1.
720p
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720p is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines and an aspect ratio of 16,9, normally known as widescreen HDTV. The number 720 stands for the 720 horizontal scan lines of display resolution. The p stands for progressive scan, i. e. non-interlaced, when broadcast at 60 frames per second, 720p features the highest temporal resolution possible under the ATSC and DVB standards. The term assumes a widescreen ratio of 16,9. 720i is a term found in numerous sources and publications. Typically, it is an error in which the author is referring to the 720p HDTV format. However, in cases it is incorrectly presented as an actual alternative format to 720p. No proposed or existing broadcast standard permits 720 interlaced lines in a frame at any frame rate. Progressive scanning reduces the need to prevent flicker by anti-aliasing single high contrast horizontal lines and it is also easier to perform high-quality 50↔60 Hz conversion and slow-motion clips with progressive video. A 720p60 video has advantage over 480i and 1080i60 in that it reduces the number of 3,2 artifacts introduced during transfer from 24 frame/s film. However, 576i and 1080i50, which are common in Europe, generally do not suffer from pull down artifacts as film frames are simply played at 25 frames and the audio pitch corrected by 25/24ths. As a result, 720p60 is used for U. S. broadcasts while European HD broadcasts often use 1080i50 24* frame, arte, a dual-language French-German channel produced in collaboration by ARD, ZDF and France Télévisions, broadcasts in German at 720p50 but in French at 1080i50. EBU Technical paper on HDTV formats
2.
576i
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576i is a standard-definition video mode originally used for broadcast television in most countries of the world where the utility frequency for electric power distribution is 50 Hz. Because of its association with the colour encoding system, it is often referred to as simply PAL, PAL/SECAM or SECAM when compared to its 60 Hz NTSC-colour-encoded counterpart. The 576 identifies a vertical resolution of 576 lines, and the i identifies it as an interlaced resolution and its basic parameters common to both analogue and digital implementations are,576 scan lines or vertical pixels of picture content,25 frames per second. Digital information not to be displayed as part of the image can be transmitted in the lines, teletext and other services. Analogue television signals have no pixels, they are rastered in scan lines, in digital applications, the number of pixels per line is an arbitrary choice as long as it fulfils the sampling theorem. Values above about 500 pixels per line are enough for conventional broadcast television, DVB-T, DVD and DV allow better values such as 704 or 720. The video format can be transported by major digital television formats, ATSC, DVB and ISDB, and on DVD, when 576i video is transmitted via baseband, most of the differences between the one-letter systems are no longer significant, other than vertical resolution and frame rate. Digital video uses its own separate space, so even the minor colour space differences between PAL and SECAM become moot in the digital domain. When 576i is used to transmit content that was composed of 25 full progressive frames per second. This is the opposite of NTSC, motion pictures are typically shot on film at 24 frames per second. When telecined and played back at PALs standard of 25 frames per second and this also applies to most TV series that are shot on film or digital 24p. Depending on the system in use, it also slightly increases the pitch of the soundtrack by 70.67 cents. More recently, digital conversion methods have used algorithms which preserve the pitch of the soundtrack. Conversion methods exist that can convert 24 frames per second video to 25 frames per second with no speed increase, however image quality suffers when conversions of this type are used. This method is most commonly employed through conversions done digitally, and is employed in situations where the importance of preserving the speed of the video outweighs the need for image quality. Many movie enthusiasts prefer PAL over NTSC despite the formers speed-up, because the results in telecine judder. States the majority of authorities on the subject favour PAL over NTSC for DVD playback quality, also DVD reviewers often make mention of this cause. For example, in his PAL vs. NTSC article, the founder of MichaelDVD says, Personally, I find all but intolerable and find it very hard to watch a movie on an NTSC DVD because of it
3.
Pakistan
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people, in terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistans narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in that it is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic, an ethnic civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. The new constitution stipulated that all laws were to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran. Pakistan has an economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The Pakistani economy is the 24th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing middle classes. The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, the country continues to face challenging problems such as illiteracy, healthcare, and corruption, but has substantially reduced poverty and terrorism and expanded per capita income. It is also a member of CERN. Pakistan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the name Pakistan literally means land of the pure in Urdu and Persian. It is a play on the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan, the earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Vedic Civilization, characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of education in the world. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled this region, the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharampala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 AD, the Pakistan governments official chronology identifies this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid
4.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
5.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
6.
Tajikistan
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Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a mountainous, landlocked country in Central Asia with an estimated 8 million people in 2013, and an area of 143,100 km2. It is bordered by Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the south, the Republic of Uzbekistan to the west, the Kyrgyz Republic to the north, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan lies to the south, separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor. Traditional homelands of Tajik people included present-day Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, a civil war was fought almost immediately after independence, lasting from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability, Tajikistan is a presidential republic consisting of four provinces. Most of Tajikistans 8 million people belong to the Tajik ethnic group, many Tajiks also speak Russian as their second language. Mountains cover more than 90% of the country and it has a transition economy that is highly dependent on remittances, aluminium and cotton production. Tajikistan means the Land of the Tajiks, the suffix -stan is Persian for place of or country and Tajik is, most likely, the name of a pre-Islamic tribe. Tajikistan appeared as Tadjikistan or Tadzhikistan in English prior to 1991 and this is due to a transliteration from the Russian, Таджикистан. In Russian, there is no single letter j to represent the phoneme /ʤ/ and дж, Tadzhikistan is the most common alternate spelling and is widely used in English literature derived from Russian sources. Tadjikistan is the spelling in French and can occasionally be found in English language texts, the way of writing Tajikistan in the Perso-Arabic script is. The earliest recorded history of the dates back to about 500 BCE when much, if not all. After the regions conquest by Alexander the Great it became part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, northern Tajikistan was part of Sogdia, a collection of city-states which was overrun by Scythians and Yuezhi nomadic tribes around 150 BCE. The Silk Road passed through the region and following the expedition of Chinese explorer Zhang Qian during the reign of Wudi commercial relations between Han China and Sogdiana flourished. Sogdians played a role in facilitating trade and also worked in other capacities, as farmers, carpetweavers, glassmakers. Later the Hephthalite Empire, a collection of tribes, moved into the region. Central Asia continued in its role as a crossroads, linking China, the steppes to the north. It was temporarily under the control of the Tibetan empire and Chinese from 650–680, the Samanid Empire,819 to 999, restored Persian control of the region and enlarged the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara which became the cultural centres of Iran and the region was known as Khorasan. The Kara-Khanid Khanate conquered Transoxania and ruled between 999–1211, during Genghis Khans invasion of Khwarezmia in the early 13th century the Mongol Empire took control over nearly all of Central Asia
7.
Karachi
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Karachi is the capital of Sindh, and is the largest and most populous city in Pakistan, as well as the 7th largest in the world and the worlds second most populous city proper. Ranked as a world city, the city is Pakistans premier industrial and financial centre. Karachi is also Pakistans most cosmopolitan city, though the Karachi region has been inhabited for millennia, the city was founded as a village named Kolachi that was established as a fortified settlement in 1729. By the time of the Partition of British India, the city was the largest in Sindh with a population of 400,000. Immediately following the independence of Pakistan, the population increased dramatically with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees from India. The city experienced economic growth following independence, attracting migrants from throughout Pakistan. Karachi is now Pakistans premier industrial and financial centre, the city has a formal economy estimated to be worth $113 billion as of 2014. Karachi collects over a third of Pakistans tax revenue, and generates approximately 20% of Pakistans GDP, approximately 30% of Pakistani industrial output is from Karachi, while Karachis ports handle approximately 95% of Pakistans foreign trade. Approximately 90% of the corporations operating in Pakistan are headquartered in Karachi. Up to 70% of Karachis workforce is employed in the informal economy, Karachi is one of Pakistans most secular and socially liberal cities. It is also the most linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse city in Pakistan, Karachi is considered to be one of the worlds fastest growing cities, and has communities representing almost every ethnic group in Pakistan. Karachi is also home to over 2 million Bangladeshi migrants,1 million Afghans, the citys murder rate in 2015 had decreased by 75% compared to 2013, and kidnappings decreased by 90%, with the improved security environment triggering sharp increases in real-estate prices. Karachi was reputedly founded in 1729 as the settlement of Kolachi, the new settlement is said to have been named in honour of Mai Kolachi, whose son is said to have slayed a man-eating crocodile in the village after his elder brothers had already been killed by it. The citys inhabitants are referred to by the demonym Karachiite in English, the earliest inhabitants of the Karachi region are believed to have been hunter-gatherers, with ancient flint tools discovered at several sites. The Karachi region is believed to have known to the ancient Greeks. The region may be the site of Krokola, where Alexander the Great once camped to prepare a fleet for Babylonia, in 711 C. E. Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Sindh and Indus Valley. The Karachi region is believed to have known to the Arabs as Debal. Under Mirza Ghazi Beg the Mughal administrator of Sindh, development of coastal Sindh, under his rule, fortifications in the region acted as a bulwark against Portuguese incursions into Sindh
8.
