France National Football Team - A Little History

France made their entry into the international field of Football in 1903. The team, associated with the French Football Federation, goes under the nickname "Les Bleus" (The Blues) in France. Today, France's football team offers a high level of competition in matches - but believe it or not, the team used to be very modest, one that some would consider an "easy game". Their first international match was versus Belgium, and was a tie game. In 1930, France's national team was one of the four initial teams from Europe that participated in the inaugural World Cup. Nonetheless, at that time, France's team was still looked down upon as an easy defeat. In the mid 1950's, France did see some mild success, for once not being at the bottom of the standings.

Their first true experience at being a huge success came at the end of 1984. From December of 1984 to April of 1985, France was ranked number one in the Elo ranking categorization of football teams. This success was held out fairly well, and met another high point from May of 2001 to May of 2002, when the team from France sustained a FIFA ranking of number one; today, this number one FIFA ranking means more worldwide, as FIFA is an internationally recognizable organization.

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Perhaps most memorable for many people is France's win of the FIFA World Cup in 1998. Thirty two different teams, from five different confederations, competed through 64 matches. France won nearly every match that they competed in, and ended up taking the championship upon beating Brazil 0 to 3. Other awards given to the French football team during the 1998 FIFA World Cup include "Most Entertaining Team", and the "FIFA Fair Play" Trophy. The Stadium that the French Football team usually plays at is the "Stade de France", which was built in 1995 and opened during 1998. The construction of the stadium cost over 285 Million Euros. In fact, the stadium was built for the purpose of the 1998 FIFA world cup - it's both ironic and fitting that France would win the world cup at their own stadium the year that it opened. After the World Cup, the Stade de France has continuously been used for various football events, although for the majority of the year, the stadium is empty. The majority of events that France's team participates in at the Stade de France are won by the French team, partially owing to the home team advantage of having more frequent access to that field, as well as higher morale and support from the crowd.

France's team may still not be the most reputable team around, but from their humble beginnings they were able to rise into a team that is recognizable in many places around the world, and were even able to claim the glorious title of World Champions.

France National Football Team - A Little History

FC Barcelona's Arch-Rival - The History of Real Madrid

Real Madrid - FIFA 'Team of the Century'; 31 League titles; 9 European Cups; a couple of UEFA Cups and World Club Champions titles.

Also, bizarrely, it is a club that has in recent years nurtured the custom of sacking successful managers. Jupp Heynckes went four weeks after winning a Champions League title, Fabio Capello and Bernd Schuster won the league title before one was basically sacked for being too defensive and the other for being too reckless. The prize, though, for what it's worth, goes to Vicente Del Bosque, current manager of the national squad, who was dismissed the day after winning the league in a room at the hotel in which his players were having their celebratory dinner!

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Real Madrid originated in 1897 when a number of students and lecturers at the Institucíon Libre de Enseñanza began playing friendly matches on Sunday mornings. From these humble beginnings, Madrid Football Club emerged in 1902 - gaining its royal patronage and club name in 1920 from King Alfonso XIII. The club became founder members of the Spanish League in 1929 - when Barca won the inaugural title and El Clásico, as the fixture between the two clubs is known in Spain - began in earnest.

From the beginning, the rivalry was intense but it developed significantly during the years after the Civil War. There are, of course, many stories of the way Franco's government promoted the interests of Real Madrid in order to develop his, and Spain's, international prestige. Also, the manner in which Barcelona attempted to maintain a Catalan identity at a time when the language and flag were banned is well recounted. Barça became 'More than a Club' and the phrase Así gana el Madrid - that's how Madrid win - became part of Spanish sporting lore.

There are two of these stories, however, that perhaps shed most light on the situation in those difficult times.

In 1942, Barcelona had won the Spanish Cup - now known as the Cope del Rey but then renamed as the Copa del Generalísimo. The following season they were pitted against Real in a two-legged semi-final and won the first match convincingly, by three goals to nil, despite having their star player, Escolá, stretchered off. The second leg, though, was rather a different matter - finishing an astonishing 11 - 1 to Madrid. Not only was the Head of State Security known to have visited the Barça dressing room before the match to tell some of the players that their right to remain in Spain was being reviewed, but also the sending off of a player in the first few minutes made sure that the rest of the team got the right message!

