World Football Club

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2010-08-30T02:02:00.000-07:00

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Tottenham Hotspur FC

2010-08-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly known as the Spurs, are an English professional football club from Tottenham, north London, who currently plays in the Premier League. The club's stadium White Hart Lane.

Tottenham Hotspur was the first club in the 20th century to the League and FA Cup Double, the attainment of both games in season 1960-61. In 1963 they became the first British club to a major European trophy case of the European Cup Winners' Cup win. In the year 1970, they won the League Cup twice and were the inaugural winners of the UEFA Cup in 1972 (he was the first British club to two major European trophies). In the 1980 Spurs won several awards: the FA Cup twice, FA Community Shield and UEFA Cup 1983/84. In 1990, they won the FA Cup and League Cup. In 2008 they won the League Cup once, which means that one trophy in each of the last six decades, an achievement matched only by Manchester United won.

The club's Latin motto Auder facer est (literally "dare to do"), and its emblem is a Gamecock standing on a football. The club has a long rivalry with the neighbors close to Arsenal and matches between the two teams are known as the North London derby.

Tottenham are currently seeking permission to build a bigger stadium. Originally it was thought that the team can move to a new site. One possibility for the club was the use of the area where the Olympic Stadium will be built after the 2012 London Olympics, but this would have been to move from Tottenham and the plan was dropped because the stadium will retain an athletics track .

The club said in 2007 that its preference in the first half of 2008 to announce, but this decision was postponed until the fall. In April 2008 it was revealed in the press that the investigation took place into the possible use of the adjacent industrial Wingate. If the building permit and the approval of today's companies have been granted 55-60.000 seat stadium would be built at the current White Hart Lane site.

In October 2008, the club announced that, if approved, the plan was to build the new stadium, just north of the existing stadium at White Hart Lane, the southern half of the pitch the new stadium is located on the northwest corner of the Lane. The unique design of the building, the new stadium adjacent to White Hart Lane to be built as the old facility is still used for the team. During the summer after two thirds of the new stadium was complete, the northern and western state would be demolished and a new pitch laid.

The rest of the stadium would be built in the years to follow. If built, club chairman Daniel Levy has stated that it was not called to White Hart Lane, but instead will be named after a sponsor. Tony Winterbottom, formerly of the London Development Agency, who worked on the development of Arsenal Emirates Stadium, is reportedly leading the development of plans for the new stadium. In December 2008, the design for the new stadium, by KSS Design Group and Buro Happold revealed. An expected date of completion was predicted on October 26, 2009, as the Spurs' chairman Daniel Levy has stated that Spurs would move to the partially built new stadium for the start of the 2012-13 season, the last 56 250-seat location ready for the next campaign.

Cagliari Calcio

2010-07-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

Cagliari Calcio (in Sardinian Casteddu) is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. The club was formed in 1920 and currently plays in Italian Serie A, having spent a large part of recent years mainly in Serie A and Serie B.

They won their only scudetto in 1970, when they were led by Italian national team all-time leading scorer, Gigi Riva. The team's colors are blue and red. The club's stadium is the 23,486 seater Stadio Sant'Elia.

Cagliari became the first ever out-right champions of Serie C during the 1951–52 season, prior to that in the league the championship was shared amongst more than one team. They spent the 1950s from then on in Serie B, losing a promotion play-off in 1954. After descending to Serie C in the early 1960s, Cagliari's rise would be meteoric- eventually achieving promotion to Serie A in 1964.

The squad for the Rossoblu's debut season in Serie A featured players like defender Mario Martiradonna, midfielders Pierluigi Cera and Ricciotti Greatti, and forward Luigi Riva. A poor first half of the season saw Cagliari in last place with 9 points at the halfway mark. An astonishing second half of the season saw Cagliari defeat the likes of Juventus and Milan and finish in 7th place with 34 points. Two seasons later Riva finished Serie A top scorer for the first time while Cagliari finished with the league's best defensive record.

During the summer of 1967, Cagliari played a season in North America as part of a fledgling league called the United Soccer Association. This league from Europe and South America to play in American and Canadian cities, with each club bearing a local name. Cagliari played as the Chicago Mustangs, and finished joint second in the league's Western Division with 13 points, two behind the division champion and eventual league champion Los Angeles Wolves. The league's leading scorer was Chicago/Cagliari's Roberto Boninsegna, who scored 10 goals while playing in 9 of the team's 12 games.

Cagliari first emerged as serious Serie A title contenders in 1968–69 with a three-horse race involving them, Fiorentina and Milan. Fiorentina would win the league, but the following season would bring ultimate glory. With Angelo Domenghini joining the side, Cagliari would win the title in 1970 with only two games lost, 11 goals conceded (the fewest in any major European league to date) and Riva as league top scorer once more. Players like Cera, Domenghini and Riva played in Italy's 1970 World Cup Final team.

The 1970s would see a gradual decline (though were title contenders two years after their one and only scudetto win) Cagliari were finally relegated in 1976 with Riva's career having effectively ended during that season.

After relegation, Cagliari lost a play-off for promotion the following season and would return to Serie A in 1979. Players like Franco Selvaggi, Mario Brugnera (a survivor of the 1970 team) and Alberto Marchetti ensured a respectable four-year stay in the top flight before a second relegation in 1983. The 80s would then prove to be a darker time compared to the previous two decades with relegation to Serie C1 in 1987.

Cagliari spent two seasons in Serie C1. In the first one it barely avoided relegation in Serie C2. In 1988, Claudio Ranieri was appointed coach, and led the team to two successive promotions, to Serie B in 1989 and to Serie A in 1990. The first two seasons back in Serie A saw Cagliari fight relegation, with safety being achieved by excellent second half runs. But season 1992–93 would see Cagliari fight for a European place and succeed under the management of Carlo Mazzone. The following season saw a run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, unprecedented for the Sardinian club.

The next few years would see Cagliari return to mid-table anonymity, before a struggle in 1996–97 saw Cagliari relegated after losing a play-off to Piacenza. Once more they bounced back after just one year, but their next stay in Serie A lasted just two seasons.

Cagliari spent the next four seasons in Serie B, for most part in mid-table mediocrity. But 2003–04 would see the Rossoblu, led by Sardinian-born Gianfranco Zola, mount a successful promotion challenge and the following season saw Cagliari hold their own in Serie A with a respectable mid-table finish. The following season was a quiet one for the Sardinians, that obtained a good mid-table position (12th place).

The 2005–06 season, the first without Zola, started in the worst way possible for Cagliari, which changed its manager for three times, with Attilio Tesser, Daniele Arrigoni and Davide Ballardini alternating to the position of coach, before Nedo Sonetti, appointed in November, who was able to save the team from a relegation also thanks to goals of Honduran striker David Suazo. For the 2006–2007 season, Marco Giampaolo was signed as head coach, however he was fired after the 17th matchday and replaced by Franco Colomba. However, after a number of poor performances ending in a 2–0 home defeat to Lazio, Colomba was sacked, and chairman Cellino chose to reinstate Giampaolo as head coach. Giampaolo was confirmed for the 2007–08 season, and his contract was extended for two more years.

The 2007–08 season saw the flagship strikers David Suazo, Esposito and Langella leave for Internazionale, Roma and Atalanta respectively, and the experienced goalkeeper Chimenti leave for Udinese. The club reinforced itself with youngsters likes Acquafresca, Matri, Foggia, Argentine Larrivey and Slovenian Koprivec . Nedo Sonetti returned to coach the Rossoblu in November 2007 after Giampaolo was relieved of his duties as a result of poor results in the first part of the 2007–08 Serie A season that saw them sink to the bottom of the Serie A standings. In the January transfer window, Cagliari made changes to their squad with goalkeepers Vincenzo Marruocco and Marco Fortin replaced by Marco Storari and Luca Capecchi, along with experienced striker Jeda, and the Sardinian midfielder Andrea Cossu. With these new players Cagliari won many matches and continued their climb up the table eventually ending the season at 14th. The 2008–09 season saw Cagliari start their season badly losing their first 5 matches. However, despite their rough start, they went on to end the season at a comfortable 9th place, 19 points above relegation.

Arema Malang

2010-07-15T19:02:00.001-07:00

Arema Malang is an Indonesian football team based in Malang, East Java. It is one of the most supported and successful football clubs in Indonesia. They currently play at the Indonesian top league, the Indonesia Super League (ISL).

The Arema is born out of the pride of the citizens of Malang. With the desire to establish themselves as a famous and a high nobility society, the people (especially the teenagers) of Malang participated in all kinds of activities (which includes boxing, rock music and athleticism) to help establish the Malang as one of the famous societies in Indonesia.

Arema is also the name of an Indonesian/Javanese legend, Kebo Arema who is thought to originate from Malang. Due to this fact, "Arema" became a relevant name to be used for the culture and identity of Malang.

Arema Malang is a professional club based in Malang, East Java. Initially the team was born on August 11, 1987 on the basis of the initiative Acub Zaenal, founder of the birth Galatama club, this is called Aremada, which is a combination of local clubs and 86 Malang Arema Fleet. But that name can not be lasting. A few months later changed to Arema 86.

Efforts to maintain the club 86 Arema Galatama undergone many obstacles, even the team that was expected to take part in the arena began Galatama VIII stumbled because of difficulties in funding. From here, along with his son Lucky Acub Zaenal, then took over and tried to save Arema 86 in order to survive.

Arema name was changed to 86 Arema and set the foundation on August 11, 1987 in accordance notarial document Pramu Haryono SH No. 58. Since then, held a preparatory Arema began as a professional team. Whether it's about his team's squad and facilities for all players and ofisialnya.

Achievement club Arema on Indonesian football countless ups and downs. That's because the club depends on the financing of the main constraints. Understood not only because the club "Red Plate", so do not get budget funding. However, crown their champions had won Galatama the 1992/93 season.

Since follow Liga Indonesia, a combination competition amateur and Galatama, Arema been recorded seven times in the second round. However, financial constraints continue to squeeze the club trip, until eventually acquired ownership by PT Bentoel Internasional Tbk in mid-season 2003.

As a result of the financial crisis that was made Arema down caste in division one. But with the new financial strength, Arema only one season in division one and re-promotion to the status as champion. Since then the performance was stable Arema to penetrate the Super League, the highest caste of competition in the country for the first time this season rolling.

Arema plays up to 35.000 capacity's Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang . In the past they played at the Gajayana Stadium, Malang for AFC Champions League matches.

The club's supporters who call themselves as the Aremania are considered to be one of the most fanatic supporters among all of the Indonesian football clubs supporters. Apart from their home base city, the club fans are spread all around the country. In 2000 & 2006, the Aremania has been awarded as The Best Indonesian Football Supporters by Football Association of Indonesia.

West Ham United F.C.

2010-06-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

West Ham United Football Club is an association football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. The club have played home matches at the Boleyn Ground stadium since 1904. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. They initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before eventually joining the full Football League in 1919 and subsequently enjoyed promotion to the top flight for the 1923 season. 1923 also saw the club feature in the first FA Cup Final to be held at Wembley against Bolton Wanderers. West Ham currently compete in the Premier League, and finished in 17th position in the 2009–10 season. They have been members of the Premier League for all but three seasons since its creation in 1992, and their highest finish in the Premier League was fifth in the 1998–99 season. The team's current manager is Avram Grant, who has a 4-year contract subject to a work permit. He replaced Gianfranco Zola in June 2010 due to his dismissal.

In 1940 the team won the inaugural Football League War Cup. Subsequently the club have won the FA Cup three times: in 1964, 1975 and 1980 as well as being runners-up twice, in 1923 and 2006. In 1965, they won the European Cup Winners Cup, and in 1999 they won the Intertoto Cup. The club's best final league position is third place in the 1985–86 (old) First Division.

