football records: 2008

Monday, February 4, 2008

A Brief History Of African Cup Of Nations

In 1956 in Lisbon a meeting between seven delegates resulted in the formation of the Confederation of African Football and the organisation planned the first tournament for the following year in Khartoum.

However, as the start date drew near, there were a few hurdles to overcome, such as the exclusion of South Africa after the apartheid regime failed to approve a multi-racial team. So with South Africa out, the tournment came down to a play-off between just three teams Egypt, hosts Sudan and Ethiopia.

Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia played the first two tournaments in odd years before it increased to four, six, eight, 12 and then 16 teams.

Since the early days, North Africa - and Ghana in particular - has maintained its reputation, while the other pioneers Ethiopia and Sudan have deteriorated.

And while there have been many highlights, few African Nations Cup tournaments have taken place without any problems.

One thing is certain, though - that Caf and the Nations Cup is still in existence is due to the passion for the game on the African continent.

Previous Winners Of African Cup Of Nations
Year
2006
2004
2002
2000
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
1988
1986
1984
1982
1980
1978
1976
1974
1972
1970
1968
1965
1963
1962
1959
1957Hosts
Egypt
Tunisia
Mali
Ghana/Nigeria
Burkina Faso
South Africa
Tunisia
Senegal
Algeria
Morocco
Egypt
Ivory Coast
Libya
Nigeria
Ghana
Ethiopia
Egypt
Cameroon
Sudan
Ethiopia
Tunisia
Ghana
Ethiopia
Egypt
SudanWinners
Egypt 0-0 Ivory Coast (4-2 Pens)
Tunisia 2-1 Morocco
Cameroun 0-0 Senegal (3-2 Pens)
Cameroun 2-2 Nigeria (4-3 Pens)
Egypt 2-0 South Africa
South Africa 2-0 Tunisia
Nigeria 2-1 Zambia
Ivory Coast 0-0 Ghana (11-10 Pens)
Algeria 1-0 Nigeria
Cameroun 1-0 Nigeria
Egypt 0-0 Cameroon (5-4 Pens)
Cameroun 3-1 Nigeria
Ghana 1-1 Libya (7-6 Pens)
Nigeria 3-0 Algeria
Ghana 2-0 Uganda
Morocco (League Format)
Zaire 2-0 Zambia (After Replay)
Congo 3-2 Mali
Sudan 1-0 Ghana
RD Congo 1-0 Ghana
Ghana 3-2 Tunisia
Ghana 3-0 Sudan
Ethiopia 4-2 Egypt
Egypt 2-1 Sudan
Egypt 4-0 Ethiopia

VIVA World Cup

The VIVA World Cup is an international football tournament organized by the New Federation Board, an umbrella association for nations unaffiliated to FIFA, planned to be held every two years.

Contents [hide]
1 Tournament Background
1.1 The Inaugural Tournament
1.2 Controversy
1.3 Occitania 2006
1.4 Sápmi 2008
2 Tournament results
3 The VIVA World Cup Trophy
4 See also
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Tournament Background

[edit] The Inaugural Tournament
In April 2005, the NF-Board announced that Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus had been chosen to host the inaugural VIVA World Cup, having successfully hosted a tournament to celebrate 50 years of the KTFF, called KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup, featuring fellow NF-Board member Sápmi and FIFA-unaffiliated Kosovo. The NF-Board hoped that sixteen teams would take part, drawn from across its membership.

[edit] Controversy
In the Spring of 2005, a new government was elected in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, keen to foster relations with other nations. The NF-Board claim that the government of Ferdi Sabit Soyer insisted on restricting which nations could and could not take part in order to head off potential political arguments. For their part, the KTFF claim that the NF-Board made unreasonable financial demands.[1]

The upshot of this was that the NF-Board decided to grant the hosting rights for the tournament to Occitania. In response, the KTFF announced that they would hold their own tournament, the ELF Cup, scheduled for the same time as the VIVA World Cup. Some NF-Board members have accepted invitations to take part in the ELF Cup.

[edit] Occitania 2006
Occitania announced that the tournament would still be held between the 19th and the 25th of November 2006, with games played at the in and around Hyères les Palmiers, near Toulon. The number of entrants was downsized to eight, in anticipation of the ELF Cup - which agreed to pay expenses - drawing NF-Board members away from the VIVA World Cup. However, a lack of suitable competitors meant that the tournament was to include six teams: Monaco, the Romani, the Sápmi, Southern Cameroons, West Papua, and the hosts.

However, the failure of West Papua and Southern Cameroon to attend the NF-Board General Assembly in September 2006, and logistical problems facing the Roma"[2], threw new doubt on the tournament, which looked as though it may go ahead with just three teams. Fortunately, Southern Cameroons were able to agree to send a team, and four teams - twelve fewer than initially hoped for - were set to contest the title.

There were yet more problems for the organisers when Southern Cameroons were unable to take part because of visa problems, resulting in walkovers in all their games.

By the end of the week, Sápmi had triumphed, scoring 42 goals in their three games, and lifting the first VIVA World Cup trophy.

[edit] Sápmi 2008
The second VIVA World Cup will be played in the Swedish town of Gällivare from 7 to 13 July; so the host will be Sápmi who won the previsious tournament. The matches will be played under the "midnight sun". 7 teams have shown an interest in participating in the men's tournament, while 2 have shown an interest in the women's tournament.

[edit] Tournament results
Year Host Final Third Place Match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd Place Score 4th Place
2006
Details Occitania
Sápmi 21–1
Monaco
Occitania n/a(1)
2008
Details Sápmi

[edit] The VIVA World Cup Trophy

An artist's impression of the Nelson Mandela Trophy.The VIVA World Cup Trophy was designed by French sculptor Gérard Pigault, and will be named The Nelson Mandela Trophy, in honour of the former South African president.[3]

[edit] See also
ELF Cup
UNPO Cup
FIFI Wild Cup
KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup

[edit] Notes
^ Steve Menary. "Worlds apart", World Soccer Magazine, October 2006, p. 105.
^ (Occitan) The VIVA World Cup remains in question!. l’Associacion Occitana de Fotbòl official website. Retrieved on October 30, 2006.
^ "NF-Board Opens Registrations for the 1st Viva World Cup in Northern Cyprus", July 1st 2005.

[edit] External links
Official Site
Official forum
International football v • d • e
FIFA | World Cup | Confederations Cup | U-20 World Cup | U-17 World Cup | Olympics | Asian Games | All-Africa Games | Pan American Games | Island Games | World Rankings | Player of the Year | Teams | Codes

Asia: AFC – Asian Cup
Africa: CAF – Africa Cup of Nations
North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup
South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América
Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup
Europe: UEFA – European Championship
Non-FIFA: NF-Board – VIVA World Cup

VIVA World Cup v • d • e

UEFA European Football Championship

The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the UEFA. Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations Cup, changing to the name European Football Championship in 1968. Specific championships are often referred to in the form "Euro 2008" or whichever year is appropriate.

There is a UEFA Women's Championship inaugurated in 1984 and from 1997 held every four years, as well as a Men's Under-21 equivalent of the UEFA European Championship tournament, taking place every two years.

Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Format
2.1 The competition
2.2 Qualifying
2.3 Final tournament
3 Future
3.1 Bids for future editions
3.2 Possible expansion to 24 teams
3.3 Hosting requirements and their impact on the pool of candidate hosts
4 Statistics
4.1 Successful national teams
4.2 Final tournament appearances
4.3 Total hosts
4.4 Overall top goalscorers (final tournaments)
5 Trophy
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links

[edit] History
The first idea for a pan-European football tournament was proposed by the French Football Federation's Henri Delaunay in 1927, however it was not until 1958 that the tournament was started. In honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. The 1960 Tournament, held in France, had 4 teams competing in the finals, out of 17 that entered the competition. It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 in a tense final in Paris. Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the USSR due to political protests. Of 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable were absentees West Germany and Italy. Spain held the next tournament, in 1964 which saw an increase in entries to the qualification tournament, with 29 entering; however, Greece withdrew after being drawn against Albania, whom they were still at war with. The hosts beat the holders the Soviet Union 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid.

The tournament format stayed the same for the 1968 edition. Italy were the hosts and champions: for the first and only time a match was decided on coin toss (the semi-final against the Soviet Union) and the final went to replay, after the match against Yugoslavia finished 1-1. Italy won the replay 2-0. More teams entered this tournament (31), a testament to its burgeoning popularity. Belgium held the 1972 edition, which West Germany won, beating the USSR 3-0 in the final in Brussels, this tournament would provide a taste for things to come, as the German side contained many of the key members of the 1974 FIFA World Cup Champions. The 1976 tournament would be the last in which only four teams took part in the final tournament, and the last in which the hosts had to qualify themselves, Czechoslovakia beat Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout, with Antonín Panenka's famous chipped shot.

Eight teams took part in the next tournament hosted by Italy. It involved a group stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final, and the runners-up playing in the third place play-off. West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. France won their first major title at home in the 1984 tournament, with their captain Michel Platini scoring an amazing 9 goals in just 5 games, including the opening goal in the final, in which they beat Spain 2-0. The format changed also, with the top two in each group going through to a semi-final stage, instead of the winners of each group going straight into the final. The third place play-off was also abolished.

In Euro 88 held in West Germany, the Netherlands pulled off one the the greatest moments in their sporting history, when they beat the hosts (traditional rivals) 2-1 in the semi-finals, which sparked vigorous celebrations back home. The Netherlands went on to win the tournament, beating the USSR 2-0 at the Olympia Stadion in Munich, a match in which Marco Van Basten scored one of the most memorable goals in football history, a spectacular volley over the keeper from the right wing. UEFA Euro 1992 was held in Sweden, and was won by Denmark, in one of the most surprising outcomes ever. Denmark were only in the tournament because of the withdrawal of Yugoslavia due to the wars of yugoslav secession. However, they produced a shock, beating World Champions Germany 2-0, having beaten holders the Netherlands on penalties in the semi-finals. This was the first tournament in which a unified Germany took part and also the first major tournament to have the players' names printed on their backs.

Euro 96, held in England, would see the number of teams taking part double to 16. The hosts, in a replay of the 1990 FIFA World Cup semi-final, were knocked out on penalties by Germany, who would go on to win in the final 2-1 against the newly born Czech Republic thanks to the first golden goal ever in a major tournament, scored by Oliver Bierhoff. This was Germany's first title as a unified nation. Euro 2000 was the first tournament to be held by two countries, Netherlands and Belgium. France (reigning World Champions) were favourites to win, they lived up to expectations when they beat Italy 2-1 after extra time, in an amazing come back from 1-0 down: Sylvain Wiltord equalised on the very last minute of the game and David Trezeguet scored the winner in extra time. Like Euro 92, Euro 2004 produced an upset no one predicted. Greece, who had only qualified for one World Cup (1994) and one European championship (1980) before, beat the hosts Portugal 1-0 in the final (after having beaten them also in the opening game) to win a tournament that they had been given odds of 150-1 to win before it began. On their way to the final they beat holders France and dark horses the Czech Republic with a silver goal, a rule which replaced the previous golden goal in 2003 before being abolished itself shortly after this tournament.

[edit] Format

[edit] The competition
Before 1980, only four teams qualified for the final tournament. From 1980 eight teams competed and in 1996 the tournament expanded again to the current number of teams, 16. The competing teams are chosen by a series of qualifying games: in 1960 and 1964 through home and away play-offs; from 1968 through a combination of both qualifying groups and play-off games. The host country was selected from the four finalists after they were determined through qualifying.

Since the expansion of the final tournament starting from 1980, the host country, or countries, have been chosen beforehand and qualify automatically.

The defending champions have never been granted an automatic place in the finals.

[edit] Qualifying
In order to qualify a team must be winners or runners-up in one of the seven qualifying groups. After this a team proceeds to the finals round in the host country, although hosts qualify for the tournament automatically. The qualifying phase begins in the autumn after the preceding FIFA World Cup, almost two years before the finals.

The groups for qualification are drawn by a UEFA committee using seeding. Seeded teams include reigning champions, and other teams on the basis of their performance in the preceding FIFA World Cup qualifying and the last European Football Championship qualifying. To obtain an accurate view of the teams abilities, a ranking is produced. This is calculated by taking the total number of points won by a particular team and dividing it by the number of games played, i.e., points per game. In the case of a team having hosted one of the two previous competitions and therefore having qualified automatically, only the results from the single most recent qualifying competition are used. If two teams have equal points per game, the committee then bases their positions in the rankings on:

Coefficient from the matches played in its most recent qualifying competition.
Average goal difference.
Average number of goals scored.
Average number of away goals scored.
Drawing of lots.
The qualifying phase is played in a group format, the composition of the groups is determined through means of a draw of teams from pre-defined seeded bowls. The draw takes place after the preceding World Cup's qualifying competition. For the 2008 European Football Championship, the group qualifying phase consists of seven groups; one of eight teams and the remainder of seven teams each.

The qualifying phase is done in groups, each effectively a mini league, where the highest ranked team and the runner up, after all the teams have played each other home and away, progresses to the finals tournament. As with most leagues, the points are awarded as three for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. In the eventuality of one or more teams having equal points after all matches have been played, the following criteria are used to distinguish the sides:

Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question.
Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question.
Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question.
Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question.
Results of all group matches:
Superior goal difference
Higher number of goals scored
Higher number of goals scored away from home
Fair play conduct.
Drawing of lots.

