Profile: Popular football player of French football club Lille: Eden Hazard

Famous football player Eden Hazard is 20 year old Belgian born footballer (7 January 1991) who plays his football for French football club Lille. He stands in at 1.70 meter (5 feet and 7 inches) plays primarily as an attacking midfielder or winger and wears the number 26 shirt. He’s also represented Belgian at the international level. He’s labeled as one of the hottest young prospects in European Football. Hazard broke into Lille’s senior team from their youth team in 2007. It took time for him to settle but he finally reached his peak in the 2010-2011 season in which he helped Lille secure a historic season by winning The French League and The French Cup and securing a great double season for the club. Hazard can play with both his right and left feet due to which he was deployed on either of the wings in Lille’s much used 4-3-3 formation. He was regularly switching flanks with his teammate Gervinho. Eden Hazard is famous for his pace and dribbling skills and possesses outrageous long range shooting skills. One of his best  qualities as a footballer is his calmness and coolness under pressure which he has been criticized by some managers as in lacking charisma but he just likes to remain cool and collected and is considered one of the most honest footballers in Europe at the moment. He was also voted as UNFP  Ligue 1 Young player of the year in 2008 and 2009 and as the Player of The Year in 2010-2011. He’s also been voted in the team of the year both in 2009-10 and 2010-2011. He made his international debut in 2008 but is yet to score for Belgium.

Appearances:

• 109 matches for Lille with 19 goals
• 20 matches for Belgium and yet to score.

African football tournament: The CAF Confederation Cup

The CAF Confederation Cup is a tournament controlled by The Confederation of African Football. It is the African equivalent of Europes The UEFA Cup or The Europa League. 67 teams take part in the tournament in knockout stages until 8 teams are left, these 8 teams are then divided into groups of 4 and the runner up and winners from each group take part in semi finals and then the resulting winners of the semi finals take part in a final. 8 teams to lose from The Round of 16 in The CAF Champions League tournament are then entered into The CAF Confederation Cup. The tournament was founded in 2004.

Previous Winners of CAF Confederation Cup

Club Sportif Sfaxien The Tunisian club is the most successful club in the tournament having won the tournament a record 2 times in 2007 and 2008. They also finished runners up in 2010. Number 2 on the list is also a Tunisian club ES Sahel having won it once in 2006. Number 3 on the list is FAR Rabat having won the tournament in 2005 just once. They also finished runners up in 2006. No 4 on the list is Ghanaian Club Accra Hearts of Oak SC who won it in 2004 in the opening year. No 5 on the list is Stade Malien the Mali club who won the tournament in 2009. No 6 on the list is FUS Rabat who are the last and defending Champions. The Moroccan club won it in 2010. No other club has won The tournament in it’s history. Country wise Tunisia are the leaders on the table as their clubs have won the tournament 3 times while Morocco are number 2 on the table. Their clubs having won it two times in it’s history.

African football tournaments: The CAF Champions League

The CAF Champions League is a football tournament controlled by The Confederation of African Football that happens every year in Africa. The top teams/clubs from Africa’s top football leagues are invited to this tournament. The resulting winner of the tournament also gets to play in The FIFA Club World Cup which also happens every year. The tournament was founded back in 1964. The tournament starts of with 52 teams in total which compete in knockout phases until only 8 teams are left. The remaining 8 teams are divided into two groups of 4 with the winner and runner up of each group facing each other in the semi final and then the resulting final.

Previous Winners of CAF Champions League 

The current champions of the tournament are TP Mazembe while the most successful club to win the tournament is The Egyptian club Al-Ahly that have won it a record 6 times. Egyptian dominance has pretty strong over the years but is fading the last couple of years as Zamalek also an Egyptian club are no 2 on the all time list having won the tournament 5 times. The DR Congo club TP Mazembe are third in the list having won it 4 times and have won the last 2 editions of the tournament in 2009 and 2010.

Asian football tournament: The AFC Champions League

The AFC Champions League hosted by The Asian Football Confederation is a tournament that is held every year between the top 32 Asian Clubs coming from the top 10 Asian Leagues. The 32 clubs start of in a group stage manner and then the top two teams from each group proceed to the knockout stage of the tournament. The Winner of the tournament also gets to play in The FIFA World Club Cup which is also held every year.

1990-2010 AFC Champions League Winners

The most successful club in the AFC Champions League is Pohang Steelers who have won the cup 3 times. While if the winners were to judged according to their respective Leagues The Korean league K-League is the most successful league having won the league a record 9 times. While in the last 5 years alone 3 of the 5 winners have come from The K-League. Japan and Saudi Arabia take 2 and 3 positions in the all time list of most AFC Champions League winners from the same country. The Brazilian Leandro of Gamba Osaka holds the Top Scorer record in the league scoring 10 goals in the 2009 season for his club.

