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Luka Modrić
Luka Modrić (; born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Croatia national team. He plays mainly as a central midfielder, but can also play as an attacking midfielder or as a defensive midfielder. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, and as the greatest ever Croatian footballer. Born in Zadar, Modrić's childhood coincided with the Croatian War of Independence which displaced his family. In 2002, he was signed by Dinamo Zagreb at age 16, after showing promise with his hometown club NK Zadar's youth team. He continued his development in Zagreb, before spells on loan to Zrinjski Mostar and Inter Zaprešić. He made his debut for Dinamo in 2005 and won three consecutive league titles and domestic cups, being named the Prva HNL Player of the Year in 2007. In 2008, he moved to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur for a club-record transfer fee of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zadar
Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serves as the seat of Zadar County and of the wider northern Dalmatian region. The city proper covers with a population of 75,082 , making it the second-largest city of the region of Dalmatia and the fifth-largest city in the country. Today, Zadar is a historical center of Dalmatia, Zadar County's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, educational, and transportation centre. Zadar is also the episcopal see of the Archdiocese of Zadar. Because of its rich heritage, Zadar is today one of the most popular Croatian tourist destinations, named "entertainment center of the Adriatic" by ''The Times'' and "Croatia's new capital of cool" by ''The Guardian''. UNESCO's World Heritage Site list included the fortified city of Zadar a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The reigning champions are Argentina, who won their third title at the 2022 tournament. The format involves a qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. In the tournament phase, 32 teams compete for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over about a month. The host nation(s) automatically qualify to the group stage of the tournament. As of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 22 final tournaments have been held and a total of 80 national teams have competed. The trophy has been won by eight national teams. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ESPN FC
ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as SoccerNet, the website was acquired by ESPN in 1999. The domain ESPNFC.com now redirects to soccer news coverage on ESPN.com. History Originally titled SoccerNet, the website was established by Greg Hadfield and his then-teenage son Tom in 1995, initially providing live score updates, tables and news articles. Greg, at that time, worked for the '' Daily Mail'' and in order to gain capital, effectively rescinded ownership of the site to his bosses in return for £40,000 and a revenue sharing scheme. In 1999, Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG) acquired a controlling interest of 60 percent in SoccerNet from the Daily Mail and General Trust for £15M. Television program ESPN eventually launched a U.S. television studio program on ESPNews, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriele Marcotti
Gabriele Marcotti (born 28 July 1973) is an Italian sports journalist, sports author, and radio-television presenter. Born in Italy and now based in London, he was raised in the United States (Chicago and New York), Poland, Germany and Japan. He is fluent in Italian, English, German, Spanish and knows conversational Japanese. Early life Marcotti briefly attended the European School, Varese in Varese, Italy. He subsequently obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, New York. Print journalism career Due to his fluency in both English and Italian, Marcotti writes for and contributes to various publications in both languages. In the United States, he is known for his work in ''Sports Illustrated'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''ESPN FC''. He also writes for ''Champions Magazine'', ''The Times'' in England, and the ''Sunday Herald'' in Scotland, having previously written for the ''Daily Mail'' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diario AS
''Diario AS'' () is a Spanish daily sports newspaper that concentrates particularly on football. Profile ''Diario AS'' is part of PRISA which also owns '' El País'' and '' Cinco Días''. The paper particularly covers news of the Community of Madrid football teams: Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Getafe CF, CD Leganés, and Rayo Vallecano. It competes directly with ''MARCA''. In addition to Madrid, the newspaper also has satellite bureaus in Barcelona, Bilbao, A Coruña, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara .... In May 2012 the newspaper launched aEnglish language sub-siteoffering original journalism and articles translated from the original Spanish by native English-language speakers. The circulation of ''Diario AS'' was 181 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FourFourTwo
''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2. In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had entered into a three-year shirt sponsorship deal with Swindon Town, which commenced in the 2008–09 season. Although based in the United Kingdom, the magazine is also available in 16 other languages. Contributors Present The following people are amongst the regular contributors to ''FourFourTwo'' (UK edition): * Uli Hesse *James Horncastle *Martin Mazur *Michael Cox Past columnists * James Richardson, who presents the European Football Show on BT Sport and previously '' Football Italia'' on Channel 4, who used to give his views on Italian football before being replaced. *Henry Winter — Leading football journalist. *Brian Clough — Ex-player and manager, until his death in 2004. * Bobby Robson — Ex-player and manager who briefly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrea Pirlo
Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is head coach of Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Considered one of the best deep-lying playmakers ever, Pirlo was renowned for his vision, ball control, technique, creativity, passing, and free kick ability. Pirlo began his club career in 1995 as an attacking midfielder with hometown club Brescia, winning the Serie B in 1997. He signed for Serie A club Inter Milan a year later, but limited game time and loans away from the club saw him transfer to cross-city rivals AC Milan in 2001. There, Pirlo matured into a world-class player, and he then won two Serie A titles, two UEFA Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, a FIFA Club World Cup, a Coppa Italia, and a Supercoppa Italiana. He departed for Juventus in 2011, where he won four consecutive Serie A titles, two Supercoppa Italiana titles, and another Coppa Italia. In 2015, Pirlo joined Major League Soccer (MLS) club New York ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cesc Fàbregas
Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas Soler (; ; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Italian Serie B club Como. Fàbregas came through ''La Masia'', Barcelona's youth academy, leaving at 16 when he was signed by Premier League club Arsenal in September 2003. Following injuries to key midfielders in the early part of the 2004–05 season, he went on establish himself in the team. He broke several of the club's records in the process, earning a reputation as one of the best players in his position, and won the FA Cup in 2005. After a protracted transfer saga, Fàbregas left London on 15 August 2011 to return to Barcelona in a deal worth up to £35 million. During his three-year spell at the Camp Nou, Fàbregas played alongside Xavi and Andrés Iniesta and won a La Liga title, the Copa del Rey, the FIFA Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and two Spanish Super Cups. He returned to London in June 2014 to Arsenal's cross-town ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toni Kroos
Toni Kroos (born 4 January 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid. Kroos plays mainly as a central midfielder, but has also been deployed as a deep-lying playmaker in his career. He is known for his vision, passing, creativity, crossing and set-piece ability, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time. He won the FIFA Club World Cup a record five times. Kroos began his senior club career playing for Bayern Munich, where he made his debut at age 17 in 2007. He was sparingly used, and opted for an 18-month loan spell at fellow Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, where he became a key contributor, and returned to his parent club with an increased profile in 2010. With Bayern, Kroos won two consecutive league titles (three titles in total), a UEFA Champions League title, two DFB-Pokal titles, and was voted into the league team of the season three times. In 2014, he joined Real Madrid in a transfer wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xavi
Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), known as Xavi is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Barcelona. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi was renowned for his passing, vision, ball retention, and positioning. Xavi joined ''La Masia'', the Barcelona youth academy, at age 11, and made his first-team debut against Mallorca in August 1998. In all, he played 767 official matches, a former club record—now held by Lionel Messi—and scored 85 goals. Xavi is the first player in the club's history to play 150 European and FIFA Club World Cup matches combined. With Barcelona, Xavi won eight La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles. Xavi came third in the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year, followed by third place for its successor award, the FIFA Ballon d'Or, in 2010 and 2011. In 2011, he was runner up to Messi for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. In 2015, he departed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain (association Football)
The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influence a game or has good leadership qualities. The team captain is usually identified by the wearing of an armband. Responsibilities The only official responsibility of a captain specified by the Laws of the Game is to participate in the coin toss prior to kick-off (for choice of ends or to have kick-off) and prior to a penalty shootout. Contrary to what is sometimes said, captains have no special authority under the Laws to challenge a decision by the referee. However, referees may talk to the captain of a side about the side's general behaviour when necessary. At an award-giving ceremony after a fixture like a cup competition final, the captain usually leads the team up to collect their medals. Any trophy won by a team w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's top professional Association football, football division of the Spanish football league system. Administered by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional, Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, it is contested by 20 teams, with the three lowest-placed teams at the end of each season being Promotion and relegation, relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top two teams and a La Liga play-offs, play-off winner in that division. Since its inception, a total of All-time La Liga table, 62 teams have competed in La Liga. Nine teams have been crowned champions, with FC Barcelona, Barcelona winning the inaugural La Liga and Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid winning the title a record 35 times, most recently in the 2021–22 season. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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