1.
France national football team
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The France national football team represents France in international football. The teams colours are blue, white and red, and the coq gaulois its symbol, France are colloquially known as Les Bleus. France play home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, and they have won one FIFA World Cup, two UEFA European Football Championships, an Olympic tournament, and two FIFA Confederations Cups. France experienced much of its success in three major, in the 1950s, 1980s, and late 1990s/early 2000s respectively, which resulted in numerous major honours. In 1958, the team, led by Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, in 1984, France, led by Ballon dOr winner Michel Platini, won UEFA Euro 1984. Under the leadership of Didier Deschamps and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, two years later, the team triumphed at UEFA Euro 2000. France won the Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2003, and reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the team also reached the final of UEFA Euro 2016, where they lost 1–0 to Portugal in extra time. France, Argentina and Brazil are the national teams that have won the three most important mens titles recognized by FIFA, the World Cup, the Confederations Cup. They have also won their continental championship. The following year, on 12 February 1905, France contested their home match against Switzerland. The match was played at the Parc des Princes in front of 500 supporters, France won the match 1–0 with the only goal coming from Gaston Cyprès. Due to disagreements between FIFA and the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, the sports union. In 1919, the CFI transformed themselves into the French Football Federation, in 1921, the USFSA finally merged with the FFF. In July 1930, France appeared in the inaugural FIFA World Cup, in their first-ever World Cup match, France defeated Mexico 4–1 at the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo. Lucien Laurent became notable in the match as he scored not only Frances first World Cup goal, conversely, France also became the first team to not score in a match after losing 1–0 to fellow group stage opponents Argentina. Another loss to Chile resulted in the team bowing out in the group stage, the following year saw the first selection of a black player to the national team. Raoul Diagne, who was of Senegalese descent, earned his first cap on 15 February in a 2–1 defeat to Czechoslovakia. Diagne later played with the team at the 1938 World Cup, alongside Larbi Benbarek, at the 1934 World Cup, France suffered elimination in the opening round, losing 3–2 to Austria
2.
Spain national football team
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The Spain national football team represents Spain in mens International association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Julen Lopetegui after Vicente del Bosque stepped down following Euro 2016, the Spanish side is commonly referred to as La Roja, La Furia Roja, La Furia Española or simply La Furia. Spain became a member of FIFA in 1904 even though the Spanish Football Federation was first established in 1909, Spains national team debuted in 1920. Since then, the Spanish national team has participated in a total of 14 of 20 FIFA World Cups and 9 of 14 UEFA European Championships. These three successive titles make them the national team so far with three consecutive wins of either the applicable continental championship or the World Cup. From 2008 to 2013, a span, the national team won FIFA Team of the Year. Between November 2006 and June 2009 Spain went undefeated for a record-equalling 35 consecutive matches before their loss to the United States. The teams achievements have led many commentators, experts and former players to consider the 2010 and 2012 Spanish sides among the best ever international sides in world football. The first Spain national football team was constituted in 1920, with the objective of finding a team that would represent Spain at the Summer Olympics held in Belgium in that same year. Spain made their debut at the tournament on 28 August 1920 against Denmark, the Spanish managed to win that match by a scoreline of 1–0, eventually finishing with the silver medal. Spain qualified for their first FIFA World Cup in 1934, defeating Brazil in their first game and losing in a replay to the hosts, the Spanish Civil War and World War II prevented Spain from playing any competitive matches between the 1934 World Cup and the 1950 editions qualifiers. At the 1950 finals in Brazil, they topped their group to progress to the final round, until 2010, this had been Spains highest finish in a FIFA World Cup finals, which had given them the name of the underachievers. Spain won its first major title when hosting the 1964 European Championship held in Spain. The victory would stand as Spains lone major title for 44 years, Spain was selected as host of the 1982 FIFA World Cup, reaching the second round, and four years later they reached the quarter-finals before a penalty shootout defeat to Belgium. Javier Clemente was appointed as Spains coach in 1992, leading them to the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup, had the official acknowledged the foul, Spain would have merited a penalty kick. In the 2002 World Cup, Spain won its three group matches, then defeated the Republic of Ireland on penalties in the second round. They faced co-hosts South Korea in the quarter-finals, losing in a shootout after having two goals called back for alleged infractions during regular and extra time, at UEFA Euro 2008, Spain won all their games in Group D. Italy were the opponents in the match, which Spain won 4–2 on penalties
3.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
4.
Michel Platini
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Michel François Platini is a French former football player, manager and administrator. Nicknamed Le Roi for his ability and leadership, he is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon dOr three times, in 1983,1984 and 1985, and came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. In recognition of his achievements, he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1985, during his career, Platini played for the clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus. Together with the midfielders Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana, Platini was his countrys record goalscorer until 2007, and holds the record for most goals scored in the European Championship despite only appearing in the victorious 1984 edition. Following his retirement as a player, Platini was the French national team coach for four years, from 2007, he served as the president of the Union of European Football Associations. He also held the positions of chairman of FIFAs Technical and Development Committee, in 2015, however, he was banned from football administration for conflict of interest by the FIFA Ethics Committee. Born in Jœuf, in the Lorraine region, Platini is the son of Aldo and Anna, Aldo was a professional footballer and a long-time director for AS Nancy, the club where Michel started his professional career. Platini was called up for a trial with Metz, but missed out on the opportunity due to injury and he returned to regional league football with Jœuf. Another trial at Metz went horribly wrong when a breathing test on a spirometer caused Platini to faint, the doctors verdict on Platinis breathing difficulties and weak heart ended any hopes Platini had of playing for his boyhood favorites. He then joined the side of his fathers club Nancy in September 1972. Platini was quick to make a big impression at his new club, further outstanding displays put him in contention for a place in the Nancy first team. His introduction to the squad was inauspicious. On the substitutes bench for a match against Valenciennes, Platini was spat on, playing for the reserves a few days later, a hefty challenge from an opponent left Platini with a bad ankle injury. His season would finish on a positive note, and he would go on to make his league debut against Nîmes on 3 May 1973. In March 1974, he suffered a setback when he sustained a fracture of his left arm in a match at OGC Nice. Platini missed the remainder of the season as a result, unable to assist Nancy in a bid to avoid relegation from Ligue 1. The following season saw Nancy win promotion back to the French first division with ease, Platini became the teams most important player, scoring 17 goals, a number of which were scored from free-kicks, as was becoming Platinis specialty. Saint-Étienne, the then reigning French league champions, were knocked out of the French Cup with two goals from Platini free-kicks, Platini practised his free-kicks with the help of his friend, goalkeeper Moutier, and using a row of dummies to form a defensive wall of sorts
5.
