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วันเสาร์ที่ 4 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2550

Manchester United F.C.

Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, based at the Old Trafford stadium in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and is arguably the most popular football club in the world, with over 50 million supporters worldwide;[1][2] average attendances at the club have been higher than any other team in English football for all but six seasons since 1964-65.[3] The club is also one of the most successful in English football; for over twenty years, since the 1986/87 season, they have won 18 major honours, which is more than any other Premier League club.[4] They are currently the Premier League's reigning champions, and have now won the Premier League/Football League on a total of 16 occasions. In 1968, they became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating S.L. Benfica 4–1. They have since won a second European Cup in 1999, and they also hold the record for the most FA Cup titles with 11.
Since the late 1990s the club has been one of the richest in the world, and until recently had the highest revenue of any football club for several years running; as of 2007, they have the fourth largest turnover in club football.[5] However, Manchester United remains the most expensive sports club in the world, [6] and is a founding member of the G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs.
The current manager of Manchester United is Sir Alex Ferguson, who has held the position since 6 November 1986. The current club captain is Gary Neville, who succeeded Roy Keane in November 2005.

วันศุกร์ที่ 3 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2550

Liverpool FC History

Liverpool Football Club was formed in 1892 and is rightfully classed as the most successful British club at club level. However our beginnings are a direct result of Everton. Following some rule changes in 1882 Everton were forced to find some enclosed grounds to play and met with John Houlding in the Sandon. A ground was to be positioned off priory Road which was there home until they were forced to leave. In 1884 John Orrel agreed to let Houlding have a pitch at Anfield Road and the first ever game at Anfield saw a home win. Houlding poured money into the cause but after a few years became a harder owner to be with. Eventually Orrel and Houlding move further towards a severe rift and eventually when a plan to buy the ground by Houlding failed, Orrel evicted the club. After a further meeting a breakawy part of the club split from Anfield to form their own team, leaving Anfield empty in the hands of Orrel and Houlding. However those left at the club with Houlding decided the only thing to do with an empty football ground was form a team to play there and in May 1892 Liverpool Association Football Club was formed.
The club began in the Lancashire Association League with John McKenna in charge of the team. McKenna had been one of the men who stayed and sided with Houlding in the split. Liverpool’s first game came on September 1st 1892 against Rotherham and Liverpool won 7-1. This first team saw the eleven players all arriving following a trip north of the border by McKenna who has scottish connections in Glasgow. One year on from formation McKenna again applied for election to the Football league and this time was accepted. Their first game at Anfield in the league saw them dispose of Lincoln 4-0 In fact Liverpool went through the season unbeaten and following a knockout competition they beat one Newton Heath in the final to get there place in the top division. However a disapponting second season saw them bottom of the league and lose the knockout competition to be relegated. A tough fighting spirit at the club though saw them promoted back again the following season. They stayed in the top division for eight years and in season 1900-01 Liverpool won the first of their championships. Two seasons earlier Liverpool had ridded themselves of their blue and white quartered shirts in favour of the now famous red shirts.
The end of the 1903-04 season saw the reds relegated only to return straight away following a championship win again from Division 2 and Liverpool followed this by winning the first division in 1905-06.

วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 2 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2550

Football history

Have you ever wonder how soccer / football games get into our life? When and where is the origin of this game from? Why is it so many peoples in the world crazy about this game? Almost every culture has reference to the history of soccer.
The origin of football / soccer can be found in every corner of geography and history. The Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Ancient Greek, Persian, Viking, and many more played a ball game long before our era. The Chinese played "football" games date as far back as 3000 years ago. The Ancient Greeks and the Roman used football games to sharpen warriors for battle. In south and Central America a game called "Tlatchi" once flourished.
But it was in England that soccer / football really begin to take shape. It all started in 1863 in England, when two football association (association football and rugby football) split off on their different course. Therefore, the first Football Association was founded in England.
On October 1963, eleven London clubs and schools sent their representatives to the Freemason's Tavern. These representatives were intent on clarifying the muddle by establishing a set of fundamental rules, acceptable to all parties, to govern the matches played amongst them. This meeting marked the birth of The Football Association. The eternal dispute concerning shin-kicking, tripping and carrying the ball was discussed thoroughly at this and consecutive meetings until eventually on 8 December the die-hard exponents of the Rugby style took their final leave. They were in the minority anyway. They wanted no part in a game that forbade tripping, shin-kicking and carrying the ball. A stage had been reached where the ideals were no longer compatible. On 8 December 1863, football and rugby finally split. Their separation became totally irreconcilable six years hence when a provision was included in the football rules forbidding any handling of the ball (not only carrying it).
Only eight years after its foundation, The Football Association already had 50 member clubs. The first football competition in the world was started in the same year - the FA Cup, which preceded the League Championship by 17 years.
International matches were being staged in Great Britain before football had hardly been heard of in Europe. The first was played in 1872 and was contested by England and Scotland. This sudden boom of organized football accompanied by staggering crowds of spectators brought with it certain problems with which other countries were not confronted until much later on. Professionalism was one of them. The first moves in this direction came in 1879, when Darwin, a small Lancashire club, twice managed to draw against the supposedly invincible Old Etonians in the FA Cup, before the famous team of London amateurs finally scraped through to win at the third attempt. Two Darwin players, the Scots John Love and Fergus Suter, are reported as being the first players ever to receive remuneration for their football talent. This practice grew rapidly and the Football Association found itself obliged to legalise professionalism as early as 1885. This development predated the formation of any national association outside of Great Britain (namely, in the Netherlands and Denmark) by exactly four years.
After the English Football Association, the next oldest are the Scottish FA (1873), the FA of Wales (1875) and the Irish FA (1880). Strictly speaking, at the time of the first international match, England had no other partner association against which to play. When Scotland played England in Glasgow on 30 November 1872, the Scottish FA did not even exist - it was not founded for another three months. The team England played that day was actually the oldest Scottish club team, Queen's Park.
The spread of football outside of England, mainly due to the British influence abroad, started slow, but it soon gathered momentum and spread rapidly to all parts of the world. The next countries to form football associations after the Netherlands and Denmark in 1889 were New Zealand (1891), Argentina (1893), Chile (1895), Switzerland, Belgium (1895), Italy (1898), Germany, Uruguay (both in 1900), Hungary (1901) and Finland (1907). When FIFA was founded in Paris in May 1904 it had seven founder members: France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain (represented by the Madrid FC), Sweden and Switzerland. The German Football Federation cabled its intention to join on the same day.
This international football community grew steadily, although it sometimes met with obstacles and setbacks. In 1912, 21 national associations were already affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). By 1925, the number had increased to 36, in 1930 - the year of the first World Cup - it was 41, in 1938, 51 and in 1950, after the interval caused by the Second World War, the number had reached 73. At present, after the 2000 Ordinary FIFA Congress, FIFA has 204 members in every part of the world.