1.
Basel
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Basel is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerlands third-most-populous city with about 175,000 inhabitants, located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany. In 2014, the Basel agglomeration was the third largest in Switzerland with a population of 537,100 in 74 municipalities in Switzerland, the official language of Basel is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect. Basel has been the seat of a Prince-Bishopric since the 11th century, the city has been a commercial hub and important cultural centre since the Renaissance, and has emerged as a centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in the 20th century. It hosts the oldest university of the Swiss Confederation, There are settlement traces on the Rhine knee from the early La Tène period. The unfortified settlement was abandoned in the 1st century BC in favour of an Oppidum on the site of Basel Minster, probably in reaction to the Roman invasion of Gaul. In Roman Gaul, Augusta Raurica was established some 20 km from Basel as the administrative centre. The city of Basel eventually grew around the castle, the name of Basel is derived from the Roman-era toponym Basilia, first recorded in the 3rd century. It is presumably derived from the personal name Basilius, the Old French form Basle was adopted into English, and developed into the modern French Bâle. The Icelandic name Buslaraborg goes back to the 12th century Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan, Basel was incorporated into Germania Superior in AD83. Roman control over the area deteriorated in 3rd century, and Basel became an outpost of the Provincia Maxima Sequanorum formed by Diocletian, the Alamanni attempted to cross the Rhine several times in the 4th century, but were repelled. In a great invasion of AD406, the Alemanni appear to have crossed the Rhine river a final time, conquering and then settling what is today Alsace, from this time, Basel has been an Alemannic settlement. The Duchy of Alemannia fell under Frankish rule in the 6th century, and by the 7th century, based on the evidence of a third solidus with the inscription Basilia fit, Basel seems to have minted its own coins in the 7th century. Under bishop Haito, the first cathedral was built on the site of the Roman castle, at the partition of the Carolingian Empire, Basel was first given to West Francia, but passed to East Francia with the treaty of Meerssen of 870. The city was plundered and destroyed by a Magyar invasion of 917, the rebuilt city became part of Upper Burgundy, and as such was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in 1032. Since the donation by Rudolph III of Burgundy of the Moutier-Grandval Abbey and all its possessions to Bishop Adalbero II in 999 till the Reformation, in 1019, the construction of the cathedral of Basel began under German Emperor Heinrich II. In 1225–1226, the Bridge over the Rhine was constructed by Bishop Heinrich von Thun, the bridge was largely funded by Basels Jewish community which had settled there a century earlier. For many centuries to come Basel possessed the only permanent bridge over the river between Lake Constance and the sea, the Bishop also allowed the furriers to found a guild in 1226
2.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
3.
Nyon
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Nyon is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometers north east of Genevas city centre and it lies on the shores of Lake Leman and is the seat of the district of Nyon. The town has a population of 20,088 and it is connected to the rest of Switzerland by way of the Route Suisse, the A1 Motorway and the railways of the Arc Lémanique. Nyon derives from one of the used by the Romans for the town. Nyon is first mentioned around 367-407 as civitas Equestrium id est Noiodunus, in 1236 it was mentioned as Neveduni and in 1292 as Nyons. A few, scattered neolithic items were discovered in the 19th century, north of the city, some bronze rings and the ruins of a Bronze Age settlement were discovered. It was founded by the Romans between 50 and 44 BC under the name of Colonia Iulia Equestris or Colonia Equestris Noiodunum, at Roman contact, the country round the town was held by the Helvetii. The towns importance is reflected in its numerous mentions in ancient sources, the Antonine Itineraries place the town on the road from Geneva to Lacus Lausonius. It is first mentioned by Pliny, and then by Ptolemy, Pliny and Ptolemy simply name it Equestris, and so it is named in the Itineraries. On some inscriptions it is called Civ, Equestrium, and Col. Julia Equ. from which some have concluded that it was founded by Julius Caesar. In the Notitia it is called Civ, Noviodunum was part of a loose network of settlements that radiated out from Lugdunum and helped to control the Rhone Valley. It served, along with other Roman colonies in the area, a rectangular grid pattern divided the area of the wall-less city. A monumental center, housing everything needed for the economic, religious, only portions of this first forum have been discovered. At its east end was a two-story basilica, grid-like residential streets radiated out from the center. Under Tiberius, the forum was expanded and redesigned into a pattern for the provinces. The sacred area was surrounded on three sides by colonnades, which were built on half-sunken Cryptoporticus, two outbuildings, including most likely the seat of the Curia, flanked the building. A market building with a courtyard around which were the sales rooms. The forum witnessed further transformations, particularly the establishment of large building
4.
Karl-Erik Nilsson (referee)
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Karl-Erik Nilsson is the president of the Swedish Football Association, a post he has held since 23 March 2012. Nilsson is also a football referee. Nilsson was born on 6 May 1957 in Emmaboda, Sweden and he studied to become an elementary school teacher, a profession he practised during the 1970s. Nilsson also worked in the system of Sweden. Nilsson was the chairman of the board of Emmaboda Municipality between 1994 and 2006. In the 1980s Nilsson started his career as a football referee. Nilsson supervised his first Allsvenskan match in 1992 and became a FIFA certified referee in 1994 and he is best known for supervising matches during the UEFA Champions League. He was also a choice for leading international matches in the 1990s. Nilssons other official competitions included qualifiers for Euro 1996, Euro 2000, and he also worked as a fourth official during UEFA Euro 1996. After his career as a referee Nilsson remained in football and served as the chairman of Bohusläns Fotbollförbund until 2012. Nilsson was also active as a member of the boards of directors at the Swedish Football Association before he was elected president of the association on 23 March 2012 after Lars-Åke Lagrell resigned
5.
Hryhoriy Surkis
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Hryhoriy Surkis is a Ukrainian businessman and politician, one of five vice-presidents of UEFA since 24 May 2013. Surkis was the president of Football Federation of Ukraine till September 2012, hryhoriy was born to a Jewish family. His father Mikhail Davydovych Surkis was a doctor, and his mother Rimma Yanivna Surkis was a sales specialist. He also has a brother Ihor Surkis, Surkis has an undergraduate diploma in mechanical engineering. At 22 he finished the Kyivan technological institute of food industry with a specialty in machines and apparatuses for food production, while in school, he worked as a senior engineer in material-technological logistics for Holovplodvynprom of Ukraine in 1971. From 1974 to 1988 he worked as a deputy-chief at Kyivzhytlorembudmontazh, foreman of the SRBU#1 in Kharkiv, then and until 1991 he held a variety of a technical leadership positions at the Kyiv City Council such as a chief engineer, chief of department, and others. From 1991 to 1993 Surkis became a director of Dynamo-Atlantic. From 1993 to 1998 he was the president of the Ukrainian industrial financial concern Slavutych, from 1998 until 2006 he was a peoples representative of Ukraine, and since 1998 he has been a member of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. He was the president of the PFL of Ukraine from 1996 to 2000 and he is a member of the Committee of National Associations FIFA since 2000. In 2006 he became a vice-president of NOC of Ukraine, since 2007 he is a head of the Committee that deals with the beach soccer and futzal. He is an ambassador of Ukraine to European Counsel in reference to sport, tolerantce and he was listed among the Top-100 most powerful people in Ukraine in 2004 and 2005 in the Korrespondent newspaper. Surkis was a deputy in the III and IV convocations of Verkhovna Rada for the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, in the 2006 election Surkis ran unsuccessfully for the Opposition Bloc Ne Tak. His brother Ihor Surkis is chairman of Dynamo Kyiv, in 2004 Surkis was refused a visa to the United States due to corruption allegations in Ukraine
6.