The other classic example of the manner in which Barcelona feel they suffered during the Franco years concerns perhaps the most famous player ever to wear a Real Madrid shirt - Alfredo di Stéfano, who remains an iconic figure in the Madrid hierarchy even today. In 1953, the Argentinian centre forward, described by Bobby Charlton as the most intelligent player he had seen, was signed by Barcelona from his Columbian club, Millonarios. After di Stéfano had appeared in a couple of friendly matches, and after an involved and underhand series of 'negotiations', the Spanish F.A. declared that the transfer was invalid and the player was triumphantly unveiled by Madrid. Two weeks later, he made his debut in a 5 - 0 victory over Barcelona in the Bernabéu - scoring four goals and starting his journey towards legendary status.

Even the transfer of Luis Figo in 2000 pales into insignificance compared to the machinations involved in the di Stéfano move.

With such a fierce, and continuing, rivalry between these two giant clubs, this puts the events of Barcelona's 3-0 away victory in 2000 into an even more dramatic perspective; that was the night that the Madrid supporters rose to their feet and applauded Ronaldinho after perhaps his best performance in the club's colours.

FC Barcelona's Arch-Rival - The History of Real Madrid

TOP 10 Moments in Football History

10. Luis Figo, a world famous football star, who played for FC Barcelona from 1995 till 2000. He was arguably the fans' most favorite player in FC Barcelona, until 2000. That's when "it" happened, Barcelona's biggest rivals, Real Madrid, decided to splash the cash and break the transfer list fees record by getting Luis to Real Madrid.

The move caused outrage among Barcelona fans, Madrid got him for a world record fee of 38 Million Pounds. And that's when the fun begins, during the match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, when Luis Figo stepped up to take the corner kick, a pig's head was thrown at him from Barcelona's side. Another incident took place during the 2004 EURO Cup Final between Greece and Portugal. A Portuguese fan ran out on the field, managed to outrun the police, and heading towards Luis threw a Barcelona jersey at him, as the whole world was watching.

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9. 1996 - African Challenge.
1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, The most surprising gold medals went to the hands of Nigerian football stars after they overcame Brazil in thrilling semi-finals, with a 4-3 score. The finals was between Argentina and Nigeria, well over 2 billion people were watching it, of course most of them thought that Argentina will have no problems getting the gold medal, but most of them were wrong. Argentina was in the driver's seat after leading 1-0. The goal came on a 3rd minute, scored by Claudio Lopez, on the 28th minute Nigeria managed to equalize, as Babayaro scored a perfect finisher. So it was 1-1 on half-time. In the early second half Hernan Crespo gave Argentina the lead again and Argentina was on the way to get the gold medals, but "not so fast" said Amokachi as he scored the equalizing goal and again gave Nigeria hope. Match was almost over and everybody thought it was going to be decided by the penalty shoot out. 90th minute and Amunike gave the lead to Nigeria, it was a shock for Argentina, time was almost over, Argentina had no chance, so it ended with a final score 3-2. Nigeria won the gold medal, for the first time in Olympic Games history.

8. 1960, First ever UEFA European Football Championship (EURO) held in France. It was won by the USSR, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 in a tense final in Paris. It is however quite interesting to note that earlier in the competition Spain had withdrawn from its quarterfinal match against the USSR due to political reasons. As an interesting fact, USSR also scored the first goal in the EURO history, during the qualification games.

7. 1998/1999 English Premier League season, Manchester United got all trophies possible that season. They became the first ever team in football history to do so in one season. First they got the Premier League title, finishing first in the league table, then they took the F.A. Cup title by beating Newcastle United 2-0, and of course the most famous UEFA Champions League final, when United managed to come back from a 1-0 defeat, and score not one but two goals in an injury time beating Bayern Munich 2-1; it was considered to be one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed.

