1.
UEFA
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The Union of European Football Associations is the administrative body for association football in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world footballs governing body FIFA, UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Until 1959 the main headquarters were located in Paris, and later in Bern, in 1995, UEFA headquarters were transferred to Nyon, Switzerland. Henri Delaunay was the first general secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the first president, UEFA was founded on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. The European football union began with 25 members, that number doubled by the early 1990s, UEFA membership coincides for the most part with recognition as a sovereign country in Europe, although there are some exceptions. Some UEFA members are not sovereign states, but form part of a recognized sovereign state in the context of international law. Some UEFA members are transcontinental states, countries which had been members of the Asian Football Confederation were also admitted to the European football association, particularly Israel and Kazakhstan. Additionally some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their associations main territory to take part in their domestic competition, saarland Football Union 1954–1956 German football association of the German Democratic Republic 1954–1990 Football Federation of the Soviet Union 1954–1991, in 1992 became Russian Football Union. The newly independent 14 Soviet Republics created their own football associations, Football Association of Yugoslavia 1954–1992, became Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia became independent, Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro 1992–2006, became Football Association of Serbia. Montenegro, which became independent, created its own football association, the main competition for mens national teams is the UEFA European Football Championship, started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960, and known as the European Nations Cup until 1964. It is also called UEFA or the EURO, UEFA also runs national competitions at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For womens national teams, UEFA operates the UEFA Womens Championship for senior sides as well as Womens Under-19. UEFA also organized the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup with CAF for youth teams in an effort to boost youth football, UEFA launched the UEFA Regions Cup, for semi-professional teams representing their local region, in 1999. In futsal there is the UEFA Futsal Championship and UEFA Futsal Under-21 Championship, the Italian, German, Spanish and French mens national teams are the sole teams to have won the European football championship in all categories. A second, lower-ranked competition is the UEFA Europa League and this competition, for national knockout cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by UEFA in 1971 as a successor of both the former UEFA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. A third competition, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, which had started in 1960, was absorbed into the UEFA Cup in 1999, in womens football UEFA also conducts the UEFA Womens Champions League for club teams. The competition was first held in 2001, and known as the UEFA Womens Cup until 2009, the UEFA Super Cup pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the Europa League, and came into being in 1973
2.
Cosmin Contra
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Cosmin Marius Contra is a Romanian retired footballer who played mainly as a right back, and the current manager of FC Dinamo București. Offensive-minded, he could appear as a midfielder, and played professionally in four countries, mainly in Spain where he appeared for mainly Getafe. He amassed totals in the competition of 188 games and eight goals over the course of one decade, also playing with Alavés. A Romanian international for nearly 15 years, Contra represented the nation in two European Championships, born in Timişoara, Contra started his professional career at local FC Politehnica, and moved in January 1996 to arch-rivals FC Dinamo Bucureşti. After three-and-a-half seasons with the team, he was transferred for $800. In the 2001 summer, Contra moved to Italian giants A. C. Milan, Contra signed for West Bromwich Albion on loan in August 2004, making his debut in a 1–2 defeat at Colchester United for the campaigns Football League Cup on 21 September. His maiden Premier League appearance occurred almost two months later, when they lost 2–1 at home against Middlesbrough. Overall, the loan was not particularly successful, with Contra playing just six games and receiving a red card in the last game of his spell, a 0–5 home defeat to Liverpool. He then returned to his country and Liga I, at the club brought him up as a player, Politehnica Timisoara. Contra returned to Spain in August 2005, agreeing to a loan with Getafe CF which was subsequently made permanent. He was used regularly by the Madrid outskirts side, battling for a slot with David Cortés. In the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, Contra netted in both legs of the bout against FC Bayern Munich, which ended in a 4–4 aggregate elimination after extra time. In late January 2010, after being ousted from the starting XI by manager Míchel, Contra left Getafe and returned to his country, rejoining hometowns FC Timișoara initially until June. On 26 February 2010 he made his debut in his spell for the club. Two months later, against FC Steaua Bucureşti, he found the net from two set pieces, one from a penalty kick, during his second stint, he played mainly as a central midfielder. On 29 August 2010, Contra scored again from a kick and again against Steaua. His contract expired the day, and on 9 September he agreed to a new deal with the club. Over 14 years, Contra earned 73 caps for Romania, scoring 11 goals and he appeared for his country at UEFA Euro 2000 and 2008
3.
Captain (association football)
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The team captain is usually identified by the wearing of an armband. The only official responsibility of a captain specified by the Laws of the Game is to participate in the toss prior to kick-off. Contrary to what is said, captains have no special authority under the Laws to challenge a decision by the referee. However, referees may talk to the captain of a side about the general behaviour when necessary. At an award-giving ceremony after a fixture like a cup competition final, any trophy won by a team will be received by the captain who will also be the first one to hoist it. The captain also generally leads the teams out of the room at the start of the match. The captain generally provides a point for the team, if morale is low. Captains may join the manager in deciding the first team for a certain game, in youth or recreational football, the captain often takes on duties, that would, at a higher level, be delegated to the manager. A club captain is usually appointed for a season, if he is unavailable or not selected for a particular game, then the club vice-captain will be appointed to perform a similar role. The match captain is the first player to lift a trophy should the team win one, a good example of this was in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final when match captain Peter Schmeichel lifted the trophy for Manchester United as club captain Roy Keane was suspended. In the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, match captain Frank Lampard jointly lifted the trophy for Chelsea with club captain John Terry, a club may appoint two distinct roles, a club captain to represent the players in a public relations role, and correspondent on the pitch. After Neville retired in 2011, regular starter Nemanja Vidić was named as club captain, são Paulos Rogério Ceni is the player who has worn the captains armband the most times. A vice-captain is a player that is expected to captain the side when the captain is not included in the starting eleven, or if, during a game. Examples include Manuel Neuer succeeding Philipp Lahm at Bayern Munich, Marcelo attaining from Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid C. F, gary Cahill being the understudy of John Terry at Chelsea FC and Lionel Messi taking over from Andrés Iniesta at FC Barcelona. Similarly, some clubs also name a 3rd captain to take the role of captain when both the captain and vice-captain are unavailable, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Germany had three captains. Michael Ballack had skippered the team since 2004, including the successful qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. Lahm ended up becoming the permanent captain of Germany, as Ballack was never called up for the national team
4.
Cap (sport)
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In British sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a players appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in a match of association football. An early illustration of the first international match between Scotland and England in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls, and the English wearing a variety of school caps. These to be termed International Caps, the act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. Thus, a cap is awarded for each game played and so a player who has played x games, the practice of awarding a physical cap varies from sport to sport. It may be awarded prior to a debut or, particularly for national teams. As an example, the England mens association football teams still awards physical caps, Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given a cap for the competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself. In mens association football, the record belongs to former player Ahmed Hassan of Egypt, the first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of Englands Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England,90 of them he obtained whilst he was a captain, however, it is a players choice to refuse to play for or retire from his or her national team. In cricket, there are two types of caps, firstly, there is the international type, as described above. Some countries also award a domestic type generally known as a county cap, the latter system is most commonly applied in English county cricket. Most counties do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance, instead, indeed, one can play at the highest domestic level for several years, and have a quite significant career in first-class cricket, without ever winning a cap. The world record for the number of caps in Test cricket is held by Sachin Tendulkar of India, Tendulkar also holds the record for One Day Internationals, with 463 caps. In rugby union,35 players have reached 100 international caps as of 5 June 2012, Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British and Irish Lions touring squad. Lions matches are classed as full international tests, and caps are awarded, the Pacific Islanders team, composed of players from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands have a similar arrangement, although no players involved have so far reached 100 caps. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, the record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player & captain Darren Lockyer with 59 games and second place is former New Zealand Kiwis player & captain Ruben Wiki with 55 games. Players still active at Test level are in bold type, mens Records and Facts FIFA Players with 100+ Caps RSSSF Picture of International Football Cap National Museum of Scotland Gallery of International Caps and Honours Caps
5.
Dorinel Munteanu
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Dorinel Ionel Munteanu is a Romanian football manager for Zakho FC and former midfielder. He started his career playing for Metalul Bocșa, a team which offered him the first chance to play in Divizia B in 1986. After a year he went to play for FCM Reșița and then in 1988 for FC Olt, Dinamo Bucharest bought him from FC Inter Sibiu in 1991 only to sell him to Cercle Brugge two years later. After two years in Belgium, he moved to Germany to play for 1, FC Köln and VfL Wolfsburg until 2003. Dorinel won his first cap for Romania in 1991 while still at FC Inter Sibiu, since then he was a very important part of the national team of Romania, playing in various positions such as left back, left midfielder and playmaker. In 2001 he won his 100th cap in a game against Hungary in Budapest and four years later he won the 126th cap and he has a total of 134 caps. Munteanu scored 16 goals for Romania and played at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1996,1998 FIFA World Cup, scores and results list Romanias goal tally first. Score column indicates the score after the players goal, after leaving Steaua București, Munteanu is offered the position of player-manager at CFR Cluj. In this first managerial job, he took the team to the Intertoto Cup final in 2005, Munteanu had a pending offer from FC Argeș Pitești and he decided to accept it, despite the team being bottom of the first league after 10 games. Towards the end of the season, due to impossibility of avoiding the relegation of Argeș Pitești, he was sacked and he has stated that he also intends to continue his playing career at FC Vaslui. He came back as coach of FC Universitatea Cluj in September 2008. And again, after eight games, he was dismissed by the clubs president. After a short spell at Universitatea Cluj, in July 2009 he signed a contract with Oțelul Galați, in the first season under his command, the team finished eighth. The next season, Oțelul started the season with four wins in the first six games and they finished first the Autumn part of the season, and what seemed to be only a flash in the pan, became one of the biggest surprises in the Romanian football. Oțelul maintained its position throughout the Spring season and became Romanian champion for the first time in their history, Munteanu was seen as the primary factor for this success. The following season, under Munteanus guidance, Oțelul took part in the UEFA Champions League group stage, in the championship, Oțelul finished sixth and didnt qualify for the European competitions. The 2012–13 season started badly for Oțelul who won the game in the first round, against CSMS Iași, as a consequence, Dorinel Munteanu resigned. In November 2012, he was installed as a coach at Dinamo București
6.