FIFA
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The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is the international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer. FIFA is responsible for the organisation of major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930. FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 211 national associations, although FIFA does not control the rules of football, it is responsible for both the organization of a number of tournaments and their promotion, which generate revenue from sponsorship. In 2013, FIFA had revenues of over 1.3 billion U. S. dollars, for a net profit of 72 million and those among these officials who were also indicted in the U. S. are expected to be extradited to face charges there as well. Many officials were suspended by FIFAs ethics committee including Sepp Blatter, in early 2017 reports became public about FIFA president Gianni Infantino attempting to prevent the re-elections of both chairmen of the ethics committee during the FIFA congress in May 2017. The need for a body to oversee association football became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The French name and acronym are used even outside French-speaking countries, the founding members were the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Also, that day, the German Association declared its intention of affiliating through a telegram. The first president of FIFA was Robert Guérin, Guérin was replaced in 1906 by Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by then a member of the association. Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1909, Argentina in 1912, Canada and Chile in 1913, and the United States in 1914. During World War I, with players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl Hirschmann and it was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations, who cited an unwillingness to participate in international competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home Nations later resumed their membership, the FIFA collection is held by the National Football Museum at Urbis in Manchester, England. The first World Cup in the world was in 1930 in Montevideo, FIFA is headquartered in Zürich, and is an association established under the Law of Switzerland. FIFAs supreme body is the FIFA Congress, a made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. Each national football association has one vote, regardless of its size or footballing strength, the Congress assembles in ordinary session once every year, and extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. The congress makes decisions relating to FIFAs governing statutes and their method of implementation and application, only the Congress can pass changes to FIFAs statutes
7.
Asian Football Confederation
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The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. Three other states located along the fringe of Asia – Cyprus, Armenia. Hong Kong and Macau, although not independent countries, are members of the AFC. One of FIFAs six continental confederations, the AFC was formed officially on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, the main headquarters is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The current president is Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, the Asian Football Confederation was founded on 8 May 1954. Afghanistan, Burma, Republic of China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, the Asian Ladies Football Confederation is the section of the AFC who manage womens football in Asia. The group was founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia. In 1986 the ALFC merged with the AFC, the Asian Ladies Football Confederation helped organise the AFC Womens Asian Cup, first held in 1975, as well as the AFCs AFC U-19 Womens Championship and the AFC U-17 Womens Championship. The AFC has 47 member associations split into five regions, all three competitions are held every four years. The top-ranked AFC competition is the AFC Champions League, which started in the 2002–03 season and gathers the top 1–4 teams of each country, a second, lower-ranked competition is the AFC Cup. This competition was launched by AFC in 2004, a third competition, the AFC Presidents Cup, which had started in 2005, was absorbed into the AFC Cup in 2015. The AFC also runs an annual Asian futsal club competition, the AFC Futsal Club Championship
8.
Confederation of African Football
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The Confederation of African Football is the administrative and controlling body for African association football. CAF represents the football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions. CAF is the biggest of six continental confederations of FIFA, CAF has been given 5 slots out of the 32 available since the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, this increased to 6 in 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, to include the hosts. The number of places returned to 5 for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and its first headquarters was situated in Khartoum, Sudan for some months until a fire outbreak in the offices of the Sudanese Football Association when the organization moved near Cairo. Youssef Mohammad was the first General Secretary and Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem the president, the administrative center since 2002 is located in 6th of October City, near Cairo. It was initially made up of 4 national associations, currently there are 56 associations,55 full members since the inclusion of Zanzibar in March 2017 and Réunion Island as associate. The current CAF President is Ahmad Ahmad, suketu Patel is the 1st Vice-President, Almamy Kabele Camara is the 2nd Vice-President while Essam El Dine Ahmed is the Acting Secretary General. Hayatou announced that he would seek another term as president for the 16 March 2017 election. On March 16,2017, Ahmad Ahmad from Madagascar was elected president, in July 2016, Total has secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football to support 10 of its principal competitions. Total started with the Africa Cup of Nations that was held in Gabon therefore renaming it Total Africa cup of Nations. Reunion holds associate membership of CAF, Zanzibar held associate membership from 1980 to 2017 when it became a full member - albeit without voting rights for CAF presidency elections, the main competition for mens national teams is the Africa Cup of Nations, started in 1957. In 2009, CAF will be organising another competition for national teams. CAF also runs national competitions at Under-20 and Under-17 levels, a third competition, the CAF Cup, started in 1992 and was absorbed into the CAF Confederation Cup in 2004. The CAF Super Cup, which pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the CAF Confederation Cup, the Afro-Asian Club Championship was jointly organised with AFC between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the winners of the AFC Champions League. The last Afro-Asian Club Championship took place in 1998, * jointly organised with AFC Legend For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown. Teams are sorted by number of appearances, Legend Legend The following clubs are the top 10 clubs in CAF competitions
9.
CONCACAF
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Three South American entities—the independent nations of Guyana and Suriname and the French department of French Guiana—are also members. CONCACAFs primary functions are to organize competitions for teams and clubs. Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, CONCACAF is the third-most successful FIFA confederation. Mexico dominated CONCACAF mens competition early on and has won the most Gold Cups since the beginning of the tournament in its current format. The Mexican national team is the only CONCACAF team to win an official FIFA tournament by winning the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup and they have also reached the Round of 16 for the past 6 World Cups. Between them, Mexico and the U. S. have won all, in recent years Costa Rica has become a power in the region and in 2014 became the 4th CONCACAF country after the United States, Cuba, and Mexico to make the World Cup quarterfinals. CONCACAF is led by a General Secretary, Executive Committee, Congress, the Executive Committee is composed of eight members — one president, three vice-presidents, three members, and one female member. Each of the three zones in CONCACAF is represented by one vice-president and one member. The Executive Committee carries out the various statutes, regulations, in 1969, he was succeeded in the role by Mexican Joaquín Soria Terrazas, who served as president for 21 years. His successor Jack Warner was the CONCACAF president from 1990 to 2011, Warner was suspended as president on 30 May 2011 due to his temporary suspension from football related activity by FIFA following corruption allegations. Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary during the same period, the vice-president of CONCACAF, Alfredo Hawit, acted as president until May 2012. In May 2012, Cayman Islands banker Jeffrey Webb was installed as President of CONCACAF, on 27 May 2015, Webb was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland on corruption charges in the U. S. Victor Montagliani, leader of the Canadian Soccer Association, was elected as president of CONCACAF in May 2016, CONCACAF is a non-profit company registered in Nassau, Bahamas. The headquarters of the CONCACAF are currently located in the Admiral Financial Center, George Town, previously, they were based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago under the presidency of Jack Warner. The administration office of CONCACAF is located in Miami—the home town of Enrique Sanz, Enrique Sanz was appointed as the CONCACAF General Secretary in July 2012. It was previously located in Trump Tower, New York when Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary, there is also an office in Guatemala City, which is shared with UNCAF and an office in New York. CONCACAF has 41 member associations,27 from the Caribbean 7 from Central America 4 from North America 3 from South America M = Mens National Team. Bonaire were promoted from a member to a full member at the XXIX Ordinary CONCACAF Congress in São Paulo on 10 June 2014
10.
CONMEBOL
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The South American Football Confederation is the continental governing body of association football in South America and it is one of FIFAs six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay, CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American footballs major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA, CONMEBOL national teams have won nine FIFA World Cups, and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina and Uruguay have won two Olympic gold medals each, Brazil has won one Olympic gold medal and it is considered one of the strongest confederations in the world. Currently, the Confederation is planning to create the first womens qualification to the FIFA Womens World Cup to replace the Copa América Femenina. Juan Ángel Napout was the president of CONMEBOL until December 3,2015 when he was arrested in a raid in Switzerland as part of the U. S. Justice Departments widening bribery case involving FIFA. Wilmar Valdez was interim president until January 26,2016 when Alejandro Domínguez was elected president, the first and second vice-presidents are Ramón Jesurum and Laureano González. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered together in order to create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. The constitutional congress on December 15 of that same year ratified the decision, over the years, the other football associations in South America joined, with the last being Venezuela in 1952. Guyana, Suriname, and the French overseas department of French Guiana, with ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land-based FIFA confederation. The main competition for national teams is the Copa América. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under-20, Under-17 and Under-15 levels, for womens national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under-20 and Under-17 championships. In futsal there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20, the Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the womens equivalent to the mans tournament. A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999, in womens football CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009, the Recopa Sudamericana pits the past years winners of the Copa Libertadores against the winners of the Copa Sudamericana, and came into being in 1989. The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organised with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners. S, department of Justice on charges of corruption, money laundering, and racketeering. Those swept up in the operation include former CONMEBOL Presidents Eugenio Figueredo and Nicolás Léoz and several football federations presidents such as Carlos Chavez, on 3 December 2015, the CONMEBOL President Juan Ángel Napout was arrested also
11.