Three West Ham players were considered an important factor behind England's triumph in the 1966 World Cup, as England's captain at the time was West Ham's Bobby Moore, and both goalscorers in the final were Hammers players Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. Bobby Moore also assisted the first and fourth goals. Geoff Hurst claimed the man of the match.

The earliest generally accepted incarnation of West Ham United was founded in 1895 as the Thames Ironworks team by foreman and local league referee Dave Taylor and owner Arnold Hillsand was announced in the Thames Ironworks Gazette of June 1895.

The team played on a strictly amateur basis for 1895 at least, with a team featuring a number of works employees including Thomas Freeman (ships fireman), Walter Parks (clerk), Tom Mundy, Walter Tranter and James Lindsay (all boilermakers), William Chapman, George Sage, and William Chamberlain and apprentice riveter Charlie Dove.

The club, Thames Ironworks were the first ever winners of the West Ham Charity Cup in 1895 contested by clubs in the locality, then won the London League in 1897. They turned professional in 1898 upon entering the Southern League Second Division, and were promoted to the First Division at the first attempt. The following year they came second from bottom, but had established themselves as a fully fledged competitive team. They comfortably fended off the challenge of local rivals Fulham in a relegation play-off, 5–1 in late April 1900 and retained their First Division status.

The team initially played in full dark blue kits, as inspired by Mr. Hills, who had been an Oxford University "Blue", but changed the following season by adopting the sky blue shirts and white shorts combination worn through 1897 to 1899. In 1899 they acquired their now traditional home kit combination of claret shirts and sky blue sleeves in a wager involving Aston Villa players, who were League Champions at the time.

Following growing disputes over the running and financing of the club in June 1900 Thames Ironworks F.C. was disbanded, then almost immediately relaunched on 5 July 1900 as West Ham United F.C. with Syd King as their manager and future manager Charlie Paynter as his assistant. Because of the original "works team" roots and links (still represented upon the club badge), they are still known to this day as 'the Irons' or 'the Hammers' amongst fans and the media.

The reborn club continued to play their games at the Memorial Ground in Plaistow (funded by Arnold Hills) but moved to a pitch in the Upton Park area when the team officially severed ties with the company (losing their works provisioned offices in the process). After being made groundless in 1901 the team became transient, playing their home games on a number of local teams' grounds until moving to its current home, Upton Park (in the guise of the Boleyn Ground stadium), in 1904.

West Ham's first game in their new home was against local rivals Millwall (themselves an Ironworks team, albeit for a rival company) drawing a crowd of 10,000 and with West Ham running out 3–0 winners, and as the Daily Mirror wrote on 2 September 1904: Favoured by the weather turning fine after heavy rains of the morning, West Ham United began their season most auspiciously yesterday evening; when they beat Millwall by 3 goals to 0 on their new enclosure at Upton Park.

West Ham Utd had joined the Western League for the 1901 season in addition to continuing playing in the Southern Division 1. In 1907 West Ham were crowned the Western League Division 1B Champions, and then defeated 1A champions Fulham 1–0 to become the Western Leagues Overall Champions.

In 1919, still under King's leadership, West Ham gained entrance to the Football League Second Division, the first game being a 1–1 draw with Lincoln City, and were promoted to Division One in 1923, also making the first ever FA Cup Final to be held at the old Wembley stadium. Their opponents were Bolton Wanderers. This was also known as the White Horse Final. This is because so many people turned up to the game, (estimated at 200,000), that they spilled out on to the pitch. The pitch had to be cleared prior to kick-off, by Billie, a giant white horse (actually grey) being ridden by PC George Scorey. The Cup Final match itself ended 2–0 to Bolton Wanderers. The team enjoyed mixed success in Division 1 but retained their status for 10 years and reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1927.

In 1932 the club was relegated to Division Two and long term custodian Syd King was sacked after serving the club in the role of Manager for 32 years, and as a player from 1899 to 1903. He was replaced with his assistant manager Charlie Paynter who himself had been with West Ham in a number of roles since 1897 and who went on to serve the team in this role until 1950 for a total of 480 games.

The club spent most of the next 30 years in this division, first under Paynter and then later under the leadership of former player Ted Fenton. Fenton succeeded in getting the club once again promoted to the top level of English football in 1958 and in helping develop both the initial batch of future West Ham stars and West Ham's approach to the game.

Valencia C. F.

2010-05-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

Valencia Club de Fútbol (also known as Valencia C.F., Valencia or Los Che) is a Spanish professional football club based in Valencia, Spain. They play in La Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish football. Valencia have won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey trophies, two Fairs Cups which was the predecessor to the UEFA Cup, one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two UEFA Super Cups and two Spanish Super Cups. They have also reached two UEFA Champions League finals in a row, losing to La Liga rivals Real Madrid in 2000 and then German club Bayern Munich in 2001. Valencia were also members of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs. In total, Valencia have reached seven major European finals, winning four of them.

In the all-time La Liga table, Valencia is in 3rd position behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. In terms of international titles, Valencia is again the 3rd-most successful behind Real Madrid and Barcelona - these three being the only Spanish clubs to have won five or more international trophies.

Valencia were founded in 1919, and have played their home games at the 55,000-seater Estadio Mestalla since 1923. They are soon to move into the 75,000-seater Nou Mestalla in the north-west of the city in 2011. Valencia have a long-standing rivalry with Levante, also located in Valencia, and with another club in the Valencian Community region, Villarreal.

Valencia are the third most
supported football club in Spain, only behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. It is also one of the biggest clubs in the world in terms of number of associates (registered paying supporters), with more than 50,000 season ticket holders and another 20,000+ season ticket holders on the waiting list, which will come into effect once the new 75,000-seater stadium is built.

In 1919, the centre of the Turia River capital, in the Torino Bar, the idea of creating a football club was put into action. The first president of Valencia Football Club, Octavio Augusto Milego, was elected at random: a coin tossed into the air helped decide between himself or Gonzalo Medina Pernás, who himself finally got the department of the constituent and festivities commission.

Nevertheless, the decision of these Valencian pioneers did not have any repercussion either in society or in the media, since the newspapers of the time hardly dealt with sports and, moreover, the socio-political situation of Spain was uncertain. Before the founding of Valencia Football Club, there was already football in the city although there was no dominant club. It seems that football arrived in Valencia thanks to those people in the citrus fruits export business who had visited Great Britain, the cradle of football. That was the case of Francisco Sinisterra or Ramón Leonarte. In the same way, it was pretty common to see British sailors at Valencian ports playing with a ball. Already in 1908, there were several teams in Valencia like Levante, Gimnástico, Hispania or Hispano.

Once the club was set up, the first match played by Valencia was away from home. It took place in Castellón on 21 May 1919. Valencia’s rival was the Valencian Gimnástico, who won 1-0. The first Valencian line-up in history was: Marco, Peris, Julio Gascó, Marzal, Llobet, Ferré, Fernández, Umbert, Martínez Ibarra, Aliaga and Gómez Juaneda.

Valencia's first stadium was Algirós, opened on 7 December 1919. Algirós was the setting for all the club’s matches until 1923, when they started playing in the Estadio Mestalla. Valencia's first game at Mestalla was a 0-0 draw against Castellón Castalia. Both teams played again the following day and Valencia won 1-0.

During the 1920s the revenge spirit and sports tension were increasing every time the different teams in the Regional Championship had to meet. In 1923 Valencia became regional champions and could participate in the Copa del Rey for the first time in their history. The progress in the results of the team proved that they were able to become leaders of the football within the Valencian capital. Three or four years after its foundation, Valencia was already the most fearsome enemy for the rest of teams and their fanbase was growing.

The importance of the Valencia team was reinforced due to the fact that they had very good players like Montes or Cubells, who wanted something more than regional football. The fans split up between the staunch supporters for one and those for the other player, like if it all was about two bullfighters: on one hand, there were the cubellistas, and on the other, the montistas. Such rivalry was good for the team, since both players had a common objective: defending the colours of Valencia Club de Fútbol.

Persija Jakarta

2010-04-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Persija (Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jakarta) is an Indonesian football club from Jakarta. It is one of Indonesia's most successful clubs. The club's patron is Sutiyoso, the governor of Jakarta until 2007. Persija Jakarta was founded in November 28, 1928, with the embryo called Voetbalbond governor of Jakarta (VIJ). VIJ is one who co-founded the club Football Association All of Indonesia (PSSI) with the participation of representatives VIJ, Mr. Soekardi in the formation of Societeit PSSI Hadiprojo Yogyakarta, Saturday, April 19, 1930. Club coach for Indonesia Super League season 2009 is Benny Dollo, with Sudirman as an assistant coach. Persija is also known for its fanatical supporters (Jakmania).

So, Persija was founded on November 28, 1928, with name VIJ (Voetbalbond Indonesische Jakarta). VIJ was one of the clubs which set up Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia (PSSI) with its representative, with BIVB Bandung, SIVB Surabaya, MIVB (PPSM Magelang), MVB (PSM Madiun), VVB and PSM at Societeit Hadiprojo, Yogyakarta, 19 April 1930. At the time of the Dutch East Indies, the name of Persija is beginning VIJ (Voetbalbond Indonesische Jacatra). Post-Republic of Indonesia back to the form of a unitary state, VIJ renamed Persija (Football Association of Indonesia, Jakarta). At that time, NIVU (Nederlandsch Indisch Voetbal Unie) as a rival organization PSSI still there. On the other side, VBO (Voetbalbond Batavia en Omstreken) as a bond (the union) Persija match there as well. Regardless of the fate or not, along with Indonesian state sovereign, NIVU inevitably be disbanded. Perhaps also because of social and political is not conducive (to support). The atmosphere is finally spreading to the members, among others VBO. In mid-1951, VBO meeting to disperse (liquidation) and encourage him to join Persija. In its development, the VBO join Persija. In the triangular tournament of friendship, a joint Indonesian national players who joined in Persija "new" is confronted with the Dutch and Tionghoa. This is the result: Persija (Indonesia) vs. Netherlands 3-3 (June 29, 1951), Netherlands vs. Tionghoa 4-3 (June 30, 1951), and Persija (Indonesia) vs Tionghoa 3-2 (July 1, 1951). All matches took place in the field BVC Merdeka Selatan, Jakarta.

Persija Jakarta's supporters call themselves The 'Jakmania'. They are amongst Indonesia's most passionate and fanatical supporters. The growth of Jakmania can be felt both inside and outside the stadium — now there are upward of 35,000 supporters at each home match. There are more than 50,000 registered members.

A registered member is given a special T-shirt, which has the words: Gue Anak Jakarta, which means I am a Jakarta kid. It helps new members identify themselves as Jakartans. After a year, they are given a T-shirt that says “Satu Jakarta Satu,” or One Jakarta One. “They have to agree there is only one Jakarta, . Then after two years of membership, another T-shirt with “Jakmania 12,” to represent the twelfth player of Persija, is issued to supporters. After three years of active membership, they will wear a different T-shirt according to the theme of the year was founded with a mentality of “the Ultras,” a category of football supporters. Other categories are the spectators, individuals who are not organized, who love the game and often do not affiliate with any clubs; and the hooligans are the very fanatics who do not hesitate to use violence to support their clubs. the ultras are organized supporters, with an organizational tree and structure. “ Jakmania have 48 field coordinators. The Jakmania not only in the Jakarta area alone. But outside of Jakarta was already there, such as Jak Semarang, Jak Jogja, Jak Karawang, Jak Depok, Jak Bogor, Jak Solo, Surabaya Jak even really be in the "enemy". Supporter groups, characterized by the color orange was once a supporter favorite soccer 2003 version of ANTV-award and the best supporters in the Cup 2008 Indonesia. They're also the big enemy of Persebaya Surabaya, Bonekmania. They did it since Perserikatan era.