Gheorghe Hagi
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Gheorghe Gică Hagi is a former Romanian professional footballer, considered one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s and the greatest Romanian footballer of all time. Galatasaray fans called him Comandante and Romanians call him Regele, nicknamed The Maradona of the Carpathians, Hagi is considered a hero in his homeland. He was named Romanian Footballer of the Year seven times, and is regarded as one of the best football players of his generation, as a creative advanced playmaker, he was renowned for his dribbling, technique, vision, passing and finishing. Hagi played for the Romanian national team in three World Cups in 1990,1994 and 1998, as well as in three European Football Championships in 1984,1996 and 2000. He won a total of 125 caps for Romania, ranked second after Dorinel Munteanu, in November 2003, to celebrate UEFAs Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Romania by the Romanian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. In 2004, he was named by Pelé as one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony, Hagi is one of the few footballers to have played for both Spanish rival clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona. In 2009, Hagi founded Romanian club Viitorul Constanța and he is currently both owner and chairman of the club. Hagi also established the Gheorghe Hagi football academy, one of the biggest football academies in Southeastern Europe and his son Ianis is also a footballer. Hagi was born in Săcele, Romania, from an ethnic Aromanian family, in 1982 he returned to Constanța, but one year later, aged 18, he was prepared to make the step to a top team. He was originally directed to Universitatea Craiova, but chose Sportul Studențesc of Bucharest instead, in late 1987 Hagi transferred to the Romanian team Steaua București as the team prepared for their European Super Cup final against Dynamo Kyiv. The original contract was for one only, the final. However, after winning the trophy, where Hagi scored the goal of the game, Steaua did not want to release him back to Sportul Studențesc. During his Steaua years, Hagi played 97 Liga I games and he and the team reached the European Cup semi-final in 1988 and the final in the following year, while Hagi finished as one of the competitions top scorers in the former edition of the tournament. Hagi and Steaua were the champions of Romania in 1987,1988 and 1989 and his strong performances had him linked with Arrigo Sacchis A. C. Milan and FC Bayern Munich but Nicolae Ceaușescus communist government rejected any offer. After the 1990 World Cup, he was signed by Real Madrid, the La Liga side paid $4.3 million to Steaua București for him. Hagi played two seasons with Real Madrid and then was sold to Brescia, Hagi started the season 1992–1993 with Brescia but in the first season the club was relegated to Serie B, in the next season Hagi helped Brescia Calcio win Serie B and get promoted to Serie A. After performing memorably during the 1994 World Cup, Hagi was signed by Barcelona, after two years at FC Barcelona, Hagi signed for Galatasaray. At Galatasaray, he was successful and highly popular among the Turkish supporters
7.
Adrian Mutu
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Adrian Adi Mutu is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a forward. He is currently the manager of Dinamo București. Despite his talent, his career included several setbacks, in due to two long-term suspensions for failed drugs tests. Mutu started his career in Romania playing two years for Argeș Pitești and half a year for Dinamo București, before joining Internazionale in Italy midway through the 1999–2000 Serie A. After only 10 games with the Nerazzurri, he left for Hellas Verona and then Parma and his excellent form brought him a €22.5 million transfer to Chelsea. Due to breach of contract for failing a drug test, he was released and returned to Serie A to join Juventus, after the 2006 Italian football scandal and the relegation of Juventus to Serie B, Mutu decided to join Fiorentina, where he played consistently for five years. He then had a season at Cesena and French club Ajaccio before returning to his country with Petrolul Ploiești in 2014. After two more brief spells with Pune City and ASA Târgu Mureș, Mutu retired from football in 2016. From his international debut in 2000, Mutu played 77 matches for the Romanian national team and scored 35 goals and he was included in the countrys squads at the European Championship in 2000 and 2008. A four-time winner of the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, only Gheorghe Popescu and Gheorghe Hagi have received the more times, with six. Mutu began his career with his home club Argeș Pitești. He made his debut on 15 March 1997 against Oțelul Galați, Mutu didnt spend long time playing in the Romanian capital. He scored 22 goals in 33 games in total and played an important role in Dinamos league, however, by the time that Dinamo lifted these trophies, Mutu had already left to play for Internazionale. C. Milan to help Inter to a 3–2 victory, however, Mutu failed to replicate his form in Serie A, playing only ten games for the Nerazzurri without scoring, partially due to 3+2 non-EU quota. In 2000, Mutu was sold to Verona in co-ownership deal, the Veneto side has also signed Mauro Camoranesi and young rising star Alberto Gilardino that season, but narrowly avoided relegation through winning the relegation tie-breaker playoffs. In June 2001, Verona bought Mutu outright, for 5,100 million lire, the quota system was abolished during the season. In the 2002–03 season, Mutu was loaned to Parma with the option to purchase him outright, following Gilardino, at Parma, he met coach Cesare Prandelli and partnered Adriano Leite Ribeiro to form a deadly striking duo. He also met Sébastien Frey, Marco Marchionni and Alberto Gilardino who all played for Fiorentina
8.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
9.
FIFA World Rankings
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The rankings were introduced in December 1992, and eight teams have held the top position, of which Brazil have spent longest ranked first. A points system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of all FIFA-recognised full international matches, the ranking system was most recently revamped after the 2006 World Cup, with the first edition of the new series of rankings issued on 12 July 2006. The most significant change is that the rankings are now based on results over the four years instead of the previous eight years. Alternative systems have been devised, such as the World Football Elo Ratings, based on the Elo rating system used in chess and Go, ranking teams. In December 1992, FIFA first published a listing in order of its member associations to provide a basis for comparison of the relative strengths of these teams. From the following August, this list was more frequently updated, significant changes were implemented in January 1999 and again in July 2006, as a reaction to criticisms of the system. Membership of FIFA has expanded from 167 to 209 since the rankings began, the ranking formula used from August 1993 until December 1998 was very simplistic and quickly became noticed for its lack of supporting factors. When the rankings were introduced, a team received one point for a draw or three for a victory in FIFA-recognised matches – much the same as a traditional league scoring system. This was a simplistic approach, however, and FIFA quickly realised that there were many factors affecting international matches. In order to meet the objective of fairly and accurately comparing the strengths of various national sides. In January 1999, FIFA introduced a system of ranking calculation. For the ranking all matches, their scores and importance were all recorded, only matches for the senior mens national team were included. Separate ranking systems were used for other national sides such as womens and junior teams. The womens rankings were, and still are, based on a procedure which is a version of the Football Elo Ratings. FIFA announced that the system would be updated following the 2006 World Cup. The evaluation period was cut from eight to four years, goals scored and home or away advantage are no longer taken into account, and other aspects of the calculations, including the importance attributed to different types of match, have been revised. The first set of revised rankings and the methodology were announced on 12 July 2006. This change is rooted at least in part in widespread criticism of the ranking system
10.
World Football Elo Ratings
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The World Football Elo Ratings is a ranking system for mens national association football teams that is published by the website eloratings. net. It is based on the Elo rating system but includes modifications to take various football-specific variables into account, like the margin of victory, importance of a match, and home field advantage. Other implementations of the Elo rating system are possible and there is no single nor any official Elo ranking for football teams. The FIFA World Rankings, not based on the Elo method, is the national teams rating system used by the international governing body of football and is therefore more prevalent. The ratings consider all international A matches for which results could be found, Ratings tend to converge on a teams true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches. Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional, the FIFA Womens World Rankings system uses a modified version of the Elo formula whereas the FIFA mens ranking system uses a non-Elo formula. The following table shows the top 100 teams in the World Football Elo Ratings on 29 March 2017, each national teams FIFA World Rankings are shown as they were in the latest release on 6 April 2017. Time averaged Elo or Elo-like scores are used to compare chess player strengths. The following is a list of the teams with the highest average Elo score from 1 January 1970 to 1 January 2017. Before this time intercontinental play was limited and many nations in Africa, North America. The team in each confederation that has achieved the highest rank is shown in color, the following is a list of national football teams ranked by their highest Elo ranking ever reached. Note that for the highest ranking/rating of a football team the Elo ratings website ignores the ranking/rating before 30 matches have been played. The table below shows the teams with the best average Elo score per decade, a list of the 16 matches between teams with the highest combined Elo ratings. A list of the matches with the biggest point exchange, the nations points before the matches are given. In 1997 Bob Runyan adapted the Elo rating system to international football and he was also the first maintainer of the World Football Elo Ratings web site, now maintained by Kirill Bulygin. The Elo system was adapted for football by adding a weighting for the kind of match, an adjustment for the home advantage. Ratings tend to converge on a teams true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 matches, Ratings for teams with fewer than 30 matches should be considered provisional. There is no first step as in the FIFA system where a team receives points for the result
11.
Yugoslavia national football team
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The Yugoslavia national football team represented the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in association football. It enjoyed success in international competition, in 1992, during the Yugoslav wars, the team was suspended from international competition as part of a United Nations sanction. In 1994, when the boycott was lifted, it was succeeded by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia national football team, Serbia national football team inherited Yugoslavias spot within FIFA and UEFA and is considered by both organisations as the only successor of Yugoslavia. The first national team was in the kingdom, that existed between the two world wars and they lost by a huge margin 0–7, but nonetheless got their names in the history books. In 1929, the country was renamed to Yugoslavia and the association became Fudbalski Savez Jugoslavije. The national team participated at the 1930 FIFA World Cup, finishing in fourth place, Yugoslavia begin their football campaign by defeating Luxembourg 6–1, with five different players scoring the goals. In the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, they would take out Turkey, in the final though, they would lose to Sweden. Having a team with players from the 1948 generation, Yugoslavia was a formidable side at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Against the USSR, Yugoslavia was 5–1 up with 15 minutes of their first round match to go, the Yugoslavs, understandably, put their feet up. Arthur Ellis, the referee, recorded what happened next in his book, The Final Whistle. Bobrov, their captain, scored a magnificent hat-trick, after the USSR had reduced the lead to 5–2, he, almost single-handed, took the score to 5–5, scoring his third in the last minute. For once, use of the word sensational was justified, although Bobrovs early goal in their replay presaged a miraculous recovery, Yugoslavia recovered sufficiently to put out their opponents easily in the second half. The federation and football overall was disrupted by World War II, after the war, a socialist federation was formed and the football federation reconstituted. It was one of the members of the UEFA and it organized the 1976 European Championship played in Belgrade. The national team participated in eight World Cups, four Euros, dragan Džajić holds the record for the most national team caps at 85, between 1964 and 1979. The best scorer is Stjepan Bobek with 38 goals, between 1946 and 1956, with the end of the Cold War, democratic principles were introduced to the country which brought about the end of Titoist rule. In the subsequent atmosphere, national tensions were heightened, at the Yugoslavia-Netherlands friendly in preparation for the 1990 World Cup, the Croatian crowd in Zagreb jeered the Yugoslav team and anthem and waved Dutch flags. With the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the split up and the remaining team of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was banned from competing at Euro 92
12.
