jaspers-Eyers Architects
27.
Argentina national rugby union team
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The Argentina national rugby team, officially nicknamed Los Pumas, represents Argentina in international rugby union matches. The Pumas play in sky blue and white jerseys and they are organised by the Argentine Rugby Union, Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British Isles team. As of November 2015 they are ranked 5th in the world by the IRB, although rugby union is nowhere near as popular as football in Argentina, Los Pumas impressive results since the 1999 World Cup have seen the sports popularity grow significantly. Argentina has achieved several victories, are tough contenders when playing in Buenos Aires. A surprise victory over the hosts France in the first game of the 2007 World Cup took Argentina to fourth in the IRB World Rankings, the team were undefeated in their pool, and reached the semi-finals for the first time, beating Scotland 19–13 in their quarter-final. They were defeated 37–13 by eventual winners South Africa in the semi-finals, in March 2008 the team reached an all-time high of third in the IRB World Rankings. Argentina officially joined The Rugby Championship in a meeting in Buenos Aires on November 23,2011, in their first tournament in 2012, Argentina secured a 16–16 draw with The Springboks in only their second game. The 2014 Rugby Championship saw the first Championship-match win for Argentina who defeated Australia 21–17, in the 2016 Rugby Championship, the Pumas split the first two games with the Springboks, winning the second game 26-24 at Salta on August 27,2016. The History of the Argentina national team starts with the first international played by an Argentine side v. the British Islands in 1910 when they toured on South America, Argentina gained recognition in 1965, when the team toured South Africa playing a series of friendly matches there. In that tour the team was nicknamed Los Pumas, a name that became an identity mark for Argentina. Argentina has taken part in all the Rugby World Cups since the first edition in 1987, Argentina followed their growing competitiveness in the Rugby Championship with a strong showing in the 2015 World Cup, reaching the semi-finals for the second time. The national side also plays the Rugby Championship since the 2012 edition, Argentina alternated blue and white jerseys during its first international matches in 1910. In 1927 Mr. Abelardo Gutiérrez of Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires proposed that Argentina should play against British Lions in a striped white and that request was accepted and Argentina wore the striped uniform for the first time in its history. Los Pumas play in a shirt in the flag colours of light blue and white, white shorts. In 2011, the UAR signed a deal with Nike which became the kit provider for all its national senior and youth teams. On September 1941, Abelardo Gutiérrez suggested a badge with the figure of a lion, the color of the crest was blue. The animal was later replaced by a native to Argentine species, so the jaguar was chosen due to his agility and courage and he tried to devise a catchy nickname for the team similar to existing international team nicknames such as All Blacks, Springboks, and Wallabies. He asked Isak van Heerden, the coach of the Natal Rugby team who was asked by the SARB to assist with the tour
28.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
29.