Oceania Football Confederation
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The Oceania Football Confederation is one of the six continental confederations of international association football, consisting of New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, and other Pacific Island countries. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, OFC is predominantly made up of island nations where association football is not the most popular sport. Consequently, the OFC has little influence in the football world. In 2006, the OFCs largest and most successful nation, Australia, left to join the Asian Football Confederation, david Chung is the current President of OFC. Rajesh Patel is the Senior Vice President, Lee Harmon is the Vice-President while Tai Nicholas is the General Secretary, OFC is made up of 11 full member associations and 3 associate members. Associate member of the OFC, but non-FIFA member.2, unincorporated territories of the United States.3. Free associated state with New Zealand.4, Australia Chinese Taipei Though Israel played in some OFC competitions in the 1970s to 1980s they were not a member of the OFC. Other sovereign states and dependencies in the Pacific Ocean that are not members of the OFC are, Chinese Taipei were an OFC member from 1975 to 1989. In 1996 FIFA confirmed the OFC as a confederation and granted it a seat on the FIFA executive. In 1998 the OFC unveiled a new logo and an official magazine, on 24 May 2004, New Caledonia became the 11th member of the OFC. On 1 January 2006, Australia left the OFC again and joined the Asian Football Confederation, in 2008 an associate member, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, also left the OFC and in 2009 joined the AFC as a quasi-member. In late 2009 the Palau Soccer Association also applied for the status with the AFC. Since 1996, OFC members also play for the OFC Nations Cup, which was held every second year, the OFC also organises the Oceania Club Championship, a competition that has received surprisingly high levels of media support within New Zealand in its debut season. It serves primarily to determine the Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cup, in 2007, the OFC replaced the current club competition with the OFC Champions League which began in 2007. From 2007, the winner has no longer gained direct entry to the FIFA Club World Cup – and it is not clear whether this is permanent, or even if it could change if the Oceania entrant were to outperform entrants from other Confederations. Of the confederations current teams, only New Zealand has ever competed in the FIFA World Cup, founding member Australia also competed in the World Cup finals, in 1974 and 2006. At the conclusion of Germany 2006, Australias exit from the OFC was finalised, the other minor exception to this has been the participation of the Solomon Islands in the 2006,2007 and 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The winner of the OFC Cup also receives a berth in the FIFA Confederations Cup, New Zealand and Tahiti are the only current members of the OFC to have participated in this event
12.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
13.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
14.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
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UEFA European Championship
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Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Starting with the 1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form UEFA Euro, prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations compete in a qualifying process. The championship winners earn the opportunity to compete in the following FIFA Confederations Cup, to date, Spain is the only team in history to have won consecutive titles, doing so in 2008 and 2012. It is the second most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup, the Euro 2012 final was watched by a global audience of around 300 million. The most recent championship, hosted by France in 2016, was won by Portugal, in honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. The 1960 tournament, held in France, had four competing in the finals out of 17 that entered the competition. It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a final in Paris. Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the USSR because of two political protests, of the 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable absentees were England, the Netherlands, West Germany and Italy. The hosts beat the holders, the Soviet Union, 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The tournament format stayed the same for the 1968 tournament, hosted, for the first and only time a match was decided on a coin toss and the final went to a replay, after the match against Yugoslavia finished 1–1. More teams entered this tournament, a testament to its burgeoning popularity, Belgium hosted the 1972 tournament, which West Germany won, beating the USSR 3–0 in the final, with goals coming from Gerd Müller and Herbert Wimmer at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. This tournament would provide a taste of things to come, as the German side contained many of the key members of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Champions. The 1976 tournament in Yugoslavia was the last in which four teams took part in the final tournament. Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout, after seven successful conversions, Uli Hoeneß missed, leaving Czechoslovakian Antonín Panenka with the opportunity to score and win the tournament. An audacious chipped shot, described by UEFA as perhaps the most famous spot kick of all time secured the victory as Czechoslovakia won 5–3 on penalties, the competition was expanded to eight teams in the 1980 tournament, again hosted by Italy. It involved a stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final. West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2–1, Horst Hrubesch scored early in the first half before René Vandereycken equalised for Belgium with a penalty in the second half. With two minutes remaining, Hrubesch headed the winner for West Germany from a Karl-Heinz Rummenigge corner, the format also changed, with the top two teams in each group going through to a semi-final stage, instead of the winners of each group going straight into the final
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
18.
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.
Henri Delaunay
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Henri Delaunay was a French football administrator. After playing for the Paris team Étoile des Deux Lacs, he became a referee and he retired following an incident during a match between AF Garenne-Doves and ES Benevolence, when he swallowed his whistle and broke two teeth on being struck full in the face by the ball. When the CFI became the French Football Federation in 1919, he remained as secretary-general, as a member of FIFA, he sat on its board as deputy from 1924 until 1928. Along with Jules Rimet, he was an architect of the FIFA World Cup. He was also an early proponent of the European Champions Cup. Together with Jules Rimet, he was responsible for the creation of the European Football Championship. The first tournament took place in 1960 and he was General Secretary of UEFA from its foundation on 15 June 1954 until his death. When he died in 1955, he was succeeded as head of UEFA by his son Pierre Delaunay, la fédération des sections sportives des patronages catholiques de France. Union dAnjou FSCF, Dhier à aujourdhui,100 ans de vie associative depuis les patronages
20.
Bern
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The city of Bern or Berne is the de facto capital of Switzerland, referred to by the Swiss as their Bundesstadt, or federal city. With a population of 141,762, Bern is the fourth-most populous city in Switzerland, the Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000, Bern is also the capital of the canton of Bern, the second-most populous of Switzerlands cantons. The official language in Bern is German, but the language is an Alemannic Swiss German dialect. In 1983, the old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bern is ranked among the top ten cities for the best quality of life. The etymology of the name Bern is uncertain and it has long been considered likely that the city was named after the Italian city of Verona, which at the time was known as Bern in Middle High German. As a result of the find of the Bern zinc tablet in the 1980s, it is now common to assume that the city was named after a pre-existing toponym of Celtic origin. The bear was the animal of the seal and coat of arms of Bern from at least the 1220s. The earliest reference to the keeping of bears in the Bärengraben dates to the 1440s. No archaeological evidence that indicates a settlement on the site of city centre prior to the 12th century has been found so far. In antiquity, a Celtic oppidum stood on the Engehalbinsel north of Bern, fortified since the second century BC, during the Roman era, a Gallo-Roman vicus was on the same site. The Bern zinc tablet has the name Brenodor, in the Early Middle Ages, a settlement in Bümpliz, now a city district of Bern, was some 4 km from the medieval city. The medieval city is a foundation of the Zähringer ruling family, according to 14th-century historiography, Bern was founded in 1191 by Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen. In 1218, after Berthold died without an heir, Bern was made an imperial city by the Goldene Handfeste of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In 1353, Bern joined the Swiss Confederacy, becoming one of the eight cantons of the period of 1353 to 1481. The city grew out towards the west of the boundaries of the peninsula formed by the river Aare, the Zytglogge tower marked the western boundary of the city from 1191 until 1256, when the Käfigturm took over this role until 1345. It was, in turn, succeeded by the Christoffelturm until 1622, during the time of the Thirty Years War, two new fortifications – the so-called big and small Schanze – were built to protect the whole area of the peninsula
21.
Countries of the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
22.