Belgrade
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Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and its name translates to White city. The urban area of the City of Belgrade has a population of 1.34 million, one of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city and it was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid-2nd century. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo and it frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841, northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars, Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006. Belgrade has an administrative status within Serbia and it is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. Its metropolitan territory is divided into 17 municipalities, each with its own local council, City of Belgrade covers 3. 6% of Serbias territory, and 22. 5% of the countrys population lives within its administrative limits. It is classified as a Beta- global city, chipped stone tools found at Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these belong to the Mousterian industry, which are associated with Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also discovered there, indicating occupation between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. The first farming people to settle in the region are associated with the Neolithic Starčevo culture, there are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo. The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture, a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements which is named for a site in the Belgrade region. Evidence of early knowledge about Belgrades geographical location comes from ancient myths, the rock overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers has been identified as one of the place in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The Paleo-Balkan tribes of Thracians and Dacians ruled this area prior to the Roman conquest, Belgrade was inhabited by a Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi, after the Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci took the city, naming it Singidūn. In 34–33 BC the Roman army led by Silanus reached Belgrade, jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, ending the brief revival of traditional Roman religions under his predecessor Julian the Apostate. In 395 AD, the passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire
13.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
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The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that existed during the interwar period and first half of World War II. It was formed in 1918 by the merger of the provisional State of Slovenes, Croats, the Kingdom of Montenegro had united with Serbia five days previously, while the regions of Kosovo, Vojvodina and Vardar Macedonia were parts of Serbia prior to the unification. For its first eleven years of existence, the Kingdom was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the official name of the state was changed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia by King Alexander I on 3 October 1929. The state was ruled by the Serbian dynasty of Karađorđević, which ruled the Kingdom of Serbia under Peter I from 1903 onwards. Peter I became the first king of Yugoslavia until his death in 1921 and he was succeeded by his son Alexander I, who had been regent for his father. He was known as Alexander the Unifier and he renamed the kingdom Yugoslavia in 1929 and he was assassinated in Marseille by Vlado Chernozemski, a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, during his visit to France in 1934. The crown passed to his then-still under-aged son Peter and his cousin Paul ruled as Prince regent until 1941, when Peter II would come of age. The royal family flew to London the same year, prior to the country being invaded by the Axis powers, in April 1941, the country was occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers. A royal government-in-exile, recognized by the United Kingdom and, later, in 1944, after pressure from the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the King recognized the government of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as the legitimate government. This was established on 2 November following the signing of the Treaty of Vis by Ivan Šubašić, Trumbić faced initial hostility from Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić, who preferred an enlarged Serbia over a unified Yugoslav state. In 1916, the Serbian Parliament in exile decided on the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at a meeting inside the Municipal Theatre of Corfu. The Kingdom was formed on 1 December 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, on 1 December 1918, the new kingdom was proclaimed by Alexander Karađorđević, Prince-Regent for his father, Peter I of Serbia. The creation of the state was supported by pan-Slavists and Serbian nationalists, for the pan-Slavic movement, all of the South Slav people had united into a single state. For Serbian nationalists, the goal of uniting the majority of the Serb population across south-eastern Europe into one state was also achieved. Furthermore, as Serbia already had a government, military, and police force, the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes participated in the Paris Peace Conference with Trumbić as the countrys representative. Almost immediately, it ran into disputes with most of its neighbours, Slovenia was difficult to determine, since it had been an integral part of Austria for 400 years. The Vojvodina region was disputed with Hungary, Macedonia with Bulgaria, a plebiscite was also held in the Province of Carinthia, which opted to remain in Austria. Austrians had formed a majority in this region although numbers reflected that some Slovenes did vote for Carinthia to become part of Austria, the Dalmatian port city of Zadar and a few of the Dalmatian islands were given to Italy
14.
Finland national football team
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The Finland national football team represents Finland in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland. Unfortunately, after a few years of bad performances, they dipped to a FIFA ranking of 101, Finland played its first international match on October 22,1911, losing to neighboring Sweden 2–5 in Helsinki. Finland also took part in European Championship qualifying since the 1968 event, the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki saw the Finnish hosts lose to Austria in the first round. Finland did, however, win the unofficial Nordic championship in 1964 and 1966, the results of the team improved somewhat in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Finland missed out on qualification for Euro 1980 by just a point, Finland was invited to take part in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow after many Western countries announced they would boycott the games, but failed to progress from its group. By the mid-1990s Finland started to have more players in high-profile European leagues, in 1996 Danish Euro 1992 winning coach Richard Møller Nielsen was hired to take Finland to the 1998 World Cup. The team enjoyed mixed fortunes in the campaign, high points of which were a draw, going into the last match, Finland would have needed a win at home to Hungary to earn a place in the play-offs. They led the game 1–0 going into injury time, but scored an own goal, Møller Nielsen also tried to lead Finland to Euro 2000. In this campaign the Finns recorded a win away to Turkey. Antti Muurinen succeeded Møller Nielsen as coach in 2000, in the end, however, England and Germany proved too strong, and the Finns finished third in the group, but were the only team in that group not to lose at home. Hopes were high going into qualification for Euro 2004 after the promising last campaign and friendly wins over the likes of Norway, Belgium, however, Finland started the campaign by losing to Wales and Yugoslavia. These losses were followed by two defeats by Italy, and a 3–0 home win over Serbia and Montenegro was little consolation, as the Finns finished fourth in the group. In qualification for the 2006 World Cup Finland failed to score a point in six matches against the top three teams in their group, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Romania. Muurinen was sacked in June 2005, and he was replaced by caretaker Jyrki Heliskoski, in August 2005, it was announced that Roy Hodgson would become the new Finland coach in 2006, and he started in the job in January of that year. Hodgson stepped down as manager after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008 and his replacement was a Scotsman, Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the 2012 European Championship qualification campaign. With this squad Finland was closer to reach the tournament stage than ever before, Finland would only have needed three more points from the Euro 2008 qualifying to reach the Euro 2008 competition. Finland was placed in Group A together with Portugal, Poland, Serbia, Belgium, Armenia, the team started the campaign very well, beating Poland 3–1 away and earning a 1–1 draw with Portugal at home. The Finns then gained four points from their difficult away ties against Armenia and Kazakhstan, drawing 0–0 with the former, on 15 November 2006, Finland beat Armenia 1–0 at home, thus remaining undefeated in the qualifying
15.
Bucharest
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Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km north of the Danube River, Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture and its architecture is a mix of historical, interbellum, communist-era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the citys elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of Little Paris. Although buildings and districts in the city centre were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic, in 2016, the historical city centre was listed as endangered by the World Monuments Watch. According to the 2011 census,1,883,425 inhabitants live within the city limits, the urban area extends beyond the limits of Bucharest proper and has a population of about 1.9 million people. Adding the satellite towns around the area, the proposed metropolitan area of Bucharest would have a population of 2.27 million people. According to Eurostat, Bucharest has an urban zone of 2,183,091 residents. According to unofficial data, the population is more than 3 million, Bucharest is the sixth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits, after London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, and Paris. Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania and is one of the industrial centres. The city has big convention facilities, educational institutes, cultural venues, traditional shopping arcades, the Romanian name București has an uncertain origin. Tradition connects the founding of Bucharest with the name of Bucur, who was a prince, an outlaw, a fisherman, in Romanian, the word stem bucurie means joy, and it is believed to be of Dacian origin. Other etymologies are given by scholars, including the one of an Ottoman traveler, Evliya Çelebi. A native or resident of Bucharest is called a Bucharester, Bucharests history alternated periods of development and decline from the early settlements in antiquity until its consolidation as the national capital of Romania late in the 19th century. First mentioned as the Citadel of București in 1459, it became the residence of the famous Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler, the Ottomans appointed Greek administrators to run the town from the 18th century. A short-lived revolt initiated by Tudor Vladimirescu in 1821 led to the end of the rule of Constantinople Greeks in Bucharest, the Old Princely Court was erected by Mircea Ciobanul in the mid-16th century. Under subsequent rulers, Bucharest was established as the residence of the royal court
16.
Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
17.
Hungary national football team
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The Hungary national football team represents Hungary in international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. Hungary has a football history, having won three Olympic titles, finishing runners-up in the 1938 and 1954 FIFA World Cups, and third in the 1964 UEFA European Football Championship. The national side first appeared at the Summer Olympic Games in 1912 in Stockholm, the team had to ask for donations in order to be able to go to the games. Hungary lost 7–0 to England and thus were eliminated, after the Olympic Games Hungary played two matches against Russia in Moscow. The first match was won 9–0 and the second 12–0, which is still a record for the national side, the top scorer of the two matches was Imre Schlosser who scored seven goals. The beginning of World War I had a impact on the thriving Hungarian football. Both the country and the clubs were suffering financial problems, during World War I Hungary played Austria 16 times. In 1919 England claimed the exclusion of the Central Powers from FIFA, when FIFA refused Englands plea, the British and Irish associations decided to resign from FIFA. Budapest was denied the opportunity to host the 1920 Summer Olympics, the countries of the Central Powers were excluded from the Olympics. During this period the Fogl brothers played in the national team, the formation the Hungarians used was 2–3–5 which was unique at that time. The national team played at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, in the first match Hungary beat Poland but in the second round they lost to Egypt. As a consequence, both the coach and the head of the Hungarian Football Federation resigned. Between 1927 and 1930, Hungary participated in the Europa Cup, which is considered to be the first international tournament, with Austria, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Russia, in the final, Hungary lost to Russia. On 12 June 1927, Hungary beat France by 13–1, which is still a record, the first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930, but Hungary were not invited and did not take part in the tournament, there were no qualification matches. Hungary first appeared in the 1934 World Cup in Italy, Hungarys first World Cup match was against Egypt on 27 May 1934, a 4–2 win. The goals were scored by Pál Teleki, Géza Toldi and Jenő Vincze, in the quarter-finals, Hungary faced neighbouring arch-rivals Austria but lost 2–1, the only Hungarian goal coming from György Sárosi. Hungary entered the 1936 Olympics, where in the first round they were eliminated by Poland, the 1938 World Cup was held in France. The first match was played against Dutch East Indies and Hungary won 6–0, Sárosi and Gyula Zsengellér each scored twice while Vilmos Kohut and Toldi scored one goal each
18.
