1.
Geography of association football
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The following article gives a list of association football confederations, sub-confederations and associations around the world. The sports international governing body is FIFA, but those not affiliated to FIFA are also included in this article. In the Americas, leagues are organised as either multi-stage tournaments or separate Apertura and Clausura stages. The football associations listed in this section are members of FIFA-affiliated confederations, all UEFA associations are affiliated with FIFA. All CONMEBOL associations are affiliated with FIFA, the football associations in this section represent fully or partially recognized sovereign states or dependent territories, but are not part of FIFA or a FIFA confederation. Beneath the national level, governance of football may be divided up into regional or territorial associations, other non-national associations represent stateless populations, diasporas or micronations. Details of these are listed at non-FIFA international football
2.
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
3.
Promotion and relegation
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In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between two divisions based on their performance for the completed season. In some leagues, playoffs or qualifying rounds are used to determine rankings. This process can continue through several levels of divisions, with teams being exchanged between levels 1 and 2, levels 2 and 3, levels 3 and 4, the number of teams exchanged between the divisions is almost always identical. Such variations will almost inevitably cause an effect through the lower divisions. Even in the absence of such circumstances, the pyramid-like nature of most European football league systems can still create knock-on effects at the regional level. The system is said to be the characteristic of the European form of professional sports league organization. Promotion and relegation have the effect of allowing the maintenance of a hierarchy of leagues and divisions and they also maintain the importance of games played by many low-ranked teams near the end of the season, which may be at risk of relegation. In contrast, a low-ranked US or Canadian teams final games serve little purpose, although not intrinsic to the system, problems can occur due to the differing monetary payouts and revenue-generating potential that different divisions provide to their clubs. For example, financial hardship has sometimes occurred in leagues where clubs do not reduce their wage bill once relegated, some leagues offer parachute payments to its relegated teams for the following year. The payouts are higher than the money received by some non-relegated teams and are designed to soften the financial hit that clubs take whilst dropping out of the Premier League. However, in many cases these parachute payments just serve to inflate the costs of competing for promotion among the lower division clubs as newly relegated teams retain a financial advantage. If these are not satisfied, a team may be promoted in their place. While the primary purpose of the system is to maintain competitive balance. On several occasions, the Italian Football Federation has relegated clubs found to have involved in match-fixing. This occurred most recently in 2006, when the initial champions Juventus were relegated to Serie B. An exception is the proposed UEFA Nations League, which will feature promotion and relegation across four levels, in tennis, the Davis Cup has promotion and relegation where each group uses a knockout tournament format in which first-round losers play off to avoid relegation. In the United States, Canada, and Australia, teams are not promoted or relegated. The USL set up two leagues, now known as the United Soccer League and the Premier Development League, although the system is now in place, it is not compulsory and is rarely used
4.
Slovenian Football Cup
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The Slovenian Football Cup, is the top knockout tournament of Slovenian football and the second most important football competition in Slovenia after the Slovenian PrvaLiga championship. The cup was established in 1991 after local clubs had abandoned the Yugoslav First League, the cup is contested by a total of 28 clubs,18 lower level sides qualify via regional cups organised by the Intercommunal football associations. They are joined by the 6 lower placed top flight clubs and are reduced to 12 clubs through the first round proper and they are then joined by the best 4 top flight clubs who automatically enter the second round proper. The games are played in a single leg knock-out format until the quarter-finals and semi-finals when home and away matches are played, since 2005 the final is also held as a single-legged match, although it was a two-legged affair in the period between 1994 and 2004. As of 2016, a total of 13 clubs have reached the cup finals and the most successful side in the history of the competition is Maribor and they are followed by Olimpija, who won 4 titles before folding in 2004. Primorje hold the record for most appearances in the final winning the title. Aluminij is the side from outside the top flight which managed to reach the cup final. Key Teams shown in italics are no longer in existence, Slovenian Womens Cup Slovenian Cup at NZS Slovenian Cup at Rec. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation
5.
UEFA Champions League
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The UEFA Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations and contested by top-division European clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, the UEFA Champions League final is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. The final of the 2012–13 tournament had the highest TV ratings to date, the pre-1992 competition was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s, the format was expanded, incorporating a round-robin group stage to include clubs that finished runner-up of some nations top-level league. Clubs that finish next-in-line in each top level league, having not qualified for the UEFA Champions League competition. In its present format, the UEFA Champions League begins in mid-July with three qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams enter the stage, joining 22 other teams qualified in advance. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams, the eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match in May. The winner of the UEFA Champions League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup, Real Madrid is the most successful club in the competitions history, having won the tournament 11 times, including its first five seasons. Spanish clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories, followed by England, the competition has been won by 22 different clubs,12 of which have won it more than once. Since the tournament changed name and structure in 1992, no club has managed consecutive wins, Milan were the last holders to defend their title. The reigning champions are Real Madrid, who secured their title in the competition after defeating Atlético Madrid on penalties following a 1–1 draw in the 2016 final. The first pan-European tournament was the Challenge Cup, a competition between clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Mitropa Cup, a competition modelled after the Challenge Cup, was created in 1927, an idea of Austrian Hugo Meisl, and played between Central European clubs. In 1930, the Coupe des Nations, the first attempt to create a cup for national clubs of Europe, was played and organised by Swiss club Servette. Held in Geneva, it brought together ten champions from across the continent, the tournament was won by Újpest of Hungary. Latin European nations came together to form the Latin Cup in 1949 and it was conceived in Paris in 1955 as the European Champion Clubs Cup. The first edition of the European Cup took place during the 1955–56 season, the first European Cup match took place on 4 September 1955, and ended in a 3–3 draw between Sporting CP and Partizan. The first goal in European Cup history was scored by João Baptista Martins of Sporting CP, the inaugural final took place at the Parc des Princes between Stade de Reims and Real Madrid
6.
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
7.
NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005)
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Nogometni Klub Olimpija Ljubljana, commonly referred to as Olimpija Ljubljana or simply Olimpija, is a professional association football club, based in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the countrys highest football division, after seven years in the top division, Olimpija won their first major trophy when they were crowned champions following the 2015–16 season. Their previous best result in the top division was in the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons, in 2012 and 2013 they were runners-up in the Slovenian Supercup. Originally, the played at the Bežigrad Stadium and ŽŠD Ljubljana Stadium during the clubs stay in the second division. In 2010, they moved to the Stožice Stadium with a capacity of 16,038, the club played its opening match on the new stadium on 22 August 2010, in front of 7,000 spectators in a league match against Koper. Olimpija Ljubljana was founded on 2 March 2005 as NK Bežigrad, the club was renamed again to ŠD NK Olimpija Ljubljana on 3 March 2008 after being granted the right by the Administrative unit of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. The club regard themselves as the continuation of the four times Slovenian Champions Olimpija, also known as NK Olimpija Ljubljana, legally Olimpija Ljubljana is distinct and separate club, and is not entitled to claim the history and honours won by the dissolved Olimpija. The Football Association of Slovenia and the Association of 1, SNL do not recognize any connection between the two entities, and keep their statistics separate. Originally, Olimpija Ljubljana claimed to be a new club that was formed on 2 March 2005, under the name Bežigrad. However, in 2010 they have launched their website and adopted a new club crest with the year 1911 inscribed on it. This too was never recognized by the Football Association of Slovenia and they are also criticised by Ilirija. The dissolved Olimpija filed for bankruptcy after they have accumulated a debt of over 700 million Slovenian tolars, in the next two seasons, Bežigrad was promoted into the Slovenian second division,2. SNL, by winning both fourth and third leagues in consecutive seasons, during their season in the third division the club changed its name for the first time and became known as Olimpija Bežigrad. Throughout the path to the top division, Olimpija was supported by the fan group of the dissolved Olimpija, due to this event, the club began their first season in Slovenian top-flight with a two-point minus. In addition to that, several players, e. g. Miran Pavlin and Amir Karić. SNL campaign, several players were signed to replace the recent departures, along with a new coach, the club had a poor start, as the team, mainly composed of young players and a small number of veterans, only managed one win in the opening four matches. After their defeat against Maribor on 8 August 2009, the announced that Oblak had agreed to terminate his contract. The clubs fortunes soon turned result-wise and Robert Pevnik was hired to take over as manager, the club finished the season in fourth place
8.
NK Maribor
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Nogometni Klub Maribor, commonly referred to as NK Maribor or simply Maribor, is a professional football club based in Maribor, Slovenia. Founded on 12 December 1960, Maribor is one of three football clubs in the country who have never been relegated from the Slovenian top flight 1. SNL since its establishment in 1991 and they are regarded as a symbol of Slovenian football, particularly in their home region of Styria in the northeastern Slovenia. Maribor is the most successful club in the country, having won 13 Slovenian PrvaLiga titles, nine Slovenian Cups, the clubs most successful period was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when they overwhelmingly dominated domestic football, winning seven successive league titles and three national cups. Following the 2008–09 season, Maribor became the dominant force in Slovenian football for the second time, having won six out of eight championships since then. They are one of only three Slovenian teams who participated in the countrys highest division, Yugoslav First League, between the end of World War II in 1945 and the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. In addition, they are the only Slovenian club and one of four clubs from the former Yugoslavia who participated in group stage of the UEFA Champions League. They have maintained a rivalry with Olimpija from the capital Ljubljana. However, Olimpija folded and was dissolved following the 2004–05 season, in 2005, the successor club Bežigrad was established, who regarded themselves as the continuation of the former club. Maribor also have a loyal and passionate fan base and the club has the highest average attendance in Slovenia. The clubs home ground is the Ljudski vrt stadium, which has a capacity of 12,702 seats and it was originally built in 1952 and later underwent a series of major reconstructions in the 1990s and 2000s. The clubs Academy, which is hailed as the best in the country, is responsible for development at the club and has enjoyed a fair amount of success in producing promising young players. Maribors nicknames are The Purples and The Violets, both referring to their primary colour purple, the clubs motto is One club, one honour. Maribor football club was founded on 12 December 1960, the club played their first match on 5 February 1961, when they defeated city rivals Kovinar 2–1, with Stefan Tolič scoring both goals. The team won the Slovenian Republic League in their first season, andrija Pflander was the head coach of the team that won the Republic league. However, he had to step down from the right before the start of the promotion play-off due to illness. His successor was Vladimir Šimunić, the man who guided the team to their promotion to the Yugoslav First League six years later. In 1961 the club received a new stadium named Ljudski vrt, on 2 September of that year football fans across Slovenia witnessed the birth of a new rivalry between Maribor and Olimpija Ljubljana
9.
Slovenia
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Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and it covers 20,273 square kilometers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana, additionally, the Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a river network, a rich aquifer system. Over half of the territory is covered by forest, the human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of South Slavic, Germanic, Romance, although the population is not homogeneous, the majority is Slovene. South Slavic language Slovene is the language throughout the country. Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented and has strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in the late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction, Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, in December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, in June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and there is evidence of habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ±700 BP, in the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe, in the transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, in the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC
10.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
11.
