Sports

Football is a very favorite and enjoyable game almost in every country of the world. Football is played in a large playground. It is played at a professional level all over the world, and millions of people regularly go to football stadium to follow their favorite team, whilst millions more avidly watch the game on television. A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level. In many parts of the world football evokes great passions and plays an important role in the life of individual fans, local communities, and even nations; it is therefore often claimed to be the most popular sport in the world.

There are many worldwide international competition of football. One of the major international competitions in football is the FIFA World Cup. Over 190 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament, which is held every four years, now involves 32 national teams competing.

FIFA (/ˈfiːfə/ French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association, English: International Federation of Association Football, Spanish: Federación Internacional de Fútbol Asociación; German: Internationaler Verband des Association Football) is a non-profit organization which describes itself as an international governing body of association football, fútsal, beach soccer, and efootball. It is the highest governing body of football. Football is likely the most popular sporting event in the world, drawing billions of television viewers every tournament.

The FIFA World Cup is organized every four years. The first world cup was organized in Uruguay, 1930. Thirteen nations participated in it for the first time. Uruguay won the World Cup defeating Argentina in the final match. The inaugural edition, held in 1930, was contested as a final tournament of only thirteen teams invited by the organization. Since then, the World Cup has experienced successive expansions and format remodeling, with its current 32-team final tournament preceded by a two-year qualifying process, involving over 200 teams from around the world.

The world’s first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the inaugural British Home Championship, took place in 1884. As football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at the start of the 20th century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics (however, the International Olympic Committee has retroactively upgraded their status to official events), and at the 1906 Intercalated Games.

Unfortunately, the 1942 and 1946 World Cups were not organized for World War II. Unlike Olympic football, World Cup teams are not limited to players of a certain age or amateur status, so the competition serves more nearly as a contest between the world’s best players. Referees are selected from lists that are submitted by all the national associations.

During World War II, FIFA struggled to keep itself afloat, and it had no financial or personnel resources with which to plan a peacetime tournament for when hostilities ended. When the war ended in 1945, it was clear that FIFA would have no hope in a single year of planning and scheduling a 1946 World Cup. In fact, FIFA’s first meeting was on 1^st July 1946 around the time the 1946 World Cup would ordinarily have been played and when it planned the next World Cup for 1949 no country would host it. The major international tournament in 1946 was the 1946 South American Championship in which Argentina beat Brazil 2–0 on 10^th February 1946.

The trophy cup awarded from 1930 to 1970 was the Jules Rimet Trophy, named for the Frenchman who proposed the tournament. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament. This cup was permanently awarded in 1970 to then three-time winner Brazil (1958, 1962, and 1970), and a new trophy called the FIFA World Cup was put up for competition.

After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven countries, evaluated the 53 presented models, finally opting for the work of the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36 cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18 carats (75%) gold, and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb). The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: “The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory.”

This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy only until the post-match celebration is finished. They are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original immediately afterward.

The Confederations Cup is a moderately new FIFA tournament. The tournament can be enlightened as a miniature FIFA World Cup. The top team of each alliance participates including the host and the current World Cup champion.

The FIFA Confederations Cup can be measured as a dress-rehearsal for the World Cup it precedes. Around half of the World Cup stadiums will be used, and gives the host nation, which qualifies for the Confederations Cup automatically, skill at a elevated level of contest during 2 years of playing friendlies only. The 10th Confederations Cup will kick-off on June 17 2017 and the final will be played on July 2 2017. Host Country Russia and Host Cities: Kazan, Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Sochi.

Origin

The tournament was first named the King Fahd Cup and was planned and hosted in Saudi Arabia. King Fahd refers to the then king of Saudi Arabia Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. After the first 2 tournaments in 1992 and 1995, FIFA took over the tournament and named it the Confederations Cup.

