FIFA

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA /ˈfiːfə/; English:International Federation of Association Football) is the governing body of association football, futsal and beach football. FIFA is responsible for the organisation of football's major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930 and the Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991.

FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 209 national associations. Member countries must each also be members of one of the six regional confederations into which the world is divided: Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania and South America.

Although FIFA does not control the rules of football (that being the responsibility of the International Football Association Board), it is responsible for both the organization of a number of tournaments and their promotion, which generate revenue from sponsorship. In 2013 FIFA had revenues of over 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, for a net profit of 72 million, and had cash reserves of over 1.4 billion U.S. dollars.

2014 FIFA World Cup

The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2007. It was the second time that Brazil staged the competition (the first was in 1950), and the fifth time that it was held in South America.

Thirty-one national teams advanced through qualification competitions to join the host nation in the final tournament. A total of 64 matches were played in 12 venues located in as many host cities across Brazil. For the first time at a World Cup finals, match officials used goal-line technology, as well as vanishing foam for free kicks.FIFA Fan Fests in each host city gathered a total of 5 million people, and the country received 1 million visitors from 202 countries.

Every World Cup-winning team since the first edition in 1930 – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Uruguay – qualified for this tournament. Spain, the title holders, were eliminated at the group stage, along with England and Italy. Uruguay were eliminated in the round of 16, and France exited in the quarter-finals. Brazil, who had won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, lost to Germany in the semi-finals and eventually finished in fourth place. In the final, Germany defeated Argentina 1–0 to win the tournament and secure the country's fourth world title, the first after the German reunification in 1990, when as West Germany they also beat Argentina in the World Cup final. Germany became the first European team to win a World Cup staged in the Americas, and this result marked the first time that sides from the same continent had won three consecutive tournaments (following Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010).

2010 FIFA World Cup

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. The bidding process for hosting the tournament finals was open only to African nations; in 2004, the international football federation, FIFA, selected South Africa over Egypt and Morocco to become the first African nation to host the finals.

The matches were played in 10 stadiums in nine host cities around the country, with the final played at the Soccer City stadium in South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg. Thirty-two teams were selected for participation via a worldwide qualification tournament that began in August 2007. In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These 16 teams advanced to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play decided which teams would participate in the final.

Vaasan Sport

Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY, is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at Vaasa Arena (capacity 4448) in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport (Idrottsföreningen Sport).

History

Vaasan Sport was founded in 1939 as IF Sport. The team was involved in the founding of the Finnish top division Liiga, formerly known as SM-Liiga, in 1975, but was relegated only one year later after the 1975-1976 season (roster for their first and only SM-Liiga season).

After the relegation Sport played in the Finnish 1st Division (since then renamed to Mestis), until they were relegated in 1991-1992 to the Finnish Second Division. Climbing back up to the 1st division proved to be a tough task and wasn't accomplished until spring 1997, with the game-winning goal of the deciding game against Kiekko-67 being scored by Kari Teräväinen in overtime.

The 2008-09 season was a success as Sport won the Mestis championship. However, in the league qualification series the team lost the last game to Ässät in a best-of-7 format, thus remaining in Mestis. The overall qualification series were close as Sport at one point was a single goal away from beating Ässät in overtime and being promoted to Liiga, but was unable to score.

Sport Club do Recife

Coordinates: 8°3′46.63″S 34°54′10.73″W / 8.0629528°S 34.9029806°W / -8.0629528; -34.9029806

Sport Club do Recife (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈspɔɾti ˈklub du ʁeˈsifi], (known as Sport and Sport Recife, abbreviated as SCR) is a Brazilian sports club, located in the city of Recife, in the state of Pernambuco. It was founded on May 13, 1905, by Guilherme de Aquino Fonseca, who lived for many years in England, where he studied at Cambridge University.

In football, the club has won six CBD/CBF titles, including three national and three regional. Its greatest glories are the Brazilian Championship 1987 and Brazil Cup 2008.

In addition to professional football, the club also participates in women's football and Olympic sports, such as rowing, swimming, hockey, basketball, futsal, volleyball, table tennis, taekwondo, judo and athletics.

It has a historic rivalry with the Náutico, where the confrontation between the two is known as the Clássico dos Clássicos, this being the third oldest in the country's derby, with Santa Cruz, which is called Clássico das Multidões, and with América-PE, with which it duels in Clássico dos Campeões.

ERT Digital

ERT Digital (Greek: ΕΡΤ Ψηφιακή) was a pilot project by ERT, the public broadcaster of Greece. It was the first legal attempt at digital television broadcasting in Greece, featuring four new channels: Cine+, Prisma+ Sport+ and Info+. It was officially launched in early 2006 as part of the digital television transition mandated by the European Union. The project was funded through ERT's budget and had no advertising.

In the initial phase of the program, each channel was to broadcast between six to ten hours of original programming. This would last approximately 1-2 years in which time it was anticipated that new programming would be produced for each channel. ERT also hoped to launch at least two more digital channels at some point in the future, a lifestyle channel and a children's channel. The programming on the four digital channels was separate and distinct from that featured on ERT's three traditional analogue services - ΕΤ1, ΝΕΤ and ΕΤ3.

ERT Digital was available to approximately 65% of the population, mainly in Athens, Thessaloniki and some other major cities. It broadcast free-to-air without any subscription cost, requiring only a generic DVB-T set-top box. The issue of paying for the four digital channels had been a bone of contention for many Greek citizens as ERT was funded by a fee levied on all Greek households through their electricity bills. Some contended that they should not have to pay for a service they might not be able to receive or did not want to watch.