[edit] Final tournament

Map of countries' best resultsSixteen teams progress to the final tournament, for the 2008 tournament they will be the winners and runners up of the seven qualifying groups, and joint hosts Austria and Switzerland. These sixteen teams are divided equally into four groups, A, B, C and D, each consisting of four teams. The groups are drawn up by the UEFA administration, again using seeding. The seeded teams being the host nations, the reigning champions, subject to qualification, and those with the best points per game coefficients over the qualifying phase of the tournament and the previous World Cup qualifying. Other finalists will be assigned to by means of a draw, using coefficients as a basis.

The four groups are again played in a league format, where a team plays its opponents once each. The same points system is used (three points for a win, one point for a draw, no points for a defeat). A schedule for the group matches will be drawn up, but the last two matches in a group must kick off simultaneously. The winner and runner-up of each group progresses to the quarter-finals, where a knockout system is used (the two teams play each other once, the winner progresses), this is used in all subsequent rounds as well. The winners of the quarter-finals matches progress to the semi-finals, where the winners play in the final. If in any of the knockout rounds after normal playing time, the scores are still equal, extra time and penalties are employed to separate the two teams.

[edit] Future

[edit] Bids for future editions
On the 18th April 2007, Poland/Ukraine were selected to host the 2012 competition. They beat off competition from the highly favoured Italy and a joint bid from Croatia/Hungary.

In 2010, UEFA will decide which country will host Euro 2016. Sweden and Norway are currently planning a joint bid, and it has been reported that Wales and Scotland will also bid together. Bids should be submitted in 2008.

Both Bulgaria & Romania[1]and the Czech Republic & Slovakia[2] are considering joint bids for Euro 2020.

[edit] Possible expansion to 24 teams
There is much discussion about an expansion of the tournament grid to 24 teams, started by Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, due to the increased number of football associations in Europe after the breakups of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, the USSR and the inclusion of many Asian based countries. The new president of UEFA, Michel Platini, is reported to be in favour of expansion. However, on April 17, 2007, UEFA's Executive Committee formally decided against expansion in 2012.[1]

[edit] Hosting requirements and their impact on the pool of candidate hosts
In the current 16-team format, and because of the requirement that both final matches of a qualifying group be played at the same time, the practical minimum number of stadia is eight. At least one stadium must have UEFA 5-star rating to host the final, and all others must have 4-star rating or more. Also, concentrating more than two stadia in a single host city is likely to put severe strain on that city's transportation and lodging infrastructure. This means that host stadia must be located in at least four different cities—generally six to eight in practice, as few cities outside the capitals of most European countries have enough resident sports teams with attendances high enough to justify the existence of two large stadia. As a consequence, transport between venues for the teams and the large numbers of visiting fans is of crucial importance and often requires significant investment to improve road, rail, and air networks.

These demanding requirements make it increasingly difficult for small- and medium-sized countries to host a European Championship alone. The population of Portugal, at just over 10 million, may represent the threshold below which a country cannot bid by itself. Though Portugal staged a successful championship in 2004, it is unclear whether its investment will pay off. Some of the stadia built for the occasion are rarely, if ever, full during domestic league or cup matches.

Joint hosting, as done in 2000 and 2008, can offer a solution to this problem. Since the 1990s, countries have been allowed to act as joint hosts. Belgium and the Netherlands were the first countries to co-host the competition in 2000. In the 2008 tournament Austria and Switzerland will co-host the event, held from June 7 - June 29, 2008. UEFA has unofficially set the maximum number of co-hosts at two by turning down a so-called "Nordic bid" of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden to jointly host the 2008 championships. With two co-hosts, each organizing country needs only provide good transportation between three or four host cities and build or renovate four stadia, with a better chance of a positive return on investment. A large number of nations with populations around five million, such as Scotland or Croatia, now have an opportunity to become hosts. An element of sporting fairness is also present, as co-hosting gives smaller countries with good national teams (such as the Czech Republic) the same opportunity as their football equals with larger populations (such as Spain) to earn a championship berth without having to qualify.

With the proposed expansion of the championship to 24 teams, the requirements become even more stringent. The experience of past 24-team World Cups (1982 to 1994) shows that nine to 12 stadia are necessary to host such a competition, 12 being the ideal number. In practice, eight to 12 cities are now involved, which magnifies transportation and lodging issues.

If UEFA maintains its unofficial limit of two co-hosts, the minimum country size to mount a bid will therefore increase and will probably lie between five and 10 million. It is also possible that UEFA would become open to joint bids by three countries, which would keep the requirements unchanged for each co-host and enable the same pool of nations to bid as in the 16-team format. Qualifying would, however, become marginally more difficult for non-hosts: 21 berths would remain open to 48 teams (i.e., a 43.8% selection rate), versus 22 berths for 49 teams (a 44.9% rate) for a two-host championship.

[edit] Statistics
Year Host Final Third Place Match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd Place Score 4th Place
1960
Details France
USSR 2–1
aet
Yugoslavia
Czechoslovakia 2–0
France
1964
Details Spain
Spain 2–1
USSR
Hungary 3–1
aet
Denmark
1968
Details Italy
Italy 1–1 aet
2 - 0 replay
Yugoslavia
England 2–0
USSR
1972
Details Belgium
West Germany 3–0
USSR
Belgium 2–1
Hungary
1976
Details Yugoslavia
Czechoslovakia 2–2 aet
(5–3) ps
West Germany
Netherlands 3–2
aet
Yugoslavia
1980
Details Italy
West Germany 2–1
Belgium
Czechoslovakia 1–1
(9–8) ps
Italy
1984
Details France
France 2–0
Spain Denmark n/a(1) Portugal
1988
Details West Germany
Netherlands 2–0
USSR West Germany n/a(1) Italy
1992
Details Sweden
Denmark 2–0
Germany Netherlands n/a(1) Sweden
1996
Details England
Germany 2–1
asdet
Czech Republic England n/a(1) France
2000
Details Belgium &
Netherlands
France 2–1
asdet
Italy Netherlands n/a(1) Portugal
2004
Details Portugal
Greece 1–0
Portugal Czech Republic n/a(1) Netherlands
2008
Details Austria &
Switzerland
2012
Details Poland &
Ukraine
2016
Details To be announced

1 No third place match was played. In this case, the third and fourth place standings are defined by the campaigns of the respective teams.
Key:
aet - after extra time
asdet - after sudden death extra time
ps - after penalty shootout

[edit] Successful national teams
Team Titles Runners-up Third-place(1) Fourth-place(1) Semi-finalists(2)
Germany /
West Germany 3 (1972, 1980, 1996) 2 (1976, 1992) - - 1 (1988)
France 2 (1984, 2000) - - 1 (1960) 1 (1996)
USSR 1 (1960) 3 (1964, 1972, 1988) - 1 (1968) -
Czech Republic /
Czechoslovakia 1 (1976) 1 (1996) 2 (1960, 1980) - 1 (2004)
Italy 1 (1968) 1 (2000) - 1 (1980) 1 (1988)
Spain 1 (1964) 1 (1984) - - -
Netherlands 1 (1988) - 1 (1976) - 3 (1992, 2000, 2004)
Denmark 1 (1992) - - 1 (1964) 1 (1984)
Greece 1 (2004) - - - -
SFR Yugoslavia - 2 (1960, 1968) - 1 (1976) -
Portugal - 1 (2004) - - 2 (1984, 2000)
Belgium - 1 (1980) 1 (1972) - -
England - - 1 (1968) - 1 (1996)
Hungary - - 1 (1964) 1 (1972) -
Sweden - - - - 1 (1992)

1 Refers to tournaments held in 1980 and earlier. There was no match to determine 3rd place after the 1980 tournament.
2 Refers to tournaments held in 1984 and later. There was no match to determine 3rd place after the 1980 tournament.

[edit] Final tournament appearances
Appearance in this year's Euro 2008 is included in these figures.

Appearances Country
10 West Germany / Germany
9 USSR / CIS / Russia
8 Netherlands
Spain
7 Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic
Denmark
England
France
Italy
5 Portugal
SFR Yugoslavia / FR Yugoslavia[3]
4 Belgium
Romania
Sweden
3 Croatia
Greece
Switzerland
Turkey
2 Bulgaria
Hungary
Scotland
1 Austria
Republic of Ireland
Latvia
Norway
Poland
Slovenia

Successor teams according to FIFA and UEFA's records are combined into one entry (denoted by /).

[edit] Total hosts
Hosts Nation Year(s)
2 Belgium 1972, 2000*
2 France 1960, 1984
2 Italy 1968, 1980
1 Austria 2008**
1 England 1996
1 West Germany 1988
1 Netherlands 2000*
1 Poland 2012***
1 Portugal 2004
1 Spain 1964
1 Sweden 1992
1 Switzerland 2008**
1 Ukraine 2012***
1 SFR Yugoslavia 1976

*Belgium and the Netherlands co-hosted the Euro 2000.
**Austria and Switzerland will co-host the Euro 2008.
***Poland and Ukraine will co-host the Euro 2012.

[edit] Overall top goalscorers (final tournaments)
9 goals
Michel Platini
7 goals
Alan Shearer
6 goals
Patrick Kluivert
5 goals
Milan Baroš
Nuno Gomes
Thierry Henry
Jürgen Klinsmann
Savo Milošević
Marco van Basten
Zinedine Zidane

[edit] Trophy
The Henri Delaunay Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the European Football Championship, is named in honor of Henri Delaunay, the first General Secretary of UEFA, who came up with the idea of a European championship but died five years prior to the first tournament in 1960. His son Pierre Delaunay was the person in charge of making the trophy.[4] Since the first tournament it has been awarded for the winning team to keep for four years, until the next tournament.

For the 2008 tournament, the trophy was slightly remodelled making it larger. The trophy, which is made of sterling silver, now weighs 8 kilograms and is 60 centimeters tall. A small figure juggling a ball on the back of the original was removed, as was the marble plinth. The silver base of the trophy had to be enlarged to make it stable. The names of the winning countries that had appeared on the plinth have now been engraved on the back of the trophy. [5] [6]

[edit] See also
European Championship goalscorers
UEFA European Championship Teams of the Tournament
List of European Football Championship national team droughts

[edit] Notes
^ Bulgaria, Romania discussing joint Euro 2020 bid
^ Euro 2020 - La Tchéco-Slovaquie intéressée
^ Does not include the Euro 1992 qualification and disqualification due to international sanctions
^ Michael Harold, 'You won't find a superior trophy', UEFA.com, January 27, 2006
^ New trophy for UEFA EURO 2008, UEFA.com, January 23, 2007
^ http://www.uefa.com/competitions/EURO/news/Kind=1/newsId=389177.html

[edit] External links
UEFA European Championship at uefa.com.
Official Website of the Region Basel - The main venue in Switzerland of the European Football Championship 2008
Sleep-In - Accommodations for visitors during the UEFA European Championship 2008
UEFA European Football Championships v • d • e
France 1960 | Spain 1964 | Italy 1968 | Belgium 1972 | Yugoslavia 1976 | Italy 1980 | France 1984 | West Germany 1988 | Sweden 1992 | England 1996 | Belgium/Netherlands 2000 | Portugal 2004 | Austria/Switzerland 2008 | Poland/Ukraine 2012 | 2016

UEFA European Football Championship qualifying v • d • e
France 1960 | Spain 1964 | Italy 1968 | Belgium 1972 | Yugoslavia 1976 | Italy 1980 | France 1984 | West Germany 1988 | Sweden 1992 | England 1996 | Belgium/Netherlands 2000 | Portugal 2004 | Austria/Switzerland 2008

OFC Champions League

The OFC Champions League is the premier club football competition in Oceania and is the region's equivalent of the UEFA Champions League. It is also known as the O-League[1]. The OFC Champions League has commenced its inaugural season in 2007 and replaced the previous Oceania Club Championship.

Contents [hide]
1 The Oceania Club Championship
2 Format
2.1 Previous Formats
2.2 Oceania Champions League
3 Winners and Runnners Up
3.1 Oceania Champions League
3.2 Oceania Club Championship/Oceania Champions Cup Finals
4 Links
5 References

[edit] The Oceania Club Championship
The recent incarnations of the tournament, especially from 1999 onwards, have been organised by the Oceania Football Confederation in order to determine the Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cups (formerly called Club World Championships), although the Wollongong Wolves did not participate in a Club World Championship due to the cancellation of that particular tournament.

The 2006 tournament was held in New Zealand and won by Auckland City FC; a qualifying tournament was held earlier in Fiji involving the national club champions in relatively weaker nations in football. Recently there have been calls for New Zealand based A-league franchise Wellington Phoenix to join the competition.

It had been proposed that the Oceania champions would not get direct entry to the main round of the 2006 Club World Championship, instead having to play a preliminary knock out game against the host (Japanese) champions for entry into the main tournament[1]. However FIFA president Sepp Blatter was unable to get the necessary support for the new format and as a result Oceania retained a direct entry into the 2006 Club World Championship. However, in March 2007, the FIFA executive committee introduced a qualifying playoff between the 2007 OFC Champions League champion and the host nation's 2007 J.League champion.[2]

[edit] Format

[edit] Previous Formats
The Oceania Club Championships involved playing in at tournament at one location. The clubs played in two groups of four clubs each. The top two clubs from each group played each other in the semi finals. With the semi final winners playing the grand final to decide the winner.

[edit] Oceania Champions League
The tournament involves two groups of three clubs each playing each other home and away. The top of each group then play each other home and away to determine the champion. The champion will then play the champion club of Japan for a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup.