Marcos Tavares
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Marcos Magno Morales Tavares is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Maribor in the Slovenian PrvaLiga as a striker. He was also part of the Brazilian youth national teams and he gained the Slovenian citizenship on 16 September 2013. Tavares is Maribors all-time most capped player and top goalscorer, Tavares was born in Porto Alegre and spent his childhood in the citys slums with his father, a worker at Internacional, and his mother, a teacher. However, Internacional and Grêmio are fierce city rivals who contest the Grenal derby, at the age of 19 he went to Malaysia in desire for quick implementation. In the 2004 season, he played for Kedah FA, when the season ended, Tavares returned to Brazil for a year, where he played for Clube Atlético Paranaense. After that, he again continued his career in Kedah FA. After one season with Kedah FA, he was noticed by Roberto de Assis Moreira and he scored a few goals, however, competition there was simply too big and too quality. On the other hand, Malaysian league was still far away from general publics eyes, Assis helped him find a suitable club and in 2007 Tavares signed for APOEL. He scored four goals in the Cypriot Cup, but in the Cypriot League he played five matches without scoring any goals. Because he didnt performed as the expected, Tavares was released from APOEL in January 2008. While playing for APOEL, he met Nilton Fernandes who introduced him to Zlatko Zahovič, new Slovenian season was coming up quickly and Tavares had only one chance to show himself to Zlatko Zahovič and to convince him. After his performance contract was signed quickly, at the time that was left till the end of the 2007–08 season, Tavares established himself well in the team and among the fans. In the next season he was entitled Slovenian champion with Maribor, beside that he was the first club and second league striker in Slovenian league. He scored 15 goals and because of his technical skills. He was also voted for Guest Star 2008, which purpose is to promote foreign public as the important element of Slovenian community, 2009–10 season was again very successful for him. He scored ten goals in 34 league matches, in addition to this achievement he scored five goals in five cup matches and ultimately won the 2009–10 Slovenian Cup. Because of his loyalty to the club and good relations with players, club officials and Maribor fans. In September 2010 he has signed a new contract with the club until the end of 2012–13 season and he had his best season in 2010–11, when he won the league with Maribor and was crowned as the best league goalscorer with 16 goals
12.
Radiotelevizija Slovenija
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Radiotelevizija Slovenija – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija – is Slovenias national public broadcasting organization. Based in the capital, Ljubljana, it has regional broadcasting centres in Koper and Maribor and correspondents around Slovenia, Europe. RTV Slovenijas national radio services operate under the name Radio Slovenija, the names are sometimes Anglicized as Radio Slovenia and TV Slovenia, respectively. There are three national and four regional services, which can all be heard online as well. RTV Slovenija also finances the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra and the RTV Slovenia Big Band, the legal foundation for the institution is the Radiotelevizija Slovenija Act. It is the only public nonprofit broadcasting organization in Slovenia to operate both radio and television stations, approximately 73% of RTV Slovenijas funding comes from television licence fees. Radio Ljubljana signed on the air for the first time on September 1,1928, by October 28 the radio station already had a scheduled programme. On April 11,1941, the transmitter in Domžale was destroyed. On April 1,1949, the first TV laboratory was established in Ljubljana, however, the task of setting up a television service was eventually assigned to Radio Ljubljana. Second radio program started in 1951, on November 11,1958 the TV channel got a regular schedule, but it was shared by other Yugoslav republics, with TV Ljubljana getting around 30% of airtime. TV Ljubljana produced its first broadcast for Eurovision, showing ski jumping in Planica, the color program broadcasting started in 1966. During that decade, the amount of programming produced exclusively for Slovenian audiences increased substantially, on April 15,1968, the main evening newscast was broadcast in the Slovenian language for the first time. It had previously originated in Belgrade and was produced in Serbo-Croatian, in 1970, the RTV Slovenia record label was established. In 1971, TV Koper/Capodistria, a subsidiary of RTV Ljubljana, was launched as the first bilingual TV station in Slovenia, however, it enjoyed huge popularity in many parts of Italy. There, RAI still had a monopoly on television, so many Italians eagerly tuned into the new Yugoslav station, private companies built transmitters and translators in various parts of Italy that made TV Koper-Capodistria available to millions of Italians. Because the station used the PAL color standard, Italians bought PAL TV sets in large numbers, with the advent of privately owned, purely commercial television in Italy, the stations popularity eventually began to diminish. During the 1970s, TV Ljubljanas main service was gradually converted to color. In 1984, teletext was introduced, whereas the digitalization started in 1986, in 1989, Radio Ljubljana started transmitting an RDS signal
13.
Slovene language
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Slovene or Slovenian belongs to the group of South Slavic languages. It is spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide and it is the first language of about 2.1 million Slovenian people and is one of the 24 official and working languages of the European Union. Standard Slovene is the standard language that was formed in the 18th century, mostly based on Upper and Lower Carniolan dialect groups. For example, the Resian and Torre dialects in the Italian Province of Udine differ most from other Slovene dialects, the distinctive characteristics of Slovene are dual grammatical number, two accentual norms, and abundant inflection. Although Slovene is basically an SVO language, word order is very flexible, Slovene has a T-V distinction, second-person plural forms are used for individuals as a sign of respect. Slovene and Slovak are the two modern Slavic languages whose names for themselves literally mean Slavic. Slovene is an Indo-European language belonging to the Western subgroup of the South Slavic branch of the Slavic languages, furthermore, Slovene shares certain linguistic characteristics with all South Slavic languages, including those of the Eastern subgroup, such as Bulgarian. The Slovene language also has commonalities with the West Slavic languages. Like all Slavic languages, Slovene traces its roots to the same group of languages that produced Old Church Slavonic. The earliest known examples of a distinct, written Slovene dialect are from the Freising Manuscripts, the consensus estimate of their date of origin is between 972 and 1093. These religious writings are among the oldest surviving manuscripts in any Slavic language and this linguistic border remained almost unchanged until the late 19th century, when a second process of Germanization took place, mostly in Carinthia. Between the 9th and 12th century, proto-Slovene spread into northern Istria, during most of the Middle Ages, Slovene was a vernacular language of the peasantry, although it was also spoken in most of the towns on Slovene territory, together with German or Italian. Although during this time, German emerged as the language of the nobility, Slovene had some role in the courtly life of the Carinthian, Carniolan and Styrian nobility. This is proved by the survival of certain ritual formulas in Slovene, the words Buge waz primi, gralva Venus. The first printed Slovene words, stara pravda, appeared in 1515 in Vienna in a poem of the German mercenaries who suppressed the Slovene peasant revolt. Standard Slovene emerged in the half of the 16th century, thanks to the works of Slovene Lutheran authors. During this period, German had a influence on Slovene. Many Slovene scientists before the 1920s also wrote in languages, mostly German
14.