UEFA Euro 1980
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The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth European Football Championship, which is every four years. With eight teams competing, the tournament took place between 11 and 22 June 1980. Previously, the tournament of the European Championships was played among four teams. Champions were West Germany who won their second title and it was the last Euro tournament with a competition for third place. This was the first European Championship in which eight teams, rather than four, on 17 October 1977 UEFA announced that England, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany had expressed interest in hosting this event. Seven countries had to qualify for the tournament, and the draw for the qualifying round took place in Rome on 30 November 1977. Also for the first time, the hosts, in this case Italy, because of the expanded format, the final tournament went through some changes as well. Two groups of four each were created, each team would play all others within their group. The winners of the groups would go straight to the final, the tournament generally failed to draw much enthusiasm from spectators and TV viewers. Attendance was generally poor except for matches involving the Italian team, the defensive style of play of many teams led to a succession of dull matches. However, the third place play-off would go straight to a penalty if the scores were level after 90 minutes. Fastest goal,6 minutes – Antonin Panenka With three goals, Klaus Allofs was the top scorer in the tournament, in total,27 goals were scored by 22 different players in 14 games for an average of 1.93 goals per game. None of the goals are credited as own goal, UEFA Team of the Tournament EURO1980 Official History
6.
UEFA Euro 1988
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The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany between 10 and 25 June 1988. It was the eighth European Football Championship, which is every four years. The tournament crowned the Netherlands as European champions for the first, Euro 88 was a rare instance of a major football tournament ending without a single sending-off or goalless draw, nor any knockout matches going to extra time or penalties. The first group pitted two pre-tournament favourites West Germany and Italy together, along with Spain and Denmark, the Italians had not played in the competition finals since the 1980 edition, which they hosted and West Germany won. Spain and Denmark contested the second semi-final of the 1984 edition, Spain prevailed on penalty-kicks, but lost the final to hosts, France who failed to qualify in 1988. The Germans and Italians played out the opening game, roberto Mancini capitalised on a defensive error on the left-hand side of the German goal and the striker squeezed in a shot from a tight angle. Just three minutes later, Italys goalkeeper, Walter Zenga was penalized for taking more than four steps with the ball, both teams settled for a 1–1 draw. Spain defeated Denmark again, this time 3–2, míchel opened the scoring after five minutes and Michael Laudrup equalised twenty minutes later. Spain dominated the hour and Emilio Butragueño and Rafael Gordillo put the Spanish 3–1 to the good. A late surge saw Flemming Povlsen reduce the line, but was not enough for the Danes. In the remaining games the West Germans swept aside the Danes, Jürgen Klinsmann and Olaf Thon scored to dispatch the former 2–0 while two goals from Rudi Völler was enough to beat Spain 2–0. The second goal was particularly notable, the Italians won a difficult match against the Spanish 1–0, courtesy of a goal from Gianluca Vialli, a low cross-shot to the net on 73 minutes. In the last games, against an already eliminated Denmark, the Italians prevailed by two goals to nil, the second group witnessed a surprising set of results. In the opening game, one of the pre-tournament favourites England lost 0–1 to Ireland, ray Houghton scored a looping header after six minutes after the English defence failed to clear a cross. The English applied strong pressure as the game wore on, gary Lineker was unusually sluggish, missing a series of chances and hitting the cross bar. In the other opening game, the Soviet Union defeated the Netherlands 1–0 through a Vasyl Rats goal, England met the Netherlands in Düsseldorf, both needed to win. England started strongly with Lineker hitting a post and Glen Hoddle striking the post with a free-kick, the English defence, weakened by the absence of Terry Butcher, conceded the first of three goals to Marco van Basten on 44 minutes. Van Basten turned Butchers replacement Tony Adams and beat Peter Shilton – playing his 100th game for England – to give his side a 1–0 lead
7.
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
8.
UEFA
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The Union of European Football Associations is the administrative body for association football in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world footballs governing body FIFA, UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Until 1959 the main headquarters were located in Paris, and later in Bern, in 1995, UEFA headquarters were transferred to Nyon, Switzerland. Henri Delaunay was the first general secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the first president, UEFA was founded on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. The European football union began with 25 members, that number doubled by the early 1990s, UEFA membership coincides for the most part with recognition as a sovereign country in Europe, although there are some exceptions. Some UEFA members are not sovereign states, but form part of a recognized sovereign state in the context of international law. Some UEFA members are transcontinental states, countries which had been members of the Asian Football Confederation were also admitted to the European football association, particularly Israel and Kazakhstan. Additionally some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their associations main territory to take part in their domestic competition, saarland Football Union 1954–1956 German football association of the German Democratic Republic 1954–1990 Football Federation of the Soviet Union 1954–1991, in 1992 became Russian Football Union. The newly independent 14 Soviet Republics created their own football associations, Football Association of Yugoslavia 1954–1992, became Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia became independent, Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro 1992–2006, became Football Association of Serbia. Montenegro, which became independent, created its own football association, the main competition for mens national teams is the UEFA European Football Championship, started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960, and known as the European Nations Cup until 1964. It is also called UEFA or the EURO, UEFA also runs national competitions at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For womens national teams, UEFA operates the UEFA Womens Championship for senior sides as well as Womens Under-19. UEFA also organized the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup with CAF for youth teams in an effort to boost youth football, UEFA launched the UEFA Regions Cup, for semi-professional teams representing their local region, in 1999. In futsal there is the UEFA Futsal Championship and UEFA Futsal Under-21 Championship, the Italian, German, Spanish and French mens national teams are the sole teams to have won the European football championship in all categories. A second, lower-ranked competition is the UEFA Europa League and this competition, for national knockout cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by UEFA in 1971 as a successor of both the former UEFA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. A third competition, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, which had started in 1960, was absorbed into the UEFA Cup in 1999, in womens football UEFA also conducts the UEFA Womens Champions League for club teams. The competition was first held in 2001, and known as the UEFA Womens Cup until 2009, the UEFA Super Cup pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the Europa League, and came into being in 1973
9.
Denmark national football team
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Denmarks home ground is Telia Parken in the Østerbro district of Copenhagen, and their head coach is Åge Hareide. Denmark were the winners of the Football at the 1906 Intercalated Games and they also managed to win the 1995 Confederations Cup, defeating Argentina in the final. Their best FIFA World Cup result was achieved in 1998, where they narrowly lost 3–2 in a quarter-final against Brazil. Apart from the mens senior A-level team, Denmark competes with a national team. Historically, the A-level team competed in the Olympics until and including the 1988 tournament, in addition to the A-level team and youth teams, Denmark also have a special league national team named Ligalandsholdet, with the best Danish footballers from the Nordic leagues. Ligalandsholdet was created in January 1983, and has ever since, each year played some games for the national team. Sometimes the media also refer to Ligalandsholdet as Denmarks B-team, as the best Danish footballers selected for the A-team often play in leagues outside of the Nordic countries. The team to represent Denmark was compiled of players from the Copenhagen Football Association, and they managed to win the event, two years later, in the first official football tournament at the 1908 Olympics, Denmark won a silver medal. Although Denmark figured fairly prominently in the pre-World Cup era, international success would elude them for years from the first World Cup in 1930 and forward. When DBU decided to set their sights higher, they allowed the team to start contesting the Olympics again. After the team reached the quarter-final at the 1952 Olympics. Denmark experienced their next revival at the 1960 Olympics, with a set of Olympic silver medals. This was followed by another performance in the Euro 1964. The fourth place was however by many considered as being more the result of a comparatively easy draw. In order for Denmark to qualify for the semifinal, they only had to beat Malta, Albania, at the semifinal, Denmark received a clear 0–3 defeat against the Soviet Union, and then finally also lost the bronze match to Hungary. The new sponsorship enabled DBU, to hire Sepp Piontek from Germany in July 1979, the full transition of the national team from amateurism to professionalism had now been accomplished, and indeed, this would soon lead to a vast improvement in the performances of the team. Qualification for the Euro 1984 saw the team beat England at Wembley Stadium when Allan Simonsen converted a penalty kick for a 1–0 win. Denmark qualified for their first international tournament since 1964, and the team was dubbed Danish Dynamite in a competition for the official Danish Euro 1984 song
10.
