1.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
2.
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
3.
FC Basel
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FC Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel or just Basel, and sometimes referred to as FC Basle in English or FCB, is a Swiss football club based in Basel. They are one of the most successful clubs in Swiss football, having won the Swiss Super League 19 times, besides their current dynasty, they were most successful in the late 1960s and 1970s, winning the title a total of seven times between 1967 and 1980. The 1980s saw hard times for Basel, as they were absent from European competition for many years and suffered relegation in 1987. In the 2000s, Basel returned to the top of Swiss football, winning their first title for 22 years in 2002, Basel have also won the Swiss Cup 11 times. Basel have competed in European competition every season since 1999–2000 and they have been in the Champions League more times than any other Swiss club — a total of six times — and are the only Swiss club to have ever qualified directly for the Champions League group stages. In the 2011–12 season, Basel produced some outstanding results in the Champions League, after a 1–1 away draw against Benfica, Basel tied away 3–3 and then won at home 2–1 against Manchester United, which saw them progress to the knockout phase. Here they were defeated by Bayern Munich on aggregate despite a 1–0 home win, the 2012–13 season saw them scale greater heights as the RotBlau advanced as far as the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League, but there they were beaten by eventual champions Chelsea. During the following season, however, Basel avenged that defeat with two-straight wins during the 2013–14 Champions League group stage, the advert had been placed by Roland Geldner, who was later elected as first president. Eleven men attended the meeting, Emil Abderhalden, Max Born, Josef Ebinger, Max Geldner, Wilhelm Glaser, Jean Grieder, Ferdinand Isler, Wilhelm Oser, Lucien Schmoll, thus, Fussball Club Basel was founded on 15 November 1893. The founding members were generally from the academic community, the club colours from the first day on were red and blue. Basels first game was on 26 November 1893 against itself, a match between two ad hoc formed FCB teams against each other. Two weeks later, FCB had their first official appearance in a game against a team formed by students from the high school gymnastic club. In the early days, the team played only friendly matches, for example the local derby against BSC Old Boys. One of the club captains was Hans Gamper, who later founded FC Barcelona in Spain. Basel did not compete in the first Swiss football championship held 1897–98 and they did, however, contest in the second Serie A championship which was organized by the Swiss Football Association. The Serie A was divided into three groups, an east, a central and a west group. The winners of each qualified for the finals. Basel did not qualify for the finals and they did not compete in the championship the following season, the Serie A 1900–01 was divided into two groups, an east and a west group
4.
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
5.
FC La Chaux-de-Fonds
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FC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss football club based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. They play at the Stade Charrière, La Chaux-de-Fonds was founded on July 4,1894, in the seasons 1954,1955,1964 won the Swiss Super League, their most recent Swiss First Division season was 1986–87. In the 2006–07 season finished 10th in the Challenge League, the top scorer was Sid-Ahmed Bouziane with 15 goals, in the 2007–08 season finished 12th in the Challenge League, the top scorer was Bruno Valente with 16 goals. In the 2008–09 season finished 12th but not admitted to the Challenge League and were relegated to 2, winner of the Swiss Cup in the years 1948,1951,1954,1955,1957 and 1961. FC La Chaux-de-Fondss current stadium is the Centre Sportif de la Charrière, Swiss Championship, Winners, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1963-64 Runners-up, 1904–05, 1916–17, 1955–56 Swiss Cup, Winners,1948,1951,1954,1955,1957,1961 Runners-up,19642. Liga Interregional Group 2, Winners, 2014-15 Official website
6.
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
7.
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
8.
Servette FC
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Servette FC is a Swiss football club based in Geneva. They currently play in the Swiss Challenge League, the club was relegated to the third division in 2004–05 due to a bankruptcy, but achieved promotion to the Swiss Challenge League after the 2005–06 season, where the club remained until 2011. Servette earned promotion to the Swiss Super League after defeating Bellinzona in a playoff on 31 May 2011. The club finished fourth in its first season back in the top flight, however, they were relegated at the end of the 2013 season. Founded in 1890, Servette was the club in French-speaking Switzerland, having won 17 Swiss league championships. Servette were also winners of the Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva, one of the first international football competitions in the world, in 1930 Servette organized Coupe des Nations, the predecessor of UEFA Champions League. Barberis later became French champion in 1982 with AS Monaco, until its bankruptcy, Servette was the only Swiss club to have remained in the top league since its creation in 1890. Servette remained the club to have never been relegated for sporting reasons, until they finished at the last place. On 4 February 2005 the parent company of the club was declared bankrupt and it had run debts of over 10 million Swiss francs, having not paid the players since the previous November, and consequently the club suffered an exodus of players looking for paying clubs. As a consequence of the bankruptcy Servette Under 21s took over the club playing two divisions below the original Servette team in 1. Liga, an already experienced by regional rivals Lausanne Sports in 2003. In the 2005–06 season, a rejuvenated Servette secured promotion to the Challenge League, in the 2010–11 season, Servette finished 2nd in the Challenge League, thereby qualifying for a relegation/promotion play-off against Super League team AC Bellinzona. Servette lost the match in Bellinzona 1–0, but won the return match 3–1 and winning the tie 3–2 on aggregate. During the Summer 2011 transfer window, Servette FC made very few signings, barroca, Issaga Diallo, Carlos Saleiro and Abdoulaye Fall were signed as permanent transfers, in addition to Ishmael Yartey and Roderick Miranda joining the club on loan from Benfica. Costinha, a former Portugal international and Champions League winner with FC Porto, was appointed as the clubs Sporting Director, in December 2011, reports surfaced that Servette was unable to pay players salaries, in addition to other expenses. In January 2012, one of the star performers and leading goalscorers. In February 2012, Servette filed for bankruptcy a second time, on 12 March 2012, chairman Majid Pishyar sold the club to a consortium headed by Hugh Quennec, president of the citys hockey club, Genève-Servette HC. The club was given one month to secure the funding necessary to come out of bankruptcy proceedings
2018–19 Swiss Promotion League