Turkmenistan national football team
The Turkmenistan national football team represents Turkmenistan in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan, the governing body for football in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan's home ground is Ashgabat Stadium in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan have never qualified to the final stages of the World Cup. After the country gained independence, they played their first match against Kazakhstan on 1 June 1992, they qualified for the 2004 Asian Cup by winning the 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification, where they were placed in group G, alongside the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka. In the autumn of 2003, in the first leg of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, they defeated Afghanistan 11–0 in Ashgabat. Begench Kuliyev and Rejepmyrat Agabaýew each scored a hat-trick, while Guvanchmuhammet Ovekov scored twice. Other players on the scoresheet that day were Omar Berdiyev and Didarklych Urazov. In the second leg the team won 0–2, with both goals scored by Begench Kuliyev. In December 2003, the national team of Turkmenistan reached the top 100 in the FIFA rankings for the first time in its history, reaching the 99th position, thanks to the successes in the 2004 Asian Cup and the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
In the 2004 Asian Cup that took place in China, Turkmmenistan was placed in group C, with neighbours Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. They were knocked out in the group stages following a draw against Saudi Arabia. In February 2010, Turkmenistan's national football team was headed by Ýazguly Hojageldyýew, working for HTTU Aşgabat. Under his leadership the team went to Sri Lanka to participate in the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup. For the first time, they made it to the final, only to see them lose against North Korea in the penalty shootout. In the same year, the Football Association of Turkmenistan invited a native Turkmen, the head coach of FC Rubin Kazan, Kurban Berdyev to resume leadership. In March 2011, Turkmenistan entered the final round of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, beating Pakistan and played in a draw with India in the qualifying competition in Kuala Lumpur. In the summer of 2011, in the race for a spot at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil, they faced Indonesia in the second round.
After managing a 1–1 draw in the first leg in Ashghabat, they were defeated 4–3 in the second leg, 5–4 on aggregate, thus were knocked out of the contention for Brazil 2014. In winter 2012 the team gathered for a training camp in Turkey. In preparation for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, Ýazguly Hojageldyýew arranged a friendly match with Romania, which saw them lost 4–0. In March 2012, the team went to Kathmandu to participate in the final tournament of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, they beat the hosts Nepal 3–0 and Maldives 3–1, while the final group stage match with Palestine ended in a goalless draw. In the semifinals, Turkmenistan defeated the Philippines 2–1. However, as in the previous edition, they lost the final match to North Korea with a scoreline of 1–2. In October 2012, Turkmenistan's team took second place at the 2012 VFF Cup, beating the teams of Vietnam and Laos, only to lose in the final match against the South Korean University Selection team 0–4. On 23 March 2013 Turkmenistan defeated Cambodia 7–0 in Manila, on the qualifying round of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.
In the second round, Turkmenistan was to meet Brunei, but the team did not arrive at the tournament, thus Turkmenistan was awarded a default 3–0 victory. In the last round, Turkmenistan lost to Philippines 1–0, but managed to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup finals as the best second placed team alongside Laos. In January 2014 Rahym Kurbanmämmedow was again in charge of the national team, they held three training camps in May and participated in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stage, thereby losing the chance to qualify for the 2015 Asian Cup. In June 2014, as a result of their poor performance at the AFC Challenge Cup, the entire coaching staff was dismissed, including the head coach. In the spring of 2015, Amangylyç Koçumow was appointed as the new head coach of the national team to prepare the team for participation in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification; the team started off badly, losing to one of the weakest team in Asia - Guam national football team 0:1.
On June 16, 2015, for the first time, the Turkmenistan national team held a match outside Ashgabat, at the Spot toplumy Stadium in Dashoguz in the presence of 10,000 spectators, the Turkmenistan team played a draw with Iran. The team lost Oman 1:3. In the home games that took place at the Kopetdag Stadium in October 2016, Turkmenistan beat India 2:1 and Guam 1:0. In November, the Turkmenistan held a friendly match with the UAE, which ended in a 1:5 defeat and an official match with Iran, in which the team lost 1:3. On November 17, 2016, the national team of Turkmenistan in the home game sensationally beat the national team of Oman 2:1. In the final stage, the Turkmenistan national team defeated India 2:1; the Turkmenistan team took the 3rd place in Group D, which did not allow the team to go to the next stage of the qualifying games for the 2018 World Cup, but gave the opportunity to fight for getting into the 2019 Asian Cup. Turkmenistan had qualified to the 2019 Asian Cup for the second time in history.
