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 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded 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 current champion is France, which won its second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Futsal is a football game played on a hard court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football.
Jean-Marie Faustin Godefroid "João" de Havelange was a Brazilian lawyer, businessman, athlete and centenarian who served as the seventh president of FIFA from 1974 to 1998. His tenure as President is the second longest in FIFA's history, behind only that of Jules Rimet. He received the title of Honorary President when leaving office, but resigned in April 2013. He succeeded Stanley Rous and was succeeded by Sepp Blatter. João Havelange served as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1963 to 2011. He was the longest-serving active member upon his resignation. In July 2012 a Swiss prosecutor's report revealed that, during his tenure on FIFA's Executive Committee, he and his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira took more than 41 million Swiss francs (£21m) in bribes in connection with the award of World Cup marketing rights.
The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF.
GOL TV is a U.S. TV sports channel dedicated to soccer owned by GOLTV Inc., based in North Bay Village, Florida. The network broadcasts Portugal Primeira Liga, Uruguayan Primera División, and Ecuadorian Serie A matches.
The Brazil women's national football team represents Brazil in international women's football and is run by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It has participated in eight editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup, finishing as runner-up in 2007, and seven editions of the Copa América Femenina.
The Adidas +Teamgeist is a football made by Adidas and developed jointly with Molten Corporation. It was the official match ball for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The plus sign in its name was introduced for trademark purposes, since the regular German word Teamgeist, meaning "team spirit", could not be trademarked.
The Cayman Islands Football Association is the governing body of football in the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands Football Association governs all National Team programs, youth development leagues, Women's league and the Cayman Islands Men's Premier League.
ABS-CBN Sports was a sports division of the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN, which airs some of the notable sporting events in the Philippines.
ESPN Brasil is the Brazilian division of ESPN Inc., launched in March 1989. ESPN Brasil was the first country-specific version of ESPN outside the United States, launched in June 1995. The channel has covered major sporting events, like the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics; the 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Pan-American Games. High ratings and prestige in the segment have been marks of the channel; it also won the APCA award twice, in 1995 for "Best Sports Programming" and in 1998 for "Best Coverage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup".
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was an international football tournament contested by men's national teams that took place between 14 June and 15 July 2018 in Russia. It was the 21st FIFA World Cup, a worldwide football tournament held once every four years. It was the eleventh time the championships had been held in Europe, and the first time they were held in Eastern Europe. At an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion, it was the most expensive World Cup to date.
Balls was a Philippine pay television network based in Quezon City. It was notable for being the country's first local high-definition TV channel. It was owned and operated by ABS-CBN's subsidiary ABS-CBN Cable Channels. The network shows notable sports broadcasts from the Philippines and abroad, as well as other sports related programming. Its local programming were produced and licensed by ABS-CBN Sports.
The Adidas Brazuca was the official match ball of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Brazil. It is designed by the company Adidas, a FIFA Partner and FIFA World Cup official match ball supplier since 1970.
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil is the official video game for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, published by EA Sports for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released on 15 April 2014 in North America, and 17 April 2014 in Europe, as was the case with the 2010 edition.
The 2017 FIFA Club World Cup was the 14th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation's league champions. The tournament was hosted by the United Arab Emirates.
Forward Sports is a Pakistani company based in Sialkot, Punjab that makes sports equipment, primarily soccer balls. It produces 750,000 balls per month for global brands including Adidas and many other world renowned brands. It was founded in 1991 by Khawaja Masood Akhtar. it started working with adidas in 1994 and since then it has produced balls for many international events including UEFA Champions League on several occasions, and is the official provider of balls for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Road to Rio was a 30-minute football show of ABS-CBN. It served as the primer show for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. It was hosted by Marielle Benitez and Alexander Borromeo, members of the Philippine National Football Team for Men and Women and Atom Araullo. It originally aired every Saturdays on Balls Channel with episodes rebroadcast on Sundays on ABS-CBN Sports and Action. Its final episode aired on June 7, 2014, 6 days before the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening day. The network servedas the licensed TV broadcasters of the FIFA World Cup in the Philippines.
The Adidas Telstar 18 was the official match ball of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which was held in the Russian Federation. It was designed by the company Adidas, a FIFA Partner and FIFA World Cup official match ball supplier since 1970, and based on the concept of the first Adidas's World Cup match ball. The manufacturer of the ball was Forward Sports, a sports equipment supplier based in Sialkot, Pakistan.
Liga was a Philippine pay television channel owned by Creative Programs, Inc. and ABS-CBN Sports. It was the sister channel of ABS-CBN Sports and Action (S+A) and was launched on January 1, 2018 as the permanent replacement of three CPI-owned channels, ABS-CBN Regional Channel, Tag TV, and Hero TV.
The issue of smoking in association football is a historical controversy. Traditionally, football managers would smoke on the touch-line as well as players smoking away from the pitch. However growing anti-smoking trends have led to a number of restrictions being put in place surrounding them. Smoking is now largely banned from stadiums around the world but some individual players and managers have continued to smoke.
