Association football
Association football, more known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport; the game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal. Association football is one of a family of football codes, which emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity; the modern game traces its origins to 1863 when the Laws of the Game were codified in England by The Football Association. Players are not allowed to touch the ball with hands or arms while it is in play, except for the goalkeepers within the penalty area. Other players use their feet to strike or pass the ball, but may use any other part of their body except the hands and the arms; the team that scores most goals by the end of the match wins.
If the score is level at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout depending on the format of the competition. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, which organises World Cups for both men and women every four years; the rules of association football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time rugby 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 "rules of the game" were made in 1848, before the "split off in 1863". The term soccer comes from a slang or jocular abbreviation of the word "association", with the suffix "-er" appended to it; the word soccer was first recorded in 1889 in the earlier form of socca.
Within the English-speaking world, association football is now called "football" in the United Kingdom and "soccer" in Canada and the United States. People in countries where other codes of football are prevalent may use either term, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now use "football" for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is 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 modern football. 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 and harpastum were played involving hands and violence.
They all appear to have resembled rugby football and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified "mob football", the antecedent of all modern football codes, these three games involved more handling the ball than kicking. Other games included kemari in chuk-guk in Korea. Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other ball games played around the world FIFA has recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe; the modern rules of association football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the varying forms of football played in the public schools of England. The history of football in England dates back to at least the eighth century AD; the Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Rugby and Shrewsbury schools.
They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football; some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club, formed by former public school pupils in 1857, which led to formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School devised an influential set of rules; these ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London. The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse; the Freemason's Tavern was the setting for five more meetings between October and December, which produced the first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: the first allowed for running with the ball in hand.
Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under
Goalkeeper (association football)
The goalkeeper shortened to keeper or goalie, is one of the major positions of association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport; the goalkeeper's primary role is to prevent the opposing team from scoring. This is accomplished by the goalkeeper moving into the path of the ball and either catching it or directing it away from the vicinity of the goal line. Within the penalty area goalkeepers are able to use their hands, making them the only players on the field permitted to handle the ball; the special status of goalkeepers is indicated by them wearing different coloured kits from their teammates. The back-pass rule prevents goalkeepers handling direct passes back to them from teammates. Goalkeepers perform goal kicks, give commands to their defense during corner kicks and indirect free kicks, marking. Goalkeepers play an important role in directing on field strategy as they have an unrestricted view of the entire pitch, giving them a unique perspective on play development.
The goalkeeper is the only required position of a team. If they are injured or sent off, a substitute goalkeeper has to take their place, otherwise an outfield player must take the ejected keeper's place in goal. In order to replace a goalkeeper, sent off, a team substitutes an outfield player for the backup keeper, they play the remainder of the match with nine outfield players. If a team does not have a substitute goalkeeper, or they have used all of their permitted substitutions for the match, an outfield player has to take the dismissed goalkeeper's place and wear the goalkeeper shirt; the squad number for a first choice goalkeeper is number 1, although they may wear any jersey number between 1 and 99. Association football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics resulting in the generation and elimination of different positions. Goalkeeper is the only position, certain to have existed since the codification of the sport. In the early days of organised football, when systems were limited or non-existent and the main idea was for all players to attack and defend, teams had a designated member to play as the goalkeeper.
The earliest account of football teams with player positions comes from Richard Mulcaster in 1581 and does not specify goalkeepers. The earliest specific reference to keeping goal comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. According to Carew: "they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foot asunder. One of these is appointed by lots, to the one side, the other to his adverse party. There is assigned for their guard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers". Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early 16th century. In a 1613 poem, Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe", it seems inevitable that wherever a game has evolved goals, some form of goalkeeping must be developed. David Wedderburn refers to what has been translated from Latin as to "keep goal" in 1633, though this does not imply a fixed goalkeeper position; the word "goal-keeper" is used in the novel Tom Brown's School Days. The author is here referring to an early form of rugby football: You will see in the first place, that the sixth-form boy, who has the charge of goal, has spread his force so as to occupy the whole space behind the goal-posts, at distances of about five yards apart.