2010 AFC Challenge Cup was used to determine qualification for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification Note: As of 2002, only U23 teams are allowed to participate in the Asian Games' football tournament. 1965 to 1974: No international team Win Draw Loss 2010 AFC Challenge Cup & 2012 AFC Challenge Cup – Runners-Up ECO Cup 1993 – Runners-Up 1997 Turkmenistan President's Cup – Champions 2002 Turkmenistan President's Cup – R
Belarus national football team
Belarus national football team represents Belarus in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belarus, the governing body for football in Belarus. Belarus' home ground is Borisov Arena in Borisov. Belarus has not yet qualified for UEFA European Championship. Since March 2017 the team is coached by Igor Kriushenko. After the split of the Soviet Union, Belarus played their first match against Lithuania on 20 July 1992. Before that, several Belarusian players played for the Soviet Union national team; the first FIFA-recognized international was a friendly against Ukraine on 28 October 1992, their first win came in a match against Luxembourg on 12 October 1994. Belarus have never qualified for either the UEFA European Championship. Despite the lack of any significant success during the 1990s, some notable results were still achieved, like a home win against the Netherlands in the qualifiers for Euro 1996, two draws against Italy during Euro 2000 qualifiers. Under coach Eduard Malofeyev, the team came close to playing Germany in a play-off round to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, but were defeated by Wales in the last group stage match, missing the chance to overtake Ukraine, who drew their last game, finishing the group second behind Poland.
Their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign was unsuccessful as Belarus lost seven of their eight games. Around the same time, a generational change occurred and a number of players from the U-21 team joined the senior national team. With each subsequent head coach the team improved their attacking skills; as a result, in each subsequent qualifying tournament starting with the 2006 World Cup, Belarus scored more goals than in previous campaigns. However, problems in defense and a lot of missed goals prevented them from finishing higher than fourth in the group; some notable results during this period, included a high-scoring 3–4 away loss to Italy in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, another home victory against the Netherlands during the Euro 2008 qualifiers as well as an away win and a home draw against France in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Belarusians achieved some success in minor tournaments. In 2002, the team beat out Ukraine to win the LG Cup. In 2004 and 2008, they won the 12th and 14th editions of the Malta International Tournament respectively.
The first with its Olympic Squad, the with the first team. The team played. Other venues are used: Molodechno City Stadium in May 1996, Vitebsky Central Sport Complex in Vitebsk in November 2005, Central Stadium in Gomel in October 2007, Neman Stadium in Grodno June 2009, Borisov City Stadium just a few days and Regional Sport Complex Brestskiy in Brest in October 2009. In late 2012 Dinamo Stadium was closed for renovation and the team started alternating between different home venues: Central Stadium in Gomel, Borisov City Stadium and Torpedo Stadium in Zhodino. From 2014 till 2017 Belarus played at Borisov Arena. In 2018 they returned to Dinamo Stadium, re-opened after major renovation. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s Belarus played home games in all white changing shorts to green. All green uniform or green jerseys/white shorts were used as away kits. Since qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 2004 Belarus changed their primary colors to red jerseys and green shorts, away kits to all white.
In 2011 home colors were changed to all red. All-White became the home colour a short time and now appears with the pattern on the Belarus flag, with the away kit being in Black in 2016 using an adidas template and placing the flag pattern on it. In August 2016, the Football Association announced that the team's nickname would be the "White Wings"; the name was influenced by the book The Land Beneath White Wings by famous Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkevich. The BFF’s new marketing and communications director, Uladzimir Berezhkov, said: "We are looking at various ways of establishing links with our literary heritage and cultural traditions", commenting that "If the Belarusian people opt to associate the team with Karatkevich every phrase in the book can be used as a hashtag!" Friendly match Friendly match 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Friendly match UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches against Netherlands and Northern Ireland on 21 and 24 March 2019.
