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1999–2000 FC Barcelona Season
FC Barcelona did not repeat its successful season in 1999–2000, and fell back to second in La Liga, as well as knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-finals. Barcelona did not perform well in the mid season and lost the league title to Deportivo La Coruña just 5 points behind and Louis van Gaal was let go by the club, with former Real Betis coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer taking over after 1999–2000 season. Despite the trophyless season, the side managed to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, where it lost to eventual competition runners up Valencia CF, Valencia. Squad :''Squad at end of season'' Transfers In * Jari Litmanen – AFC Ajax, Ajax * Simão Sabrosa, Simão – Sporting Clube de Portugal, Sporting CP * Dani García (footballer, born 1974), Dani – RCD Mallorca, Mallorca * Frédéric Déhu – RC Lens, Lens Out * Miguel Ángel Nadal – RCD Mallorca, Mallorca * Sonny Anderson – Olympique Lyonnais, L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football league system, Spanish football. Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto ''"Més que un club"'' (''"More than a club"''). Unlike many other football clubs, Supporters of FC Barcelona, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the third-most valuable football club in the world, worth $5.6 billion, and the Deloitte Football Money League, world's fourth richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €800.1 million. The official Barcelona anthem is the "Cant del Barça", written by :ca:Jaume Picas i Guiu, Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs. Barcelona tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Real Betis
Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home games at the 60,721-seat Estadio Benito Villamarín. Real Betis won the league title in 1934–35 La Liga, 1935 and the Copa del Rey in 1976–77 Copa del Rey, 1977, 2004–05 Copa del Rey, 2005 and 2021–22 Copa del Rey, 2022. Given the club's tumultuous history and many relegations, its motto is ''¡Viva el Betis manque pierda!'' (). History The name "Betis" is derived from ''Hispania Baetica, Baetis'', the Roman name for the Guadalquivir river which passes through Seville and which the Roman province there was named after. ''Real'' ('Royal') was added in 1914 after the club received patronage from King Alfonso XIII. Foundation Betis' city rivals Sevilla FC, Sevilla were the first club in Seville, founded in October 1905, while a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sergi Barjuán
Sergi Barjuán Esclusa (born 28 December 1971), known simply as Sergi as a player, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left-back, currently a manager. Best known for his Barcelona stint, he played for the first team for nine seasons and made a major contribution to the winning of nine major titles. Having reached the Spain national team shortly after making his professional club debut, he appeared in two World Cups and as many European Championships. In 2009, Barjuán embarked on a managerial career, leading Recreativo, Almería and Mallorca. He also had brief La Liga spells at the second of those clubs, and in interim charge of Barcelona. Playing career Club Born in Les Franqueses del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Sergi was a youth product of giants FC Barcelona. He had not yet appeared in La Liga when he was summoned by first-team manager Johan Cruyff to a UEFA Champions League group stage game away against Galatasaray S.K. ( 0–0, on 24 November ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jari Litmanen
Jari Olavi Litmanen (; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010. Litmanen is widely considered to be Finland's greatest football player of all time. He was chosen as the best Finnish player of the last 50 years by the Football Association of Finland in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. He also finished 42nd in the 100 Greatest Finns voting in 2004. The Association of Football Statisticians' (The AFS) compendium of 'Greatest Ever Footballers' listed Litmanen as the 53rd best footballer ever. Litmanen was inducted into the Finnish Football Hall of Fame in 2015. In Finland, he is often called "Litti" (after his own surname), which dates from his early years, and is also known as "''Kuningas''" ("The King"). During his club career, Litmanen represented ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phillip Cocu
Phillip John-William Cocu (born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch professional football manager and former midfielder who was most recently the manager of Vitesse. Cocu was born in Eindhoven but raised in Zevenaar, playing youth football for local clubs DCS and De Graafschap. After a year at AFC '34, he started his professional career at AZ. In 1990, Cocu moved to Vitesse. A broken fibula disrupted his first season, but he became a first-team regular in the following four seasons. In 1995, he joined PSV, where he won the KNVB Cup and the Eredivisie title in 1997. Cocu played for Barcelona between 1998 and 2004. There, he would become club captain, win La Liga in 1999 and play two Champions League semi-finals. He left the club in 2004 as club record holder for the most league appearances by a foreign player. During Cocu's second stint at PSV, he won another three Eredivisie titles and reached the Champions League semi-finals. After a year at Al Jazira, Cocu retired from professio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luís Figo
Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Inter Milan. He won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one-time record. Figo is widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation and one of the greatest wingers in the history of the sport. Figo won the 2000 Ballon d'Or, 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year, and in 2004 Pelé named him in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. Figo is one of the few football players to have played for both Spanish rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid. His transfer to Real Madrid in 2000 from Barcelona to Real Madrid set a world record fee of €62 million. Figo, who was widely regarded as the face of Barcelona along with Rivaldo at that time, had signed a conditional agreement with Florentino Pérez, who at the time was running to become the president of Real Madrid. In short, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald De Boer