6. 2002 World Cup, Korea/Japan. Korean fans will never forget that historic moment, when Guus Hiddink took them all the way to the Semi-Finals of 2002 World Cup. Korean national football team became the first ever Asian national football team to reach semi-finals of World Cup. Nobody expected the underdogs to go that far, as they beat Portugal 1-0 in a group stages, then a famous 2-1 win over Italy, drawing with Spain in a quarter-finals and then beating them 5-3 on penalties. In the end however they couldn't take on Germany in semi-finals, and they lost 1-0. In the game for the third place Korean team met Turkey, but again they lost. Eventually the Republic of Korea finished 4th in the 2002 World Cup, which was still a great success for the country's football team.

5. June 2003, Chelsea FC was bought by the Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich for a record fee of 140 million pounds. Back then it was the biggest sale of an English Football club. Straight away Roman wanted to make Chelsea the best and strongest club in the world. He began buying players for a record braking transfer fees. First season with a new owner Chelsea FC finished as a runner-up. But next year, the 2004/2005 English premier league season, Chelsea became champions of England, for the first time since 1954/1955 season. 2005/2006 Season they took the premier league trophy again as they were crowned the champions of England for the second time in a row. These 2 seasons were the most successful 2 years in the club's history.

4. January 11th 2007. It was confirmed that David Beckham will be leaving Real Madrid to play for the United States "soccer" club, Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham's decision was a shock to many, as one of the world's best football players moves to United States of America, where "soccer" is not that popular. He was the first big player to enter Major League Soccer.

3. 6th February 1958, the Munich air disaster. It was the darkest day in Manchester United Football Club history. On the board of the plane was Manchester United football team along with the club supporters and journalists. 23 of the 44 passengers on board died. Captain James Thain, the pilot tried to take off twice, but both attempts were aborted due to engine surging. When a third take off was attempted, the plane failed to gain adequate height and crashed into the fence surrounding the airport and then into a house. Now every year on this day Manchester United holds a memorial to the people who lost their lives in the Munich air disaster.

2. 2006 World Cup Final produced one of the most famous moments in football history, when Zidane's head-butted on Italian defender Marco Materazzi. It was Zidane's last international appearance for the French national team and 3 billion people around the world were watching it. The next day newspapers all over the world were not writing about how Italy won their 4th World Cup title, but they were writing about how Zidane pulled the "stunt" on Marco. Definitely that was one of the biggest moments in the history of football.

1. Edison Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele, the world's most famous name in football. Football is probably the most famous sport in the world, and Pele is the man who made it what it is today. Pele made 669 appearances in club football, scoring 626 goals. He also made 92 appearances for Brazilian National football side and scored 77 goals. He made his first club appearance when he was just 15 years of age. He made his first international appearance for Brazil when he was 16, and won his first World Cup when he was just 17. Pele is hailed in Brazil as a national hero. The number one moment in football history is when Pele managed to score his first international goal for Brazil, just three month before his 17th birthday.

TOP 10 Moments in Football History

Champions League History

The UEFA Champions League began life as the European Champion Clubs' Cup referred to as simply the European Cup and was originally conceived as a knockout competition between the champion club of each country. It's format has been considerably expanded since then and it now regarded as the premier club football competition in the world.

The tournament began in 1955 as a reaction to claims in the British press that Wolverhamptom Wanders were the 'Champions of the World' after a successful run of wins in friendlies against European competition in the early fifties. A formal competition began in the season 1955 -56 with teams playing two matches, home and away to progress to the the next knockout stage.

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Real Madrid soon dispelled Wolves' claim, winning the trophy for the first five years on the trot and Real have since won it nine times in total, the current record. But English clubs did come to dominate the competition in the 1970s and early 1980s when Liverpool won it four times and Nottingham Forest twice.

A controversial five year ban for English clubs following the Heysel disaster in 1985 ended that dominance and it was not until Manchester United won the competition in 1999 for the second time that English clubs would again come out on top.

Overall, Italian clubs have the best record with 12 wins and 14 runners-up, Spain are next with 12 wins and 9 runners-up, whilst English clubs have 11 winners. Germany and Holland share six winners each.

Nowadays, the format of the tournament has greatly expanded such that the strongest European Leagues provide as many as four entrants.