2007 Rugby World Cup
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The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, France won the hosting rights in 2003, beating a bid from England. The competition consisted of 48 matches over 44 days,42 matches were played in ten cities throughout France, as well as four in Cardiff, Wales, the top three nations from each pool at the end of the pool stage qualified automatically for the 2011 World Cup. The competition opened with a match between hosts France and Argentina on 7 September at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. The stadium was also the venue of the final, played between England and South Africa on 20 October, which South Africa won 15–6 to win their second World Cup title, both England and France bid to host the tournament. The tender document for the 2007 bidding process was due out on 31 October 2001, both England and France were invited to re-submit their plans. The International Rugby Board stated that countries must comply with tender document terms in one bid, but in their second option. The IRB said Englands original proposal contained three plans for hosting the tournament with a traditional, new and hybrid format all on offer. The French bid, while complying with the document in all other respects. Englands bids included a tournament and altering the structure of the qualifying tournament. It was announced in April 2003 that France had won the right to host the tournament, the tournament was moved to the proposed September–October dates with the tournament structure remaining as it was. It was also announced that ten French cities would be hosting games, the eight quarter-finalists from the 2003 World Cup all received automatic entry, with the other 12 nations coming from qualifying series around the world. Ten of the 20 positions available in the tournament were filled by regional qualifiers, the qualifying tournament was divided into five regional groups, Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Qualifying matches began in 2004 and were completed in early 2007, including the automatic qualifiers, over 90 nations were in qualifying contention for the final tournament. In July 2005, both Samoa and Fiji were confirmed as the qualifiers from Oceania, as Oceania 1 and 2 respectively, in July of the following year, Argentina qualified as Americas 1 by defeating Uruguay 26–0 in Buenos Aires. Americas 2 was filled in August when Canada defeated the United States 56–7 in Newfoundland, the United States went on to qualify as Americas 3 after beating Uruguay in a two-legged tie in early October. Namibia qualified for their third consecutive World Cup after they earned their spot in France by defeating Morocco over two legs in November, in late 2006, it was announced that the IRB had withdrawn Colombo as the venue of the final Asian qualifying tournament due to security problems. Japan won the only Asian allocation after the tournament was moved to Hong Kong, georgia was 14 points the better of Portugal over two legs to claim the last European place
30.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
31.
Pro14
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The PRO12 is an annual rugby union competition involving twelve professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Beginning in the 2001–02 season, the league was known as the Celtic League and comprised teams from Ireland, Scotland. The league was sponsored by Irish cider makers Magners from the 2006–07 season until 2010–11, at the start of the 2010–11 season, the league expanded from ten to twelve teams, adding two Italian teams. Following the end of Magners sponsorship, the league was sponsored by RaboDirect from 2011–12 through to 2013–14, the Pro12 name was adopted in 2011 to reflect that the league now included teams from outside the Celtic nations. The current sponsorship deal with Guinness commenced at the beginning of the 2014–15 season, the league has used a play-off structure since the 2009–10 season to determine the champions, similar to that used in the English Premiership. Until the 2008–09 season, the champions were determined from league performance, the league season takes place between September and May, with each team playing every other team on a home and away basis. League points are awarded using the Rugby union bonus points system, the venue for the final is chosen by the highest placed team in the regular season. The legal name of the running the competition is Celtic Rugby Limited. The company is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union, the Welsh Rugby Union, the Scottish Rugby Union, the board of directors consists of two representatives appointed by each Union and an independent chairman. The BBC Two Wales matches are made available to the rest of the United Kingdom via BBC Red Button. Complete match replays are available on the BBC iPlayer. Each broadcaster provides feed to the others for matches in their home territory, while this means that the league is now available free to air in the UK and Ireland, in Italy it was only available on a subscription basis in its first year. However, from the 2014–15 season, Italys Nuvolari began broadcasting the games involving the two Italian clubs live on its digital free-to-view channel, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh matches are also broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland. Commencing from the 2014–15 season, Sky Sports became one of the leagues broadcast partners, broadcasting 33 live games on a Saturday, sporadic coverage of the tournament can be found in other territories – on beIN Sports in France, and on various Setanta Sports channels around the globe. Setanta closed down in Scotland in 2009, but Setanta Ireland, in 2010, RTÉ Sport, BBC Northern Ireland, TG4, BBC Wales, BBC Alba and SKY Italia came together to buy the Celtic League broadcasting rights. On 2 May 2013, Sky Sports announced that it had agreed a deal to broadcast 33 live Pro12 matches each season. Regional screening of matches continued, BBC Wales show Scrum V Live on Friday Night with S4C covering a match now on Sunday Afternoons, the semi-finals and finals are available to all broadcasters. The league is based on representation of the participating nations
32.