Allan Simonsen
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Allan Rodenkam Simonsen is a former Danish footballer and manager. Simonsen is the only footballer to have scored in the European Cup, UEFA Cup, Simonsen was named 1977 European Footballer of the Year. For the Denmark national football team, Simonsen was capped 55 times and he represented Denmark at the 1972 Summer Olympics,1984 European Championship and 1986 World Cup tournaments. He was voted into the Danish Football Hall of Fame in November 2008, Simonsen is arguably the most influential player in the history of Danish football. Born in Vejle, Simonsen started playing football with Vejle FC and he made his senior debut for VB on 24 March 1971 in a 3–1 home win against Karlskoga FF. He won the 1971 and 1972 Danish championship with the club, following an impressive three goals in six matches at the 1972 Summer Olympics, Simonsen moved to Germany to play professionally for defending German Bundesliga champions Borussia Mönchengladbach. In his first two seasons with Borussia Mönchengladbach, Simonsen had a time, as he only played a combined 17 games. However, he was part of the team won the 1972–73 German Cup trophy. He broke into the starting line-up for the 1974–75 season and he played all 34 games of the season, and scored 18 goals as Mönchengladbach won the Bundesliga championship. Simonsen also scored 10 goals in 12 games in the international 1974–75 UEFA Cup competition, in the following season, Simonsen scored 16 goals as Mönchengladbach regained the Bundesliga in the 1975–76 season. 1977 was the greatest year in Simonsens career, in the 1976–77 European Cup, Simonsen helped Mönchengladbach to the 1977 European Cup Final against English team Liverpool. In the final, Simonsen scored a powerful long range goal to level the game at 1–1. He was subsequently named the 1977 European Footballer of the Year, the race for the award was tight, and Simonsen squeezed past English midfielder Kevin Keegan by three points and French midfielder Michel Platini by four points to win the prestigious prize. The win was notable, in that Simonsens native Denmark was not among the top footballing nations in the 1970s, in the following two Bundesliga seasons, Simonsen continued his prolific goalscoring, as Mönchengladbach finished 2nd and 8th respectively. He won another trophy with Mönchengladbach in 1979, when he scored eight goals in eight games to guide the club to the final games of the 1978–79 UEFA Cup. He scored the goal in the 2–11979 UEFA Cup Final win against Red Star Belgrade. Simonsen had been approached by Spanish club FC Barcelona in 1978, instead, Simonsen waited for his contract to expire and moved to FC Barcelona in 1979, rejecting offers from Hamburger SV, Juventus, and several Arabian clubs. Simonsen spent three seasons with Barcelona
11.
Belgium national football team
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The Belgian national football team has officially represented Belgium in association football since their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in Europe by UEFA—both of which were co-founded by the Belgian teams supervising body. Periods of regular Belgian representation at the highest international level, from 1920 to 1938, most of Belgiums home games are played at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. Belgiums national team has participated in three major football competitions. Other notable performances are victories over four reigning world champions—West Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium has long-standing football rivalries with its Dutch and French counterparts, having played both teams nearly every year from 1905 to 1967. The squad has been known as the Red Devils since 1906, during the national player career of forward Paul Van Himst, the most-praised Belgian footballer of the 20th century, Belgium took third place at Euro 1972. After that, they experienced two golden ages with many gifted players, in the first period, which lasted from the 1980s to the early 1990s, the team finished as runners-up at Euro 1980 and fourth in the 1986 World Cup. In the second, under guidance of Marc Wilmots in the 2010s, between September 2016 and October 2017, they are competing in the European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. Belgium was one of the first mainland European countries to play association football and its practice in Belgium began on 26 October 1863, after an Irish student walked into the Josephites College of Melle with a leather ball. Initially an elitist pastime, during the following decades association football supplanted rugby as Belgiums most popular football sport, on 11 October 1900, Beerschot AC honorary president Jorge Díaz announced that Antwerp would host a series of challenge matches between Europes best football teams. After some organisational problems, on 28 April 1901, Beerschots pitch hosted its first tournament, in which a Belgian A-squad, Belgium won, and beat the Netherlands in all three follow-up games, FIFA does not recognise these results because Belgium fielded some English players. On 1 May 1904, the Belgians played their first official game, against France at the Stade du Vivier dOie in Uccle, twenty days later, the football boards of both countries were among the seven FIFA founders. At that time, the Belgian squad was chosen by a committee drawn from the six or seven major clubs. From 1912, UBSSA governed football only and was renamed UBSFA, during the Great War, the national team only played unrecognised friendlies, with games in and against France. This triumph led them to a high second place in the World Football Elo Ratings. In the three 1920s Summer Olympics, they achieved results, and played their first intercontinental match. Over the following decade, however, Belgium lost all of their matches at the first three FIFA World Cup final tournaments, according to historian Richard Henshaw, The growth of in Scandinavia, Central Europe, and South America left Belgium far behind. Although World War II hindered international football events in the 1940s, Belgium qualified for only one of eight major tournaments during the 1950s and the 1960s, the 1954 World Cup
12.
Yugoslavia national football team
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The Yugoslavia national football team represented the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in association football. It enjoyed success in international competition, in 1992, during the Yugoslav wars, the team was suspended from international competition as part of a United Nations sanction. In 1994, when the boycott was lifted, it was succeeded by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia national football team, Serbia national football team inherited Yugoslavias spot within FIFA and UEFA and is considered by both organisations as the only successor of Yugoslavia. The first national team was in the kingdom, that existed between the two world wars and they lost by a huge margin 0–7, but nonetheless got their names in the history books. In 1929, the country was renamed to Yugoslavia and the association became Fudbalski Savez Jugoslavije. The national team participated at the 1930 FIFA World Cup, finishing in fourth place, Yugoslavia begin their football campaign by defeating Luxembourg 6–1, with five different players scoring the goals. In the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, they would take out Turkey, in the final though, they would lose to Sweden. Having a team with players from the 1948 generation, Yugoslavia was a formidable side at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Against the USSR, Yugoslavia was 5–1 up with 15 minutes of their first round match to go, the Yugoslavs, understandably, put their feet up. Arthur Ellis, the referee, recorded what happened next in his book, The Final Whistle. Bobrov, their captain, scored a magnificent hat-trick, after the USSR had reduced the lead to 5–2, he, almost single-handed, took the score to 5–5, scoring his third in the last minute. For once, use of the word sensational was justified, although Bobrovs early goal in their replay presaged a miraculous recovery, Yugoslavia recovered sufficiently to put out their opponents easily in the second half. The federation and football overall was disrupted by World War II, after the war, a socialist federation was formed and the football federation reconstituted. It was one of the members of the UEFA and it organized the 1976 European Championship played in Belgrade. The national team participated in eight World Cups, four Euros, dragan Džajić holds the record for the most national team caps at 85, between 1964 and 1979. The best scorer is Stjepan Bobek with 38 goals, between 1946 and 1956, with the end of the Cold War, democratic principles were introduced to the country which brought about the end of Titoist rule. In the subsequent atmosphere, national tensions were heightened, at the Yugoslavia-Netherlands friendly in preparation for the 1990 World Cup, the Croatian crowd in Zagreb jeered the Yugoslav team and anthem and waved Dutch flags. With the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the split up and the remaining team of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was banned from competing at Euro 92
13.
