April 27th, 2008
This tournament was inaugurated in 1955 at the suggestion of the French sports journalist and editor of L’Equipe Gabriel Hanot as a continental competition for winners of the European national football leagues, as the European Champion Club’s Cup, abbreviated to European Cup.
The competition began in 1955/56 using a two-leg knockout format where the teams would play two matches, one at home and one away, and the team with the highest overall score qualifying for the next round of the competition. Entry was restricted to the teams that won their national league championships, plus the current European Cup holder. This qualification system continued until 1992. In the 1992/93 season, the tournament was renamed to UEFA Champions League and in 1997/98, eligibility was expanded to include not just domestic champions but also the best performing runners up according to UEFA’s coefficient ranking list. In UEFA’s coefficient system, a team finishing second in the Spanish La Liga would be more deserving of an automatic place in the Champions League than a team finishing first in, for example, Polish Orange Ekstraklasa. As a result, the system was restructured to force “weaker” national champions to qualify for the group stages, while other, “stronger” national runners-up would automatically get places.According list below, since 1955 52 clubs and 10 countries have written his name in the European Football winners. Clubs: Real Madrid (9 wins), Milan (7), Liverpool (5), Ajax and Bayern Munich (4), Barcelona, Benfica, Inter, Juventus, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Porto (2) and Aston Villa, Borussia Dortmund, Celtic Glasgow, Feyenoord, Hamburg, Olympique Marseille, PSV Eindhoven, Steaua Bucarest and Red Star Belgrade (1).
Countries: Italy and Spain (11 times), England (10), Germany and Holland (6), Portugal (4) and France, Rumania, Scotland and Serbia (1).
April 26th, 2008
Have you ever been to the Theatre of Dreams? No, what a pity! Is a wonderful place! Instead of a proper stage there’s a field full of the greenest grass you’ve ever seen. Instead of actors and actresses there are the greatest players you’ve ever seen. Instead of a theatre there’s the nicest stadium you’ve ever seen. Instead of costumes there are the reddest t-shirts you have ever seen. Instead of Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando or Meryl Streep there are Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney… on stage. Would you waste the chance of dreaming awake? In the theatre of dreams everything is possible.
After a good match in Barcelona (the European semi-final’s first leg), you’ve got a second opportunity to watch one of this year’s greatest match. In Camp Nou, Barcelona was superior. FCB did know how to play this complicated match. Not loosing any balls in the midfield with the return of Deco and the security given by Yaya Toure. Good transitions to the forward players. And good chances of scoring goals. Eto’o, Messi, Henry, Bojan played good but didn’t find how to create serious problems for United’s goalkeeper, Van der Sar.
Ferguson didn’t transmit to ManU players all the intentions he had planning the game. Maybe when Cristiano Ronaldo missed the penalty kick everything went upside down for Ferguson’s plans.
But now we’ve got a second chance of enjoying (in the theatre of dreams – Old Trafford) the second leg of what was a marvellous game of football. The dice are thrown and there’s only an aim: Moscow!
Buy tickets!
April 25th, 2008
The modern era of Formula One Grand Prix racing began in 1950, but the roots of F1 are far earlier, including such pre-World War II legends as Italian Tazio Nuvolari and the great German teams, Auto Union and Mercedes Benz.Winner at Silverstone in 1950 and the first F1 champion, Giuseppe (”Nino”) Farina drove an Alfa Romeo 158, capturing the Belgium, Swiss and Italian races as well, along with non-championship wins at Bari and Donnington. Farina, who topped Juan Manuel Fangio by three points in the 1950 season, is best remembered for his style of driving; the relaxed, inclined position and outstretched arms that was to influence a whole generation of drivers. Leaving for Ferrari in 1951, for the next two seasons Farina fought a personal battle with Alberto Ascari, a battle he was bound to lose, for Ascari was by far the better driver; more controlled, faster and more precise. Ascari won the F1 championship in 1952-53 in the Ferrari 500. But it is Fangio, from Argentina, who epitomizes the first decade of Formula One, winning five World Championships for five different manufacturers and four consecutively from 1954-57. The most tragic fact was when Mercedes withdrew from motor racing after the horrific, multi-car accident (which Fangio barely escaped) at the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours that left 85 people dead. Sine 1950 the statistic say that after 58 Grand Prix, a total of 29 drivers have won the Drivers Championship: Michael Schumacher (7), Juan Manuel Fangio (5), Alain Prost (4), Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Nicki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna (3), Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mika Hakkinen and Fernando Alonso (2), Giuseppe Farina, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Denny Hulme, Jochen Rindt, James Hunt, Mario Andretti, Jody Schekter, Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Kimi Raikkonen (1) and a total of 14 teams have won the Teams Championship: Ferrari (18), Williams (9), McLaren (8), Lotus (7), Alfa Romeo, Maseratti, Cooper, Brabham and Renault (2), Vanwall, BRM, Matra, Tyrell and Benetton (1).
April 24th, 2008
No man is a prophet in his own land, ask Fernando Torres about it. He, who joined Liverpool has matured a lot as a player and has become a Premier League star. With 21 goals on the Premier, the Spanish player is succeeding and developing a well known play style in Spain, but not admired as much as in England nowadays. Fernando Torres, the young natural from Madrid who started to shine on Atletico de Madrid, has become a fundamental player for Liverpool and Premier League while also competing to achieve the title of Golden Boot. Only Luiz Fabiano is opposing him with 23 goals.
The Torresfever as it’s known in England the passion for Fernando Torres, has become a new fashion of the current season, where match after match all talk about how wonderful is the Liverpool’s striker performance. His coach, Rafa Benítez, qualifies him as one of the best world’s strikers because “to score so many goals is not easy, even less for a recently arrived foreigner like Fernando. It is great for him and wonderful for the team”.
With this, Fernando Torres is the second more chanted name by Liverpool’s supporters, behind the so loved captain Steven Gerrard. With only the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals and the last Premier League matches left, we will see how many goals will Fernando score!
April 23rd, 2008
It was in 1953 when Carlos Godo Valls, the ‘Conde De Godo’ gave the trophy for a new international championship, in the opening of the new Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899 site in Pedralbes. The new international championships followed the tradition of several past tournaments since 1903. The first edition was played from July 3rd to 7th, and American Vic Seixas was the first winner. In 1954 after the international success of first edition, the ‘Conde De Godo’ Trophy changes its dates to join the European clay-court season. In 1960 and due to it’s increasing success, the building of a new centre court is necessary, which can hold 3,000 spectators. The opening ceremony coincides with first ever-Spanish victory, when Andres Gimeno -from RCT Barcelona-1899- achieves the title with a victory over Giuseppe Merlo of Italy and in 1961 Australian Roy Emerson captures the first of three singles titles winning the final over rising young Spanish star Manolo Santana. In 1967 the centre court is known as the “talisman court” thanks to the Spanish Davis Cup team success, and it enlarges its capacity up to 8,500 spectators. In 1968 the ‘Conde De Godo’ trophy becomes the International Championships of Spain, after the agreement with the Spanish Tennis Federation. 11 Spanish players have win at least once the trophy being Manolo Santana and Rafael Nadal the most relevant winners.Roy Emerson, Ilie Nastase, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lend and Mats Wilander are also important international players that also win this tournament.