Ulster Rugby
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Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Pro12 and the European Rugby Champions Cup, Ulster play their home games at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast which has a capacity of 18,196. The province plays primarily in white and the team crest features a red hand within two rugby balls, the red hand being taken from the flag of Ulster. Ulster A competes in the British and Irish Cup, Ulster won the Heineken Cup in 1999, the Celtic Cup in 2003 and the Celtic League in 2006. The Ulster Branch of the IRFU was founded in 1879, since then, Ulster has been arguably the most successful of the four Irish provinces having won the Inter-Provincial Championship a record 26 times. In the amateur rugby union era, Ulster regularly played international touring sides from the southern hemisphere and their most impressive performance was in the 1984/5 season when they defeated Andrew Slacks Grand Slam Wallabies. In the 1998–99 season, Ulster became the first Irish province to win the Heineken Cup and they beat French side US Colomiers 21–6 in the final at Lansdowne Road. The Ulster squad contained many part-time players two of whom, Andy Matchett and Stephen McKinty, started the final and this Ulster side was coached by Harry Williams and managed by John Kinnear. From 2001 to 2004, the Ulster team was coached by Alan Solomons and it was during this time that Ulster fully embraced the professional era. Alan Solomons coached Ulster to an unbeaten home record in the Heineken Cup. In the 2003–04 season, Ulster finished second in the Celtic League, despite an initially poor start to the season, the two extended Ulsters unbeaten home record in Europe to four years. However, inconsistent late form from Ulster, combined with a run from Leinster. In Ulsters final match against the Ospreys with Ulster one point behind, David Humphreys kicked a 40-metre drop goal to clinch the game, Ulster started the 2006–07 season in fine form racking up a number of victories including a 30–3 thrashing of Heineken Cup contenders Toulouse. The team began the 2007–08 season with a run of form. Mark McCall resigned in November following Ulsters embarrassing 32–14 home defeat to Gloucester in the round of the 2007–08 Heineken Cup. Assistant coach Steve Williams took temporary charge of the team, under Williams, Ulster had some initial success, however several defeats left them firmly rooted to the bottom of the Celtic League and out of Europe. In December, former Leinster and Scotland Head Coach Matt Williams was named Mark McCalls successor as Ulsters Head Coach. He took charge at the beginning of February 2008, but despite some improved performances, he failed to turn the season around, on 21 May 2009, Matt Williams resigned as Ulsters Head Coach after finishing 8th in the Celtic League that season
33.
European Rugby Champions Cup
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The European Rugby Champions Cup is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby. It is the competition for clubs whose countries national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship. Clubs qualify for the Champions Cup via their final positions in their respective national/regional leagues, introduced in 2014, the competition replaced the Heineken Cup, which had run since 1995, following disagreements between its shareholders over the structure and governance of the competition. Saracens are the current holders of the cup, having won their first cup by beating Racing 92 in the 2016 final, Toulouse have won the competition a record four times, the last of which was in 2010. The Heineken Cup was launched in the summer of 1995 on the initiative of the then Five Nations Committee to provide a new level of cross border competition. Twelve sides representing Ireland, Wales, Italy, Romania and France competed in four pools of three with the winners going directly into the semi-finals. English and Scottish teams did not take part in the inaugural competition, from an inauspicious beginning in Romania, where Toulouse defeated Farul Constanţa 54–10 in front of a small crowd, the competition gathered momentum and crowds grew. Toulouse went on to become the first European cup winners, eventually beating Cardiff in extra time in front of a crowd of 21,800 at Cardiff Arms Park, clubs from England and Scotland joined the competition in 1996–97. European rugby was further expanded with the advent of the European Challenge Cup for teams that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup, the Heineken Cup now had 20 teams divided into four pools of five. Only Leicester and Brive reached the stages with 100 per cent records and ultimately made it to the final, Cardiff. After 46 matches, Brive beat Leicester 28–9 in front of a crowd of 41,664 at Cardiff Arms Park, the season 1997–98 saw the introduction of a home and away format in the pool games. The five pools of four teams, which guaranteed each team a minimum of six games, Brive reached the final again but were beaten late in the game by Bath with a penalty kick. Ironically, English clubs had decided to withdraw from the competition in a dispute over the way it was run, without English clubs, the 1998–99 tournament revolved around France, Italy and the Celtic nations. Sixteen teams took part in four pools of four, French clubs filled the top positions in three of the groups and for the fourth consecutive year a French club, in the shape of Colomiers from the Toulouse suburbs, reached the final. Despite this it was to be Ulsters year as they beat Toulouse and reigning French champions Stade Français on their way to the final at Lansdowne Road, Ulster then carried home the trophy after a 21–6 win over Colomiers in front of a capacity 49,000 crowd. For the first time clubs from four different nations – England, Ireland, France, munsters defeat of Toulouse in Bordeaux ended Frances record of having contested every final and Northampton Saints victory over Llanelli made them the third English club to make it to the final. The competition was decided with a final between Munster and Northampton, with Northampton coming out on top by a point to claim their first major honour. England supplied two of the 2000–01 semi-finalists – Leicester Tigers and Gloucester – with Munster and French champions Stade Français also reaching the last four
34.