[edit] Winners and Runnners Up

[edit] Oceania Champions League
Season Winner Score Runner-up
2007/08
Details
2007
Details Waitakere United

New Zealand
2 - 2
Away Goals 4R Electrical Ba

Fiji

[edit] Oceania Club Championship/Oceania Champions Cup Finals
Season Winner Score Runner-up Tournament Venue
2006
Details Auckland City FC

(New Zealand) 3 - 1 AS Pirae

(French Polynesia) Albany

(New Zealand)
2004/05
Details Sydney FC

(Australia) 2 - 0 AS Magenta (Nouméa)

(New Caledonia) Papeete

(French Polynesia)
2000/01
Details Wollongong Wolves

(Australia) 1 - 0 Tafea FC

(Vanuatu) Port Moresby

(Papua New Guinea)
1999
Details South Melbourne FC

(Australia) 5 - 1 Nadi

(Fiji) Nadi/Lautoka

(Fiji)
1987
Details Adelaide City

(Australia) 1 - 1
Penalties
4 - 1 Mount Wellington

(New Zealand) Adelaide

(Australia)

[edit] Links
OFC Official Website

[edit] References
^ http://www.oceaniafootball.com/index.cgi?det=1&intArticleID=2024&sID=12
^ Green light for further special projects in Oceania, India and the Caribbean. Retrieved on 2007-04-05.

CONMEBOL

CONMEBOL or CSF (Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol, South American Football Confederation) is the governing body of football in most of South America. It was founded by Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia Gómez. Conmebol teams have won half of all FIFA World Cup tournaments, and two of the top five teams in the FIFA World Rankings are Conmebol members.

Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Member countries
3 Tournaments organized by Conmebol
3.1 Between nations
4 World Cup qualifiers
4.1 Performance at World Cup finals
4.2 Totals (current members)
5 Conmebol presidents
6 External links

[edit] Background
It was founded July 9, 1916, thanks to Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia Gómez who was the driving force for uniting football around the continent. Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile were the founder nations. The confederation was founded during the course of a successful South American football tournament that was taking place in Buenos Aires as part of the commemoration of Argentina's independence centenary [1] (This tournament was retrospectively acknowledged as the first Copa América). Paraguay (1921), Peru (1925), Bolivia (1926), Ecuador (1927), Colombia (1936) and Venezuela (1952) also became members. Today Conmebol is part of FIFA and is in charge of all professional football activities in its member countries. The permanent headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay (near Asunción). The president (until 2006) of the Executive Committee is Dr. Nicolás Leoz.

Even though they are located in South America, Guyana, Suriname and the French département d'outre-mer of French Guiana are not members of Conmebol - for historical, cultural and mainly sporting reasons their national associations are members of CONCACAF.

Among the tournaments conducted by Conmebol are the Copa Libertadores de América (analogous to the UEFA Champions League) and the Copa Sudamericana (analogous to the UEFA Cup), both for club teams, and Copa América for men's national teams.

[edit] Member countries
Argentina - national team - first division - association (created in 1893, co-founded Conmebol in 1916)
Bolivia - national team - first division - association (created in 1925, joined Conmebol in 1926)
Brazil - national team - first division - association (created in 1914, co-founded Conmebol in 1916)
Chile - national team - first division - association (created in 1895, co-founded Conmebol in 1916)
Colombia - national team - first division - association (created in 1924, joined Conmebol in 1936)
Ecuador - national team - first division - association (created in 1925, joined Conmebol in 1927)
Paraguay - national team - first division - association (created in 1906, joined Conmebol in 1921)
Peru - national team - first division - association (created in 1922, joined Conmebol in 1925)
Uruguay - national team - first division - association (created in 1899, co-founded Conmebol in 1916)
Venezuela - national team - first division - association (created in 1926, joined Conmebol in 1952)

[edit] Tournaments organized by Conmebol

[edit] Between nations
Copa América [since 1916]
CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament [defunct]
Sudamericano Femenino [women's championship, since 1991]
South American Under 20 Football Championship
South American Under 17 Football Championship

[edit] World Cup qualifiers
Although Conmebol countries represent only a small fraction of the world, their teams have won half of the World Cup tournaments.

[edit] Performance at World Cup finals
This is the list of the teams that participated of each World Cup. For further information on the qualification process and withdrawals, see the (Q) corresponding links (the first World Cup of 1930 didn't have any qualification process).

Marked in bold are host countries
Year Q Winner Runner-up Third place Fourth place Other
1930 — Uruguay Argentina Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru
1934 Q Argentina, Brazil
1938 Q Brazil
1950 Q Uruguay Brazil Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay
1954 Q Uruguay Brazil
1958 Q Brazil Argentina, Paraguay
1962 Q Brazil Chile Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay
1966 Q Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay
1970 Q Brazil Uruguay Peru
1974 Q Brazil Argentina, Chile, Uruguay
1978 Q Argentina Brazil Peru
1982 Q Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru
1986 Q Argentina Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
1990 Q Argentina Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay
1994 Q Brazil Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia
1998 Q Brazil Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay
2002 Q Brazil Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
2006 Q Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay
2010 Q

[edit] Totals (current members)
18 Brazil (5 wins, 2 runners-up, 2 third places, 1 fourth place)
14 Argentina (2 wins, 2 runners-up)
10 Uruguay (2 wins, 2 fourth places)
7 Chile (1 third place)
Paraguay
4 Colombia
Peru
3 Bolivia
2 Ecuador
0 Venezuela

[edit] Conmebol presidents
Héctor Rivadavia Gómez 1916-1936
Luis O. Salesi 1936-1939
Luis A. Valenzuela 1939-1955
Carlos Dittborn Pinto 1955-1957
José Ramos de Freitas 1957-1959
Fermín Sorhueta 1959-1961
Raúl H. Colombo 1961-1966
Teófilo Salinas Fuller 1966-1986
Nicolás Leoz 1986-present

CONMEBOL

CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football)

CONCACAF
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football
Confederación de Fútbol Asociación de Norte, Centro América y el Caribe

Logo of CONCACAF

CONCACAF member associations are in orange

Formation 1961
Type Sports organisation
Headquarters New York, United States of America
Membership 40 member associations
President Jack A Warner
Website http://www.concacaf.com/
CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) is the continent-wide governing body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Three South American entities, the independent nations of Guyana and Suriname, and the French department of French Guiana, are also members.

A full list of member nations can be seen here.

CONCACAF was founded in its current form in 1961, with the fusion of CCCF and NAFC, and is one of the six continental confederations affiliated with FIFA. Its primary administrative functions are to organize competitions for national teams and clubs, and to conduct World Cup qualifying tournaments.

Contents [hide]
1 World Cup Qualifiers
2 Competitions
2.1 National teams
2.1.1 Confederation
2.1.2 Regional
2.1.3 Beach Soccer
2.1.4 Defunct
2.2 Club teams
2.2.1 Confederation
2.2.2 Regional
2.2.3 Defunct
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] World Cup Qualifiers
See also: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
The following table shows the CONCACAF representatives at each edition of the FIFA World Cup, sorted by first appearance.

Team
1930
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006 Total
Mexico • • • • • • • • • • • • • 13
USA • • • • • • • • 8
Costa Rica • • • 3
El Salvador • • 2
Haiti • 1
Honduras • 1
Canada • 1
Cuba • 1
Jamaica • 1
Trinidad and Tobago • 1
Total 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 32

[edit] Competitions

[edit] National teams
North American Zone

Canada
Mexico
United States
Central American Zone

Belize
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
Caribbean Zone

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Bermuda
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
French Guiana
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guyana
Haiti
Jamaica
Martinique
Montserrat
Netherlands Antilles
Puerto Rico
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint-Martin
Sint Maarten
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
U.S. Virgin Islands

[edit] Confederation
CONCACAF Gold Cup - Premier international cup of CONCACAF region.
CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup - Premier international women's cup of CONCACAF region.
CONCACAF U20 Tournament
CONCACAF Women's U20 Tournament
CONCACAF U17 Tournament
CONCACAF Men Pre-Olympic Tournament
CONCACAF Women Pre-Olympic Tournament

[edit] Regional
UNCAF Nations Cup - International cup for Central America, top 5 qualify for the Gold Cup.
Caribbean Cup - International cup for the Caribbean, top 4 qualify for the Gold Cup.

[edit] Beach Soccer
CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship

[edit] Defunct
NAFC Championship (1947,1949,1990,1991)
CCCF Championship (1941-1961)
CONCACAF Championship (1963-1971)

[edit] Club teams

[edit] Confederation
CONCACAF Champions League - To replace Champions Cup and begin play in 2008.
CONCACAF Champions' Cup - Premier club cup of CONCACAF region.

[edit] Regional
Copa Interclubes UNCAF - Club championship for Central America, top 3 teams qualify for Champions' Cup
CFU Club Championship - Club championship for Caribbean, winner qualifies for Champions' Cup
SuperLiga - Club championship for North America between 8 teams from the FMF (Mexico) and the MLS (USA/Canada), by invitation the first year and by merit from the second year forward. First tournament held in 2007.

[edit] Defunct
CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup Was for teams that won their nations domestic cup competitions; Held from 1991-1998, replaced by CONCACAF Giants Cup.
CONCACAF Giants Cup Was for teams with highest attendance, held in 2001 only.

[edit] See also
UNCAF
CFU
NAFC
CCCF

[edit] External links
Official site
Open Directory Project - CONCACAF directory category
International football v • d • e
FIFA | World Cup | Confederations Cup | U-20 World Cup | U-17 World Cup | Olympics | Asian Games | All-Africa Games | Pan American Games | Island Games | World Rankings | Player of the Year | Teams | Codes

Asia: AFC – Asian Cup
Africa: CAF – Africa Cup of Nations
North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup
South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América
Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup
Europe: UEFA – European Championship
Non-FIFA: NF-Board – VIVA World Cup

North American football tournaments
CONCACAF Gold Cup & Championship | UNCAF Nations Cup | Caribbean Cup

Defunct
NAFC Championship | CCCF Championship

International club football v • d • e
FIFA | Club World Cup | Intercontinental Cup (defunct) | CWC/IC statistics | Player of the Year | Teams

Asia: AFC – Champions League
Africa: CAF – Champions League
North America: CONCACAF – Champions' Cup
South America: CONMEBOL – Copa Libertadores
Oceania: OFC – Champions League
Europe: UEFA – Champions League

North American club football competitions v • d • e
CONCACAF Champions League | CONCACAF Champions' Cup | SuperLiga | Copa Interclubes UNCAF | CFU Club Championship

National Football Associations of North America,
Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) v • d • e
Anguilla | Antigua and Barbuda | Aruba | Bahamas | Barbados | Belize | Bermuda | British Virgin Islands | Canada | Cayman Islands | Costa Rica | Cuba | Dominica | Dominican Republic | El Salvador | French Guiana | Grenada | Guadeloupe | Guatemala | Guyana | Haiti | Honduras | Jamaica | Martinique | Mexico | Montserrat | Netherlands Antilles | Nicaragua | Panama | Puerto Rico | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint-Martin | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Sint Maarten | Suriname | Trinidad and Tobago | Turks and Caicos Islands | U.S. Virgin Islands | U.S.A.

National football teams of North America,
Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) v • d • e
Anguilla • Antigua and Barbuda • Aruba • Bahamas • Barbados • Belize • Bermuda • British Virgin Islands • Canada • Cayman Islands • Costa Rica • Cuba • Dominica • Dominican Republic • El Salvador • French Guiana • Grenada • Guadeloupe • Guatemala • Guyana • Haiti • Honduras • Jamaica • Martinique • Mexico • Montserrat • Netherlands Antilles • Nicaragua • Panama • Puerto Rico • Saint Kitts and Nevis • Saint Lucia • Saint-Martin • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines • Sint Maarten • Suriname • Trinidad and Tobago • Turks and Caicos Islands • U.S. Virgin Islands • United States

AFC Asian Cup

The AFC Asian Cup is a football tournament run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and automatically qualifies for the FIFA Confederations Cup.

The Asian Cup had been held once every four years from 1956 until 2004. However, since the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship were also scheduled in the same year as the Asian Cup (2004, 2008, 2012 etc.), the AFC decided to move their championship to a less crowded cycle. After 2004, the tournament was held in 2007, and will be held every four years henceforth from then.

The Asian cup has been dominated by the top teams in Asia over the years, typically from East Asia or West Asia. Teams such as Korea Republic, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have earned a spot for themselves in the final matches almost every year. Other teams which have achieved success at times include Japan, China, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, and, before the disaffiliation from AFC, Israel.

Map of countries' best resultsThe 2007 tournament was held in the South East Asian nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. This was won by Iraq beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final on 29 July 2007.