Gibraltar
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Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km2 and shares its border with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the landmark of the region. At its foot is a populated city area, home to over 30,000 Gibraltarians. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne, the territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Today Gibraltars economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the British government. The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq, earlier, it was known as Mons Calpe, a name of Phoenician origin and one of the Pillars of Hercules. The pronunciation of the name in modern Spanish is, evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar between 28,000 and 24,000 BP has been discovered at Gorhams Cave, making Gibraltar possibly the last known holdout of the Neanderthals. Within recorded history, the first inhabitants were the Phoenicians, around 950 BC, subsequently, Gibraltar became known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. The Carthaginians and Romans also established semi-permanent settlements, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar came briefly under the control of the Vandals. The area later formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 414 AD until the Islamic conquest of Iberia in 711 AD, in 1160, the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mumin ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built. It received the name of Medinat al-Fath, on completion of the works in the town, the Sultan crossed the Strait to look at the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today, from 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Morocco and the kings of Castile. In 1462, Gibraltar was finally captured by Juan Alonso de Guzmán, after the conquest, King Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. In 1501, Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, the occupation of the town by Alliance forces caused the exodus of the population to the surrounding area of the Campo de Gibraltar. As the Alliances campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated and ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britains withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar, during the American War of Independence
23.
British Overseas Territories
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The 14 British Overseas Territories are territories under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom. They are the parts of the British Empire that have not been granted independence or have voted to remain British territories. These territories do not form part of the United Kingdom and, with the exception of Gibraltar, are not part of the European Union, though the Cyprus SBAs are subject to EU law and use the Euro. Most of the territories are internally self-governing, with the UK retaining responsibility for defence. The rest are either uninhabited or have a population of military or scientific personnel. They share the British monarch as head of state, the term British Overseas Territory was introduced by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, replacing the term British Dependent Territory, introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981. Prior to 1 January 1983, the territories were referred to as British Crown Colonies. With the exceptions of the British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Territories retain permanent civilian populations. Permanent residency for the 7,000 or so living in the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri. Collectively, the Territories encompass a population of about 250,000 people, the vast majority of this,660,000 square miles, constitutes the British Antarctic Territory. The current minister responsible for the Territories excluding the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and the Sovereign Base Areas is Baroness Anelay, Minister of State for the Commonwealth, the other three territories are the responsibility of Sir Alan Duncan MP, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. The first, unofficial, colony was Newfoundland, where English fishermen routinely set up camps in the 16th century. It is now a province of Canada known as Newfoundland and Labrador and it retains strong cultural ties with Britain. English colonisation of North America began officially in 1607 with the settlement of Jamestown, st. Georges town, founded in Bermuda in that year, remains the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in the New World. Bermuda and Bermudians have played important, sometimes pivotal, but generally underestimated or unacknowledged roles in the shaping of the English and British trans-Atlantic Empires. These include maritime commerce, settlement of the continent and of the West Indies, separate self-governing colonies federated to become Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Rhodesia. These and other large self-governing colonies had become known as Dominions by the 1920s, the Dominions achieved almost full independence with the Statute of Westminster. Through a process of following the Second World War, most of the British colonies in Africa, Asia
24.
Faroe Islands
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The Faroe Islands, also spelled the Faeroes, is an archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic, about halfway between Norway and Iceland,320 kilometres north-northwest of Scotland. Its area is about 1,400 square kilometres with a population of 49,188 in 2016, the Faeroe Islands is an autonomous country within the Danish Realm. The land of the Faeroes is rugged, and these islands have an oceanic climate, windy, wet, cloudy. Despite this island groups northerly latitude, temperatures average above freezing throughout the year because of the Gulf Stream, between 1035 and 1814, the Faeroes were part of the Hereditary Kingdom of Norway. In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel granted Denmark control over the islands, the Faroe Islands have been a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. The Faroese have control of most domestic matters, areas that remain the responsibility of Denmark include military defence, the police department, the justice department, currency, and foreign affairs. However, as they are not part of the customs area as Denmark, the Faroe Islands have an independent trade policy. The islands also have representation in the Nordic Council as members of the Danish delegation, the people of the Faroe Islands also compete as national team in certain sports. In Danish, the name Færøerne may reflect an Old Norse word fær, the morpheme øerne represents a plural of ø in Danish. The Danish name thus translates as the islands of sheep, in Faroese, the name appears as Føroyar. Oyar represents the plural of oy, older Faroese for island, the modern Faeroese word for island is oyggj. In the English language, their name is sometimes spelled Faeroe, archaeological evidence shows settlers living on the Faroe Islands in two successive periods prior to the arrival of the Norse, the first between 400 and 600 and the second between 600 and 800. Scientists from the University of Aberdeen have also found early cereal pollen from domesticated plants, archaeologist Mike Church noted that Dicuil mentioned what may have been the Faroes. He also suggested that the living there might have been from Ireland, Scotland or Scandinavia. A Latin account of a made by Brendan, an Irish monastic saint who lived around 484–578. This association, however, is far from conclusive in its description, Dicuil, an Irish monk of the early 9th century, wrote a more definite account. 800, bringing Old West Norse, which evolved into the modern Faroese language, according to Icelandic sagas such as Færeyjar Saga, one of the best known men in the island was Tróndur í Gøtu, a descendant of Scandinavian chiefs who had settled in Dublin, Ireland. Tróndur led the battle against Sigmund Brestursson, the Norwegian monarchy, a traditional name for the islands in Irish, Na Scigirí, possibly refers to the Skeggjar Beards, a nickname given to island dwellers
25.
International recognition of Kosovo
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Since its declaration of independence from Serbia, international recognition of Kosovo has been mixed, and the international community continues to be divided on the issue. As of 27 February 2017, the Republic of Kosovo has received 115 diplomatic recognitions as an independent state, the Government of Serbia does not recognise it as a sovereign state, but has begun to normalise relations with the Government of Kosovo in accordance with the Brussels Agreement. A number of states expressed concern over the character of Kosovos declaration. Russia has rejected the declaration and considers it illegal, on 15 May 2008, Russia, China, and India released a joint statement calling for new negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina. Due to the dispute in the UNSC, the reconfiguration of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, in spite of Russian and Serbian protests, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proceeded with the reconfiguration plan. In order to adapt UNMIK to a changed reality, according to the Secretary-General, the United Nations has maintained a position of strict neutrality on the question of Kosovos status. On 26 November 2008, the UNSC gave the light to the deployment of the EULEX mission in Kosovo. The three neighbouring states that recognise Kosovo—Albania, Montenegro, and Macedonia—all accept the Kosovan passport, which Serbia refuses, a United Nations General Assembly resolution adopted on 8 October 2008 backed the request of Serbia to seek an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on Kosovos declaration of independence. Serbia also expelled ambassadors from countries that recognised Kosovo after the UNGA vote adopting Serbias initiative to seek an ICJ advisory opinion. In December 2012, as a result of European Union mediated negotiations on Kosovos status, in March 2013, Dačić said that while his government would never recognise Kosovos independence, lies were told that Kosovo is ours and that Serbia needed to define its real borders. In April 2013, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement to normalise relations, on 17 June 2013 Kosovo and Serbia exchanged liaison officers. Diplomatic recognition is an explicit, official, unilateral act in the policy of states in regards to another party. Not having issued such a statement does not necessarily mean the state has objections to the existence, independence, intergovernmental organisations do not themselves diplomatically recognise any state, their member states do so individually
26.