Caps and goals are correct as of 24 March 2019, after the game against Netherlands. The following players have been called up to the Belarus squad during last 12 months. INJ Withdrew due to an injury PRE Preliminary squad RET Retired from national team Belarus B national team has been assembled a number of times throughout the hist
UEFA Euro 1984
The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh European Football Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries took part in the final stage of the tournament, seven of which had to come through the qualifying stage. France qualified automatically as hosts of the event; the hosting of the event was contested by bids from West Germany. The French bid was unanimously selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting on 10 December 1981; the opening game of tournament featured Denmark. The sides played out a close encounter until Michel Platini's goal on 78 minutes gave the hosts a 1–0 victory; the opening game saw a premature end to the tournament for Danish midfielder Allan Simonsen, who suffered a broken leg. Platini scored hat-tricks against both Belgium and Yugoslavia as the French recorded maximum points in Group 1. Denmark took second place in the group with victories over Belgium and Yugoslavia, while Belgium finished third with two points.
Yugoslavia, despite going out with no points, gave the hosts a fright in their last group game when they took a 1–0 lead into half-time and reduced France's 3–1 lead to one goal six minutes from time. The games in Group 1 were unusually high-scoring, featured 23 goals over the six matches. Group 2 provided fewer goals, but produced a huge surprise as West Germany failed to qualify for the semi-finals after a 1–0 defeat in their last match to Spain with a late goal by Antonio Maceda, a late Portugal win against Romania that sent the holders out; the first semi-final between France and Portugal is considered one of the best matches in the history of the European Championship. Jean-François Domergue opened the scoring for France but Portugal equalised through Rui Jordão on 74 minutes; the game went to extra time and Jordão scored again in the 98th minute to give the Portuguese a shock lead, but the French rallied and Domergue equalised with six minutes left. In the dying moments of the match and with a penalty shoot-out looming, Platini scored his eighth goal of the championship to give France a memorable 3–2 victory.
The other semi-final between Spain and Denmark saw two evenly matched sides draw 1–1 after extra time, as Søren Lerby's goal after only seven minutes was cancelled out by Maceda’s strike an hour later. The match went to a penalty shoot-out, Spain converted all five of their penalties to win 5–4 and reach the final for the first time since 1964; the final was played to a capacity crowd at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Just before the hour mark, Platini scored from a free-kick to put France ahead following a mistake by Spanish goalkeeper Luis Arconada. France were reduced to ten players when Yvon Le Roux was sent off, but Spain were unable to equalise, Bruno Bellone's goal in injury time made the final score 2–0. France had won their first major championship in world football. After trying out several formats, UEFA developed for the 1984 tournament the format that would serve for all subsequent eight-team European Championships; the eight qualified teams were split into two groups of four. The top two teams of each group advanced to semi-finals and the winners advanced to the final.
The third place play-off perceived as an unnecessary chore, was dropped. As usual at the time, a win was credited with two points only, teams on equal points were ranked by goal difference instead of head-to-head results, the sudden-death rule in extra time did not apply. Fixtures were scheduled according to an innovative rotation schedule in which each team played its three first-round matches in three different stadia. Host France, for instance, played in Paris and Saint-Étienne; this formula had the advantage of exposing residents of a given city to more teams but implied multiple and sometimes costly trips from town to town for fans who wanted to follow their side. In subsequent championships, the organisers reverted to conventional schedules in which teams played in one or two cities only. Few hooligan-related incidents were recorded throughout the tournament. Only one minor instance of fan trouble was recorded, in Strasbourg around the West Germany vs. Portugal match; the small group of German hooligans responsible for the incidents was arrested and deported back to West Germany on the same day using a new law specially passed by the French Parliament ahead of the Euro.
Overall, the organisation was flawless, a feat that established France's credentials as a host nation and helped it win the right to stage the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The entire competition was marked by exceptionally fine weather which, along with the high quality of play throughout the tournament and the absence of hooligans, contributed to a positive and enjoyable experience for teams and fans alike; the official mascot of this European Championship was Peno, a rooster, representing the emblem of the host nation, France. It has the number 84 on the left side of its chest and its outfit is the same as the French national team, blue shirt, white shorts and red socks. France's winning bid to host the Euro was based on seven stadia; the 48,000-seat Parc des Princes in Paris was the venue for the final. Built in 1972, it was still needed minor improvements only. Marseille's Stade Vélodrome was expanded to 55,000 seats to host one semi-final and some group matches, becoming France's largest stadium on
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were centralized; the country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Minsk, Alma-Ata, Novosibirsk, it spanned over 10,000 kilometres east to west across 11 time zones, over 7,200 kilometres north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra, steppes and mountains; the Soviet Union had its roots in the 1917 October Revolution, when the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government which had replaced Tsar Nicholas II during World War I. In 1922, the Soviet Union was formed by a treaty which legalized the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian and Byelorussian republics that had occurred from 1918. Following Lenin's death in 1924 and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s.