Germany national football team
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The Germany national football team is the mens football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association, founded in 1900, ever since the DFB was reinaugurated in 1949 the team has represented the Federal Republic of Germany. Both have been absorbed along with their records by the current national team, the official name and code Germany FR was shortened to Germany following the reunification in 1990. Germany is one of the most successful teams in international competitions, having won a total of four World Cups. They have also been three times in the European Championships, four times in the World Cup, and a further four third-place finishes at World Cups. East Germany won Olympic Gold in 1976, Germany is the only nation to have won both the mens and womens World Cups. At the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Germany earned the highest Elo rating of any football team in history. Germany is also the only European nation that has won a FIFA World Cup in the Americas, the current manager of the national team is Joachim Löw. Germanys first championship title was won in Switzerland. At that time the players were selected by the DFB, as there was no dedicated coach, the first manager of the Germany national team was Otto Nerz, a school teacher from Mannheim, who served in the role from 1926 to 1936. After a poor showing at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, in 1937 he put together a squad which was soon nicknamed the Breslau Elf in recognition of their 8–0 win over Denmark in the then German city of Breslau, Lower Silesia. In the 1938 World Cup that began on 4 June, this united German team managed only a 1–1 draw against Switzerland and that early exit stands as Germanys worst World Cup result. During World War II, the team played over 30 international games between September 1939 and November 1942, when national team games were suspended, as most players had to join the armed forces. After the Second World War, Germany was banned from competition in most sports until 1950, the DFB was not a full member of FIFA, and none of the three new German states — West Germany, East Germany, and Saarland — entered the 1950 World Cup qualifiers. The Federal Republic of Germany, which was referred to as West Germany, with recognition by FIFA and UEFA, the DFB maintained and continued the record of the pre-war team. Switzerland was once again the first team that played West Germany in 1950, West Germany qualified for the 1954 World Cup. The Saarland, under French control between 1947 and 1956, did not join French organisations, and was barred from participating in pan-German ones and it sent their own team to the 1952 Summer Olympics and to the 1954 World Cup qualifiers. In 1957, Saarland acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1949, the communist German Democratic Republic was founded
14.
Portugal national football team
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The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in international mens association football competition since 1921. It is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the body for football in Portugal. Portugals first participation in a tournament finals, at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup finals were in 1986 and 2002, going out in the first round both times. Portugal also made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 1984 final tournament, losing 3–2 after extra time to the hosts and eventual winners France. The team reached the semi-finals of Euro 2000, the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012, as well as the final of Euro 2004, the latter on home soil. At Euro 2016, Portugal won its first ever trophy, defeating hosts France 1–0 after extra time. With the win, Portugal qualified and will make its first appearance in the FIFA Confederations Cup held the year in Russia. The teams home stadium is the Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras, the current head coach is Fernando Santos and the captain is Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the team records for most caps and goals. Portugal was not invited to the 1930 World Cup, which featured a final stage. In the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification, the Seleção played one game against Switzerland in a ground, held in Milan, losing 2–1 against the Swiss. Because of the conflict due to the World War II, there was no World Cup held until the 1950 competition and subsequently. On the restart of games, the team was to play a round against Spain. After a 5–1 defeat in Madrid, they managed to draw in the second game 2–2, for the qualification of the 1954 World Cup, the team would play Austria. The Austrians won the first game with a humiliating 9–1 result, the best the national team could do was hold the team to a goalless draw in Lisbon, and the round ended with a 9–1 defeat. In the 1958 qualification, Portugal won a match for the first time. Nevertheless, they finished last in the stage that also featured Northern Ireland, only the first-placed team, Northern Ireland. The year 1960 was the year that UEFA created the European Football Championship, the first edition was a knock-out tournament, the last four teams participating in final stage that only featured one leg while the older stages had two legs
15.
Romania national football team
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The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation. Romania is one of four national teams from Europe, the other three being Yugoslavia, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first FIFA World Cup in 1930. Since that performance, Romania have qualified for the 1934,1938,1970,1990,1994 and 1998 editions and they also reached the last eight in 1960 and 1972, and qualified for the 1984,1996,2008 and 2016 tournaments. The Romanian Football Federation was established in October 1909 in Bucharest, Romania played their first international match on 8 June 1922, a 2–1 win over Yugoslavia in Belgrade, being coached by Teofil Moraru. Several temporary coaches were employed, before Moraru resumed control in August 1924, Romania enjoyed some success during the 1930s, manager Costel Rădulescu took them to the first three FIFA World Cup tournaments, a feat matched only by Brazil, Belgium and France. Romania qualified for the next World Cup in 1934 after beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a repeat of their first international. At the finals, Romania played only one game in a new format, losing 2–1 to Czechoslovakia in Trieste, Italy. Romania qualified by default for the 1938 World Cup after their playoff opponents Egypt withdrew. They suffered a defeat in the finals in France, losing to minnows Cuba, who, like Romania, had only qualified due to the withdrawal of their qualifying opponents. The first match at the Stade Chapou in Toulouse ended 3–3 after extra time, angelo Niculescus promising side were given the toughest of draws, in Group 3 with holders England, giants Brazil and Czechoslovakia. A Geoff Hurst goal gave England a narrow victory in Romanias first match at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, chances were improved with a 2–1 win over the Czechs. Despite going behind early to a Ladislav Petráš goal, Romania turned it around after half-time with Alexandru Neagu, even then, only a win over the excellent Brazilians would take them into the quarter-finals. But Brazil played some of the best football of the competition, with Pelé scoring twice, Romania battled bravely, Dumitrache pulled the score back to 2–1 before the break and a late Emerich Dembrowski goal made it 3–2, but they were out. On 26 September 1973, under new coach Valentin Stanescu, Romania suffered a significant defeat to East Germany in Leipzig, the East Germans won 2–0 to effectively seal their first ever qualification for the World Cup, which would be held over the border in West Germany. With East Germany scoring a predictable 4–1 win in Albania, Romania were out, Romania continued to suffer poor form in the UEFA European Championship. In their qualifying group for the 1976 European Football Championship, they were out-qualified by Spain despite an impressive 1–1 draw in the away match, Romania failed to win matches, drawing twice with Scotland and Spain and dropping points in Denmark with a dismal goalless draw. Romania were again beat by Spain for a place in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, despite a 1–0 win in Bucharest, Romania lost a bizarre match at home to Yugoslavia 6–4 having led 3–2 at half time. Spain won 1–0 in Belgrade to seal passage to South America, Romanias sole successful qualifying campaign was for the European Championships in 1984 in France
16.
