The Motto of FC Barcelona is "Més que un club" which when translated means more than a club. The accomplishments of Barcelona also known as Barca over the years serves as a testament to the club's motto.Located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and founded in 1899, Barca has wonnineteen La Liga titles which is second only to their arch rivals Real Madrid, a record twenty five Copa Del Rey titles, three UEFA Champions League Cups. In 2009 FC Barcelona became the first football team to win six out of six competitions in a single year with their sextuple coming from winning the 2008 - 2009 La Liga, Copa Del Rey, Supercopa de Espana, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA World Club Cup title.
The club's home stadium is known as the Camp Nou which hold up to 98,772 persons. Games between Barcelona and their long standing and bitter rivals Real Madrid is known as El Clasico. The club is ownership structure is unique as Barcelona owned and operated by its fans and is the world's richest football club.
Some notable players of FC Barcelona are: Ronaldhino, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto', Ronaldo, Romario, Michael Ladrup, Johan Cryuff, Diego Maradona and Ronald Koeman. In 2010 Barcelona looks set to retain the La Liga title despite a good title challenge by Real Madrid
The FIFA World Cup is the most prestigious football tournament in the world and is held every four years. Eighteen tournaments has been held and except in 1942 and 1946 the World Cup was not held because of World War II. The World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world as approximately 715.1 million people watched the 2006 World Cup final match held in Germany.
The Brazilian football team has won the world cup the most times with five victories. The tournament started in 1930 with Uruguay serving as the host nation and winning the cup, beating Argentina 4 - 2 in the final. For their victory the Uruguayans received the Jules Rimet Trophy which is seen left.
The Italian won the cup in 1934 and 1938 and the teams from Uruguay, West Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina, Brazil, West Germany and Italy won the the competitions in 1950, 1954, 1958 and 1962, 1966 and 1970 in that order. In 1974 FIFA or the Fédération Internationale de Football Association which is the international football governing body commissioned a replacement trophy for that years world cup titled the FIFA World Cup Trophy.
From then on the World Cup has been won in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and in 2006 by the West German, Argentinian, Italian, Argentinian, West German, Brazilian, French, Brazilian and Italian teams respectively.
The next World Cup will be held in South Africa, between 11 June and 11 July 2010. The web site http://www.skybet.com predicts thatSpain, Brazil, England, Argentina and Germany are in that order the countries being being tipped to win the FIFA World Cup Trophy which is seen below.
The 2010 world cup should be an exciting and interesting tournament. Let's all hope that it will be.
Clubs: Ajax, Barcelona, Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante, Feynoord
Widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Johan Cryuff was born on the 25th April, 1947 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He won the European Footballer of the Year award in 1971, 1973 and 1974 a record he shares with fellow legends Michael Platini and Marco Van Basten. He was voted as European Player of the Century in an election held by the (IFFHS) International Federation of Football History & Statistics and was second only to Pelé in another poll held by the (IFFHS) titled the World Player of the Century.
Cruyuff played in the position of attacking midfielder and could also play as a striker. He is perhaps the famous exponent of the Total Football style of play which was developed by Cryuff's coach at Ajax, Rinus Michels. In this system a player who moves out of position is replaced by another from his team so that the team can keep their organisational structure. With total football any player can peform the roles of defender, midfielder or striker competently. In this system Cryuff played as a centre foward but he could also drop deep in midfield to confuse his markers or move on the wing suddenly. Johan's strengths were his his technical ability, speed, acceleration, dribbling and vision with his vision being his greatest strength. Cryuff also invented a move known as the Cryuff Turn seen here.
He won eight Eredivisie (which is the highest football league in The Netherlands) titles with Ajax and one with Feyenoord football club in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1982, 1983 and 1984 respectively. He also won three European Cups which is now known as the UEFA Champions League with Ajax in 1971, 1972, 1973 and a La Liga title while playing for Barcelona FC in 1974. When he retired he managed Ajax and Barcelona winning a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1987 and four consecutive La Liga titles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1989 and a European Cup in 1992 with Barcelona FC. On November 2nd 2009 he was named as the head coach of the Catalonia national football team. For his great accomplishments as a player and manager he was given the title of honorary president of FC Barcelona on the Friday 26th March, 2010.
Cryuff became married to Danny Coster on the 2nd of December 1968 and the couple are still together to this day. The Cryuff's have three children together: Chantal, Susila and Jordi.
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