Contents [hide]
1 Results
1.1 Summaries
1.2 Successful national teams
1.3 Performances by host nations
1.4 Best performances by region
2 Awards
2.1 Most Valuable Players
2.2 Top scorers
3 Records and statistics
3.1 Overall top goalscorers
3.2 Most tournaments appeared
3.3 AFC Asian Cup winning managers
3.4 Score
4 Participating nations
5 References and footnotes
6 External links

[edit] Results

[edit] Summaries
Year Host Final Third Place Match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd Place Score 4th Place
1956
Details Hong Kong
Korea Republic [1]
Israel
Hong Kong [1]
South Vietnam
1960
Details South Korea
Korea Republic [1]
Israel
Taiwan [1]
South Vietnam
1964
Details Israel
Israel [1]
India
Korea Republic [1]
Hong Kong
1968
Details Iran
Iran [1]
Myanmar
Israel [1]
Taiwan
1972
Details Thailand
Iran 2–1
after extra time
Korea Republic
Thailand 2–2
after extra time
(5–3)
on penalties
Khmer Republic
1976
Details Iran
Iran 1–0
Kuwait
China PR 1–0
Iraq
1980
Details Kuwait
Kuwait 3–0
Korea Republic
Iran 3–0
Korea DPR
1984
Details Singapore
Saudi Arabia 2–0
China PR
Kuwait 1–1
(5–3)
on penalties
Iran
1988
Details Qatar
Saudi Arabia 0–0
after extra time
(4–3)
on penalties
Korea Republic
Iran 0–0
after extra time
(3–0)
on penalties
China PR
1992
Details Japan
Japan 1–0
Saudi Arabia
China PR 1–1
(4–3)
on penalties
United Arab Emirates
1996
Details United Arab Emirates
Saudi Arabia 0–0
after extra time
(4–2)
on penalties
United Arab Emirates
Iran 1–1
(3–2)
on penalties
Kuwait
2000
Details Lebanon
Japan 1–0
Saudi Arabia
Korea Republic 1–0
China PR
2004
Details China
Japan 3–1
China PR
Iran 4–2
Bahrain
2007
Details Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Vietnam
Iraq 1–0
Saudi Arabia
Korea Republic 0–0
after extra time
(6–5)
on penalties
Japan
2011
Details Qatar

[edit] Successful national teams
Team Champions Runners-up Third-place Fourth-place
Saudi Arabia 3 (1984, 1988, 1996) 3 (1992, 2000, 2007) -
Iran 3 (1968*, 1972, 1976*) - 4 (1980, 1988, 1996, 2004) 1 (1984)
Japan 3 (1992*, 2000, 2004) - - 1 (2007)
Korea Republic 2 (1956, 1960*) 3 (1972, 1980, 1988) 3 (1964, 2000, 2007) -
Israel# 1 (1964*) 2 (1956, 1960) 1 (1968) -
Kuwait 1 (1980*) 1 (1976) 1 (1984) 1 (1996)
Iraq 1 (2007) - - 1 (1976)
China PR - 2 (1984, 2004*) 2 (1976, 1992) 2 (1988, 2000)
United Arab Emirates - 1 (1996*) - 1 (1992)
India - 1 (1964) - -
Myanmar - 1 (1968) - -
Chinese Taipei - - 1 (1960) 1 (1968)
Hong Kong - - 1 (1956*) 1 (1964)
Thailand - - 1 (1972*) -
South Vietnam - - - 2 (1956,1960)
Bahrain - - - 1 (2004)
Cambodia - - - 1 (1972)
Korea DPR - - - 1 (1980)

* = as hosts
# = Israel was expelled from the AFC in the early 1970s
the AFC asian cup hosted in Beirut, Lebanon

[edit] Performances by host nations
Year Host nation Finish
1956 Hong Kong Third place
1960 Korea Republic Champions
1964 Israel Champions
1968 Iran Champions
1972 Thailand Third place
1976 Iran Champions
1980 Kuwait Champions
1984 Singapore Group stage
1988 Qatar Group stage
1992 Japan Champions
1996 United Arab Emirates Runner-up
2000 Lebanon Group stage
2004 China PR Runner-up
2007 Vietnam
Indonesia
Thailand
Malaysia Quarter-final
Group stage
Group stage
Group stage

[edit] Best performances by region
Federation (Region) Best performance
WAFF (West Asia) 8 titles, won by Iran (3), Saudi Arabia (3), Kuwait (1), Iraq (1)
EAFF (East Asia) 5 titles, won by Japan (3), Korea Republic (2)
AFF (Southeast Asia) Runner-up (Myanmar, 1968)
SAFF (Central and South Asia) Runner-up (India, 1964)

[edit] Awards

[edit] Most Valuable Players
Year Player
1984 Jia Xiuquan
1988 Kim Joo-Sung
1992 Kazuyoshi Miura
1996 Khodadad Azizi
2000 Hiroshi Nanami
2004 Shunsuke Nakamura
2007 Younis Mahmoud

[edit] Top scorers
Year Player Goals
1956 Nahum Stelmach 4
1960 Cho Yoon-Ok 4
1964 Mordechai Spiegler 2
1968 Homayoun Behzadi
Giora Spiegel
Moshe Romano 4
1972 Park Ee-Chon 6
1976 Nasser Nouraei
Gholam Hossein Mazloomi
Fatehi Kamil 3
1980 Behtash Fariba
Choi Soon-Ho 7
1984 Jia Xiuquan
Nasser Mohammadkhani
Shahrokh Baiani 3
1988 Lee Tae-Ho 3
1992 Fahad Al-Bishi 3
1996 Ali Daei 8
2000 Lee Dong-Gook 6
2004 A'ala Hubail
Ali Karimi 5
2007 Younis Mahmoud 4

[edit] Records and statistics

[edit] Overall top goalscorers
Goals Scorers
14 Ali Daei
10 Lee Dong-Gook
9 Naohiro Takahara
8 Jassem Al Houwaidi
7 Choi Soon-Ho, Behtash Fariba, Hossein Kalani
6 Yasser Al-Qahtani
5 Younis Mahmoud

[edit] Most tournaments appeared
The tabulated below is the players who had appeared more than four times in the history of tournament.

Player App. Years
Mahdi Mahdavikia 4 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007
Li Ming 4 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
Adnan Al-Talyani 4 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996

[edit] AFC Asian Cup winning managers
Year Head coach Champions
1956 Lee Yoo-Hyung Korea Republic
1960 Wui Hye-Deok Korea Republic
1964 Gyula Mándi Israel
1968 Mahmoudi Bayati Iran
1972 Mohamed Ranjbar Iran
1976 Heshmat Mohajerani Iran
1980 Carlos Alberto Parreira Kuwait
1984 Khalil Al-Zayani Saudi Arabia
1988 Carlos Alberto Parreira Saudi Arabia
1992 Hans Ooft Japan
1996 Nelo Vingada Saudi Arabia
2000 Philippe Troussier Japan
2004 Zico Japan
2007 Jorvan Vieira Iraq

[edit] Score
Most goals scored in one match, one team: Iran 8–0 South Yemen in 1976
Most goals scored in one match, both teams: Japan 8–1 Uzbekistan in 2000.

[edit] Participating nations
Participating nations by number of final tournament appearances:

11 times
Iran
Korea Republic
9 times
China PR
8 times
Kuwait
7 times
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
6 times
Iraq
Japan
Thailand
4 times
Indonesia
Israel
Syria
Uzbekistan
3 times
Bahrain
Hong Kong
Malaysia
2 times
Chinese Taipei
India
Korea DPR
Oman
South Vietnam
1 time
Australia
Bangladesh
Myanmar
Cambodia
Jordan
Lebanon
Singapore
Vietnam
Turkmenistan

[edit] References and footnotes
^ a b c d e f g h Final tournaments in round-robin format

[edit] External links
Official Website for 2007 AFC Asian Cup
RSSSF archive
International football v • d • e
FIFA | World Cup | Confederations Cup | U-20 World Cup | U-17 World Cup | Olympics | Asian Games | All-Africa Games | Pan American Games | Island Games | World Rankings | Player of the Year | Teams | Codes

Asia: AFC – Asian Cup
Africa: CAF – Africa Cup of Nations
North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup
South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América
Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup
Europe: UEFA – European Championship
Non-FIFA: NF-Board – VIVA World Cup

AFC Asian Cup v • d • e
Hong Kong 1956 | South Korea 1960 | Israel 1964 | Iran 1968 | Thailand 1972 | Iran 1976 | Kuwait 1980 | Singapore 1984 | Qatar 1988 | Japan 1992 | U.A.E. 1996 | Lebanon 2000 | China 2004 | Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/Vietnam 2007 | Qatar 2011

AFC Asian Cup squads v • d • e
Japan 1992 | United Arab Emirates 1996 | Lebanon 2000 | China 2004 | Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/Vietnam 2007

AFC football v • d • e
Asian Cup | Challenge Cup | Youth Championship | U-17 Championship | Futsal Championship

AFC clubs football v • d • e
Champions League | Cup | President's Cup | Cup Winners Cup (defunct) | Super Cup (defunct)

AFC women's football v • d • e
Asian Cup | U-19 Championship | U-17 Championship

Africa Cup of Nations

The Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as the African Nations Cup (ANC) is the main international association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been held every two years.

In 1957 there were only three participating nations: Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. South Africa were to compete, but were disqualified due to the apartheid policies of the government then in power. Since then, the tournament has grown, making it necessary to hold a qualifying tournament. The number of participants in the final tournament reached 16 in 1998 (16 teams were to compete in 1996 but Nigeria withdrew, reducing the field to 15), and since then, the format has been unchanged, with the sixteen teams being drawn into four groups of four teams each, with the top two teams of each group advancing to a "knock-out" stage.

Egypt is the most successful nation in the cup's history, winning the tournament a record five times. Ghana and Cameroon have won four titles each. Three different trophies have been awarded during the tournament's history, with Ghana and Cameroon winning the first two versions to keep after each of them won a tournament three times. The current trophy was first awarded in 2002.

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 1950s-60s: Early growth of the ANC competition
1.2 1960s: Ghanaian domination
1.3 1970s: A decade of champions
1.4 1980s: Cameroonian and Nigerian domination
1.5 1990s: The arrival of South Africa
1.6 2000s: Cameroon's consecutive titles
1.7 Future
2 Format
2.1 Qualification
3 Trophy
4 Results
5 Statistics
5.1 Most championships won
5.2 Most appearances in the final match
5.3 Tournament appearances
5.4 Most tournaments hosted
5.5 Overall top goalscorers
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1950s-60s: Early growth of the ANC competition
The origins of the African Nations Cup date back to June 1956, when the creation of the Confederation of African Football was proposed during the third FIFA congress in Lisbon. There were immediate plans for a continental nations tournament to be held, and in February 1957, the first African Cup of Nations took place in Khartoum, Sudan. There was no qualification for this tournament, the field being made up of the four founding nations of CAF (Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Africa). South Africa's refusal to send a multi-racial squad to the competition led to its disqualification and handed Ethiopia a bye straight to the final.[1] As a result, only two matches were played, with Egypt being crowned as the first continental champion after defeating hosts Sudan in the semifinal and Ethiopia in the final. Two years later, Egypt hosted the second ANC in Cairo with the participation of these same three teams. Host and defending champions Egypt repeated as cup winners, this time downing Sudan.

The field grew to include nine teams for the third ANC in 1962 in Addis Ababa, and for the first time there was a qualification round to determine which four teams would play for the title. Host Ethiopia and reigning champion Egypt received automatic berths, and were joined in the final four by Nigeria and Tunisia. Egypt made its third consecutive final appearance, but it was Ethiopia that emerged as victors, after first beating Tunisia and then downing Egypt in extra time.

[edit] 1960s: Ghanaian domination
In 1963, Ghana made its first appearance as it hosted the event, and won the title after beating Sudan in the final. They repeated as champions two years later in Tunisia – equalling Egypt as two-time winners – with a squad that included only two returning members from the 1963 team.[2]

The 1968 competition's final tournament format expanded to include eight of the 22 teams entered in the preliminary rounds. The qualifying teams were distributed in two groups of four to play single round-robin tournaments, with the top two teams of each group advancing to semifinals, a system that remained in use for the finals until 1992. The Democratic Republic of Congo won its first title, beating Ghana in the final. Starting with the 1968 tournament, the competition has been regularly held every two years in even numbered years. Cote d'Ivoire forward Laurent Pokou led the 1968 and 1970 tournaments in scoring, with six and eight goals respectively, and his total of 14 goals remained the all-time record until 2008. Play was covered for television for the first time during the 1970 tournament in Sudan,[2] as the hosts lifted the trophy after defeating Ghana – who were playing their fourth consecutive final.

[edit] 1970s: A decade of champions
Six different nations won titles from 1970 to 1980: Sudan, Congo-Brazzaville, Zaire, Morocco, Ghana, and Nigeria. Zaire's second title in the 1974 edition (they won their first as the Democratic Republic of Congo) came after facing Zambia in the final. For the first and only time to date in the history of the competition, the match had to be replayed as the first contest between the two sides ended in a 2-2 draw after extra time. The final was re-staged two days later with Zaire winning 2-0. Forward Mulamba Ndaye scored all four of Zaire's goals in these two matches: he was also the top scorer of the tournament with nine goals, setting a single-tournament record that remains unmatched. Three months earlier, Zaire had become the first black African nation to qualify to the FIFA World Cup. Morocco won their first title in the 1976 ANC held in Ethiopia and Ghana took its third championship in 1978, becoming the first nation to win three titles. In 1980, Nigeria hosted the event and beat Algeria to capture its first honours.

[edit] 1980s: Cameroonian and Nigerian domination
Ghana's fourth continental title came in the 1982 cup tournament; they beat Algeria in the semifinals in extra time, and faced host Libya in the final. The match ended in a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes and Ghana won the penalty shootout to become champions. Cameroon won their first title two years later by beating Nigeria and in the 1986 cup they faced Egypt – absent from the final since 1962 – with Egypt winning the title on penalty kicks. Cameroon reached its third consecutive final in the 1988 tournament and won their second championship by repeating their 1984 victory over Nigeria. In 1990, Nigeria lost once again as they made their third final appearance in four tournaments, this time falling to Algeria.

[edit] 1990s: The arrival of South Africa
The 1992 Cup of Nations expanded the number of final tournament participants to 12; the teams were divided into four groups of three, with the top two teams of each group advancing to quarterfinals. Ghanaian midfielder Abedi "Pelé" Ayew, who scored three goals, was named the best player of the tournament after his contributions helped Ghana reach the final; he was, however, suspended for that match and Ghana lost to Cote d'Ivoire in a penalty shootout that saw each side make 11 attempts to determine the winner. Cote d'Ivoire set a record for the competition by holding each of their opponents scoreless in the six matches of the final tournament.