AS Monaco FC
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Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club is a Monaco-based football club. The club was founded in 1924 and plays in Ligue 1, the team plays its home matches at the Stade Louis II in Fontvieille. Monaco is managed by Leonardo Jardim and is captained by Radamel Falcao, though based in Monaco, the club plays in the French football league system. Monaco is one of the most successful clubs in France, having won seven league titles, the club has also competed in European football having been runners-up in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League in 2004. The clubs traditional colours are red and white, and the club is known as Les Rouges et Blancs, Monaco is also a member of the European Club Association. In December 2011, two-thirds of the club was sold to an investment group led by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, with Rybolovlevs financial backing, the club quickly returned to Ligue 1. AS Monaco FC was founded on 1 August 1919 as a unification of numerous local clubs based in France, then, The multiple sports club of the Association Sportive de Monaco was founded on the 23rd August 1924. AS Monaco FC was then absorbed by the latter and became the section of the enlarged Monegasque sporting club. The clubs early years were spent in the regional divisions of the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region. In 1933, Monaco were invited by the French Football Federation to turn professional, the Monégasques first year of second division football ended in failure however, as they were relegated to the amateur leagues the following year. In 1960, Monacos first iconic coach, Lucien Leduc, led the club to its first professional trophy and this initial success was bettered in the following year with the club winning the French Championship for the first time in its history, qualifying for the European Cup. Leduc subsequently led the club to its first League and Cup Double in 1963, in 1975, Jean-Louis Campora, son of former president Charles Campora, became chairman of the club. In his second season, he brought back Leduc, who won the club promotion to the first division and won them the championship the following year in 1978. Leduc subsequently left the again in 1979, to be succeeded by Lucien Muller and Gérard Banide. The early 1980s saw a stream of successes in national competitions. Monaco won a title almost every year, the Coupe de France in 1980 and 1985. In the 1985–86 season, Monaco hammered Bordeaux 9–0, one of the biggest wins in club history, disappointingly for Monaco fans, the club could not translate its domestic leadership into European success. Up to this point, Monaco had never passed the first round of any European competition, Monaco lost to Dundee United, CSKA Sofia twice and Universitatea Craiova
27.
Cardiff City F.C.
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Cardiff City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cardiff, Wales that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1899 as Riverside A. F. C. before changing its name to Cardiff City in 1908 and they play their home games at the Cardiff City Stadium, after moving from Ninian Park in 2009. The club reverted to their traditional blue in January 2015 and they have long-standing rivalries with nearby clubs Swansea City, known as the South Wales derby, and Bristol City, known as the Severnside derby. The club was founded in 1899 as Riverside A. F. C and their first season saw them playing friendlies against local sides at their Sophia Gardens ground, but in 1900 they joined the Cardiff & District League for their first competitive season. To combat this they arranged to join the South Wales Amateur League in 1907, with the club growing in stature, they were forced to turn down the opportunity to join the newly formed Southern League Second Division due to the lack of facilities at their Sophia Gardens ground. The club eventually secured land to build their own stadium, moving into Ninian Park, the club made its first signing the following year with the acquisition of Jack Evans from fellow Welsh club Cwmparc. With the new ground in place, Cardiff joined the Southern League Second Division, and appointed their first manager in Davy McDougall, who became player-manager. They went on to finish in place in their first year in the league but the board decided to replace McDougall with Fred Stewart. In 1920, the club submitted an application to join the Football League and were placed into the Second Division for the 1920–21 season. Stewart brought in players with Football League experience, breaking the clubs transfer record on two occasions to sign Jimmy Gill and later Jimmy Blair from The Wednesday. In the 74th minute, after collecting a throw George MacLachlan, dan Lewis, the Arsenal goalkeeper, appeared to collect the ball but, under pressure from the advancing Len Davies, clumsily allowed the ball to roll through his grasp. In a further attempt to retrieve the ball Lewis only succeeded in knocking the ball with his elbow into his own net, captain Fred Keenor received the FA Cup trophy from King George V only seven years after Cardiff City had entered the Football League. However, he was unable to turn the fortunes around by the end of the season. McCandless left the club soon after and was replaced by Cyril Spiers who led the club to promotion the in 1951–52 season, however, despite spending five seasons in the First Division, the club continually struggled in the bottom half of the table and were eventually relegated in 1957. They returned to the First Division for two seasons between 1960 and 1962 before again suffering relegation, during the 1960s, Cardiff began qualifying for European competition for the first time as a result of winning the Welsh Cup. They went on to reach the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Real Zaragoza, despite their exploits in Europe, the club were still struggling in league competition under the stewardship of Jimmy Scoular, finishing in 20th position in the Second Division. After a 1–1 draw in the first leg, just over 43,000 fans turned out at Ninian Park to watch Hamburg win 3–2, during the 1970–71 season, Cardiff reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup where they faced Spanish side Real Madrid. The first leg of the tie was held at Ninian Park where 47,000 fans watched one of the most famous victories in the history when Brian Clark headed in to give Cardiff a 1–0 win
28.
Swansea City A.F.C.
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Swansea City Association Football Club is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales, that plays in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Swansea City represent England when playing in European competitions, although they have represented Wales in the past, the club was founded in 1912 as Swansea Town and joined the Football League in 1921. The club changed their name in 1969, when adopted the name Swansea City to reflect Swanseas new status as a city. Swansea have played their matches at the Liberty Stadium since 2005. In 1981, the club was promoted to the original Football League First Division and it was during the following season they came close to winning the league title, but a decline then set near the seasons end before finishing sixth, although a club record. The clubs subsequent climb from the division of English football to the top division is chronicled in the 2014 film. In 2011, Swansea were promoted to the Premier League, following the lead of many other South Wales sides, joined the second division of the Southern League for the following season. J. W. Thorpe was the clubs first chairman, a site owned by Swansea Gaslight Co. called Vetch Field due to the vegetables that grew there, was rented to be the clubs ground. The clubs first professional match was a 1–1 draw at the Vetch Field against Cardiff City on 7 September 1912. During that first season the Welsh Cup was won for the first time, before the game Bradshaw had scored with thirty-six consecutive spot kicks. Remarkably, the Swans played most of the half with ten men. The Swans drew at another First Division side, Newcastle United, in the next round, following the First World War the Southern League dropped its second division, and with many clubs dropping out due to financial difficulties, the Swans were placed in the first division. After just four seasons in the Southern League, Swansea Town became founder members of the new Third Division of The Football League in 1920, the side had remained unbeaten at home in the league all season – something the next promotion team would emulate over twenty years later. Sadly for the Swans, an experienced Bolton side won the game 3–0, Swans record their highest average attendance during the season of 16,118 for pre-war league games. During the 1926–27 season they beat Real Madrid 3–0 on tour, during the 1931–32 season they finished 1st and went out in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. However they won the Welsh Cup after beating Wrexham 2–0 away after a replay and it was not until the 1933–34 season that Wilfred Milne scored his first goal for Swansea at Lincoln City after 501 appearances without a goal. After just one back from wartime football, the Swans finished 21st in the Second Division. The following season was one of consolidation, however in 1948–1949 the Swans stormed their way to winning the division for the second time
29.
Newport County A.F.C.
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Newport County Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Newport, South Wales. The team play in League Two, the tier of the English football league system. Most recently reformed in 1989, the club is a continuation of the Newport County club which was founded in 1912 and was a member of the Football Leagues new Third Division in 1920. Newport County were Welsh Cup winners in 1980 and subsequently reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1981, the club was relegated from the Football League in 1988 and went out of business in February 1989. The club reformed shortly afterwards and entered the English football league system at a lower level. In 2013 the club won back to the Football League for the first time since 1988. Newport County, originally nicknamed The Ironsides due to Newport being home to Lysaghts Orb Works steel works, the official name of the club was The Newport & Monmouth County Association Football Club, although the shorter Newport County was soon adopted. The club were reformed in 1919 and were first elected to the Football League in 1920 and they were not re-elected after the 1930–31 season but rejoined for 1932–33. After almost 20 years in the Third Division South, the club clinched promotion to the Second Division as champions in 1939 under manager Billy McCandless. Hopes were high that the side could prosper in the Second Division. Newport County managed a 1–1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur and a 3–1 win over Southampton, the War League operated for the remainder of the 1939–40 season and County finished 10th in the South-West Division. After the war, the reformed and competed in the temporary Football League South for the 1945–46 season. Newcastle player Len Shackleton remarked they were lucky to get nil, despite victories over Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday and Fulham, the club needed four wins out of the last four games to have any hope of safety. Despite a revenge victory over Newcastle United, defeats to Birmingham City, Luton Town, County finished bottom of the Second Division and were relegated. Newport reached the round of the 1948–49 FA Cup under manager Tom Bromilow. They only narrowly lost the game 3–2 away to Portsmouth, the eventual FA Cup semi-finalists, after 11 further seasons in the Third Division South, the club narrowly avoided another effective relegation with the creation of the Fourth Division for the 1958–59 season. The bottom 12 teams from the Third Division North and South were placed in the new division, County avoided this fate by a mere four points. However, in 1962, with seven wins all season
30.