International Cricket Council
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The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. The ICC has 105 members,10 Full Members that play Test matches,39 Associate Members, the ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of crickets major international tournaments, most notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International, the Chairman heads the board of directors and on 26 June 2014, N. Srinivasan, the former president of BCCI, was announced as the first chairman of the council. The role of ICC president has become an honorary position since the establishment of the chairman role. It has been claimed that the 2014 changes have handed control to the so-called Big Three nations of England, the current ICC president is Zaheer Abbas, who was appointed in June 2015 following the resignation of Mustafa Kamal in April 2015. Kamal, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, resigned shortly after the 2015 World Cup. The current CEO is David Richardson, who succeeded Haroon Lorgat, on 15 June 1909 representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lords and founded the Imperial Cricket Conference. Membership was confined to the bodies of cricket within the British Empire where Test cricket was played. West Indies, New Zealand and India were elected as Full Members in 1926, however the United States did not meet these criteria and was not made a member. After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, it was given Test status in 1952, in May 1961 South Africa left the Commonwealth and therefore lost membership. In 1965, it was renamed as the International Cricket Conference and this led to the expansion of the Conference, with the admission of Associate Members. Associates were each entitled to one vote, while the Foundation, Foundation Members retained a right of veto. Sri Lanka was admitted as a Full Member in 1981, returning the number of Test-playing nations to seven, in 1989, new rules were adopted and the current name, the International Cricket Council came into existence. South Africa was re-elected as a Full Member of the ICC in 1991, after the end of apartheid, then, in the year 2000 Bangladesh received test status. From its formation the ICC had Lords Cricket Ground as its home, the independent ICC was funded initially by commercial exploitation of the rights to the World Cup of One Day International cricket. This was established in January 1994 and was based in Monaco, for the remainder of the nineties, the administration of IDI was a modest affair. But with the negotiation of a bundle of rights to all ICC events from 2001–2008, revenues available to International cricket and this led to a growth in the number of commercial staff employed by IDI in Monaco. It also had the disadvantage that the Councils cricket administrators, who remained at Lords, were separated from their colleagues in Monaco
9.
Cricket World Cup
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The ICC Cricket World Cup is the international championship of One Day International cricket. The event is organised by the governing body, the International Cricket Council, every four years. The tournament is one of the worlds most viewed sporting events and is considered the event of the international cricket calendar by the ICC. The first World Cup was organised in England in June 1975, the first three World Cups were held in England. From the 1987 tournament onwards, hosting has been shared between countries under a rotation system, with fourteen ICC members having hosted at least one match in the tournament. A total of twenty teams have competed in the editions of the tournament. Australia has won the tournament five times, with the West Indies, India, Pakistan, the best performance by a non-full-member team came when Kenya made the semi-finals of the 2003 tournament. The first international match was played between Canada and the United States, on 24 and 25 September 1844. However, the first credited Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England, and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years, South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889. Representative cricket teams were selected to each other, resulting in bilateral competition. Cricket was also included as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Games and this was the only appearance of cricket at the Summer Olympics. The event was not a success, the summer was exceptionally wet, making play difficult on damp uncovered pitches, since then, international Test cricket has generally been organised as bilateral series, a multilateral Test tournament was not organised again until the triangular Asian Test Championship in 1999. The number of nations playing Test cricket increased gradually over time, with the addition of West Indies in 1928, New Zealand in 1930, India in 1932, however, international cricket continued to be played as bilateral Test matches over three, four or five days. In the early 1960s, English county cricket teams playing a shortened version of cricket which only lasted for one day. Starting in 1962 with a knockout competition known as the Midlands Knock-Out Cup. A national Sunday League was formed in 1969 and it was a forty over game with eight balls per over. In the late 1970s, Kerry Packer established the rival World Series Cricket competition, the first of the matches with coloured uniforms was the WSC Australians in wattle gold versus WSC West Indians in coral pink, played at VFL Park in Melbourne on 17 January 1979. The inaugural Cricket World Cup was hosted in 1975 by England, the 1975 tournament started on 7 June
10.
Ligue 1
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Ligue 1, is a French professional league for mens association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the primary football competition. Administrated by the Ligue de Football Professionnel, Ligue 1 is contested by 20 clubs, seasons run from August to May. Teams play 38 matches each, totaling 380 matches in the season, most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played during weekday evenings. Play is regularly suspended the last weekend before Christmas for two weeks before returning in the week of January. The name lasted until 2002 before switching to its current name, AS Saint-Étienne is the most successful club with ten league titles in France while Olympique Lyon is the club that has won the most consecutive titles. With the presence of 67 seasons in Ligue 1, Olympique de Marseille hold the record for most seasons among the elite, the current champions are Paris Saint-Germain, who won their sixth title in the 2015–16 season. Prior to 1930, professionalism in French football was non-existent, in July 1930, the National Council of the French Football Federation voted 128–20 in support of professionalism in French football. The founding fathers of professionalism in French football are Georges Bayrou, Emmanuel Gambardella, professionalism was officially implemented in 1932. In order to create a professional football league in the country. In order to participate in the competition, clubs were subjected to three important criteria, The incoming club must have had positive results in the past, the incoming club must be able to pull in enough revenue to balance its finances. The incoming club must be able to recruit at least eight professional players. Jooris feared his league would fold and proposed it become the division of the new league. The leagues inaugural season of the league, called National, was held in 1932–1933. The 20 clubs were inserted into two groups of 10 with the three of each group suffering relegation to Division 2. The two winners of each group would face each other in a final held at a neutral venue. The first final was held on 14 May 1933 and it matched the winner of Group A, Olympique Lillois, against the runner-up of Group B, Cannes. Antibes, the winner of Group B, was supposed to take part in the final but was suspected of bribery by the French Football Federation and was forced into disqualification, in the first final, Lillois were crowned the inaugural champions following the clubs 4–3 victory
11.
Coupe de la Ligue
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The Coupe de la Ligue, known outside France as the French League Cup, is a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. Paris Saint-Germain are the current champions, having defeated Monaco 4–1 for a seventh title in the 2016-2017 competition. Competitions similar to the Coupe de la Ligue had been held in France. The Coupe Charles Drago was held from 1953 to 1965, it involved teams eliminated from the Coupe de France, the winner of the first Coupe Charles Drago final was decided by a coin-toss when Sochaux and Toulouse tied 3–3 after extra time. Another competition named Coupe de la Ligue existed from 1963 to 1965, in 1982, a Coupe dEté was held before the start of the French league season, the cup was won by Stade Laval. This tournament continued under the name of Coupe de la Ligue, until 1994, entrance to the UEFA Cup, now called the UEFA Europa League, is offered to the winning team. Its first winner was Paris Saint-Germain, after their 2–0 victory over Bastia, the first final decided by a penalty shootout was in 1996 when Metz beat Lyon. The first three finals were held at Parc des Princes, since the 1998 cup, all finals have been held at the Stade de France, strasbourg and Paris Saint-Germain have won the competition at both stadiums. Gueugnon became the first team below the top division of France to win the cup after beating Paris Saint-Germain in the 2000 final, overall, there have been 14 winners of the competition since 1995. The current holders of the cup are Paris Saint-Germain, who beat Lille in the 2016 final to win the cup for a sixth time. Most tournament wins, seven, Paris Saint-Germain, most final appearances, eight, Paris Saint-Germain. Most goals scored in a season, Stéphane Guivarch, seven goals in 1997–98, in France, the Coupe de la Ligue is broadcast by France Television until the 2008–09 season and will continue to do so until at least the 2015–16 season. In Spain, the Coupe de la Ligue is broadcast by beIN Sports, in Australia the Coupe de la Ligue is broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia. In many parts of the world the game is broadcast live on TV5Monde, Coupe de France, the nations football cup Coupe de la Ligue information on LFP. fr
12.
DFB-Pokal
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The DFB-Pokal or German Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and it is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. The DFB-Pokal is run by the German Football Association, and runs from August until June, the winner qualifies for the DFL-Supercup and the UEFA Europa League unless the winner already qualifies for the UEFA Champions League in the Bundesliga. The competition was founded in 1935, then called the Tschammer-Pokal, in 1937, Schalke 04 were the first team to win the double. The Tschammer-Pokal was suspended in 1944 due to World War II, in 1952–53, the cup was reinstated as the DFB-Pokal, named after the DFB, and was won by Rot-Weiss Essen. Bayern Munich have won the most titles with 18 wins, also being the incumbent title holders, fortuna Düsseldorf hold the record for most consecutive tournament game wins between 1978 and 1981, winning the cup in 1979 and 1980. The competition format has varied considerably since the inception of the Tschammer-Pokal in 1935, the DFB-Pokal begins with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the Bundesliga and 2, Bundesliga, along with the top four finishers of the 3. Liga are automatically qualified for the tournament, of the remaining slots 21 are given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, the Verbandspokale. The three remaining slots are given to the three regional associations with the most mens teams and they may assign the slot as they see fit but usually give it to the runner-up in the association cup. Reserve teams like Borussia Dortmund II are not permitted to enter, the pairings for the DFB Cup are not entirely random as the teams are split into two pots of 32 teams each. One pot contains all the amateur teams including teams from the 3, liga and the teams just being promoted to the 2. The other pot contains the teams from the Bundesliga and the teams of the 2, Bundesliga who has not just been promoted. Therefore, in the first round of the cup each professional team plays an amateur team, since 1982, the amateur generally plays at home when facing a professional team. For the second round, the teams are divided into two pots according to the same principles. This time, the dont have to be of equal size, though. Amateur teams get paired with professional teams until one pot is empty, the remaining teams are then drawn from the nonempty pot with the team first drawn playing at home. For the remaining other than the final the teams are drawn from one pot
13.