1964 European Nations' Cup
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The 1964 UEFA European Nations Cup was the second European Football Championship. The final tournament was held in Spain and it was won by the hosts 2–1 over defending champions Soviet Union. The tournament was a competition,29 teams entered. The Soviet Union, Austria, and Luxembourg received byes into the second round, the teams played home-and-away matches until the semi-finals, the final four teams would move on to the final tournament, whose host was selected after the teams became known. Luxembourg proved to be the giant-killers of the rounds, they beat the Netherlands 3–2 on aggregate. Denmark thus became the most surprising of the qualifiers for the tournament, joining the Soviet Union, Spain. In the semi-finals, the Soviet Union defeated the Danes 3–0 in Barcelona and Spain beat Hungary 2–1 in extra time in Madrid, Spain had withdrawn from the tournament in 1960 rather than play the Soviet Union, but on this occasion General Franco let his team play the Soviets. In front of more than 79,000 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, in all matches but the final, extra time and a coin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary. If the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner, with two goals, Ferenc Bene, Dezső Novák, Jesús María Pereda are the top scorers in the tournament. In total,13 goals were scored by 10 different players, with none of them credited as own goal
17.
Parc des Princes
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The Parc des Princes is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. The stadium, with a capacity of 48,583 spectators, has been the home pitch of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain since 1974. Before the opening of the Stade de France in 1998, it was also the home arena of the French national football, the Parc des Princes pitch is surrounded by four covered all-seater stands, officially known as the Présidentielle Francis Borelli, Auteuil, Paris and Boulogne Stands. Conceived by architect Roger Taillibert, the current version of the Parc des Princes officially opened on 4 June 1972, the stadium is the third to have been built on the site, the first opening its doors in 1897 and the second following in 1932. The Parisians recorded their highest average attendance during the 2015–16 season. Meanwhile, the record home attendance was registered in 1983. However, the French national rugby team holds the stadiums attendance record. They defeated Wales 31–12 in the 1989 Five Nations Championship in front of 50,370 spectators, originally, the site on which the pitch of Paris Saint-Germain stands was a hunting ground for members of the royal family in the 18th century, before the fall of the Bastille. This anecdote gave its name to the Stade Vélodrome du Parc des Princes, the “Princes’ Park” began its sporting history as a velodrome in the late 19th century. With 3,200 seats, the velodrome marked the history of cycling, the ground, which featured a cycling track until the end of the 1960s, was the finishing line for the final stage of the Tour de France from its first edition in 1903 until 1967. It also boasts a history as an international rugby venue. But it was not until 1903 that a football match was played at the Parc des Princes. In front of 984 paying spectators, a composed by the best Parisian players suffered a severe defeat to an England squad. Two years later, the French national football team contested their first ever match against Switzerland. However, the Parc des Princes lost protagonism with the construction of the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir for the 1924 Summer Olympics. In 1925, the Paris City Council, which owns the Parc des Princes and this allowed the Société d’Exploitation Sports-Evénements of the Parc to carry out a thorough renovation of the sports arena. The stadium was expanded to 45,000 seats, including 26,000 covered, but the capacity was quickly reduced to 38,000 seats to improve comfort. In spite of that, Match magazine published A new grand stage at the gates of Paris in its front cover of 19 April 1932
18.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
19.
Luis Arconada
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Luis Miguel Arconada Etxarri is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having played solely for Real Sociedad for nearly 20 professional years, Arconada collected 68 caps for the Spanish national team during eight years, being part of the squads at two World Cups and as many European Championships. Arconada was born in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, aged 16, he joined local giants Real Sociedads youth ranks, going on to play there his entire career and being known as El pulpo. After two seasons backing up Urruti, Arconada became the undisputed starter. He was instrumental in back-to-back La Liga titles, which led – after the second – to a run in the European Cup. Arconada was seriously injured in 1985–86s league opener, which caused him to miss the remainder of the campaign, on 27 March 1977, Arconada played his first game for Spain, a 1–1 friendly with Hungary in Alicante, replacing Real Madrids Miguel Ángel for the second half. Arconadas last game was a 0–3 defeat in Wales for the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, a severe cruciate ligament injury while playing for Real ousted him from the final stages, being replaced by fellow Basque Andoni Zubizarreta. During the ceremony following Spains victory in Euro 2008, third-choice Andrés Palop wore Arconadas original Euro 84 final shirt as he received the medal from Platini. Arconada also represented his country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. Arconada was known for his leadership, bravery, and consistency as a goalkeeper and his athleticism, speed, shot-stopping ability, reflexes, footwork, and acrobatic style of goalkeeping served as an inspiration to Iker Casillas. Arconadas younger brother, Gonzalo, never played football, but had an extensive coaching career. For a few months in early 2006, he coached Real Sociedads first team. com Luis Arconada – FIFA competition record Spain stats at Eu-Football Biography at Porteros Vascos de Leyenda
20.
UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying
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The qualifying round for the 1984 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into seven groups, three of four teams and four of five teams. The qualifying round was played at times between May 1982 and December 1983, with some groups concluding earlier than others. The draw took place on 8 January 1982 in Paris, France,32 teams were drawn from the five pots into the seven groups. Teams qualified to the tournament are in bold. There were a number of close finishes in some of the qualifying groups. In Group 2, Portugal edged out the USSR by beating them narrowly 1–0 on a penalty by Rui Jordão in Lisbon on the final day. Meanwhile, in Group 5, again on the day, Romania managed to hold on for a tense 1–1 draw in Bratislava. A major surprise in this group was the performance of then-World Cup holders Italy. Another surprise was the qualification of Denmark in Group 3 at the expense of England, there was also heartbreak for Northern Ireland in Group 6. In Group 7, The Netherlands thought they had enough to qualify. And when Spain went in at half-time in Seville leading the Maltese minnows by a margin of only 3–1, the Dutch could have been forgiven for assuming they were home and dry. Spain, incredibly, then proceeded to score nine goals in the second half. UEFA has since changed its rules, all teams now play their game at exactly the same time and date. Also, overall goal difference is now de-emphasized in the tie-breakers in favour of head-to-head results. Things were tightest of all in Group 4, where Wales, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were all in contention until the few seconds of the last match in the group. Four groups of five teams and three groups of four teams competed for qualification for UEFA Euro 1984, the teams played home and away matches against the other teams nations in their group. The seven teams that acquired the most points to win their group qualified for the main tournament. During the qualification stage,341 goals were scored over 116 matches,7 goals 6 goals 5 goals 4 goals 3 goals 2 goals 1 goal 1 own goal Euro 84 Qualifying matches at uefa. com Tables and results at RSSSF. com
21.