The 12-team, three-group format was used again two years later, where hosts Tunisia were humiliated by their first round elimination. Nigeria, who had just qualified to the World Cup for the first time in their history, won the tournament, beating Zambia, who a year before had been struck by disaster when most of their national squad died in a plane crash while traveling to play a 1994 World Cup qualification match. Nigerian forward Rashidi Yekini, who had led the 1992 tournament with four goals, repeated as the top scorer with five goals.

South Africa hosted the 20th ANC competition in 1996, marking their first ever appearance after a decades long ban was lifted with the end of apartheid in the country and a failed attempt to qualify in 1994. The number of final round participants in 1996 was expanded to the current 16, split into four groups. However, the actual number of teams playing in the final was only 15 as Nigeria withdrew from the tournament at the final moment for political reasons.[3] The Bafana Bafana won their first title on home soil, defeating Tunisia in the final. South African captain Neil Tovey became the first white player to raise the trophy.[4]

The South Africans would reach the final again two years later in Burkina Faso, but were unable to defend their title, losing to Egypt who claimed their fourth cup.

[edit] 2000s: Cameroon's consecutive titles
The 2000 edition was hosted jointly by Ghana and Nigeria, who replaced the originally designated host Zimbabwe. Following a 2-2 draw after extra time in the final, Cameroon defeated Nigeria on penalty kicks. In 2002, the Indomitable Lions became the first nation to win consecutive titles since Ghana had done it in the 1960s. Again via penalty kicks, the Cameroonians beat first-time finalists Senegal, who also debuted in the World Cup later that year. Both finalists were eliminated in quarter finals two years later in Tunisia, where the hosts won their first title, beating Morocco 2-1 in the final. The 2006 tournament was also won by the hosts, Egypt, who reached a continental-record fifth title. The 2008 tournament is hosted by Ghana.

[edit] Future
Ahead of the 2008 African Cup of Nations several European clubs called for a rethink of the tournament's schedule. As it takes place during the European season, players who are involved miss several matches for their clubs[5]. In January 2008 Fifa president Sepp Blatter announced that he wanted the tournament to be held in either June or July by 2016, to fit in the international calendar. This would preclude many countries in central and west Africa from hosting the competition (as these months occur during their wet season) and the tournament would have to be moved to odd-numbered years so as not to clash with the World Cup.[6]

[edit] Format

[edit] Qualification
Since the 1962 tournament, qualification matches have been held to determine the participants for the finals. From 1962 to 1990 the qualification matches were generally two-legged knockout ties, with the number of rounds depending upon the number of participants. From 1994 onwards teams attempting to qualify have been divided into groups, with teams playing each other on a round robin basis. Until 2006 the title holders and tournament hosts qualified for the finals automatically; from 2008 only the hosts qualify automatically. The nature of the qualification groups varies from tournament to tournament. As of the 2008 tournament, qualification consists of eleven groups of four teams and one group of three teams. Each group winner qualifies, along with the three runners-up with the best records.

This short section requires expansion.

[edit] Trophy
Throughout the history of the Nations Cup, three different trophies have been awarded to the winners of the competition. The original trophy, made of silver, was the "Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy", which was named after the first CAF president, the Egyptian Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem. As the first winner of three Nations Cup tournaments, Ghana obtained the right to permanently hold the trophy in 1978.[7]

The second trophy was awarded from 1980 to 2000, and it was named "Trophy of African Unity"[8] or "African Unity Cup".[7] It was given by the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa to the CAF prior to the 1980 tournament and it was a cylindrical piece with the Olympic rings over a map of the continent engraved on it. It sat on a squared base and had stylized triangular handles. Cameroon won the Unity Cup indefinitely after they became three-time champions in 2000.

In 2001, the third trophy was revealed, a gold-plated cup designed and made in Italy. Cameroon, permanent holders of the previous trophy, were the first nation to be awarded the new trophy after they won the 2002 edition.

[edit] Results
Year Host nation Final Third Place Match
Champion Score Second Place Third Place Score Fourth Place
1957
Details Sudan
Egypt 4 - 0
Ethiopia
Sudan ( South Africa disqualified)(1)
1959
Details United Arab Republic
United Arab Republic 2 - 1(2)
Sudan
Ethiopia (only three teams participated)
1962
Details Ethiopia
Ethiopia 4 - 2
aet
United Arab Republic
Tunisia 3 - 0
Uganda
1963
Details Ghana
Ghana 3 - 0
Sudan
United Arab Republic 3 - 0
Ethiopia
1965
Details Tunisia
Ghana 3 - 2
aet
Tunisia
Côte d'Ivoire 1 - 0
Senegal
1968
Details Ethiopia
Congo DR 1 - 0
Ghana
Côte d'Ivoire 1 - 0
Ethiopia
1970
Details Sudan
Sudan 1 - 0
Ghana
United Arab Republic 3 - 1
Côte d'Ivoire
1972
Details Cameroon
Congo 3 - 2
Mali
Cameroon 5 - 2
Zaire
1974
Details Egypt
Zaire 2 - 2 aet
2 - 0 replay
Zambia
Egypt 4 - 0
Congo
1976
Details Ethiopia
Morocco n/a(3)
Guinea
Nigeria n/a(3)
Egypt
1978
Details Ghana
Ghana 2 - 0
Uganda
Nigeria 2 - 0(4)
Tunisia
1980
Details Nigeria
Nigeria 3 - 0
Algeria
Morocco 2 - 0
Egypt
1982
Details Libya
Ghana 1 - 1 aet
(7 - 6) ps
Libya
Zambia 2 - 0
Algeria
1984
Details Côte d'Ivoire
Cameroon 3 - 1
Nigeria
Algeria 3 - 1
Egypt
1986
Details Egypt
Egypt 0 - 0 aet
(5 - 4) ps
Cameroon
Côte d'Ivoire 3 - 2
Morocco
1988
Details Morocco
Cameroon 1 - 0
Nigeria
Algeria 1 - 1 aet
(4 - 3) ps
Morocco
1990
Details Algeria
Algeria 1 - 0
Nigeria
Zambia 1 - 0
Senegal
1992
Details Senegal
Côte d'Ivoire 0 - 0 aet
(11 - 10) ps
Ghana
Nigeria 2 - 1
Cameroon
1994
Details Tunisia
Nigeria 2 - 1
Zambia
Côte d'Ivoire 3 - 1
Mali
1996
Details South Africa
South Africa 2 - 0
Tunisia
Zambia 1 - 0
Ghana
1998
Details Burkina Faso
Egypt 2 - 0
South Africa
Congo DR 4 - 4(5)
(4 - 1) ps
Burkina Faso
2000
Details Ghana &
Nigeria
Cameroon 2 - 2 aet
(4 - 3) ps
Nigeria
South Africa 2 - 2 aet
(4 - 3) ps
Tunisia
2002
Details Mali
Cameroon 0 - 0 aet
(3 - 2) ps
Senegal
Nigeria 1 - 0
Mali
2004
Details Tunisia
Tunisia 2 - 1
Morocco
Nigeria 2 - 1
Mali
2006
Details Egypt
Egypt 0 - 0 aet
(4 - 2) ps
Côte d'Ivoire
Nigeria 1 - 0
Senegal
2008
Details Ghana
2010
Details Angola
2012
Details Gabon / Equatorial Guinea
2014
Details Libya

(1) In 1957, South Africa was disqualified from the tournament due to Apartheid.
(2) In 1959, the three teams played each other once. In the last game of the tournament, Egypt's 2-1 victory over Sudan made Egypt champions
(3) There was no official final match in 1976, as the tournament was decided in a final group contested by the last four teams.
(4) In 1978, third place was awarded to Nigeria 2-0 after Tunisia walked off with the third-place match tied 1-1 in the 42nd minute.
(5) No extra time was played.

Key:
aet – after extra time
ps – after penalty shootout

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Most championships won

Map of the number of championships in African Cup of NationsWins Nation Year(s)
5 times Egypt 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006
4 times Ghana 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982
4 times Cameroon 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002
2 times Congo DR 1968, 1974
2 times Nigeria 1980, 1994
1 time Ethiopia 1962
1 time Congo 1972
1 time Côte d'Ivoire 1992
1 time Algeria 1990
1 time Morocco 1976
1 time South Africa 1996
1 time Sudan 1970
1 time Tunisia 2004

[edit] Most appearances in the final match
Appearances Nation
7 Ghana
6 Egypt
Nigeria
5 Cameroon
3 Tunisia
Sudan
2 Algeria
Ethiopia
Morocco
Côte d'Ivoire
South Africa
Zambia
Congo DR (twice as Zaire)
1 Congo
Mali
Senegal
Uganda
Guinea
Libya

[edit] Tournament appearances
Appearances Nation
21 Egypt
17 Côte d'Ivoire
16 Ghana
15 Congo DR (seven times as Zaire)
Nigeria
Cameroon
13 Algeria
Morocco
Tunisia
Zambia
11 Senegal
9 Ethiopia
Guinea
7 South Africa
Sudan
6 Burkina Faso
Congo
Togo
5 Kenya
Mali
Uganda
4 Angola
3 Gabon
Mozambique
2 Benin
Liberia
Libya
Namibia
Sierra Leone
Zimbabwe
Somalia
1 Malawi
Mauritius
Rwanda
Tanzania

[edit] Most tournaments hosted
Hosts Nation Year(s)
4 times Egypt 1959, 1974, 1986, 2006
4 times Ghana 1963, 1978, 2000^, 2008
3 times Ethiopia 1962, 1968, 1976
3 times Tunisia 1965, 1994, 2004
2 times Libya 1982, 2014*
2 times Nigeria 1980, 2000^
2 times Sudan 1957, 1970
1 time Algeria 1990
1 time Burkina Faso 1998
1 time Cameroon 1972
1 time Côte d'Ivoire 1984
1 time Mali 2002
1 time Morocco 1988
1 time Senegal 1992
1 time South Africa 1996
1 time Angola 2010*
1 time Gabon 2012*^
1 time Equatorial Guinea 2012*^

* Yet to take place.
^ Co-host.

[edit] Overall top goalscorers
Goals Scorers
16 Samuel Eto'o
14 Laurent Pokou
13 Rashidi Yekini
12 Hassan El-Shazly
11 Patrick Mboma, Hossam Hassan
10 Francileudo Santos, Mengistu Worku, Joel Tiéhi, Mulamba Ndaye, Kalusha Bwalya
9 Abdoulaye Traoré
8 Wilberforce Kwadwo Mfum
7 Ali Abugresha, Taher Abouzaid, Roger Milla, Benni McCarthy, Jay-Jay Okocha

[edit] See also
List of football (soccer) competitions

[edit] References
^ news.bbc.co.uk. African Nations Cup - How it all began. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
^ a b news.bbc.co.uk. The early years. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
^ Mark Gleeson, BBC Sport, Cape Town. SA to meet Nigeria. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
^ news.bbc.co.uk. African Cup of Nations: 1980-2002. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
^ news.bbc.co.uk. African Nations Cup - Possible changes. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-12-14.
^ "Blatter wants Cup of Nations move", BBC Sport, 2008-01-18. Retrieved on 2008-01-18.
^ a b news.bbc.co.uk. Nations Cup trophy revealed. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
^ FIFA.com. The Great Adventure of African Football

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Referee

Referee (football)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about a football (soccer) referee. For an American football referee, see Official (American football).

A referee (right) making a decision during the match Israel-Andorra in the McDOS GoffertstadionA referee presides over a game of association football. The referee has "full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed" (Law 5), and the referee's decisions regarding facts connected with play are final, so far as the result of the game is concerned.

The referee is assisted by two assistant referees (formerly known as linesmen), and in some matches also by a fourth official. The match officials utilise a positioning system known as the diagonal system of control.

The vast majority of referees are amateur, though they are usually paid a small fee and/or expenses for their services. However, in some countries a limited number of referees - who mainly officiate in their country's top division - are employed full-time by their national associations and receive a retainer at the start of every season plus match fees.

Referees are licensed and trained by the same National organizations that are members of FIFA. Each National organization recommends its top officials to FIFA to have the additional honor of being named a FIFA official. International games between National teams require FIFA officials. Otherwise, the local National organization determines the manner of training, ranking and advancement of officials from the youngest youth games through professional matches.

Contents [hide]
1 Powers and duties
2 Whistle use
3 Uniform
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Powers and duties

The referee now carries a yellow card and a red card, for cautioning and sending off players.
The referee's powers and duties are described by Law 5 of the Laws of the Game. [1] These include:

enforcing the Laws of the Game;
controlling the match in co-operation with the assistant referees and, where applicable, with the fourth official;
ensuring that any ball used meets the requirements of Law 2;
ensuring that the players' equipment meets the requirements of Law 4;
acting as timekeeper and keeping a record of the match;
stopping, suspending or terminating the match, at his discretion, for any infringements of the Laws;
stopping, suspending or terminating the match because of outside interference of any kind;
stopping the match if, in his opinion, a player is seriously injured and ensuring that he is removed from the field of play. An injured player may only return to the field of play after the match has restarted;
allowing play to continue until the ball is out of play if a player is, in his opinion, only slightly injured;

[edit] Whistle use
Referees use a whistle to indicate the commencement or restart of play, to stop or delay play due to an infringement or injury, or to indicate that time has expired in the half. The whistle is an important tool for the Referee along with verbal, body and eye communication. The use of whistles is not mandated by the Laws of the Game.

In fact, the whistle was not mentioned in the Laws of the Game (LOTG) until very recently. The main LOTG simply mentions the referee should signal certain events. Only in 2007, when the IFAB greatly expanded the LOTG Additional Instructions section, did they mention the whistle. In fact, they wrote up a full page of advice on how and when the whistle should be used as a communication and control mechanisms by the Referee.