C.A. Boca Juniors

2010-04-28T00:27:00.001-07:00

Club Atlético Boca Juniors, known simply as Boca Juniors or Boca, is a popular Argentine sports club, best known for its football team. Its home base is the neighborhood of La Boca, in Buenos Aires, and their home field is Estadio Alberto J. Armando, better known as La Bombonera. Their main rival is River Plate, with whom they contest the Superclásico.

The club have combined to win 41 official tournaments. They had won a record 18 international titles, equal to A.C. Milan. Their haul includes six Copa Libertadores, four Recopa Sudamericana, three world club titles (Intercontinental Cup), two Copa Sudamericana, one Copa Oro, one Supercopa Sudamericana, and one Supercopa Masters. Boca Juniors is one of eight teams to have won CONMEBOL's treble (the others being Olimpia, São Paulo, Independiente, Vélez Sársfield, Cruzeiro, Internacional and LDU Quito). Domestically, the club has won 23 national championships, second only to River Plate (33).

The club is usually a permanent fixture in the IFFHS Club World Ranking top 25 and has reached the top position of the monthly ranking 6 times (mostly during coach Carlos Bianchi's tenure). Boca is currently ranked 55th.

The youth academy has produced many Argentine internationals such as Juan Román Riquelme, Nicolás Burdisso, Carlos Tévez and Fernando Gago who have played or are playing for top European clubs.

On 3 April 1905, five Italian immigrants gathered in the Plaza Solís, located in the heart of the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Esteban Baglietto, Alfredo Scarpati, Santiago Sana, and brothers Juan and Teodoro Farenga founded Boca Juniors. The use of English language in football team names was commonplace, as British railway workers had originally introduced association football into Argentina.

Boca Juniors played in local leagues and the amateur second division until being promoted to the first division in 1913, when the division was expanded from six teams to 15. Boca were never relegated; they won six amateur championships (1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, and 1930). With the introduction of professional football in Argentina, Boca won the first title in 1931.

First Match: April 21, 1905. vs. Mariano Moreno.
First international match: December 8, 1907. vs. Universal (Montevideo, Uruguay)
First professional match: May 31, 1931 vs. Chacarita Juniors.

The original jersey colour was pink, but this was quickly abandoned for thin black-and-white vertical stripes. Legend has it that in 1906, Boca played another team that used this strip to decide who would get to keep it. Boca lost, and decided to adopt the colors of the flag of the first boat to sail into the port at La Boca. This proved to be the 4146 ton freighter "Drottning Sophia", a Swedish vessel sailing from Copenhagen. As a result, the yellow and blue of the Swedish flag were adopted as the new team colours. The first version had a yellow diagonal band, which was later changed to a horizontal stripe.

The club has had five different designs for its crest during its history, although its outline has remained unchanged throughout its history. In 1955, laurel leaves were added to celebrate the club's 50th anniversary, and the colours were changed to match those on the team's jersey. In 1970, one star was added to the badge for each title won domestically (at the top, above the initials) and internationally (at the bottom). A new star was added to the corresponding section whenever Boca wins a title. To the delight of fans, the crest had to be modified several times in recent years. In 2007, the club changed its crest to include only 3 stars, one for each Intercontinental Cup / Club world title

Boca Juniors used several locations before settling on their current ground on Brandsen. Their first ground was in la Dársena Sur but it was vacated in 1907 as it failed to meet the minimum league requirements. They then used three grounds in the Isla Demarchi area between 1908 and 1912. Between 1914 and 1915, the club moved away from La Boca for the only time in its history, moving to Wilde in the Avellaneda Partido of the Buenos Aires Province but a relatively poor season and poor attendances in 1915 forced them to move back to La Boca.

On 25 May 1916, Boca opened their new stadium at the intersection of Calle Ministro Brin and Calle Senguel, playing there until 1924 when they moved to their current location on Calle Brandsen and Calle Del Crucero.

Construction work on the concrete structure of their current stadium started in 1938 under the supervision of Engineer José L.Delpini. Boca played their home matches in the Ferrocarril Oeste ground in Caballito until it was completed in 1940. A third level was added in 1953, giving the ground its nickname La Bombonera ('The Chocolate Box'). The stand opposite the Casa Amarilla railway platforms remained mostly undeveloped until 1996, when it was upgraded with new balconies and VIP boxes. Three sides of the Bombonera are made up of traditional sloping stadium stands, but the fourth side had to be built vertically, with several seating areas stacked one on top of the other, to stay within the stadium's property. La Bombonera is renowned for vibrating when fans start to jump in rhythm; in particular, the unique vertical side will sway slightly, leading to the phrase, "the Bombonera does not tremble. It beats." (La Bombonera no tiembla. Late.)

The Bombonera currently has a capacity of around 61,000. The club's popularity make tickets hard to come by, especially for the Superclasico game against River Plate. There are further improvements planned for the stadium, including measures to ease crowd congestion, use of new technology and improved corporate facilities.

Gamba Osaka

2010-04-28T00:21:00.001-07:00

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1. The team's name comes from the Italian word "gamba" meaning "leg" and the Japanese ganbaru, meaning "to do your best" or "to stand firm". Located in Suita, Osaka, the team's home stadium is Osaka Expo '70 Stadium. Gamba are one of only five teams to have competed in Japan's top flight of football every year since its inception in 1993.

Founded in 1980 as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (which is renamed to "Panasonic Corporation" on October 1st, 2008) soccer club in Nara Prefecture and a member of the Japan Soccer League. It was mostly made of remaining players and staff of the defunct Yanmar Club, the former B-team of Yanmar Diesel F.C., later to be known as Cerezo Osaka. Gamba Osaka was an original member of the J. League in 1993.

In 2005 the club claimed its first J. League championship on a dramatic final day during which any of five clubs could have claimed the championship. Gamba needed to win, and have cross town rivals Cerezo Osaka draw or lose. Gamba defeated a valiant Kawasaki Frontale 4-2, while victory was snatched from Cerezo by a last minute FC Tokyo equalizer. In an AFC Champions League match in 2006, Gamba Osaka defeated Vietnamese side Da Nang FC in a record equaling victory of 15-0. In the 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship final, Gamba Osaka destroyed the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer a stunning 6 goals to 1 to win the tournament, with Bare making 4 of the goals.

In October 2008, Gamba for the first time in their history, reached the final of the AFC Champions League when they defeated fellow Japanese and league rivals Urawa Reds 4-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg, Gamba registered one of the most historic comebacks in Champions League history when they came back from being behind 1-0 before half time to win 1-3 with all goals scored in the second half at Saitama. Gamba Osaka went on to win the 2008 AFC Champions League title after winning 5-0 on aggregate against the giant-killing Australian team Adelaide United in the Final. They became the fifth Japanese club to win the maximum Asian title, after Urawa, Júbilo Iwata, and then-company-affiliated Yomiuri (Tokyo Verdy) and Furukawa Electric (JEF United Ichihara Chiba).

In December 2008, Gamba made it to the semi finals of the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup after beating Australian team Adelaide United 1-0. They were beaten in the semi finals by Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United. On the 21st December 2008 they played for third place against Mexican side C.F. Pachuca winning the match 1-0.

On January 1, 2009, Ryuji Bando scored in extra time to lift Gamba Osaka to a 1-0 win over Kashiwa Reysol and take the 88th Emperor's Cup in Tokyo. The victory secured Gamba a place in the AFC Champions League, where it will defend the title it won last year. This is the team's second ever Cup win, with the last 18 years ago in its previous incarnation as Matsushita Electric Industrial Soccer Club.

S.S.C. Napoli

2010-04-23T01:13:00.001-07:00

Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples and founded in 1926. The club has spent most of its history in Serie A, where it currently plays its 2009–10 season.

Napoli has won Serie A twice, in 1986–87 and 1989–90. It has also won Coppa Italia in its home country three times and one Italian Super Cup, and on the European stage has won the UEFA Cup in 1988–89. Napoli is also the most successful club in Southern Italy and the fourth most supported football club in Italy.

The club has had several name changes since first appearing in 1926; the most important of these was in 1964, when it was changed from Associazione Calcio Napoli to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli. The most recent change was in 2004, when the club went bankrupt but was refounded by film-producer Aurelio De Laurentiis as Napoli Soccer; he restored the name to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli in early 2006.

The first club was founded as Naples Foot-Ball & Cricket Club in 1904 by English sailor William Poths and his associate Hector M. Bayon. Neapolitans such as Conforti, Catterina and Amedeo Salsi were also involved, the latter of which was the club's first president. The original kit of the club was a sky blue and navy blue striped shirt, with black shorts. The name of the club was shortened to Naples Foot-Ball Club in 1906.

Early into its existence, the Italian Football Championship was limited to just Northern clubs, so Southern clubs competed against sailors or in cups such as Sir Thomas Lipton's Lipton Challenge Cup. In the cup competed between Naples and Palermo FBC, Naples won three finals. The foreign contingent at the club broke off in 1912 to form Internazionale Napoli, in time for both club's debut in the Italian Championship of 1912–13. Though the sides had a keen rivalry in the Campania section, they were not as successful outside of it and a few years after World War I they merged as Foot-Ball Club Internazionale-Naples, also known as FBC Internaples

Napoli broke the world transfer record fee, turning to Diego Maradona with a $12 million deal from Barcelona on 30 June 1984. The squad was gradually re-built, with the likes of Ciro Ferrara, Salvatore Bagni and Fernando De Napoli filling the ranks. The rise up the tables was gradual, by 1985–86 they had a third place finish under their belts, but better was yet to come. The 1986–87 season was the landmark in Napoli's history; they won the double, securing the Serie A title by three points and then beating Atalanta 4–0 to lift the Coppa Italia.

Diego Maradona holding the UEFA Cup for Napoli.

Because a mainland Southern Italian team had never won the league before, this turned Diego Maradona into a cultural, social and borderline religious icon for Neapolitans, which stretched beyond the realms of just football.

The club were unsuccessful in the European Cup in the following season and finished runners-up in Serie A. However, Napoli were entered into the UEFA Cup for 1988–89 and won their first major European title. Juventus, Bayern Munich and PAOK were defeated on the way to the final, where Napoli beat VfB Stuttgart 5–4 on aggregate, with two goals from Careca and one each from Maradona, Ferrara and Alemão.

Napoli added their second Serie A title in 1989–90, beating AC Milan by two points in the title race. However, this was surrounded by less auspicious circumstances as Napoli were awarded two points for a game, when in Bergamo an Atalanta fan threw a 100 lira coin at Alemão's head. A controversial set of events set off at the 1990 World Cup, when Maradona made comments pertaining to North-South inequality in the country and the risorgimento, asking Neapolitans to root for Argentina in the semi-finals against Italy in Naples.

“ I don't like the fact that now everybody is asking Neapolitans to be Italian and to support their national team. Naples has always been marginalised by the rest of Italy. It is a city that suffers the most unfair racism.”