There are several preliminary rounds prior to the round robin group stages with the top teams in each group progressing to a two leg knockout stage progressing to the showcase final. Italy's Internazional are the current UEFA Champions League holders having beaten Germany's Bayern Munich 2 - 0 in the 2010 final.

Champions League History

Swindon Town Football Club - A Brief History

Swindon Town Football Club is generally regarded as being formed in 1879, with the club becoming established as one of the leading clubs outside the Football League by the 1900's. Harold Fleming, good enough to be capped by England, helped the club to win the Southern League twice and also make runs to the FA Cup semi-finals.

When the Football League was expanded, Swindon Town Football Club were admitted a part of the new Third Division in the 1920, winning their first ever league game 9-1 against Luton, which remains a club record.

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Swindon remained in the division for the next 43 years until finally clinching promotion into Division Two in 1963 with an exciting young team that included a future international in Mike Summerbee, plus other players who would go on to play in the top division. Two seasons later though, they were relegated.

The finest moment in Swindon Town Football Club history winning the League Cup at Wembley in 1969 against Arsenal after beating other top division sides on route. Swindon won the final 3-1 with winger Don Rogers, a cult hero at the club scoring twice. In the same season they returned to the Second Division.

The club gradually declined though and in 1983 dropped into the Fourth Division for the first time. The appointment of former Manchester United player Lou Macari engineered a transformation and by 1990, although Macari had moved on, Swindon were promoted to play in the top division of English football. They were relegated though, before the season had started after being found guilty of making payments to players that broke league rules.

Swindon, then managed by Glenn Hoddle, finally made it into the Premier League in 1993, but were relegated straight away.

The club has failed to recapture those heights since then, suffering from some poor managerial appointments and questionable decisions by owners, before coming under the chairmanship if Andrew Fitton. They now play in the third tier.

Swindon Town Football Club - A Brief History

The History of Barcelona V Real Madrid

Football is full of professional rivalries - Liverpool Vs Everton, Manchester United Vs Man. City, Arsenal Vs Tottenham, however none of them are arguably as explosive as games between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Whenever the two teams meet, the match even has its own name - El Clasico - and is billed as one of the most exciting matches to watch in the world.

Like many professional rivalries in sport, the Barcelona/Real Madrid animosity stems from a general competition between the two cities. During the Civil War, Madrid was an ally of General Franco, where as Barcelona was more tied to its Catalan roots and resented Franco's attempted control. They had their reasons - Franco was determined to unify the country and therefore quash Barcelona's traditions and independence, including trying to wipe out its local language - Castilian Spanish.

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During the Civil War, Barcelona was even told to deliberately lose a game against Madrid on Franco's orders. They took this to the extreme and lost 11-1. Officials were so incensed, that the Barcelona team was fined and suspended. This started the beginning of the rivalry and saw Real Madrid seize the lead, wining five European Cup titles.

Real Madrid became the most respected and well known team on the planet until 1961 when Barcelona fought back with a vengeance, knocking Madrid out of the European Cup tournament. This took the rivalry to a whole new level.

Barcelona also refuse certain commercial aspects that other teams utilise, such as sponsorship and other 'money-grabbing' schemes. The fact that Real Madrid do so, is also seen as sticking it to the opposition, who Barcelona see as selling out, as opposed to them being a 'sporting club' in it for the glory.

Today, when players move between the teams, the newspapers make an event of it. In 2000, Luis Figo moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid for a record transfer fee, but as a result incurred the wrath of fans who let their displeasure be known by throwing rubbish (and even a pig's head at him) during matches.

While the rivalry is a symbiotic relationship, with both teams needing each other to make the headlines and drawing the crowds, the rivalry is as strong as even. Both teams are members of the G14 group - a collective of the 14 most powerful football teams on the planet, and whenever the two teams meet for a match, it is always a sell out event with millions of others tuning in to watch the clash.

The History of Barcelona V Real Madrid

In The Beginning - The History Of Liverpool Football Club

The English football league was formed in 1888, and on September 8th, Anfield laid turf to the first football league game in its history. The home team wasn't dressed in red, as would be the case now-a-days. They wore the blue and white strip of Everton FC.