Stalin committed the state's ideology to Marxism–Leninism and constructed a command economy which led to a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization. During his rule, political paranoia fermented and the Great Purge removed Stalin's opponents within and outside of the party via arbitrary arrests and persecutions of many people, resulting in at least 600,000 deaths. In 1933, a major famine struck the country. Before the start of World War II in 1939, the Soviets signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, after which the USSR invaded Poland on 17 September 1939. In June 1941, Germany broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theatre of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at intense battles such as Stalingrad and Kursk; the territories overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Soviet Union.
The post-war division of Europe into capitalist and communist halves would lead to increased tensions with the United States-led Western Bloc, known as the Cold War. Stalin died in 1953 and was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev, who in 1956 denounced Stalin and began the de-Stalinization; the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred during Khrushchev's rule, among the many factors that led to his downfall in 1964. In the early 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, but tensions resumed with the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979. In 1985, the last Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost and perestroika, which caused political instability. In 1989, Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist governments; as part of an attempt to prevent the country's dissolution due to rising nationalist and separatist movements, a referendum was held in March 1991, boycotted by some republics, that resulted in a majority of participating citizens voting in favor of preserving the union as a renewed federation.
Gorbachev's power was diminished after Russian President Boris Yeltsin's high-profile role in facing down a coup d'état attempted by Communist Party hardliners. In late 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union met and formally dissolved the Soviet Union; the remaining 12 constituent republics emerged as independent post-Soviet states, with the Russian Federation—formerly the Russian SFSR—assuming the Soviet Union's rights and obligations and being recognized as the successor state. The Soviet Union was a powerhouse of many significant technological achievements and innovations of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite, the first humans in space and the first probe to land on another planet, Venus; the country had the largest standing military in the world. The Soviet Union was recognized as one of the five nuclear weapons states and possessed the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, it was a founding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council as well as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the World Federation of Trade Unions and the leading member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact.
The word "Soviet" is derived from a Russian word сове́т meaning council, advice, harmony and all deriving from the proto-Slavic verbal stem of vět-iti, related to Slavic věst, English "wise", the root in "ad-vis-or", or the Dutch weten. The word sovietnik means "councillor". A number of organizations in Russian history were called "council". For example, in the Russian Empire the State Council, which functioned from 1810 to 1917, was referred to as a Council of Ministers after the revolt of 1905. During the Georgian Affair, Vladimir Lenin envisioned an expression of Great Russian ethnic chauvinism by Joseph Stalin and his supporters, calling for these nation-states to join Russia as semi-independent parts of a greater union, which he named as the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia. Stalin resisted the proposal, but accepted it, although with Lenin's agreement changed the name of the newly proposed sta
Kyrgyzstan national football team
The Kyrgyz Republic national football team is the national team of Kyrgyzstan and is controlled by the Football Federation of the Kyrgyz Republic. It is a member of the Central Asian Football Association, a member of the Asian Football Confederation. After the breakup of the Soviet Union and declaration of its independence, Kyrgyzstan became a recognized FIFA and AFC member, they played their first match away in Tashkent, against Uzbekistan on 23 August 1992 in the Central Asia Tournament, losing 3–0. In June 1993, Kyrgyzstan travelled to Iran for the 1993 ECO Cup, they lost 3–2 on 6 June to Azerbaijan and drew 1–1 two days against Tajikistan. In April 1994, Kyrgyzstan played other Central Asian teams in a tournament in Uzbekistan. On 13 April they lost 5–1 to Turkmenistan on 15 April 1–0 to Tajikistan. On 17 April they drew 0–0 against Kazakhstan before losing 3–0 to the hosts two days later. Kyrgyzstan continued to struggle, due to little interests of developing football in Kyrgyzstan; the national team lacked basic developments to develop the national team, comparing to its Central Asian neighbors, making Kyrgyzstan remained backward behind Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the latter being the strongest team in the region.
