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Real Betis
Real Betis Balompié is a Spanish football club in Seville founded in 1907. The team currently plays in La Liga. Its home stadium is the 52,700-seat Manuel Ruiz de Lopera and its home colours are green and white. Real Betis celebrated their centenary year this past year 2007–08 La Liga season.
Real Betis were noted as the 32nd best followed team in Europe as regard average attendances during the 2006–07 season.
History
Real Betis holds the distinction of being the first Andalusian football team to play in the La Liga and to reach the UEFA Champions League although city rivals Sevilla already played this competition but with a different format, known as European Cup, in the 1957-58 season. Betis are also the only Spanish club to have won the 1st, 2nd and 3rd division leagues. Supporters of Real Betis are known as béticos. The club came close to folding in the summer of 1992 when they were saved by then vice-chairman Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, who later became chairman and is the current owner of the club.
[edit] Early years
Seville was the venue for the first official football game played in Spain. On 8 March 1890 at the Tablada Hippodrome a team from the Seville Water Works defeated the Huelva Recreation Club 2-0. With the exception of two Spanish players on the Huelva team, the players on both teams were British. Despite this historic event, it was not until 1905 that Sevilla FC was formed. The name is derived from Baetis, the Roman name for Guadalquivir river. Betis initially attracted support from the working classes although a large number of aristocracts including the King of Spain also supported the team. The foundation date is disputed. The 1907 foundation date comes from Sevilla Balompie, a club founded by students from the Escuela Politécnica on Calle Cervantes. This club merged with Betis FC in late 1914.
[edit] Name and colours
Balompie is the literal Spanish word for football as opposed to the anglicized version, futbol. Betis is one of only a handful of Spanish clubs that use this version in their name. As with other Spanish clubs Real was added after receiving patronage from the King of Spain Don Alfonso XIII in 1914. In 1912, Manuel Ramos Asensio, one of the club's founding members, returned from a business trip to Glasgow with a set of green and black striped shirts, donated by Celtic F.C, and proposed Betis take up the colours. The green and black strip was subsequently deemed unlucky after a losing streak and was replaced by a green and white version - the Andalucian national colours. During the Second Spanish Republic the club was once again called Betis Balompie, reverting to its current name after the Spanish Civil War.
[edit] Domestic success
Betis have won the La Liga once - in 1935 under the guidance of Patrick O'Connell - and won their first Copa del Rey in 1977. They made it to the final in 1997 but lost to FC Barcelona. Betis made it to the final again on 11 June 2005 against CA Osasuna at the Vicente Calderón Stadium and won their second Copa del Rey 2-1.
[edit] Centenary celebrations
Betis celebrated their centenary year in 2007, during the 2006–07 and 2007–08 league campaigns. In celebration of their centenary year they played A.C. Milan on 9 August 2007. Betis won the game 1-0 when new signing Mark González scored from the penalty spot early into the second half. On 15 August Betis competed in the Estadio Ramón de Carranza Trophy, playing against Real Madrid in the semi-final, winning the game 1-0 with an injury time free-kick scored by Juan Pablo Caffa. The following day, Betis contested in the final of the Estadio Ramón de Carranza Trophy against Real Zaragoza. The match ended 1-1, with a goal from David Rivas for Betis, before winning the game 4-3 on penalties, with Antonio Doblas decisively saving a Ricardo Oliveira penalty. The summer brought with it a complete change to the Betis squad, with eight arrivals that included Mark González, Ricardo, and Mariano Pavone, and fourteen sales.
[edit] Stadium information
Estadio Manuel Ruiz de Lopera is a football stadium in Seville, Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Real Betis. It was previously called Estadio Benito Villamarín before the new owner of the club, Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, decided to build a new stadium over the old one.
See main article: Manuel Ruiz de Lopera
[edit] Club honours
* La Liga:
o 1 – 1935
* Copa del Rey:
o 2 – 1977, 2005
* Ramón de Carranza Trophy:
o 5 – 1964, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007
[edit] Competition participation
[edit] Domestic
* Primera Division 44:
* Segunda División 25:
* Tercera División 7:
[edit] European
* UEFA Cup 6: (record)
o 2005-2006, 2002-2003, 1998-1999, 1995-1996, 1984-1985, 1982-1983
* UEFA Champions League1: (record)
o 2005-2006.
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Atletico de Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid is a Spanish football club based in Madrid who play in the Primera División of La Liga. Their home stadium is the Vicente Calderón Stadium, which currently holds up to 55,000 spectators. The club is one of the most successful in Spanish League history, having won both La Liga and the Copa del Rey on nine occasions, including a double in 1996. They also won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1962 and were European Cup runners-up and Intercontinental Cup winners in 1974.