Telekom Slovenije
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Telekom Slovenije is a telecommunications company based in Slovenia, with its headquarters in Ljubljana. In 1994 PTT Slovenija separated postal and telecommunication activities and transferred all telecommunication infrastructure to the newly founded Telekom Slovenije, Telekom Slovenije, d. d. the parent company, is part of the Telekom Slovenije Group, which also comprises subsidiaries based in Slovenia and Southeast Europe. Subsidiaries 100% owned by Telekom Slovenije in Slovenia, GVO, d. o. o, subsidiaries majority owned by Telekom Slovenije abroad, Ipko Telecommunications sh. p. k. and Siol DOOEL Skopje, Blicnet d. o. o. The Telekom Slovenije Group is a company with two tier management system. The Management Board has the role and represents the company. The shareholders exercise their rights in the company matters through the General Meeting which is the highest decision-making body of the company, Telekom Slovenije shares have been listed on Ljubljana Stock Exchange since 2 October 2006 and were listed on the prime market of the LJSE on 3 May 2007. TLSG shares are part of the Slovenian stock exchange index SBI20 and the Slovenian Blue Chip Index SBI TOP. d. from 1998 to 2015 Official websites of the Telekom Slovenije Group, GVO, d. o. o
15.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
16.
Slovenian Republic Football League
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The Slovenian Republic Football League was the highest football league in Slovenia within the Yugoslav football system. During the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the First League of the Ljubljana Subassociation, during the time of SFR Yugoslavia, it was third level league for most of the time, but became fourth level in 1988. Before that, the winner was promoted to Yugoslav Second League, after the independence in 1991 it transformed to national first league, the Slovenian PrvaLiga. In Kingdom of Yugoslavia It was known as the First League of the Ljubljana Subassociation
17.
Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe during most of the 20th century. The Serbian royal House of Karađorđević became the Yugoslav royal dynasty, Yugoslavia gained international recognition on 13 July 1922 at the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris. The country was named after the South Slavic peoples and constituted their first union, following centuries in which the territories had been part of the Ottoman Empire, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October 1929, it was invaded by the Axis powers on 6 April 1941. In 1943, a Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was proclaimed by the Partisan resistance, in 1944, the king recognised it as the legitimate government, but in November 1945 the monarchy was abolished. Yugoslavia was renamed the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946 and it acquired the territories of Istria, Rijeka, and Zadar from Italy. Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito ruled the country as president until his death in 1980, in 1963, the country was renamed again as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The constituent six socialist republics that made up the country were the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia, and SR Slovenia. Serbia contained two Socialist Autonomous Provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, which after 1974 were largely equal to the members of the federation. After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics borders, at first into five countries, eventually, Serbia and Montenegro accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession. Serbia and Montenegro themselves broke up in 2006 and became independent states, the concept of Yugoslavia, as a single state for all South Slavic peoples, emerged in the late 17th century and gained prominence through the Illyrian Movement of the 19th century. The name was created by the combination of the Slavic words jug, Yugoslavia was the result of the Corfu Declaration, as a project of the Serbian Parliament in exile and the Serbian royal Karađorđević dynasty, who became the Yugoslav royal dynasty. The country was formed in 1918 immediately after World War I as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and it was commonly referred to at the time as the Versailles state. Later, the government renamed the country leading to the first official use of Yugoslavia in 1929, on 6 January 1929 King Alexander I suspended the constitution, banned national political parties, assumed executive power and renamed the country Yugoslavia. He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions and he imposed a new constitution and relinquished his dictatorship in 1931. None of these three regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I, Alexander attempted to create a centralised Yugoslavia. He decided to abolish Yugoslavias historic regions, and new internal boundaries were drawn for provinces or banovinas, the banovinas were named after rivers. Many politicians were jailed or kept under police surveillance, the effect of Alexanders dictatorship was to further alienate the non-Serbs from the idea of unity. During his reign the flags of Yugoslav nations were banned, Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Peter II and a regency council headed by his cousin, Prince Paul
18.
Association of 1. SNL
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SNL, commonly referred to as Združenje 1. SNL, is an founded by the Slovenian top division clubs. Their members are professional football clubs that are participating in the Slovenian first division, Branko Florjančič is the current president of the organization. The history of Slovenian first division,1, the change happened in compliance with the rules of Football Association of Slovenia, UEFA and FIFA. Since early 2012 the league is governed by the Football Association of Slovenia. SNL, founded in 1993, remains as the organization combines the interests of all clubs. SNL is a voluntary, independent and non-profit organization of clubs of Slovenian first division,1. The association has been criticised by the media, that is demanding a reorganization of the governing body. One of the criticism is that the league is without the general sponsor for couple of seasons now. SNL will find any anytime soon, the other main concern for the league is that the leagues clubs are struggling, season after season, with huge financial difficulties and some of them are barely surviving by the end of the season. After every season clubs that gain promotion from Slovenian second division,2, SNL, are rejecting the possibility of advancing into top division. Zlatko Zahovič director of football at the most successful Slovenian club, NK Maribor, SNL should be disbanded or that at the very least Branko Florjančič, then president of the organization, should resign and give the chance to someone more competent. Zahovič also stated that the Association in its current form serves no purpuse, on 4 April 2012 Branko Florijanič, who was at the head of the organization since 1996, was elected as president of the Association of 1. SNL for the time in a row. On 17 April 2012 Branko Florijanič was taken into custody by Koper police in suspicion of tampering with evidence regarding the corruption during the construction of the Bonifika Stadium
19.
NK Celje
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Nogometni Klub Celje, commonly referred to as NK Celje or simply Celje, is an association football club from Slovenia. They are based in Celje, Slovenias third largest city and they play in the Slovenian PrvaLiga. Together with Maribor and Gorica they are the club that have participated in every season of the Slovenian PrvaLiga since its formation in 1991. The club was formed in 1919 as SK Celje, soon after the World War II, in 1946, the club changed its name to NK Kladivar. In 1964 they qualified for the Yugoslav Second League, where played for one year. In 1992, year after Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia, the club changed its name. They reached the finals of Slovenian Cup in 1993 and 1995, in 2003, Celje was in a title race with Maribor until the very last, but in the end finished second and also lost Slovenian cup finals against Olimpija in the same year. Celje were also in the finals the year, but lost to Koper after the penalty shoot-out. For most of its years, the club played at the Glazija Stadium. Glazija was demolished in 1983 and the club moved permanently to Skalna Klet. Since the stadium was in bad shape and could not meet UEFA stadia criteria, the capacity at the time was 3,600 covered seats. After 2003, three new stands were built and when the last one opened in 2008, the stadium was completed. The current capacity of the stadium is 13,059 seats from which around 50% are covered, the old stadium is still used as a training facility for the club. The club also has a third training ground called Olimp. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality, Official website PrvaLiga profile Official UEFA profile
20.