Despite this, Kyrgyzstan still managed to achieve some significant results, such as winning bronze in the 2006 AFC Challenge Cup. With the arrival of Sergey Dvoryankov, the team had witnessed a significant resurgence. Dvoryankov had made a significant progress by calling and naturalizing a number of foreign players into the national team of Kyrgyzstan such as Ghana's David Tetteh, Elijah Ari and Daniel Tagoe; as for the result, Kyrgyzstan's football improved. The White Falcons had made up good result during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, when Kyrgyzstan managed to defeat its long time neighbor-rival, Tajikistan, or defeating Jordan, regarded as a strong team who had beaten Australia before, as well as managed to play well against Asian champions Australia despite losing both matches. Under another Russian manager, Aleksandr Krestinin, Kyrgyzstan is heading to qualify for its first AFC Asian Cup since independence, when they placed themselves against India and Macau. On 22 March 2018, after thrashing Myanmar 5–1, Kyrgyzstan had qualified for their first AFC Asian Cup in the history.
Kyrgyzstan participated in their first Asian Cup edition, the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. Prior to the tournament, Kyrgyzstan was considered as an underdog, being grouped with South Korea and the Philippines, both have better head-to-head records against Kyrgyzstan. In spite of these hardship, Kyrgyzstan made an outstanding performance, losing to China and South Korea both by just one goal margin, before cruising against the Philippines 3–1 to progress as one of the best third-place team in their maiden debut. In the knockout stage, Kyrgyzstan faced host UAE, despite facing the host, Kyrgyzstan performed with full fighting spirit, only to lose 2–3 after 120'. Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002. In 2006, Kyrgyzstan took part in the inaugural ELF Cup in Northern Cyprus; this competition was intended to be for teams that were not members of FIFA. *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. As of 10 January 2019 The 35-man provisional squad was announced on 3 December 2018.
The final squad was announced on 27 December 2018. Viktor Maier was replaced by Pavel Sidorenko on 2 January 2019 due to injury. Competition: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Caps and goals updated as of 16 January 2019. INJ Withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary squad. 2006 AFC Challenge Cup squad 2010 AFC Challenge Cup squad As of match played 22 March 2018, the 10 players with the most caps:Bold names denote a player still playing or available for selection. As of match played 27 March 2018Bold names denote a player available for selection; the principal rival of the Kyrgyzstan national football team is the culturally, as well as the northern geographical neighbor of Kyrgyzstan — Kazakhstan national football team. The matches between these two teams are of great importance for the fans of both teams, the matches with the participation of these teams turn into a full house among the fans; the matches with the Tajikistan national football team — with the southern neighbor of Kyrgyzstan, as well as with other Central Asian teams have some principle.
Kyrgyzstan at FIFA.com Kyrgyz FA
Sweden national football team
The Sweden national football team represents Sweden in association football and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body for football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Friends Arena in Stockholm and the team is coached by Janne Andersson. From 1945 to late 1950s, they were considered one of the greatest teams in Europe. Sweden made their first World Cup appearance in 1934. Sweden has made six appearances in the European Championships, they finished second in the 1958 FIFA World Cup, third in both 1950 and 1994. Sweden's accomplishments include a gold medal in the 1948 Summer Olympics, bronze medals in 1924 and 1952, they reached the semi-finals in UEFA Euro 1992. Sweden has traditionally been a strong team in international football, with 11 World Cup appearances and 3 medals in the Olympics; the Swedish team finished second in the 1958 World Cup, when it was the host team, being beaten by Brazil 5–2 in the final. Sweden has finished third twice, in 1950 and 1994. In 1938, they finished fourth.