Budapest
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Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary, one of the largest cities in the European Union and sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. It has an area of 525 square kilometres and a population of about 1.8 million within the limits in 2016. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the Danube river with the unification of Buda and Óbuda on the west bank, the history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia. Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century and their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–1242. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture by the 15th century, following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity, and Budapest became a global city after its unification in 1873. It also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a power that dissolved in 1918. Budapest was the point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils in 1919, the Battle of Budapest in 1945. Budapest is an Alpha- global city, with strengths in arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts the Budapest Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks and it is the highest ranked Central and Eastern European city on Innovation Cities Top 100 index. Budapest attracts 4.4 million international tourists per year, making it the 25th most popular city in the world, further famous landmarks include Andrássy Avenue, St. It has around 80 geothermal springs, the worlds largest thermal water system, second largest synagogue. Budapest is home to the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the European Police College, over 40 colleges and universities are located in Budapest, including the Eötvös Loránd University, Central European University and Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Budapest is the combination of the city names Buda and Pest, One of the first documented occurrences of the combined name Buda-Pest was in 1831 in the book Világ, written by Count István Széchenyi. The origins of the names Buda and Pest are obscure, according to chronicles from the Middle Ages, the name Buda comes from the name of its founder, Bleda, brother of the Hunnic ruler Attila. The theory that Buda was named after a person is also supported by modern scholars, an alternative explanation suggests that Buda derives from the Slavic word вода, voda, a translation of the Latin name Aquincum, which was the main Roman settlement in the region. There are also theories about the origin of the name Pest. One of the states that the word Pest comes from the Roman times. According to another theory, Pest originates from the Slavic word for cave, or oven, the first settlement on the territory of Budapest was built by Celts before 1 AD
19.
Hungary
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Hungary is a unitary parliamentary republic in Central Europe. With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a member state of the European Union. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken language in Europe. Hungarys capital and largest metropolis is Budapest, a significant economic hub, major urban areas include Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, Pécs and Győr. His great-grandson Stephen I ascended to the throne in 1000, converting the country to a Christian kingdom, by the 12th century, Hungary became a middle power within the Western world, reaching a golden age by the 15th century. Hungarys current borders were established in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon after World War I, when the country lost 71% of its territory, 58% of its population, following the interwar period, Hungary joined the Axis Powers in World War II, suffering significant damage and casualties. Hungary became a state of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the establishment of a four-decade-long communist dictatorship. On 23 October 1989, Hungary became again a democratic parliamentary republic, in the 21st century, Hungary is a middle power and has the worlds 57th largest economy by nominal GDP, as well as the 58th largest by PPP, out of 188 countries measured by the IMF. As a substantial actor in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds 36th largest exporter and importer of goods, Hungary is a high-income economy with a very high standard of living. It keeps up a security and universal health care system. Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 and part of the Schengen Area since 2007, Hungary is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the AIIB, the Council of Europe and Visegrád Group. Well known for its cultural history, Hungary has been contributed significantly to arts, music, literature, sports and science. Hungary is the 11th most popular country as a tourist destination in Europe and it is home to the largest thermal water cave system, the second largest thermal lake in the world, the largest lake in Central Europe, and the largest natural grasslands in Europe. The H in the name of Hungary is most likely due to historical associations with the Huns. The rest of the word comes from the Latinized form of Medieval Greek Oungroi, according to an explanation the Greek name was borrowed from Proto-Slavic Ǫgǔri, in turn borrowed from Oghur-Turkic Onogur. Onogur was the name for the tribes who later joined the Bulgar tribal confederacy that ruled the eastern parts of Hungary after the Avars. The Hungarians likely belonged to the Onogur tribal alliance and it is possible they became its ethnic majority. The Hungarian endonym is Magyarország, composed of magyar and ország, the word magyar is taken from the name of one of the seven major semi-nomadic Hungarian tribes, magyeri
20.
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
21.
1930 FIFA World Cup
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The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July 1930, all matches were played in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the majority at the Estadio Centenario, which was built for the tournament. Few European teams chose to participate because of the difficulty of travelling to South America, the teams were divided into four groups, with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-finals. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the United States, Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history, while American goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas posted the first official clean sheet in the tournament. Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and Yugoslavia each won their groups to qualify for the semi-finals. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people, italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary and Uruguay all lodged applications to host the event. Uruguays bid became the clear selection after all the other countries withdrew their bids, the first World Cup was the only one without qualification. Every country affiliated with FIFA was invited to compete, and given a deadline of 28 February 1930 to accept, plenty of interest was shown by nations in the Americas, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States all entered. A total of seven South American teams participated, more than in any subsequent World Cup Finals. However, because of the long and costly trip by ship across the Atlantic Ocean, some refused to countenance travel to South America in any circumstances, and no European entries were received before the February deadline. This was rejected by the FA Committee on 18 November 1929, two months before the start of the tournament, no team from Europe had officially entered. FIFA president Jules Rimet intervened, and eventually four European teams made the trip by sea, Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia. The Romanians, managed by Constantin Rădulescu and coached by their captain Rudolf Wetzer and Octav Luchide and he selected the squad personally, and negotiated with employers to ensure that the players would still have jobs upon their return. The French entered at the intervention of Rimet, but neither Frances star defender Manuel Anatol nor the teams regular coach Gaston Barreau could be persuaded to make the trip. The Belgians participated at the instigation of German-Belgian FIFA vice-president Rodolphe Seeldrayers, the Romanians boarded the SS Conte Verde at Genoa, the French were picked up at Villefranche-sur-Mer on 21 June 1930, and the Belgians embarked at Barcelona. The Conte Verde carried Rimet, the trophy and the three designated European referees, the Belgians Jean Langenus and Henri Christophe, along with Thomas Balway, a Parisian who may have been English. The Brazilian team were picked up when the boat docked in Rio de Janeiro on 29 June before arriving in Uruguay on 4 July, Yugoslavia travelled via the mail steamship Florida from Marseille. In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia there were doubts about their participation at first, since the Croatians decided to boycott the national team, King Alexander I did not want to finance the whole idea, but in the end they found a solution
22.
1994 FIFA World Cup
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The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, held in nine cities across the United States from 17 June to 17 July 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on 4 July 1988. The total attendance of nearly 3.6 million for the tournament remains the highest in World Cup history. Brazil beat Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 0–0 after extra time and this made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles. Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia made their appearances in the finals, Norway made its first appearance since 1938. Bulgaria, Morocco and Mexico returned after missing the 1990 tournament, Greece, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time. Russia, competing independently for the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the defending champions West Germany were united with their East German counterparts, representing the unified Germany for the first time since the 1938 World Cup. As a result of the performances by African teams in 1990. Norway qualified for the first time since 1938, Bolivia for the first time since 1950, the qualification campaigns of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were affected by political events. The nation of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1992, and the team completed its qualifying group under the name Representation of Czechs and Slovaks, Yugoslavia was suspended from international competition in 1992 as part of United Nations sanctions against the country as a result of the Yugoslav Wars. The sanctions were not lifted until 1994, by time it was no longer possible for the team to qualify. Chiles suspension from the 1990 FIFA World Cup, following the interruption of their qualification game against Brazil. Japan failed to qualify after the Agony of Doha against Iraq, losing out to Saudi Arabia, among other teams who failed to qualify were Uruguay and England- the latter being semi-finalists, and finishing in fourth place in 1990. Denmark, Portugal, Hungary, and France failed to qualify for the second successive tournament and this was the only World Cup finals since 1938, for which neither England nor Scotland qualified. The Republic of Ireland qualified for a second successive World Cup finals tournament, as of 2016, this was the last time that Bolivia qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals. Three nations bid for host duties, United States, Brazil, the vote was held in Zurich on 4 July 1988, and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the Exco members. FIFA hoped that by staging the worlds most prestigious tournament there, one condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional soccer league, Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996. Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and the United States were seeded for the draw that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada
23.
UEFA European Championship
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Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Starting with the 1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form UEFA Euro, prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations compete in a qualifying process. The championship winners earn the opportunity to compete in the following FIFA Confederations Cup, to date, Spain is the only team in history to have won consecutive titles, doing so in 2008 and 2012. It is the second most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup, the Euro 2012 final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million. The most recent championship, hosted by France in 2016, was won by Portugal, in honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. The 1960 tournament, held in France, had four competing in the finals out of 17 that entered the competition. It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a final in Paris. Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the USSR because of two political protests, of the 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable absentees were England, the Netherlands, West Germany and Italy. The hosts beat the holders, the Soviet Union, 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The tournament format stayed the same for the 1968 tournament, hosted, for the first and only time a match was decided on a coin toss and the final went to a replay, after the match against Yugoslavia finished 1–1. More teams entered this tournament, a testament to its burgeoning popularity, Belgium hosted the 1972 tournament, which West Germany won, beating the USSR 3–0 in the final, with goals coming from Gerd Müller and Herbert Wimmer at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. This tournament would provide a taste of things to come, as the German side contained many of the key members of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Champions. The 1976 tournament in Yugoslavia was the last in which four teams took part in the final tournament. Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout, after seven successful conversions, Uli Hoeneß missed, leaving Czechoslovakian Antonín Panenka with the opportunity to score and win the tournament. An audacious chipped shot, described by UEFA as perhaps the most famous spot kick of all time secured the victory as Czechoslovakia won 5–3 on penalties, the competition was expanded to eight teams in the 1980 tournament, again hosted by Italy. It involved a stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final. West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2–1, Horst Hrubesch scored early in the first half before René Vandereycken equalised for Belgium with a penalty in the second half. With two minutes remaining, Hrubesch headed the winner for West Germany from a Karl-Heinz Rummenigge corner, the format also changed, with the top two teams in each group going through to a semi-final stage, instead of the winners of each group going straight into the final
24.
