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Javi Gracia
Javier "Javi" Gracia Carlos (; born 1 May 1970) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He totalled 430 matches across both major levels of Spanish football, in a 15-year professional career. After retiring he began working as a manager, going on to coach several clubs in Spain, Greece and Russia before being appointed at Watford in January 2018. Gracia led Watford to their second FA Cup final in their history in 2019, but was sacked later the same year. From June 2020 to May 2021 he worked with Valencia, and a year later he won the Qatar Stars League during a brief spell at Al Sadd before managing Leeds United for three months in 2023. Playing career Born in Pamplona, Navarre, Gracia started playing professionally with Bilbao Athletic, Athletic Bilbao's reserves, never appearing officially for the first team. In the 1992–93 campaign, he scored a career-best 12 goals in all 38 games as Lleida returned to La Liga after an absenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FC Rubin Kazan
FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded 1958 in Russia, in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003 Russian Premier League, 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–22 season, winning the Russian Premier League championship in 2008 Russian Premier League, 2008 and 2009 Russian Premier League, 2009. After one season in the second tier, the club returned to the RPL for the 2023–24 season. The club also won the 2011–12 Russian Cup. The team plays in the Ak Bars Arena. History FC Rubin Kazan was previously called Iskra from 1958 to 1964 and Rubin-TAN from 1992 to 1993. The name ''Rubin'' means "Ruby". Having never played in the Soviet Top League, the football club joined the Russian First Division in 1992 and fell to the Russian Second Division in 1994. The mayor of Kazan at the time, Kamil Iskhakov, purchased the team in 1996. Rubin wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olympiacos Volou 1937 F
Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, basketball, volleyball, water polo, handball, athletics, swimming, table tennis and boxing amongst many othersand have won numerous European and domestic titles over the club's history. Olympiacos SFP is the most successful and decorated multi-sports club in Europe, having surpassed Barcelona in 2024 and being the only Greek club, as well as one of the few European multi-sport clubs to have won as many as 23 International titles –including 21 major European titles, 1 Intercontinental title and 1 Balkan title– in six sports (Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Water Polo, Wrestling, Table Tennis) (no other Greek club have won more than nine European titles). Overall, Olympiacos is the most successful Greek multi-sport club in terms of I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2019 FA Cup Final
The 2019 FA Cup final was an association football match between Manchester City and Watford on 18 May 2019 at Wembley Stadium in London, England, and the 138th FA Cup final. It was Manchester City's eleventh appearance at the FA Cup final and Watford's second. Kevin Friend was the referee for the match played in front of 85,854 spectators. Manchester City dominated the early stages of the final. In the 21st minute Abdoulaye Doucouré's shot struck Vincent Kompany's arm in the Manchester City penalty area, but after consultation with the video assistant referee (VAR), Friend declined to award a penalty and showed Doucouré the first yellow card of the game for his subsequent protests. In the 26th minute the deadlock was broken as David Silva scored from a Raheem Sterling header. Twelve minutes later Manchester City doubled their lead after Gabriel Jesus side-footed the ball past Kiko Femenía and Heurelho Gomes in the Watford goal. At 61 minutes City further extended their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during the 1871–72 FA Cup, 1871–72 season, it is the list of oldest football competitions, oldest national football competition in the world. It is organised by and named after the Football Association (the FA). A concurrent Women's FA Cup has been held since 1970. The competition is open to all eligible football club (association football), clubs down to level 9 of the English football league system, with level 10 clubs acting as stand-ins in the event of non-entries from above. A record 763 clubs competed in 2011–12 FA Cup, 2011–12. The tournament consists of 12 randomly drawn rounds followed by FA Cup semi-finals, the semi-finals and the FA Cup Final, final. Entrants are not seed (sports), seeded, although a system of Bye (sports), by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mundo Deportivo
''Mundo Deportivo'' (; ) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1929 daily. It is the oldest sports newspaper still published in Spain, and the second one in Europe, after the Italian ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' which was founded in 1896. ''Mundo Deportivo'' is published in Barcelona by Grupo Godó. The group also owns ''La Vanguardia''. It focuses primarily on the performances of FC Barcelona, but also covers the Spanish basketball league ( ACB), Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Formula One car racing, amongst others. Both ''Mundo Deportivo'' and ''Sport'' are the predominant sources of sports news in Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Football League System