Sweden played its first international game against Norway on 12 an 11 -- 3 victory. Other matches in 1908 were played against Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium. In the same year, Sweden competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics for the first time. Sweden, lost a game in the Olympics against the Great Britain 1–12, the biggest loss in the Swedish national team's history. In 1916, Sweden defeated Denmark for the first time. Sweden played in the 1912 Olympics, the 1920 Olympics, in the 1924 Olympics, where Sweden took the bronze and their first medal ever; the 1938 World Cup was Sweden's second qualification for the World Cup. In the first round, they were scheduled to play against Austria, but after Germany's occupation of Austria, the Austrian team could not continue playing in the tournament. Instead, Sweden went straight to the quarter-finals match against Cuba, they beat Cuba 8 -- 0 with both Harry Gustav Wetterström scoring hat-tricks. In the semi-final match against Hungary, Sweden lost 1–5.
Sweden's next match was the third-place match against Brazil. In that game the Swedes lost 2–4, ended in fourth place for the first and only time in Swedish football history. In the first round, Sweden played against Austria; the Austrian team had qualified without their professional players, a surprise since the Austrian league had many professional players who were allowed to play in the tournament. The match was played at White Hart Lane in London and Sweden won 3–0. In the second game, Sweden played against Korea and won 12–0, one of the two largest margin wins Sweden has had. In the semi-final Sweden met their archrivals from Denmark beating them 4–2; the final was played at legendary Wembley Stadium in London. The attendance was around 40,000 people, high for a football game in those days. Sweden took on Yugoslavia in the final and won 3–1, with goals by Gunnar Gren, Stjepan Bobek and Gunnar Nordahl; this was Sweden's first championship win in any international football tournament. In the 1950 World Cup, the Swedish football association did not allow any professional Swedish football players to take part.
Sweden only fielded amateur players during the tournament. Qualifying for the tournament as one of six European national teams, Sweden played in the same group as Italy and Paraguay. In the first match, Sweden beat Italy 3–2 in São Paulo; the second match was a 2–2 draw against Paraguay. With the most points in the group, Sweden advanced to the next round, their first game in the second stage – a group format – was against the hosts Brazil. It was played at the Maracanã Stadium with a total attendance of more than 138,000, to this day the record attendance for the Swedish national team; the game ended 7–1 to Brazil and it is rumored that everyone in the Brazilian audience waved the Swedes goodbye with their scarfs. The next game was against Uruguay, who Sweden played against for the first time in World Cup history. Played in São Paulo, Uruguay won the game 3 -- 2; the final game for Sweden in the tournament was played against Spain. Sweden won 3 -- 1 with goals by Bror Mellberg and Karl-Erik Palmér.
Sweden took their first World Cup medal. As Sweden was the best placed European team, Sweden was, as the time, regarded "unofficial European champions". At the Summer Olympics in 1952 in Helsinki, Sweden continued to achieve success and won an Olympic bronze; the following year, the Football Association decided not to allow foreign professionals to play in the national team and the team failed to qualify for the World Championships in Switzerland in 1954 when Sweden only came second in their qualifying group behind Belgium. In 1956, the Swedish football federation allowed the professional footballers to play for the national team again, giving Swedish football fans hope for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Sweden, the host nation, were in the same group as Mexico and Wales; the first game, Sweden vs Mexico, was played at Sweden's national stadium, Råsunda Stadium and was attended by around 32,000 people. Sweden won the game 3–0, taking the lead in Group 3; the next match was against Hungary, who had finished 2nd in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland and were the 1952 Olympic Champions.
Played at Råsunda, this game ended 2–1 to Sweden, with both goals scored by Kurt Hamrin. In the next match, against Wales, Sweden drew 0–0. Making it through to the quarter-finals, playing at Råsunda for the fourth time in this tournament, Sweden
Azerbaijan national football team
The Azerbaijan national football team is the national football team of Azerbaijan and is controlled by Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan. It represents Azerbaijan in international football competitions; the majority of Azerbaijan's home matches are held at the national stadium, Baku Olympic Stadium, with friendly matches sometimes hosted at club stadiums. The Azerbaijan national football team has taken part in qualification for each major tournament since Euro 96, but has never qualified for the finals tournament of any World Cup or European Championships. In the early twentieth century, football began to become popular in Azerbaijan, part of the Russian Empire. In 1912, Azerbaijani football players had their first "international match" and they won in Tbilisi, Georgia against the local "Sokol" team with 4:2. During 1912–1913, matches between Azerbaijani and Georgian football teams were organized, first in Tbilisi and in Baku. In 1914 the Football Union was founded in Azerbaijan.