UEFA Euro 1984
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The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh European Football Championship, a held every four years. West Germany also submitted a bid to host the tournament, at the time, only eight countries took part in the final stage of the tournament, seven of which had to come through the qualifying stage. France qualified automatically as hosts of the event, led by Michel Platini, the opening game of tournament featured France and Denmark. The sides played out a close encounter until Michel Platinis goal on 78 minutes gave the hosts a 1–0 victory. The opening game saw a premature end to the tournament for Danish midfielder Allan Simonsen. Platini then scored hat-tricks against both Belgium and Yugoslavia as the French recorded maximum points in Group 1, Denmark took second place in the group with victories over Belgium and Yugoslavia, while Belgium finished third with two points. The games in Group 1 were unusually high-scoring, and featured 23 goals over the six matches, Portugal also scored a late goal in their final match, against Romania, to take the second qualifying place behind Spain, while the Romanians finished bottom with one point. The first semi-final between France and Portugal is often considered one of the best matches in the history of the European Championship, jean-François Domergue opened the scoring for France but Portugal equalised through Rui Jordão on 74 minutes. The game went to time and Jordão scored again in the 98th minute to give the Portuguese a shock lead. Then, in the moments of the match and with a penalty shoot-out looming. The match went to a penalty shoot-out, and Spain converted all five of their penalties to win 5–4, the final was played to a capacity crowd at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Just before the mark, Platini scored from a free-kick to put France ahead following a mistake by Spanish goalkeeper Luis Arconada. France were reduced to ten players when Yvon Le Roux was sent off, but Spain were unable to equalise, France had won their first major championship in world football. The eight qualified teams were split into two groups of four played a round-robin schedule. The top two teams of each group advanced to semi-finals and the winners advanced to the final, the third-place game, widely perceived as an unnecessary chore, was dropped. Frances winning bid to host the Euro was based on seven stadia, the 48, 000-seat Parc des Princes in Paris was the venue for the opening match and the final. Built in 1972, it was still state-of-the-art in 1984 and needed minor improvements only, marseilles Stade Vélodrome was expanded to 55,000 seats to host one semi-final and some group matches, becoming Frances largest stadium on the occasion
25.
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
26.
Romanian language
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Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 million people as a native language, primarily in Romania and Moldova, and by another 4 million people as a second language. It has official status in Romania and the Republic of Moldova and it is one of the official languages of the European Union and the Latin Union. Romanian is a part of the Balkan-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin separated from the Western Romance during the 5th–8th centuries. To distinguish it within that group in comparative linguistics it is called Daco-Romanian as opposed to its closest relatives, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, and Istro-Romanian. Eastern Romance languages, like the branches of Romance languages, descend from Vulgar Latin. These vestiges of military usage are unique to Romanian in its language family. s. o, sat village, șes plain, a supune, tindă veranda, țară homeland a. s. o. This linguistic evidence challenges the Roeslerian theory, the vestiges from sermo castrensis particularize the Romanian language in the neolatin area, together with its isolated history. e. With Rom. māgurā and Alb. magulë etc, the Roman Empire withdrew from Dacia in 271–272 AD, leaving it to the Goths. The history of Eastern Romance between the 3rd century and the development of Proto-Romanian by the 10th century, when the area came under the influence of the Byzantine Empire, is unknown. It is a matter of debate whether Proto-Romanian developed among Romanized people who were left behind in Dacia by the Roman withdrawal or among Latin-speakers in the Balkans south of the Danube, during the Middle Ages, Romanian became influenced by the Slavic languages and to some degree by Greek. Romanian remains unattested throughout the Middle Ages, and only enters the record in the early 16th century. The use of the denomination Romanian for our language and use of the demonym Romanians for speakers of this language predates the foundation of the modern Romanian state. In 1534, Tranquillo Andronico notes, Valachi nunc se Romanos vocant, francesco della Valle writes in 1532 that Romanians are calling themselves Romans in their own language, and he subsequently quotes the expression, Știi Românește. After travelling through Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania Ferrante Capecci accounts in 1575 that the population of these regions call themselves românești. Pierre Lescalopier writes in 1574 that those who live in Moldavia, Wallachia, the Transylvanian Saxon Johann Lebel writes in 1542 that Vlachi se numeau între ei Romuini and the Polish chronicler Stanislaw Orzechowski notes in 1554 that în limba lor walachii se numesc romini. In Palia de la Orăștie stands written «, că văzum cum toate limbile au și înfluresc întru cuvintele slăvite a lui Dumnezeu numai noi românii pre limbă nu avem. și le-au dăruit voo fraților români. », nevertheless, the oldest extant document written in Romanian remains Neacșus letter and was written using Cyrillic letters. There are no records of any documents written in Romanian from before 1521
27.
France national football team
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The France national football team represents France in international football. The teams colours are blue, white and red, and the coq gaulois its symbol, France are colloquially known as Les Bleus. France play home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, and they have won one FIFA World Cup, two UEFA European Football Championships, an Olympic tournament, and two FIFA Confederations Cups. France experienced much of its success in three major, in the 1950s, 1980s, and late 1990s/early 2000s respectively, which resulted in numerous major honours. In 1958, the team, led by Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, in 1984, France, led by Ballon dOr winner Michel Platini, won UEFA Euro 1984. Under the leadership of Didier Deschamps and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, two years later, the team triumphed at UEFA Euro 2000. France won the Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2003, and reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the team also reached the final of UEFA Euro 2016, where they lost 1–0 to Portugal in extra time. France, Argentina and Brazil are the national teams that have won the three most important mens titles recognized by FIFA, the World Cup, the Confederations Cup. They have also won their continental championship. The following year, on 12 February 1905, France contested their home match against Switzerland. The match was played at the Parc des Princes in front of 500 supporters, France won the match 1–0 with the only goal coming from Gaston Cyprès. Due to disagreements between FIFA and the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, the sports union. In 1919, the CFI transformed themselves into the French Football Federation, in 1921, the USFSA finally merged with the FFF. In July 1930, France appeared in the inaugural FIFA World Cup, in their first-ever World Cup match, France defeated Mexico 4–1 at the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo. Lucien Laurent became notable in the match as he scored not only Frances first World Cup goal, conversely, France also became the first team to not score in a match after losing 1–0 to fellow group stage opponents Argentina. Another loss to Chile resulted in the team bowing out in the group stage, the following year saw the first selection of a black player to the national team. Raoul Diagne, who was of Senegalese descent, earned his first cap on 15 February in a 2–1 defeat to Czechoslovakia. Diagne later played with the team at the 1938 World Cup, alongside Larbi Benbarek, at the 1934 World Cup, France suffered elimination in the opening round, losing 3–2 to Austria
28.
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
29.
1934 FIFA World Cup
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The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934, the 1934 World Cup was the first for which teams had to qualify to take part. Thirty-two nations entered the competition, and after qualification,16 teams participated in the finals tournament, reigning champions Uruguay did not enter. Italy became the second World Cup champions, beating Czechoslovakia 2–1 in the final, after a lengthy decision-making process in which FIFAs executive committee met eight times, Italy was chosen as the host nation at a meeting in Stockholm on 9 October 1932. The decision was taken by the committee without a ballot of members. The Italian bid was chosen in preference to one from Sweden,36 countries applied to enter the tournament, so qualifying matches were required to thin the field to 16. Even so, there were notable absentees. As a result, the 1934 World Cup is the one in which the reigning champions did not participate. The British Home Nations, in a period of self-imposed exile from FIFA, despite their role as hosts, Italy were still required to qualify, the first and only time the host nation was not granted automatic qualification. The qualifying matches were arranged on a geographical basis, withdrawals by Chile and Peru meant Argentina and Brazil qualified without playing a single match. Twelve of the 16 places were allocated to Europe, three to the Americas, and one to Africa or Asia, only 10 of the 32 entrants, and four of the 16 qualified teams, were from outside Europe. The last place in the finals was contested between the United States and Mexico only three days before the start of the tournament in a match in Rome, which the United States won. The majority of the 16 teams were making their first World Cup appearance and these included nine of the 12 European teams together with Egypt. Egypt were the first team from Africa in the finals and would not qualify again until the time the competition was held in Italy. Like the Berlin Olympics two years later, the 1934 World Cup was an instance of a sporting event being used for overt political gain. Benito Mussolini was keen to use the tournament as a means of promoting fascism, the number of supporters travelling from other countries was higher than at any previous football tournament, including 7,000 from the Netherlands and 10,000 each from Austria and Switzerland. The group stage used in the first World Cup was discarded in favour of a knockout tournament. If a match was tied after ninety minutes, then thirty minutes of time were played
30.