Before the introduction of the whistle, referees indicated their decisions by waving a handkerchief. The whistles that were first adopted by referees were made by Joseph Hudson (inventor) at Mills Munitions in Birmingham, England. The ACME Whistle Company (based at Mills Munitions Factory) first began to mass produce pea whistles in the 1870s for the Metropolitan Police Service. It is frequently stated the referee's whistle was first used in a game between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Norfolk in 1878; however no such fixture is known to have taken place between the two clubs in that year.

[edit] Uniform
Modern day referees and their assistants wear a uniform comprised of a jersey, shorts and socks: until the 1950s it was more common for a referee to wear a blazer than a jersey. Traditionally that uniform was almost always all black, unless one of the teams was wearing a very dark jersey in which case the referee would wear another colour of jersey (usually red) to distinguish himself from both teams. At the 1994 World Cup finals, new jerseys were introduced that gave officials a choice of burgundy, yellow or white, and at the same time the creation of the FA Premier League in England saw referees wear green jerseys: both changes were motivated by television considerations. Since then, most referees have worn either yellow or black, but the colours and styles adopted by individual associations vary greatly. For international contests under the supervision of FIFA, Adidas uniforms are worn because Adidas is the current sponsor. FIFA allows referees to wear four colors, black, red, yellow and blue*.

Blue was only worn during the 2006 World Cup in Germany

फूत्बल्ल history

Football is the name given to a number of different team sports. The most popular of these sports world-wide is association football, also known as soccer. The English language word "football" is also applied to gridiron football (which includes American football and Canadian football), Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby football (rugby league and rugby union), and related games. Each of these codes (specific sets of rules, or the games defined by them) is referred to as "football".

These games involve:

a large spherical or prolate spheroid ball, which is itself called a football.
a team scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line.
the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team.
players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying and/or passing the ball by hand.
goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.
In most codes, there are offside rules restricting the movement of players and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several codes include points are mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line and players receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.

Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in England.

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.1.1 Ancient games
2.1.2 Medieval and early modern Europe
2.1.3 Calcio Fiorentino
2.1.4 Official disapproval and attempts to ban football
2.2 Establishment of modern codes
2.2.1 English public schools
2.2.2 The first clubs
2.2.3 Cambridge rules
2.2.4 The first modern balls
2.2.5 Sheffield rules
2.2.6 Australian rules
2.2.7 The Football Association
2.2.8 Rugby football
2.2.9 North American football codes
2.2.10 Gaelic football
2.2.11 The split in Rugby football
2.2.12 The globalisation of Association football
2.2.13 The reform of American football
2.2.14 Further divergence of the two rugby codes
3 Today
3.1 Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries
3.2 Present day codes and "families"
3.2.1 Association football and descendants
3.2.2 Rugby school football and descendants
3.2.3 Irish and Australian varieties
3.2.4 Surviving Mediæval ball games
3.2.4.1 British Shrove Tuesday games
3.2.4.2 Outside the UK
3.2.5 Surviving public school games
3.2.6 Recent inventions and hybrid games
3.2.7 Tabletop games and other recreations
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Etymology
Main article: Football (word)
While it is widely believed that the word "football" (or "foot ball") originated in reference to the action of a foot kicking a ball, there is a rival explanation, which has it that football originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot.[1] These games were usually played by peasants, as opposed to the horse-riding sports often played by aristocrats. While there is no conclusive evidence for this explanation, the word football has always implied a variety of games played on foot, not just those that involved kicking a ball. In some cases, the word football has even been applied to games which have specifically outlawed kicking the ball.

A 15th century woodcut depiction of cuju, from a Ming Dynasty edition of the Water Margin.
A revived version of Kemari being played at the Tanzan Shrine.
History

Early history

Ancient games
Documented evidence of what is possibly the oldest activity resembling football can be found in a Chinese military manual written during the Warring States Period in about the 476 BC-221 BC. It describes a practice known as cuju (蹴鞠, literally "kick ball"), which originally involved kicking a leather ball through a hole in a piece of silk cloth strung between two 30-foot poles. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), cuju games were standardized and rules were established. Variations of this game later spread to Japan and Korea, known as kemari and chuk-guk respectively. By the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907), the feather-stuffed ball was replaced by an air-filled ball and cuju games had become professionalized, with many players making a living playing cuju. Also, two different types of goal posts emerged: One was made by setting up posts with a net between them and the other consisted of just one goal post in the middle of the field. FIFA, the governing body of association football (soccer), has acknowledged that China was the birthplace of its game.[2]

The Japanese version of cuju is kemari (蹴鞠), and was adopted during the Asuka period from the Chinese. This is known to have been played within the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto from about 600 AD. In kemari several people stand in a circle and kick a ball to each other, trying not to let the ball drop to the ground (much like keepie uppie). The game appears to have died out sometime before the mid-19th century. It was revived in 1903 and is now played at a number of festivals.

The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman writer Cicero describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber's shop. The Roman game harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a team game known as "επισκυρος" (episkyros) or pheninda that is mentioned by Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388-311BC) and later referred to by Clement of Alexandria. These games appears to have resembled rugby.

An illustration from the 1850s of Australian Aboriginal hunter gatherers. Children in the background are playing a football game, possibly Marn Grook.[3]There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, and/or prehistoric ball games, played by indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world. For example, in 1586, men from a ship commanded by an English explorer named John Davis, went ashore to play a form of football with Inuit (Eskimo) people in Greenland.[4] There are later accounts of an Inuit game played on ice, called Aqsaqtuk. Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the ball through each other team's line and then at a goal. In 1610, William Strachey of the Jamestown settlement, Virginia recorded a game played by Native Americans, called Pahsaheman. In Victoria, Australia, indigenous people played a game called Marn Grook ("ball game"). An 1878 book by Robert Brough-Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, quotes a man called Richard Thomas as saying, in about 1841, that he had witnessed Aboriginal people playing the game: "Mr Thomas describes how the foremost player will drop kick a ball made from the skin of a possum and how other players leap into the air in order to catch it." It is widely believed that Marn Grook had an influence on the development of Australian rules football (see below).

Games played in Central America with rubber balls by indigenous peoples are also well-documented as existing since before this time, but these had more similarities to basketball or volleyball, and since their influence on modern football games is minimal, most do not class them as football.

These games and others may well go far back into antiquity and may have influenced later football games. However, the main sources of modern football codes appear to lie in western Europe, especially England.

Medieval and early modern Europe
Further information: Medieval football
The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. The game played in England at this time may have arrived with the Roman occupation, but there is little evidence to indicate this. Reports of a game played in Brittany, Normandy, and Picardy, known as La Soule or Choule, suggest that some of these football games could have arrived in England as a result of the Norman Conquest.

An illustration of so-called "mob football".These forms of football, sometimes referred to as "mob football", would be played between neighbouring towns and villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams, who would clash in a heaving mass of people, struggling to move an item such as an inflated pig's bladder, to particular geographical points, such as their opponents' church. Shrovetide games have survived into the modern era in a number of English towns (see below).

The first detailed description of football in England was given by William FitzStephen in about 1174-1183. He described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:

After lunch all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents.[5]
Most of the very early references to the game speak simply of "ball play" or "playing at ball". This reinforces the idea that the games played at the time did not necessarily involve a ball being kicked.

In 1314, Nicholas de Farndone, Lord Mayor of London issued a decree banning football in the French used by the English upper classes at the time. A translation reads: "[f]orasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large foot balls [rageries de grosses pelotes de pee] in the fields of the public from which many evils might arise which God forbid: we command and forbid on behalf of the king, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future." This is the earliest reference to football.

The earliest mention of a ball game that involves kicking was in 1321, in Shouldham, Norfolk: "[d]uring the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his... ran against him and wounded himself".[6]

In 1363, King Edward III of England issued a proclamation banning "...handball, football, or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other such idle games", showing that "football" — whatever its exact form in this case — was being differentiated from games involving other parts of the body, such as handball.

King Henry IV of England gives the earliest documented use of the English word "football", in 1409, when he issued a proclamation forbidding the levying of money for "foteball".[6][7]

There is also an account in Latin from the end of the 15th century of football being played at Cawston, Nottinghamshire. This is the first description of a "kicking game" and the first description of dribbling: "[t]he game at which they had met for common recreation is called by some the foot-ball game. It is one in which young men, in country sport, propel a huge ball not by throwing it into the air but by striking it and rolling it along the ground, and that not with their hands but with their feet... kicking in opposite directions" The chronicler gives the earliest reference to a football field, stating that: "[t]he boundaries have been marked and the game had started.[6]

Other firsts in the mediæval and early modern eras:

"a football", in the sense of a ball rather than a game, was first mentioned in 1486.[7] This reference is in Dame Juliana Berners' Book of St Albans. It states: "a certain rounde instrument to play with ...it is an instrument for the foote and then it is calde in Latyn 'pila pedalis', a fotebal."[6]
a pair of football boots was ordered by King Henry VIII of England in 1526.[8]
women playing a form of football was in 1580, when Sir Philip Sidney described it in one of his poems: "[a] tyme there is for all, my mother often sayes, When she, with skirts tuckt very hy, with girles at football playes."[9]
the first references to goals are in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In 1584 and 1602 respectively, John Norden and Richard Carew referred to "goals" in Cornish hurling. Carew described how goals were made: "they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foote asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelue [twelve] score off, other twayne in like distance, which they terme their Goales".[10] He is also the first to describe goalkeepers and passing of the ball between players.
the first direct reference to scoring a goal is in John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (performed circa 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely violent variety of football, which was popular in East Anglia). Similarly in a poem in 1613, Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe".

Calcio Fiorentino

An illustration of the Calcio Fiorentino field and starting positions, from a 1688 book by Pietro di Lorenzo Bini.Main article: Calcio Fiorentino
In the 16th century, the city of Florence celebrated the period between Epiphany and Lent by playing a game which today is known as "calcio storico" ("historic kickball") in the Piazza della Novere or the Piazza Santa Croce. The young aristocrats of the city would dress up in fine silk costumes and embroil themselves in a violent form of football. For example, calcio players could punch, shoulder charge, and kick opponents. Blows below the belt were allowed. The game is said to have originated as a military training exercise. In 1580, Count Giovanni de' Bardi di Vernio wrote Discorso sopra 'l giuoco del Calcio Fiorentino. This is sometimes said to be the earliest code of rules for any football game. The game was not played after January 1739 (until it was revived in May 1930).

Official disapproval and attempts to ban football
Main article: Attempts to ban football games
Numerous attempts have been made to ban football games, particularly the most rowdy and disruptive forms. This was especially the case in England and in other parts of Europe, during the Middle Ages and early modern period. Between 1324 and 1667, football was banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws. The need to repeatedly proclaim such laws demonstrated the difficulty in enforcing bans on popular games. King Edward II was so troubled by the unruliness of football in London that on April 13, 1314 he issued a proclamation banning it: "Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils may arise which God forbid; we command and forbid, on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future."

The reasons for the ban by Edward III, on June 12, 1349, were explicit: football and other recreations distracted the populace from practicing archery, which was necessary for war.

By 1608, the local authorities in Manchester were complaining that: "With the ffotebale...[there] hath beene greate disorder in our towne of Manchester we are told, and glasse windowes broken yearlye and spoyled by a companie of lewd and disordered persons ..."[11] That same year, the word "football" was used disapprovingly by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's play King Lear contains the line: "Nor tripped neither, you base football player" (Act I, Scene 4). Shakespeare also mentions the game in A Comedy of Errors (Act II, Scene 1):

Am I so round with you as you with me,

That like a football you do spurn me thus?

You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither:

If I last in this service, you must case me in leather.
"Spurn" literally means to kick away, thus implying that the game involved kicking a ball between players.

King James I of England's Book of Sports (1618) however, instructs Christians to play at football every Sunday afternoon after worship.[12] The book's aim appears to be an attempt to offset the strictness of the Puritans regarding the keeping of the Sabbath.[13]

Establishment of modern codes

English public schools
Main article: English public school football games
While football continued to be played in various forms throughout Britain, its public schools (known as private schools in other countries) are widely credited with four key achievements in the creation of modern football codes. First of all, the evidence suggests that they were important in taking football away from its "mob" form and turning it into an organised team sport. Second, many early descriptions of football and references to it were recorded by people who had studied at these schools. Third, it was teachers, students and former students from these schools who first codified football games, to enable matches to be played between schools. Finally, it was at English public schools that the division between "kicking" and "running" (or "carrying") games first became clear.

The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English public schools — mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes — comes from the Vulgaria by William Horman in 1519. Horman had been headmaster at Eton and Winchester colleges and his Latin textbook includes a translation exercise with the phrase "We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde".

Richard Mulcaster, a student at Eton College in the early 16th century and later headmaster at other English schools, has been described as “the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of football”.[14] Among his contributions are the earliest evidence of organised team football. Mulcaster's writings refer to teams ("sides" and "parties"), positions ("standings"), a referee ("judge over the parties") and a coach "(trayning maister)". Mulcaster's "footeball" had evolved from the disordered and violent forms of traditional football:

[s]ome smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or shuffing one an other so barbarously ... may use footeball for as much good to the body, by the chiefe use of the legges.
In 1633, David Wedderburn, a teacher from Aberdeen, mentioned elements of modern football games in a short Latin textbook called "Vocabula." Wedderburn refers to what has been translated into modern English as "keeping goal" and makes an allusion to passing the ball ("strike it here"). There is a reference to "get hold of the ball," suggesting that some handling was allowed. It is clear that the tackles allowed included the charging and holding of opposing players ("drive that man back").

