1.
UEFA Europa League
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The UEFA Europa League, previously called the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organized by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues, previously called the UEFA Cup, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League since the 2009–10 season, following a change in format. For UEFA footballing records purposes, the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League are considered the same competition, in 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup was abolished and merged with the UEFA Cup. For the 2004–05 competition a group stage was added prior to the knockout phase, the 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and changed qualifying criteria. The winner enters at least at the round, and will enter the group stage if the berth reserved for the Champions League title holders is not used. The title has been won by 27 different clubs,12 of which have won the more than once. The UEFA Cup was preceded by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971, the competition grew from 11 teams during the first cup to 64 teams by the last cup which was played in 1970–71. It had become so important on the European football scene that in the end it was taken over by UEFA, the UEFA Cup was first played in the 1971–72 season, with an all-English final of Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs taking the first honours. The title was retained by another English club, Liverpool in 1973, Borussia would win the competition in 1975 and 1979, and reach the final again in 1980. Liverpool won the competition for the time in 1976, beating Club Brugge in the final. During the 1980s, IFK Göteborg and Real Madrid won the competition twice each,1989 saw the commencement of the Italian clubs domination, when Maradonas Napoli beat Stuttgart. The 1990s started with two finals, and in 1992, Torino lost the final to Ajax on the away goals rule. Juventus won the competition for a time in 1993 and Internazionale kept the cup in Italy the following year. 1995 saw a third final, with Parma proving their consistency. The only final with no Italians during that decade was in 1996, Parma won the cup in 1999, which ended the Italian club era. Liverpool won the competition for the time in 2001 and Porto triumphed in the 2003 and 2011 tournaments. In 2004, the cup returned to Spain with Valencia being victorious, either side of Sevillas success, two Russian teams, CSKA Moscow in 2005 and Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2008, had their glory and yet another former Soviet club, Ukraines Shakhtar Donetsk, won in 2009. Atlético Madrid would themselves win twice in three seasons, in 2010 and 2012, the latter in another all-Spanish final, in 2013, Chelsea would become the first Champions League holders to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League the following year
2.
Bilbao
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Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of 345,141 As of 2015, Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region. Bilbao is situated in the part of Spain, some 16 kilometres south of the Bay of Biscay, where the economic social development is located. Its main urban core is surrounded by two mountain ranges with an average elevation of 400 metres. This was due to its port activity based on the export of iron extracted from the Biscayan quarries, at the same time an extraordinary population explosion prompted the annexation of several adjacent municipalities. The official name of the town is Bilbao, as known in most languages of the world, there is no consensus among historians about the origin of the name. Generally accepted accounts state that prior to the 12th century the independent rulers of the territory, the symbols of their patrimony are the tower and church used in the shield of Bilbao to this day. One possible origin was suggested by the engineer Evaristo de Churruca and he said that it was a Basque custom to name a place after its location. For Bilbao this would be the result of the union of the Basque words for river and cove, the historian José Tussel Gómez argues that it is just a natural evolution of the Spanish words bello vado, beautiful river crossing. On the other hand, according to the writer Esteban Calle Iturrino, the first, where the present Casco Viejo is located, would be called billa, which means stacking in Basque, after the configuration of the buildings. The second, on the bank, where now Bilbao La Vieja is located, would be called vaho. From the union of these two derives the name Bilbao, which was written as Bilvao and Biluao, as documented in its municipal charter. An -ao ending is present in nearby Sestao and Ugao. Titles Bilbao holds the historic category of borough, with the titles of «Very noble and very loyal and it was the Catholic Monarchs who awarded the title «Noble borough» on 20 September 1475. Philip III of Spain, via a letter in 1603 awarded the borough the titles of «Very noble, after the Siege of Bilbao, during the First Carlist War, on 25 December 1836, the title of «Unbeaten» was added. Remains of an ancient settlement were found on the top of Mount Malmasín, burial sites were also found on Mounts Avril and Artxanda, dated 6,000 years old. Some authors identify the old settlement of Bilbao as Amanun Portus, cited by Pliny the Elder, or with Flaviobriga, ancient walls, which date from around the 11th century, have been discovered below the Church of San Antón. On 21 June 1511, Queen Joanna of Castile ordered the creation of the Consulate of Bilbao and this would become the most influential institution of the borough for centuries, and would claim jurisdiction over the estuary, improving its infrastructure
3.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
4.