1938 FIFA World Cup
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The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third staging of the World Cup, and was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy retained the championship, beating Hungary 4–2 in the final, France was chosen as hosts by FIFA in Berlin on August 13,1936. France defeated Argentina and Germany in the first round of voting, the decision caused outrage in South America where it was believed that the venue would alternate between the two continents, instead, it was the second tournament in a row to be played in Europe. This was the last World Cup to be staged before the outbreak of the Second World War and it was the first time that the hosts and the title holders qualified automatically. Title holders were given an entry into the World Cup until 2006 when this was abolished. Of the 14 remaining places, eleven were allocated to Europe, as a result, only three non-European nations took part, Brazil, Cuba and the Dutch East Indies. This is the smallest ever number of teams from outside the host continent to compete at a FIFA World Cup, Austria qualified for the World Cup, but after qualification was complete, the Anschluss united Austria with Germany. Austria subsequently withdrew from the tournament, with some Austrian players joining the German squad and this tournament saw the first, and as of 2016 the only, participation in a World Cup tournament from Cuba and the Dutch East Indies. It also saw the World Cup debuts of Poland and Norway, Poland and the Netherlands would not reappear at a finals tournament until 1974, while Norway would not qualify for another World Cup finals until 1994. A unified Germany team would not appear again until 1994, the knockout format from 1934 was retained. If a match was tied after 90 minutes, then 30 minutes of time were played. If the score was tied after extra time, the match would be replayed. This was the last of the two World Cup tournaments that used a knockout format. Germany, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Cuba and Brazil were seeded for draw taking place in Paris, five of the seven first round matches required extra time to break the deadlock, two games still went to a replay. In one replay, Cuba advanced to the round at the expense of Romania. In the other replay, Germany, which had led 1–0 in the first game against Switzerland, led 2–0 and this remains, as of 2014, the only time in World Cup history in which Germany failed to advance to the final eight. Sweden advanced directly to the quarter-finals as a result of Austrias withdrawal, the hosts, France, were beaten by the holders, Italy, and Switzerland were seen off by Hungary. Czechoslovakia took Brazil to extra time in a notoriously feisty match in Bordeaux before succumbing in a replay and this was the last ever match to be replayed in a World Cup, with all winners of replay matches in 1938 having been eliminated in the next round
31.
1970 FIFA World Cup
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The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for mens national teams. Held from 31 May to 21 June in Mexico, it was the first World Cup tournament staged in North America, Teams representing 75 nations from all six populated continents entered the competition, and its qualification rounds began in May 1968. Fourteen teams qualified from this process to join host nation Mexico, El Salvador, Israel, and Morocco made their first appearances at the final stage, and Peru their first since 1930. The tournament was won by Brazil, which defeated another former champion, Italy. The win gave Brazil its third World Cup title, which allowed them to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy. The victorious team, led by Carlos Alberto and featuring players such as Pelé, Gérson, Jairzinho, Rivellino and they achieved a perfect record of wins in all six games in the finals, as well as winning all their qualifying fixtures. The World Cup returned to Mexico just sixteen years later in 1986, Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Japan, Mexico and Peru were all considered to host the 1970 FIFA World Cup. Mexico was chosen as the host nation in 1964 through a vote at FIFAs congress in Tokyo on 8 October, a total of 75 teams entered the 1970 FIFA World Cup, and 73 were required to qualify. Due to rejected entries and withdrawals,68 teams eventually participated in the qualifying stages, Mexico as the host nation and England as reigning World Cup champions were granted automatic qualification, with the remaining fourteen finals places divided among the continental confederations. Eight places were available to teams from UEFA, three for CONMEBOL, one for CAF, one for an AFC/OFC team, and one for CONCACAF. The draw for the stages was conducted on 1 February 1968 in Casablanca, Morocco, with matches beginning in May 1968. North Korea, quarter-finalists at the tournament, were disqualified during the process after refusing to play in Israel for political reasons. El Salvador qualified for the finals after beating Honduras in a play-off match and those who failed to qualify included Argentina, France, Hungary, Portugal and Spain. Five stadia in five different cities were selected to host the World Cup matches, alternative venues in Hidalgo state and the port city of Veracruz were also considered. Each group was based solely in one city with exception of Group 2, aside from the Estadio Luis Dosal, all the stadia had only been constructed during the 1960s, as Mexico prepared to host both the World Cup and the 1968 Summer Olympics. The altitude of the varied and the importance of acclimatisation was strongly considered by all the participating teams. As a result, in contrast to the tournament staged in England. Some teams had already experienced the conditions when competing in the football competition at 1968 Summer Olympics
32.
1990 FIFA World Cup
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The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, teams representing 116 national football associations entered, and qualification began in April 1988. A total of 22 teams qualified from this process, along with host nation Italy, the tournament was won by West Germany, their third World Cup title. They beat Argentina 1–0 in the final, a rematch of the final four years earlier. Italy finished third, and England fourth, after both lost their semi-finals in penalty shootouts and this was the last tournament to feature a team from the divided Germany, with the country being reunified later in 1990. Costa Rica, Ireland and the UAE made their first appearances in the finals, the official match ball was the Adidas Etrusco Unico. The 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the poorest World Cups and it generated an average 2.21 goals per game – a record low that still stands – and a then-record 16 red cards, including the first ever dismissal in a final. This World Cup saw the introduction of the pre-match Fair Play Flag to encourage fair play, negative tactics led to the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992, and three points for a win instead of two at future World Cups. Nonetheless, the 1990 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history and this was the first World Cup to be officially recorded and transmitted in HDTV by the Italian broadcaster RAI in association with Japans NHK. At the time it was the most watched World Cup in history in non-unique viewers, the vote to choose the hosts of the 1990 tournament was held on 19 May 1984 in Zürich, Switzerland. Here, the FIFA Executive Committee chose Italy ahead of the rival bid. This awarding made Italy only the nation to host two World Cup tournaments, after Mexico had also achieved this with their 1986 staging. Italy had previously had the event in 1934, where they had won their first championship, Austria, England, France, Greece, West Germany and Yugoslavia also submitted initial applications for 31 July 1983 deadline. A month later, only England, Greece, Italy and the Soviet Union remained in the hunt after the other contenders all withdrew, all four bids were assessed by FIFA in late 1983, with the final decision over-running into 1984 due to the volume of paperwork involved. In early 1984, England and Greece also withdrew, leading to a race in the final vote. 116 teams entered the 1990 World Cup, including Italy as host nation and Argentina as reigning World Cup champions, thus, the remaining 22 finals places were divided among the continental confederations, with 114 initially entering the qualification competition. Due to rejected entries and withdrawals,103 teams eventually participated in the qualifying stages, thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams, three by CONMEBOL teams, two by CAF teams, two by AFC teams, and two by CONCACAF teams. The remaining place was decided by a play-off between a CONMEBOL team and a team from the OFC, chile were also banned from the 1994 qualifiers for this offence
33.
1998 FIFA World Cup
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The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998, the country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the second time in the history of the tournament, defeating Morocco in the bidding process. It was the time that France staged the competition. Qualification for the finals began in March 1996 and concluded in November 1997, for the first time in the competition, the group stage was expanded from 24 teams to 32, with eight groups of four. A total of 64 matches were played in 10 stadiums located across 10 different host cities, with the match and final staged at the Stade de France. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3–0 in the final, France won their first title, becoming the seventh nation to win a World Cup, and the sixth to win the tournament on home soil. Croatia, Jamaica, Japan and South Africa made their first appearances in the finals, France was awarded the 1998 World Cup on 2 July 1992 by the executive committee of FIFA during a general meeting in Zürich, Switzerland. They defeated Morocco by 12 votes to 7, Switzerland withdrew, due to being unable to meet FIFAs requirements. This made France the third country to host two World Cups, after Mexico and Italy in 1986 and 1990 respectively, France previously hosted the third edition of the World Cup in 1938. England, who hosted the competition in 1966 and won it, were among the original applicants, blazer stated that we facilitated bribes in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup. Since France won the selection process it was thought the bribery came from its bid committee. It eventually transpired that the payment was from the failed Moroccan bid. The qualification draw for the 1998 World Cup finals took place in the Musée du Louvre, as tournament hosts, France was exempt from the draw as was Brazil the defending champions. 174 teams from six confederations participated, up 24 from the previous round, in Europe, fourteen countries qualified excluding France. Ten were determined after group play, nine group winners and the best second-placed team, the other eight group runners-up were drawn into pairs of four play-off matches – the winners of which qualifying for the finals as well. The winner of the Oceanian zone advanced through to an intercontinental play-off against the runner-up of the Asian play-off, four nations qualified for the World Cup for the first time, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan and South Africa. The last team to qualify was Iran by virtue of beating Australia in a tie on 29 November 1997. It marked their first appearance in the finals since 1978, the last time Tunisia also qualified for the tournament, chile qualified for the first time since 1982
34.
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
35.
Penalty shoot-out (association football)
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A penalty shoot-out is a method of determining the winner of an association football match that is drawn after the regulation as well as extra playing time. Although the procedure for taking kicks from the penalty mark resembles that of a penalty kick, most notably, neither the kicker nor any player other than the goalkeeper may play the ball again once it has been kicked. The method of breaking a draw in a match requiring a winner is determined beforehand by the organizing body. Although employed in football commonly since the 1970s, penalty shoot-outs remain unpopular with some, during a shoot-out, coaches, players other than the kicker and the goalkeepers must remain in the centre circle. The kicking teams goalkeeper stands at the intersection of the goal line, goals scored during the shoot-out are not included in the final score, nor are they added to the goalscoring records of the players involved. A tie is a result in football. Exceptionally, a shoot-out after a league or round-robin match may be provided for and this provision appears for occasions where opposing teams in a final-day match finish the group with identical records, which can result in an immediate shoot-out. This happened in Group A of the 2003 UEFA Womens Under-19 Championship, several leagues, such as the J-League, have experimented with penalty shoot-outs immediately following a drawn league match, with the winner being awarded an extra point. A team that loses a penalty shoot-out is eliminated from the tournament but it does not count as a defeat, for instance, the Netherlands are considered to have concluded the 2014 FIFA World Cup undefeated, despite being eliminated at the semi-final stage. The following is a summary of the procedure for kicks from the penalty mark, the procedure is specified in Law 10 of the IFABs Laws of the Game document. The referee tosses a coin to decide the goal at which the kicks will be taken, the choice of goal by the coin toss winner may only be changed by the referee for safety reasons or if the goal or playing surface becomes unusable. The referee tosses the coin a second time to determine which team will take the first kick, all players other than the kicker and the goalkeepers must remain in the pitchs centre circle. Each kick will be taken in the manner of a penalty kick. Each kick will be taken from the penalty mark, which is 12 yards from the line and equidistant from each touch line. Each team is responsible for selecting from the players the order in which they will take the kicks. The referee is not informed of the order, each kicker can kick the ball only once per attempt. Once kicked, the kicker may not play the ball again, no other player on either team, other than the designated kicker and goalkeeper, may touch the ball. The ball may touch the goalkeeper, goal posts, or crossbar any number of times before going into the goal as long as the referee believes the motion is the result of the initial kick
36.