Copa del Rey
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The Copa del Rey is an annual football cup competition for Spanish football teams. Its full name is Campeonato de España - Copa de Su Majestad el Rey de Fútbol, the competition was founded in 1903, thus making it the oldest Spanish football competition. Typically, the winner of Copa del Rey goes to the UEFA Europa League, Barcelona are the current holders, who won their 28th Copa del Rey against Sevilla at the 2016 Copa del Rey Final held at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. Four other teams joined Madrid FC for the competition, FC Barcelona, Club Español de Foot-Ball, New Foot-Ball de Madrid and that cup is on display in the Athletic Bilbao museum and the club includes the victory in its honours list. Nevertheless, it is considered only the forerunner of the Copa del Rey, Copa del Rey was Spains football National Championship from 1903 until the foundation of the Campeonato de Liga — League Championship — in 1928. It was initially known as the Copa del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, between 1905 and 1932, it was known as the Copa de Su Majestad El Rey Alfonso XIII. Athletic Bilbao were declared winners in 1904 after their opponents Español de Madrid failed to show up. In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, clubs in the Republican area of Spain entered the Copa de la España Libre, because of the dispute regarding the 1902 competition, the statistics regarding the leading winners are also disputed. Barcelona have won the Copa 28 times, Athletic Bilbao are just behind, with either 24 or 23 titles, throughout the history of the competition, there have been 12 actual trophies. Trophies have been awarded to clubs for winning the competition either three times in a row or on five separate occasions and for other special reasons. Thus, four trophies have been awarded to Barcelona, three to Bilbao and one to Real Madrid. In December 2010, the cup was given to Sevilla, the 2010 winners, before the formation of La Liga in 1929, the competition was effectively a national championship. Teams qualified to enter via their regional leagues, over the years, various formats, including group stages have been used. Unlike the English FA Cup, entry is limited, only teams from the Primera División, Segunda A, about 23 teams from the Segunda B and the Tercera División champions are invited to enter. The early rounds are one-off games with teams from the lower divisions given home advantage, the round of 32, the round of 16, the quarter-finals, and semi-finals are played over two legs. The final is a game played at a neutral venue. The winners qualify for both the Supercopa de España and the UEFA Europa League the following season. There had been a precedent for this, Real Madrid were allowed to keep the last Copa de la República, Sevilla, the first Copa del Generalísimo and, Atlético Madrid, a new trophy was made by Madrid jeweller Federico Alegre
14.
EFL Cup
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The EFL Cup, or simply the League Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in mens domestic English football. First held in 1960–61 as the Football League Cup, it is one of the three top domestic competitions in England, alongside the Premier League and FA Cup. It concludes in February, long before the two, which end in May. It was introduced by the league as a response to the popularity of European football. It also took advantage of the roll-out of floodlights, allowing the fixtures to be played as midweek evening games, with the renaming of the Football League as the English Football League in 2016, the tournament was rebranded as the EFL Cup from the 2016–17 season onwards. The tournament is played over seven rounds, with single leg ties throughout, the final is held at Wembley Stadium, it is the only tie in the competition played at a neutral venue and on a weekend. Entrants are seeded in the rounds, and a system of byes based on league level ensures higher ranked teams enter in later rounds. Winners receive the EFL Cup, of which there have been three designs, the current one also being the original, the current holders are Manchester United, who beat Southampton 3–2 in the 2017 final to win their fifth League Cup. Some clubs have fielded a weaker side in the competition. Many of the top English sides, Arsenal and Manchester United in particular, have used the competition to give young players valuable big-game experience. However, in 2010, in response to Arsène Wengers claim that a League Cup win would not end his trophy drought, Alex Ferguson described the trophy as a pot worth winning. The original idea for a League Cup came from Stanley Rous who saw the competition as a consolation for clubs who had already knocked out of the FA Cup. However it was not Rous who came to implement it, the re-organisation of the league was not immediately forthcoming, however, the cup competition was introduced regardless. The trophy was paid for personally by Football League President Joe Richards, Richards was proud of the competition, Richards described the competitions formation as an interim step on the way to the leagues re-organisation. I hope the Press will not immediately assume that the League is going to fall out with the F. A. or anybody else, the time has come for our voice to be heard in every problem which affects the professional game. The League Cup competition was established at a time when match day attendances were dwindling, the league had lost 1 million spectators compared to the previous season. It was established at a time when tensions between the Football League and the Football Association were high, the biggest disagreement was how revenue was shared between the clubs. During the late 1950s, the majority of senior English clubs equipped their grounds with floodlights and this opened up the opportunity to exploit weekday evenings throughout the winter
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EFL Championship
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The English Football League Championship is the highest division of the English Football League and second-highest overall in the English football league system, after the Premier League. Each year, the top finishing teams in the Championship are promoted to the Premier League, the Football League Championship, which was introduced for the 2004–05 season, was previously known as the Football League First Division, and before that was known as Division Two. The winners of the Championship receive the Football League Championship trophy, the Championship is the wealthiest non-top flight football division in the world and the seventh richest division in Europe. With an average attendance for the 2015-16 season of 17,578. Bundesliga as the secondary league in the world. In the 2015–16 season, Burnley were the champions, Middlesbrough were the runners up. At present, Ipswich Town hold the longest tenure in the Championship, the total figures were aided somewhat by the presence of 24 clubs, compared to 20 clubs in both Serie A and Ligue 1, and 18 in the Bundesliga. A major factor to the success comes from television revenue. On 30 September 2009, Coca-Cola announced they would end their deal with The Football League at the end of the 2009–10 season. On 18 July 2013, UK bookmaker Sky Bet announced that signed a 5-year agreement to sponsor the league. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, the teams are ranked in the league table by points gained, then goal difference, then goals scored and then their head-to-head record for that season. At the end of the season, the top two teams and the winner of the Championship play-offs are promoted to the Premier League and the three teams are relegated to Football League One. The Football League Championship play-offs is a competition for the teams finishing the season in third to sixth place with the winner being promoted to the Premier League. In the play-offs, the team plays against the sixth-placed team. The winners of each semi-final then compete in a match with the prize being promotion to the Premier League. From 2009 to 2012, Sky Sports had the rights to broadcast 65 live matches, the BBC had the rights to show 10 first choice live games for the regular season as well as the rights to show a highlight show. The deal is on a contract and is worth £264m that will mostly be paid by Sky. The deal included 75 live league games, all the matches,15 League Cup ties
16.
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
17.
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
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UEFA Super Cup
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It takes place at the start of the domestic season, in mid-August, normally on a Tuesday. From 1972 to 1999, the UEFA Super Cup was contested between the winners of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League and the winners of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, the current holders are Spanish club Real Madrid, who won 3–2 against Sevilla in 2016. The most successful teams in the competition are Barcelona and Italian side Milan, the European Super Cup was created in 1971 by Anton Witkamp, a reporter and later sports editor of Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. The idea came to him in a time when Dutch total football was Europes finest, Witkamp was looking for something new to definitely decide which was the best team in Europe and also to further test Ajaxs legendary team, led by their star player Johan Cruyff. It was then proposed that the winner of the European Cup would face the winner of the European Cup Winners Cup, All was set for a new competition to be born. However, when Witkamp tried to get an endorsement to his competition. As a result, UEFA refused to endorse the competition until the following season and it was played in two legs and was financially supported by De Telegraaf. Ajax defeated Rangers 6–3 on aggregate and won the first European Super Cup, the 1973 final, in which Ajax defeated Milan 6–1 on aggregate, was the first Super Cup officially recognised and supported by UEFA. Although the two-legged format was kept until 1997, the Super Cup was decided in one match because of schedule issues or political problems in 1984,1986. In 1974,1981 and 1985, the Super Cup was not played at all, in the 1992–1993 season, the European Cup was renamed the UEFA Champions League and the winners of this competition would face the winners of the Cup Winners Cup in the UEFA Super Cup. In the 1994–1995 season, the European Cup Winners Cup was renamed the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, after the 1998–1999 season, the Cup Winners Cup was discontinued by UEFA. The 1999 Super Cup was the last one contested by the winners of the Cup Winners Cup, lazio, winners of the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners Cup, defeated Manchester United, winners of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, 1–0. Since then, the UEFA Super Cup was contested between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the winners of the UEFA Cup, the 2000 Super Cup was the first one contested by the winners of the UEFA Cup. Galatasaray, winners of the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, defeated Real Madrid, winners of the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League, 2–1. In the 2009–10 season, the UEFA Cup was renamed the UEFA Europa League and the winners of this competition would continue to face the winners of the Champions League in the UEFA Super Cup. To date, Chelsea is the club to contest the Super Cup as holders of all three UEFA club honours, having entered as holders of the Cup Winners Cup, the Champions League. Since 1998, the Super Cup was played as a match at a neutral venue. Between 1998 and 2012, the Super Cup was played at the Stade Louis II in Monaco, since 2013 various stadiums have been used
19.