Saracens F.C.
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Saracens Football Club /ˈsæɹəˌsənz/ are a professional rugby union team based in London, England. Since 2012, Saracens currently play their games at Allianz Park in Hendon, previous grounds have included Vicarage Road in Watford. The clubs playing colours are black and red, Saracens were founded in 1876 by the Old Boys of the Philological School in Marylebone, London. The clubs name is said to come from the endurance, enthusiasm, the fact that their local rivals were called the Crusaders may also have been a factor. The Crescent and Star appearing in the emblem are reminiscent of those appearing on the flag of Ottoman. Saracens amalgamated with neighbouring club Crusaders two years later, in 1892, Saracens moved from Crown Lane, Southgate, to Firs Farm, Winchmore Hill then played on nine different grounds before the move to Bramley Road for the 1939–40 season. After their inaugural match against Blackheath, the Saracens had to wait another 9 years before Harlequins offered to them on their fixture list. Saracens found it difficult to get games against first-class sides as the facilities at Bramley Road were so poor, the club enjoyed fixtures with the leading clubs for many years and enjoyed a particularly successful time in the 1970s when they reached the semi-finals of the National Cup. Special games played at Bramley Road during this period include the 1971 match against a select International XV and it was a fantastic occasion, as a 5,000 strong crowd came to watch a magnificent contest, ending Saracens 34 International XV34. This Saracens team also won the Middlesex Cup beating rivals Wasps in the final, the next year in the first division they surprised many by finishing fourth in the league behind Wasps, Gloucester and Bath. But within the space of two years, Saracens had lost Jason Leonard to Harlequins, Dean Ryan to Wasps and Ben Clarke to Bath, the 1992–93 season saw the leagues restructured with Saracens, along with three other clubs, being relegated to the second division. In 1993–94 Saracens finished third and narrowly missed out on promotion, former player David Wellman was given the task to re brand Saracens. He gave former player Mike Smith the remit to take Saracens professional, a benefactor was required in order to improve the ground and playing staff. In November 1995 Saracens gained the backing of Nigel Wray. The 1997–98 season, was a landmark year and they began a ground share with Watford FC and their 22,000 all seater Vicarage Road Stadium. The agreement ran until February 2013, when Saracens relocated to Barnet Copthall, Newcastle havent repeated this success since. Consolation for missing out on the title came in the then principal domestic cup competition. Saracens beat Wasps 48–18 in the cup final at Twickenham, in doing so equalling Baths cup-final record score of 48 points
35.
