Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The History Of Football

Football is the word given to a number of similar team sports, all of which involve (to varying degrees) kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, also known as "soccer" and most commonly just "football". The English language word "football" is also applied to "gridiron football" (a name associated with the North American sports, especially American football and Canadian football), Australian football, Gaelic football, rugby football (rugby league and rugby union), and related games. Each of these codes (specific sets of rules, or the games defined by them) is referred to as "football".

These games involve:

* Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players. Note that versions with fewer players have varying degrees of popularity:

o Six-man, eight-man, and nine-man football, derived from American football, are also played mainly at scholastic level in less-populated parts of the United States. Small schools in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan also play nine-man football, derived from the country's own code.

o Rugby sevens, a version of rugby union with seven players per side instead of 15, is especially well-developed, with its own World Cup, a prominent annual international competition, and an entrenched position in the Commonwealth Games.

o Although the sevens format also exists in rugby league, a different abbreviated format, rugby league nines, is more popular.

* a clearly defined area in which to play the game;

* scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line;

* the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team;

* players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying and/or hand passing the ball; and

* goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.

In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several football codes include: points being mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line and; players receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.

Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in England.


UEFA Champions League










The UEFA Champions League, which evolved from the European
Club's Cup Champions, is a seasonal club football competition organized by UEFA since 1992 (or overall in its older format since 1955) for the most successful football clubs in Europe. The prize, the European Champion Clubs' Cup (more commonly known as the European Cup), is the most prestigious club trophy in the sport. The UEFA Champions League is separate from the UEFA Cup.

The tournament consists of several stages. In the present format it begins in mid-July with three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds. The 16 surviving teams join 16 seeded teams in a group stage. Eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the final knockout rounds, which end with the final match in May. Previously only the champions of their respective national league could participate in the competition; however, this was changed in 1997 to allow the runners-up of the stronger leagues to compete as well.

The title has been held by 21 different clubs, 12 of which have won the title more than once. The all-time record-holder is Real Madrid with their nine wins.

The current holders are Manchester United who beat Chelsea 6-5 on penalties, 1-1 after extra time, in Moscow on 21 May.

The tournament consists of several stages and begins with three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds. Different teams start in different rounds, according to their position in domestic league and the UEFA coefficients of their league, while the sixteen top ranked teams spread across the biggest domestic leagues qualify directly. The current system was adopted in 2003.

[edit] Changes to the competition format from 2009-10 onwards

The main focus of the changes was to enable champions coming from associations ranked 13 to 53 much easier access to the main tournament through a separate qualifying route, rather than going head-to-head with non-champions from associations ranked 1 to 12. Five teams will enter into the group stage from each new route.

22 teams will now directly qualify for the group stage, the additional 6 teams being champions of associations ranked 10 to 12, and 3rd placed teams in associations ranked 1 to 3. It was also decided that the final would be played on the Saturday evening in calendar week 20 (19:45 BST) from 2009–10 onwards, instead of the Wednesday evening.[3]

UEFA Champions League
Founded 1992 (1955 in its older format)
Region Europe (UEFA)
Number of teams 32 (Group stage)
76 or 77 (Total)
Current champions England, Manchester United (3)
Most successful club Spain, Real Madrid (9)

How Football athlete can maintain their fitness?