—Diego Armando Maradona, July 1990

Napoli ultras responded by displaying a banner in their curva that read: "Maradona, Naples loves you, but Italy is our homeland". It was the only stadium during the competition where the Argentine national anthem wasn't jeered, Maradona bowed to the Napoli fans at the end and his country went on to reach the final. However, after the final the Italian Football Federation forced Maradona to take a doping test, which he failed testing positive for cocaine; Napoli and he claimed it was a revenge plot for events at the World Cup. Maradona was banned for 15 months and would never play for the club again. The club still managed to win the Supercoppa Italiana that year, with a record 5–1 victory against Juventus, but it would be their last major trophy. In the European Cup however, they went out in the second round

Liverpool FC

2010-04-13T21:15:00.001-07:00

Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England which plays in the Premier League and is one of the most successful in the history of English football, winning more trophies than any other English club. Liverpool has won a joint-record eighteen league titles, seven FA Cups, seven League Cups, three UEFA Cups and five European Cups, an English record.

The club was founded in 1892 and won five league championships between 1900 and 1947. However, Liverpool spent several years in the Second Division during the late 1950s, and did not win promotion again until the appointment of Bill Shankly as manager in 1959. The club traditionally played in red and white, but this was changed to all red in the 1960s.

Under Shankly's management, Liverpool won three League Championship titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup, the club's first European trophy. In the past 30 years, they have been one of the most successful clubs in English and European football; they won four European Cups between 1977 and 1984 and a fifth in 2005.

The Heysel Stadium disaster made the club infamous in Europe; 39 Juventus fans died after a wall collapsed as they fled from charging Liverpool fans. The club was involved in a worse disaster four years later—the Hillsborough Disaster— which saw the death of 96 Liverpool fans in a crush against perimeter fencing. Both disasters have had wide-ranging impacts on English and European football, and the club, to this day.

Liverpool F.C. has played at Anfield since its formation, but plans to move to a new stadium in Stanley Park, which was due to be completed by 2011 but has been put on hold until economic conditions improve. Liverpool has a large fan base which holds long-standing rivalries with several clubs. The most notable of these are their rivalry with Manchester United and Everton, with whom they regularly contest the Merseyside derby.

Liverpool F.C. was founded after a multi-faceted dispute between the Everton Committee and John Houlding, the owner of the land at Anfield and Everton's president. Everton F.C. founded and played at Anfield from 1884 to 1892. The catalyst that escalated the dispute was when the adjacent landowner wanted to run a road though the newly built main stand. Fundamental difference emerged in how the club should be run when the club assessed the purchase of the whole of the Anfield site. Houlding was accused of motives for personal financial gain. Everton who had been playing at Anfield for eight years departed from Houlding and Anfield moving to a new stadium in Goodison Park.

Liverpool F.C. were founded by Houlding to play at the vacated Anfield. The original name was to be Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds, Ltd., or Everton Athletic for short, but it was changed to Liverpool F.C. in June 1892 when The Football Association refused to recognise the team as Everton.

During the season 2008–09, Liverpool had the fourth-highest average League attendance for an English club: 44,318, which is 96.8% of available capacity. Liverpool fans often refer to themselves as "Kopites", which is a reference to the fans who once stood, and now sit, on the Kop at Anfield.

The song "You'll Never Walk Alone", originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and later recorded by Liverpool musicians Gerry & The Pacemakers, is the club's anthem, and has been sung by the Anfield crowd since the early 1960s. It has since gained popularity among fans of other clubs around the world. The song's title adorns the top of the Shankly Gates, which were unveiled on 2 August 1982 in memory of the former manager Bill Shankly. The "You'll Never Walk Alone" portion of the Shankly Gates is also reproduced on the club's crest.

FC Porto

2010-04-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Futebol Clube do Porto or FC Porto, Porto, or FCP for short, is one of the Três Grandes, or Big Three, football clubs in Portugal, with Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal being the other two clubs, FC Porto's two biggest rivals. It was founded in Porto in 1893.

FC Porto is an internationally lauded team, with a national record of six international titles, becoming European and World Champions twice each in the 1987 and 2004 seasons. In 1987, FC Porto also gained the UEFA Supercup (another first for Portugal) and, in 2004, it brought Portugal's first UEFA Champions League trophy, making FC Porto the most successful club internationally in Portugal. In 1987, FC Porto became one of a few teams in the World to hold in possession three major international titles simultaneously (the only one in Portugal). Domestically they hold the best record of five titles in a row, having won the Portuguese Liga 24 times. Other titles won by the club include the Portuguese Cup 18 times and Portuguese Supercup 16 times (58 national titles).

The football home ground is the Estádio do Dragão, which replaced the previous home, Estádio das Antas, in 2003. A new multi-sport arena near the stadium was recently completed to harbour FC Porto's other sports such as the handball and basketball teams, which are regular contenders for the national titles and the roller hockey section, amongst the best in the sport worldwide. Supporters and players of the club are nicknamed Portistas.

FC Porto was founded in the northern city of Porto on 28 September 1893 by wine-salesman António Nicolau de Almeida, who had his first contact with the game of football on one of his trips to England. The club was revived in 1906 by Monteiro da Costa.

Commercially, the club has several stores called Loja Azul (Blue Store) scattered around the city, including two used with official supplier Nike. Since 1994, a merchandising goods fair called Portomania is organized during the pre-season. FC Porto publishes one of the older club-related publications in Europe: a monthly 60-page full-colour magazine called Dragões (Dragons) that has existed since the early 1980s.

FC Porto played in the Portuguese championship 74 times, playing 2048 games, winning 1333, drawing 375, losing 340, scoring 4542 goals, and conceding 1909, having 3342 points as of the end of the 2007–08 season. They were also one of the founding members of the now disbanded G-14.

FC Porto's first official trophy, the Union of the North Cup, was won in 1911. In the following years, it became one of the biggest clubs in Portugal and went on to win the first national competition in the history of Portuguese football, the Campeonato da Liga 1934-35. Porto were always a struggling team after that championship, and went on to win only five championships in 41 years . But slightly before the new president Pinto da Costa took office, the history of Portuguese soccer saw a new title contestant, and a new European team. In the following years, since 1978, Porto won 19 titles, 11 Portuguese cups, 16 Portuguese supercups, 1 European Champions Cup, and the new Champions League, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Super Cup, and 2 Intercontinental Cup.

Two of the biggest reasons for this change of fortunes were Pinto da Costa, who took control of Porto in 1982 and José Maria Pedroto whom he had brought back with him to manage the team. The duo quickly caused the team damage, with Pinto da Costa as football director and Pedroto as manager, winning two titles previously, and making controversial remarks about the centralization of Portuguese football, which caused them problems with the directing board, and consequently they left. After quitting, in 1982, Pinto da Costa ran for presidency and won, bringing back Pedroto. The following decades turned what was the third team in the overall history of Portuguese football into the biggest title winner of the past 30 years. Since 1982, Porto has won 17 titles, achieving the record Penta (five leagues in a row) in 1999 and since 1976 never finished below 3rd place, 10 Portuguese cups, and has a majority of Supercups, having won 15 out of a possible 27.

New York Red Bulls

2010-04-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in in the New York metropolitan area that participates in Major League Soccer (MLS). The team plays in Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, New Jersey, which opened for the 2010 MLS season. Previously the team played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where they had played their home matches since the team's founding. The team's headquarters are located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

The team is a founding member of MLS (1996), but has gone through several name changes. The team was originally known as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars through 1997. From the 1998 season until right before the 2006 season, the team was known as simply the MetroStars, though 'NY/NJ' continued to be displayed on the MLS Website in reference to the team through the early 2000s. On March 9, 2006, it was sold to Red Bull GmbH, and the name of the organization was changed to Red Bull New York while the playing team was to be called the New York Red Bulls, because they are located in the New York metropolitan area.

The team played its home matches at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey until the end of the 2009 season. During the team's first season, the MetroStars had solid black or solid white jerseys and during all other seasons, the home jerseys had red and black vertical stripes.

The team's best result in MLS play was the MLS Cup final in 2008. In the US Open Cup, the MetroStars reached three semifinals (1997, 1998, 2000), before finally reaching their first final in 2003, losing 1-0 to the Chicago Fire. On August 26, 2000, the Metros' Clint Mathis set an MLS record by scoring five goals in a game against the Dallas Burn.

Some famous players that have played for the team were Roberto Donadoni, Lothar Matthäus, Adolfo Valencia, Youri Djorkaeff, Amado Guevara. The team has had its share of famous coaches as well, including Carlos Queirós, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Bora Milutinović, as well as Bob Bradley, Mo Johnston, and Bruce Arena. American stars Tony Meola, Tab Ramos, Tim Howard, Alexi Lalas (who was also the team's General Manager, for a brief time), Clint Mathis, and Eddie Pope have all played for the team.

The team played in Giants Stadium until the end of the 2009 season. The stadium is located in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) owns Giants Stadium along with the Izod Center. Currently, the New York Red Bulls training facilities are located at Giants Stadium.

The team moved to a new soccer-specific stadium, Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, located directly across the Passaic River from Newark, New Jersey. Due to various delays in construction, the stadium opened in 2010 with a 25,189 seating capacity. On November 16, 2007, Red Bull announced that it had purchased full ownership of the project, overseeing all aspects of construction and stadium management. Red Bull built the stadium without taxpayer money.

The Red Bulls' main rivals are fellow MLS teams DC United, against whom they compete for the Atlantic Cup, and the New England Revolution. These rivalries arise out of geographic proximity and as a reflection of longstanding rivalries between New York-area teams and Washington and Boston-area teams in other sports. It is expected that similar factors will lead to a strong rivalry with the Philadelphia Union when that team begins play in 2010.

Juventus FC

2010-03-22T20:22:00.001-07:00

Juventus Football Club, commonly referred to as Juventus and familiarly as Juve, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont. The club was founded in 1897 and has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 2006–07 season, in the top flight First Division (called Serie A since 1929).

Juventus is historically the most successful team of Italian football and one of the most successful and recognized in the world. According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, an international organization recognized by FIFA, Juventus were Italy's best club of the 20th century and the second most successful European club in the same period.

Overall, the club has won 51 official competitions, more than any other team in the country; 40 in the national First Division, which is also a record, and 11 in UEFA and world competitions. It is the third most successful club in Europe and the sixth in the world, with the most international titles officially recognized by one of the six continental football confederations and FIFA.

The club was the first Italian and Southern European side to win the UEFA Cup. In 1985, Juventus, the only team in the world to have won all official international cups and championships, became the first club in the history of European football to have won all three major UEFA club competitions.

Juventus has the largest fan base of any Italian club, and at 170 million also has one of the highest numbers of supporters world-wide (it. the tifosi). The club is a founding member of the European Club Association, which was formed after the dissolution of the G-14, a collection of Europe's most elite clubs. The Torinese side is also recognized for its contribution to the Italian national team.

Juventus were founded as Sport Club Juventus in late 1897 by pupils from the Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum school in Turin, but were renamed as Foot-Ball Club Juventus two years later. The club joined the Italian Football Championship during 1900. During this period the team wore a pink and black kit. Juventus first won the league championship in 1905 while playing at their Velodromo Umberto I ground. By this time the club colours had changed to black and white stripes, inspired by English side Notts County.

There was a split at the club in 1906, after some of the staff considered moving Juve out of Turin. President Alfredo Dick was unhappy with this and left with some prominent players to found FBC Torino which in turn spawned the Derby della Mole.Juventus spent much of this period steadily rebuilding after the split, surviving the First World War.

Fiat owner Edoardo Agnelli gained control of the club in 1923, and built a new stadium. This helped the club to its second scudetto (league championship) in the 1925–26 season beating Alba Roma with an aggregate score of 12–1, Antonio Vojak's goals were essential that season. The 1930s proved to be even more fruitful, the club won five consecutive league titles from 1930 through to 1935, most were under coach Carlo Carcano with star players such as Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Luis Monti amongst others.