A more detailed description of football is given in Francis Willughby's Book of Games, written in about 1660.[15] Willughby, who had studied at Sutton Coldfield School, is the first to describe goals and a distinct playing field: "a close that has a gate at either end. The gates are called Goals." His book includes a diagram illustrating a football field. He also mentions tactics ("leaving some of their best players to guard the goal"); scoring ("they that can strike the ball through their opponents' goal first win") and the way teams were selected ("the players being equally divided according to their strength and nimbleness"). He is the first to describe a "law" of football: "they must not strike [an opponent's leg] higher than the ball"

English public schools also devised the first offside rules, during the late 18th century.[16] In the earliest manifestations of these rules, players were "off their side" if they simply stood between the ball and the goal which was their objective. Players were not allowed to pass the ball forward, either by foot or by hand. They could only dribble with their feet, or advance the ball in a scrum or similar formation. However, offside laws began to diverge and develop differently at the each school, as is shown by the rules of football from Winchester, Rugby, Harrow and Cheltenham, during in the period of 1810-1850.[16]

By the early 19th century, (before the Factory Act of 1850), most working class people in Britain had to work six days a week, often for over twelve hours a day. They had neither the time nor the inclination to engage in sport for recreation and, at the time, many children were part of the labour force. Feast day football played on the streets was in decline. Public school boys, who enjoyed some freedom from work, became the inventors of organised football games with formal codes of rules.

Football was adopted by a number of public schools as a way of encouraging competitiveness and keeping youths fit. Each school drafted its own rules, which varied widely between different schools and were changed over time with each new intake of pupils. Two schools of thought developed regarding rules. Some schools favoured a game in which the ball could be carried (as at Rugby, Marlborough and Cheltenham), while others preferred a game where kicking and dribbling the ball was promoted (as at Eton, Harrow, Westminster and Charterhouse). The division into these two camps was partly the result of circumstances in which the games were played. For example, Charterhouse and Westminster at the time had restricted playing areas; the boys were confined to playing their ball game within the school cloisters, making it difficult for them to adopt rough and tumble running games.

Rugby SchoolWilliam Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School, is said to have "showed a fine disregard for the rules of football, as played in his time [emphasis added]" by picking up the ball and running to the opponents' goal in 1823. This act is usually said to be the beginning of Rugby football, but there is little evidence that it occurred, and most sports historians believe the story to be apocryphal. Handling the ball was allowed, or even compulsory,[17] in older forms of football.

The boom in rail transport in Britain during the 1840s meant that people were able to travel further and with less inconvenience than they ever had before. Inter-school sporting competitions became possible. However, it was difficult for schools to play each other at football, as each school played by its own rules.

Apart from Rugby football, the public school codes have barely been played beyond the confines of each school's playing fields. However, many of them are still played at the schools which created them (see Surviving public school games below).

The first clubs
Main article: Oldest football clubs
During this period, the Rugby school rules appear to have spread at least as far, perhaps further, than the other schools' codes. For example, two clubs which claim to be the world's first and/or oldest football club, in the sense of a club which is not part of a school or university, are strongholds of rugby football: the Barnes Club, said to have been founded in 1839, and Guy's Hospital Football Club, in 1843. Neither date nor the variety of football played is well-documented, but such claims nevertheless allude to the popularity of rugby before other modern codes emerged.

In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football.[18] This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game. For instance, Dublin University Football Club — founded at Trinity College, Dublin in 1854 and later famous as a bastion of the Rugby School game — is the world's oldest documented football club in any code.

Cambridge rules
Main article: Cambridge rules
In 1848, at Cambridge University, Mr. H. de Winton and Mr. J.C. Thring, who were both formerly at Shrewsbury School, called a meeting at Trinity College, Cambridge with 12 other representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury. An eight-hour meeting produced what amounted to the first set of modern rules, known as the Cambridge rules. No copy of these rules now exists, but a revised version from circa 1856 is held in the library of Shrewsbury School. The rules clearly favour the kicking game. Handling was only allowed for a player to take a clean catch entitling them to a free kick and there was a primitive offside rule, disallowing players from "loitering" around the opponents' goal. The Cambridge rules were not widely adopted outside English public schools and universities (but it was arguably the most significant influence on the Football Association committee members responsible for formulating the rules of Association football).

The first modern balls
Main article: football (ball)

Richard Lindon (seen in 1880) is believed to have invented the first footballs with rubber bladders.In Europe, early footballs were made out of animal bladders, more specifically pig's bladders, which were inflated. Later leather coverings were introduced to allow the ball to keep their shape.[19] However, in 1851, Richard Lindon and William Gilbert, both shoemakers from the town of Rugby (near the school), exhibited both round and oval-shaped balls at the Great Exhibition in London. Richard Lindon's wife is said to have died due to lung disease caused by blowing up pig's bladders.[20] Lindon also won medals for the invention of the "Rubber inflatable Bladder" and the "Brass Hand Pump".

In 1855, the U.S. inventor Charles Goodyear — who had patented vulcanized rubber — exhibited a spherical football, with an exterior of vulcanized rubber panels, at the Paris Exhibition Universelle. The ball was to prove popular in early forms of football in the U.S.A.[21]

Sheffield rules
Main article: Sheffield rules
By the late 1850s, many football clubs had been formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various codes of football.

Sheffield Football Club, founded in 1857 in the English city of Sheffield by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, was later recognised as the world's oldest club playing association football. However, the club initially played its own code of football: the Sheffield rules. There were some similarities to the Cambridge rules, but players were allowed to push or hit the ball with their hands, and there was no offside rule at all, so that players known as kick throughs could be permanently positioned near the opponents' goal. The code spread to a number of clubs in the area and was popular until the 1870s.

Australian rules

An Australian rules football match at the Richmond Paddock, Melbourne, in 1866. (A wood engraving by Robert Bruce.)Main article: Australian rules football
The invention of Australian rules football is usually attributed to Tom Wills, who published a letter in Bell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle, on July 10, 1858, calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter.[22] (Official sources which include Wills' cousin, H.C.A. Harrison, as a founder of the code are now generally believed to be incorrect.)

Wills had been educated in England, at Rugby School and had played cricket for Cambridge University. The extent to which he was influenced by the various British and Irish football games is a matter of controversy, but there were similarities between some of them and his game. Australian football also has some similarities to the Australian Aboriginal game of Marn Grook (see above), which he reportedly witnessed as a child in western Victoria.

On July 31, 1858, Wills and people responding to his letter met and experimented with various forms of football.[23] On August 7, Wills umpired a game between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College, which took place under modified Rugby School rules.[23]

Melbourne Football Club was also founded on August 7, and is the oldest surviving Australian football club, but the rules it used during its first season are unknown. On May 17, 1859, at the Parade Hotel, East Melbourne, members of the club drew up the first set of laws for Australian rules football. The drafters included Wills, W.J. Hammersley, J.B. Thompson and Thomas Smith. Although their code also had pronounced similarities to the Sheffield rules, most notably in the absence of an offside rule, it is not known if they were influenced by it. A free kick was awarded for a mark (clean catch). Running while holding the ball was allowed and although it was not specified in the rules, a rugby ball was used. The club shared many members with the Melbourne Cricket Club, which was based at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and cricket ovals — which vary in size and are much larger than the fields used in other forms of football — became the standard playing field for Australian rules. The 1859 rules did not include some elements which would soon become important to the game, such as the requirement to bounce the ball while running.

Australian rules is sometimes said to be the first form of football to be codified but, as was the case in all kinds of football at the time, there was no official body supporting the rules, and play varied from one club to another. By 1866, however, several other clubs in the Colony of Victoria had agreed to play an updated version of the Melbourne FC rules, which were later known as "Victorian Rules" and "Australasian Rules". The formal name of the code later became Australian rules football (and, more recently, Australian football). By the end of the 19th century, the code had spread to the other Australian colonies and other parts of the world. However, rugby football would remain more popular in New South Wales and Queensland.

The Football Association

The first football international, Scotland versus England. Once kept by the Rugby Football Union as an early example of rugby football.Main article: History of The Football Association

During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various public school games. In 1862, J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at Uppingham School and he issued his own rules of what he called "The Simplest Game" (these are also known as the Uppingham Rules). In early October 1863 another new revised version of the Cambridge Rules was drawn up by a seven member committee representing former pupils from Harrow, Shrewsbury, Eton, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster.

At the Freemason's Tavern, Great Queen Street, London on the evening of October 26, 1863, representatives of several football clubs in the London Metropolitan area met for the inaugural meeting of The Football Association (FA). The aim of the Association was to establish a single unifying code and regulate the playing of the game among its members. Following the first meeting, the public schools were invited were sent to join the association. All of them declined, except Charterhouse and Uppingham. In total, six meetings of the FA were held between October and December 1863. After the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published. However, at the beginning of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the recently-published Cambridge Rules of 1863. The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely running with (carrying) the ball and hacking (kicking opposing players in the shins). The two contentious FA rules were as follows:

IX. A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal if he makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the first bound; but in case of a fair catch, if he makes his mark [to take a free kick] he shall not run.
X. If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal, any player on the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack him, or to wrest the ball from him, but no player shall be held and hacked at the same time.
At the fifth meeting it was proposed that these two rules be removed. Most of the delegates supported this, but F. W. Campbell, the representative from Blackheath and the first FA treasurer, objected. He said: "hacking is the true football". However, the motion to ban hacking was carried and Blackheath withdrew from the FA. After the final meeting on 8 December, the FA published the "Laws of Football", the first comprehensive set of rules for the game later known as football (later known in some countries as soccer).

The first FA rules still contained elements that are no longer part of association football, but which are still recognisable in other games (most notably Australian football): for instance, a player could make a fair catch and claim a mark, which entitled him to a free kick, and; if a player touched the ball behind the opponents' goal line, his side was entitled to a free kick at goal, from 15 yards in front of the goal line.

Rugby football
Main article: History of rugby union

A rugby scrum in 1871.In Britain, by 1870, there were about 75 clubs playing variations of the Rugby school game. There were also "rugby" clubs in Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. However, there was no generally accepted set of rules for rugby until 1871, when 21 clubs from London came together to form the Rugby Football Union (RFU). (Ironically, Blackheath now lobbied to ban hacking.) The first official RFU rules were adopted in June 1871. These rules allowed passing the ball. They also included the try, where touching the ball over the line allowed an attempt at goal, though drop-goals from marks and general play, and penalty conversions were still the main form of contest.

North American football codes
This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes.
Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (December 2007)

Main articles: History of American football and History of Canadian football.
As was the case in Britain, by the early 19th century, North American schools and universities played their own local games, between sides made up of students. Students at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire played a game called Old division football, a variant of the association football codes, as early as the 1820s.

The "Tigers" of Hamilton, Ontario circa 1906. Founded 1869 as the Hamilton Foot Ball Club, they eventually merged with the Hamilton Flying Wildcats to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, a team still active in the Canadian Football League.[24]The first game of rugby in Canada is generally said to have taken place in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded football club in Canada.

In 1869, the first game played in the United States under rules based on the English FA (soccer) code occurred, between Princeton and Rutgers. This is also often considered to be the first US game of college football, in the sense of a game between colleges (although the eventual form of American football would come from rugby, not soccer).

Modern American football grew out of a match between McGill University of Montreal, and Harvard University in 1874. At the time, Harvard students are reported to have played the Boston Game — a running code — rather than the FA-based kicking games favored by US universities. This made it easy for Harvard to adapt to the rugby-based game played by McGill and the two teams alternated between their respective sets of rules. Within a few years, however, Harvard had both adopted McGill's rugby rules and had persuaded other US university teams to do the same. In 1876, at the Massasoit Convention, it was agreed by these universities to adopt most of the Rugby Football Union rules. However, a touch-down only counted toward the score if neither side kicked a field goal. The convention decided that, in the US game, four touchdowns would be worth one goal; in the event of a tied score, a goal converted from a touchdown would take precedence over four touch-downs.

Princeton, Rutgers and others continued to compete using soccer-based rules for a few years before switching to the rugby-based rules of Harvard and its competitors. US colleges did not generally return to soccer until the early twentieth century.

Rutgers College Football Team, 1882In 1880, Yale coach Walter Camp, devised a number of major changes to the American game, beginning with the reduction of teams from 15 to 11 players, followed by reduction of the field area by almost half, and; the introduction of the scrimmage, in which a player heeled the ball backwards, to begin a game. These were complemented in 1882 by another of Camp's innovations: a team had to surrender possession if they did not gain five yards after three downs (i.e. successful tackles).

Over the years Canadian football absorbed some developments in American football, but also retained many unique characteristics. One of these was that Canadian football, for many years, did not officially distinguish itself from rugby. For example, the Canadian Rugby Football Union, founded in 1884 was the forerunner of the Canadian Football League, rather than a rugby union body. (The Canadian Rugby Union was not formed until 1965.) American football was also frequently described as "rugby" in the 1880s.

Gaelic football
Main article: History of Gaelic football
In the mid-19th century, various traditional football games, referred to collectively as caid, remained popular in Ireland, especially in County Kerry. One observer, Father W. Ferris, described two main forms of caid during this period: the "field game" in which the object was to put the ball through arch-like goals, formed from the boughs of two trees, and; the epic "cross-country game" which took up most of the daylight hours of a Sunday on which it was played, and was won by one team taking the ball across a parish boundary. "Wrestling", "holding" opposing players, and carrying the ball were all allowed.