ND Gorica
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Nogometno Društvo Gorica, commonly referred to as ND Gorica or simply Gorica, is a Slovenian football club, playing in the town of Nova Gorica. They are one of the most successful Slovenian clubs with four Slovenian League, together with Maribor and Celje they are the only club that have participated in every season of the Slovenian PrvaLiga since its formation in 1991. The club plays its matches at the Nova Gorica Sports Park stadium with the capacity of 3,100 seats, the history of Slovenian association football in the Goriška region goes back to the year 1907, when the first football club Jugoslavija was formed by the Slovenes of Gorizia. After the independence of Slovenia in 1991, the played in the 1. SNL under the name HIT Gorica and during the 1995–96 season, in the next season, the club played its first Slovenian Supercup final and won their second trophy with a 3–1 victory over Olimpija. During the league domination of Maribor, the managed to win two Slovenian cup titles in a row. On the last day of the 2003–04 season on 30 May 2004, before the last round, NK Maribor was leading the table with 54 points, one point ahead of Gorica. In the final round, Maribor played a match against their rivals Mura. Both matches were played at the time, and after the first half things did not look good for Gorica. Maribor was leading 0–1, while Gorica finished the first half with the score 0–0, at the start of the second half, Gorica took the lead. On the other match, the score remained 0–1 up until the 68th minute, later, Maribor started to attack in search of their winning goal, but was cut down with yet another goal from Mura in the 89th minute for the final score 2–1. That result meant that Gorica, who won against Koper 2–0, had secured their second title. The second title started a run for Gorica as the team won another two league titles in a row. By now Gorica, a four times Slovenian league champions, was recognized as one of the top clubs in the country. After the last title, Gorica was a runner-up in the 2006–07 and 2008–09 seasons, while finishing 3rd in 2007–08, in 2013, Gorica became associated with Parma. On 21 May 2014 they won their first trophy after eight years as they defeated Maribor 2–0 in the cup final, all results list Goricas goal tally first. Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Official website PrvaLiga profile Official UEFA profile Soccerway profile
21.
Round-robin tournament
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A round-robin tournament is a competition in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn. It contrasts with an elimination tournament, the term round-robin is derived from the French term ruban, meaning ribbon. Over a long period of time, the term was corrupted and idiomized to robin, in a single round-robin schedule, each participant plays every other participant once. If each participant plays all others twice, this is called a double round-robin. The term is used when all participants play one another more than twice. In the United Kingdom, a tournament is often called an American tournament in sports such as tennis or billiards which usually have knockout tournaments. In Italian it is called girone allitaliana, in Serbian it is called the Berger system, after chess player Johann Berger. A round-robin tournament with four players is sometimes called quad or foursome, in sports with a large number of competitive matches for season, double round-robins are common. Most association football leagues in the world are organized on a double round-robin basis, in every team plays all others in its league once at home. This system is used during qualification for major tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup. There are also round-robin chess, draughts, go, curling, the World Chess Championship decided in 2005 and in 2007 on an eight-player double round-robin tournament where each player faces every other player once as white and once as black. Group tournaments rankings usually go by number of matches won and drawn, frequently, pool stages within a wider tournament are conducted on a round-robin basis. In theory, a tournament is the fairest way to determine the champion among a known. Each participant, player or team, has equal chances against all other opposites, the element of luck is seen to be reduced as compared to a knockout system since bad performances need not cripple a competitors chance of ultimate victory. Final records of participants are, thus, seen to be accurate as they represent the results over a longer period against equal competition. This can also be used to determine which teams are the poorest performers and this is also helpful to determine the final rank of all competitors from strongest to weakest for purposes of qualification for another stage or competition as well as for prize money. In team sport the major league champions is generally regarded as the best team in the land, the top one, two, or occasionally three teams in these groups then proceed to a straight knockout stage for the remainder of the tournament. The main disadvantage of a round robin tournament is the time needed to complete it, for instance, a tournament of 16 teams can be completed in just 4 rounds in a knockout format, a round-robin would require 15 rounds to finish
22.
Independence of Slovenia
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The Ten-Day War or the Slovenian Independence War, also the Weekend War was a brief war of independence that followed the Slovenian declaration of independence on 25 June 1991. It was fought between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav Peoples Army and it lasted from 27 June 1991 until 7 July 1991, when the Brioni Accords were signed. It marked the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars, following the death of Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito in 1980, underlying political, ethnic, religious, and economic tensions within Yugoslavia surfaced. A series of disagreements among delegates persisted until four of the six republics each made the decision to secede from Yugoslavia, supported by Germany and the Vatican, Slovenia was among those republics aiming for independence. In April 1990, Slovenia held its first democratic multi-party elections, on 23 December 1990, Slovenia held a referendum, which passed with 88. 5% of overall electorate supporting independence, with a turnout of 93. 3%. The Slovenian government was aware that the federal government in Belgrade might seek to use military force to quash Slovenias move towards independence. Immediately after the Slovenian elections, the Yugoslav Peoples Army announced a new doctrine that would apply across the country. The Tito-era doctrine of General Peoples Defence, in each republic maintained a Territorial Defence Force, was to be replaced by a centrally directed system of defence. The republics would lose their role in matters, and their TOs would be disarmed and subordinated to YPA headquarters in Belgrade. The Slovenian government resisted these moves, and successfully ensured that the majority of Slovenian Territorial Defence equipment was out of the hands of the YPA. It also declared in an amendment passed on 28 September 1990 that its TO would be under the sole command of the Slovenian government. At the same time, the Slovenian government set up a secret alternative command structure and this was an existing but antiquated institution, unique to Slovenia, which was intended to enable the republic to form an ad hoc defence structure, akin to a Home Guard. It was of importance prior to 1990, with antiquated weapons. However, the DEMOS-led government realised that the MSNZ could be adapted to provide an organisation to the TO that would be entirely in the hands of the Slovenian government. When the YPA tried to control of the Slovenian Territorial Defence. The Slovenes were aware that they would not be able to deter the YPA forces for a period of time. Under Defence Minister Janez Janša, they adopted a strategy based on an asymmetric warfare approach, TO units would carry out a guerrilla campaign, using anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft missiles to ambush YPA units. Hit-and-run and delaying tactics were to be preferred and frontal clashes were to be avoided since in such situations the YPAs superior firepower would have been difficult to overcome
23.
