 The review of soccer's major international competitions
Added: 12/19/2005 |
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Modern sport of football is known in a number of names all the way through the English-speaking planet with the most widespread being soccer and football. Football is the term officially used by FIFA, the governing body of the sport, and the Olympic Committee. Find out more interesting facts about football and its major international competitions.
The world?s major international competitions are FIFA World Cup and FIFA Club World Championship.
By far the most prestigious and largest of all major international competitions in the modern game of football is the World Cup sanctioned by FIFA. This tournament is held every four years. More than 190 national football teams ?battle? in qualifying competitions for a position in the final tournament. The final championship, which takes place over 4-year period, at the present features 32 nations (in contrast to 24 in 1998) competing within four weeks.
The FIFA Club World Championship features the top club teams from every one of 6 continental confederations. The tournament made its debut in 2000 in Brazil. It was proposed by FIFA to replace the Intercontinental Cup, which is held every year in Tokyo, Japan by the champions of South America and Europe.
The new competition was not generally popular, but nonetheless the second edition was scheduled for Spain in 2001, to involve 12 teams. The event was cancelled however due to a chain of factors, most notably the collapse of the ISL, the marketing partner of FIFA. It was then planned to hold the competition in 2003, but this also never happened. Finally FIFA agreed stipulations with the Toyota Cup to combine the two competitions into one, with the first Club World Championship to be held between December 11 and 18, 2005 in Japan. The event was won by with Brazilian S?o Paulo which in a narrow one null victory defeated the UEFA Champions Liverpool.
Another international event that is worth to be highlighted in order to complete the review of non-team major international competitions is a football tournament at the Olympics that has been held since 1900, excluding 1932 Games in Los Angeles. In the beginning this amateur tournament only, yet since the 1984 Summer Olympic Games professional players have been admitted as well, though with some limitations which successfully prevent nations from fielding their top squads. Presently, the Olympic men's contest is held at Under-23 category with a limited number of older players per team; as a result the tournament is not commonly considered to hold the same worldwide prestige and importance as the World Cup. A women's competition was introduced in 1996; contrary to the men's tournament, the women's football at the Olympics is played by complete international squads with no age limitations. It consequently brings the event global prestige considered equal to that of the Women's World Cup organized by FIFA.
The major club events preceded by their continental confederations are:
Europe: UEFA Champions League, European Championship;
South America: Copa Libertadores, Copa Am?rica;
Africa: CAF Champions League, African Nations Cup;
Asia: AFC Champions League, Asian Cup;
North/Central America and Caribbean: CONCACAF Champions Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup;
Oceania: Oceania Club Championship, Oceania Nations Cup.
The UEFA Champions League is a yearly club football contest. The UEFA Champions League games feature the most successful club teams on the European continent. It is one of the most important major international competitions in the modern club football together with Copa Libertadores held in South America.
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