FIFA World Cup
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The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is Germany, which won its title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. 32 teams, including the qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about a month. The 20 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national teams, Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The worlds first international match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the edition of the British Home Championship. After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906 and these were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition, planned by The Football Association, Englands football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain won the gold medals and they repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm. With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between clubs from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. Lipton invited West Auckland, a side from County Durham. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title, in 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a world football championship for amateurs, and took responsibility for managing the event. This paved the way for the worlds first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928. Those were also the first two world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFAs professional era. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a championship itself. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, in total,13 nations took part, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America
20.
FIFA Club World Cup
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The FIFA Club World Cup is an international mens association football competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the sports global governing body. The competition was first contested in 2000 as the FIFA Club World Championship and it was not held between 2001 and 2004 due to a combination of factors, most importantly the collapse of FIFAs marketing partner International Sport and Leisure. Since 2005, the competition has been every year, and has been hosted by Brazil, Japan. The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in 2000, in 2005, after the Intercontinental Cups last edition, that competition was merged with the Club World Cups pilot edition and renamed the FIFA Club World Championship. In 2006, the tournament took its current name, the host nations national champions dispute a play-off against the Oceania champions, from which the winner joins the champions of Asia, Africa and North America at the quarter-finals. The quarter-final winners go on to face the European and South American champions, the current champions are Spains Real Madrid, who defeated Japans Kashima Antlers 4–2 in the final of the 2016 edition, to win a second title in the competition. European teams have been the most successful, with nine titles, the first club tournament to be billed as the Football World Championship was held in 1887, in which Scottish Cup champions Hibernian defeated English FA Cup semi-finalists Preston North End. According to FIFA, the first attempt at creating a club football tournament was in 1909,21 years before the first FIFA World Cup. The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was held in Italy in 1909 and 1911 and it was won by English amateur side West Auckland on both occasions. The idea that FIFA should organise international club competitions dates from the beginning of the 1950s, the competition was succeeded by another tournament, named Torneio Octogonal Rivadavia Corrêa Meyer, which was won by Vasco da Gama. This tournament had five Brazilian sides, and three clubs, thus, losing half of its intercontinental aspect. In December 2007, FIFA turned down Palmeiras request to recognise the tournament as a Club World Cup since the participants were limited to two continents, although the competition was discontinued, it was held in high regard. FIFA board members Stanley Rous and Ottorino Barassi participated personally, albeit not in their capacity as FIFA members, Rous role was attributed to the negotiations with European clubs, whereas Barassi helped form the framework of the competition. Commenting on Juventus acceptance to participate in the tournament, the Italian press stated that an Italian club could not be missing in such an important and worldwide-reaching event. Because of the difficulty the CBF found in bringing European clubs to the competition, the Pequeña Copa del Mundo was a tournament held in Venezuela between 1952 and 1957, with a two short revivals in 1963 and in 1965. It was usually played by eight participants, half from Europe, after the late 1950s, the tournament rapidly lost status as the pedigree of its participants decreased. This competition, along with the creation of the European Cup, FIFA failed to authorise the competition in the 1960s. FIFA stated that they would prohibit the 1961 edition to be played out unless the organisers regarded the competition as a friendly or a match between two organisations
21.
FIFA Confederations Cup
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The FIFA Confederations Cup is an international association football tournament for national teams, currently held every four years by FIFA. It is contested by the holders of each of the six championships, along with the FIFA World Cup holder. Since 2005, the tournament has been held in the nation that will host the FIFA World Cup in the following year, acting as a rehearsal for the larger tournament. However,2022 FIFA World Cup host Qatar will not host 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup as announced by FIFA in 2015 due to Qatars high temperatures during the summer period. This is the first edition, since the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, the reigning Champion is Brazil who won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, by defeating Spain 3–0 in the final for a record fourth title. They will not be able to defend their title, as they were eliminated by Paraguay in a penalty shoot-out in the Quarter-Finals of the 2015 Copa América. The tournament was organized by and held in Saudi Arabia and called the King Fahd Cup, contested in 1992 and 1995 by the Saudi national side. In 1997, FIFA took over the organization of the tournament, named it the FIFA Confederations Cup, since 2005, it has been held every four years, in the year prior to each World Cup in the host country of the forthcoming World Cup. At the same time, participation was optional for the South American and European champions. Generally, the host nation, the World Cup holders, in those cases where a team meets more than one of the qualification criteria, another team is invited to participate, often the runner-up in a competition that the extra-qualified team won. On four occasions teams have not to participate in the tournament. In 1997, Germany were replaced by 1996 runners-up Czech Republic, and in 2003 they were replaced by Turkey, france,1998 World Cup winners, declined their place in the 1999 Confederations Cup, and were replaced by Brazil, the 1998 World Cup runners-up. Italy, UEFA Euro 2000 runners up, declined their place in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, an earlier tournament existed that invited former World Cup winners, the Mundialito, or Copa de Oro which celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the first World Cup. Both of these are considered by some to be a form of a precursor to the Confederations Cup. The 8 qualified teams are drawn into two groups, two teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn in a group, except if there are three teams from the same confederation. Every team plays all teams in their group once, for a total three matches. The top two teams of each advance to the semi-finals, with the winners of each group playing the runners-up of the other group. For the knockout stage if the score is drawn at the end of time, extra time is played and followed, if necessary
22.
Pakistan Super League
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The Pakistan Super League is a professional franchise Twenty20 mens cricket league. The league is headquartered in Lahore and, as of 2017 and it is operated by the Pakistan Cricket Board and was established in 2016. Due to the security situation in Pakistan, the first season of the league operated entirely in the United Arab Emirates, the final of the 2017 season was held in Lahore. Instead of operating as an association of independently owned teams, the league is an entity in which each franchise is owned and controlled by investors. The commercial rights to the franchises were sold for PKR985 Crores for a span of 10 years in December 2015. Peshawar Zalmi are the current champions, having won the season by defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final on 5 March 2017. The inaugural champions were Islamabad United, in September 2015, the PCB officially announced the launch of the PSL. Former Pakistani national team captains Wasim Akram and Rameez Raja signed up to promote the PSL, after several years of planning and two previous failed attempts, the league officially began on 4 February 2016 in the United Arab Emirates. The first two seasons included five teams based in Pakistani cities. Pakistanis have historically constituted the majority of the players in domestic T20 competitions, the league uses a draft system for player recruitment similar to that used in many North American professional sports leagues and as opposed to the auction system used in some other T20 leagues. The PSLs official logo was launched on 20 September 2015 in a ceremony in Lahore, the ceremony was attended by current and retired cricketers, as well as Pakistani celebrities. In the first season of the all matches, including the final, were held in the UAE due to security reasons. The possibility of adding a team to the league in 2017. Sethi announced that there would be the team in 2018 PSL. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra announced the inclusion of FATA as sixth team in PSL2018 and he said PSL administration will be approached for the participation of FATA Team. Chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman also said the inclusion of sixth team from Gilgit-Baltistan in PSL2018, the name of new city name for PSL2018 has not finalized yet but likely to be finalized in the third quarter of 2017 through short-listed names. In May 2016, the PCB officially announced that the season of the PSL yielded profits of $2.6 Million. The profit for PSL2017 has not disclosed yet but likely to be disclosed in May 2017, the PSL is played in a double round-robin format
23.