ND Ilirija 1911
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Nogometno Društvo Ilirija 1911 is a Slovenian football club from Ljubljana, which plays in the Slovenian Third League, the third level of the Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1911 and is the oldest football club in the country, at the beginning of the 20th century football came to Ljubljana from Vienna, and was played mostly by the students. Football club Ilirija was founded on 9 June 1911 in a pub called Roža on Židovska cesta in Ljubljana, albin Kandare was elected as the first president of Ilirija, and their first ground was at Tivoli Park. Ilirijas first match was played on 30 July 1911, and ended in an 18–0 defeat against Hermes, soon after their first match Ilirija merged with Hermes in 1913. In the first few years Ilirija had no competition in Slovenia and they played friendly matches against Zagreb-based Croatian clubs such as HAŠK, Građanski. An important turning point was a friendly with the Czech side Slavia Prague in Ljubljana played on 5 August 1913, the best and most popular players of Ilirija of that time were Stanko Tavčar, Ernest Turk, Stanko Pelan and Oto Oman. At the onset of World War I, Ilirija and Slovan were the two football clubs in Slovenia, and during the war all football activities were suspended. In 1919 Ilirija was re-activated, and was followed by Slovan. Football rapidly gained popularity and a number of other Slovenian clubs came into life around the time such as Olimp in Celje. SSK Maribor in Maribor and ASK Primorje in Ljubljana, with the latter becoming Ilirijas biggest rivals in the following decade. Ilirija then became the first regional champions of Slovenia, winning the inaugural Slovenian championship in 1920, by the mid-1930s both Ilirija and Primorje encountered financial difficulties which led to their merger and the formation of SK Ljubljana football club in 1936. Between 1936 and 1941 SK Ljubljana was one of the top sides in Slovenia and also competed in the Yugoslav First League, Kingdom of Yugoslavias top national competition formed in 1923. In addition, Ilirijas Stanko Tavčar was the only Slovenian player who was capped for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national football team in the period between the two world wars. He was member of their 1920 Olympics squad and appeared in matches against Czechoslovakia and Egypt, SK Ljubljana operated until 1941 and the outbreak of World War II, when all sports activities in Ljubljana were suspended. Since the independence of Slovenia, Ilirija played a couple of seasons in the newly established Slovenian Second League, however, after finishing third in the 1991–92, they finished 15th in the 1992–93 season and were subsequently relegated to the Slovenian Third League. Since then, Ilirja have been a member of leagues outside of the top two divisions
24.
SK Ljubljana
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Sport Klub Ljubljana, commonly referred to as SK Ljubljana or simply Ljubljana, was a Slovenian football club from Ljubljana. The club was founded in the mid-thirties after merging with Primorje, SK Ljubljana was dissolved in 1941, when the World War II breaks up in Yugoslavia. The club colours were black and white, soon after its formation, SK Ljubljana were the champions of the 1935–36 Ljubljana Subassociation, and as such, they got a spot in the highest national level, the Yugoslav Championship. The 1935–36 Yugoslav Championship was played in a cup format and SK Ljubljana archived the best ever result of a Slovenian club in the Yugoslav highest level and their impressive campaign was only stopped in the semi-finals. Their opponent was BSK Belgrade who was dominating Yugoslav football in that period and was running for their third consecutive title. It was hard to expect a surprise, and BSK won both matches by 3,1 and later ended up being champions after beating Slavija Sarajevo in the final. Their third consecutive participation in the Yugoslav elite was even worse, the 1939–40 season saw a change in the league format. Two leagues were formed, the Serbian League and the Croato-Slovenian League, the Yugoslav champion was to be decided in a final tournament which was a league formed by the best three clubs of each of the leagues. SK Ljubljana played in the Croato-Slovenian League, however failed to qualify to the final tournament, the 1940–41 season was intended to be played in a similar system, only that the Croato-Slovenian League was separated into a Croatian and Slovenian leagues. In conclusion, SK Ljubljana was the powerhouse of the Slovenian football during its existence and it continued the tradition of AŠK Primorje in gathering most of the best Slovenian players of that time, and became a regular in the Yugoslav elite. Its first season however remained as their best one, by becoming one of the top 4 clubs in the country, League Ljubljana Subassociation League, Winners, 1935–36, 1940–41
25.