Juventus moved to the Stadio Comunale, but for the rest of the 1930s and the majority of the 1940s they were unable to recapture championship dominance.

After the Second World War, Gianni Agnelli was appointed honorary president. The club added two more league championships to its name in the 1949–50 and 1951–52 seasons, the latter of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver.

Two new strikers were signed during 1957–58; Welshman John Charles and Italo-Argentine Omar Sivori, playing alongside longtime member Giampiero Boniperti. That season saw Juventus awarded with the Golden Star for Sport Excellence to wear on their shirts after becoming the first Italian side to win ten league titles. In the same season, Omar Sivori became the first ever player at the club to win the European Footballer of the Year. The following season they beat Fiorentina to complete their first league and cup double, winning Serie A and Coppa Italia. Boniperti retired in 1961 as the all-time top scorer at the club, with 182 goals in all competitions, a club record which stood for 45 years.

During the rest of the decade the club won the league just once more in 1966–67, However, the 1970s saw Juventus further solidify their strong position in Italian football. Under former player Čestmír Vycpálek they won the scudetto in 1971–72 and 1972–73, with players such as Roberto Bettega, Franco Causio and José Altafini breaking through. During the rest of the decade they won the league twice more, with defender Gaetano Scirea contributing significantly. The later win was under Giovanni Trapattoni, who helped the club's domination continue on into the early part of the 1980s.

The Trapattoni-era was highly successful in the 1980s; the club started the decade off well, winning the league title three more times by 1984. This meant Juventus had won 20 Italian league titles and were allowed to add a second golden star to their shirt, thus becoming the only Italian club to achieve this. Around this time the club's players were attracting considerable attention; Paolo Rossi was named European Footballer of the Year following his contribution to Italy's victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, where he was named player of the tournament.

Frenchman Michel Platini was also awarded the European Footballer of the Year title for three years in a row; 1983, 1984 and 1985, which is a record. Juventus are the only club to have players from their club winning the award in four consecutive years. Indeed it was Platini who scored the winning goal in the 1985 European Cup final against Liverpool, however this was marred by a tragedy which changed European football. The Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 people (mostly Juventus fans) were killed when a stadium wall collapsed, has been called by UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson in 2004, "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions", and resulted in the banning of all English clubs from European competition.

With the exception of winning the closely contested Italian Championship of 1985–86, the rest of the 1980s were not very successful for the club. As well as having to contend with Diego Maradona's Napoli, both of the Milanese clubs, Milan and Internazionale, won Italian championships. In 1990, Juventus moved into their new home, the Stadio delle Alpi, which was built for the 1990 World Cup.

Marcello Lippi took over as Juventus manager at the start of the 1994–95 campaign. His first season at the helm of the club was a successful one, as Juventus recorded their first Serie A championship title since the mid-1980s. The crop of players during this period featured Ciro Ferrara, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and a young Alessandro Del Piero. Lippi lead Juventus to the Champions League the following season, beating Ajax on penalties after a 1–1 draw in which Fabrizio Ravanelli scored for Juve.

The club did not rest long after winning the European Cup, more highly regarded players were brought into the fold in the form of Zinédine Zidane, Filippo Inzaghi and Edgar Davids. At home Juventus won Serie A in 1996–97 and 1997–98, as well as the 1996 UEFA Super Cup and the 1996 UEFA / CSF Intercontinental Cup. Juventus reached the 1997 and 1998 Champions League finals during this period, but lost out to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively.

After a season's absence Lippi returned, signing big name players such as Gianluigi Buffon, David Trézéguet, Pavel Nedvěd and Lilian Thuram, helping the team to two more scudetto titles in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons. Juventus were also part of an all Italian Champions League final in 2003 but lost out to Milan on penalties after the game ended in a 0–0 draw. The following year, Lippi was appointed as Italy's head coach, bringing an end to one of the most fruitful managerial spells in Juventus' history.

Fabio Capello became coach of Juventus in 2004, and led Juventus to two more Serie A titles. However, in May 2006, Juventus became one of the five clubs linked to a Serie A match fixing scandal, the result of which saw the club relegated to Serie B for the first time in its history. The club was also stripped of the two titles won under Capello in 2005 and 2006.

Many key players left following the demotion to Serie B, including Thuram, star striker Zlatan Ibrahimović and defensive stalwart Fabio Cannavaro. However, other big name players such as Buffon, Del Piero and Nedvěd remained to help the club return to Serie A while youngsters from the Primavera such as Sebastian Giovinco and Claudio Marchisio were integrated into the first team. The bianconeri were promoted straight back up as league winners after the 2006–07 season while captain Del Piero claimed the top scorer award with 21 goals. Since their return to Serie A in the 2007-08 season former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri managed Juventus for two seasons. They finished in 3rd place in their first return season (2007–08) and qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2008–09 Champions League Preliminary stages. They qualified to the group stages, and did very well, beating Real Madrid in both home and away legs, but lost in the knockout round to Chelsea. Claudio Ranieri was sacked following a string of unsuccessful results, and Ciro Ferrara was appointed as the coach for the last two games of the season. Ferrara was subsequently appointed as the coach for the 2009–10 season.

Ferrara's stint as Juve head coach proved to be however unsuccessful, with Juve knocked out of UEFA Champions League and Coppa Italia, and just laying at sixth place in the league table at the end of January 2010, leading to the dismissal of Ciro Ferrara and his replacement with Alberto Zaccheroni.

FC Bayern Munich

2010-03-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

FC Bayern Munich is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful club in German football, having won 21 German titles and 14 cups.

The club was founded in 1900 by eleven football players led by Franz John. Although Bayern won its first national championship in 1932, the club was not selected for the Bundesliga at its inception in 1963. In the middle of the 1970s, the club had its period of greatest success, when the famous team led by Franz Beckenbauer won the European Cup three times in a row (1974–76). In recent years they have been by far the most successful team in German football, winning seven of the last ten championships. The club's last international title was the Intercontinental Cup in 2001.

Since the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Munich plays its home games in the Allianz Arena. Previously the team had played for 33 years in the Olympic Stadium. The team colours are red and white, and the team crest shows the colours of Bavaria.

Bayern is a membership-based club with more than 152,000 members. There are also more than 2,500 officially-registered fan clubs with about 181,700 members. The club has other departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis, referees, and senior football with more than 1,100 active members.

Bayern is one of three professional football clubs in Munich. Bayern's main local rival is TSV 1860 Munich, who were the more successful club in the 1960s, winning a cup and a championship. In the 1970s and 1980s, TSV 1860 moved between the first and the third division, but lately have settled in the second division. The rivalry has therefore, at least from a Bayern point of view, lost importance, reflecting the lopsided state of the achievements of the two clubs and the absence of players for whom local grudges would still matter. On the other hand the Münchner Stadtderby is still a much anticipated event, getting a lot of extra attention from supporters of both clubs. 1860 is considered more working-class, and therefore suffers from a diminishing fan base in a city where the manufacturing sector is declining. Bayern is considered the establishment club, which is reflected by many board members being business leaders and including the former Bavarian minister president. Despite the rivalry, Bayern has repeatedly supported 1860 in times of financial disarray.

SpVgg Unterhaching from the semi-rural southern outskirts of Munich, is the city's third team. They celebrated their biggest success in 1999 when they gained promotion to the Bundesliga and stayed in the top flight for a second season. Since then they have been playing in the second Bundesliga and the third division. In the 2008–09 season they will be playing in the newly founded 3rd Liga. There is no rivalry between Bayern and Unterhaching, the most notable event in the relation of the two clubs being the finish of the 1999–2000 Bundesliga season. Unterhaching defeated Bayer Leverkusen on the last day of the season, giving Bayern the chance to surpass Leverkusen in the standings and claim the title.

Since the 1920s, FC Nuremberg has been Bayern's main rival in Bavaria. Both clubs played in the same league in the mid-1920s, but in the 1920s and 1930s, Nuremberg was far more successful, winning five championships in the 1920s, making the club Germany's record champion. Bayern took over the title more than sixty years later, when they won their tenth championship in 1987, thereby surpassing the number of championships won by Nuremberg. The duel between Bayern and Nuremberg is often referred to as the Bavarian Derby.

Since the 1970s, Bayern's main rivals have been the clubs who put up the strongest fight against its national dominance. In the 1970s this was Borussia Mönchengladbach, in the 1980s the category expanded to include Hamburger SV. In the 1990s Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen, and Borussia Dortmund, emerged as the most ardent opponents. Recently Schalke 04, Bremen and Hamburg have been the main challengers in the Bundesliga. Amongst Bayern's chief European rivals are Real Madrid, A.C. Milan, and Manchester United due to many classic wins, draws and losses.

Bayern also enjoys a strong rivalry with FC Kaiserslautern, originating in parts from a game in 1973, when Bayern lead 4-1 to lose 7-4, but also from the two clubs competing for German championship honors at various times in the Bundesliga as well as the city of Kaiserslautern having been part of Bavaria until the end of the Second World War.

Real Madrid CF

2010-03-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly known as Real Madrid (and in Spain, in football circles, simply as el Madrid), is a professional association football club based in Madrid, Spain. It is the most successful team in Spanish football and was voted by FIFA as the most successful club of the 20th century, having won a record thirty-one La Liga titles, seventeen Spanish Cups, a record nine European Cups and two UEFA Cups. Real Madrid was a founding member of FIFA and the now-defunct G–14 group of Europe's leading football clubs as well as its replacement, the European Club Association. The word "Real" in the club's name is the Spanish term for "Royal", and was added in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem.

Founded in 1902, Real Madrid has spent its entire history in the top flight of Spanish football. In the 1940s, the club, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and the Ciudad Deportiva had to be rebuilt following the Spanish Civil War. The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s. In the 1980s, the club had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe (known as La Quinta del Buitre), winning two UEFA Cups, five consecutive Spanish championships, one Spanish cup and three Spanish Super Cups.

The team's traditional home colours are all white, although it initially adopted a blue oblique stripe on the shirt. Its crest has been changed several times in attempts to modernise or re-brand it. The current crest is a modified version of the one first adopted in the 1920s. Real Madrid's home ground is the 80,354-seater Santiago Bernabéu football stadium in downtown Madrid, where it has played since 1947.

Real Madrid holds long-standing rivalries with other football clubs, most notably FC Barcelona, with matches between the two teams referred to as "el Clásico". Unlike most European football clubs, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club since its inception. The club is the world's richest football club (€401m) in terms of revenue and the second most valuable and was worth over €950m in 2008.

Real Madrid's origins go back to when football was introduced to Madrid by the academics and students of the Institución libre de enseñanza, which included several Oxbridge graduates. They founded Football Club Sky in 1897, playing on Sunday mornings at Moncloa. It split into two clubs in 1900: New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Club Español de Madrid. The latter club split again in 1902, resulting in the formation of Real Madrid Football Club on March 6 in 1902. Three years after its foundation, in 1905, Madrid FC won its first title after defeating Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final. The club became one of the founding sides of the Spanish Football Association on 4 January 1909, when club president Adolfo Meléndez signed the foundation agreement of the Spanish FA. After moving between grounds the team moved to the Campo de O'Donnell in 1912. In 1920, the club's name was changed to Real Madrid after King Alfonso XIII granted the title of Real (Royal) to the club.

In 1929, the first Spanish football league was founded. Real Madrid lead the first edition until the last match, a loss to Athletic Bilbao, meant they finished runners-up to Barcelona. Real Madrid won its first League title in the 1931–32 season. The Whites won the League again the following year, becoming the first side to have won the championship twice.