The word "goal-keeper" appeared in the Sheffield Rules of 1867, but the term did not refer to a designated player, but rather to "that player on the defending side who for the time being is nearest to his own goal". The goal-keeper, thus defined, did not enjoy any special handling privileges; the FA's first Laws of the Game of 1863 did not make any special provision for a goalkeeper, with any player being allowed to catch or knock-on the ball. Handling the ball was forbidden in 1870; the next year, 1871, the laws were amended to introduce the goalkeeper and specify that the keeper was allowed to handle the ball "for the protection of his goal". The restrictions on the ability of the goalkeeper to handle the ball were changed several times in subsequent revisions of the laws: 1871: the keeper may handle the ball only "for the protection of his goal". 1873: the keeper may not "carry" the ball. 1883: the keeper may not carry the ball for more than two steps. 1887: the keeper may not handle the ball in the opposition's half.
1901: the keeper may handle the ball for any purpose. 1912: the keeper may handle the ball only in the penalty area. 1931: the keeper may take up to four steps while carrying the ball. 1992: the keeper may not handle the ball after it has been deliberately kicked to him/her by a team-mate. 1997: the keeper may not handle the ball for more than six seconds. Goalkeepers played between the goalposts and had limited mobility, except when trying to save opposition shots. Throughout the years, the role of the goalkeeper has evolved, due to the changes in systems of play, to become more active; the goalkeeper is the only player in association football allowed to use their han
KNVB Cup
The KNVB Beker is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the Netherlands, it is referred to as the Dutch Cup; the tournament consists of all teams from the top three tiers of Dutch league football, as well as the 24 semi-finalists of regional amateur cup tournaments. The finals of the tournament traditionally takes place in De Kuip, has been held there every season since 1988; the winners of the cup compete against the winners of the Eredivisie for the Johan Cruijff Shield, which acts as the curtain raiser for the following season. The competition was conceived during a board meeting of the Dutch National Football Association, in the Hague, on 19 January 1898; the tournament began the following season, 1898–1899. The first final was played on 9 May 1899 between HVV Den Haag. In 1946, the trophy was changed to one made out of silver, rare in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Like many national cup competitions, the name of the tournament has changed with sponsorship.
From 1995, the competition went from being the KNVB Cup to being known as the Amstel Cup after the sponsor Amstel. On 16 August 2005, the name was changed to the Gatorade Cup after the drinks company Gatorade. In 2006, the name returned to being the KNVB Cup with Gatorade remaining as the principal sponsor. Up until 1998, the winner of the cup entered into the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but with the abandonment of that tournament, the winner now goes into the UEFA Europa League. If the winning team has won the Eredivisie and thus entry into the UEFA Champions League the berth will be based on performance in that season's Eredivisie. In 1998, both KNVB Cup finalists, Ajax and PSV, had won places into the Champions League. So a game was played between the beaten semi-finalists, SC Heerenveen and FC Twente, to determine who would take the Cup Winners' Cup place. In the Netherlands, the KNVB Cup is broadcast by RTL on RTL 7 and on the streaming service ESPN+. In Spain it is available on beIN Sports. In Australia and New Zealand, the KNVB Cup is available on beIN Sports.
In Asia-Pacific available on BeIN Sports. In Italy, the KNVB Cup is available on Sportitalia. In Brazil the KNVB Cup is available on BandSports. In Latin America, the KNVB Cup is available on Claro Sports. KNVB.nl - Official website KNVB / Netherlands Cup Finals, RSSSF.com Netherlands Cup Full Results 1970-1994, RSSSF.com Minnows in Cup Finals, RSSSF.com League321.com - National cup results
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War; the current champion is France. The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase, called the World Cup Finals. After this, 32 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about a month; the 21 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight national teams. Brazil have won five times, they are the only team to have played in every tournament; the other World Cup winners are Italy, with four titles each.
The World Cup is the most prestigious association football tournament in the world, as well as the most viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding the Olympic Games. Brazil, Italy and Mexico have each hosted twice, while Uruguay, Sweden, England, Spain, the United States and South Korea, South Africa and Russia have each hosted once. Qatar are planned as hosts of the 2022 finals, 2026 will be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico, which will give Mexico the distinction of being the first country to have hosted games in three finals; the world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the inaugural British Home Championship, took place in 1884; as football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at the start of the 20th century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics, at the 1906 Intercalated Games.
After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906. These were early days for international football, the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition. Planned by The Football Association, England's football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain won the gold medals, they repeated the feat at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909; the Lipton tournament was a championship between individual clubs from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. The competition is sometimes described as The First World Cup, featured the most prestigious professional club sides from Italy and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be associated with the competition and declined the offer to send a professional team.