This marked the beginning of what was to become a great name in world football - Anfield.

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The man behind Everton FC, and the owner of the Anfield ground was John Houlding, a local brewer and pub owner, member of the local council, and later the Mayor of the city of Liverpool.

In 1892, however, a row broke out between Houlding and the Everton board. Tensions had been building up over some time, because the Everton board felt that Houlding was profiting quite considerably from the sales of ales on match day, and the final straw broke when he raised the ground rent.

Everton FC left Anfield, and moved to their new home at Goodison Park, leaving behind a handful of players. The same week Houlding founded Liverpool FC on 15th of March, with William E. Barclay as club secretary and John McKenna as chairman and manager of the team.

Liverpool FC wasn't allowed immediate access to the football league, and started life in the Lancashire League. Their first competitive match was played at Anfield in front of a handful of spectators, while Everton was playing a game the same day in front of a crowd of 10,000. The rivalry was on!

Liverpool FC won their first game, a friendly against Rotherham, by an impressive 7-1 score. Their first league game they won 8-0, and they went on to comfortably winning the Lancashire League, as well as the Liverpool District Cup and the Reserves Cup. Quite an achievement for a club less than 12 months old.

Houlding adopted the City of Liverpool's colour, red, for the playing shirts in 1894, and the liverbird in the club crest in 1904. Later the club slogan "You'll Never Walk Alone" has been added.

This is how 3 men, in 1892, founded what was later to become the most successful club in the history of English Football - Liverpool FC.

In The Beginning - The History Of Liverpool Football Club

History & Progress of FC Barcelona Football Club

You can visit the fantastic city of Barcelona, if you want to have wonderful football vacation in Europe. The fabulous capital of Catalonia certainly is one of the top venues to enjoy football in Europe. Located on the mouths of Llobregat & Besòs Rivers on the Mediterranean coast, Barcelona surely is a perfect destination for football.

Football is the first passion for the Catalan People. Probably that was the reason that FIFA chose Barcelona as venue for several matches of the 1982 Football World Cup. The magnificent city is widely known for FC Barcelona or Futbol Club Barcelona, which is one of the major sports clubs of Europe.

The Club is best known for its Football team, but the club also has teams for rugby, wheelchair basketball, ice hockey, athletics, baseball, cycling, field hockey, figure skating, and volleyball. Some of the Club's other known teams include FC Barcelona B (Football), FC Barcelona Women's Football, FCB Rugby, FC Barcelona-Institut Guttman, AXA FC Barcelona (Basketball), FC Barcelona Handball, FC Barcelona Futsal, and FC Barcelona Sorli Discau (Rink Hockey).

Founded by Joan Gamper with the support of a group of Swiss, English, and Catalan men in 1899, the Club is popularly known as Barca. The club has progressed brilliantly to virtually become the major sports institution of Catalonia. The Club's motto is "Més que un club," that literally means 'More than a club'.

In 1928, the Club teamed up with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao to set up La Liga, and it became the first La Liga champion. The club has shown brilliant progress in Football, and has a great contribution to the Spanish and the European Football. The club has 18 La Liga, 24 Copa del Rey, 7 Supercopa de España, 32 Joan Gamper Trophy, 2 UEFA Champions League, 4 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 3 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and 2 European Super Cup titles under its name to date.

The Club's football squad has one of the world's finest football players. Its football squad in 2007 included Víctor Valdés (vice-captain), Gabriel Milito, Rafael Márquez, Carles Puyol (captain), Xavi Hernández (vice-captain), Eiður Guðjohnsen, Andrés Iniesta, Samuel Eto'o, Ronaldinho (vice-captain), Gianluca Zambrotta, Thierry Henry, Edmílson, Sylvinho, Giovani dos Santos, Santiago Ezquerro, Lionel Messi, Deco, Lilian Thuram, Éric Abidal, Oleguer Presas, Yaya Touré, Albert Jorquera, Marc Crosas, Bojan Krki

The History Of Football Freestyle

Juggling have been around as long as there have been objects to juggle with, which is like forever.
I am not completely sure how it all started, the oldest juggling video I've seen is from beginning of the 1900. Rastelli was his name and he were absolutely amazing, he did some things that I havn't seen
the jugglers of today pull of.