Racing 92
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Racing 92 is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name to Racing 92,92 is the number of Hauts-de-Seine, a département of Île-de-France, bordering Paris to the west, where they play, and whose council gives financial backing to the club. They currently play in the Top 14, having been promoted as 2008–09 champions of Rugby Pro D2, Racing 92 play at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir stadium at Colombes, where the France national team played for several decades. Racing Club was established in 1882 as a club, one of the first in France. New sections were regularly added thereafter, a rugby section was founded in 1890, which became an immediate protagonist of the early French championship and to which, until 1898, only Parisian teams were invited. On 20 March 1892 the USFSA organised the first ever French rugby championship, the game was refereed by Pierre de Coubertin and saw Racing win 4–3. R. C. France 4 – Stade Francais 3, archived from the original on 25 November 2006. Racing were awarded the Bouclier de Brennus, which is awarded to the winners of the French championship today. Both clubs would contest the game the following season as well, though in 1893 it would be Stade Français who would win the event. Stade went on to dominate the years and the Racing Club would make their next final appearance in the 1898 season. However the title was awarded after a round-robin with six clubs, Stade Français won with 10 points, Racing came in second with 6. Racing contested the 1900 season final against the Stade Bordelais club, Racing easily won the match, defeating Stade Bordelais 37–7. The two clubs would meet again in the 1902 championship game, where Racing would again win, a decade passed until Racing Club made another championship final, which would be on 31 March 1912, where they would play Toulouse in Toulouse. Due to World War I the French championship was replaced with a called the Coupe de lEspérance. The Racing Club won the competition in 1918, defeating FC Grenoble 22 points to 9, normal competition resumed for the 1920 season. That season the Racing Club made their first final since 1912, though they lost 8 to 3 to Stadoceste Tarbais, after the 1920 season, the Racing Club would not win any championships for a number of years. In 1931 they created the Challenge Yves du Manoir competition, after losing the 1957 final to FC Lourdes, the club then won the championship in the 1959 season, defeating Mont-de-Marsan 8 points to 3. The Racing Club would next play in the final in the 1987 season
36.
Justine Henin
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She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No.1 and was the year-end No.1 in 2003,2006 and 2007. Henin won seven Grand Slam singles titles, winning the French Open in 2003,2005,2006 and 2007, the US Open in 2003 and 2007, at Wimbledon, she was the runner-up in 2001 and 2006. She also won a medal in the womens singles at the 2004 Olympic Games. In total, she won 43 WTA singles titles, Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand as the principal reasons for her success. She retired from tennis on 26 January 2011, due to an elbow injury. In June 2011, she was named one of the 30 Legends of Womens Tennis, Past, Present and she is widely considered one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. In 2016, she became the first Belgian tennis player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Justine Henin was born in Liège. Her father is José Henin, her mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and she has two brothers and a sister. When Justine was two, her moved to a house in Rochefort, situated next to the local tennis club. Henins mother routinely took the young Henin across the border to France to watch the French Open, Henin saw the 1992 final involving her idol Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Although Graf lost, the experience impressed Henin, since then, Henin idolizes Graf as her role model. In 1995, shortly after her mothers death, Henin met her coach Carlos Rodríguez who guided her career both before her retirement in 2008 and during her 2010 comeback, on 16 November 2002, Henin married Hardenne in the Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne, adopting the name Justine Henin-Hardenne. On 4 January 2007, Henin withdrew from forthcoming tournaments in Australia, including the Australian Open, Henin confirmed three weeks later that she had officially separated from her husband. The same year, she reverted to using the name Justine Henin, since March 2011 Henin has been in a relationship with Benoît Bertuzzo, a Belgian cameraman, and secretly married him in March 2015. On 12 September 2012, Henin announced that she was pregnant, Henin, known as Juju to many of her fans, was coached by Carlos Rodríguez of Argentina. In 1997, she won the girls singles title at the French Open. Early in her career, she regularly reached the late rounds of international competitions. She also won her event, the Liege Challenger, in July 2000
37.