Lipton invited an amateur side from County Durham, to represent England instead. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to defend their title. In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a "world football championship for amateurs", took responsibility for managing the event; this paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, won by Belgium. Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928; those were the first two open world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFA's professional era. Due to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, with President Jules Rimet as the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a world championship itself. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay as the host country of the inaugural World Cup tournament.
The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet persuaded teams from Belgium, France and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total, 13 nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America; the first two World Cup matches took place on 13 July 1930, were won by France and the USA, who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent o
Juventus F.C.
Juventus Football Club, colloquially known as Juve, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont. Founded in 1897 by a group of Torinese students, the club has worn a black and white striped home kit since 1903 and has played home matches in different grounds around its city, the latest being the 41,507-capacity Allianz Stadium. Nicknamed Vecchia Signora, the club has won 34 official league titles, 13 Coppa Italia titles and eight Supercoppa Italiana titles, being the record holder for all these competitions; the side leads the historical Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio ranking whilst on the international stage occupies the 4th position in Europe and the eight in the world for most confederation titles won with eleven trophies, having led the UEFA ranking during seven seasons since its inception in 1979, the most for an Italian team and joint second overall. Founded with the name of Sport-Club Juventus as an athletics club, it is the second oldest of its kind still active in the country after Genoa's football section and has competed uninterruptedly in the top flight league since its debut in 1900 after changing its name to Foot-Ball Club Juventus, with the exception of the 2006–07 season, being managed by the industrial Agnelli family continuously since 1923.
The relationship between the club and that dynasty is the oldest and longest in national sports, making Juventus the first professional sporting club in the country, having established itself as a major force in the national stage since the 1930s and at confederation level since the mid-1970s and becoming one of the first ten wealthiest in world football in terms of value and profit since the mid-1990s, being stocked in Borsa italiana since 2001. Under the management of Giovanni Trapattoni, the club won 13 trophies in the ten years before 1986, including six league titles and five international titles, became the first to win all three competitions organised by the Union of European Football Associations: the European Champions' Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup. With successive triumphs in the 1984 European Super Cup and 1985 Intercontinental Cup, it become the first and thus far only in the world to complete a clean sweep of all confederation trophies. In December 2000, Juventus was ranked seventh in the FIFA's historic ranking of the best clubs in the world and nine years was ranked second best club in Europe during the 20th Century based on a statistical study series by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, the highest for an Italian club in both.
The club's fan base is one of the largest worldwide. Unlike most European sporting supporters' groups, which are concentrated around their own club's city of origin, it is widespread throughout the whole country and the Italian diaspora, making Juventus a symbol of anticampanilismo and italianità; the club has provided the most players to the Italy national team—mostly in official competitions—who formed the group that led the Azzurri squad to international success, most in the 1934, 1982 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. Juventus were founded as Sport-Club Juventus in late 1897 by pupils from the Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum school in Turin, but were renamed as Foot-Ball Club Juventus two years later; the club joined the Italian Football Championship during 1900. In 1904, the businessman Ajmone-Marsan revived the finances of the football club Juventus, making it possible to transfer the training field from piazza d'armi to the more appropriate Velodrome Umberto I. During this period, the team wore a black kit.
Juventus first won the league championship in 1905 while playing at their Velodrome Umberto I ground. By this time the club colours had changed to black and white stripes, inspired by English side Notts County. There was a split at the club in 1906, after some of the staff considered moving Juve out of Turin. President Alfred Dick was unhappy with this and left with some prominent players to found FBC Torino which in turn spawned the Derby della Mole. Juventus spent much of this period rebuilding after the split, surviving the First World War. FIAT owner Edoardo Agnelli built a new stadium; this helped the club to its second scudetto in the 1925–26 season, after beating Alba Roma with an aggregate score of 12–1. The club established itself as a major force in Italian football since the 1930s, becoming the country's first professional club and the first with a decentralised fan base, which led it to win a record of five consecutive Italian championships and form the core of the Italy national team during the Vittorio Pozzo's era, including the 1934 world champion squad, with star players such as Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Luis Monti, among others.