The first famous football juggler was Mr. Woo, he took the art of football freestyle to a new level. He did a lot of circus tricks. He had a lot of style and imagination. Mr.Woo was a former pro footballer who wanted to take his skills to a new level. Mr.Woo have now worked with many of the best football players of today. He has also been seen in several TV ads and has been a "stunt double" for many players(doing the tricks for them). He has also been teaching his tricks to people all over the world.

After a couple of years a new dimension of the sport was born. The video of Soufiane Touzani was the start of this new freestyle era. In the beginning of 2000 he released a video with tricks never seen before. He did crazy combinations and that was one of the first real freestyle movies ever released on the net. Today this video have been seen by millions of people all over the world, it's probably the most seen freestyle video ever. Touzani was doing a lot of leg tricks and combination. Most people have seen one around the world, this guy did multiple and also new combination of different tricks. This video was the introduction to the freestyle scene to so many people.

A couple of years later there came a new revolution of airmoves. The guy that introduced this style of freestyle is named "Palle" and he's from Sweden. He started to do the craziest tricks after each other, all of them in one motion with no touch in between the tricks. This kind of freestyle had never ever been seen before. People went more and more crazy about the airmoves style. Today there is some people who know the no touch style, but not very many.

To all you people who want to bring freestyle to a new level... think, be creative and have patience!

The Chelsea Shirt - One Hundred and Four Years of History

Chelsea Football Club, affectionately nicknamed "The Blues" are a professional football club in England. They play in the elite Premiership and are one of the most successful teams in the history of English football. They have been English League Champions three times and have won the FA cup on four occasions.

Chelsea's home ground is Stamford Bridge in Fulham, West London. They have played there since the team was founded in 1905. On a slightly pedantic note of geographical accuracy, Chelsea are not actually based in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, rather in Hammersmith and Fulham. Chelsea FC was founded in March 1905 in the Rising Sun pub opposite Stamford Bridge. They occupied Stamford Bridge shortly afterwards, taking over the site from the London Athletics Club which had used the facility for the previous 28 years.

The Chelsea Shirt for home games has always been blue, although it was not always the same dark shade it is today. The strip was finished with white shorts and blue socks. In 1912, royal blue shirts were introduced. The now familiar blue shorts were added by Tommy Docherty in the 1960s. White socks were also added at this time as it was thought that this scheme, not in use by any other club made Chelsea more distinctive. The away kit is typically all yellow or all white, however this has gone through some interesting deviations over the years. The first away shirt comprised black and white stripes. In the 1980s a bizarre mint green kit was sported by the Chelsea players. The 1990s saw the Chelsea shirt for away games at its most distinctive with red and white checks, and a grey and tangerine colour scheme all being tried. Large numbers of sponsors have graced the front of the Chelsea shirt over the years. These have included Gulf Air, Coors and most latterly Samsung.

The club crest attached to the Chelsea shirt has gone through four major iterations during the history of the club. The initial crest design was based around the image of a Chelsea Pensioner. This gave rise to the club's nickname of "The Pensioners". This crest was in use for fifty years when the design was changed as part of a modernization program going on at the club. A temporary solution was to use the C.F.C initials for a year until in 1953 when the new crest of a blue lion locking backwards and holding a staff was introduced. This crest took it's inspiration from the coat of arms of the Borough Of Chelsea. The crest also featured two footballs and three red roses. This was the first crest to appear on the Chelsea shirt, which was unadorned until this time. Another bout of modernisation in 1986 saw the heraldic lion replaced by a more realistic looking lion in yellow standing over the C.F.C initials. The final big design change came in 2004 where the old design was reinstated for the approaching centenary. This design has appeared on the shirts in different colour schemes. such as white and gold.

It is to be hoped that this brief article has given an interesting background into the shirt and crest of one of England's most successful and famous teams.

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