In the first Confederations Cup when it was still called the King Fahd Cup, there were 4 participants: Saudi Arabia, United States, Argentina and Ivory Coast. Argentina won the 1992 tournament by defeating Saudi Arabia with 3-1. This was the only Confederations Cup which excludes South American and European countries.

Winners of FIFA Confederations Cup:

Most Winners:

• Brazil: 4 (1997, 2005, 2009, 2013)
• France: 2 (2001, 2003)
• Mexico: 1 (1999)

Qualification system

The eight contending teams will be the host nation, the reigning FIFA World Cup champions, and the six holders of the FIFA confederation championships. If any team qualifies for multiple births (such as, if the World Cup champions also won their continental championship), the next best-placed team from their continental championship qualifies.

Between 1992 and 2005 the FIFA Confederations Cup was hosted every 2 years. This changed after the 2005 tournament when FIFA decided to host this ‘small version of the World Cup’ in the year before the preceding World Cup. So after 2005 it took 4 years before another Confederations Cup saw the light of day.

Since its very continuation, the champions of the major continental tournaments qualify for the Confederations Cup. The biggest tournaments are:

• South America: Copa América
• North/Central America: CONCACAF Gold Cup
• Europe: UEFA European Championship
• Asia: AFC Asian Cup
• Africa: Africa Cup of Nations
• Oceania: OFC Nations Cup

Qualified teams of 2017

• The following teams have qualified for the tournament.
• Russia; as 2018 FIFA World Cup hosts
• Germany; as 2014 FIFA World Cup winners
• Australia; as 2015 AFC Asian Cup winners
• Chile; 2015 Copa América winners
• Portugal; UEFA Euro 2016 winners
• Mexico; 2015 CONCACAF Cup winners
• New Zealand; as 2016 OFC Nations Cup winners
• 2017 Africa Cup of Nations winners; 5 February 2017

The World Cup champion and host nation qualify by design. If the World Cup champion is champion of one of the continental tournaments above, the runners-up of that continental tournament qualifies for the Confederations Cup as well.

Confederations Cup 2013 champion

Conclusion

The present champion of the FIFA Confederations Cup is Brazil (2013). The team beat Spain with 3-0 in the 2013 Final. Brazil is also the most victorious FIFA Confederations Cup team; they won the tournament 4 times: in 1997, 2005, 2009 and 2013. The current all-time top scorers of the tournament are former Mexican player Cuauhtémoc Blanco and former Brazilian player Ronaldinho with 9 goals each.

The FIFA World Cup Football is a quadrennial worldwide football tournament contested by the men’s national teams of the member associations of FIFA; 211 are national associations are member of FIFA. 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup.

The final tournament will entail 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities. The final will take place on 15 July in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Summary:

• Teams: 32
• Playing venues: 12
• Matches: 65
• Opening match: Luzhniki Stadium
• Final 2018 World Cup: Luzhniki Stadium
• Average venue capacity: 49,300 seats
• Largest venue: Luzhniki Stadium (81,000 seats)
• Smallest venue: Spartak Stadium (42,000 seats)

Venue

On September 28 2012, the final numbers were announced. The 2018 World Cup will include 11 host cities and 12 stadiums. The cities Krasnodar and Yaroslavl and their particular stadiums were dropped from the list. Many of these stadiums will be constructed principally for World Cup 2018 and others will be renovated in order to meet FIFA’s requirements.

• Moscow: Luzhniki Stadium (81,000 seats)
• Petersburg: Zenit Arena (68,000 seats)
• Sochi: Fisht Olympic Stadium (47,700 seats)
• Ekaterinburg: Ekaterinburg Arena (45,000 seats)
• Kazan: Kazan Arena (45,000 seats)
• Nizhny Novgorod: Nizhny Novgorod Stadium (45,000 seats)
• Rostov-on-Don: Rostov Arena (45,000 seats)
• Samara: Samara Arena (45,000 seats)
• Saransk: Mordovia Arena (45,000 seats)
• Volgograd: Volgograd Arena (45,000 seats)
• Strelka Stadium – Nizhny Novgorod
• Kaliningrad Stadium – Kaliningrad

Logo

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that the logo was enthused by “Russia’s rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation”. FIFA President Sepp Blatter stated that it reflected the “heart and soul” of the country.