Kim Clijsters
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Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters is a former world No.1 in both singles and doubles, Clijsters won 41 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She won four Grand Slam singles titles, three at the US Open, in 2005,2009, and 2010 and one at the Australian Open in 2011. She was also runner-up in four Grand Slam singles tournaments and won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002,2003, in doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. She was also runner-up in two Grand Slam doubles tournaments, one WTA Championships doubles tournament, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles tournament, in 2001, Clijsters was part of the Belgium Fed Cup winning team. In June 2011, TIME magazine named her one of the 30 Legends of Womens Tennis, Past, Present, according to Forbes in August 2011, she became the fifth highest-paid female athlete over the previous year. On 20 May 2012, Clijsters, who had announced that 2012 would be her last season. On 29 August 2012, Clijsters played her last singles match of her career at the 2012 US Open where she lost in the round to Laura Robson. Clijsters has a powerful physique that combines naturally with a baseline game. The Belgian is equipped with an array of powerful and deep forehand and backhand shots and her forehand, although at times erratic, is her main weapon. She is easily able to play with her forehand and she is capable of hitting winners from any position on the court. An accomplished doubles player, Clijsters has a net game. She often mixes up her aggressive-style play with drop shots and backhand slices to draw her opponents into the net and she also has a very solid over-head and is noted for her quick transition from the baseline to the net to finish points. Clijsters first serve is not overwhelmingly powerful, but is placed well, when timed correctly, her serve can be considered a major weapon. Clijsters is also recognised for her all-court defence, characterized by her speed and athleticism. Clijsters is one of few players on the WTA tour who can slide on all surfaces, Maria Sharapova, interviewed after losing to Clijsters in the 2005 Nasdaq-100 Open, said, You just have to expect that shes going to get every ball back. Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983, in Bilzen, Limburg and she is the daughter of Lei Clijsters, a former international footballer, and Els Vandecaetsbeek, a former national gymnastics champion. Lei Clijsters died of cancer on 4 January 2009
38.
Serena Williams
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Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player. The Womens Tennis Association has ranked her world No.1 in singles on seven occasions and she became the world No.1 for the first time on July 8,2002, and achieved this ranking for the seventh time on January 30,2017. On the sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, in total, she has been world No.1 for 316 weeks, which ranks her 3rd in the Open Era among female tennis players. Williams accomplishments and success in tennis have led some commentators, players. Williams holds the most major titles in singles, doubles, and her record of 39 major titles puts her third on the all-time list and second in the open era,23 in singles,14 in womens doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent female player to have all four major singles titles simultaneously. She is also the most recent player, together with her sister Venus Williams and her total of 23 Grand Slam singles titles marks the record for the most Major wins by a tennis player in the Open Era, and is second on the all-time list behind Margaret Court. She is also the only player to have won 10 Grand Slam singles titles in two separate decades. She has won a record of 13 Grand Slam singles titles on hardcourt. Williams holds the Open Era record for most titles won at the Australian Open and she also holds an all-time record for the most singles matches won at the Grand Slams with 316 matches. She has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus, as a team, she and Venus have the third most womens doubles grand slam titles, behind the 18 titles of Natasha Zvereva and the record 20 titles won by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. Williams is also a winner of the WTA Tour Championships in the singles division. Serena has also won four Olympic gold medals, one in womens singles, the arrival of the Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the womens professional tennis tour. Williams was the highest paid athlete in 2016, earning $28.9 million in prize money. She has won the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award 3 times, Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, to Richard Williams and Oracene Price, and is the youngest of Prices five daughters, half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea and Isha Price, and full sister Venus. When the children were young, the moved to Compton, California. Her father, Richard, home-schooled Serena and her sister Venus, Williams family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida, when she was nine so that she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who would provide additional coaching. Macci spotted the talents of the sisters
39.