With the recent highly publicized deaths of professional and college football players, hydration and its relationship to heat illness has garnered significant recent attention from the media. At this time of year, when two-a-day football practice sessions begin, many athletes will get "overheated." In most cases, dehydration will be a significant underlying cause. When exercising in the heat, it is important to pay close attention to fluid intake.
Fluid balance is probably the most important nutritional concern for athletes. Optimal bodily function and peak athletic performance cannot be achieved without proper fluid intake before, during and after exercise. The most common manifestation is the football players that "cramp up" in the 4th quarter. Without proper fluid intake before exercise, the athlete can quickly become dehydrated during exercise. As progressive dehydration occurs, anything can result on the continuum from muscle cramping to hyperthermia, heat exhaustion or in extreme cases even death. The key to avoiding dehydration (and the heat injury that can come with it) lies in understanding the factors that contribute to overheating and how to overcome them. There are many variables which contribute to an athlete's fluid status and body temperature. These include the ambient temperature, humidity, the athlete's baseline health, their fitness level, sun exposure, and the amount and intensity of activity. It is important to acclimatize to the heat. This is done by exercising in the heat 10-14 days before two-a-days start. Within the first 4-5 days, the body begins to increase the amount of sweat and its ability to rapidly dissipate heat. Wearing light colored clothing with fibers designed to "wick" away sweat helps. A wet cotton t-shirt can actually act as an insulator in hot weather and hinder heat loss. Avoiding the hottest part of the day (11 AM - 2 PM) when planning exercise or team practice can help. Many high school and college programs now conduct two-a-days in the early morning and late afternoon to prevent overheating and give extra time for athletes to recover and rehydrate.

Everyone, athlete or not, can benefit from good hydration. Coaches, trainers and physicians should educate and encourage their athletes to pay close attention to this important aspect of sports in order to avoid tragedies. Proper preparation and hydration not only helps athletes avoid dehydration and heat injury but also speeds recovery after exercise and improves performance during exercise.

ICT

Internet has played an important role in our daily life.The most common uses of internet is such as it suits the needs of the everyone from all ages like sending e-mail, access web pages like internet explorer and Firefox allow user to navigate from one to another via hyperlinks. Web documents almost any combination of computer data including games, graphics, sound, text, video, multi video, office application and scientific demonstration. Search engines like Yahoo and Google, millions of people worldwide have easy, instant access to vast and diverse amount of online information. Blog, Facebook and Myspace, voice telephony (VoIP),streaming media, file sharing, collaboration and remote access.Furthermore,internet also has played an part in making the football an famous sport in world,for example,by internet people can explore latest news,standings of the favourite teams from the various league in the world,latest result,transfer saga happening around the world and many more about the football with just a click and this has make football known to many people.

Other than that,by playing online games on the internet especially football games has make many youngster interested in this sport and internet also allow many people gain profit from this sport by online football betting that is still growing as a major online entertainment industry thus playing a part in making football a popular sport around the globe.

Manchester United FC













My favourite football club is Manchester United.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 330 million supporters worldwide – almost 5% of the world's population. The club was a founding member of the Premier League in 1992, and has played in the top division of English football since 1938, with the exception of the 1974–75 season. Average attendances at the club have been higher than any other team in English football for all but six seasons since 1964–65.

The club is the second most successful in the history of English football and by far the most successful of recent times, having won 20 major honours since the start of Alex Ferguson's reign as manager in November 1986.They are the Premier League's reigning champions, and have won England's top division 17 times, one short of Liverpool's record of 18 league titles. In 1968, they became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating S.L. Benfica 4–1. They won a second European Cup as part of an unprecedented Treble in 1999, before winning their third in 2008, 40 years almost to the day after their first. The club also holds 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 with the highest revenue of any football club,and is currently ranked as the richest and most valuable club in any sport, with a value of £897 million (€1,333 million / $1.8 billion) as of September 2008.Manchester United was a founding member of the now defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs and its replacement, the European Club Association.
Alex Ferguson has been manager of the club since 6 November 1986. The current club captain is Gary Neville, who succeeded Roy Keane in November 2005.
Domestic
League
• Premier League: 10
o 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08
• First Division: 7
o 1907–08, 1910–11, 1951–52, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1964–65, 1966–67
• Second Division: 2
o 1935–36, 1974–75
Cups
• FA Cup: 11
o 1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
• League Cup: 2
o 1992, 2006
• FA Charity/Community Shield: (13 outright, 4 shared)
o 1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965*, 1967*, 1977*, 1983, 1990*, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008 (* joint holders)
European
• European Cup/UEFA Champions League: 3
o 1968, 1999, 2008
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1
o 1991
• UEFA Super Cup: 1