Sponsors:

• Fifa partners: Adidas; Coca-Cola; Gazprom; Hyundai–Kia; VISA and Wanda Group.
• FIFA World Cup sponsors: Anheuser-Busch InBev and McDonald’s
• Regional partners: Alfa bank

Qualify Teams will be:

There are 31 places up for grabs, joining hosts Russia; total 32.

Europe: 13 places;

Russia qualifies as hosts. Group winners qualify automatically, with the eight best runners-up facing a two-legged playoff.

Africa: 5 places

South America (Conmebol): 4.5 places;

As in recent qualifying competitions, all teams play each other home and away. The top four nations will qualify directly to the finals. The fifth-placed team will take the 0.5 place and play an intercontinental playoff against the winner of the Oceania region.

Oceania: 0.5 places

Two groups of three teams playing on a home and away basis. Round to begin in November 2016 and finish in June 2017. Group winners then playoff to advance to an intercontinental tie (0.5 place) against the fifth-placed team from Conmebol.

Concacaf: 3.5 places;

The six winners from the fourth round form one group of six teams. Top three teams qualify with the fourth placed team in an intercontinental playoff (0.5 place) against a team from Asia.

Asis: 4.5 places

Group A: China, Iran, Qatar, South Korea, Syria, Uzbekistan

Group B: Australia, Iraq, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates

Round Four: The teams finishing third in round three will play a two-legged playoff. The winner (0.5 place) will then advance to the intercontinental playoff against a team from Concacaf for a place at the World Cup.

Official Mascot

Zabivaka, the Official Mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Zabivaka means “the one who scores” in Russian, a very suitable name for this wolf who radiates fun, charm and confidence. The Official Mascot will play a very important role in the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.

Conclusion: It will take months before the 2018 World Cup kick-off takes place, on June 14 to be exact. The Final will be played on July 15. The world will be a very different place when the tournament is about to commence! But still, the 2018 World Cup qualifications have already started in March 2015!  Yes, the 2014 World Cup may be over, but the 2018 World Cup hosted in Russia is in full preparation, let’s not even mention the 2022 World Cup which is discussed even more….But although it does seem unlikely, it is really Russia that will host the tournament first, and not Qatar. We mentioned many facts about the 2014 World Cup on worldcupbrazil.net, so now we continue with the facts of the 2018 edition!

World Cup of Cricket is one of the largest cricketing tournaments followed all over the world. This tournament is the grandest of all where all team fights each other for claiming the title of being the best in 50 overs cricket. The tournament will be recurring to the land of its origin in the year 2019. England will be performing as the hosts to the world cup tournament.

Host of the 2019 Cricket World Cup

The world cup will be hosted by England and Wales jointly and is scheduled to be played from 30th May to 15th July 2019. England last hosted this foremost tournament in the year 1999 and it was one of the most flourishing tournament which saw many twists. Australia later emerged as the champions in the competition and it will be appealing to see how the hosts execute in the tournament.

Primarily England and Wales put in a joint bid for the 2015 world cup. However after Australia was beaten out by a joint Asian bid for the 2011 tournament they were offered the hosting rights in 2015. England and Wales were assured the rights to 2019 if they agreed to withdraw their 2015 bid, which they promptly did.

In Summary:

• Start Date: 30/05/2019
• End Date: 15/07/2019
• Host Country: England
• Cricket World Cup 2019 Schedule: The schedule of the tournament is still undecided but the opening match will be on 30/05/2019 and the ending cricket world cup match will be on 15/07/2019.