Although football is one of the most popular sports in Asia, Asian Champions League still needs to grow in importance, quality and popularity to gain attention of European Champions fan following.

Football tournament: FIFA World Club Championship

Format of FIFA World Club Championship

The FIFA World Club Championship is an annual club tournament held between the winners of The Champions of each 6 footballing confederation. The tournament started out in 2000 in Brazil and it was merged with the intercontinental cup and Copa Liberatodores in 2005. It started of with 8 teams and then 6 teams but now it starts with 7 teams and is usually held sometime around December. The tournament is usually a knockout round in which The European Champions usually join during The Semi Finals.

Performance By Club – FIFA World Club

Barcelona, Internacionale, Inter Milan, Manchester United, AC Milan, Sao Paulo and Cornithians have all won the tournament once. Barcelona have also finished runner ups once and competed in the tournament a record 3 times. Al Ahly have also competed in the tournament a record 3 times but have failed to win it and their best place finish has been 3rd.

Performance By Country – FIFA World Club

Clubs from Brazil have won The FIFA World Club Championship a record 3 times. They won it first in 2000, then 2005 and then in 2006, their team also finished runners-up in 2000 and third in 2010. Italy are second on the list of most FIFA World Club Championship wins, winning it 2 times in 2007 and 2010. Spain have won The Championship just once in 2009 finished runner ups in 2006 and third in 2000. Clubs from England have won it once in 2008 and finished runners up in 2005. Argentina have never won it and finished runner ups twice in 07 and 09. While Ecuador have finished runners up in 2008. DR Congo finished runners up in 2010. Japan have finished third twice in 2007 and 2008 while Mexico also finished third in 2000 and came in fourth place a record 3 times in 2006, 2008 and 2009. South Korea finished third in 2009 while fourth in 2010. Clubs from Egypt have just made the list once when they finished 3rd in 2006. Costa Rica also finished 3rd in 2005. While Tunisia have finished fourth once in 2007 and Saudia Arabia achieved the same feat in 2005.

Performance by Confederation –FIFA World Club

Unlike the performance by countries the performance by Confederation is slightly different. The UEFA confederation comes in first having won the tournament a record 4 times in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. They also finished runners up two times in 2005 and 2006 while they finished fourth once in 2000. In second is CONMEBOL confederation that have won it 3 times in 2000, 2005 and 2006 and finished runner-up a record 4 times in 2000, 2007, 2008 and in 2009. They also finished third in 2010. No other Confederation has the honor of winning The FIFA Club World Championships. But CAF confederation finished runners up in 2010, third in 2006 and fourth in 2007. While The AFC Confederation has finished third 3 times in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and fourth in 2005 and 2010. The CONCACAF confederation has finished third twice in 2000 and 2005 while fourth 3 times in 06,08 and 09.

Top Goal Scorers – FIFA World Club

Denilson of Pohang Steelers is the top goal scorer in the tournament with 4 goals. While Aboutrika, Anelka, Molina, Romario, Wayne Rooney and Washington all have 3 goals in the tournament. While Dwight Yorke remains the only player in FIFA Club World Cup history to score a goal for two different clubs. He’s scored for Manchester United and Sydney FC one goal each. Edilson won the Golden Ball in 2000 while Ceni won it in 2005. Deco in 2006, Kaka in 2007, Wayne Rooney in 2008, Lionel Messi in 2009 and Samuel Eto’o in 2010.

Football tournament: F.A Cup – The Football Association Cup

The FA Cup is an English football Cup Tournament it’s full name is The Football Association Cup or The Football Association Challenge Cup. It is also the oldest Cup competition in the world.

The F.A Cup is a knockout competition and starts with 763 teams who gradually knocked out round after round until there is one team left. The semi finals and final of the competition are played in Wembley in London. Manchester United have won it a record 11 times with Arsenal winning it 10 times.

Previous Winners – (1990-2011)

• 2011- Manchester City
• 2010- Chelsea
• 2009- Portsmouth
• 2008- Chelsea
• 2007- Liverpool
• 2006- Arsenal
• 2005- Manchester United
• 2004- Arsenal
• 2003- Arsenal
• 2002- Liverpool
• 2001- Chelsea
• 2000- Manchester United
• 1999- Arsenal
• 1998- Chelsea
• 1997- Manchester United
• 1996- Everton
• 1995- Manchester United
• 1994- Arsenal
• 1993- Liverpool
• 1992- Tottenham
• 1991- Manchester United
• 1990- Liverpool

Football tournaments: Europa League

The UEFA Europa League formerly known as The UEFA Cup is Europe’s second most prestigious cup competition after The UEFA Champions League. It is between teams from all over Europe. It’s current format is 160 teams start off and 48 teams play in the group stages. After the group stages 8 teams join from The UEFA Champions League who finished 3rd in their respective groups and then a knockout round off 32 teams commence. The UEFA Europa League and The UEFA Cup are considered the same tournament.