Santiago Bernabéu Yeste became president of Real Madrid in 1945. Under his presidency, the club, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and the Ciudad Deportiva were rebuilt following the Spanish Civil War. Beginning in 1953, he embarked upon a strategy of signing world-class players from abroad, the most prominent of them being Alfredo di Stéfano.

In 1955, acting upon the idea proposed by the French sports journalist and editor of L'Équipe Gabriel Hanot, and building upon the Copa Latina (a tournament involving clubs from France, Spain, Portugal and Italy), Bernabéu met in the Ambassador Hotel in Paris with Bedrignan and Gusztáv Sebes and created an exhibition tournament of invited teams from around Europe that would eventually become what today is known as the UEFA Champions League. It was under Bernabéu's guidance that Real Madrid established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football. The club won the European Cup five times in a row between 1956 and 1960, which included the 7–3 Hampden Park final against Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960. Winning the competition five consecutive times saw Real permanently awarded the original cup and earning the right to wear the UEFA badge of honour. The club won the European Cup for a sixth time in 1966 defeating FK Partizan 2–1 in the final with a team composed entirely of nationally born players (known as the Ye-yé team) – a first in the competition. The name "Ye-yé" came from the "Yeah, yeah, yeah" chorus in the Beatles' song "She Loves You" after four members of the team posed for Diario Marca dressed in Beatles wigs. The Ye-yé generation was also European Cup runner-up in 1962 and 1964.

In the 1970s, Real Madrid won 5 league championships and 3 Spanish Cups. The club played its first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in 1971, being defeated by English side Chelsea with 2-1. On 2 July 1978, club president Santiago Bernabéu died while the World Cup was being played in Argentina. In his honour FIFA decreed three days of mourning during the tournament. The following year, the club organized the first edition of Santiago Bernabéu Trophy in the memory of its former president.

By the early 1980s, Real Madrid had lost its grasp on the La Liga title until a new batch of home-grown stars brought domestic success back to the club. Spanish sport journalist Julio César Iglesias gave to this generation the name La Quinta del Buitre ("Vulture's Cohort"), which was derived from the nickname given to one of its members, Emilio Butragueño. The other four members were Manuel Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza. With La Quinta del Buitre (reduced to four members when Pardeza left the club for Zaragoza in 1986) and notable players like goalkeeper Francisco Buyo, right defender Miguel Porlán Chendo and Mexican striker Hugo Sánchez, Real Madrid had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe during the second half of the 1980s, winning two UEFA Cups, five Spanish championships in a row, one Spanish cup and three Spanish Super Cups.

In the early 1990s, La Quinta del Buitre split up after Martín Vázquez, Emilio Butragueño and Míchel left the club. In 1996, President Lorenzo Sanz appointed Fabio Capello as coach. Although his tenure lasted only one season, Real Madrid was proclaimed league champion and players like Roberto Carlos, Predrag Mijatović, Davor Šuker and Clarence Seedorf arrived at the club to strengthen a squad that already boasted the likes of Raúl, Fernando Hierro, Iván Zamorano, and Fernando Redondo. As a result, Real Madrid (with the addition of Fernando Morientes in 1997) finally ended its 32-year wait for its seventh European Cup. In 1998, under manager Jupp Heynckes, The Whites defeated Juventus 1–0 in the final thanks to a goal from Predrag Mijatović.

In July 2000, Florentino Pérez was elected club president. His campaign vowed to erase the club's debt and modernize the club's facilities. However, the primary electoral promise that propelled Pérez to victory was the signing of Luís Figo. The following year, the club controversially got its training ground rezoned and used the money to begin assembling the famous Galáctico side including players such as Zinédine Zidane, Ronaldo, Luís Figo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl and David Beckham. It is debatable whether the gamble paid off, as despite a European Cup win in 2002, followed by the League in 2003, the club failed to win a major trophy for the next three seasons.

Ramón Calderón was elected as club president on 2 July 2006 and subsequently appointed Fabio Capello as the new coach and Predrag Mijatović as the new sporting director. Real Madrid won the La Liga title in 2007 for the first time in four years but Capello was sacked. In the 2007–08 season, The Whites won the domestic league for the 31st time, achieving their first consecutive league title in eighteen years. On 1 June 2009, Florentino Pérez was again announced as the new president of Real Madrid. Pérez continued with the Galácticos policy pursued in his first term, first buying Kaká from A.C. Milan for just under £60 million, then purchasing Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for a record breaking £80 million.

Aston Villa FC

2009-12-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

Aston Villa Football Club (also known as The Villa, Villa and The Villans) is an English professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, who play in the Premier League. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of Football League in 1888. They were also founder members of the Premier League in 1992. The club was floated by the previous owner and chairman Doug Ellis, but in 2006 full control of the club was acquired by Randy Lerner.

They are one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England, having won the First Division Championship seven times and the FA Cup seven times. Villa also won the 1981–82 European Cup, one of only four English clubs to win what is now the UEFA Champions League. Aston Villa has the fourth highest total of major honours won by an English club.

They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with local rivals Birmingham City. The Birmingham derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City has been played since 1879. The club's traditional kit colours are claret shirts with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks. Their traditional crest is of a rampant gold lion on a light blue background with the club's motto "Prepared" underneath; a modified version of this was adopted in 2007.

To date Aston Villa have spent 98 seasons in the top-flight, the only club to have spent longer in the top-flight is Everton with 105 seasons. As a result, Aston Villa versus Everton is the most played fixture in English top-flight football. Aston Villa is one of an elite group of seven clubs that has played in every Premiership season, they are: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Aston Villa is fifth in the All-time FA Premier League table. Aston Villa has the fourth highest total of major honours won by an English club with 20 wins.

Aston Villa currently hold the record number of league goals scored by any team in the English top-flight; 128 goals were scored in the 1930–31 season. Villa legend Archie Hunter became the first player to score in every round of the FA Cup in Villa's victorious 1887 campaign. Villa's longest unbeaten home run in the FA Cup spanned 13 years and 19 games, from 1888 to 1901.

Aston Villa are one of four English teams that have won the European Champions Cup. They did so on 26 May 1982 in Rotterdam, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 thanks to Peter Withe's goal.

Aston Villa's arch-rivals are Birmingham City, with games between the two clubs known as the 'Second City Derby'. Today, Villa also enjoy less heated local rivalries with West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Coventry City. (These five clubs plus Walsall are collectively referred to in the West Midlands as the 'Big Six'.) Historically though, West Bromwich Albion have been one of Villa's greatest rivals, a view highlighted in a fan survey, conducted in 2003. The two teams contested three FA Cup finals in the late 19th century. Through the relegation of West Brom and Birmingham to The Championship in the 2005–06 season in the 2006–07 Premiership season Villa were the only Midlands club in that League. The nearest opposing team Villa faced during that season was Sheffield United, who played 62 miles (100 km) away in South Yorkshire. For the 2007–08 season Villa once again had two local derbies after Birmingham were promoted to the Premier League on 29 April 2007. Villa were victorious on the both occasions. Birmingham were relegated at the end of the 2007-08 season, as such, there was no Second City derby for the 2008-09 season. Both Birmingham and Wolverhampton gained promotion to the Premier League for the 2009-10 season and rivalries have been resumed.

Inter Milan

2009-12-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale and as just Inter in Italy, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy, founded in 1908. Inter are the champions of Italy, having retained their crown on 16 May 2009, their fourth successive title.

Inter are the only side in Italian football to have spent their entire history in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football which began its first season in 1929. Playing in black and blue striped shirts with black shorts, they have 17 Serie A titles to their name. Including the Coppa Italia and the Italian Super Cup, Inter have a total of 26 trophies won in Italy. Outside of their homeland, the club have also had success in European and World tournaments; they won the European Cup in two successive finals in 1964 and 1965. They have also won the UEFA Cup three times and the Intercontinental Cup twice also in 1964 and in 1965.

Inter play their home games at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, also known as the San Siro. The ground, which they share with rivals Associazione Calcio Milan, is the largest in Italian football, with a total capacity of 80,018. Inter train at the fields of sports center "Angelo Moratti" (better known as La Pinetina) in Appiano Gentile, near Como. The term Inter Milan is sometimes used in foreign countries to differentiate Internazionale from A.C. Milan, but is not used within Italy.

Internazionale have never been relegated from the Italian top flight in their entire history, which dates back all the way to 1908; a fact Nerazzurri fans hold in high regard. By comparison, Milan have been relegated twice. As of 2007, following Juventus' relegation to Serie B for the 2006–07 season following the Calciopoli scandal, Inter is the only Italian club that holds this honour, and its century in the top flight is one of the longest unbroken runs of any club in the world.

The current president and owner of Internazionale is Massimo Moratti. His father Angelo was the president of Inter during the club's golden era of the 1960s.

On 15 June 2005, Internazionale won the Coppa Italia, defeating Roma in the two-legged final 3-0 on aggregate (1–0 win in Milan and 2–0 win in Rome) and followed that up on 20 August 2005 by winning the Supercoppa Italiana after an extra-time 1–0 victory against original 2004–05 Serie A champions Juventus (before being stripped of this title). This Super Cup win was Inter's first since 1989, coincidentally the same year since Inter last won the Scudetto before 2006. On 11 May 2006, Inter retained their Coppa Italia trophy by once again, defeating Roma with a 4–1 aggregate victory (A 1–1 scoreline in Rome and a 3–1 win at the San Siro).

Inter were awarded the 2005–06 Serie A championship as they were the highest placed side in the season's final league table after points were stripped from Juventus and Milan — both sides being involved in the match fixing scandal that year. On 14 July 2006, the Italian Federal Appeal Commission found Serie A clubs Juventus, Lazio, Fiorentina, Reggina, and Milan guilty of match-fixing and punished the five clubs involved. As a result, with the relegation of Juventus to Serie B (for the first ever time in their history) and the 8-point deduction for city rivals Milan, Inter became favorites to retain their Serie A title for the upcoming 2006–07 Serie A season.

During the season, Inter went on a record-breaking run of 17 consecutive victories in Serie A, starting on 25 September 2006 with a 4–1 home win over Livorno and ending on 28 February 2007 after a 1–1 draw at home to Udinese. The 5–2 away win at Catania on 25 February 2007 broke the original record of 15 matches held by both Bayern Munich and Real Madrid from the "Big 5" (the top flight leagues in England, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany). The run lasted for almost five months and is among the best in European league football, with just Benfica (29 wins), Celtic (25 wins) and PSV (22 wins) bettering it. Inter's form dipped a little as they recorded 0–0 and 2–2 draws against relegation-battlers Reggina and slumping to Palermo (respectively), the latter game featuring a second-half comeback after Palermo went up 2–0 at halftime. They could not keep their invincible form up near the end of the season as well, as they lost their first game of the domestic season to Roma at the San Siro 3–1, thanks to two late Roma goals. Inter had enjoyed an unbeaten Serie A run for just under a year.

On 22 April 2007, Inter were crowned Serie A champions for the second consecutive season after defeating Siena 2–1 at Stadio Artemio Franchi. Italian World Cup winning defender Marco Materazzi scored both goals in the 18th and 60th minute, with the latter being a penalty. Inter started the 2007–08 season with the goal of winning both Serie A and UEFA Champions League. The team started well in the league, topping the table from the first round of matches, and also managed to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage; however, a late collapse leading to a 2–0 defeat with 10 men away to Liverpool on 19 February in the Champions League threw into question manger Roberto Mancini's future at Inter, and domestic form took a sharp turn of fortune with the team failing to win in the three following Serie A games (drawing with Sampdoria and major league opponents Roma, before losing away to Napoli, their first domestic defeat of the season. After being eliminated by Liverpool in the Champions League, Mancini then announced his intention to leave his job, only to change his mind the following day.