Qualification for the 2019 Cricket World Cup

Only 10 teams will be eligible for the 2019 world cup after a pronouncement was taken to reduce in size the size of the tournament. In 2011 and in 2015 the tournament had 14 teams but ICC has decided few nations will make for a enhanced competition. England will be eligible automatically because they are hosting, as will the top seven one day international nations according to the latest ICC rankings 6 months proceeding to the tournament. All test playing nations plus the two most flourishing associate members Afghanistan and Ireland will be eligible to qualify this way.

Teams Qualified for the 2019 Cricket World Cup

Automatically Qualifier: England

Current qualifiers based on current ICC One Day International rankings

• Australia
• South Africa
• India
• New Zealand
• Sri Lanka
• Bangladesh
• Pakistan

Current participants in the 2018 World Cup qualification tournament based on current standings

• The West Indies
• Zimbabwe
• Afghanistan
• Ireland
• Papua New Guinea
• Netherlands
• Hong Kong
• Scotland

Potential qualifiers for the 2018 World cup qualification tournament

Kenya; Nepal; Nambia; Malaysia; Canada; UAE; Oman; Singapore; Uganda and United states of America.

Venues

While the fixture for the 2018 world cup has not yet been released. We do recognize a few of the venues which will host the marquee games of the tournament. Lords, the divine home of cricket will play host to the final while The Oval will probable host the opening game. The two semi-finals according to the English Cricket Board will be played at Edgbaston and Old Trafford. The London stadium is being vigorously considered to host the opening ceremony and potentially some group stage fixtures. The rest of the games will likely be played across England and Wales at the grounds which meet the ICCs size and capacity requirements. A list of these stadiums is below.

The Ballon d’Or is an award that is given out every year to the footballer measured to have performed best in the earlier 12 months. It was started in 1956 by the magazine France Football when chief writer Gabriel Hanot came up with the proposal.

In 2010, the award merged with FIFA’s World Player of the Year and Lionel Messi won the first three editions of the new prize before Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the next two.

Messi won the Ballon d’Or again last year but France Football and FIFA ended their relationship in September and the magazine will return to their sovereign format in 2016.

Voting

The winners of the FIFA Ballon d’Or were chosen by international journalists and the coaches and captains of the national teams under FIFA’s authority. In an arrangement based on positional voting, each voter was allotted three votes, worth five points, three points and one point, and the three finalists were ordered based on total number of points. Voters were provided with a shortlist of 23 players from which they could select the three players they deemed to have performed the best in the previous calendar year.

Short List of Ballon d’Or 2016

This is the time of the year when discussion about who will win “Ballon d’Or” begins and FranceFootball has already revealed the shortlist of 30 men who will be contesting for this year’s title. The 2016 Ballon Dor award will revert back to the original Ballon d’Or after they terminated their contract with FIFA and from now on it will only be known as Ballon d’Or. Unlike the previous 5 years where the winner was decided with the help of votes from national team coaches and captain, from now on only respected pool of football journalists will vote for this prestigious award.

Top Thirty Nominees of Ballon d’Or 2016 are:

1. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City),
2. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund),
3. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid),
4. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus),
5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid),
6. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City),
7. Paulo Dybala (Juventus),
8. Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid),
9. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid),
10. Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus),
11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United),
12. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona),
13. Koke (Atletico Madrid),
14. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid),
15. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich),
16. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich),
17. Luka Modric (Real Madrid),
18. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester),
19. Lionel Messi (Barcelona),
20. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham),
21. Dimitri Payet (West Ham),
22. Paul Pogba (Manchester United),
23. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich),
24. Pepe (Real Madrid),
25. Neymar (Barcelona),
26. Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon),
27. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid),
28. Luis Suarez (Barcelona),
29. Jamie Vardy (Leicester),
30. Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich).