Ronaldus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right or attacking midfielder or right winger. He played for the Netherlands national team as well as a host of professional clubs in Europe. He is the twin brother of Frank de Boer. The majority of his success as a football player was with Ajax. He works as the Ajax A1 assistant manager. Club career De Boer's first youth club was De Zouaven in Lutjebroek where he played before being selected for the Ajax youth programme in 1983. On the professional club level, De Boer played for Ajax (1988–91 and 1993–99), Twente (1991–93), Barcelona (1999–2000), Rangers (2000–04), Al-Rayyan (2004–05) and Al-Shamal (2005–08). In both Qatari clubs, he was reunited again with his brother Frank, his teammate at Ajax, Barcelona and Rangers. In his first spell at Ajax from 1988 to 1991, he won the Eredivisie title in 1989–90 under manager Leo Beenhakker. After two seasons at Twent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abelardo Fernández
Abelardo Fernández Antuña (; born 19 April 1970), known simply as Abelardo as a player, is a Spanish former footballer who played as a central defender, currently a manager. A player with good heading and marking ability, he was also known for a distinctive bald head, a style which he adopted from a relatively young age. During his career he was almost exclusively associated with Sporting de Gijón and Barcelona, having amassed La Liga totals of 385 matches and 24 goals over 14 seasons, and also managed the former club for three years. Having won more than 50 caps for Spain in one full decade, Abelardo represented the nation in two World Cups and as many European Championships. Playing career Club Born in Gijón, Asturias, Abelardo started his professional career with local Sporting de Gijón, with which he made his La Liga debuts. Signing with FC Barcelona for the 1994–95 season in a 275 million '' pesetas'' deal, he was always an important first-team element, helping the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain (association Football)
The captain of a association football, football/soccer 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. In the 2024/25 edition of the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, it was made mandatory for each team to have a captain and for each captain to be identified by the previously traditional but non-mandatory captain's armband. Responsibilities The only official responsibility of a captain specified by the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game is to participate in the Coin flipping, coin toss prior to Kick-off (association football), kick-off (for choice of ends or to have kick-off) and prior to a penalty shoot-out (association football), penalty shoot-out. Captain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pep Guardiola
Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City since 2016. Guardiola is one of two managers in history to win the Treble (association football)#Continental trebles, continental treble twice and he holds the record for the most consecutive league games won in La Liga, Bundesliga, and the Premier League. He is considered to be one of the greatest managers of all time. Guardiola was a defensive midfielder who usually played in a deep-lying playmaker's role. He spent the majority of his career with FC Barcelona, Barcelona, forming a part of Johan Cruyff's ''FC Barcelona#Dream Team, Dream Team'' that won the club's first European Cup in 1992 European Cup final, 1992, and four successive List of Spanish football champions, Spanish league titles from 1991 to 1994. He captained t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frédéric Déhu
Frédéric Fabian William Déhu (born 24 October 1972) is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Club career Born in Villeparisis, Seine-et-Marne, Déhu made his professional debut with RC Lens, becoming an undisputed starter from his third season onwards. In 1996–97 he scored a career-best five goals, but the club could only rank 13th; in the following year, he was an essential defensive unit as his team won their first Ligue 1 title. In summer 1999, after nearly 300 official appearances for Lens, Déhu signed with La Liga giants FC Barcelona, but he played just 23 matches across all competitions for the Louis van Gaal-led side, being released by the Catalans at the end of the campaign and netting his only goal to help defeat AIK Fotboll 5–0 in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. He then returned to his country and joined Paris Saint-Germain F.C. for about €6 million, remaining four years in the capital and winning the Coupe de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Reiziger
Michael John Reiziger (; born 3 May 1973) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played mainly as a right back. Reiziger currently manages the Netherlands U21 team. After making a name for himself at Ajax, with whom he won one Champions League, he went on to represent four teams in as many countries, notably Barcelona, for which he played 249 official games in seven years, as well as spells at A.C. Milan, Middlesbrough and PSV Eindhoven. Reiziger represented the Netherlands national team for a full decade, competing at three European Championships and the 1998 World Cup and finishing fourth in the latter tournament. Playing career Club Born in Amstelveen, North Holland to Surinamese parents, Reiziger started his career with hometown club Ajax, making his first-team debut at the age of 17 then serving two consecutive loan spells, with Volendam and Groningen; with the latter, in the 1993–94 season, he scored a career-best six goals while operating also as a midfi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