Pakistan national cricket team
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The Pakistan cricket team, also known as The Green Shirts or The Shaheens) is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board, the team is a member of the International Cricket Council. Pakistan have played 871 ODIs, winning 458, losing 387, Pakistan were the 1992 World Cup champions, and were runners-up in the 1999 tournament. Pakistan, in conjunction with other countries in South Asia, have hosted the 1987 and 1996 World Cups, the team has also played 110 Twenty20 Internationals, the most of any team, winning 64 losing 43 and tying 3. Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and were runners-up in the tournament in 2007. Pakistan have played 406 Test matches, with winning 130, losing 118, the team has the third-best win/loss ratio in Test cricket of 1.10, and the fifth-best overall win percentage of 32. 01%. In the 1950s, several Pakistani Test players had played Test cricket for the Indian cricket team before the creation of Pakistan in 1947, as of 31 January 2017, the Pakistani cricket team is ranked sixth in Tests, eighth in ODIs and seventh in T20Is by the ICC. Cricket in Pakistan has a history of even before the creation of the country in 1947, the first ever international cricket match in Karachi was held on 22 November 1935 between Sindh and Australian cricket teams. The match was seen by 5,000 Karachiites, the first captain of the Pakistan national cricket team was Abdul Hafeez Kardar. Pakistans first Test match was played in Delhi in October 1952 as part of a five Test series which India won 2–1. Pakistan made their first tour of England in 1954 and drew the series 1–1 after a victory at The Oval in which fast bowler Fazal Mahmood took 12 wickets. Pakistans first home Test match was in Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dacca, in January 1955 against India, after which four more Test matches were played in Bahawalpur, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi. The team is considered a strong but unpredictable team, Pakistani contests with India in the Cricket World Cup have seen packed stadiums and elevated atmospheres no matter where the World Cup has been held. However the fans love their team, the 1986 Austral-Asia Cup, played in Sharjah in UAE, is remembered for a famous last-ball victory for Pakistan against arch-rivals India, with Javed Miandad emerging as a national hero. India batted first and set a target of 245 runs, leaving Pakistan with a run rate of 4.92 runs per over. Javed Miandad came in to bat at number 3 and Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals, later recalling the match, Miandad stated that his main focus was to lose with dignity. With 31 runs needed in the last three overs, Miandad hit a string of boundaries while batting with his teams lower order, Miandad received a leg side full toss from Chetan Sharma, which he hit for six over the midwicket boundary. At the 1992 World Cup Semi-final, having won the toss, New Zealand chose to bat first, Pakistan batted conservatively yet lost wickets at regular intervals
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South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
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South Africa national cricket team
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The South African national cricket team, nicknamed the Proteas, represents South Africa in international cricket. It is administered by Cricket South Africa, South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status. As of 27 November 2016, South Africa has played 405 Test matches, winning 148, the team has played 564 ODIs, winning 348, losing 194 and tying six, with 16 no-results. Finally, it has played 91 Twenty20 Internationals, winning 54 and losing 36, on 20 August 2012, South Africa became the top ranked team in test cricket for the first time. 8 days later, on 28 August 2012, it became the first team to top the rankings in all three formats of the game, South Africa is currently ranked third in Tests, first in ODIs and third in T20Is by the ICC. South Africa first played cricket in 1889, though the players participating at the time were not aware of the fact. The South African cricket team toured England in 1947, at Trent Bridge, Captain Alan Melville and vice-captain, Dudley Nourse achieved a Test match record for a third wicket partnership of 319. The following year Nourse, 38-year-old captain of Natal, was appointed Captain for the 1948 MCC Test matches in South Africa and they continued to play regularly series of matches against England, Australia and New Zealand until 1970. The membership rules of the Imperial Cricket Conference meant that when South Africa left the Commonwealth in May 1961, despite the rules being changed in 1964 to allow other nations to be Associate members, South Africa did not reapply. Due to South African apartheid laws, which introduced legal racial segregation to the country in 1948, the anti-apartheid movement led the ICC to impose a moratorium on tours in 1970. This decision excluded players such as Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, World class cricketers of their day like Clive Rice, Vintcent van der Bijl also never played Test Cricket despite their first class records. The ICC reinstated South Africa as a Test nation in 1991, South Africas first Test match after re-admission was played against the West Indies in April 1992. The match was played in Bridgetown, Barbados and South Africa lost by 52 runs, since South Africa have been reinstated they have achieved mixed success, and hosted the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup in 2003. In 2003, South Africa were one of the favourites but were eliminated by one run in the stages after they had mistakenly counted the number of runs they needed. They have also had bad press for failing in vital matches in tournaments including the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. With Donald retiring, Cronje banned for match-fixing and later killed in a crash, and Pollock also retiring from international cricket. Graeme Smith was made captain, although following injuries to Smith and Jacques Kallis, at the age of 29, he became the first non-white man to captain the once all-white South African cricket team. Due to a racial policy, the side was once required to contain black players
26.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
27.
Big Bash League
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The Big Bash League is an Australian professional Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash League replaced the competition, the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The competition has been sponsored by fast food chicken outlet KFC since its inception, BBL matches are played in Australia during the summer in the months of December and January. It is now placed sixth in the list of most attended sports leagues in the world with respect to average crowd per match, out of the eight teams in the tournament, four have won the title at least once. The other three teams which have won the title are Sydney Sixers, Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder, the current champions are the Perth Scorchers. Earlier, the top two teams in the tournament used to qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament and it was an annual international Twenty20 competition played between the top domestic teams from various nations. However, the CLT20 has now become defunct from 2015 onwards, a design contest was held in 2011 to determine the design of the Big Bash League trophy. The competition was restricted to Australian designers, with the final design and it had been proposed that the tournament would undergo expansion into more regional areas not supported by international cricket. The expansion was planned to be implemented in 2012, the proposed teams included, Newcastle, Canberra, Geelong, and Gold Coast. A New Zealand-based team was mentioned as a possibility which would be based at Auckland or Christchurch. Cricket expert Mark Waugh commented on Fox Sports that an expansion could dilute the player resulting in a sub-standard league. The expansion proposal was dumped, mainly because the proposed cities lacked the proper cricket hosting facilities. In 2015, former Black Caps captain and Melbourne Stars coach Stephen Fleming suggested expansion of the tournament to include New Zealand teams and he said an expansion into New Zealand would be widely supported by locals. His views were supported by Brisbane Heat coach and former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori. Melbourne Renegades chief executive Stuart Coventry also stated that he wants Cricket Australia to grant each club a home fixture next season. Coventry said the BBL was ready to expand from 8 to 10 games, in 2016, Anthony Everard, head of the BBL, flagged the leagues intentions to approach expansion through a soft launch. He also indicated the regional markets of Canberra, Geelong and Gold Coast will likely host games during the launch period. She stated that the proposal was being considered due to the rise in television ratings in the BBL03 season
28.
Australia national cricket team
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The Australia national cricket team, represents the country of Australia in international cricket. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, having played in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament and the Big Bash League. The national team has played 801 Test matches, winning 377, losing 215, drawing 207, Australia is ranked the number-one team overall in Test cricket in terms of overall wins, win-loss ratio and wins percentage. As of 29 March 2017, Australia is ranked third in the ICC Test Championship on 108 rating points, the Australian cricket team has played 898 ODI matches, winning 554, losing 303, tying 9 and with 32 ending in no-result. They currently lead the ICC ODI Championship, having done so for 130 of 161 months since its introduction in 2002. Australia have made a record seven World Cup final appearances and have won the World Cup a record five times in total,1987,1999,2003,2007 and 2015 and it is also the second team to win a World Cup on home soil, after India. The team was undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches until 19 March at the 2011 Cricket World Cup where Pakistan beat them by 4 wickets. Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice – in 2006 and in 2009 – making them the first and the only team to become back to back winners in the Champions Trophy tournaments. Test cricket, which occurred between Australia and England at the time, was limited by the long distance between the two countries, which would take several months by sea. Most cricketers at the time were either from New South Wales or Victoria, with the exception of George Giffen. A highlight of Australias early history was the 1882 Test match against England at The Oval, in this match Fred Spofforth took 7/44 in the games fourth innings to save the match by preventing England from making their 85-run target. This was the start of the famous Ashes series in which Australia, to this day, the contest is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport. It participated in between the 1897–98 English tour of Australia and the 1910–11 South African tour of Australia, Victor Trumper became one of Australias first sporting heroes, and was widely considered Australias greatest batsman before Bradman and one of the most popular players. He played a number of Tests at 49 and scored 3163 runs at a high for the time average of 39.04. His early death in 1915 at the age of 37 from kidney disease caused national mourning, the Wisden Cricketers Almanack, in its obituary for him, called him Australias greatest batsman, Of all the great Australian batsmen Victor Trumper was by general consent the best and most brilliant. Led by Peter McAlister, who was attempting to gain control of tours from the players. This led to six leading players walking out on the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England and this was the last series before the war, and no more cricket was played by Australia for eight years, with Tibby Cotter being killed in Palestine during the war. Test cricket resumed in the 1920/21 season in Australia with a touring English team, captained by Johnny Douglas losing all five Tests to Australia, the team continued its success on the 1921 Tour of England, winning three out of the five Tests in Warwick Armstrongs last series
29.