The Spanish football league system consists of several professional, semi-professional, amateur and non-professional leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The top two tiers of the male league pyramid — Primera División ( La Liga) and Segunda División ( La Liga 2) — are administered by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, a sports association with independent legal status from the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), the governing body of football in Spain. Conversely, the top tiers of the women's pyramid ( Liga F), second and third tier of the women's pyramid, ( Primera Federación and Segunda Federación) are administered by the RFEF. The lower tiers (6th and below for the men's pyramid; 5th and below for the female one) are run by the regional federations. In addition to clubs from Spain, and under the purview of the additional provision 17 of the 1990 Law of Sport, Andorran clubs affiliated to a Spanish regional federation a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defensive Midfielder
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundaries, with mobility and passing ability, they are often referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box midfielders, or holding midfielders. There are also attacking midfielders with limited defensive assignments. The size of midfield units on a team and their assigned roles depend on which formation is used; the unit of these players on the pitch is commonly referred to as the midfield. Its name derives from the fact that midfield units typically make up the in-between units to the defensive units and forward units of a formation. Managers frequently assign one or more midfielders to disrupt the opposing team's attacks, while others may be tasked with creating goals, or have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Association Football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular field called a Football pitch, pitch. The objective of the game is to Scoring in association football, score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed Goal (sport), goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport. Association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the International Football Association Board, IFAB since 1886. The game is pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leeds United F
Leeds is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds , City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the List of English districts by population, second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It expanded by becoming a major production and trading centre (mainly with wool) in the 17th and 18th centuries. Leeds developed as a mill town during the Industrial Revolution alongside other surrounding villages and towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was also known for its flax industry, Foundry, iron foundries, engineering and printing, as well as shopping, with several surviving Victorian era arcades, such as Leeds Kirkgate Market, Kirkgate Market. City status was awarded in 1893 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Sadd SC
Al Sadd Sports Club () is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd (Qatar), Al Sadd district of the capital city Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the top level of Qatari football, the Qatar Stars League. Locally, it is known primarily by the nickname ''"Al Zaeem"'', which translates to "The Leader". It is known as the best team in Qatar and is the only Qatari team that has won the AFC Champions League in Asia. In addition to football, the club has teams for Team handball, handball, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, and athletics. Al Sadd is the most successful sports club in the country, and holds a national record of 64 official football championships. The origin of Al Sadd's conception began with Al-Attiyah family members who excelled in football but did not wish to join any of the existing football clubs. After consulting the minister of Youth and Sports, the family, led by Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, decided to found the club on 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Valencia was founded in 1919 and has played its home games at the 49,430-seater Mestalla Stadium, Mestalla since his opening in 1923. Valencia has won six La Liga titles, eight Spanish Cup, Copa del Rey titles, one Spanish Super Cup, Supercopa de España, and one Copa Eva Duarte. In European competitions, they have won two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two UEFA Super Cups, and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. They have also reached two consecutive UEFA Champions League finals (2000 UEFA Champions League Final, 2000 and 2001 UEFA Champions League Final, 2001). The IFFHS named IFFHS World's Best Club, World’s Best Club to Valencia in 2004. Valencia were also membe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watford F
Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and brewery, breweries. While industry has declined in Watford, its location near London and transport links have attracted several companies to site their headquarters in the town. Cassiobury Park is a public park that was once the manor estate of the Earls of Essex. The town developed next to the River Colne on land belonging to St Albans Abbey. In the 12th century, a charter was granted allowing a market, and the building of St Mary's Church, Watford, St Mary's Church began. The town grew partly due to travellers going to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A mansion was built at Cassiobury House, Cassiobury in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
