2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification – UEFA Second Round
The UEFA second round was contested by the best eight runners-up from the nine first-round groups from the UEFA segment of the qualification tournament for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in football. The winners – Croatia, France, Greece, and Portugal – of each of four home and away ties joined the group winners in the World Cup in Brazil. The matches, which are often referred to as 'play-offs', were held on 15 and 19 November 2013. The draw for the ties was held in Zürich on 21 October, with the October 2013 FIFA World Rankings used to decide which of the teams would be seeded. Qualified teams The eight best runners-up from the UEFA first round qualified for the play-offs; with one group having one team fewer than the others, matches against the sixth-placed team in each First Round group did not count for this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team counted for the purposes of ranking the runners-up (below table). Ranking of second-placed teams The eight best runn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification (UEFA)
The European zone of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup saw 53 teams competing for 13 places in the finals in Brazil. The draw for the qualification groups was held during the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July 2011. The qualification format was the same as 2010. The teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five, with the nine group winners qualifying directly for the final tournament. The eight best runners-up (determined by records against the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed teams in their groups to ensure equity between different groups) were drawn in two-legged play-offs that determined the remaining four qualifying nations. The qualification process started on 7 September 2012, over two months after the end of UEFA Euro 2012, and ended on 19 November 2013. Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland qualified in the first ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
France V Ukraine
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and List of islands of France, many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, giving it Exclusive economic zone of France, one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north; Germany to the northeast; Switzerland to the east; Italy and Monaco to the southeast; Andorra and Spain to the south; and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its Regions of France, eighteen integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of and hav ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Howard Webb
Howard Melton Webb MBE (born 14 July 1971) is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014. Webb is counted amongst the all-time top referees by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics and refereed a number of notable matches in England including the FA Cup final, the FA Community Shield and the final of the League Cup. In 2010, he became the first person to referee the finals of both the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup in the same year. Throughout his professional career, Webb drew praise for his authoritative and respected approach to refereeing from football bodies, pundits, colleagues, players and managers. He announced his retirement in August 2014 to become the technical director of the Professional Game Match Officials Board. Early life Webb was born to Sylvia and Billy Webb and grew up in Rot ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Solna Municipality
Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Sweden. The municipality is part of Metropolitan Stockholm. None of the area is considered rural, which is unusual for Swedish municipalities, which normally are of mixed rural/urban character. Solna is the third-smallest municipality in Sweden in terms of area, after nearby Sundbyberg Municipality, Sundbyberg, as well as Burlöv Municipality, Burlöv, Scania County. Solna borders Stockholm Municipality to the south, southeast, and northwest; Sundbyberg Municipality to the west; Sollentuna Municipality to the north; and Danderyd Municipality to the northeast. The boundary with Danderyd Municipality is delineated by the Stocksundet strait. There are two parishes in Solna Mun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Friends Arena
Nationalarenan, known as Strawberry Arena since 2024 for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of the City Centre, it is the largest stadium in Scandinavia. Since its opening, the venue has served as Sweden's List of national stadiums, national stadium for men's football, hence the name ''Nationalarenan''. The main tenants of the stadium are Sweden's men's Sweden men's national football team, national football team and Allsvenskan football club AIK Fotboll, AIK; both relocated from their previous home at the Råsunda Stadium. The venue has a total capacity of 65,000 at concerts and 50,000 seated at football matches, but the stadium can be scaled down to provide for smaller events with approximately 20,000 guests. The arena is designed by Danish C. F. Møller Architects, C.F. Møller Architects. 65,000 at concerts would require a small stage. The record attendance is just ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and Volley (association football), volleys, technique, ball control, and physical dominance. He is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and is one of the most decorated footballers in the world, having won 34 trophies in his career. He scored over List of men's footballers with 500 or more goals#Footballers with 500 or more goals, 570 career goals, including more than 500 club goals, and scored in four consecutive decades between the 1990s and the 2020s. Ibrahimović began his career at Malmö FF in 1999, and signed for AFC Ajax, Ajax two years later, where he won two Eredivisie titles and gained a reputation as one of the most promising forwards in Europe. He departed three years later to sign for Juventus FC, Juventus before joining domestic rivals In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Italian Football Federation
