Portal:Association football.html

 
ca de en es fr it nl no pl pt ru ro fi sv tr vo


 


 Sports    Games    American football    Association football    Baseball    Basketball    College football    Chess    Cricket    Cycling    Golf    Gymnastics    Ice hockey    Olympics    Rugby league    Rugby union    Swimming    Tennis

Main page   Categories & Topics   WikiProjects & Things you can do
  

The Association football Portal

Association football

Association football, or, in most countries just football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams each consisting of eleven players and is the most popular team sport in the world. It is a ball game played on a rectangular grass field (or occasionally on artificial turf) with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing team's goal. The predominant feature of the sport is that players other than the goalkeepers may not use their hands or arms to propel the ball in general play. The winner is the team that has scored the most goals at the end of the match.

The sport is known by many names throughout the English-speaking world, although football is perhaps the most common. Other names, such as association football and soccer, are often used to distinguish the game from other codes of football, since the word football may refer to several quite different games.

The game is played at a professional level all over the world and millions of people regularly go to a football stadium to follow their favourite team, whilst millions more avidly watch the game on television. A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level.

  

Selected article

Manchester City pictured in 1904.
Manchester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in the city of Manchester. Originally formed in 1880 as "St. Marks (West Gorton)", they then became "Ardwick A.F.C." in 1887 before changing their name to Manchester City F.C. in 1894.

The club has won the League Championship twice, the FA Cup four times, the League Cup twice and the European Cup Winners Cup once. The club's most successful period was during the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they won several major trophies under the management team of Joe Mercer and his assistant Malcolm Allison, and with players such as Colin Bell and Francis Lee.

Manchester City's biggest rivalry is with neighbours Manchester United, against whom they contest the Manchester derby.

  

Selected picture

Women's FA Cup 2006, Birmingham City v Arsenal
Credit: Flickr user Jaskirt Dhaliwal

Birmingham City's Kate Ward attempts to get past Arsenal defender Alex Scott for a shot on goal in a match from the 2006 FA Women's Premier League Cup. Arsenal are the most successful women's football team in England and completed the quadruple in the 2006-07 season by winning the FA Women's Premier League, FA Women's Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Women's Cup.

  

Selected biography

Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry (born 17 August 1977), is a French football player who plays in the position of striker and is renowned for his pace and goal scoring record.

Henry was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed to a youth contract instantly, making his professional début in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up for France in 1998, after which he signed for the Italian defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £10.5 million in 1999.

Despite initially struggling in the Premiership, under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season he played. Henry won two league titles and three FA Cups with The Gunners, was twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year and became Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to FC Barcelona for a fee of £16.1 million.

Henry has also had success with the French national squad, having been part of the squad that won both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record becoming the country's top goal-scorer of all time.

  

National team tournaments in 2008

  

International club tournaments in 2008

  

News

  

Selected association

Map of the world with countries belonging to the CAF marked
The 53 member Confederation of African Football (CAF) represents international football in Africa, and organises the African Cup of Nations, African Nations Championship CAF Confederation Cup and the African Champions League. The confederation was founded in 1957, and received a guaranteed berth in the World Cup for the first time in 1970.

In addition to organising over fifteen international club and national team tournaments, the CAF annually presents the African Footballer of the Year award. Due to their geographic location, ten CAF nations also participate in the Arab Nations Cup organised by UAFA.

  

Did you know...


  

Related portals

  

Association Football on other Wikimedia projects

News Quotations Manuals & Texts Definitions Images & Media
on Wikinews     on Wikiquote     on Wikibooks     on Wiktionary     on Commons
All Right Reserved © 2007, Designed by Stylish Blog.