During their history, the club have been known by a number of nicknames including los colchoneros or the mattress makers due to their first team stripes being the same colours as old-fashioned mattresses. During the 1970s they became known as los indios. This was allegedly due to the club signing several South American players after the restrictions on signing foreign players was lifted. However there are a number of counter theories which claim they were so named because their stadium is camped on the river bank or because los indios were the traditional enemy of los blancos —the whites. The latter nickname refers to the club's city rival Real Madrid.
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Villareal
Villarreal Club de Fútbol, usually abbreviated to Villarreal, is a Spanish Primera División football club based in Villarreal, a small town in the province of Castellón. The team plays at the 25,000-seat Madrigal stadium.The club was founded in 1923 and played in regional leagues until the Spanish Civil War, during which Spanish football went into a hiatus. After the war, the club played in various regional leagues as well as the Third Division until the 1970/71 season, when Villarreal first played in the Segunda División for two consecutive seasons, at the end of which the club was relegated to the Third Division once again. After playing in the Segunda División B for a few seasons in the late 80s, Villarreal managed to solidify themselves as a Segunda División club starting with the 1992/93 season.On May 24, 1998, a date which the club's supporters still remember fondly, Villarreal sealed promotion to the Primera División for the 1998/99 season, which started with an intimidating match against giants Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabéu. After a difficult season, Villarreal were again relegated to the Segunda División for the 1999/2000 season, in which they finished third, again earning promotion to La Liga de las Estrellas, the Primera División, where they have remained up to the present day.
After finishing 7th a year later, Villarreal stayed near the bottom of the table for two seasons before defeating Dutch team SC Heerenveen in the final to win their first European title, the UEFA Intertoto Cup in the summer of 2003, thereby qualifying for the UEFA Cup tournament. In the 2003/04 season, Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing to neighbours and eventual champions Valencia CF. That summer, however, they won the Intertoto Cup again, qualifying for that coming season's UEFA Cup tournament, in which they would reach the quarter-finals. They bowed out in the quarter-finals to Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, losing 3-2 on aggregate. During the same 2004/05 season Villarreal finished in 3rd place in La Liga, earning the club their first direct qualification to a European tournament; the UEFA Champions League.
The 2005/06 season brought the club considerable European success and recognition, due to their consistent performances in the Champions League. In the qualifying round stage, Villarreal sensationally defeated English side Everton F.C. with a 4-2 aggregate score with two 2-1 victories. In the group stage, Villarreal were to be in the same group as Portuguese champions SL Benfica, French club Lille OSC, and English giants Manchester United F.C.. Remaining undefeated throughout the group stage, Villarreal were twice victorious (1-0 each against Benfica away and Lille at home) and earned four draws, including two scoreless draws with Manchester United. They topped their group and progressed to the knock-out stages along with SL Benfica. The club progressed to the quarter-finals in their Champions League debut by defeating the Scottish club Rangers F.C. 3-3 on the away goals rule (a 2-2 draw in Glasgow and a 1-1 draw at home gave the Spanish side one more away goal than their opponents).
El Submarino Amarillo drew Italian heavyweights Inter Milan in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The first leg was played at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on March 29, 2006. Playing at San Siro, Diego Forlán scored inside the first minute of the match, but Villarreal lost 2-1 as Inter took a lead to the return leg at Estadio El Madrigal on April 4. Villarreal, however, continued their unbeaten home record in the Champions League as they beat the Italian giants 1-0 in the second leg to qualify for the semi-finals on the away goals rule (the tie ended 2-2 on aggregate, but because of Diego Forlán's goal in Milan, Villarreal advanced). During that game, left-back Rodolfo 'El Vasco' Arruabarrena turned a back header from Riquelme's free kick past Inter's goalkeeper Francesco Toldo to score the decisive goal of the tie. In the semi-finals, Villarreal narrowly lost out to Arsenal F.C. on a 1-0 aggregate scoreline following Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann's save of Juan Román Riquelme's last-minute penalty, the penalty was won by Jose Mari's infamous dive. Villarreal signed Robert Pires from Arsenal in the summer following their Champions League semi-final defeat. He is playing for the team now after a long injury lay-off. The 2006-2007 season started very badly but Villarreal were able to qualify for the UEFA Cup after 8 consecutive wins. The Yellow Submarines were 13th after Round 30 of La Liga, but they climbed to finish 5th at the end of the season.
The club automatically qualified for the 2008/09 Champions League, due to them finishing second in La Liga the previous season. They drew Manchester United, for the second consecuitive campaign, Glasgow Celtic and Aalborg BK. They made good start by holding European champions Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford, a third 0-0 draw in a row against the English giants. A first win was sealed on 30th September by beating Gordon Strachan's Celtic 1-0 at El Madrigal, courtesy of a Marcos Senna freekick. On October 21 during a Champions League match against Aalborg they scored 6 goals to 3.
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VCF
Valencia Club de Fútbol (also known as Valencia or Los Che) is a Spanish professional football club based in Valencia. They play in La Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish football. Valencia have won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey trophies, one UEFA Cup, two Fairs Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two UEFA Super Cups and two Spanish Super Cups. They have also reached two UEFA Champions League finals in a row, losing to La Liga rivals Real Madrid in 2000 and German club Bayern Munich in 2001. Valencia are also members of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs.