Argentina national football team
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The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentinas home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires, la Selección, also known as the Albicelestes, has appeared in five World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which they lost 4–2 to Uruguay. Argentina won in their final appearance in 1978, beating the Netherlands at extra time. Argentina, led by Diego Maradona won again in 1986, a 3–2 victory over West Germany and they again made the World Cup finals in 1990, and lost 1–0 to West Germany following a controversial penalty call in the 87th minute. Argentina made their appearance in a World Cup final in 2014, again losing to Germany. Argentinas World Cup winning managers are César Luis Menotti in 1978, Argentina has been very successful in the Copa América, winning it 14 times and also winning the extra South American Championships in 1941,1945 and 1946. The team also won the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992, and the Argentine olympic team won the Olympics football tournaments in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Argentina, Brazil and France are the national teams that have won the three most important mens titles recognized by FIFA, the World Cup, the Confederations Cup. They have also won their continental championship. Argentina is known for having rivalries with Brazil, Uruguay, England, the first match ever recorded by Argentina was against Uruguay. The game was held in Montevideo on 16 May 1901 and Argentina won 3–2, during the first years of its existence, the Argentina national team only played friendly matches against other South American teams. The reasons for this varied, including long travel times between countries and World War I, la Selección, also known as the Albicelestes, has appeared in five World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which they lost, 4–2, to Uruguay. Argentina won in their final in 1978, beating the Netherlands. Argentina, led by Diego Maradona won again in 1986, a 3–2 victory over West Germany and their most recent World Cup final was in 2014, which they lost 1–0 to Germany. Previous to this their last World Cup final was in 1990, argentinas World Cup winning managers are César Luis Menotti in 1978, and Carlos Bilardo in 1986. Argentina has been successful in the Copa América, winning it 14 times. The team also won the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992, and an Argentina team won the Olympics football tournaments in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Argentina also won six of the 14 football competitions at the Pan American Games, in March 2007, Argentina reached the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time
37.
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
38.
Portugal national football team
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The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in international mens association football competition since 1921. It is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the body for football in Portugal. Portugals first participation in a tournament finals, at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup finals were in 1986 and 2002, going out in the first round both times. Portugal also made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 1984 final tournament, losing 3–2 after extra time to the hosts and eventual winners France. The team reached the semi-finals of Euro 2000, the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012, as well as the final of Euro 2004, the latter on home soil. At Euro 2016, Portugal won its first ever trophy, defeating hosts France 1–0 after extra time. With the win, Portugal qualified and will make its first appearance in the FIFA Confederations Cup held the year in Russia. The teams home stadium is the Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras, the current head coach is Fernando Santos and the captain is Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the team records for most caps and goals. Portugal was not invited to the 1930 World Cup, which featured a final stage. In the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification, the Seleção played one game against Switzerland in a ground, held in Milan, losing 2–1 against the Swiss. Because of the conflict due to the World War II, there was no World Cup held until the 1950 competition and subsequently. On the restart of games, the team was to play a round against Spain. After a 5–1 defeat in Madrid, they managed to draw in the second game 2–2, for the qualification of the 1954 World Cup, the team would play Austria. The Austrians won the first game with a humiliating 9–1 result, the best the national team could do was hold the team to a goalless draw in Lisbon, and the round ended with a 9–1 defeat. In the 1958 qualification, Portugal won a match for the first time. Nevertheless, they finished last in the stage that also featured Northern Ireland, only the first-placed team, Northern Ireland. The year 1960 was the year that UEFA created the European Football Championship, the first edition was a knock-out tournament, the last four teams participating in final stage that only featured one leg while the older stages had two legs
39.
England national football team
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The England national football team represents England in international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England are one of the two oldest national teams in football, alongside Scotland, whom played in the worlds first international football match in 1872. Englands home ground is Wembley Stadium, London, and the current manager is Gareth Southgate, England contest the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship, which alternate biennially. In contesting for the World Cup seventeen times over the past sixty four years, England won the 1966 World Cup, when they hosted the finals, the England national football team is the joint-oldest in the world, it was formed at the same time as Scotland. A representative match between England and Scotland was played on 5 March 1870, having been organised by the Football Association, a return fixture was organised by representatives of Scottish football teams on 30 November 1872. Over the next forty years, England played exclusively with the other three Home Nations—Scotland, Wales and Ireland—in the British Home Championship, to begin with, England had no permanent home stadium. They joined FIFA in 1906 and played their first ever games against countries other than the Home Nations on a tour of Central Europe in 1908, Wembley Stadium was opened in 1923 and became their home ground. The relationship between England and FIFA became strained, and this resulted in their departure from FIFA in 1928 and their first ever defeat on home soil to a foreign team was a 0–2 loss to the Republic of Ireland, on 21 September 1949 at Goodison Park. A 6–3 loss in 1953 to Hungary, was their defeat by a foreign team at Wembley. In the return match in Budapest, Hungary won 7–1 and this still stands as Englands worst ever defeat. After the game, a bewildered Syd Owen said, it was like playing men from outer space, in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, England reached the quarter-finals for the first time, and lost 4–2 to reigning champions Uruguay. Although Walter Winterbottom was appointed as Englands first ever manager in 1946. In UEFA Euro 1968, the reached the semi-finals for the first time. England qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico as reigning champions, and reached the quarter-finals, England had been 2–0 up, but were eventually beaten 3–2 after extra time. They failed in qualification for the 1974, leading to Ramseys dismissal, under Ron Greenwood, they managed to qualify for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, despite not losing a game, they were eliminated in the second group stage. Despite losing to Italy in the third place play-off, the members of the England team were given bronze medals identical to the Italians’, the England team of 1990 were welcomed home as heroes and thousands of people lined the streets, for a spectacular open-top bus parade. However, the team did not win any matches in UEFA Euro 1992, drawing with tournament winners Denmark, the 1990s saw four England managers, each in the role for a relatively brief period. Graham Taylor was Robsons successor, but resigned after England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, at UEFA Euro 1996, held in England, Terry Venables led England, equalling their best performance at a European Championship, reaching the semi-finals as they did in 1968
40.
Italy national football team
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The Italian national football team represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is one of the most successful teams in the history of the World Cup, having won four titles. In 1938, they became the first team to defend their previous World Cup tournament victory and they have also won a European Championship, as well as appearing in two other finals, one Olympic football tournament and two Central European International Cups. Italys highest finish at the FIFA Confederations Cup was in 2013, the national football team is known as Gli Azzurri from the traditional colour of Italian national teams and athletes representing Italy. The primary training ground is at the FIGC headquarters in Coverciano, Florence, the teams first match was held in Milan on 15 May 1910. Italy defeated France by a score of 6–2, with Italys first goal scored by Pietro Lana, some turmoil kept the players of Pro Vercelli, who were the best team in the league, out of the game. At the end of the match, the players received some cigarette packets thrown by the 4,000 spectators as a prize. The Italian team played with a system and consisted of, De Simoni, Varisco, Calì, Trerè, Fossati, Capello, Debernardi, Rizzi, Cevenini I, Lana, first captain of the team was Francesco Calì. The first success in a tournament came with the bronze medal in 1928 Summer Olympics. After losing the semi-final against Uruguay, an 11–3 victory against Egypt secured third place in the competition. In the 1927–30 and 1933–35 Central European International Cup, Italy achieved the first place out of five Central European teams, other stars of that era included Luis Monti, Giovanni Ferrari, Giuseppe Ruffino and Virginio Rosetta. The hosts, Azzurri, defeated Czechoslovakia 2–1 in extra time in Rome, with goals by Raimundo Orsi and they achieved their second title in a 4–2 defeat of Hungary, with two goals by Gino Colaussi and two goals by Silvio Piola in the World Cup that followed. In 1949,10 of the 11 players in the teams initial line-up were killed in the Superga air disaster that affected Torino, Italy did not advance further than the first round of the 1950 World Cup, as they were weakened severely due to the air disaster. The team had travelled by boat rather than by plane, fearing another accident, in the World Cup finals of 1954 and the 1962 that followed, Italy failed to progress past the first round, and did not qualify for the 1958 World Cup. Italy did not take part in the first edition of the European Championship in 1960 and their participation in the 1966 World Cup was ended by a 0–1 defeat at the hands of North Korea. Despite being the tournament favourites, the Azzurri, whose 1966 squad included Gianni Rivera, the Italian team was bitterly condemned upon their return home, while North Korean scorer Pak Doo-ik was celebrated as the David who killed Goliath. In 1968, the Azzurri won their first major competition since the 1938 World Cup, the match holds the distinction of being the only European Championship or World Cup final to go to a replay. After extra time the final ended in a 1–1 draw, and in the days before penalty shootouts, Italy won the replay 2–0 to take the trophy
41.
1960 European Nations' Cup
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The 1960 UEFA European Nations Cup was the first European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France and it was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris after extra time. The tournament was a competition, just 17 teams entered with some notable absences, West Germany, Italy. The teams would play matches until the semi-finals, the final four teams would move on to the final tournament. In the semi-finals, the Soviets made easy work of the Czechoslovaks in Marseille, the other match saw a nine-goal thriller as Yugoslavia came on top 5–4, coming back from a two-goal deficit twice. Czechoslovakia beat the demoralized French 2–0 for third place, in the final, Yugoslavia scored first, but the Soviet Union, led by legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin, equalized in the 49th minute. After 90 minutes the score was 1–1, and Viktor Ponedelnik scored with seven minutes left in time to give the Soviets the inaugural European Championship. Notes In all matches but the final, extra time and a coin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary, if the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner. With two goals, Valentin Ivanov, Viktor Ponedelnik, Milan Galić, Dražan Jerković, François Heutte are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, there were 17 goals scored by 12 different players in 4 games, none of the goals were credited as own goal
42.