West Indies cricket team
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From the mid-to-late 1970s to the early 1990s, the West Indies team was the strongest in the world in both Test and One Day International cricket. The West Indies were the first team to win back-to-back World Cups, as of 5 October 2016, the West Indian cricket team is ranked eighth in Tests, ninth in ODIs and fourth in T20Is by the ICC. West Indies has hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup and the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, the Leeward Islands Cricket Association consists of associations of one sovereign state, the two entities of Saint Kitts and Nevis, three British Overseas Territories and two other dependencies. The Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control consists of associations of four sovereign states, currently, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands, other historical parts of the former West Indies Federation and now British Overseas Territories, have their own teams. National teams also exist for the islands, which, as they are all separate countries, very much keep their local identities. These national teams take part in the West Indian first-class competition and it is also common for other international teams to play the island teams for warm-up games before they take on the combined West Indies team. The official population number for those countries and dependencies is estimated to around 6 million, which is larger than Scotland, Kitts Cricket Association St. Lucia Cricket Association St. In their early days in the 1930s, the side represented the British colonies that would form the West Indies Federation plus British Guiana. The last series the West Indies played before the outbreak of the Second World War was against England in 1939, there followed a hiatus that lasted until January 1948 when the MCC toured the West Indies. Of the West Indies players in that first match after the war only Gerry Gomez, George Headley, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, and Foffie Williams had previously played Test cricket. The West Indies defeated England for the first time at Lords on 29 June 1950 and, on 16 August 1950, by the late 1970s, the West Indies led by Clive Lloyd had a side recognised as unofficial world champions, a reputation they retained throughout the 1980s. During these glory years, the West Indies were noted for their four-man fast bowling attack, in 1976, fast bowler Michael Holding took 14/149 in a Test against England, setting a record which still stands for best bowling figures in a Test by a West Indies bowler. The 1980s saw the set a then-record streak of 11 consecutive Test victories in 1984. West Indies would not play a One Day International after World Cup 2015 until after 30 September, a scheduled Triangular series with Zimbabwe and Pakistan was cancelled after the Pakistan Cricket Board refused to risk their hard-earned spot in the same competition. West Indies first game after World Cup was against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka whitewashed West Indies in both Test and ODI series as 2-0 and 3-0 respectively, which cause them to fall down the rankings. But in 2-match T20 series, West Indies were able to draw it by winning the last match of the tour. With this win, West Indies moved higher in T20I team rankings up to third place, most cricketing nations use their own national flags for cricketing purposes. However, as the West Indies represent a number of independent states and dependencies, the WICB has, therefore, developed an insignia showing a palm tree and cricket stumps on a small sunny island
30.
Caribbean Premier League
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The Caribbean Premier League is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was created in 2013 and replaced the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in the Caribbean and it is currently sponsored by Hero MotoCorp and is officially titled the Hero CPL. The inaugural tournament was won by the Jamaica Tallawahs who defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the final, Twenty20 domestic cricket first appeared in an organized manner in the West Indies in 2006 with the privately organized Stanford 20/20. The next organized Twenty20 competition came about with the creation of the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament by the WICB. The Caribbean Twenty20 was created to fill the gap left by the end of the Stanford 20/20 and to coincide with the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 tournament, the top domestic team from the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament qualified for the Champions League as the sole representative of the West Indies. Dates for the tournament were confirmed for the 2013 Caribbean Premier League as 29 July to 26 August, the 2014 and 2015 tournaments took place between 5 July to 10 August and 21 June to 26 July respectively and the 2016 tournament took place between June 29 to August 7. Six teams competed in the first CPLT20 tournament in 2013 – Jamaica Tallawahs, Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel, Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St. Lucia Zouks, Antigua Hawksbills. The CPL T20 tournament is played between six teams and is divided into a stage and a knockout stage. In the group stage, the each play ten matches overall. Six stadiums are used, each a home field for one of the teams, the playoff stage includes two semi-finals and a final to determine the winner of the tournament. All three of the playoff games will be played at Queens Park Oval. As of 30 December 2015, the Caribbean Premier Leagues salary cap is $780,000 and this was an increase implemented for the 2016 draft, from the previous cap of $600,000. The tournament includes six franchises with 15 contracted players each, including a maximum of five international players, each team has one local and one international franchise player. The draft occurred on 5 June 2013, Caribbean mobile network Digicel was named as the first global sponsor for the inaugural 2013 tournament and beyond in a multi-year deal. As previous sponsors of the West Indies cricket team and the Digicel Caribbean Cup the brand has considerable experience with sponsoring cricket, “The CPL is a perfect fit for Digicel. Following the acquisition of the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise owner, Dr. Ranjisingh ’Bobby’ Ramroop’s New GPC Inc, official website Caribbean Premier League at ESPN Cricinfo
31.
Zimbabwe
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Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west and southwest, Zambia to the northwest, although it does not border Namibia, less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates it from that country. The capital and largest city is Harare, a country of roughly 13 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most commonly used. Since the 11th century, present-day Zimbabwe has been the site of several organised states and kingdoms as well as a route for migration. The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes first demarcated the present territory during the 1890s, in 1965, the conservative white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. Zimbabwe then rejoined the Commonwealth of Nations—which it withdrew from in 2003 and it is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980, when his ZANU-PF party won the following the end of white minority rule. Under Mugabes authoritarian regime, the security apparatus has dominated the country. Mugabe has maintained the revolutionary socialist rhetoric from the Cold War era, the name Zimbabwe stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, an ancient ruined city in the countrys south-east whose remains are now a protected site. Two different theories address the origin of the word, many sources hold that Zimbabwe derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as large houses of stone. The Karanga-speaking Shona people live around Great Zimbabwe in the province of Masvingo. Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia, and Zimbabwe Rhodesia, a further alternative, put forward by nationalists in Matabeleland, had been Matopos, referring to the Matopos Hills to the south of Bulawayo. In a 2001 interview, black nationalist Edson Zvobgo recalled that Mawema mentioned the name during a rally, and it caught hold. The black nationalist factions subsequently used the name the during the Second Chimurenga campaigns against the Rhodesian government during the Rhodesian Bush War of 1964-1979, major factions in this camp included the Zimbabwe African National Union, and the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union. Proto-Shona-speaking societies first emerged in the middle Limpopo valley in the 9th century before moving on to the Zimbabwean highlands, the Zimbabwean plateau eventually became the centre of subsequent Shona states, beginning around the 10th century. Around the early 10th century, trade developed with Arab merchants on the Indian Ocean coast, the main archaeological site uses a unique dry stone architecture. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was the first in a series of sophisticated trade states developed in Zimbabwe by the time of the first European explorers from Portugal and they traded in gold, ivory, and copper for cloth and glass. From about 1300 until 1600, Mapungubwe was eclipsed by the Kingdom of Zimbabwe and this Shona state further refined and expanded upon Mapungubwes stone architecture, which survives to this day at the ruins of the kingdoms capital of Great Zimbabwe
32.
Zimbabwe national cricket team
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The Zimbabwean cricket team is the team that represents Zimbabwe in international cricket. It is administered by Zimbabwe Cricket, Zimbabwe is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status. As of 15 August 2016, Zimbabwe is ranked tenth in Tests, eleventh in ODIs, Zimbabwe – known as Rhodesia until independence from the United Kingdom in 1980 – had a national cricket team before it achieved Test status. Following independence, the country began to more international cricket. On 21 July 1981, Zimbabwe became a member of the ICC. Zimbabwe participated in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, as well as the 1987 and 1992 events, Zimbabwes first World Cup campaign in 1983 ended in the group stage, as they lost five of their six matches. However, they threw a surprise against Australia, batting first, Zimbabwe reached a total of 239 for 6 in the allotted 60 overs, with skipper Duncan Fletcher top-scoring with 69 not out. Fletcher then produced career-best figures of 4 for 42 to restrict Australia to 226 for 7, in the 1987 World Cup, Zimbabwe lost all six of their group-stage matches, though they came very close to winning against New Zealand. Chasing 243 to win from 50 overs, wicketkeeper-batsman David Houghton scored 142, in the 1992 tournament, Zimbabwe failed to progress beyond the round-robin stage, losing seven of their eight matches, though there were two notable achievements. Against Sri Lanka in their first match, Zimbabwe posted their then-highest total of 312 for 4, however, the Sri Lankans chased this total down with four balls to spare, winning by three wickets. In their final match, Zimbabwe faced England in an inconsequential encounter, batting first, Zimbabwe were all out for 134. Eddo Brandes then produced a spell of 4 for 21, including dismissing Graham Gooch first ball, to help restrict England to 125 all out. These twenty World Cup matches were Zimbabwes only international games during this period, Zimbabwe was granted Test status by the ICC in July 1992 and played its first Test match in October that year, against India at Harare Sports Club. They became the ninth Test nation, Zimbabwes early Test performances were consistently weak, leading to suggestions that they had been granted Test status prematurely. Of their first 30 Test matches, they won just one, in the one-day arena, however, the team soon became competitive, if not particularly strong. In particular, world respect was gained for their fielding ability, in spite of his teams difficulties, wicket-keeper/batsman Andy Flower was at one point rated the best batsman in world cricket. During this era, Zimbabwe also produced such cricketers as Flowers brother Grant, murray Goodwin was also a world-class batsman, following his retirement from international cricket, he has scored heavily for Sussex. Another world-class batsman was David Houghton, who holds the record for the highest individual Test score for Zimbabwe of 266 against Sri Lanka in 1994/95, unfortunately, the political situation in Zimbabwe declined at around the same time, which had a detrimental effect on the national teams performances
33.
