Premier League
The Premier League is the top level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League; the Premier League is a corporation. Seasons run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches. Most games are played on Sunday afternoons; the Premier League has featured 47 English and two Welsh clubs since its inception, making it a cross-border league. The competition was formed as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League, founded in 1888, take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal; the deal was worth £1 billion a year domestically as of 2013–14, with BSkyB and BT Group securing the domestic rights to broadcast 116 and 38 games respectively. The league generates € 2.2 billion per year in international television rights. Clubs were apportioned revenues of £2.4 billion in 2016–17. The Premier League is the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people.
In the 2014–15 season, the average Premier League match attendance exceeded 36,000, second highest of any professional football league behind the Bundesliga's 43,500. Most stadium occupancies are near capacity; the Premier League ranks second in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons, as of 2018. Forty-nine clubs have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992. Six of them have won the title since then: Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City; the record of most points in a Premier League season is 100, set by Manchester City in 2017–18. Despite significant European success in the 1970s and early 1980s, the late 1980s marked a low point for English football. Stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, English clubs were banned from European competition for five years following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985; the Football League First Division, the top level of English football since 1888, was behind leagues such as Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendances and revenues, several top English players had moved abroad.
By the turn of the 1990s the downward trend was starting to reverse: at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, England reached the semi-finals. In the 1980s, major English clubs had begun to transform into business ventures, applying commercial principles to club administration to maximise revenue. Martin Edwards of Manchester United, Irving Scholar of Tottenham Hotspur, David Dein of Arsenal were among the leaders in this transformation, it gave the top clubs more power. By threatening to break away, clubs in Division One managed to increase their voting power, they took a 50% share of all television and sponsorship income in 1986. Revenue from television became more important: the Football League received £6.3 million for a two-year agreement in 1986, but by 1988, in a deal agreed with ITV, the price rose to £44 million over four years with the leading clubs taking 75% of the cash. According to Scholar, involved in the negotiations of television deals, each of the First Division clubs received only around £25,000 per year from television rights before 1986, this increased to around £50,000 in the 1986 negotiation to £600,000 in 1988.
The 1988 negotiations were conducted under the threat of ten clubs leaving to form a "super league", but they were persuaded to stay with the top clubs taking the lion share of the deal. As stadiums improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the country's top teams again considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalise on the influx of money into the sport. In 1990, the managing director of London Weekend Television, Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the "big five" football clubs in England over a dinner; the meeting was to pave the way for a break away from The Football League. Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for LWT if only the larger clubs in the country were featured on national television and wanted to establish whether the clubs would be interested in a larger share of television rights money; the five clubs decided to press ahead with it. The FA did not enjoy an amicable relationship with the Football League at the time and considered it as a way to weaken the Football League's position.
At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League; the newly formed top division would have commercial independence from The Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands national football team has represented the Netherlands in international football since its initial match in 1905. The national team is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association, a part of UEFA, under the jurisdiction of FIFA the governing body for football in the Netherlands. Most of the Netherlands' home matches are played at the Johan Cruyff Arena and the Stadion Feijenoord; the team is colloquially referred to as Het Nederlands Elftal or the Oranje, after the House of Orange-Nassau. Like the country itself, the team is sometimes referred to as Holland; the fan club is known as the "Het Legioen". The Netherlands has competed in ten FIFA World Cups, they have appeared in nine UEFA European Championships winning the 1988 tournament in West Germany. Additionally, the team won a bronze medal at the Olympic football event in 1908, 1912 and 1920; the Netherlands has long-standing football rivalries with neighbors Germany. The Netherlands played their first international match in Antwerp against Belgium on 30 April 1905.
The players were selected by a five-member commission from the Dutch football association. After 90 minutes, the score was 1–1; because the match was for the Coupe van den Abeele it went into overtime, during which Eddy de Neve scored three times, making the score 4–1 for the Netherlands. Some historians attribute one of the goals scored to Willem Hesselink. In 1908, the Netherlands competed in their first official tournament appearance at the Summer Olympics in London, they received a bronze medal after losing to Great Britain in the semifinals, before defeating Sweden in the bronze medal match 2–0. At the Olympic Games in 1912 and 1920, the Dutch finished with the bronze medal as they lost to Denmark and Belgium in the respective tournaments; the Dutch reached the semi-finals at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris after winning against Romania and Ireland. In the semi-final, they gave up a one-goal lead, scored by Kees Pijl, to lose 2–1 and were relegated to the third-place playoff for the fourth time, losing to Sweden in a replay.
After being eliminated in the first round at the 1928 Summer Olympics on home turf, they skipped the first World Cup in 1930 due to the cost of travel from Europe to South America. The team made their first appearance at a FIFA World Cup in 1934. Kick Smit was the first goalscorer for the Netherlands in a World Cup; the team was eliminated in the opening round by Switzerland 3–2. A second appearance at the 1938 World Cup resulted in a first-round elimination against Czechoslovakia. After the Second World War, the Dutch qualified for only two international tournaments before the 1970s; the 1948 Summer Olympics in Great Britain and the 1952 Summer Olympics in Finland. They faced early elimination losing to the hosts in 1948 and Brazil in 1952. During the 1970s, Total Football was invented, pioneered by Ajax and led by playmaker Johan Cruyff and national team head coach Rinus Michels; the Dutch made significant strides. Carlos Alberto, captain of the Brazilian team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup said, "The only team I've seen that did things differently was Holland at the 1974 World Cup in Germany.
Since everything looks more or less the same to me... Their'carousel' style of play was amazing to watch and marvelous for the game."In 1974, the Netherlands beat both Brazil and Argentina in the second group stage, reaching the final for the first time in their history. However, they lost to West Germany in the final in Munich, despite having gone up 1–0 through Johan Neeskens' early penalty kick before a German had touched the ball. However, a converted penalty by Paul Breitner and the winner from Gerd Müller, led to a victory for the Germans; the 1976 European Championship the Netherlands qualified for their first European Championship after beating Belgium in the quarterfinals. They were matched in the semifinals by Czechoslovakia who kept Cruff and Van Hanegem within arms-length of another player as they defeated the Dutch in overtime; the Dutch finished in third place after defeating the hosts in overtime. In 1978, the Netherlands qualified for the World Cup in Argentina; the team was missing Johan Cruyff due to a kidnapping attempt, Wim van Hanegem.
But the squad still had players like Jan Jongbloed, Wim Suurbier and Ruud Krol from the previous World Cup. After finishing runner-up in Group 4 behind Peru, they recorded wins against Austria and Italy to set up a final with Argentina. After a controversial start, with Argentina questioning the plaster cast on René van de Kerkhof's wrist, the match headed to extra time where the Dutch lost 3–1 after two extra time goals from Mario Kempes and Daniel Bertoni. Euro'80 was the last tournament. Despite the tournament format being expanded that year they did not advance past the group stage. Veterans such as Krol and Rensenbrink retired soon afterwards and the Dutch team hit a low point in their history: they missed the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Euro 1984 in France, the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, they failed qualifying for Euro 1984 by virtue of goals scored when Spain scored twelve in the final game against Malta. Because both teams had the same goal difference, Spain qualified having scored two more goals than the Dutch.
After qualifying for the 1986 World Cup the Dutch finished in second place and advanced to the playoffs against neighbors Belgium. After losing the first leg 1–0 in Brussels, they held a 2–0 lead at Rotterdam with a few minutes remaining, but Georges Grun's header in the 84th minute resulted in the Netherlands elimination as Belgium advanc
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital city and most populous municipality of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 854,047 within the city proper, 1,357,675 in the urban area and 2,410,960 in the metropolitan area; the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country but is not its capital, Haarlem. The Amsterdam metropolitan area comprises much of the northern part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe, which has a population of 8.1 million. Amsterdam's name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin around a dam in the river Amstel. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age, as a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading centre for trade. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were planned and built.
The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Since the annexation of the municipality of Sloten in 1921 by the municipality of Amsterdam, the oldest historic part of the city lies in Sloten, dating to the 9th century; as the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha- world city by the Globalization and World Cities study group. The city is the cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, including Philips, AkzoNobel, TomTom and ING. Many of the world's largest companies are based in Amsterdam or established their European headquarters in the city, such as leading technology companies Uber and Tesla. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer; the city was ranked 4th place globally as top tech hub in the Savills Tech Cities 2019 report, 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009.
The Port of Amsterdam to this day remains the second in the country, the fifth largest seaport in Europe. Famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, philosopher Baruch Spinoza; the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city centre. Amsterdam's main attractions include its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, the Anne Frank House, the Scheepvaartmuseum, the Amsterdam Museum, the Heineken Experience, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Natura Artis Magistra, Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, NEMO, the red-light district and many cannabis coffee shops, they draw more than 5 million international visitors annually. The city is well known for its nightlife and festival activity, it is one of the world's most multicultural cities, with at least 177 nationalities represented. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river and a dam across it, giving its name to the village: "Aemstelredamme".
The earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated 27 October 1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges and dams; the certificate describes the inhabitants. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam. Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century; this does not mean that there was a settlement since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat, for use as fuel. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306. From the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished from trade with the Hanseatic League. In 1345, an alleged Eucharistic miracle in the Kalverstraat rendered the city an important place of pilgrimage until the adoption of the Protestant faith.
The Miracle devotion was kept alive. In the 19th century after the jubilee of 1845, the devotion was revitalized and became an important national point of reference for Dutch Catholics; the Stille Omgang—a silent walk or procession in civil attire—is the expression of the pilgrimage within the Protestant Netherlands since the late 19th century. In the heyday of the Silent Walk, up to 90,000 pilgrims came to Amsterdam. In the 21st century this has reduced to about 5000. In the 16th century, the Dutch rebelled against Philip II of his successors; the main reasons for the uprising were the imposition of new taxes, the tenth penny, the religious persecution of Protestants by the newly introduced Inquisition. The revolt escalated into the Eighty Years' War, which led to Dutch independence. Pushed by Dutch Revolt leader William the Silent, the Dutch Republic became known for its relative religious tolerance. Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, Huguenots from France, prosperous merchants and printers from Flanders, economic and religious refugees
Barnsley F.C.
Barnsley Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. The team play in the third tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Tykes", they were founded in 1887 by Reverend Tiverton Preedy under the name Barnsley St. Peter's; the club's colours were orignally blue, but were converted to red and white in 1904 and have played in those colours since. Their home ground since 1888 has been Oakwell. Barnsley won the FA Cup in 1911–12 and were runners-up in 1909–10; the club won two trophies at Wembley Stadium in 2016 – the Football League Trophy, beating Oxford United 3–2 in the final, the 2016 Football League play-offs, beating Millwall 3–1 in the final. Barnsley became only the second club to secure both the Football League Trophy and Football League promotion via playoff finals in the same season, after Grimsby Town F. C.. On 19 December 2017, it was announced that Patrick Cryne and family had agreed to sell a majority stake in Barnsley Football Club to a consortium involving Chien Lee of NewCity Capital, Grace Hung and Paul Conway of Pacific Media Group, Indian businessman Neerav Parekh and baseball legend Billy Beane.
The new consortium holds 80% of the shares and the Cryne family holds 20% of the shares of Barnsley Football club. Barnsley fans consider their biggest rivals to be Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United and Leeds United, although smaller rivalries with Doncaster Rovers, Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town exist. Barnsley have spent more seasons in the second tier of English football than any other club in history and have produced some notable talents over the years who have gone on to be successful at other clubs. One example is Tommy Taylor, a prolific goalscorer for Barnsley in the early 1950s and went on to win two league titles with Manchester United before losing his life in the Munich air disaster. Taylor's move to Manchester United was for a fee of £29,999 – one of the highest fees in England at the time. Taylor broke into the Barnsley team just after the sale of wing-half Danny Blanchflower to Aston Villa. Blanchflower would go on to sign for Tottenham Hotspur and be voted FWA Player of the Year twice as well as captaining the North London club to the first league and cup double of the 20th century.
Barnsley FC was established in 1887 by a clergyman, Tiverton Preedy, played in the Sheffield and District League from 1890 and in the Midland League from 1895. They joined the Football League in 1898, struggled in the Second Division for the first decade, due in part to ongoing financial difficulties. In 1910 the club reached the FA Cup final, where they lost out to Newcastle United in a replay match. However, they would reach the 1912 FA Cup Final where they would defeat West Bromwich Albion 1–0 in a replay to win the trophy for the first and only time in their history; when the league restarted after World War I, the 1919–20 season brought some significant changes to the league. The principal difference was that the First Division would be increased from 20 teams to 22; the bottom team from the previous season was Tottenham Hotspur and they were duly relegated. The first extra place in the First Division went to Chelsea, who retained their place despite finishing 2nd bottom and therefore in the relegation places.
Derby County and Preston North End were rightly promoted from the Second Division which left one place to be filled. Having finished the previous season's Second Division in 3rd place, Barnsley expected to achieve First Division status for the first time, but The Football League instead chose to call a ballot of the clubs. Henry Norris, the Arsenal chairman, had moved Woolwich Arsenal north of the River Thames to Highbury, needed First Division football to attract fans to their new home, he was to admit some underhand dealings including the bribing of some member clubs to vote for Arsenal's inclusion. They duly won the vote and Barnsley were consigned to the second tier of English football for another 8 decades; the club did however come close to reaching the top division in the early years. In 1922, they missed out on promotion by a single goal. During the years preceding and following World War II, the club found themselves sliding between the Second and Third Division. In 1949 the club signed a 23-year-old wing-half called Danny Blanchflower from Glentoran, he so impressed at Oakwell that two years he was signed by First Division side Aston Villa signing for Tottenham Hotspur and being voted FWA Player of the Year twice, as well as being the captain of the 20th century's first league and cup double winning team in 1961.
Around the time of Blanchflower's departure, a young centre-forward called Tommy Taylor broke into the Barnsley team, scoring 26 goals in 44 games for Barnsley. In April 1953, he became one of the most expensive players in English football at the time when Matt Busby signed him for Manchester United for a fee of £29,999. Taylor went on to be a prolific goalscorer at the highest level over the next five years, winning two league titles and scoring 16 times in 19 appearances for the England national football team, before losing his life in the Munich air disaster in February 1958; when the Northern and Southern sections of the Third Division were replaced by national Third and Fourth Divisions for the 1958–59 season, Barnsley were still in the Second Division, but went down to the Third Division at the end of that season. In 1965, Barnsley were relegated to the Football League Fourth Division for the first time, winning promotion three years later, they went down to the Fourth Division again in 1972, this time stayed down for seven seasons returning to the Third Div
NAC Breda
NAC Breda simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon'Rat' Verlegh, they are known by the fierce and fanatic support of their fans. In their history, NAC won one national title in 1921 and won one Cup in 1973. NAC was founded on 19 September 1912, when the two clubs NOAD merged to one club. NOAD is a Dutch abbreviation for Nooit Opgeven, Altijd Doorzetten, while ADVENDO is a Dutch abbreviation for Aangenaam Door Vermaak En Nuttig Door Ontspanning, the C stands for Combinatie; the full name of NAC Breda expands to Nooit opgeven altijd doorzetten, Aangenaam door vermaak en nuttig door ontspanning, Combinatie Breda. Early in 2003 NAC added, as a symbol of gratitude, Breda to their club name, after the City of Breda bought NAC's Rat Verleghstadium to help the club to cope with financial problems. In 2012 Stefaan Eskes succeeded Ed Busselaar and in August 2012 NAC Breda reinstated their first logo as the new club logo for the 2012–13 season.
NAC Breda was founded on September 1912 when the two clubs ADVENDO and NOAD merged to one club. During the new club's foundation meeting the atmosphere became tense, since NOAD wanted to name the new club NOAD; this name was not acceptable to ADVENDO and Frans Konert proposed to call the club NAC, accepted by the meeting's attendants. At first, the NVB refused to let NAC play association football, but on October 28 1912 allowed NAC to play in the 2nd Southern Division; the first years weren't that well for NAC, but when NAC moved to a new stadium ‘t Ploegske the results improved. NAC became one of the topteams in the highest Southern Division. In 1919 NAC became champion of this competition and was allowed to play the Dutch Champions’ Competition. During this competition NAC finished in the last place. In 1920, NAC was one of the first clubs to play international matches. NAC played a couple of friendly matches, including a match against Real Madrid CF. NAC won this match with 0–4 and the Spanish newspapers called NAC ‘Los muchacos del Breda, maestros del futbol’.
In 1921, NAC celebrated one of its greatest achievements. In the Dutch Championship competition, NAC defeated Be Quick 1887 and Go Ahead. NAC continued to play soccer on a high level and in the twenties and thirties NAC was considered to be one of the best clubs in Dutch football. During this period NAC won 6 Southern Division titles and the football was deemed technically perfect by press and public; because of this view, the NAC board decided to hire a professional trainer. Englishman Ben Affleck was hired as a coach and was a couple of months succeeded by James Moore; when Moore resigned, the NAC board issued a committee, who would select the best 11 NAC players to play a match. In 1931 Antoon Verlegh retired from football. Verlegh, nowadays a club icon for NAC, played for NAC since its foundation. In this year, NAC had a dispute with the City of Breda; the stadium's terrain ‘t Ploegske was zoned as a residential area and NAC had to leave these grounds. Because no other option was available in Breda, NAC were forced to move to the town Princenhage.
Within two months a complete new stadium, with a capacity of 5,500 people, was built and NAC left Breda. In 1935 NAC was the first club in the Netherlands to travel by airplane to an away match against GVAV. In 1939, NAC and the City of Breda reopened discussions; the city's council zoned a large piece of land at the Beatrixstraat as stadium area and NAC returned to Breda in 1940. Because of the breakout of the Second World War, NAC decided to play an important social function in Breda's community. In order to divert the people's attention from war, NAC organized sport events, theatre and horsing games. Although NAC remained to play football, several players were employed by the Germans in Germany. During the Second World War, youngster Kees Rijvers made his debut for NAC. After the Second World War, NAC played in the highest level. In 1949 Chairman of Honour C. J. Asselbergs died. Asselbergs was one of the people. In 1954 professional football was introduced in the Netherlands; the running competitions were postponed and new competitions were created.
NAC entered the 1A League and became champions of this league in 1955. In the championship competition NAC finished second place, behind their rivals Willem II Tilburg. On March 14, 1960 Breda was shocked to hear the death of Antoon ‘De Rat’ Verlegh. Verlegh, considered to be one of the important persons in Dutch football, died in a car accident on March 12. From NAC's foundation in 1912, Verlegh was involved in the club at numerous positions and played an important role with the Royal Dutch Football Association. In November 1961 NAC lost another important person. A year in August 1962, chairman Le Fevre died; the beginning of the sixties were not bright for NAC. In 1964–1965 NAC relegated for the first time in its exist
Ghana national football team
The Ghana national football team represents Ghana in international association football and has done so since the 1950s. The team is nicknamed the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in the flag of Ghana, it is administered by the Ghana Football Association, the governing body for football in Ghana and the oldest football association in Africa. Prior to 1957, the team played as the Gold Coast. Although the team qualified for the senior FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2006, they had qualified for four Olympic Games Football Tournaments when the tournament was still a full senior national team competition; the team has been runner-up five times. After going through 2005 unbeaten, the Ghana national football team won the FIFA Best Mover of the Year Award and reached the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, they became only the third African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, in 2014 they competed in their third consecutive World Cup.
The Gold Coast Football Association was founded in 1920, succeeded by the Ghana Football Association in 1957, which affiliated to Confederation of African Football and FIFA the following year. On 19 August 1962 at the Accra Sports Stadium, the Black Stars played Spanish giants Real Madrid, who were at the time Spanish champions, former European champions and intercontinental champions, drew 3–3. Charles Kumi Gyamfi became coach in 1961, the Black Stars won successive African Cup of Nations titles, in 1963 and 1965, achieved their record win, 13–2 away to Kenya, shortly after the second of these, they reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1–0 on each occasion, to DR Congo and Sudan respectively. Their domination of this tournament earned the Black Stars team the nicknames of "the Black Stars of West Africa" and "the Black Stars of Africa" in the 1960s; the team had no success in FIFA World Cup qualification during this era, failed to qualify for three successive African Cup of Nations in the 1970s, but qualified for the Olympic Games football tournaments, becoming the first team from sub-Saharan Africa to qualify for the Games, reaching the quarter-finals in 1964 and withdrawing on political grounds in 1976 winning the 1982 African cup of nations.
After three failures to reach the tournament final, the 1992 African Cup of Nations saw the Black Stars finish second. Prior to the year 2000, disharmony among the squad which led to parliamentary and executive intervention to settle issues between two squad members, Abedi Pele and Anthony Yeboah in the late 1990s, may have played some part in the failure of the team to build on the successes of the national underage teams in the late 1990s, but a new generation of Black Stars players who went to the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship final became the core of the team at the 2002 African Cup of Nations, were undefeated for a year in 2005 and reached the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the first time the team had reached the global stage of the tournament; the Black Stars started by succumbing to a 2–0 defeat to eventual champions Italy, but wins over the Czech Republic and the United States saw them through to the second round, where they lost 3–0 to Brazil. In 2008, Ghana reached a high ranking of 14 according to the FIFA World Rankings.
The Black Stars went on to secure a 100 percent record in their qualification campaign, winning the group and becoming the first African team to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In the final tournament, the team competed in Group D with Germany and Australia. Ghana reached the round of 16 where they played the United States, winning 2–1 in extra time to become the third African nation to reach the World Cup quarter-finals; the team lost to Uruguay in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals, having missed a penalty kick in extra time after a certain goal was prevented by Luis Suárez's deliberate handball, shown a red card for his actions. In 2013 Ghana became the only team in Africa to reach four consecutive semi-finals of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations twice, from 1963 and 1970 and from 2008 and 2013. Ghana was sufficiently ranked by FIFA to start their qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in the Second round, they won the group, in the following round qualified for the 2014 World Cup finals in November 2013, beating Egypt 7–3 on aggregate in a two-legged play-off.
Ghana was drawn in Group G for the finals, where they faced Germany and the United States. The World Cup finals ended up in disappointment as Ghana exited in the group stages with issues of poor planning and payment bonuses being blamed for the poor performance, although they did manage a 2–2 draw with Germany, who ended up winning the competition; the black star is present on the Flag of Ghana and national coat of arms in the centre of the national crest. Adopted following the independence of Ghana in 1957, the black star has always been included in its kits; the Black Stars' kits were sponsored by Puma SE from 2005, with the deal ending in 2014. The Black Star kit is used instead of the original gold and red coloured football kit based on the colours of the Ghana national flag; the Black Stars have used an all-white and black football kit, worn from the years 1957 to 1989 and again from 2006 until December 2014. Between 1990 and 2006 the Ghana national football team used the kit in the colours of the national flag of Ghana, with gold and red used extensively, as in the team's crest and known as the Pan-African colours.
The gold with green and red kit concept and design was a
RKC Waalwijk
RKC Waalwijk is a football club playing in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. Its name is derived from'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' and was established as a merger of HEC, WVB and Hercules; the club was used to play its home games at Sportpark Olympia. Its new stadium, the 7500 seater Mandemakers Stadion was opened in 1996 and featured the home match against Roda JC. While considered one of the Eredivisie's smaller clubs, it maintained its top flight status for many years, its home colors are blue. At the end of the 2006–07 season, RKC Waalwijk were relegated from the Eredivisie after a defeat in play-offs against VVV-Venlo. On 3 June 2009 they were promoted to the Eredivisie division after a win in the play-offs against De Graafschap. Though, their spell didn't last long ending in the last place with only 15 points. In the season followed they would finish first in the Eerste Divisie promoting back in the top flight of Dutch football. After another relegation at the end of the 2013-14 season, RKC Waalwijk finished 20th in the 2014-15 season of Eerste Divisie.
However, they didn't relegate to Topklasse because both of the two Topklasse champions declined promotion into professionalism. In 2016-17, they made the Eerste Divisie playoffs. Below is a table with RKC's domestic results since the introduction of professional football in 1984. Group = group game 1R = first round 2R = second round 3R = third round 1/8 = 1/8 final As of 1 February 2019Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Eerste Divisie: 1987-88, 2010-11 Dutch football league teams Official website