In the all-time La Liga table, Valencia is in 4th position behind Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. In terms of international titles, Valencia is 3rd behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, these three being the only Spanish clubs to have won more than five international trophies.
Valencia were founded in 1919, and have played their home games at the 55,000-seater Estadio Mestalla since 1923. They are soon to move into the 75,000-seater Nou Mestalla in the north-west of the city in 2009. Valencia have a long-standing rivalry with Levante, also located in Valencia, and with another club in the Valencian Community region, Villarreal.
Valencia is the third most popular football team in Spain, only behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. It is also one of the biggest clubs in the world in terms of number of associates (registered paying supporters), with more than 50,000 season ticket holders and another 20,000+ season ticket holders on the waiting list, which will come into effect once the new 75,000-seater stadium is built.
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Barcelona
Fútbol Club Barcelona (Catalan IPA: [fudˈbɔɫ ˌklup bəɾsəˈlonə], Spanish IPA: [ˈfutβol ˌkluβ baɾθeˈlona]), known familiarly as Barça (Spanish IPA: [ˈbaɾsa], Catalan IPA: [ˈbaɾsə]), is a sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team, which was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Spanish men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto Més que un club (More than a club).
They were founding members of La Liga in 1928, and, together with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, they have never been relegated from the top division. The club were also the first La Liga champions, winning a total of 18 La Liga, 24 Copa del Rey, 7 Supercopa de España, 2 UEFA Champions League, 4 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 3 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and 2 European Super Cup trophies.
The club's main stadium is the Camp Nou and the fans of FC Barcelona are known as culers or culés. In Spain, about 25% of the population are said to be Barça supporters[1]. In June 2007, the number of socis (club members/owners) reached 156,366, while in June 2006 the number of penyes (officially-registered supporter clubs) reached 1782 worldwide.
The club also operates a reserve team, FC Barcelona Atlètic, and four other professional sports teams, Regal FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona Futsal and FC Barcelona Sorli Discau that compete at basketball, handball, futsal and rink hockey respectively. Until 2007 there was also a youth team, FC Barcelona C.
There are also a number of prominent amateur sports teams that compete at rugby union, women's football and wheelchair basketball. These include FCB Rugby and FC Barcelona-Institut Guttman. Other amateur teams represent the club at ice hockey, athletics, baseball, cycling, field hockey, figure skating, and volleyball.
During the 2006-07 season, FC Barcelona was the third richest club in the world with a revenue of €291.1 million.
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Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (also known as Real Madrid, Los Blancos, Los Merengues) is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. It holds the record as the most successful club in Spanish football and was voted by FIFA as the most successful one of the 20th century,[7] having won a record thirty-one La Liga titles, seventeen Spanish Cups, a record nine European Cups and two UEFA Cups.[8][9] Real was a founding member of The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)[10] and the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs as well as its replacement, the European Club Association.[11]
Founded in 1902, Real Madrid has since spent all of its history in the top flight of Spanish football. In the 1940s, the club, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and the Ciudad Deportiva were rebuilt following the Spanish Civil War. During the 1950s, Real Madrid established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football. During the second half of the 1980s, the club had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe (known as La Quinta del Buitre), winning two UEFA Cups, five Spanish championships in a row, one Spanish cup and three Spanish Super Cups.
The club's traditional kit colours are all white. It has played its home professional games in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947. Unlike most European football clubs, the club members (socios) have owned and operated Real Madrid since its foundation.
Real Madrid maintains a large fanbase and holds numerous long-standing rivalries with several other clubs, the most notable with FC Barcelona with whom they biannually contest the El Clásico. The club is the world's richest football club (€351m) in terms of revenue and the second most valuable (worth over €950m as of 2008).
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WBA
West Bromwich Albion Football Club (also known as West Brom, The Baggies, Albion, The Albion, The Throstles or WBA) are an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands. The club was formed in 1878 by workers from Salter's Spring Works in West Bromwich, and have played their home games at The Hawthorns since 1900.
Albion were one of the founding members of The Football League in 1888 and have spent the majority of their existence in the top tier of English football. They have been champions of England only once, in 1919–20, but have had more success in the FA Cup, with five wins. The first came in 1888, the year the league was founded, and the most recent in 1968, their last major trophy. They also won the Football League Cup at the first attempt in 1966. Since the early 1980s the club has been less successful. From 1986 to 2002 they spent their longest ever period out of the top division, although there has been something of a revival in recent years: 2008–09 will be the club's fourth season in the Premier League since 2002.
The team have played in blue and white stripes for most of their history. They have a number of long-standing rivalries with other Midlands clubs; their traditional rivals were Aston Villa, but more recently their major rivalry is with Wolverhampton Wanderers, with whom they contest the Black Country derby.
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