Berwick Rangers F.C.
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Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, on the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of Scottish football. Berwick Rangers was officially formed on 7 January 1884 after a match was played in the town between a team of millworkers from Dunbar and a team of clerks from Newcastle. For much of the history it was believed that they had formed in 1881. Their first competitive match was against another team from Berwick, The Royal Oaks on 16 February 1884, Berwick Rangers won the match by one goal to nil. Berwick Rangers affiliated to the Scottish Football Association around 1905 and entered the Scottish Border League in 1905, recent research has revealed that the club joined the East of Scotland League immediately after the First World War, a new competition formed to replace the Borders League. The club made attempts to join the North Northumberland League but were rebuffed. It was not until 1951 that they were admitted to Scottish League Division C Division and this third tier, made up largely of reserve sides, had been created in 1946 and was regionalised in 1949. The division was scrapped in 1955 and Berwick, along with the other teams, were placed in an enlarged Division B. Berwick Rangers have played in the Scottish Football League ever since, despite low attendances, following its foundation, the club had had a nomadic existence before eventually settling down at Shielfield Park in 1954. A notable early success was a 3–0 win over Dundee in the Scottish Cup in 1954 in a run which saw them reach the quarter-final, ten years later they reached the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup losing to Rangers 3–1. Arguably their greatest success came in 1967, when they beat Rangers 1–0 in the Scottish Cup under the management of player manager Jock Wallace. It was the highlight of a cup run, which had seen them break a club record in beating Vale of Leithen 8–1 in the first round. The result sent shockwaves around Scottish football and led to a number of the Rangers players leaving Ibrox and they were paired with Hibernian in the following round but lost 1–0 in front of a crowd of nearly 30,000. The following years saw little progress until the late 1970s, when under the management of Dave Smith they won the Division Two title in 1979, despite that success they were unable to build and suffered a slow decline through the 1980s. The nadir came in season 1988–89 when they were nearly bankrupted, in 1988 Jim Jefferies took over as manager and led the team to a club record 21 game unbeaten run. The club weathered this and other crises in the early 1990s, later in the decade Berwick enjoyed a bit more in the way of success only missing out on promotion to Division One due to league reorganisation in 1994. They were relegated to Division Three in 1997 but under the management of Paul Smith regained promotion in 2000, under Smiths stewardship they took both Rangers and Heart of Midlothian to replays in the Scottish Cup
31.
Scottish Professional Football League
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The Scottish Professional Football League is the national mens association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League, a Scottish football league system was first created in 1890, when the Scottish Football League was formed. Traditionally the league had a two divisional structure between which clubs were promoted and relegated at the end of each season. By the mid-1970s, this organisation was perceived to be stagnant and this system came into force for the 1975–76 season. This setup continued until the 1994–95 season, when a four divisional structure was introduced, along with a new Third Division, with all four divisions consisting of ten clubs. On 8 September 1997, the Premier Division clubs decided to split from the Scottish Football League and form the Scottish Premier League, following the example of the English Premier League. This decision was fuelled by a desire by the top clubs in Scotland to control more of the revenue generated by the game, SFL revenues had been divided proportionally between clubs in all four divisions. The SPL clubs retained all of its revenues, except for an annual payment to the SFL. A review, led by former First Minister of Scotland Henry McLeish, was conducted by the Scottish Football Association, McLeish recommended that Scottish football should have a single league body and that the top flight should be reduced to 10 clubs. The proposal to change the top flight numbers did not proceed because of opposition from four SPL clubs, talks continued about the proposed league merger. A proposal for a merged league body with a 12–12–18 structure was advanced in April 2013 and this plan failed when two SPL clubs voted against. The SPL clubs unanimously agreed a merger plan a few weeks later. The SFL submitted a counter-proposal allowing for more revenues to be given to third and fourth tier clubs, but this was rejected by the SPL, an indicative vote of SFL clubs in May suggested that the SPL plan would be formally rejected. Some of the First Division clubs threatened to break away from the SFL, the SPL suggested it would welcome the First Division clubs if they decided to leave the SFL. A formal vote of SFL clubs was taken on 12 June,23 clubs voted in favour, one more than was needed for the proposal to succeed. The merger was agreed on 28 June and football was first played under the new structure in the 2013–14 season. On 24 July 2013 the names of the four SPFL divisions were announced – Scottish Premiership, Scottish Championship, Scottish League One, the SPFL is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 42 member clubs. Each club is a shareholder, with each having a vote on such as rule changes
32.
Derry City F.C.
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Derry City Football Club is a professional football club based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it was reinstated a few weeks later but demoted to the First Division, the second tier. The club are the League of Irelands only participant from Northern Ireland, the clubs home ground is the Brandywell Stadium and the players wear red and white striped shirts from which its nickname, the Candystripes, derives. Others refer to the club as the Red and White Army or abbreviate the name to Derry or City, the club, founded in 1928, initially played in the Irish League, the domestic league in Northern Ireland, and won a title in 1964–65. In 1971, security concerns related to the Troubles meant matches could not be played at the Brandywell, the team played home fixtures 30 miles away in Coleraine. After 13 years in football, it joined the League of Irelands new First Division for 1985–86. Derry won the First Division title and achieved promotion to the Premier Division in 1987, the club won a domestic treble in 1988–89, the only League of Ireland club so far to do so. Derry City was granted entry into the Irish League in 1929 as professionals and was given permission by the Londonderry Corporation to use the municipal Brandywell Stadium, the clubs first significant success came in 1935 when it lifted the City Cup. It repeated the feat in 1937, but did not win major trophy until 1949. This led to the clubs first entry into European competition, in the 1964–65 UEFA Cup Winners Cup, in which it was beaten by Steaua Bucharest 5–0 on aggregate. The club won the 1964–65 Irish League and subsequently became the first Irish League team to win a European tie over two legs, beating FK Lyn 8–6 on aggregate in the 1965–66 European Cup. Derry did not complete the round, as the Irish Football Association declared its ground was not up to standard. Derry suspected sectarian motives, as it played in a mainly nationalist city, the IFA, Belfast-based, was dominated by Protestants and it was widely suspected that it would rather have been represented by a traditionally unionist team. Relations between the club and IFA quickly deteriorated, despite the social and political unrest, Derry reached the Irish Cup final in 1971, in which it was beaten 3–0 by Distillery. As the republican locality surrounding the Brandywell saw some of the worst violence and this situation lasted from September 1971 until October 1972 when, faced with dwindling crowds and dire finances, the club formally requested permission to return to the Brandywell. Continuing without a ground was seen as unsustainable and on 13 October 1972 Derry withdrew from the league amidst a perception that it was forced out. The club continued as a team during the 13-year-long flim flam years, playing in the local Saturday morning league. Each time, the club nominated the Brandywell as its home ground
33.