Athletic Bilbao
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Athletic Club, also commonly known as Athletic Bilbao, is a professional football club, based in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. They are known as Los Leones because their stadium was built near a church called San Mamés, mammes was a semi-legendary early Christian thrown to the lions by the Romans. Mammes pacified the lions and was made a saint. The club is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never relegated from the top division. Athletic have won La Liga on eight occasions, fourth most in the history of the league, in the table of Copa del Rey titles, Athletic is second only to Barcelona, having won it 24 times. The club also has one of the most successful teams in Spain. The club is known for its policy of bringing young Basque players through the ranks. Since its foundation, Athletic has played exclusively with players meeting the criteria to be deemed as Basque players and this can be seen as a unique case in European football, it has gained Athletic both admirers and critics. The club has been praised for promoting home grown players and club loyalty, Athletic is one of only three professional clubs in Spain in La Liga that is not a sports corporation, it is owned and operated by its club members. Athletics main rivals are Real Sociedad, against whom it plays the Basque derby, Football was introduced to Bilbao by two distinct groups of players, both with British connections, British steel and shipyard workers and Basque students returning from schools in Britain. In the late 19th century, Bilbao was a port of an important industrial area with iron mines. It was the force of the Spanish economy and as a result attracted many migrant workers. Among them were miners from the north-east of England, and shipyard workers from Southampton, Portsmouth, the British workers brought with them the game of football. In the early 1890s, these workers came together and formed Bilbao Football Club, meanwhile, sons of the Basque educated classes had made the opposite journey and went to Britain to complete their studies in civil engineering and commerce. While in the United Kingdom, these developed a interest in football. In 1898, students belonging to the Gymnasium Zamacois founded the Athletic Club, in 1901, a meeting was held in the Café García, which established more formal rules and regulations. In 1902, the two Bilbao clubs formed a team, known as Bizcaya, in the first Copa del Rey. They returned with the trophy after defeating Barcelona in the final and this would lead to the eventual merger of the two clubs as Athletic Club in 1903
5.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
6.
Spanish peseta
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The peseta was the currency of Spain between 1869 and 2002. Along with the French franc, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra, the name of the currency comes from pesseta, the diminutive form of the word peça, which is a Catalan word that means piece or fraction. The first non-official coins which contained the word peseta were made in 1808 in Barcelona, traditionally, there was never a single symbol or special character for the Spanish peseta. Common abbreviations were Pt, Pta, Pts and Ptas, sometimes using superior letters, common earlier Spanish models of mechanical typewriters had the expression Pts on a single type head, as a shorthand intended to fill a single type space in tables instead of three. Later, Spanish models of IBM electric typewriters also included the type in its repertoire. This original character set chart later became the MS-DOS code page 437, some spreadsheet software for PC under MS-DOS, as Lotus 1-2-3, employed this character as the peseta symbol in their Spanish editions. Subsequent international MS-DOS code pages, like code page 850 and others, in order to guarantee the interchange with previous encodings such as code page 437, the international standard Unicode includes this character as U+20A7 PESETA SIGN in its Currency Symbols block. Other than that, the use of the peseta symbol standalone is extremely rare, in the version 1.0 of Unicode the character ₧ U+20A7 PESETA SIGN had two reference glyphs, a Pts ligature glyph as in IBM code page 437 and an erroneous P with stroke. The peseta was subdivided into 100 céntimos or, informally,4 reales, the last coin of any value under one peseta was a 50-céntimo coin issued in 1980 to celebrate Spains hosting of the 1982 FIFA World Cup. The last 25-céntimo coin was dated 1959, the ten céntimos also dated 1959, the 1-céntimo coin was last minted in 1913 and featured King Alfonso XIII. The 1⁄2-céntimo coin was last minted in 1868 and featured Queen Isabel II, the peseta was introduced in 1869 after Spain joined the Latin Monetary Union in 1868. The Spanish Law of June 26,1864 decreed that in preparation for joining the Latin Monetary Union, the peseta replaced the escudo at a rate of 5 pesetas =1 peso duro =2 escudos. The peseta was equal to 4.5 grams of silver, or 0.290322 grams of gold, from 1873, only the gold standard applied. The political turbulence of the twentieth century caused the monetary union to break up. In 1959, Spain became part of the Bretton Woods System, in 1967, the peseta followed the devaluation of the British pound, maintaining the exchange rate of 168 pesetas =1 pound and establishing a new rate of 70 pesetas =1 U. S. dollar. The peseta was replaced by the euro in 2002, following the establishment of the euro in 1999, the exchange rate was 1 euro =166.386 pesetas. At least 1252–1284 there was a 1 obolo brass coin – plated with silver – stamped, colnect shows even a first 1 Maravedí-coin made of copper having been edited since 1454. The bigger silver coin 1 Real came out 1786, the latter two currency units were used until the Peseta came in 1869
7.