The Football Union undertook the organization of other competitions. The oldest records of football teams in Soviet Azerbaijan goes back to 1926–1927, when Trans-Caucasian Championship was organized in Tbilisi. Three South Caucasian countries participated: Azerbaijan and Georgia; the Azerbaijan national football team held its first friendly matches against Georgia and Armenia in 1927 for the Trans-Caucasian Championship in Georgia. In 1926 footbal players from Azerbaijan played three matches with Football team from Iran in Baku. In 1929 there were played three matches between these teams in Tehran. In all matches Azerbaijan players won; the 1960s is considered the Golden Age for Azerbaijani football as it produced great players like Anatoliy Banishevskiy, Alakbar Mammadov and the football referee Tofiq Bahramov, most famous for being the linesman who helped to award a goal for England in the 1966 World Cup Final between England and West Germany. After Azerbaijan gained its independence in 1991, AFFA — Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan — was created.
In 1992, renowned Azerbaijani footballer Alekper Mamedov became the first head coach of the Azeribaijani national football team, compiling a 3–1 record as coach that includes the first national team victory, over Georgia on May 25, 1993. In 1994, the national team was accepted into FIFA and UEFA; the security issues, forced the team to play all of its home Euro 96 qualifiers in Trabzon, Turkey. As of the early 2000s, AFFA started to integrate more players to the national team through FIFA's eligibility rules. In February 2004, Carlos Alberto Torres, captain of the Brazil team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup was appointed its national coach. Despite a poor start, a 0–6 defeat to Israel on February 18, Azerbaijan won their first away match, 3–2 against Kazakhstan on April 28. In June 2005, following a 3–0 defeat by Poland, Torres stood down from the position, to be replaced by former Neftchi coach Vagif Sadygov, his third spell as coach of Azerbaijan. Shahin Diniyev took over as manager in November 2005.
He resigned on 31 October 2007, Gjoko Hadzievski was named as care-taking coach of Azerbaijan. In April 2008, former German football player and coach Berti Vogts was appointed as a manager of Azerbaijan on a two-year contract. Azerbaijan had a mixed qualifying campaign, finishing with 5 points, just missing out on a last place to Liechtenstein with 2 points. In November 2009, AFFA extended Berti Vogts' contract a further two years, making him the first manager to manage Azerbaijani national team in two qualification cycles. In 2010, following a shock win over Turkey, the team reached 90th place in FIFA World Rankings, Azerbaijan's highest position in country's football history. After victory over Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan broke their scoring and points records by gaining 7 points and scoring 10 goals. In November 2011, AFFA extended Berti Vogts' contract a further two years, until end of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification cycle. Under Vogts, Azerbaijan had some poor results, not being able to defeat second-string sides.
Vogts faced major criticism and demonstration from local supporters and the media. However, Azerbaijan managed to finish qualification cycle in fourth place, the team's best finish. In December 2013, Vogts being granted a new two-year contract, with aim to lead Azerbaijan through EURO 2016 qualifying. On July 2014, Azerbaijan beat its ranking record by reaching 73rd place in FIFA World Rankings. Following three straight losses, Vogts resigned from his post after spending six years in charge of Azerbaijan. Succeeding Vogts as full-time manager was former Croatia international Robert Prosinečki, he guided the Azeri team to another record points haul in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying, but the team still finished fifth in the six-team Group C. Prosinečki resigned after deciding not to extend his contract with the Azerbaijan football federation; as of UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying round, Azerbaijan's home colours are all-red kit. The team wears an all-blue kit for away games; this combination of colours are traditional for the national team since their first game.
In the beginning of 90s the team has worn a white shirt, to the end of decade it has been transformated into blue-white striped shirts. At the beginning of the 2000s, the kit was replaced by the white shirt with a vertical tricolour stripe, color originating from the national flag of Azerbaijan on the chest; the kit was changed into blue shirts, red shorts and green socks only for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying round. After the tournament, the national team went back to their usual combination of colours. Azerbaijan national team's away colours were yellow-black striped shirts, black shorts and yellow socks until UEFA E
Denmark (1st title)
Germany
Dennis Bergkamp
Tomas Brolin
France
England
CIS[B]
Scotland
Austria
Belgium
Hungary
Italy
Portugal
Switzerland
24