League of Ireland
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The League of Ireland, together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was used to refer to a single division league. However today the League of Ireland features four divisions – the Premier Division, the First Division, an U19 Division, the League of Ireland has always worked closely with the FAI and in 2006 the two bodies formally merged. All the divisions are currently sponsored by Airtricity and as a result the league is known as the SSE Airtricity League. In 2007, it one of the first leagues in Europe to introduce a salary cap. The leagues most successful club is Shamrock Rovers who have won 17 titles, together with Dundalk, Bohemians and Shelbourne they are one of four clubs in the league to feature a golden star above their badge in recognition of winning ten titles. Bohemians are the club in the league to have played every season in the top division. The League of Ireland was founded in 1921 as a division known as the A Division. The first season featured eight teams, all from County Dublin, the teams that competed in the first season were Bohemians, Dublin United, Frankfort, Jacobs, Olympia, St. Jamess Gate, Shelbourne and YMCA. The eight founding members had spent the 1920–21 season playing in the Leinster Senior League, Bohemians and Shelbourne had played in the 1919–20 Irish League. St Jamess Gate were the inaugural champions, Gate also went on to complete a treble having already won both the 1921–22 FAI Cup and 1921–22 Leinster Senior Cup. In 1922–23 the league was expanded to twelve clubs, among the new members were Shamrock Rovers, who finished as champions, and Athlone Town who became the first team from outside of County Dublin to compete in the league. Together with fellow Dublin clubs teams, Bohemians and Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers would go onto dominate the league during the 1920s, in 1924–25 Bray Unknowns and Fordsons became the second and third teams from outside of County Dublin to join the league. Fordsons also became the first team from Munster to play in the league, the league continued to expand numerically and geographically during its first two decades of existence. In 1926–27 Dundalk were elected to the league and in 1932–33 became the first club from outside of County Dublin to win the title, Dundalk were subsequently joined by Waterford in 1930–31, Cork Bohemians in 1932–33, Sligo Rovers in 1934–35 and Limerick F. C. in 1937–38. In 1936–37, Sligo Rovers became the club from outside of County Dublin to win the title. During The Emergency/Second World War era Cork United emerged as the leagues strongest team, the club won five league titles between 1940–41 and 1945–46, including three in succession. However they subsequently resigned from the league in 1948, the 1950s was marked by the emergence of St Patricks Athletic and the re-emergence of Shamrock Rovers
34.
FIFA country code
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FIFA assigns a three-letter country code to each of its member and non-member countries. These are the codes used by FIFA and its continental confederations as name abbreviations of countries and dependent areas. There are currently 211 FIFA members, each one with its country code. The following codes refer to countries or dependent areas that are not affiliated with FIFA. Even though they are members or associate members of their regional confederations, the following codes are obsolete because a country has ceased to exist, changed its name, changed its code, or has become part of another country. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation Usenet group
35.
Albania
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Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a population of 3.03 million as of 2016, Tirana is the nations capital and largest city, followed by Durrës and Vlorë. The country has a coastline on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea to the west. Albania is less than 72 km from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. In antiquity, the area of Albania was home to several Illyrian, Thracian. After the Illyrian Wars, it part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. In 1190, the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbanon was established by archon Progon in the region of Krujë, the territory of Albania was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, of which it remained part of for the next five centuries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, following the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist Peoples Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established, Albania is a democratic and developing country with an upper-middle income economy. The service sector dominates the economy, followed by the industrial. After the fall of communism in Albania, Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy, Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care system and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and it is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union. Albania is one of the members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe and one of the oldest lakes in Europe, Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country. The name may have a continuation in the name of a settlement called Albanon and Arbanon. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni, Albanians today call their country Shqipëri. As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria, the two terms are popularly interpreted as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles
36.
Albanian Football Association
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The Albanian Football Association is the governing body of football in Albania. The Association is based in Tirana, Albania, the association organizes the national football leagues of the Albanian Superliga, the First Division, the Second Division, the Third Division, the Albanian Cup and Supercup. Albania womens national team, Albanian womens football championship. The association also coordinates the activities of the Albania national football team, the Under-21, Under-19, the Football Association of Albania was established on 6 June 1930, joined FIFA on 12 June 1932, and was one of the founding members of UEFA in 1954. On 14 March 2008, FSHF were suspended by FIFA for heavy political interference and this means their national teams were banned from playing official matches, representatives banned from official events, and referees unable to officiate FIFA-sanctioned matches. The ban was lifted as the political interferences were clarified. The current president of FSHF, Armand Duka, has been at this position since 2002, during 2009 controversy between FSHF and the Albanian government as to the property of the Qemal Stafa Stadium. UEFA insisted in lobbying that the stadium be given to FSHF ownership so that investments on it can be made. In February 2011 it was decided that the new stadium, which replace the current one and will cost 60M Euro, will be 75% of FSHF
37.
Albania national football team
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The Albania national football team is the mens football team that has represented Albania in international competition since 1946. It is controlled by the Albanian Football Federation, the body for football in the country. Albania was the winner of the 1946 Balkan Cup and the 2000 Malta Rothmans International Tournament, at the UEFA Euro 2016, Albania made its first debut at a major mens football tournament. Albania scored their first ever goal in a tournament and secured first ever win in European Championship. The National Arena will be after its completion in 2018, the ground of the national team. Albanias highest FIFA World Rankings was 22nd in August 2015, although it never played any matches, the Albanian national football team existed before the Albanian Football Association was created in 1930. FSHF was founded on 6 June 1930, and in, Albania joined FIFA, Albania played its first international match against Yugoslavia in 1946 which ended in a 3–2 home defeat at Qemal Stafa Stadium. In 1946, Albania also participated for the first time in Balkan Cup in which Albania won by beating Romania 1–0 in the final, in 1954, Albania was one of the founding members of UEFA. At the end of the tournament Albania ranked 9th in Europe, Albania participated for the first time in a qualifying phrase of a World Cup in the qualifiers of the 1966 edition in England. The team was drawn in the Group 5 which finished in the last position only one point from six matches. In the qualifiers of the UEFA Euro 1968 Albania had a draw 0–0 against West Germany that denied the Germans the participation to the UEFA Euro 1968 finals. In later years, Albania did not participate in the qualifiers of the World Cup 1970, UEFA Euro 1972, UEFA Euro 1976, World Cup 1978 and UEFA Euro 1980 for unknown political reasons. The qualifiers of the World Cup 1990 were probably the worst qualifier in Albanias history as there were 6 losses in as many games with no memorable matches. In the qualifiers of the World Cup 2002, Albania recorded a 2–0 win over Greece which was the team that they beat during the qualifiers. Albania was able to make impact in the qualifying of the UEFA Euro 2004 by beating 3–1 Russia at Loro Boriçi Stadium. This match was also the debut of the German coach Hans-Peter Briegel who led Albania to a run at home matches. Albania finished the group in the spot with only eight points. In the qualifiers of the World Cup 2006 Albania recorded some historical results, two months after Greece beat Portugal to win the European Championship, Albania defeated Greece 2–1 in a match which Albania scored goals in the 2nd and 11th minutes
38.
Albania national under-21 football team
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The Albania national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Albania and is controlled by the Football Association of Albania. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, which is every two years. Notably in 1978 the second leg of the match against Romania was characterized by a large Albania win, which is, until September 2014. They were drawn in a tough group which included the West Germany, Turkey. The historic event in Albanian football history is the occasion where any Albanian national team has ever managed to qualify for a major European or even World championship. To this day the team qualified for 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship are still regarded as the most successful team in Albanian football history. Albania U21 managed to qualify without losing a game and managing two very good draws against one of the biggest and best footballing nations, West Germany. Albania played the finals against Italy, against which it lost twice 0–1. Italy advanced to the semifinals of Euro 84 and lost them against England, in the 1986 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania came last in group after Poland and Greece, and could not qualify. In the 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania came again last in group after Spain, in the 1990 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania came last in group after Sweden, England and Poland. In the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship managed to leave last in groupe Iceland, in the qualifiers of the 1994 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania againe left at bottom the Republic of Ireland, but was preceded by Spain, Germany and Denmark. In the 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification Albania did not participate, in the qualifiers of the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania left behind Armenia, but had to trail in the final rankings Germany, Ukraine, and Portugal. In the qualifiers of the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania trailed Greece, Norway, Georgia, Latvia, in the qualifiers of the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania came again last behind England, Greece, Germany, and Finland. In the qualifiers of the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania left behind itself Kazakhstan, but was preceded by Denmark, Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, and Georgia. In the qualifiers of the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, in a 3 teams group, Albania came last behind Spain and Slovakia and failed to qualify. In the qualifiers of the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania left again behind Azerbaijan but trailed Scotland, Belarus, in the qualifiers of the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Albania came last trailing behind Russia, Portugal, Poland, and Moldova. However, as a consolation for the first time an Albanian footballer, Albania drew in Russia against the famous hosts during that tournament, a noticeable fact. COACH, Alban Bushi The following players have called up to for a double Friendly match against Moldova U21 on 25 &27 March 2017
39.