An improvement in results then gave Inter the chance to wrap up their Scudetto race twice, but a defeat to city rivals Milan and a home draw against Siena catapulted Roma to within just one point of Inter going into the final round of the Championship. Inter then managed to win at Parma thanks to two goals by Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović, who was still recovering from a knee injury and came off the bench to score for his team.

Following this win, the club decided to sack Mancini on 29 May, citing his declarations following the Champions League defeat to Liverpool as the reason. On 2 June, Inter announced on their official website that they had appointed former FC Porto and Chelsea boss José Mourinho as new head coach, with Giuseppe Baresi as his assistant. This made Mourinho the only foreign coach in Italy in the 2008–09 season kick-off. Mourinho made only three additions to the squad during the summer transfer window of 2008 in the form of Mancini, Sulley Muntari, and Ricardo Quaresma. Under Mourinho's first season as Inter head coach, the Nerazzurri won a Italian Super Cup and a fourth consecutive title, being, however, also eliminated from the Champions League in the first knockout round for a third consecutive time, losing to Manchester United. In winning the league title for the fourth consecutive time, Inter joined Torino and Juventus as the only teams to do this and the first to accomplish this feat in over 50 years.

ACF Fiorentina

2009-12-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Florentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A seasons. After climbing back up the Italian football system in the early 2000s, Fiorentina are currently competing in the Serie A.

Fiorentina have won two Italian Championships, in 1955-56 and again in 1968-69, as well as winning six Coppa Italia trophies. On the European stage Fiorentina won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1960-61, they finished runners-up in the 1956–57 European Cup losing against Real Madrid and also came close to winning the UEFA Cup, finishing as runners-up in the 1989-90 season.

Since 1931 the club have played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which currently has a capacity of 47,282. The stadium has used several names over the years and has undergone several renovations. Fiorentina are known widely by the nickname Viola, a reference to their distinctive purple colours.

The 2009–10 season started with Fiorentina again involved in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, this time against Portuguese runners-up Sporting Clube de Portugal, who were defeated only on away goals rule (2–2 in Lisbon, 1–1 in Florence). The club was successively drawn a tough group in the following phase, with Olympique Lyonnais, Liverpool F.C. and Debreceni VSC as opponents. On September 24, 2009, Andrea Della Valle resigned from his position as chairman of ACF Fiorentina, and announced all duties would be temporarily transferred to Mario Cognini, Fiorentina's vice president until a permanent position could be filled. On 26 October 2009, Andrea Della Valle stepped down as chairman. Later, Fiorentina managed to reach the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for its first time ever after defeating Lyon 1-0 and finishing ahead of Liverpool.

Chelsea FC

2009-12-01T00:58:00.000-08:00

Chelsea have recorded several "firsts" in English football. Along with Arsenal, they were the first club to play with shirt numbers on 25 August 1928 in their match against Swansea Town. Chelsea were the first English side to travel by aeroplane to a domestic away match, when they visited Newcastle United on 19 April 1957, and the first First Division side to play a match on a Sunday, when they faced Stoke City on 27 January 1974. On 26 December 1999, Chelsea became the first British side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up (no British or Irish players) in a Premier League match against Southampton. On 19 May 2007, they became the first team to win the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium, having also been the last to win it at the old Wembley. After the conclusion of the 2007/08 season, Chelsea became the highest ranked club under UEFA's five-year coefficient system used in the seeding of European club competitions in the following season, the first English club to do so in the 21st century.

Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in West London. The team, founded in 1905, play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions three times, and have won the FA Cup five times, the League Cup four times and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup twice.

The club had their first major success in 1955, winning the league championship. Chelsea won several cup competitions during the 1960s and 1970s, but after that did not win another major title until 1997. The past decade has been the most successful period in Chelsea’s history, capped by winning consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, and reaching their first UEFA Champions League final in 2008.

Chelsea's home is the 42,055 capacity Stamford Bridge football stadium in Fulham, West London, where they have played since their establishment. The club are based just outside the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. In 2003, they were bought by Russian oil magnate Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea's traditional kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks. The club crest has been changed several times in attempts to modernize or re-brand; the current crest, featuring a ceremonial lion holding a staff, is a modified version of one first adopted in the 1950s. The club has sustained the fifth highest average all-time attendance in English football. Their average home gate for the 2008–09 season was 41,464, the fifth highest in the Premier League.

In 1930, Chelsea featured in one of the earliest football films, The Great Game. One-time Chelsea centre forward, Jack Cock, who by then was playing for Millwall, was the star of the film and several scenes were shot at Stamford Bridge, including the pitch, the boardroom, and the dressing rooms. It included guest appearances by then-Chelsea players Andrew Wilson, George Mills, and Sam Millington. Owing to the notoriety of the Chelsea Headhunters, a football firm associated with the club, Chelsea have also featured in films about football hooliganism, most recently The Football Factory. Chelsea also appear in the Hindi film Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

Up until the 1950s, the club had a long-running association with the music halls, with their underachievement often providing material for comedians such as George Robey. It culminated in comedian Norman Long's release of a comic song in 1933, ironically titled "On the Day That Chelsea Went and Won the Cup", the lyrics of which describe a series of bizarre and improbable occurrences on the hypothetical day when Chelsea finally won a trophy.

The song "Blue is the Colour" was released as a single in the build-up to the 1972 League Cup Final, with all members of Chelsea's first team squad singing; it reached number five in the UK Singles Chart. The song was later adapted to "White is the Colour" and adopted as an anthem by the Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada. In the build-up to the 1997 FA Cup final, the song "Blue Day", performed by Suggs and members of the Chelsea squad, reached number 22 in the UK charts. Bryan Adams, a fan of Chelsea, dedicated the song "We're Gonna Win" from the album 18 Til I Die to the club.

SS Lazio

2009-11-29T22:33:00.000-08:00

Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as simply Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football. Lazio have been Italian champions twice, and have won the Coppa Italia five times, the Supercoppa Italiana three times, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup once.

The club had their first major success in 1958, winning the league cup. In 1974 they won their first Serie A title. The past fifteen years have been the most successful period in Lazio’s history, capped by winning UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 1999, the Serie A title in 2000, several league cups and reaching their first UEFA Cup final in 1998.

Lazio's traditional kit colours are sky blue shirts and shorts with white socks. Their home is the 72,689 capacity Stadio Olimpico in Rome, which they share with city rivals A.S. Roma. Lazio have a long-standing rivalry with this neighbouring club, with whom they have contested the Derby della Capitale since 1929.

Lazio is also a sports club that participate in thirty-seven sports disciplines in total, more than any other sports association in Europe.

Lazio's colours of white and sky blue were inspired by the national emblem of Greece, due to the fact that Lazio is a mixed sports club this was chosen in recognition of the fact that the Ancient Olympic Games and along with it the sporting tradition in Europe is linked to Greece.

Originally Lazio wore a shirt which was divided into white and sky blue quarters, with black shorts and socks. After a while of wearing a plain white shirt very early on, Lazio reverted to the colours which they wear today. Some seasons Lazio have used a sky blue and white shirt with stripes, but usually it is sky blue with a white trim, with the white shorts and socks. The club's colours have led to their Italian nickname of biancocelesti.

Lazio's traditional club badge and symbol is the eagle, which was chosen by founding member Luigi Bigiarelli. It is an acknowledgment to the emblem of the Roman Empire's army commonly known as the Aquila; the Roman legion carried the symbol with them when going in to battle. Lazio's use of the symbol has led to two of their nicknames; le Aquile (the Eagles) and Aquilotti (Young Eagles). The current club badge features a golden eagle above a white shield with a blue border; inside the shield is the club's name and a smaller tripartite shield with the colours of the club.

Lazio is the sixth most supported football club in Italy with around 2% of Italian football fans supporting the club (according to the la Repubblica’s research of August 2008). Historically the largest section of Lazio supporters in the city of Rome has come from the northern section just above the Vatican City, creating an arch like shape across Rome with affluent areas such as; Parioli, Prati, Flaminio, Salario, Nomentano, Cassia and Monte Mario.

Founded in 1987 Irriducibili Lazio are currently the club's biggest ultras group. In terms of match day displays Lazio ultras opt for a traditionally English style and embrace elements of lad culture. Usually the only time they create traditional Italian ultras displays is for the Derby della Capitale.

The Derby della Capitale, known in English speaking countries as the Rome derby is a match between Lazio and their main rivals Roma; it is amongst the most heated and emotional footballing rivalries in the world. A Lazio fan, Vincenzo Paparelli was killed at one of the derby games during the 1979–80 season after being hit in the eye by a flare thrown by a Roma fan. Lazio also have a strong rivalry with Napoli and Livorno. Conversely the ultras have friendly relationships with Inter, Triestina and Hellas Verona. They also have friendships with clubs elsewhere in Europe, including Real Madrid, Espanyol and Chelsea

FC Barcelona

2009-11-27T17:00:00.000-08:00

Fútbol Club Barcelona, also known simply as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The team was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Spanish men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). The official Barça anthem is El Cant del Barça by Josep Maria Espinàs.

FC Barcelona is one of three clubs never to have been relegated from La Liga and the most successful club in Spanish football after Real Madrid, having won nineteen La Liga titles, a record twenty-five Spanish Cups, eight Spanish Super Cups, four Eva Duarte Cups and two League Cups. They are also one of the most successful clubs in European football having won thirteen official major European trophies in total, including ten UEFA competitions. They have won three UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups (the forerunner to the UEFA Europa League) and three UEFA Super Cups. In 2009, Barcelona became the first club in Spain to win the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. The club is also the only European side to have played continental football in every season since its inception in 1955.

The club's stadium is the Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 98,772 seats. Barcelona enjoys a high rate of popularity; about 25.7% of Spanish population support the club, while according to a recent survey Barcelona is the most popular football club in Europe with around 44.2 million fans. With 170,000 socis (members) in September 2009, the Catalan club is also placed among the top football clubs in the world with the most registered members, and the number of penyes, the officially-registered supporter clubs, reached the number of 1,888 worldwide in August 2009. The fans of FC Barcelona are known as culés. The club shares a great rivalry with Real Madrid and contest in one of the most famous football matches worldwide, known as El Clásico.

During the 2007–08 season, FC Barcelona was the third richest club in the world with a revenue of €308.8 million. It was also one of the founding members of the now-defunct G-14 group of the leading European football clubs and its modern replacement, the European Club Association. The club also operates a reserve team, FC Barcelona Atlètic, while there was a youth team until 2007, FC Barcelona C.

As of July 1, 2009, FC Barcelona was ranked first in UEFA team ranking. According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), Barça has been the most consistently successful club in the world since the organisation began collecting statistics, in the period 1991-2008

Manchester City FC

2009-11-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club who play at the City of Manchester Stadium. The first known competitive fixture was played in November 1880, when the side was known as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they then became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 before changing their name to Manchester City Football Club in 1894. The club's most successful period was in the late 1960s and early 1970s when they won the League Championship, the FA Cup, the League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup under the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison and with players including Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee.

Since winning the League Cup in 1976, the club has failed to win any major honours. The club's decline led to relegation twice in three years in the 1990s, spending the 1998–99 season in the third tier of English football. The club has since regained top flight status, the level at which they have spent the majority of their history. Manchester City is now believed to be the wealthiest football club in the world after its purchase by the Abu Dhabi United Group in September 2008.