Top Five are

1. Cristiano Ronaldo. Country: Portugal; Club: Real Madrid; Points: 745
2. Lionel Messi. Country: Argentina; Club: Barcelona; Pint: 316
3. Antoine Griezmann. Country: France; Club: Atlético Madrid; Point: 198
4. Luis Suárez. Country: Uruguay; Club: Barcelona; Point: 91
5. Neymar. Country: Brazil; Club: Barcelona; Point: 68

Award

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 2016 Ballon D’OR award. France Football confirmed his as the winner of this year’s award ahead of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann. 200 respected football journalists voted their top three players from 30-man shortlist where Ronaldo came on top with preponderance vote as number 1 pick.

Ronaldo complete top of the voting while Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann makes the top three correspondingly. Luis Suarez and Neymar make the top 5. Gareth Bale, Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy, Pepe and Gianluigi Buffon make the top 10 list.

The winners of The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 will be determined through a combined voting process, in which 50 per cent of the decision is based on the votes of captains and head coaches from national teams all around the globe. The other 50 per cent is split between an online public ballot of football fans, and submissions from a selected group of media representatives from all around the world.

Best Player Nominees (Man and Women)

The three nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016, in alphabetical order, are: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Antoine Griezmann (France/Atletico Madrid) and Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona). Meanwhile, Melanie Behringer (Germany/FC Bayern Munich), Carli Lloyd (USA/Houston Dash) and Marta (Brazil/FC Rosengård) are in the running for The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2016.

Best Coach Nominees (Man and Woman)

The candidates for The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2016 and The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016 have also been announced. In alphabetical order, the contenders are: Claudio Ranieri (Italy/Leicester City), Fernando Santos (Portugal/Portuguese national team) and Zinedine Zidane (France/Real Madrid) for The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2016 award, and Jill Ellis (USA/US national team), Silvia Neid (Germany/German national team) and Pia Sundhage (Sweden/Swedish national team) for The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016 award.

Nominees Puskás Award

The three nominees for The FIFA Puskás Award 2016 for the “most beautiful goal of the season” have also been announced. The three goals still in the race are Marlone (Brazil/Corinthians), Daniuska Rodriguez (Venezuela/Venezuelan under-17 women’s national team) and Mohd Faiz Subri (Malaysia/Penang).

Final Result

The Best FIFA Men’s Player: CRISTIANO RONALDO

Cristiano Ronaldo’s win was all but a foregone conclusion, but he lifts the trophy for the first time, his fourth Player of the Year award. He beat out Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi for the honors.

The Best FIFA Women’s Player: Carli LLOYD

USWNT legend Carli Lloyd wins her second straight FIFA’s Best Woman Player award. She beats out Olympic gold medalist Melanie Behringer of Germany and five-time winner Marta of Brazil.

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach: Claudio RANIERI

Claudio Ranieri and his Leicester shocked the world in 2016, going from relegation candidates to English Premier League champions. It’s no surprise he won best coach, beating out Fernando Santos and Zinedine Zidane in the process.

The Best FIFA Women’s Coach: Silvia NEID

Silvia Neid just stepped down as manager of the German team after 11 years in charge, and she walked away with an Olympic gold medal. She’s won FIFA’s top coach of the year award and deservedly takes the Best FIFA Women’s Coach honors ahead of Jill Ellis and Pia Sundhage.

PUSKÁS AWARD: Mohd Faiz bin Subri

Malaysia’s Mohd Faiz Subri wins the FIFA Puskás award for his incredible dipping, swerving, and possibly magic free kick. He beat out finalists Marlone and Daniuska Rodriguez to take home the honor.

The FIFA Award for and outstanding Career: FALCAO

Fair Play Award: Atletico Nacional

FIFA FIFPRO WORLD11:

The 55 player shortlist was announced on 1 December 2016.

The players chosen included Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer. Defenders: Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Ramos, and Marcelo. Midfielders: Luka Modrić, Toni Kroos and Andrés Iniesta, and Forwards: Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Cristiano Ronaldo.