1960 European Nations' Cup
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The 1960 UEFA European Nations Cup was the first European Football Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France and it was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris after extra time. The tournament was a competition, just 17 teams entered with some notable absences, West Germany, Italy. The teams would play matches until the semi-finals, the final four teams would move on to the final tournament. In the semi-finals, the Soviets made easy work of the Czechoslovaks in Marseille, the other match saw a nine-goal thriller as Yugoslavia came on top 5–4, coming back from a two-goal deficit twice. Czechoslovakia beat the demoralized French 2–0 for third place, in the final, Yugoslavia scored first, but the Soviet Union, led by legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin, equalized in the 49th minute. After 90 minutes the score was 1–1, and Viktor Ponedelnik scored with seven minutes left in time to give the Soviets the inaugural European Championship. Notes In all matches but the final, extra time and a coin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary, if the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner. With two goals, Valentin Ivanov, Viktor Ponedelnik, Milan Galić, Dražan Jerković, François Heutte are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, there were 17 goals scored by 12 different players in 4 games, none of the goals were credited as own goal
22.
UEFA Euro 1972
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The 1972 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Belgium. This was the fourth European Football Championship, held four years. The final tournament took place between 14 and 18 June 1972, at the time, only four countries could play the final tournament which meant that there were only the semi-finals, the final and the third place match. The hosts were announced after the qualifying round, which meant all teams had to participate in the qualification process for the final stage. Belgium was chosen among three candidates, the bids came from England and Italy, whose teams did not reach the semi-finals. West Germany won the tournament, beating the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final, with coming from Gerd Müller. The qualifying round was played throughout 1970 and 1971, and 1972, there were eight qualifying groups of four teams each. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis, victories were worth 2 points, draws 1 point, and defeats 0 points. Only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals, the quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through to the final tournament, fastest goal,24 minutes Raoul Lambert Gerd Müller With four goals, Gerd Müller is the top scorer in the tournament. In total,10 goals were scored by 7 different players in 4 matches, none of the goals is credited as own goal. 4 goals Gerd Müller 1 goal Herbert Wimmer Anatoli Konkov Raoul Lambert Odilon Polleunis Paul Van Himst Lajos Kű UEFA Team of the Tournament EURO1972 Official History
23.
UEFA Euro 1976
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The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth European Football Championship, held four years. The final tournament took place between 16 and 20 June 1976, at the time, only four countries played the final tournament, which meant that there were only the semi-finals, the final and the third-place match. This was the last tournament to have this format, as the tournament was expanded to eight teams four years later. It was the first and only time all four matches in the final tournament were decided after extra time. This was also the last tournament in which the hosts had to qualify for the final stage, czech player Antonín Panenka gained fame for his delicately chipped penalty that gave his country victory in the tournaments final against holders West Germany. The qualifying round was played throughout 1974 and 1975 and 1976, there were eight qualifying groups of four teams each. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis, victories were worth two points, draws one point, and defeats no points. Only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals, the quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through, to the final tournament and this was the first time the Soviet Union did not qualify for the finals tournament. With four goals, Dieter Müller is the top scorer in the tournament, in total,19 goals were scored by 13 different players in 4 games for an average of 4.75 goals per game. One of the goals is credited as own goal,4 goals Dieter Müller 2 goals Dragan Džajić Ruud Geels 1 goal Own goal Anton Ondruš UEFA Team of the Tournament EURO1976 Official History
24.
UEFA Euro 1968
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The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third European Football Championship, an event held four years. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968 and it was in this year that the tournament changed its name from the European Nations Cup to the European Championship. There were also changes in the tournaments qualifying structure, with the two-legged home-and-away knock-out stage being replaced by a group phase. Only four countries played in the final tournament, there were semi-finals, the final and a third place match. The hosts were announced after the qualifying round, which meant that they had to qualify along with all the others for the final stage. The qualification competition was played in two stages, a stage and the quarter-finals. There were eight qualifying groups of four teams each with the exception of group 4, the matches were played in a home-and-away basis. Victories were worth 2 points, draws 1 point, and defeats 0 points, only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis, the winners of the quarter-finals would go through to the final tournament. The following teams participated in the tournament, In all matches but the final, extra time. If the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner, seven goals were scored by six different players in the five matches, for an average of 1.4 goals per game. None of the goals were credited as own goals, yugoslavias Dragan Džajić was the top scorer by virtue of being the only player to score more than one goal. 2 goals Dragan Džajić1 goal Luigi Riva Angelo Domenghini Pietro Anastasi Geoff Hurst Bobby Charlton UEFA Team of the Tournament
25.
1998 FIFA World Cup
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The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998, the country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the second time in the history of the tournament, defeating Morocco in the bidding process. It was the time that France staged the competition. Qualification for the finals began in March 1996 and concluded in November 1997, for the first time in the competition, the group stage was expanded from 24 teams to 32, with eight groups of four. A total of 64 matches were played in 10 stadiums located across 10 different host cities, with the match and final staged at the Stade de France. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3–0 in the final, France won their first title, becoming the seventh nation to win a World Cup, and the sixth to win the tournament on home soil. Croatia, Jamaica, Japan and South Africa made their first appearances in the finals, France was awarded the 1998 World Cup on 2 July 1992 by the executive committee of FIFA during a general meeting in Zürich, Switzerland. They defeated Morocco by 12 votes to 7, Switzerland withdrew, due to being unable to meet FIFAs requirements. This made France the third country to host two World Cups, after Mexico and Italy in 1986 and 1990 respectively, France previously hosted the third edition of the World Cup in 1938. England, who hosted the competition in 1966 and won it, were among the original applicants, blazer stated that we facilitated bribes in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup. Since France won the selection process it was thought the bribery came from its bid committee. It eventually transpired that the payment was from the failed Moroccan bid. The qualification draw for the 1998 World Cup finals took place in the Musée du Louvre, as tournament hosts, France was exempt from the draw as was Brazil the defending champions. 174 teams from six confederations participated, up 24 from the previous round, in Europe, fourteen countries qualified excluding France. Ten were determined after group play, nine group winners and the best second-placed team, the other eight group runners-up were drawn into pairs of four play-off matches – the winners of which qualifying for the finals as well. The winner of the Oceanian zone advanced through to an intercontinental play-off against the runner-up of the Asian play-off, four nations qualified for the World Cup for the first time, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan and South Africa. The last team to qualify was Iran by virtue of beating Australia in a tie on 29 November 1997. It marked their first appearance in the finals since 1978, the last time Tunisia also qualified for the tournament, chile qualified for the first time since 1982
26.