UEFA Euro 1972
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The 1972 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Belgium. This was the fourth European Football Championship, held four years. The final tournament took place between 14 and 18 June 1972, at the time, only four countries could play the final tournament which meant that there were only the semi-finals, the final and the third place match. The hosts were announced after the qualifying round, which meant all teams had to participate in the qualification process for the final stage. Belgium was chosen among three candidates, the bids came from England and Italy, whose teams did not reach the semi-finals. West Germany won the tournament, beating the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final, with coming from Gerd Müller. The qualifying round was played throughout 1970 and 1971, and 1972, there were eight qualifying groups of four teams each. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis, victories were worth 2 points, draws 1 point, and defeats 0 points. Only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals, the quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through to the final tournament, fastest goal,24 minutes Raoul Lambert Gerd Müller With four goals, Gerd Müller is the top scorer in the tournament. In total,10 goals were scored by 7 different players in 4 matches, none of the goals is credited as own goal. 4 goals Gerd Müller 1 goal Herbert Wimmer Anatoli Konkov Raoul Lambert Odilon Polleunis Paul Van Himst Lajos Kű UEFA Team of the Tournament EURO1972 Official History
43.
UEFA Euro 1996
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It took place in England from 8 to 30 June 1996. It was the first European Championship to feature 16 finalists, following UEFAs decision to expand the tournament from eight teams. Germany won the tournament, beating the Czech Republic 2–1 in the final with a goal during extra time. This was also Germanys first major title won as a unified nation, at the time of the bidding process, it had not yet been confirmed that sixteen teams would be participating. Instead, the bids were largely prepared as if hosting an eight-team tournament, all candidates had to submit their plans by 10 December 1991. The hosting of the event was contested by five bids, Austria, England, Greece, the English bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Lisbon on 5 May 1992. In the year preceding the decision, the English FA had dropped out plans to bid for the 1998 World Cup in order to gain the support of other UEFA members who were planning to bid for that event. The hosts, England, drew 1–1 with Switzerland in the match of Group A when Alan Shearers 23rd-minute goal was equalled by a late Kubilay Türkyilmaz penalty kick. England defeated rivals Scotland 2–0 in their game, and then produced one of their finest performances ever with a 4–1 win over the Netherlands. Patrick Kluiverts late goal for the Netherlands secured his second place in the group. Group B had Western European France and Spain, along with Balkan World Cup participants Romania and Bulgaria. France and Spain dominated the group, with France avenging Bulgaria for the 1994 qualification debacle, groups C and D saw the Czech Republic and Croatia, whose national teams had only recently come into existence, qualify for the knockout stages. The Czechs lost to Germany, the group winners, in their opener. Italys defeat meant they had to beat Germany in their game to progress. In Group D, Croatia qualified for the quarter-finals, with wins over Turkey, the loss to the Croats ultimately sent the Danes, the surprise champions of 1992, home. Turkey became the first team since the introduction of a stage to be eliminated without gaining a point or scoring a goal. The other three quarter-finalists were Portugal, Spain, and a France team featuring a young Zinedine Zidane. The knockout stages were characterised by negative, defensive play, as a result, only nine goals were scored in the seven games, the first quarter-final between the hosts and Spain ended goalless, after Spain had two goals disallowed and two claims for a penalty denied
44.
UEFA Euro 2008
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It took place in Austria and Switzerland from 7 to 29 June 2008. The tournament was won by Spain, who defeated Germany 1–0 in the final, Spain were only the second nation to win all their group stage fixtures and then the European Championship itself - an accomplishment matched by France in 1984. Spain were also the first team since Germany in 1996 to win the tournament undefeated, Greece were the defending champions going into the tournament, having won UEFA Euro 2004. They recorded the worst finish in Euro 2008, losing their three fixtures and collecting the least amount of prize money. Throughout 31 matches, the participating nations totalled 77 goals, the same as the previous tournament, Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified as hosts, the remaining 14 teams were determined through qualifying matches, which began in August 2006. As European champions, Spain earned the right to compete for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, Austria had previously bid to host Euro 2004 with Hungary, but they eventually lost out to Portugal. Austria/Switzerland, Greece/Turkey, and Hungary were recommended before the final vote, Greece and Turkey were rejected and let Hungary and Austria/Switzerland battle for the win. The Austria/Switzerland bid is the successful joint bid in the competitions history, following the UEFA Euro 2000 hosted by Belgium. The following tournament, held in Poland and Ukraine, became the third jointly hosted tournament, qualification for Euro 2008 started in August 2006, just over a month after the end of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. England was the only seeded team not to qualify for the tournament proper, in contrast, Germany and Portugal were deemed to have an easy draw, as the tournament structure meant they could not meet Italy, France, the Netherlands or Spain until the final. In the group stage, Croatia, Spain and the Netherlands all qualified with maximum points, Austria and Switzerland were not expected to progress, despite the advantage of being the hosts. In Group A, the Swiss lost their captain, Alexander Frei, to injury in their first game and became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament, Switzerland managed to beat the group winner Portugal in their last game. In Group B, Austria managed to set up a final game against Germany. However, they lost by one goal, making Euro 2008 the first European Championship not to have one of the host nations present in the knockout phase, in the same game, goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was shown a red card for pushing Czech striker Jan Koller to the ground. The Turks joined Portugal as the qualifiers from Group A, France were the high-profile victims of Group C, recording just one point from a goalless draw against Romania in their opening game. Italy beat the French, on the day, to finish on four points. Finally, in Group D, Greece failed to reproduce the form of their shock 2004 win, Russia qualified at the expense of Sweden, after beating them in a final game decider, joining Spain in the knockout phase. Turkey continued their streak of wins, equalising at the end of extra-time against Croatia
45.
UEFA Euro 2016
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It was held in France from 10 June to 10 July 2016. Spain were the defending champions, having won the 2008 and 2012 tournaments. Portugal won the tournament for the first time, following a 1–0 victory after extra time over the host team, France, for the first time, the European Championship final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format used since 1996. Under the new format, the finalists contested a group consisting of six groups of four teams. France was chosen as the host nation on 28 May 2010, after a process in which they beat Italy. The matches were played in ten stadiums in ten cities, Bordeaux, Lens, Lille Métropole, Décines-Charpieu, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Étienne and it was the third time that France hosted the finals, after the inaugural tournament in 1960 and the 1984 finals. As the winners, Portugal earned the right to compete at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, four bids came before the deadline on 9 March 2009. France, Italy and Turkey put in single bids while Norway, Norway and Sweden eventually withdrew their bid in December 2009. The host was selected on 28 May 2010, Round 1, Each of the thirteen members of the UEFA Executive Committee ranked the 3 bids first, second, and third. First place ranking received 5 points, second place 2 points, Executive members from the countries bidding were not allowed to vote. Round 2, The same thirteen-member committee voted for either of the two finalists, the qualifying draw took place at the Palais des Congrès Acropolis in Nice, on 23 February 2014, with the first matches being played in September 2014. A total of 53 teams competed for 23 places in the tournament to join France. Gibraltar competed in a European Championship qualifying for the first time since their affiliation to UEFA in 2013, the seeding pots were formed on the basis of the UEFA national team coefficients, with the Euro 2012 champions Spain and hosts France automatically top seeded. The 53 national sides were drawn into eight groups of six teams, the group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team qualify directly for the final tournament. The remaining eight third-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers, in March 2012, Gianni Infantino, the UEFA General Secretary at the time, stated that UEFA would review the qualification competition to ensure that it was not boring. In May 2013, Platini confirmed a similar qualifying format would be discussed during the September 2013 UEFA executive committee meeting in Dubrovnik. Thirteen of the sixteen teams qualified for Euro 2012 qualified again for the 2016 final tournament. Romania, Turkey, Austria and Switzerland all returned after missing out in 2012, with the Austrians qualifying for just their second final Euro tournament, five teams secured their first-ever qualification to a UEFA European Championship final tournament, Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales
46.
East Germany national football team
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The East Germany national football team was from 1952 to 1990 the football team of East Germany, playing as one of three post-war German teams, along with Saarland and West Germany. In 1949, before the GDR was founded and while regular private clubs were banned under the Soviet occupation. Helmut Schön coached selections of Saxony and the Soviet occupation zone before moving to the West, on 6 February 1951, the GDR applied for FIFA membership, which was protested against by the German Football Association, which was already a full member. FIFA accepted the GDR association on 6 October 1951 as a provisional member, the first international game, not competitive but rather a display of good will, took place on 21 September 1952 against Poland in Warsaw, losing 3-0 in front of a crowd of 35,000. The first home game was on 14 June 1953 against Bulgaria, only three days later, the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany would have prevented the permitted assembly of that many Germans. On 8 May 1954 games resumed, with a 1-0 loss against Romania, the East Germans had not even considered to enter the World Cup which was won by the West Germans two months later. The GDR entered the qualification for the WC1958 and were hosts to Wales on 19 May 1957 at the Zentralstadion in Leipzig,500,000 tickets were requested, officially 100,000 were admitted, but 120,000 in the crowded house witnessed a 1-0 victory. East Germany was not as successful as its Western counterpart in World Cups or European Championships and it never qualified for the finals of the European Championship and only qualified for one World Cup, in 1974. However, they were serious contenders in qualifying throughout their history. That tournament was staged in West Germany, and both German teams were drawn in the group in the first round. With successful games against Chile and Australia, both German teams had qualified early for the round, with the inter-German game determining first. Despite this lack of pressure to succeed, the match on 22 June 1974 in Hamburg was politically and emotionally charged, East Germany beat West Germany 1-0, thanks to a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser. This was rather a Pyhrric victory, as the DFV wound up in the possibly stronger second round Group A, the GDR lost to Brazil and the Netherlands, but secured 3rd place in a final game draw with Argentina. East Germany did however achieve significantly greater success in Olympic football than the teams fielded by the Western NOC of Germany. In 1956,1960, and 1964 both states had sent a United Team of Germany, for 1964, the East German side had beaten their Western counterparts in order to be selected. They went on to win Bronze for Germany, as GDR, they won Bronze in 1972 in Munich, Gold in 1976, and Silver medal in 1980 in Moscow, In absence of boycotting Western nations. East Germany nearly secured qualification for the 1990 World Cup, needing only a draw versus Austria in Vienna in their group match on 15 November 1989 to achieve a place in Italy. However, Toni Polster scored three times as Austria won 3-0 and advanced to the finals instead, millions of East Germans had moved to the West before the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, and some escaped in a successful Republikflucht attempts also afterwards
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