Yugoslav First League
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The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The First League Championship was one of two competitions held annually in Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Cup being the other. The league became professional in 1967. The UEFA recognised successor league of the Yugoslav First League, the First League of FR Yugoslavia, despite the succession and same name Prva savezna liga and this was the first club competition on a national level for clubs from Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The league was started in 1923 and the first four seasons had a cup tournament format, in the period from 1927 to 1940 seventeen seasons were completed, with all the titles won by clubs from Croatia or Serbia. Consequently with the moving of headquarters, Croatian players and coaches boycotted Yugoslav national team, with the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, separate Croatian and Serbian leagues were established, which operated during the World War II. *Known as BSK Belgrade before 1957 Top 11 only, Table only shows best-finish achievements in major European/Intercontinental competitions during the SFR Yugoslavia period, no minor European tournaments included. Table sorted by success at European Cup / UEFA Champions League first and foremost. While the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup is recognised as the predecessor to the UEFA Cup, consequently, UEFA do not consider clubs records in the Fairs Cup to be part of their European record. However, FIFA do view the competition as a major honour, complete list of players who scored 100 goals or more in the 1946-1992 SFR Yugoslavia period. Among these were, The 1990-91 season was the last season held in its usual format, the breakup of the country also broke up its top-flight league into several smaller ones. In June 1991 Slovenia declared independence and Croatia followed suit in October of the same year and this meant that their football associations separated from the Football Association of Yugoslavia so they both started their own football leagues. The Slovenian PrvaLiga was launched in late 1991, while the Croatian Prva HNL saw its first edition in 1992, affected by the ongoing war in Croatia, the season was held over the course of a single calendar year, from February to June 1992. Both leagues have been going on ever since, the 1991-92 season was the last season held officially under the name of SFR Yugoslavia, even though Slovenian and Croatian clubs have already abandoned the competition to play in their own leagues. Clubs from the remaining four federative units all took part in the competition, still, since most of the games were played as planned, Crvena Zvezda of Belgrade is credited with winning the last Yugoslav First League championship. Macedonian clubs abandoned the competition after the 1991-92 season because the new Macedonian First League was launched the following season, the league lasted under that name until the 2002-03 season, when the country changed its name so the league was renamed First League of Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed independence in late winter 1992, and already in April same year N/FSBiH applied for membership with FIFA and UEFA, meanwhile, due to the outbreak of Bosnian War in April 1992 no games were played in the 1992–93 season. In late 1993 some parts of the country re-launched football competitions with reduced scope, but just as the country was divided along ethnic lines, so was football. In 1993 Bosnian Croats launched the First League of Herzeg-Bosnia in which only Croatian clubs competed on parochial scale within the limits of West Herzegovina and few other enclaves
26.
NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945)
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Nogometni Klub Olimpija Ljubljana, commonly referred to as NK Olimpija Ljubljana or simply Olimpija, was a Slovenian association football club based in Ljubljana. The club was founded in 1945 under the name NK Enotnost, since the mid 1940s Olimpija had competed in the Yugoslav football system and between the late 1960s and late 1980s Olimpija was a regular member of the Yugoslav First League. The clubs home ground was Bežigrad Stadium, a 8,211 capacity stadium in Bežigrad District in Ljubljana, Olimpijas nicknames were The Dragons, as dragon is a symbol of Ljubljana, and The Green-Whites, referring to their primary colours, green and white. The club was dissolved in 2004 due to financial debt. A successor club which claims rights to Olimpijas honours and records was established in 2005, in 1945, players of the former SK Ljubljana joined the newly founded ŠD Tabor and ŠD Udarnik sports clubs, and formed a club called NK Enotnost. As a result of Slovenian independence and the breakup of Yugoslavia, the inaugural 1991–92 season included a number of clubs from the lower tiers of the Yugoslav football league. The average attendance at Olimpijas matches dropped from 7,380 in 1989–90 to 1,075 in 1991–92, the team for their final match included Englaro, Čeh, Djuranovič and Valentinčič, and was coached by Lučjom Pertičem. In the 2003–04 UEFA Cup Olimpija beat Irish side Shelbourne in the qualifying round 4–2 on aggregate, Olimpijas last European season was then cut short as they were soundly beaten 3–0 through goals by Anthony Le Tallec, Emile Heskey and Harry Kewell in the away leg at Anfield. Olimpija had a string of mixed results for the remainder of the season, getting knocked out in the round of 16 of the 2003–04 Slovenian Cup and finishing runners-up in the 2003–04 Slovenian PrvaLiga. However, most sponsors decided to abandon the club at the end of the season led to serious financial difficulties for the club. Following Schollmayers exit, Olimpija were forced to sell almost all of their players, eventually the club, with a debt consisting of over 700 million Slovenian tolars, filed for bankruptcy and was dissolved by the end of year. A successor club which claims rights to Olimpijas honours and records was established in 2005, however, some English-language sources regard the current Olimpija club as a continuation of the original club. Amid political turmoil in early 1990s, during the breakup of Yugoslavia, Olimpija began claiming direct lineage to Ilirija and it was during this time that Olimpija added the year 1911 on the official club crest for the first time in their history. Their best result in European football was reaching the round of 16 in the 1996–97 Cup Winners Cup, in the following table defunct competitions are indicated in italics. The following Olimpija players have been capped at international level whilst with the club. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club
27.
NK Nafta Lendava
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Nogometni Klub Nafta Lendava, commonly referred to as NK Nafta Lendava or simply Nafta, was a Slovenian football club, which played in the town of Lendava. They were founded as Lendvai Football Egyesület in 1903 during Hungarian administration and they were regarded as the oldest Slovenian football club until they filled for bankruptcy and were dissolved, following the 2011–12 Slovenian PrvaLiga season. The club played in the Yugoslav First League only in the 1946-47 season and it was refounded as ND Lendava 1903 in 2012. Nafta supporters were called Gorgone Lendava
28.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
29.