Rooster
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A rooster, also known as a cockerel or cock, is a male gallinaceous bird, usually a male chicken. Mature male chickens less than one year old are called cockerels, the term rooster originates in the United States, and the term is widely used throughout North America, as well as Australia and New Zealand. The older terms cock or cockerel, the latter denoting a young cock, are used in the United Kingdom, roosting is the action of perching aloft to sleep at day, which is done by both sexes. The rooster is polygamous, but cannot guard several nests of eggs at once and he guards the general area where his hens are nesting, and attacks other roosters that enter his territory. During the daytime, a rooster often sits on a perch, usually 0.9 to 1.5 m off the ground. He sounds an alarm call if predators are nearby. Roosters almost always start crowing before four months of age, although it is possible for a hen to crow as well, crowing is one of the clearest signs of being a rooster. The rooster is often portrayed as crowing at the break of dawn, however, while many roosters crow shortly after waking up, this idea is not exactly true. A rooster can and will crow at any time of the day, some roosters are especially vociferous, crowing almost constantly, while others only crow a few times a day. These differences are dependent both upon the breed and individual personality. A rooster can often be sitting on fence posts or other objects. Roosters have several other calls as well, and can cluck, Roosters occasionally make a patterned series of clucks to attract hens to a source of food, the same way a mother hen does for her chicks. Rooster crowing contests are a sport in several countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium. Depending on the breed, either the duration of the crowing or the times the rooster crows within a time is measured. A capon is a castrated rooster, in the caponization procedure, the birds testes are completely removed, a surgical procedure is required for this as the roosters sexual organs are internal. The hackle, tail and saddle feathers grow unusually long, caponization also affects the disposition of the bird. Removal of the birds testes eliminates the male sex hormones, lessening the male sex instincts and changing their behaviour, the birds become more docile, less active and this procedure produces a unique type of poultry meat which is favoured by a specialized market. The meat of normal uncastrated roosters has a tendency to become coarse, stringy and this process does not occur in the capon
27.
Marseille
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Marseille, also known as Marseilles in English, is a city in France. Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Massalia, Marseille was the most important trading centre in the region, Marseille is now Frances largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships. The city was European Capital of Culture, together with Košice, Slovakia and it hosted the European Football Championship in 2016, and will be the European Capital of Sport in 2017. The city is home to campuses of Aix-Marseille University and part of one of the largest metropolitan conurbations in France. Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third largest metropolitan area in France after Paris, further east still are the Sainte-Baume, the city of Toulon and the French Riviera. To the north of Marseille, beyond the low Garlaban and Etoile mountain ranges, is the 1,011 m Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the artists colony of lEstaque, further west are the Côte Bleue, the Gulf of Lion. The airport lies to the north west of the city at Marignane on the Étang de Berre, the citys main thoroughfare stretches eastward from the Old Port to the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and Fort Saint-Jean on the north. Further out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of Château dIf, the main commercial centre of the city intersects with the Canebière at rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse. To the south east of central Marseille in the 6th arrondissement are the Prefecture and the fountain of Place Castellane. To the south west are the hills of the 7th arrondissement, the railway station—Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement, it is linked by the Boulevard dAthènes to the Canebière. Marseille has a Mediterranean climate with mild, humid winters and warm to hot, december, January, and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around 12 °C during the day and 4 °C at night. Marseille is officially the sunniest major city in France with over 2,900 hours of sunshine while the average sunshine in France is around 1,950 hours, less frequent is the Sirocco, a hot, sand-bearing wind, coming from the Sahara Desert. Snowfalls are infrequent, over 50% of years do not experience a single snowfall, Massalia, whose name was probably adapted from an existing language related to Ligurian, was the first Greek settlement in France. It was established within modern Marseille around 600 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. The connection between Massalia and the Phoceans is mentioned in Thucydidess Peloponnesian War, he notes that the Phocaean project was opposed by the Carthaginians, the founding of Massalia has also been recorded as a legend. Protis was invited inland to a banquet held by the chief of the local Ligurian tribe for suitors seeking the hand of his daughter Gyptis in marriage, at the end of the banquet, Gyptis presented the ceremonial cup of wine to Protis, indicating her unequivocal choice
28.
Stade de Gerland
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The Stade de Gerland is a stadium, in the city of Lyon, France home to Top 14 rugby club Lyon OU. It has a capacity of 25,000. Situated in the Gerland quarter, it was used by French professional football club Olympique Lyonnais, local rugby union club Lyon OU moved in beginning of 2017, replacing their much smaller stadium Matmut Stadium. The stadiums capacity was reduced from 43,000 to a more reasonable 25,000. The stadium has hosted concerts by famous artists, including The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Pink Floyd. In 1910, the mayor of Lyon, Édouard Herriot, came up with the idea to develop and build a stadium with an athletics track. In 1912, the stadium was officially mandated and local architect Tony Garnier was given the reins to designing and constructing it, construction began in 1914 with hopes that the stadium would be completed before the International Exhibition of 1914. However, due to World War I, construction was temporarily halted, by 1920, the stadium was completely functional. In 1926, the Stade de Gerland was inaugurated by Herriot, the stadium originally had a cycling track, but it was removed in order to increase the seating capacity to 50,000. In 1984, minor renovations were made to the stadium by architect Rene Gagis in order to bring the stadium up to standards for UEFA Euro 1984 and this included construction of the Jean Bouin and Jean Jaurès stands. The renovations were done by architect Albert Constantin, the new incarnation of Gerland had a maximum capacity of 40,500. Since 1950 the stadium has been home to French professional football club Olympique Lyonnais who play in Ligue 1, Lyon moved into the stadium as a result of splitting from the Lyon Olympique Universitaire sport club, which played at the Stade des Iris. The record attendance for a Ligue 1 match is 48,552 for a match between Olympique Lyonnais and AS Saint-Étienne in 1982. During the 2003 Confederations Cup semi-final at the stadium between Cameroon and Colombia, Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé collapsed on the pitch and died afterwards in hospital. Gerland is also used for events of such as The Rolling Stoness concerts, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Johnny Hallyday. Stade de Gerland played host to the 1972 Rugby League World Cup Final between Great Britain and Australia, the French public seemed uninterested in a final that did not involve the French team, as only 4,231 spectators turned up. Lions hooker Mike Stephenson scored the 73rd-minute try that helped Great Britain level the scores, had Aussie winger Ray Branighan succeeded with a 79th-minute penalty, or Bob Fulton landed one of three drop goal attempts in the last five minutes, the cup could easily have gone to Australia. But for the first time in the history the scores were level at full time
29.