Albania national under-19 football team
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It is controlled by Albanian Football Association, the governing body for football in Albania. All matches were played in France, all matches were played in Russia. All matches were played in Croatia, all matches were played in Denmark. All matches were played in Serbia and Montenegro, in the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification – Group 7, Albania were hosts of all match groups 7. The match was completed with a 2–1 scoreline before a 3–0 default victory was awarded to Austria due to Albania fielding an ineligible player, the match was completed with a 0–1 scoreline before a 0–3 default victory was awarded to Georgia due to Albania fielding an ineligible player. COACH, Erjon Bogdani The following players have called up to participate in the Roma Caput Mundi Tournament from 27 February–3 March 2017. Caps and goals as of 11 October 2016 Following are listed players called up in the previous 12 months that are eligible to represent Under 19 team. Current coaching staff, Before 2002, the event was classified as a U-18 tournament, *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. com Albania under-19 at Soccerway
40.
Albania national under-17 football team
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It is controlled by Albanian Football Association, the governing body for football in Albania. COACH, Džemal Mustedanagić The following players are called up for a gathering in Durrës. Caps and goals as of 31 October 2016, following are listed players called up in the previous 12 months. Current coaching staff, *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. com
41.
Albania women's national football team
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The rise in popularity of the sport among women led to the formation of the Albania national team in 2011, and they made their debut in a friendly match against Macedonia that ended in a 1–0 win. The current head coach is Armir Grimaj, replacing Altin Rraklli who was in charge from the formation in 2011 until 2016, as of December 2016, Albania is ranked 72nd in the FIFA Womens World Rankings. The Albanian womens national team was formed in 2011 and made their debut in a friendly against Macedonia FYR on May 5,2011 at the Gjorgji Kyçyku Stadium. The match ended 1–0 with Albanias first win and midfielder Aurora Seranaj scoring the first goal for Albania, the national team ended the year with their second win against Macedonia FYR away in Struga. The second victory against Macedonia FYR is currently the teams biggest win. On the 15 May 2012, Albania faced Montenegro in Bar, three days later, the Albanian won again with a rematch against Montenegro, winning 4–3 at the Loro Boriçi Stadium in Shkodër. On the 22nd of May, Albania encountered Macedonia FYR again, the national team had so far been undefeated in 5 games,15 goals scored, and 6 goals conceded. On the 29th of August, The Albanian national team participated in a football tournament held in Drama. The national team drew 1–1 with Amazons Drama and lost 0–3 to Greece, on the 18 December 2012, it was announced that Albania would be in a group with Malta, Luxembourg and Latvia in the preliminary round of the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup qualification. This was the first time Albania entered a competitive tournament. Albania secured a top-two finish on the day of 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup preliminary round mini-tournament to earn a slot in the qualifying group stage. Albania are still unbeaten after seven senior internationals, all but one of those wins, on 21 September 2013, Albania officially succumbed to their first lost against Belgium in the World Cup Qualifying group stage. Albania only won a game in this group, against Greece on 30 October 2013. The Red and Blacks lost all of the matches by a margin of more than three goals each. They finished last with 3 points,3 goals from them, the draw for the groups of the qualifying for the UEFA Womens Euro 2017 took place on 19 February 2015. Albania was drawn in Group 3 along with France, Ukraine, Romania and their debut was on 22 October 2015 with Greece on the Loni Papuçiu Stadium, their new home field. Greece defeated the Red and Blacks with a scoreline of 4–1, kujtime Kurbogaj scored the only goal for Albania in the game. As a visitor in Stadionul Mogoșoaia, Mogoșoaia on 27 October 2015, Albania lost 6–0 against the group favorites, France in the return of the team to the Qemal Stafa Stadium, in home soil
42.
Andorra
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Created under a charter in 988, the present principality was formed in 1278. It is known as a principality as it is a monarchy headed by two Co-Princes – the Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgell in Spain, and the President of France. Andorra is the sixth-smallest nation in Europe, having an area of 468 km2 and its capital Andorra la Vella is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres above sea level. The official language is Catalan, although Spanish, Portuguese, Andorras tourism services an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually. It is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is the official currency and it has been a member of the United Nations since 1993. In 2013, the people of Andorra had the highest life expectancy in the world at 81 years, the origin of the word Andorra is unknown, although several hypotheses have been formulated. The word Andosini or Andosins may derive from the Basque handia whose meaning is big or giant, the Andorran toponymy shows evidence of Basque language in the area. Another theory suggests that the word Andorra may derive from the old word Anorra that contains the Basque word ur, another theory suggests that Andorra may derive from Arabic al-durra, meaning The forest. Other theories suggest that the term derives from the Navarro-Aragonese andurrial, la Balma de la Margineda found by archaeologists at Sant Julia de Loria were the first temporal settled in 10000 BC as a passing place between the two sides of the Pyrenees. The seasonal camp was located for hunting and fishing by the groups of hunter-gatherers from Ariege. During the Neolithic Age the group of humans moved to the Valley of Madriu as a permanent camp in 6640 BC, the population of the valley grew cereals, raised domestic livestock and developed a commercial trade with people from the Segre and Occitania. Other archaeological deposits include the Tombs of Segudet and Feixa del Moro both dated in 4900-4300 BC as an example of the Urn culture in Andorra, the model of small settlements begin to evolved as an complex urbanism during the Bronze Age. We can found metallurgical items of iron, ancient coins and relicaries in the ancient sanctuaries scattered around the country, the inhabitants of the valleys were traditionally associated with the Iberians and historically located in Andorra as the Iberian tribe Andosins or Andosini during the VII and II centuries BC. Influenced by Aquitanias, Basque and Iberian languages the locals developed some current toponyms, early writings and documents relating this group of people goes back to the second century BC by the Greek writer Polybius in his Histories during the Punic Wars. Some of the most significant remains of this era are the Castle of the Roc dEnclar, lAnxiu in Les Escaldes and it is known the presence of Roman influence from the II century BC to the V century AD. The places found with more Roman presence are in Camp Vermell in Sant Julia de Loria, people continued trading, mainly with wine and cereals, with the Roman cities of Urgellet and all across Segre through the Via Romana Strata Ceretana. After the fall of the Roman Empire Andorra was under the influence of the Visigoths, not directly from the Kingdom of Toledo by distance, the Visigoths remained during 200 years in the valleys, a period in which Christianization takes place within the country. The fall of the Visigoths came from the Muslim Empire and its conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Andorra remained away from these invasions by the Franks
43.
Andorran Football Federation
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The Andorran Football Federation is the governing body of football in Andorra. It was founded on 1994 and joined as a member of FIFA and UEFA in 1996 and it organizes the football league, Andorran First Division, the Andorran Cup and Andorran Supercup, and the Andorran national football team. Official website Andorra at FIFA site Andorra at UEFA site
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Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro (1992–2006); in 2006 the union state was dissolved with the Football Association of Serbia becoming its successor. Montenegro, which exited the union, created the Football Association of Montenegro. It competed as FR Yugoslavia until 2003 when the country changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro.
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East Germany[wc 3]
Karl-Erik Nilsson – First Vice-President[36]
Fernando Gomes
Reinhard Grindel
Hryhoriy Surkis
Michele Uva
Sándor Csányi[36]
Florence Hardouin[37]
Peter Gilliéron[36]
John Delaney
Borislav Mikhailov[36]
Davor Šuker[36]
Servet Yardımcı
Zbigniew Boniek
Juan Luis Larrea Sarobe