Winners of Europa League

• Atletico Madrid 
• Shakhtar Donetsk
• Zenit St Petersburg
• Espanyol
• Sevilla
• Moscow
• Valencia
• Porto
• Feyenoord
• Liverpool
• Galatasaray
• Parma
• Internazionale
• Schalke 04
• Bayern Munich
• Parma
• Internazionale
• Juventus
• Ajax
• Internazionale
• Juventus
• Napoli
• Leverkusen
• Gothenburg
• Real Madrid
• Real Madrid
• Tottenham
• Anderlecht
• Gothenburg
• Ispwich
• Franfurt
• Borrusia
• PSV
• Juventus
• Liverpool
• Borussia
• Feyenoord
• Liverpool
• Tottenham

Football tournaments: Copa Sudamericana – South American football

Copa Sudamericana is a football tournament held annually in South America by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is considered as The South American equivalent of The UEFA Cup and is The continent’s second most prestigious tournament after The Copa Libertadores. As of now 39 teams take part in the tournament who qualify after meeting a certain criteria formed by The CONMEBOL. The tournament starts as a two legged knockout stage after which the winners of the stage face off with other teams entering the competition. All the ties are two legged affairs and do not have extra time and follow the away goals rule or the goal difference. The one exception is the final in which extra time and then a penalty shoot out is carried out.

Winners of Copa Sudamericana-From 1988-2010

Boca Juniors top the table of most Copa Sudamericana wins with 2 wins. They won the competition in 2004 and 2005. San Lorenzo, Cienciano, Pachucha, Arsenal, Internacional, LDU Quito and Independiente have all won the tournament once. Country wise Argentina are the clear winners as clubs from Argentina have won the trophy a record 5 times and have finished runners up twice. Mexico have won the trophy once while they’ve also finished runners up twice same goes for Brazil. Ecuador and Peru are the other two countries that host clubs who’ve won the tournament. Chile and Colombia have come runners up once each.

Football tournaments: Copa Libertadores – South American football

Copa Libertadores is a football tournament held in South America every year by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is one of the most popular tournaments in the world and is considered as a true honor to win it. 38 teams from around the best leagues in South America start out and compete each other for the title. The tournament lasts over 8 months and is played over 3 stages. The last stage is the knockout stage in which two legged ties are played QFs, SFs, and finals are played.

Winners of Copa Libertadores- From 1990-2010

Independiente have won the Copa Libertadores a record 7 times. Santos from Brazil are the current champions. Boca Juniors have won it 6 times coming in 2nd in the all time list. Argentina leads the list of clubs with the most Copa Libertadores wins with 22 wins. Brazil is second with 15 wins and Uruguay is 3rd with 8 wins. While Paraguay and Colombia come in 4th and 5th in the all time list with 3 wins and 2 wins respectively.

A lot of people believe that football is at its best in South America. A proof of this fact is the dominance of South American nations in World Cup football results. However, the club level football is better organized and more popular in Europe. Moreover, majority of the popular South American footballers play league football in Europe making tournaments like this one less colorful.

Football tournament profile: Confederation of African Football

Confederation of African football is the controlling body of African football in Africa and represents all the national African Football Associations. It is also known as CAF. It is one of the biggest of the six confederations of FIFA. Currently there are 55 member associations in The CAF, it’s headquarters is located in Egypt in 6 October City. It’s official languages are English, French and Arabic while the current Secretary General of the organization is Moustafa Fahmy. The organization was formed in 1957

The top ranked country in The CAF is The Ivory Coast that has 922 ranking points and is ranked no 14 in the world. Ghana comes in no 2 with a World Ranking of 33 and Egypt comes in no 3 with a ranking of 34. Brukina Faso and Nigeria complete the top 5 African CAF teams with world rankings of 37 and 41 respectively.

In the women’s field Nigeria is no 1 with a world ranking of 27, Ghana no 2 with a world ranking of 51, Equatorial Guinea no 3 with a world ranking of 55 while South Afica and Cameroon take the no 4 and no 5 spots respectively with world rankings of 63 and 68.

In the club department the best club team is Al Ahly that are number on. They come from Egypt and a total of 4 Egyptian clubs make the top 10 of this list with Zamalek in at no 5. Haras El-Hodood Club at no 8 and Ismaily at no9. While 2 Algerian and 2 Jordanian clubs both make the top with Al-Hilal and Al-Merreikh both from Jordan at no 4 and no 7 respectively. While ES Setif and JS Kabylie both from Algeria make the no 2 and no6 spots respectively.

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