Basque Country national football team
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The Basque Country national football team represents the Basque Country in football. It selects players from the Basque Country autonomous community, Navarre and it is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA and therefore only allowed to play friendly matches against FIFA or non-FIFA affiliated teams. The team has been referred to by names including Euskadiko selekzioa, Euskal Herriko futbol selekzioa, Selección de Euskadi, Vasconia, Equipo Vasco, Euskadi XI. Most of their matches have been played in the San Mamés Stadium which was replaced in 2013 by the new San Mamés. The Basque Country has had a team of its own since 1930. During the Second Spanish Republic, they played firstly under the name of Baskoniako selekzioa, during Francos 36 year dictatorship it only played two games. Then, after Francos death in 1975, the team was reformed using the name Euskadiko selekzioa and began playing regular friendly matches, up to the present moment they have played 56 matches against a wide range of nations such as Russia, Uruguay, Nigeria and Denmark. In 2007, the name was controversially changed to Euskal Herriko futbol selekzioa. In 2008, a compromise was reached and it was changed again to Euskal selekzioa, in the lower grades, the team is either called Euskadiko selekzioa or Seleccíon del País Vasco and exclusively represents the Basque Country autonomous community. On 29 September 1913 the Royal Spanish Football Federation was formally created, each regional federation organised its own league, and also selected a team to play against other regions. The Basque Country was grouped with Cantabria in Norte, on 3 January 1915 they played their first match which was against Catalonia in Bilbao and won 6–1, and then on 7 February they played them again but in Barcelona, this time drawing 2–2. On 13 May 1915 they won the inaugural Copa del Príncipe de Asturias tournament in Madrid by beating Catalonia 1–0, in the same competition they drew 1–1 with Centro. In May 1916, Norte faced Catalonia twice in Barcelona, winning by 1–3 on the 21st, on 4 June of the same year they beat Catalonia 5–0 in Bilbao. On 22 November 1916 the Cantabrian teams left the Northern Federation, joining the newly formed Cantabrian Federation, in 1918 Gipuzkoa formed its own federation leaving Biscay on their own in Federation Norte. Gipuzkoa and Biscay organised their own separate teams, in 1919 the Asturians decided to form their own federation so the Cantabrian teams rejoined Norte, but now it only had teams from Cantabria and Biscay. This complicated situation of federations splitting off continued for a few more years, in 1922 separate teams were created for Biscay and Cantabria because the former decided to form their own federation. In the summer of 1922 a team calling itself the Basque team was sent to South America, although the trip was organised by the Gipuzkoan federation,4 of the 19 players in the squad were from the Biscayan federation. They played once against the Argentine national side, losing 4–0, then drew 1–1 against Porteño, the team also played the Uruguayan national side twice, losing both games, before visiting Brazil where they played in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro
France
Czechoslovakia
Kuwait