The Italian Football Federation (, ; FIGC ), known colloquially as (), is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano, the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It manages and coordinates the Italian football league system. It is also responsible for appointing the management of the Italy national football team (men's), Italy women's national football team, women's, and youth national football teams. The Italy national futsal team also belongs to the federation. History The Federation was established in Turin on 26 March 1898 as the Federazione Italiana del Football (FIF), on the initiative of a Constituent Assembly established on 15 March by Enrico D'Ovidio. Mario Vicary was elected the first official president of the FIF on 26 March. When, in 1909, it was suggested to change the Federation's name at an annual board elections held in Milan, the few teams attending, representing less than 50% of the active c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Nicola Rizzoli
Nicola Rizzoli (; born 5 October 1971) is an Italian former association football, football referee (association football), referee who refereed in the Italian Serie A from 2002 to 2017 and was a FIFA-listed referee from 2007 to 2017. He refereed the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final between Germany national football team, Germany and Argentina national football team, Argentina on 13 July at the Maracanã Stadium, Estádio do Maracanã and the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, 2013 Champions League Final between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium. Rizzoli won seven consecutive Gran Galà del Calcio, AIC Serie A Referee of the Year Awards from 2011 to 2017. On 18 February 2017, Soccer 360 included Rizzoli on its list of the top 5 referees in the 21st century. Career Rizzoli refereed his first UEFA Champions League qualifying match in August 2007 and took charge of his first Champions League group stage match, a 2–0 Sporting Clube de Portugal, Sportin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city (second overall after Reykjavík, Reykjavik), and the only one along the Atlantic coast, the others (Reykjavik and Dublin) being on islands. The city lies in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula, on the northern shore of the River Tagus. The western portion of its metro area, the Portuguese Riviera, hosts the westernmost point of Continental Europe, culminating at Cabo da Roca. Lisbon is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world and the second-oldest European capital city (after Athens), predating other modern European capitals by centuries. Settled by pre-Celtic tribes and later founded and civilized by the Phoenicians, Julius Caesar made it a municipium ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Estádio Da Luz
The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Benfica, its owner. Opened on 25 October 2003 with an exhibition match between Benfica and Uruguayan club Club Nacional de Football, Nacional, it replaced the Estádio da Luz (1954), original Estádio da Luz, which had 120,000 seats. The seating capacity of the new stadium is currently set at 64,642. The stadium was designed by HOK Sport Venue Event (now Populous) and had a construction cost of €160 million, of which €22,596,688 was supported by the Government of Portugal for the UEFA Euro 2004. A UEFA stadium categories, UEFA category four stadium and one of the List of European stadiums by capacity, biggest stadiums by capacity in Europe (the biggest in Portugal), Estádio da Luz hosted several matches of the UEFA Euro 2004, inclu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr FC, Al-Nassr and the Portugal national football team, Portugal national team. Nicknamed CR7, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and has won numerous List of career achievements by Cristiano Ronaldo#Individual honours, individual accolades throughout Career of Cristiano Ronaldo, his professional footballing career, including five Ballon d'Or awards, a record three UEFA Men's Player of the Year Awards, four European Golden Shoes, and was named five times the The Best FIFA Men's Player#FIFA Player of the Year (including predecessors), world's best player by FIFA. He has won List of career achievements by Cristiano Ronaldo#Collective awards, 34 trophies in his career, including seven league ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Croatia V Iceland
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Italy to the west. Its capital and largest city, Zagreb, forms one of the country's Administrative divisions of Croatia, primary subdivisions, with Counties of Croatia, twenty counties. Other major urban centers include Split, Croatia, Split, Rijeka and Osijek. The country spans , and has a population of nearly 3.9 million. The Croats arrived in modern-day Croatia, then part of Illyria, Roman Illyria, in the late 6th century. By the 7th century, they had organized the territory into Duchy of Croatia, two duchies. Croatia was first internationally recognized as independent on 7 June 879 during the reign of Duke Branimir of Croatia, Branimir. Tomislav of Croatia, Tomis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |