1.
Solna Municipality
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Solna Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in south-east Sweden, located just north of the Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area, the municipality is a part of Metropolitan Stockholm. None of the area is considered rural, which is unusual for Swedish municipalities, Solna is the third smallest municipality in Sweden in terms of area. There are two parishes in Solna Municipality, Råsunda and Solna, Solna is divided into eight traditional parts with no administrative functions, Bergshamra, Haga, Hagalund, Huvudsta, Järva, Råsunda, Skytteholm and Ulriksdal. The largest districts are Råsunda, Hagalund and Huvudsta, with the Solna Centrum in between them, the final matches of both the 1958 FIFA World Cup and the 1995 FIFA Womens World Cup were played at Råsunda Stadium, the national football stadium from 1937 to 2012. Solna has very low tax rates and has attracted a range of companies and authorities. Among the most important employers are the medical university Karolinska Institutet, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute are also located in Solna. As with all 290 municipalities of Sweden, Solna has a municipal assembly, an executive committee is appointed by its members. It was served by trams until 1959, trams returned after 54 years of absence when Tvärbanan was extended from Alvik to Solna centrum. A further extension will be opened in 2014, skanska has its head office in Solna. NextJet has its office in Solna. Mall of Scandinavia has opened in November 2015 and is located in Solna, the head office of Scandinavian Airlines and SAS Group is located in Solna. The airline head office was located on the property of Stockholm Arlanda Airport in Sigtuna Municipality. Haga Park, part of the Royal National City Park, was initiated by king Gustav III, the city features three of Swedens royal palaces. Friends Arena, the Swedish national arena of association football, the Solna Church was constructed in the 12th century. For defensive purposes, it was built as a round church, the following football clubs are located in Solna, AIK Blue Hill KF Råsunda IS Vasalunds IF Solna Gymnasium is the senior high school/sixth form college of Solna
2.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
3.
Sweden national football team
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The Sweden national football team represents Sweden in association football and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body for football in Sweden. Swedens home ground is Friends Arena in the Stockholm urban area, Sweden made their first World Cup appearance in 1934. Sweden has made eleven World Cup appearances and five appearances in the European Championships and they finished second in the 1958 FIFA World Cup, and third in both 1950 and 1994. Swedens accomplishments also include a medal in the 1948 Summer Olympics. They reached the semi-finals in UEFA Euro 1992, Sweden has traditionally been a strong team in international football, with 11 World Cup appearances and 3 medals in the Olympics. The Swedish team finished second in the 1958 World Cup, when it was the host team, Sweden has also finished third twice, in 1950 and 1994. Sweden played its first international game against Norway on 12 July 1908, other matches in 1908 were played agaisnt England, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, Sweden lost all five matches. In the same year, Sweden competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics for the first time, Sweden, however, lost a game in the Olympics against the Great Britain 1–12, the biggest loss in the Swedish national teams history. In 1916, Sweden defeated Denmark for the first time, Sweden played in the 1912 Olympics, the 1920 Olympics, and in the 1924 Olympics, where Sweden took the bronze and their first medal ever. The 1938 World Cup was Swedens second qualification for the World Cup, in the first round, they were scheduled to play against Austria, but after Germanys occupation of Austria, the Austrian team could not continue playing in the tournament. Instead, Sweden went straight to the match against Cuba. They beat Cuba 8–0 with both Harry Andersson and Gustav Wetterström scoring hat-tricks, in the semi-final match against Hungary, Sweden lost 1–5. Swedens next match was the match against Brazil. In that game the Swedes lost 2–4, and ended in fourth place for the first, in the first round, Sweden played against Austria. The Austrian team had qualified without their professional players, which was a surprise since the Austrian league had many players who were allowed to play in the tournament. The match was played at White Hart Lane in London and Sweden won 3–0, in the second game, Sweden played against Korea and won 12–0, one of the two largest margin wins Sweden has ever had. In the semi-final Sweden met their archrivals from Denmark beating them 4–2, the final was played at legendary Wembley Stadium in London. The attendance was around 40,000 people which was high for a game in those days
4.
Friends Arena
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Friends Arena is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of Stockholm City Centre. Since its opening it has served as Swedens national stadium for football, the main tenants of the stadium are Swedens national football team and Allsvenskan football club AIK, both relocated from their previous home at the Råsunda Stadium. The venue has a capacity of 65,000 at concerts and 50,000 seated at football matches. Friends Arena is the largest football stadium, and indoor venue and it was calculated to cost around 1.9 billion kronor to complete. The estimated cost before construction had begun was 2.3 billion kronor and it replaced Råsunda Stadium, Swedens former national arena for football. Råsunda will be torn down and will be the first stadium that hosted a FIFA World Cup in history to be removed, blocks of 700 flats and office buildings will be erected on the site. Swedbank acquired the rights to the new stadium in a 153 million kronor deal that will last until 2023. As such, the stadium was renamed Friends Arena, on 22 August 2012, Friends Arena unveiled the plans for the opening ceremony which took place on 27 October 2012. The theme for the show was Swedish Moments and it was directed by Colin Nutley, the stadium has a retractable roof, enabling events to take place during the winter season and to host indoor entertainment shows. The facade of the arena can be lit up in 17 million different color schemes, for example, the stadium is lit up in blue and yellow when Swedens national team is playing matches. Friends Arena is a UEFA Category 4 stadium, and the natural turf pitch measures 105 x 68 metres, in the middle of the stadium roof, a 240 square metres big media cube is placed where the attendance can follow what is happening. In addition,647 LED-screens are installed throughout the facility to enhance the guest experience, crown Princess Victoria of Sweden declared Friends Arena inaugurated at the opening ceremony which took place in the venue at 27 October 2012. The show, directed by famous Swedish director Colin Nutley, was entitled Svenska Ögonblick, artists like Agnes Carlsson, The Hives, Icona Pop, Loreen, First Aid Kit and Roxette performed in front of a crowd of 46,000 people. Furthermore,1,700,000 TV viewers watched the show live at SVT1. Swedish House Mafia made three acclaimed concerts during their One Last Tour in the arena, a total of approximately 115,000 people visited Friends Arena during the three sold-out concerts in November 2012. At 14 November 2012, the stadium hosted its first football game, zlatan Ibrahimović scored the first goal at Swedens new national stadium in the 4–2 victory against England. The game was seen by 49,967 people, which is the current attendance record for a sport event. A spectacular new record for Swedish bandy was set at the 2013 Swedish Bandy Championship Final, AIK played their first competitive football match at April 7,2013
5.
Football at the 1912 Summer Olympics
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Football at the 1912 Summer Olympics was one of the 102 events at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. It was the time that football was on the Olympic schedule. The tournament was contested between 11 nations, all of them from Europe, with Great Britain winning the gold medals, replicating the 1908 tournament, Denmark won silver medals and the Netherlands won bronze medals. Just as the Football Association had organised the 1908 Olympic football competition in London, the games took place in three different stadiums from June 29 to July 5,1912. The database of the International Olympic Committee lists only the players as medalists for each nation. The following list contains these eleven players, as well as all players who made at least one appearance for their team during the tournament. The tournament attracted a record 11 entries, all of them from Europe, france and Belgium withdrew from the event shortly before the draw. The entry of Bohemia was not accepted, because only nations and associations affiliated to the FIFA were allowed to enter teams, the Football Association entered a Great Britain national amateur team to represent Great Britain. In the first round of the tournament, the hosts from Sweden went out in the match against the Netherlands. Fighting back from a 1-3 deficit with half an hour to go, at Tranebergs Idrottsplats, Austrian football pioneer Hugo Meisl was the referee as Finland beat Italy also in extra time. In the second round, Finland won again, this time beating Russia, by this stage, the Great Britain team entered the contest, drawn to play against Hungary at Olympiastadion. Great Britain was captained by Vivian Woodward, a record-scoring centre-forward from Chelsea, led by forward Harold Walden, who scored six goals, Great Britain convincingly defeated Hungary with 7-0. In the semi-final round, Walden scored all four goals, as Great Britain defeated Finland 4-0, in the other semi-final Denmark beat the Netherlands 4-1, the Dutch consolation goal put behind goalkeeper Sophus Hansen by Danish defender Harald Hansen. With no rule allowing substitutions, Denmark played with one less from the 30th minute of the game. A consolation tournament run, conjunctively, with the tournament proper paired the losers of the first and second rounds, german player Gottfried Fuchs equalled the record for most goals in an international with 10 goals for Germany against Russia, a record that stood until 2001
6.
1912 Summer Olympics
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The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 22 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,408 competitors, including 48 women, with the exception of tennis and football and shooting, the games were held within a month with an official opening on 6 July. It was the last Olympics to issue solid gold medals and, with Japans debut, Stockholm was the only bid for the games, and was selected in 1909. The games were the first to have art competitions, womens diving, womens swimming, electric timing was introduced in athletics, while the host country disallowed boxing. Figure skating was rejected by the organizers because they wanted to promote the Nordic Games, United States won the most gold medals, while Sweden won the most medals overall. Following the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, the authorities in Sweden immediately sought to ensure that the games would be held there. There were two Swedish members of the International Olympic Committee at the time, Viktor Balck and Clarence von Rosen, the pair proposed to the Swedish governing bodies of athletics and gymnastics in order to ensure that they backed any potential bid. Support was given by the associations on 18 April 1909 for a bid to host the Olympics in Stockholm on the basis that suitable financial arrangements could be made. King Gustaf V was petitioned on 6 May 1909 following the publication of plans for the Stockholm bid that the expected cost of hosting the Games would be 415,000 kronor. The Government accepted the petition on behalf of the King and supported the bid, on 28 May, at the meeting of the IOC in Berlin, the Swedish representatives declared that they had full financial support for hosting the next Games in Stockholm. A deal was made with the German IOC representative on the basis that Berlin would host the 1916 Summer Olympics. Pierre de Coubertin spoke at the meeting about his concerns that Sweden should ensure that the Games take place, the Games were duly awarded to Sweden to host in Stockholm as the only nominated host city for the 1912 Summer Olympics. The news that Stockholm was to host the 1912 Olympics was received with enthusiasm by the Swedish public, the organizing committee took de Coubertins words to heart, and aimed to achieve an Olympic Games which removed those elements which detracted from earlier Games. The committee was elected in the autumn of 1909, with Balck voted as the President of the committee, the committees first meeting took place on 7 October, and on 11 October they delegated the arrangements for the individual branches of sports to the relevant governing bodies in Sweden. Altogether there were 187 members of these committees, the official invitation to compete in the Games was issued on 18 November 1910 to 27 countries, either directly or through their representative on the IOC. A further 15 countries were to have been invited, but as they had no IOC representatives, once the organizing committee for the Games received confirmation of the athletic associations in each of the 15 countries, they too were sent invitations. Some 61,800 entry forms were printed for the use of the various nations, free transport was arranged for the invited nations equipment, and a discount of 50 percent was arranged for competitors and delegates on the state run railway. A daily newspaper which covered the Olympics was arranged to be published during the Games
7.
Germany national football team
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The Germany national football team is the mens football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association, founded in 1900, ever since the DFB was reinaugurated in 1949 the team has represented the Federal Republic of Germany. Both have been absorbed along with their records by the current national team, the official name and code Germany FR was shortened to Germany following the reunification in 1990. Germany is one of the most successful teams in international competitions, having won a total of four World Cups. They have also been three times in the European Championships, four times in the World Cup, and a further four third-place finishes at World Cups. East Germany won Olympic Gold in 1976, Germany is the only nation to have won both the mens and womens World Cups. At the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Germany earned the highest Elo rating of any football team in history. Germany is also the only European nation that has won a FIFA World Cup in the Americas, the current manager of the national team is Joachim Löw. Germanys first championship title was won in Switzerland. At that time the players were selected by the DFB, as there was no dedicated coach, the first manager of the Germany national team was Otto Nerz, a school teacher from Mannheim, who served in the role from 1926 to 1936. After a poor showing at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, in 1937 he put together a squad which was soon nicknamed the Breslau Elf in recognition of their 8–0 win over Denmark in the then German city of Breslau, Lower Silesia. In the 1938 World Cup that began on 4 June, this united German team managed only a 1–1 draw against Switzerland and that early exit stands as Germanys worst World Cup result. During World War II, the team played over 30 international games between September 1939 and November 1942, when national team games were suspended, as most players had to join the armed forces. After the Second World War, Germany was banned from competition in most sports until 1950, the DFB was not a full member of FIFA, and none of the three new German states — West Germany, East Germany, and Saarland — entered the 1950 World Cup qualifiers. The Federal Republic of Germany, which was referred to as West Germany, with recognition by FIFA and UEFA, the DFB maintained and continued the record of the pre-war team. Switzerland was once again the first team that played West Germany in 1950, West Germany qualified for the 1954 World Cup. The Saarland, under French control between 1947 and 1956, did not join French organisations, and was barred from participating in pan-German ones and it sent their own team to the 1952 Summer Olympics and to the 1954 World Cup qualifiers. In 1957, Saarland acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1949, the communist German Democratic Republic was founded
8.
FIFA World Cup
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The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is Germany, which won its title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. 32 teams, including the qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about a month. The 20 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national teams, Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The worlds first international match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the edition of the British Home Championship. After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906 and these were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition, planned by The Football Association, Englands football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain won the gold medals and they repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm. With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between clubs from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. Lipton invited West Auckland, a side from County Durham. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title, in 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a world football championship for amateurs, and took responsibility for managing the event. This paved the way for the worlds first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928. Those were also the first two world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFAs professional era. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a championship itself. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, in total,13 nations took part, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America
9.
1958 FIFA World Cup
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The 1958 FIFA World Cup, the sixth staging of the World Cup, was hosted by Sweden from 8 to 29 June. The tournament was won by Brazil, who beat Sweden 5–2 in the final for their first title, the tournament is also notable for marking the debut on the world stage of a then largely unknown 17-year-old Pelé. Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Sweden expressed interest in hosting the tournament, swedish delegates lobbied other countries at the FIFA Congress held in Rio de Janeiro around the opening of the 1950 World Cup finals. Sweden was awarded the 1958 tournament unopposed on 23 June 1950, the hosts and the defending champions qualified automatically. Of the remaining 14 places, nine were allocated to Europe, FIFA had imposed a rule that no team would qualify without playing at least one match, something that had happened in several previous World Cups. Wales won the play-off and qualified, on 8 February 1958, in Solna, Lennart Hyland and Sven Jerring presented the results of the draw where the qualified teams were divided into four groups. It also marked the debuts of the Soviet Union and Northern Ireland, Argentina appeared for the first time since 1934. This would be Paraguays last finals appearance until 1986, Northern Irelands last until 1982 and this FIFA World Cup finals remains the only occasion on which Italy failed to qualify. Other teams that failed to qualify included Uruguay, Spain and Belgium, two points were awarded for a win and one point for a draw. If the first two teams finished on equal points then goal average would decide who was placed first and second, as in 1954, if the second and third placed teams finished on the same points, then there would be a play-off with the winner going through. If a play-off resulted in a draw, goal average from the games would be used to determine who went through to the next round. If the goal averages were equal then lots would have been drawn and these arrangements had not been finalised by the time the tournament started and were still being debated as it progressed. This was the first time that goal average was available to teams in a World Cup. It was used to separate the teams finishing first and second in one of the groups, however all three playoffs finished with decisive results and so it was not needed to separate the teams involved in a tied playoff. Almost all the matches kicked off simultaneously in each of the three rounds of the phase, as did the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The exceptions were Swedens three group matches, all of which were televised by Sveriges Radio, these started at other times so Swedes could attend other matches without missing their own teams. Apart from these, one match per round was televised, many Swedes bought their first television for the World Cup. The official ball was the Top-Star VMbollen 1958 model made by Sydsvenska Läder & Remfabriks AB in Ängelholm and it was chosen from 102 candidates in a blind test by four FIFA officials
10.
Rose Bowl (stadium)
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The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, just outside Los Angeles. At a modern capacity of a configuration at 88,500 the Rose Bowl is the 17th-largest stadium in the world, the 11th-largest stadium in the United States. One of the most famous stadiums in sporting history, the Rose Bowl is best known as an American football venue, since 1982, the stadium has also served as the home stadium of the UCLA Bruins football team. The stadium has hosted five Super Bowl games, second most of any venue. UCLA and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses also have one member on the company board, the game now known as the Rose Bowl Game was played at Tournament Park until 1922. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, the organizer, realized the temporary stands were inadequate for a crowd of more than 40,000. The stadium was designed by architect Myron Hunt in 1921 and his design was influenced by the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, which was built in 1913 and opened in 1914. The Arroyo Seco was selected as the location for the stadium, the Rose Bowl was under construction from 1921 to 1922. The nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum also was under construction during this time, originally built as a horseshoe, the stadium was expanded several times. The southern stands were completed in 1928, making the stadium a complete bowl, the stadium is extremely hard to get to due to the traffic caused by single-lane residential street access. The stadium has no dedicated parking lot for visitors and parking issues have routinely caused visitors to two to three hours completing the last mile to the stadium on game days. In 2016, Rose Bowl contracted ParkJockey to streamline parking in, there are also shuttles to help visitors get to the stadium and mobile lights powered by generators to provide visibility for people walking on the golf course at night. The first game was a regular season contest on October 28,1922 when Cal defeated USC 12–0 and this was the only loss for USC and California finished the season undefeated. California declined the invitation to the 1923 Rose Bowl game and USC went in their place, the stadium was dedicated officially on January 1,1923 when USC defeated Penn State 14–3. The stadium seating has been reconfigured several times since its construction in 1922, the South end was filled in to complete the bowl and more seats have been added. The original wooden benches were replaced by aluminum benches in 1969, All new grandstand and loge seats had been installed since 1971. New red seat backs had been added on 22,000 seats prior to the 1980 Rose Bowl, a Rose Bowl improvement was conducted because of UCLAs 1982 move and the 1984 Summer Olympics. This resulted in new seat backs for 50,000 seats, for many years, the Rose Bowl had the largest football stadium capacity in the United States, eventually being surpassed by Michigan Stadium
Media related to Råsunda Stadium at Wikimedia Commons