Lyon
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Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
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Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
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Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is a multi-purpose stadium in Saint-Étienne, France. It is used primarily for football matches, and tournaments such as the 1984 European Football Championship, the Football World Cup 1998 and it is also used for rugby union, and was a venue at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. It is nicknamed le Chaudron, or lenfer vert, an allusion to the worn by the local football team, AS Saint-Étienne. More recently, its current capacity was 35,616 before the current renovations, when the renovations are finished, the stadium will hold 42,000 seated spectators. The stadium opened on 13 September 1931, and AS Saint-Étiennes first match took place on 17 September against FAC Nice. The stadium was named after Geoffroy Guichard, founder of the Casino retail group and it is built in the English style, meaning that there are no corner stands. The biggest renovations came in 1984 and in 1998, Geoffroy Guichard was also owner of the land bought from the family In Rochetaillée on the site Estivalière on which the stadium was built. The construction of the began in 1930 through the contribution of St. Etienne, responding to a subscription launched by Pierre Guichard. The plans for the stadium were devised by architects Etienne Thierry Meyer. The stadium consisted of a surrounded by a 400m running track. Underneath the stand were the rooms, showers and offices. The total stadium capacity then was about 1,800 people, the stadium was opened on 13 September 1931. ASSE played the first professional match against FAC Nice on 17 September 1933, the first professional match in St Etienne resulted in a 3–2 victory. ASSE won all of this seasons 8 games played at home, in 1936, ASSE built a second stand, which became known as the forum Henri Point. Behind each goal, earth embankments were constructed to create a standing section, the stadium capacity rose to 15,000 spectators. In 1956, the track was removed. The supporters are closer to the pitch, more like an English football stadium,1957, a year later, the stands are restructured to allow standing. The stadium capacity is 30,000 spectators, the ASSE wins its first French championship title
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Stade Bollaert-Delelis
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The Stade Bollaert-Delelis is the main football stadium in Lens, France, that was built in 1933. It is the home of RC Lens, the stadiums capacity is 41,229 – about 4,000 more than the citys population. The stadium was named after Félix Bollaert, a director of Compagnie des Mines de Lens. Construction began in 1931, though Bollaert died shortly before the stadiums inauguration and it was renamed Stade Bollaert-Delelis in 2012 after the death of André Delelis, a politician who served as the Minister of Commerce under President François Mitterrand. All parts of the stadium contain seating, the stadium was one of the venues of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and held the following matches, In May 2011, the stadium was designated to host the 2016 European Football Championship. To be renovated, the stadium was closed during the 2014-2015 season, the France national team has played eight matches at the stadium without defeat. Lille played two UEFA Champions League campaigns there when their own stadium was deemed inadequate, in and it hosted the Johnny Hallyday concert in 2009 and a Jehovahs Witnesses gathering in 2006, which created controversy. The stadium is the setting for a scene in the movie Bienvenue chez les Chtis and we hear Les corons sung by the public at the end of halftime song. In 2012 the Stadium held a rugby League match between France and Wales as part of an Autumn International Series match,11,278 fans came to watch the game. Stade Félix-Bollaert on www. sitercl. com Stadium images
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Stade de la Beaujoire
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The Stade de la Beaujoire - Louis Fonteneau, or Stade de la Beaujoire, is a stadium in Nantes, France. It is the home of the FC Nantes football club, the stadium opened for the first time on May 8,1984, for a friendly game, FC Nantes - Romania. It was named after Louis Fonteneau, who was President of FC Nantes between 1969-1986 and it was renovated in 1998, for the World Cup. While its original capacity was 52,923, in 1998, it was converted to an all-seater stadium, previously, the team played at Stade Marcel Saupin. The stadium also hosts rugby matches, including France against New Zealand on November 15,1986. In September 2007, it hosted three matches of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Wales vs Canada on September 9, England vs Samoa on September 22. La Beaujoire hosted matches during the 1984 European Football Championship, including a 5-0 victory for France over Belgium, six matches were also played there during the 1998 FIFA World Cup, including the quarter-final between Brazil and Denmark. The stadium was not selected for the 2016 European Football Championship, the France national football team have played here on four occasions, most recently 2007 in a EURO2008 qualifying match against Lithuania
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Stade de la Meinau
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The Stade de la Meinau, commonly known as La Meinau, is a football stadium in Strasbourg, France. It is the ground of RC Strasbourg and has also hosted international matches, including one game of the 1938 World Cup. La Meinau has also used as a venue for concerts. The stadium is owned by the Strasbourg municipality and is rented by the RC Strasbourg and this would eventually serve as the ground where the stadium was constructed. Between 1906 and 1914, the pitch had been used by team, FC Frankonia. Construction eventually proceeded and was completed in 1921 with a capacity of 30,000, in the four decades that followed, the facility was left essentially untouched. When France won the right to host the European Championship with Strasbourg as a venue and it became a compact, fully rectangular stadium with quarter-corners between the four main stands, not unlike Dortmunds Westfalenstadion. Inaugurated on April 18,1984, two months before the Euro, La Meinau hosted a record 44,566 for the match between West Germany and Portugal match. The stadium remained state-of-the-art through the 1980s and hosted the 1988 UEFA Cup Winners Cup final that saw K. V, after the tragic events of Heysel, Hillsborough and Furiani, safety regulations were reinforced, progressively limiting the number of standing places. This change severely affected La Meinau since the stadium had large standing-only terraces all around the pitch, capacity dropped from the initial 45,000 to 26,000, all seated. Hence, in 1996, RC Strasbourg could not rely on a large attendance when they hosted AC Milan for the 1995–96 UEFA Cup, La Meinau was last refurbished in 2001 and its current capacity for league games is 29,320. When France prepared its bid to host Euro 2016, Strasbourg came up again as a potential venue. However, RC Strasbourg had by then fallen into a sporting and financial decline that ultimately led to the liquidation of its professional section. With no prospect of an investment, the municipality withdrew from consideration as a host city. Record attendance,44,566 on 14 June 1984 Record attendance for a league game,39,033 on 20 November 1992 The France national football team have played three games in Strasbourg. The France womens national team has played two games in Strasbourg. The French national rugby team has played one game in Strasbourg. WorldStadiums. com entry Page on the clubs website Racingstub fact sheet Racingstub stadium history Racingstub attendance stats History at MCSinfo
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Lens, Pas-de-Calais
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Lens is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is one of the towns of Hauts-de-France along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras. Lens belongs to the intercommunality of Lens-Liévin, which consists of 36 communes, Lens, along with Douai, forms the metropolitan area of Douai-Lens, whose population at the 1999 census was 552,682. Lens was initially a fortification from the Norman invasions, in 1180, it was owned by the Count of Flanders, and sovereignty was exercised by the Crown of France. In the 13th century, Lens received a charter from Louis VIII of France, the Flemish razed the city in 1303. Prior to this, the population relied on its markets. In 1526, Lens was made part of the Spanish Netherlands under the ownership of the French monarchy, in 1849, coal was discovered in Lens after surveys were carried out at Annay, Courrières and Loos-en-Gohelle. This led to the expansion of the city into an important industrial center, the Lens Mining Company was founded in 1852 and experienced large profits. The city was destroyed in the First World War and half of the population perished. The Gare de Lens railway station, built in 1927, is served by trains towards Lille, Arras, Douai, Dunkirk, Calais. In World War II, the Allies bombarded the city from the air, the last coal mine in Lens closed in 1986. Since 2012, Lens has been the location of the Louvre-Lens art museum, Lens is connected to the TGV network, with high speed trains to Paris. Football club RC Lens plays in the town and their stadium, Stade Bollaert-Delelis, was used for UEFA Euro 1984, the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016 and the 1999 Rugby World Cup and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Stade Bollaert-Delelis Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department Category, Counts of Lens INSEE commune file Official web site Communauté dAgglomeration of Lens-Liévin
France (1st title)
Spain
Belgium
Portugal
Denmark
West Germany
Romania
Yugoslavia
59', 62', 77'