By the 1870s, Rugby and Association football had started to become popular in Ireland. Trinity College, Dublin was an early stronghold of Rugby (see the Developments in the 1850s section, above). The rules of the English FA were being distributed widely. Traditional forms of caid had begun to give way to a "rough-and-tumble game" which allowed tripping.

There was no serious attempt to unify and codify Irish varieties of football, until the establishment of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1884. The GAA sought to promote traditional Irish sports, such as hurling and to reject imported games like Rugby and Association football. The first Gaelic football rules were drawn up by Maurice Davin and published in the United Ireland magazine on February 7, 1887. Davin's rules showed the influence of games such as hurling and a desire to formalise a distinctly Irish code of football. The prime example of this differentiation was the lack of an offside rule (an attribute which, for many years, was shared only by other Irish games like hurling, and by Australian rules football).

The split in Rugby football

An English cartoon from the 1890s lampooning the divide in rugby football which led to the formation of rugby league. The caricatures are of Rev. Frank Marshall, an arch-opponent of player payments, and James Miller, a long-time opponent of Marshall. The caption reads:
Marshall: "Oh, fie, go away naughty boy, I don't play with boys who can’t afford to take a holiday for football any day they like!" Miller: "Yes, that’s just you to a T; you’d make it so that no lad whose father wasn’t a millionaire could play at all in a really good team. For my part I see no reason why the men who make the money shouldn’t have a share in the spending of it."Further information: History of rugby league
The International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) was founded in 1886, but rifts were beginning to emerge in the code. Professionalism was beginning to creep into the various codes of football.

In England , by the 1890s, a long-standing Rugby Football Union ban on professional players was causing regional tensions within rugby football, as many players in northern England were working class and could not afford to take time off to train, travel, play and recover from injuries. This was not very different from what had occurred ten years earlier in soccer in Northern England but the authorities reacted very differently in the RFU, attempting to alienate the working class support in Northern England. In 1895, following a dispute about a player being paid broken time payments, which replaced wages lost as a result of playing rugby, representatives of the northern clubs met in Huddersfield to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU). The new body initially permitted only various types of player wage replacements. However, within two years, NRFU players could be paid, but they were required to have a job outside sport.

The demands of a professional league dictated that rugby had to become a better "spectator" sport. Within a few years the NRFU rules had started to diverge from the RFU, most notably with the abolition of the line-out. This was followed by the replacement of the ruck with the "play-the-ball ruck", which allowed a two-player ruck contest between the tackler at marker and the player tackled. Mauls were stopped once the ball carrier was held, being replaced by a play-the ball-ruck. The separate Lancashire and Yorkshire competitions of the NRFU merged in 1901, forming the Northern Rugby League, the first time the name rugby league was used officially in England.

Over time, the RFU form of rugby, played by clubs which remained members of national federations affiliated to the IRFB, became known as rugby union.

The globalisation of Association football
Main article: History of FIFA
The need for a single body to oversee Association football had become apparent by the beginning of the 20th century, with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The English Football Association had chaired many discussions on setting up an international body, but was perceived as making no progress. It fell to associations from seven other European countries: France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, to form an international association. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris on May 21, 1904. Its first president was Robert Guérin. The French name and acronym has remained, even outside French-speaking countries.

The reform of American football
Both forms of rugby and American football were noted at the time for serious injuries, as well as the deaths of a significant number of players. By the early 20th century in the USA, this had resulted in national controversy and American football was banned by a number of colleges. Consequently, a series of meetings was held by 19 colleges in 1905–06. This occurred reputedly at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. He was considered a fancier of the game, but he threatened to ban it unless the rules were modified to reduce the numbers of deaths and disabilities. The meetings are now considered to be the origin of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

One proposed change was a widening of the playing field. However, Harvard University had just built a concrete stadium and therefore objected to widening, instead proposing legalisation of the forward pass. The report of the meetings introduced many restrictions on tackling and two more divergences from rugby: the forward pass and the banning of mass formation plays. The changes did not immediately have the desired effect, and 33 American football players were killed during 1908 alone. However, the number of deaths and injuries did gradually decline.

Further divergence of the two rugby codes
Rugby league rules diverged significantly from rugby union in 1906, with the reduction of the team from 15 to 13 players. In 1907, a New Zealand professional rugby team toured Australia and Britain, receiving an enthusiastic response, and professional rugby leagues were launched in Australia the following year. However, the rules of professional games varied from one country to another, and negotiations between various national bodies were required to fix the exact rules for each international match. This situation endured until 1948, when at the instigation of the French league, the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) was formed at a meeting in Bordeaux.

During the second half of 20th century, the rules changed further. In 1966, rugby league officials borrowed the American football concept of downs: a team could retain possession of the ball for no more than four tackles. The maximum number of tackles was later increased to six (in 1971), and in rugby league this became known as the six tackle rule.

With the advent of full-time professionals in the early 1990s, and the consequent speeding up of the game, the five metre off-side distance between the two teams became 10 metres, and the replacement rule was superseded by various interchange rules, among other changes.

The laws of rugby union also changed significantly during the 20th century. In particular, goals from marks were abolished, kicks directly into touch from outside the 22 metre line were penalised, new laws were put in place to determine who had possession following an inconclusive ruck or maul, and the lifting of players in line-outs was legalised.

In 1995, rugby union became an "open" game, that is one which allowed professional players. Although the original dispute between the two codes has now disappeared — and despite the fact that officials from both forms of rugby football have sometimes mentioned the possibility of re-unification — the rules of both codes and their culture have diverged to such an extent that such an event is unlikely in the foreseeable future.

Today

Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries
Further information: Football (word)
The word "football", when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world. Most often, the word "football" is used to refer to the code of football that is considered dominant within a particular region. So, effectively, what the word "football" means usually depends on where one says it.

The name "soccer" (or "soccer football") was originally a slang abbreviation of association football and is now the prevailing term in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand where other codes of football are dominant.

Of the 45 national FIFA affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, only three (Canada, Samoa and the United States) actually use "soccer" in their organizations' official names, while the rest use football (although the Samoan Federation actually uses both). However, in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, use of the word "football" by soccer bodies is a recent change and has been controversial. The governing body for Rugby Union in New Zealand changed its name from "New Zealand Rugby Football Union" to "New Zealand Rugby Union" in 2006.

Present day codes and "families"

Association football and descendants

An indoor soccer game at an open air venue in Mexico. The referee has just awarded the red team a free kick.Association football, also known as football, soccer, footy and footie
Indoor/basketball court varieties of Football:
Five-a-side football — played throughout the world under various rules including:
Futsal — the FIFA-approved five-a-side indoor game
Minivoetbal — the five-a-side indoor game played in East and West Flanders where it is hugely popular
Papi fut the five-a-side game played in outdoor basketball courts (built with goals) in Central America.
Indoor soccer — the six-a-side indoor game as played in North America. Known in Latin America, where it is often played in open air venues, as fútbol rápido ("fast soccer")
Paralympic football — modified Football for athletes with a disability. Includes:
Football 5-a-side — for visually impaired athletes
Football 7-a-side — for athletes with cerebral palsy
Electric wheelchair soccer
Beach soccer — football played on sand, also known as sand soccer
Street football — encompasses a number of informal varieties of football
Rush goalie — is a variation of football in which the role of the goalkeeper is more flexible than normal
Headers and volleys — where the aim is to score goals against a goalkeeper using only headers and volleys
Crab football — players stand on their hands and feet and move around on their backs whilst playing soccer as normal
Swamp soccer — the game is played on a swamp or bog field

Rugby school football and descendants
Rugby football
Rugby league — usually known simply as "football" or "footy" in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, and by some followers of the game in England. Also often referred to simply as "league"
Rugby league nines (or sevens)
Touch football (rugby league) — a non-contact version of rugby league. In South Africa it is known as six down
Oz Tag — a non-contact version of rugby league, in which a velcro tag is removed to indicate a tackle
Rugby union
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens; Fiji v Cook Islands at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in MelbourneTag rugby — a form of rugby union using the velcro tag
Beach rugby — rugby played on sand
Touch rugby — generic name for forms of rugby football which does not feature tackles
American football — called "football" in the United States and Canada, and "gridiron" in Australia and New Zealand. Sometimes called "tackle football" to distinguish it from the touch versions
Arena football — an indoor version of American football
Nine-man football, eight-man football, six-man football — versions of tackle football, played primarily by smaller high schools that lack enough players to field full 11-man teams
Touch football (American) — non-tackle American football
Flag football — non-tackle American football, like touch football, in which a flag that is held by velcro on a belt tied around the waist is pulled by defenders to indicate a tackle
Canadian football — called simply "football" in Canada; "football" in Canada can mean either Canadian or American football depending on context
Canadian flag football — non-tackle Canadian football
Nine-man football — similar to nine-man American football, but using Canadian rules; played by smaller schools in Saskatchewan that lack enough players to field full 12-man teams
See also: Comparison of American football and rugby league, Comparison of American football and rugby union, Comparison of Canadian and American football, Comparison of rugby league and rugby union.

Irish and Australian varieties

International rules football test match from the 2005 International Rules Series between Australia and Ireland at Telstra Dome, Melbourne, Australia.These codes have in common the absence of an offside rule, the requirement to bounce or solo (toe-kick) the ball while running, handpassing by punching or tapping the ball rather than throwing it, and other traditions.

Australian rules football — officially known as "Australian football", and informally as "Aussie rules" or "footy". In some areas (erroneously) referred to as "AFL", which is the name of the main organising body and competition
Auskick — a version of Australian rules designed by the AFL for young children
Metro footy (or Metro rules footy) — a modified version invented by the USAFL, for use on gridiron fields in North American cities (which often lack grounds large enough for conventional Australian rules matches)
Kick-to-kick
9-a-side footy — a more open, running variety of Australian rules, requiring 18 players in total and a proportionally smaller playing area (includes contact and non-contact varieties)
Rec footy — "Recreational Football", a modified non-contact touch variation of Australian rules, created by the AFL, which replaces tackles with tags
Touch Aussie Rules — a non-contact variation of Australian Rules played only in the United Kingdom
Samoa rules — localised version adapted to Samoan conditions, such as the use of rugby football fields
Masters Australian football (a.k.a. Superules) — reduced contact version introduced for competitions limited to players over 30 years of age
Women's Australian rules football — played with a smaller ball and (sometimes) reduced contact version introduced for women's competition
Gaelic football — Played predominantly in Ireland. Sometimes referred to as "football" or "gaah" (from the acronym for Gaelic Athletic Association)
Ladies Gaelic football
International rules football — a compromise code used for games between Gaelic and Australian Rules players
See also: Comparison of Australian rules football and Gaelic football

Surviving Mediæval ball games

The ball is hit into the air at the 2006 Royal Shrovetide Football match. (Photographer: Gary Austin.)
British Shrove Tuesday games

Alnwick in Northumberland
Ashbourne in Derbyshire (known as Royal Shrovetide Football)
Atherstone in Warwickshire
Corfe Castle in Dorset — The Shrove Tuesday Football Ceremony of the Purbeck Marblers.
Haxey in Lincolnshire (the Haxey Hood, actually played on Epiphany)
Hurling the Silver Ball takes place at St Columb Major in Cornwall
Sedgefield in County Durham
In Scotland the Ba game ("Ball Game") is still popular around Christmas and Hogmanay at:
Duns, Berwickshire
Scone, Perthshire
Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands

Outside the UK
Calcio Fiorentino — a modern revival of Renaissance football from 16th century Florence.

Surviving public school games

Harrow football players after a game at Harrow School.Eton field game
Eton wall game
Harrow football
Winchester College football

Recent inventions and hybrid games
Based on FA rules:
Cubbies
Three sided football
Triskelion
Keepie uppie — is the art of juggling with a football using feet, knees, chest, shoulders, and head.
Footbag — is a small bean bag or sand bag used as a ball in a number of keepie uppie variations, including hacky sack (which is a trade mark).
Freestyle football — a modern take on keepie uppie where freestylers are graded for their entertainment value and expression of skill.
Based on rugby:
Scuffleball
Force ’em backs a.k.a. forcing back, forcemanback et c.
Hybrid games
Austus — a compromise between Australian rules and American football, invented in Melbourne during World War II.
Bossaball — mixes Association football and volleyball and gymnastics; played on inflatables and trampolines.
Footvolley — mixes Association football and beach volleyball; played on sand
Kickball — a hybrid of soccer and baseball, invented in the United States in about 1942.
Speedball (American) — a combination of American football, soccer, and basketball, devised in the United States in 1912.
Universal football — A hybrid of Australian rules and rugby league, trialled in Sydney in 1933.[25]
Volata — a game resembling Association football and European handball, devised by Italian fascist leader, Augusto Turati, in the 1920s.
Wheelchair rugby — also known as Murderball, invented in Canada in 1977. Based on ice hockey and basketball rather than rugby.
Wheelchair power tag rugby
Wheelchair rugby league

Tabletop games and other recreations
Based on Football (soccer):
Subbuteo
Blow football
Table football — also known as foosball, table soccer, babyfoot, bar football or gettone)
Fantasy football (soccer)
Button football — also known as Futebol de Mesa, Jogo de Botões
Penny football
Based on rugby:
Penny rugby
Based on American football:
Paper football
Blood Bowl
Fantasy football (American)
Madden NFL
NFL
Based on Australian football:
List of Australian rules football computer games
AFL Premiership 2005

football records

Monday, February 4, 2008

A Brief History Of African Cup Of Nations

VIVA World Cup

UEFA European Football Championship

OFC Champions League

CONMEBOL

CONMEBOL

CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football)

AFC Asian Cup

Africa Cup of Nations

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Referee

फूत्बल्ल history

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