World
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The world is the planet Earth and all life upon it, including human civilization. In a philosophical context, the world is the whole of the physical Universe, in a theological context, the world is the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred. The end of the world refers to scenarios of the end of human history. World history is understood as spanning the major geopolitical developments of about five millennia. World population is the sum of all human populations at any time, similarly, world economy is the sum of the economies of all societies or countries, terms like world championship, gross world product, world flags imply the sum or combination of all current-day sovereign states. The English word world comes from the Old English weorold, weorld, worold, a compound of wer man and eld age, which thus means roughly Age of Man. The Old English is a reflex of the Common Germanic *wira-alđiz, also reflected in Old Saxon werold, Old High German weralt, the corresponding word in Latin is mundus, literally clean, elegant, itself a loan translation of Greek cosmos orderly arrangement. Earth, on the hand, refers to the planet as a physical entity. World was also used to mean the material universe, or the cosmos, The worlde is an apte frame of heauen and earthe. The earth was often described as the center of the world, World can also be used attributively, to mean global, relating to the whole world, forming usages such as world community or world canonical texts. By extension, a world may refer to any planet or heavenly body, especially when it is thought of as inhabited, World, in its original sense, when qualified, can also refer to a particular domain of human experience. The world of work describes paid work and the pursuit of a career, in all its aspects, to distinguish it from home life. The fashion world describes the environment of the designers, fashion houses, historically, the New World vs. the Old World, referring to the parts of the world colonized in the wake of the age of discovery. Now mostly used in zoology and botany, as in New World monkey, in philosophy, the term world has several possible meanings. In some contexts, it refers to everything that makes up reality or the physical universe, in others, it can mean have a specific ontological sense. The question of what the world is has by no means been settled, in his Allegory of the Cave, Plato distinguishes between forms and ideas and imagines two distinct worlds, the sensible world and the intelligible world. In Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegels philosophy of history, the expression Weltgeschichte ist Weltgericht is used to assert the view that History is what judges men, their actions, science is born from the desire to transform the World in relation to Man, its final end is technical application. The World as Will and Representation is the work of Arthur Schopenhauer
34.
Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka
35.
Sri Lanka national cricket team
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The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1982, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket, Angelo Mathews is the current captain of all formats of the game. Sri Lankas national cricket team achieved considerable success beginning in the 1990s, since then, the team has continued to be a force in international cricket. The Sri Lankan cricket team reached the finals of the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups consecutively, but they ended up being runners up in both those occasions. Sri Lanka have won the Cricket World Cup in 1996, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 and they have been consecutive runners up in the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, and have been runners up in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 and 2012. The Sri Lankan cricket team currently holds world records, including the world record for highest team total in Tests. The ODI total was broken by England on 30 August 2016, the Sri Lanka national cricket team began with the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club in 1832. By the 1880s a national team, the Ceylon national cricket team, was formed which began playing cricket by the 1920s. The Ceylon national cricket team had achieved associate member status of the International Cricket Council in 1965 and they have also won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, defeating Pakistan in the final by an innings and 175 runs. Sri Lanka registered their first ODI win against India at Manchester, England and they also won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, co-champions in 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and also became five times Asian champions in 1986,1997,2004,2008 and 2014. Sri Lanka played their first Twenty20 International match at the Rose Bowl, on 15 June 2006, against England, in 2014, they won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, defeating India by 6 wickets. As of January 2016, Sri Lanka have faced all nine teams in Test cricket, with their most frequent opponent being Pakistan, Sri Lanka have registered more wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh than any other team, with 14. In ODI matches, Sri Lanka have played against 17 teams, they have played against India most frequently, within usual major ODI nations, Sri Lanka have defeated England on 34 occasions, which is their best record in ODIs. The team have competed against 13 countries in T20Is, and have played 15 matches against New Zealand, Sri Lanka have defeated Australia and West Indies 6 occasions each. Sri Lanka was the best T20I team in the world, where they ranked number one in more than 32 months, as of 14 January 2017, Sri Lanka have played 256 Test matches, they have won 80 matches, lost 95 matches, and 81 matches were drawn. As of 10 February 2017, Sri Lanka have played 787 ODI matches, winning 368 matches and losing 379, they also tied 5 matches, whilst 35 had no result. As of 19 February 2017, Sri Lanka have played 92 T20I matches, Sri Lanka were awarded Test cricket status in 1981, by the International Cricket Council. They played their first Test match against England at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, B. Warnapura was the captain for Sri Lanka in that watch, which England was victorious by 7 wickets
36.
WWE Raw
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WWE Raw, also known as Monday Night Raw or simply Raw, is a professional wrestling television program that currently airs live on Monday evenings at 8 pm EST on the USA Network in the United States. The shows name is used to refer to the Raw brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program. The show debuted on January 11,1993 and has since been considered as the program of WWE. Raw moved from the USA Network to TNN in September 2000, on October 3,2005, Raw returned to the USA Network, where it remains today. As of December 9,2016, all episodes of the show are now available on demand on the WWE Network, since its first episode, Raw has broadcast live from 208 different arenas in 171 cities and towns in eleven different nations. Following the 1000th episode on July 23,2012, Raw became a three-hour broadcast from two hours, a format that had previously reserved for special episodes. Beginning as WWFs Monday Night Raw, the program first aired on January 11,1993 on the USA Network as a replacement for Prime Time Wrestling, the original Raw was sixty minutes in length and broke new ground in televised professional wrestling. Traditionally, wrestling shows were taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows, the Raw formula was considerably different from the taped weekend shows that aired at the time such as Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. Instead of matches taped weeks in advance with studio voice overs and taped discussion, Raw was a shot and aired to a live audience. Raw originated from the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios, a small New York City theater, the combination of an intimate venue and live action proved to be a successful improvement. However, the live schedule proved to be a financial drain on the WWF. From Spring 1993 up until Spring 1997, Raw would tape several weeks worth of episodes after an episode had aired. The WWF taped several weeks worth of Raw from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York in April 1993, up until that point, unless it was part of an ongoing feud or a title match, most matches on nationally televised WWF programs were primarily squash matches. Only Saturday Nights Main Event and The Main Event generally featured the type of matches Raw had, though unlike Raw, huge storyline-developing matches were regularly featured, such as Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect in January 1993, this would be Flairs last appearance in the company for almost 9 years, also, The 1–2–3 Kids upset victory over Razor Ramon in May 1993 would result in The Kid becoming an upper roster mainstay for years to come. Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and Rob Bartlett were the hosts of the show. Bartlett, a comedian who previously had nothing to do with the wrestling industry, Lawler has since been named as a permanent co-host for SmackDown and later pre-shows. Corey Graves would later replace JBL, on September 4,1995, the WWFs chief competitor World Championship Wrestling began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT
37.
WWE SmackDown
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WWE SmackDown, also currently referred to as SmackDown Live or simply SmackDown, is a professional wrestling television program that debuted on August 26,1999. The shows name is used to refer to the SmackDown brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program, currently the other brands are Raw. SmackDown is currently broadcast live on Tuesday nights on the USA Network, debuted in the United States on the UPN television network on April 29,1999, but after the merger of UPN and the WB, SmackDown. Began airing on The CW in September 2006, the show was moved to MyNetworkTV in October 2008, to Syfy on October 1,2010 and to USA Network on January 7,2016. It complements Raw as the second of WWEs two main weekly programs, for international broadcast listings, see below. The show celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 10,2014, the early set included an oval-shaped TitanTron entrance and stage which made it stand out from the Raw set with its rectangular Titantrons. Later productions gained the ability to move the Ovaltron either to the left or to the right of the stage, throughout the shows early existence, The Rock routinely called SmackDown. His show, in reference to the fact that the name was derived from one of his catchphrases, in August 2001, as part of celebrating SmackDown. s second anniversary, the show received a new logo and set. As a result of that incident, a new set debuted the week and it consisted of a fist centered above the entrance. In March 2002, WWE underwent the brand extension, a process in which WWE divided itself into two branches with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures, the two divisions, hosted by and named after Raw and SmackDown. The split resulted from WWE purchasing its two biggest competitors, World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling, and the subsequent doubling of its roster, Michael Cole was joined in commentary by Tazz on April 4,2002 until June 9,2006. Cole and Tazz also appeared as the commentators on February 22,2001 through June 28,2001, wrestlers began to wrestle exclusively for their specific show. At the time, this excluded the WWE Undisputed Championship and Womens Championship, in August 2002, then WWE Undisputed Champion, Brock Lesnar, refused to defend the title on Raw, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown. Following this, the Womens Championship soon became a Raw exclusive as well, as a result of the brand extension, an annual draft was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups. SmackDown was the brand for many top WWE stars including Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Big Show. Guerrero would go on to become the WWE Champion as part of the show, thus becoming the feature of SmackDown throughout 2004. The biggest star of the decade, John Cena, started his WWE career on this show. He won his first WWE Championship during his tenure on the brand, on June 6,2005, then WWE Champion John Cena switched brands from SmackDown. to Raw as part of the month-long draft lottery
38.