Juventus moved to the Stadio Comunale, but for the rest of the 1930s and the majority of the 1940s they were unable to recapture championship dominance. After the Second
Andoni Zubizarreta
Andoni Zubizarreta Urreta is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. The all-time most capped player for the Spain national team for several years, he played with individual and team success for Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, appearing in more than 950 official professional matches during his club career. Zubizarreta represented Spain in seven major international tournaments, four World Cups and three European Championships, starting in six of those. Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Zubizarreta spent his childhood in Aretxabaleta in Gipuzkoa, where he began his football career. After a brief passage at another Basque club, Deportivo Alavés, he joined Athletic Bilbao, where he would spend the following six seasons. Zubizarreta's debut in La Liga occurred on 19 September 1981 as manager Javier Clemente handed him a start in a 0–2 away loss against Atlético Madrid, one month shy of his 20th birthday, he went on to be an undisputed starter for the remainder of his spell, being an instrumental part in the team's conquests, most notably the back-to-back national championships.
In 1986, Zubizarreta signed with FC Barcelona for a record for a player in the position €1.7 million removing established Urruti from the starting lineup and missing a match afterwards – for example, only four in the Catalans' four consecutive league wins combined. He added their first European Cup in 1992, following a 1–0 win over U. C. Sampdoria. After the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League, where Barça lost 0–4 to A. C. Milan in the final, Zubizarreta was deemed surplus to requirements and finished his career at Valencia CF, still playing at a high level, he retired after the 1997 -- 98 campaign at nearly 37. On 2 July 2010, Zubizarreta was named Barcelona's director of football by president Sandro Rosell, taking over from former club and national teammate Txiki Begiristain. Over the previous decade, he had served in the same capacity at Athletic Bilbao, while working as a radio and television commentator. On 5 January 2015, Zubizarreta was sacked as Barcelona director of football by club president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
On 27 October 2016, he signed with Ligue 1 side Olympique de Marseille in the same capacity. Zubizarreta made his debut for Spain on 23 January 1985, in a 3–1 friendly victory with Finland, he went on to collect a further 125 caps in the following 13 years. Zubizarreta represented the nation in four consecutive FIFA World Cups: 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 – his last competition, where he scored an own goal in a 2–3 group stage loss against Nigeria– appearing, always as a starter, at UEFA Euro 1988 and 1996, he and his deputy Francisco Buyo once held the national team record for the longest unbeaten run in international games, until Iker Casillas and Pepe Reina broke that record in October 2008. Nicknamed "Zubi" throughout his career, Zubizarreta was regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world in his prime, was considered to be one of Spain's and Barcelona's greatest and most successful goalkeepers ever, he was consistent, level-headed and effective, with an excellent positional sense above all things, he favoured an efficient rather than spectacular style although he was capable of producing decisive saves due to his good shot-stopping abilities.
He stood out for his intelligence and charismatic leadership in goal, which enabled him to organise his back-line and inspire a sense of calm and confidence in his defenders. In spite of Barcelona's passing-based playing style under Johan Cruyff, which saw his defenders and goalkeepers given more responsibilities in terms of retaining possession and playing the ball out from the back, Zubizarreta was not adept with the ball at his feet, his limited technical skills were a frequent source of criticism from his manager, led to the former's departure from the club in 1994. Athletic Bilbao La Liga: 1982–83, 1983–84 Copa del Rey: 1983–84 Supercopa de España: 1984Barcelona La Liga: 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94 Copa del Rey: 1987–88, 1989–90 Supercopa de España: 1991, 1992 European Cup: 1991–92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1988–89 UEFA Super Cup: 1992 Don Balón Award: 1987 Zamora Trophy: 1986–87 Andoni Zubizarreta at BDFutbol Andoni Zubizarreta at Athletic Bilbao CiberChe biography and stats Andoni Zubizarreta at National-Football-Teams.com Andoni Zubizarreta – FIFA competition record Spain stats at Eu-Football
K.A.S. Eupen
Königliche Allgemeine Sportvereinigung Eupen is a Belgian association football club based in the city of Eupen in the German-speaking Community of Belgium, in the province of Liège. They compete in the Belgian First Division A, play their home matches at the Kehrwegstadion. K. A. S. Eupen were formed in 1945 from the merger of Jugend Eupen and FC Eupen 1920, they first reached the Belgian Pro League in the 2010–11 season In June 2012, the club was purchased by the government of Qatar and its Aspire Zone Foundation, who own Paris Saint-Germain. Aspire Academy announced their intent use the club as a launching pad into European football for its academy graduates from Africa, South America and Asia. Eupen finished second in the 2015–16 Second Division, gaining promotion to the top flight of Belgian football for the second time in their history, staying up at the end of the season for the first time; as of 31 January 2019. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Official website