U2
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U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, initially rooted in post-punk, U2s sound grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music, yet has maintained an anthemic sound. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes, popular for their live performances, the group has staged several ambitious and elaborate tours over their career. The band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency, within four years, they signed with Island Records and released their debut album Boy. Subsequent work such as their first UK number-one album War, by the mid-1980s, they had become renowned globally for their live act, highlighted by their performance at Live Aid in 1985. The groups fifth album, The Joshua Tree, made them international superstars and was their greatest critical and commercial success. Topping music charts around the world, it produced their only number-one singles in the US, With or Without You, facing a backlash and creative stagnation, U2 reinvented themselves in the 1990s through a new musical direction and public image. This experimentation continued through their album, Pop, and the PopMart Tour. U2 regained critical and commercial favour with the records All That You Cant Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and their U2 360° Tour of 2009–2011 is the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour in history. The groups thirteenth album, Songs of Innocence, was released at no cost through the iTunes Store, U2 have released 13 studio albums and are one of the worlds best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records worldwide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band, Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The band formed in Dublin on 25 September 1976, Larry Mullen Jr. then a 14-year-old student at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, posted a note on the schools notice board in search of musicians for a new band—six people responded. Mullen later described it as The Larry Mullen Band for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge. Martin, who had brought his guitar and amplifier to the first practice but could not play, did not remain with the group, the group settled on the name Feedback because it was one of the few technical terms they knew. Most of their material consisted of cover songs, which the band admitted was not their forte. Some of the earliest influences on the band were emerging punk rock acts, such as the Jam, the Clash, Buzzcocks, the popularity of punk rock convinced the group that musical proficiency was not a prerequisite to being successful. In April 1977, Feedback played their first gig for an audience at St. Fintans High School. Shortly after, the changed their name to The Hype
40.
Vertigo Tour
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The Vertigo Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Staged in support of the groups 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the Vertigo Tour consisted of five legs that alternated between indoor arena shows in North America and outdoor stadium shows internationally. Much like the previous Elevation Tour, the portion of the Vertigo Tour featured a stripped-down. Protruding from the stage was an ellipse-shaped catwalk that encapsulated a small number of fans. The tour grossed US$260 million in 110 sold-out concerts in 2005, in North America alone, the tour grossed $138.9 million from 1.4 million tickets sold. The Vertigo Tour won the 2005 Billboard Roadwork Touring Awards for Top Tour, Top Draw, and Top Single Event, and U2s management company Principle Management won for Top Manager. By the time it finished, the Vertigo Tour had sold 4,619,021 tickets — with 131 shows — for a gross of $389 million. The tour was depicted in three films, Vertigo 2005, Live from Chicago, Vertigo, Live from Milan. After rehearsing for several months in Vancouver, the opening night was on 28 March 2005 at the iPayOne Center in San Diego. The first leg through North America consisted of 28 sold-out indoor arena shows and finished on 28 May in Boston, the second leg was a European stadium tour, commencing on 10 June in Brussels and finishing on 14 August in Lisbon. They played in a number of venues including Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Madrid, Milan, U2 broke Irish box office marks with ticket sales for three Croke Park concerts in Dublin, after more than 240,000 tickets were sold in record time. In The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Austria, the tickets were all sold within 60 minutes. On 9 March 2006, it was announced the final 10 shows in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, on 20 July 2006, it was announced that they were rescheduled for November and December, with some adjustments and additions of dates. The fifth leg started on 7 November in Brisbane, Australia and concluded on 9 December 2006 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, the Vertigo Tours production was designed by architect Mark Fisher and stage and lighting designer Willie Williams. Key elements were an ellipse-shaped ramp on the connected to the stage, with some fans inside it. The inside area of the came to be known as the bomb shelter. The curtain design permitted concertgoers around the arena to have an excellent view of the curtains above the band, the roll-drop LED screens were designed by Fisher using 360deg golf-ball pixels developed with Frederic Opsomer of Innovative Designs in Belgium. The spherical LED product joined the BARCO product line as the Mi-Sphere, the Vertigo Tour used 189 strings of these MiSphere LED balls suspended from custom truss, which allows the LED curtains to be rolled up
Belgium
Sweden
Italy
Turkey
Romania
France
Portugal