Breakup of Yugoslavia
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The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart. The wars primarily affected Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, in addition, two autonomous provinces were established within Serbia, Vojvodina and Kosovo. Each of the republics had its own branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia party and a ruling elite, after his death in 1980, the weakened system of federal government was left unable to cope with rising economic and political challenges. In the 1980s, Kosovo Albanians started to demand that their autonomous province be granted the status of a constituent republic, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia dissolved in 1990 along federal lines. Nationalist rhetoric on all sides became increasingly heated, in 1991, one republic after another proclaimed independence, but the status of Serb minorities outside Serbia was left unsolved. Before World War II, major tensions arose from the first, monarchist Yugoslavias multi-ethnic make-up and relative political, fundamental to the tensions were the different concepts of the new state. The Croats and Slovenes envisaged a federal model where they would enjoy greater autonomy than they had as a crown land under Austria-Hungary. Under Austria-Hungary, both Slovenes and Croats enjoyed autonomy with free hands only in education, law, religion, and 45% of taxes. The Serbs tended to view the territories as a just reward for their support of the allies in World War I, the assassination and human rights abuses were subject of concern for the Human Rights League and precipitated voices of protest from intellectuals, including Albert Einstein. It was in this environment of oppression that the insurgent group. During World War II, the tensions were exploited by the occupying Axis forces which established a Croat puppet state spanning much of present-day Croatia and Bosnia. The Axis powers installed the Ustaše as the leaders of the Independent State of Croatia, the Ustaše resolved that the Serbian minority were a fifth column of Serbian expansionism, and pursued a policy of persecution against the Serbs. The policy dictated that one-third of the Serbian minority were to be killed, one-third expelled, both Croats and Muslims were recruited as soldiers by the SS. At the same time, former royalist, General Milan Nedić, was installed by the Axis as head of the government and local Serbs were recruited into the Gestapo. The official Yugoslav post-war estimate of victims in Yugoslavia during World War II was 1,704,000, subsequent data gathering in the 1980s by historians Vladimir Žerjavić and Bogoljub Kočović showed that the actual number of dead was about 1 million. Of that number,330,000 to 390,000 ethnic Serbs perished from all causes in Croatia and Bosnia, Yugoslavia was in its heyday a regional industrial power and an economic success. From 1960 to 1980, annual gross domestic product growth averaged 6.1 percent, medical care was free, literacy was 91 percent, Yugoslavia was a unique state, straddling both the East and West
30.
Football Association of Yugoslavia
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The Football Association of Yugoslavia was the governing body of football in Yugoslavia, based in Belgrade, with a major administrative branch in Zagreb. It organized the Yugoslav First League, the Yugoslavia national football team, Football Association of Serbia inherited Yugoslavia spot within FIFA and UEFA and it is considered by both organisations as the only successor of Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 in Zagreb under the Croatian name Jugoslavenski nogometni savez, the FA became the temporary member of FIFA on May 4,1921 and permanent member on May 20,1923. The name later changed to Nogometni savez Jugoslavije, during this time there were several subassociations which organized football on the regional level. In this new created association is formed new subassociation, Sušak Football Subassociation and Maribor, in 1954 Football Association of Yugoslavia became the member of UEFA. The Football Association of Yugoslavia was replaced by the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003, when the nation changed their name to Serbia and Montenegro
31.
Nova Gorica
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Nova Gorica is a town and a municipality in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy. Since 1948, Nova Gorica has replaced Gorizia as the urban centre of the Goriška or Gorizia region. Since May 2011, Nova Gorica has been joined together with Gorizia and Šempeter-Vrtojba in a common trans-border metropolitan zone, the name Nova Gorica means new Gorizia. However, the origin of the name Gorizia/Gorica itself is Slavic, the common local term for the town is Gorica, while residents tend to refer to the neighboring Italian town as Stara Gorica old Gorizia. This use is reflected in Slovenian license plates, as well as in the name of the local association football club ND Gorica. The word gorica is a form of the Slovene common noun gora hill. In archaic Slovene, it also meant vineyard and it is a common toponym in Slovenia and in other areas of Slovene settlement. In 1947, following World War II, Italy signed a treaty with the Allies. The treaty transferred most of the Slovene-inhabited areas of the Province of Gorizia to Yugoslavia, the town of Gorizia itself, however, remained under Italian rule. The new border cut the city off from its northern and eastern suburbs, around 40% of the municipalitys territory was transferred to Yugoslavia, including the suburbs of Solkan, Šempeter, Kromberk, Rožna Dolina, and Pristava. Together, these areas had a population of around 10,000, however, they lacked a cohesive structure, and were poorly connected. In order to overcome this problem, the Communist authorities of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia decided to build a new settlement that would connect these suburbs into a new urban space, the new town was called Nova Gorica or New Gorizia. The project had the backing of Marshal Tito, Yugoslavias Communist leader. The project was commissioned to the Slovenian architect Edvard Ravnikar, a pupil of Le Corbusier. The first projects were laid out in winter of 1947, the building of the town continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s, reaching the current extension by the mid 1980s. In the early 1990s, all of the older suburbs acquired again the status of independent settlements. This was however a purely symbolic act that affected the official statistics on population, because of this. In nevertheless remains the second largest urban conglomeration in western Slovenia, Nova Gorica hosts one of the three national theatres in Slovenia
32.
Coach (sport)
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In sports, a coach is a person involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople. A coach may also be a teacher, the original sense of the word coach is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hungarian city of Kocs where such vehicles were first made. Britain took the lead in upgrading the status of sports in the 19th century, for sports to become professionalized, coacher had to become established. It gradually professionalized in the Victorian era and the role was established by 1914. In the First World War, military units sought out the coaches to supervise physical conditioning, a coach, particularly in a professional league, is usually supported by one or more assistant coaches and specialist support staff. The staff may include coordinators, strength and fitness specialists, in elite sport, the role of nutritionists, biomechanists and physiotherapists will all become critical to the overall long-term success of a coach and athlete. In association football, the duties of a coach can vary depending on the level they are coaching at, in professional football, the role of the coach or trainer is limited to the training and development of a clubs first team in most countries. The coach is aided by a number of assistant coaches, one of which carries the responsibility for the training, the coach is also assisted by medical staff and athletic trainers. The medium to long term strategy of a club, with regard to transfer policies, youth development. The system also provides a level of protection against overspending on players in search of instant success. In football, the director of a football team is more commonly awarded the position of manager. Baseball coaches at that level are members of the staff under the overall supervision of the manager. The baseball field manager is essentially equivalent to head coaches in other American professional sports leagues, the term manager used without qualification almost always refers to the field manager, while the general manager is often called the GM. At amateur levels, the terminology is similar to that of other sports. The person known as the manager in professional leagues is called the head coach in amateur leagues. In American football, like other sports, there are many coaches. Sports coaching in the UK follows a structured pattern in principle. In June 2008, the Sports Councils together with the governing bodies of sport formally adopted the UK Coaching Framework at the UK Coaching Summit in Coventry
Sebastjan Gobec (488)
Marcos Tavares (140)
2018–19 Slovenian PrvaLiga
+1
Kazakhstan Premier League
–4
Eliteserien
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Liechtenstein
Slovak Super Liga