WWE Main Event
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WWE Main Event is a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that originally aired on Ion Television in the United States, then the WWE Network, and is now broadcast on Hulu Plus. It debuted on October 3,2012 and ended its broadcasting on April 2,2014. After the final domestic TV broadcast, the moved to an Internet broadcast format. The show features mid-to-low card WWE Superstars, because of a conflict with British broadcaster Sky Sportss first-run syndication rights, episodes do not air in first run on WWE Network, but are uploaded 18 days after airing overseas. The show is taped before Raw tapings and is currently a sub-show of the Raw brands. The show is produced on Monday evenings, right before the Raw airing and it originally aired live, with a slight broadcast delay. WWE commentator Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton are the broadcast team, from October 3,2012 to January 22,2014, Diamond Eyes by Shinedown served as the official theme for Main Event. Since January 29,2014, On My Own by CFO$ now serves as the theme song, following the 2016 WWE Draft it was announced that Main Event would feature superstars exclusive to the SmackDown brand, making it the official B Show of the brand similar to WWE Velocity. On November 28,2016, matches for WWE Main Event began taping prior to Monday Night Raw, WWE Velocity WWE Superstars WWE Heat Official website WWE Main Event on Facebook WWE Main Event at the Internet Movie Database WWE Main Event at TV. com
39.
WWE NXT (TV series)
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WWE NXT is a professional wrestling television program that is produced by WWE and is broadcast on the WWE Network every Wednesday at 8 p. m. ET. Since June 2012, it has served as the television show of WWEs developmental system. Five seasons of this version of NXT were broadcast from February 23,2010 to June 13,2012, with the first four seasons seeing Wade Barrett, Kaval, Kaitlyn, and Johnny Curtis as winners. Following the end of the season, WWE ended the seasonal competition format of the show. The show originally made its debut on Syfy on February 23,2010, replacing ECW, in April 2010, a month after its premiere, it was announced that SmackDown would move from MyNetworkTV to Syfy on October 1. It soon aired as a WWE Network exclusive from 2014, where it remains today, as of March 23,2017, all archived episodes of the reformatted version of the show are available for on demand viewing via the WWE Network. NXT was formed in 2010 when they paired up wrestlers from WWEs developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling with wrestlers from WWEs existing Raw, each episode featured the rookies being mentored by the pros as they develop their characters and performance skills in front of a live audience. The pairings also enabled the show to crossover into WWEs Raw, as the length of each season differed, features of the competition occur at different times accordingly. In addition to matches, weekly challenges were held during the competition to further test the Rookies physical and mental skills, past physical challenges include a keg carrying contest, an assault course contest and a Rock Em Sock Em tournament. Past non-physical challenges include making 30-second promos on a given topic, during the first two seasons, the winner of the weekly challenge receives a special prize such as a main event match, a talk show segment or a feature on WWEs official website. One of the more frequent prizes given out to the winner is an Immunity Pass, during the last three seasons, a greater emphasis on challenges was placed on the show. Instead of awarding prizes to the winner of the challenges, points are awarded to the winner with a cumulative tally of points recorded before each of the first three polls. The Rookie with the most points before the upcoming poll is awarded immunity. In season three, one point is awarded for winning the challenge, in season four, the number of points vary on the difficulty of the challenge. In the result of a tie-break, the audience is asked to vote for the Rookie they want to get immunity. In various weeks, polls were held to evaluate the success of each Rookie, the poll rankings are entirely determined by votes from the Pros and starting from season 2, votes from fans via WWEs official website. In the Pros votes, each of the Pros vote for their favorite Rookie, however, since August 17,2010, only the elimination is revealed. The first poll, usually held a third of the way through the competition, subsequent polls are held several weeks later near the end of the season, where the lowest ranked Rookie without immunity is eliminated
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Television in Pakistan
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Television in Pakistan started in 1964, and the first live transmission of Pakistan Television began on November 26,1964, in Lahore. By 1962, after a series of pilot tests, the project was quickly taken over by the Ayub Khan Government in 1963 for the greater national interest of Pakistan. President Ayub Khan re-appointed Ubaidur Rahman in 1963 under the Ministry of Information to continue with the NEC joint venture collaboration to launch Pakistan Television or PTV, the project began with a tent on the back lot of Radio Pakistan Lahore where a transmission tower and a studio were constructed. On November 26,1964 the first official television station commenced transmission broadcasts from LAHORE, a third centre was established in Rawalpindi-Islamabad in 1965 and the fourth in Karachi in 1966. Later centres in Peshawar and Quetta were established by 1974, originally broadcast in black and white, PTV began colour transmission in 1976. With this new upgrade in techniques and equipment, the Pakistan Television Academy was founded and opened in 1987 to teach students who wished to work in the medium. As with the agreement, the government financed most of the funds while the private venture capitalists offered to fund the remainder. Late 1980s morning transmission started on PTV, in 1988, the then government launched the first semi government TV network of the country by the name of Peoples Television Network under the umbrella of Shalimar Recording Company. PTN was later renamed as Shalimar Television Network, STN started from Islamabad first and then from Karachi, Lahore and by mid-1990s the network made its way to the whole of the country. STN for the first time in Pakistan started the transmission of CNN International on the terrestrial beam, later on BBC World also became a part of STNs channel bouquet. NTM came as a breathe of fresh air to the Pakistani viewers due to its fresh, PTV Network launched a full-scale satellite broadcasting service in 1991-1992. PTV-2, the first ever satellite channel of Pakistan started in 1992, PTV2 was renamed as PTV World in 1998. PTV-2/World also enjoyed viewership on terrestrial beam, in 1998 PTV in association with a private company started PTV Prime exclusively for European and later for American viewers. Digital TV satellite broadcasting was launched in 1999, PTV got its satellite beam in 2001. NTM went off air in 1999 due to losses and with that STN also shut down CNN Intnl, BBC World. PTV and STN started Channel-3 as a joint venture in 1999 which started its transmissions on regular basis in 2001, a satellite beam of Channel-3 was also arranged. Prior to that the only private TV channel of the country NTM was not allowed to transmit its own news, ARY Digital, Geo, Hum, and the phenomenon went on & on. In 2007, PTV or PTV-1 was given a new name PTV Home, PTV Home, PTV News and ATV channels are shown on terrestrial beams along with the satellite beam
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Business Plus (TV Channel)
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Business Plus is a 24-hour business news channel with hourly updates from the Karachi Stock Exchange. It is owned by the Karachi Stock Exchange Listed Media Times PLC, Media Times PLC was owned by former Governor of Punjab and Pakistan Peoples Party stalwart Salmaan Taseer. The channel claims to be reaching more than 22.5 million homes nationwide with a penetration of over 87% in metro cities. List of Pakistani television stations Official Site
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PTV Home
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PTV Home or PTV is Pakistan Television Corporations flagship channel which is broadcast worldwide through satellite. The idea of establishing a media and television industry was conceived in late 1958 by the privately set-up national education commission, ali established a private television broadcasting company with the cooperation of Nippon Electric Company of Japan and Thomas Television International of Great Britain. In 1963, at a meeting chaired by President Ayub Khan. Since 1963, its headquarters have been located in Islamabad, PTV Home operations building is situated at H-9 sector, Islamabad, Pakistan. com. pk/public/userView/ptvHome Pakistan Television official PTV Home website, Retrieved 8 June 2016]
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PTV News
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PTV News is a 24-hour state news channel in Pakistan. It provides news in English and Urdu to the Pakistani community worldwide and it also provides News in Arabic, Sindhi, Pashto, Kashmiri, and various other regional languages. As the only Government News channel of Pakistan, its reports are generally favorable towards the current government, PTV News shows the most unbiased news of all the news channels in Pakistan. Until 2007, PTV News was known as PTV World
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PTV Global
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PTV Global is a TV channel broadcast by Pakistan Television Corporation and also offered in Europe and United States. Its broadcasts select programming from PTV National, PTV News and other PTV-run networks, on air since April 2006, PTV Global is available via Dish Network in the US. Its wide range of programmes are enjoyed by many people, part of the Pakistan Television Corporation brand name, it is under control of the Government of Pakistan. In the United Kingdom PTV Global is free-to-air on Sky Channel 810 and it commenced its transmissions on 2 April 2007. PTV Global was launched in 2006 and it is one of the six channels of the PTV Network. It commenced its transmission for the United States on 22 April 2006, PTV Global beams its transmission from Islamabad, Pakistan on AsiaSat-35, and is viewed in over 50 countries worldwide, covering the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe, America and Australia. PTV Global is available exclusively in the US on the Dish Network, PTV is the most watched television network in Pakistan. PTV Government of Pakistan List of Pakistani television stations Official site
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PTV National
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PTV National is a 24-hour channel that broadcasts regional languages programmes of Pakistan. PTV National is a channel formed with a vision to create a sense of integrity and it has viewership not only across Pakistan but it is being seen and appreciated all over world. The channel involves the participation of the viewers in the Live Programs, whereas Aijaz Aleem Uqaili is its General Manager. Some of the renowned Compares of PTV National are Yasir Qazi, Shazia Khanzada, Malik Sabir, Nadeem Akhter, Naureen and Tariq Mian. Happy Moster Band Paris With Bruno Dog 2015-2016 Digimon Adventure 1999-2000 Stoneage 2009-2010 TBS, MBS and Dog PoTTy Music & Band Hutos The Series, Since 1919 1919-1948 Official Site