It is widely accepted that Manchester City F.C. was founded as St. Mark's (West Gorton) in 1880 by Anna Connell and two churchwardens of St. Mark's Church, in Gorton, a district in east Manchester. Prior to this, St. Mark's played cricket from 1875 and the side evolved out of that cricket team – the key organiser was Church Warden William Beastow. In 1887, they moved to a new ground at Hyde Road, in Ardwick just to the east of the city centre, and were renamed Ardwick Association Football Club to reflect their new location. Ardwick joined the Football League as founding members of the Second Division in 1892. Financial troubles in the 1893–94 season led to a reorganisation within the club, and Ardwick were reformed as Manchester City Football Club.

City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899; with it came promotion to the highest level in English football, the First Division. They went on to claim their first major honour on 23 April 1904, beating Bolton Wanderers 1–0 at Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup; City narrowly missed out on a League and Cup double that season after finishing runners-up in the League. In the seasons following the FA Cup triumph, the club was dogged by allegations of financial irregularities, culminating in the suspension of seventeen players in 1906, including captain Billy Meredith, who subsequently moved across town to Manchester United. A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, and in 1923 the club moved to their new purpose-built stadium at Maine Road in Moss Side.

Hull City A.F.C.

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Hull City Association Football Club are an English football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. They play in the Premier League, with the 2008–09 season being the first time in their history participating in the top tier of English football. Founded in 1904, the highest position Hull City have finished in the English Football League was 3rd in the old second division in 1909–10, a feat they repeated in 2007–08 when they gained promotion from The Championship by beating Bristol City 1–0 in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium. Their greatest achievement in cup competitions came in 1930, when the team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. The club play their home games at the KC Stadium in Hull. They previously played at Boothferry Park, but moved to their current home in 2002, with Boothferry Park set for demolition. They traditionally play in black and amber, often with a striped shirt design, hence their nickname The Tigers. The club's mascot is Roary the Tiger.

Manchester United (1910-1919)

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1910-1919
The words Old Trafford entered football folklore for the first time during the 1909/10 season. The land on which the stadium was built was bought by the Manchester Brewery Company (John Henry Davies) and leased to the club. Davies himself paid for the building work, which commenced in 1908 under the supervision of the renowned architect Archibald Leitch. By 1910, the club had moved lock, stock and barrel from their old home of Bank Street. United's first fixture at Old Trafford was played on 19 February 1910. The new hosts lost 4-3 to their first visitors Liverpool, but the stadium was successful in accommodating an 80,000 capacity crowd. Two days previously, the old wooden stand at Bank Street had been blown down by strong winds - further evidence, perhaps, that United were suited to and needed their new home. Indeed, United were crowned League Champions for the second time in their history, at the end of their first full season at Old Trafford - 1910/1911. They clinched the title at home on the final day of the season, beating Sunderland 5-1 with Harold Halse grabbing two of the goals. Halse wasn't the only goalscoring hero of that second Championship season. Another was the swashbuckling forward Enoch ‘Knocker’ West, who scored 19 goals during the campaign. United also won the Charity Shield, beating Swindon Town 8-4, with Halse grabbing a double hat-trick.

Despite such feats, United could not keep up their winning run and in 1911/12, the defending champions finished disappointingly in thirteenth place. Secretary-manager Ernest Mangnall bore the brunt of the criticism, and resigned to join United's neighbours and rivals Manchester City. The search for Mangnall's successor finished at the door of JJ Bentley, the president of the Football League. Under his guidance the Reds claimed fourth place in the League at the end of the 1912/13 season. The 1913/14 season was a period of transition, with Charlie Roberts and Alex Bell sold to Oldham and Blackburn respectively. United finished in 14th, with West finishing as top scorer for the third season in a row. The 1914/15 campaign was notable for a change of management - in December 1914, the roles of secretary and team manager were separated for the first time. Bentley became full-time secretary and John Robson was appointed to look after and select the team.

Robson's team was a shadow of the one which had performed so well in the previous decade, as only George Stacey, Billy Meredith, Sandy Turnbull and George Wall remained from the 1909 FA Cup-winning side. Not surprisingly, the club struggled, only escaping relegation by a single point. To rub salt into the wound, Mangnall's Manchester City side finished in fifth place, thirteen places above United. Before United could form a plan for recovery, the outbreak of the First World War put football firmly to the back of people's minds. The Football League was suspended, and clubs resorted to playing in regional competitions. United played in the Lancashire Prinicipal and Subsidiary Tournaments for four seasons, but this was a less than successful diversion, the misery compounded by the fact that two of the club's players were found guilty of match fixing. Enoch West was banned for life as was Sandy Turnbull, who joined the Footballers' Battalion to help Britain's war effort. Tragically Turnbull was killed during a battle in France in May 1917, to leave Manchester United without another of their early century heroes for their return to league football in 1919/20.

Manchester United (1878-1899)

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1878-1899
Manchester United Football Club was first formed in 1878, albeit under a different name - Newton Heath LYR (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway). Little suspecting the impact they were about to have on the national, even global game, the workers in the railway yard at Newton Heath indulged their passion for association football with games against other departments of the LYR or other railway companies. Indeed, when the Football League was formed in 1888, Newton Heath did not consider themselves good enough to become founder members alongside the likes of Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End. They waited instead until 1892 to make their entrance. Financial problems plagued Newton Heath, and by the start of the twentieth century it seemed they were destined for extinction. The club was saved, however, by a local brewery owner, John Henry Davies. Legend has it that he learned of the club's plight when he found a dog belonging to Newton Heath captain Harry Stafford.

Arsenal FC

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FROM FOUNDATION TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Arsenal Football Club began life when a group of workers at the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory decided to form a football team in late 1886. The Club played under the name of Dial Square. Their first match was a 6-0 victory over Eastern Wanderers, on December 11, 1886. Soon after, the name Royal Arsenal was adopted and the Club continued playing in friendlies and local cup competitions for the next few years. In 1891 the Club turned professional and changed its name to Woolwich Arsenal, finally joining the Football League in 1893. The Gunners moved to their current home at Highbury in 1913, as a Second Division side. Following the First World War Arsenal were voted into the newly expanded First Division, where they have remained ever since.

CHAPMAN AND THE GLORIOUS THIRTIES
Herbert Chapman took over at Arsenal in 1925, and in 1930 he guided the Gunners to their first ever trophy — beating Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup Final. The following season Arsenal were champions for the first time. Between 1933 and 1935 the Club won a hattrick of league titles (which has only been achieved by four teams in the top flight). Sadly Chapman died in the middle of the run, by which time he had reached legend status. George Allison took over and the dominance continued for the rest of the decade, winning one more FA Cup (1936) and another title (1938). During this time Arsenal had some of the game’s greatest players on its books: Alex James, Ted Drake, Cliff Bastin, David Jack, Eddie Hapgood and George Male were just some of the names in what was one of the greatest sides ever to play in the Football League.

POST-WAR TO THE FIRST DOUBLE
The Second World War stopped Arsenal in their tracks but Tom Whittaker became manager and more success followed. Arsenal were Champions in 1947/48 and 1952/53; FA Cup winners in 1950 and runners-up in 1952. The ‘60s provided little in the way of silverware at Highbury, with two losing appearances in the League Cup Final in 1968 and 1969 being the closest thing to success. Bertie Mee had taken over in the mid-Sixties and Arsenal lifted their first ever European trophy in 1969/70, beating Anderlecht 4-3 over the two legged Fairs Cup Final. Better was to follow the following season. An Arsenal side containing the likes of Charlie George, George Armstrong, Ray Kennedy and captain Frank McLintock, won the league and FA Cup ‘double’. They clinched the title at White Hart Lane, then beat Liverpool after extra time at Wembley to win the Cup. The side returned to Wembley for three consecutive FA Cup Finals under Terry Neill at the end of the decade — winning the second of them, 3-2 against Manchester United. The game became known as the ‘Five Minute Final’. The Gunners also reached the 1980 Cup Winners’ Cup Final, with a team that included Graham Rix, Frank Stapleton, Pat Rice, David O’Leary and Liam Brady, but lost on penalties to Valencia.

GEORGE GRAHAM’S HONOURS
In 1986 George Graham, a member of the 1971 ‘double’ winning team, took over as manager from Don Howe and more glory days followed. He led Arsenal to their first ever League Cup triumph in 1986/87, beating Liverpool 2-1 in the Final. Two years later the Gunners won the League Championship, with a famous last minute goal from Michael Thomas clinching the title with a 2-0 win at Anfield. Another title followed in 1990/91, when the side, including the famous defensive back four, lost just one league game. More silverware followed. In 1992/93 Arsenal became the first club to win both domestic cups in the same season. Sheffield Wednesday were the beaten side on both occasions. Graham’s era of success was rounded off the following season. A superb run in the European Cup Winners’ Cup ended with a memorable 1-0 win over Parma in the Final in Copenhagen, thanks to Alan Smith’s strike. Arsenal failed to retain the trophy the following season, losing in the 1995 final to Real Zaragoza. By this time George Graham had left the Club. He was succeeded by Bruce Rioch, who was in charge for one season, during which time he signed Dennis Bergkamp.

THE ARSÈNE WENGER ERA
Early in the 1996/97 season Arsène Wenger arrived at Highbury, becoming the Club’s first ever manager from outside the British Isles. In 1997/98, Wenger’s first full season at Highbury, Arsenal achieved the League and FA Cup ‘double’, for the second time in the Club’s history. Dennis Bergkamp was named Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Player of the Year, and PFA Player of the Year. A tremendous season was rounded off perfectly for French Internationals Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira as the Gunners stars played their part in France’s victorious World Cup campaign. The Club also said goodbye to striking legend Ian Wright, who left Arsenal as record goalscorer with 185 goals in all competitions. In each of the next three seasons Arsenal were runnersup in the Premier League, and had plenty of involvement in cup competitions. In 2000 Arsenal lost in the UEFA Cup Final on penalties to Galatasaray, and the following year lost the first ever FA Cup Final played at the Millennium Stadium, 2-1 to Liverpool. In 2001 the Gunners also reached the Quarter- Final stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time, but lost out on away goals to Valencia. 2001/02 was to prove another momentous, recordbreaking season for the Club. Arsenal completed the first leg of their third ‘double’ by beating Chelsea 2-0 in the FA Cup Final, and ended the season with a 13-game winning streak. The 12th Championship was made secure with a game to spare courtesy of a memorable 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford. Arsenal were unbeaten away from home for the entire league campaign. The following season Arsenal narrowly missed out on retaining the title but the Gunners became the first English club in more than 20 years to retain the FA Cup with their 1-0 victory over Southampton at Cardiff. Thierry Henry was voted player of the season by the PFA and the Football Writers’ Association. Season 2003/2004 saw Arsenal win back the title in unbeatable fashion - managing to go though the entire league season without a single defeat. Finishing 11 points ahead of second-place Chelsea, Arsenal smashed several records on the way to their 13th league title win. Spanish youngster Cesc Fabregas arrived in January and by the end of the season he had broken the records for the youngest Arsenal player and goalscorer. The Club, playing some mesmerising attacking football, were also close to an unprecedented fourth ‘double’ but lost in the FA Cup semi-final. The Champions League campaign came to an end at the quarter-final stage The unbeaten run continued into the following season, and in August 2004 Arsenal overtook Nottingham Forest’s record for the longest all-time unbeaten sequence in English league football. The tally eventually reached 49 games. The Gunners made it five trophies in four seasons by winning the FA Cup following a penalty shoot-out success over Manchester United. Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira converted the decisive spot-kick, and it proved to be his final kick for the Club, as he left after nine years’ service to join Juventus shortly afterwards. The 2005/06 campaign will be Arsenal’s final season at Highbury, the Club’s home since 1913.