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The island is part of the United Kingdom, a sovereign state which shares the name Britain with the island. Three of the United Kingdom's countries are mostly on Great Britain: England, Scotland, and Wales. The largest city on Great Britain is London. London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and also the capital of England. Most of Great Britain is part of England. The northern third of the island is part of Scotland. In the south-west of Great Britain is Wales.
The United Kingdom had the name Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Act of Union 1800. Northern Ireland is not on the island of Great Britain, but it is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. (The island of Ireland contains nearly all of the Republic of Ireland, which is a sovereign state, as well as nearly all of Northern Ireland.) Great Britain is not the official name of a present-day state. Some people call the United Kingdom "Great Britain" and people from other parts of the United Kingdom may not like it when people make this mistake.
Great Britain is the largest island of the United Kingdom. Politically, Great Britain means England, Scotland, and Wales in combination, but not Northern Ireland.
Islands such as the Isle of Wight, the Isles of Scilly, Anglesey, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland are all part of the United Kingdom. In geography they are not part of Great Britain. For political uses and law, these islands are part of Great Britain because they are parts of the two old kingdoms: Scotland and England (including Wales).
Great Britain does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, which are self-governing crown dependencies.
The writings of the Roman cartographer Ptolemy used the name "Great Britain" for the island in the 2nd century AD. He used the name "Megale Britannia" or "Great Britain" () to show the difference between this larger island and Ireland. For Ireland, Ptolemy used the name "Mikra Britannia" or "Little Britain" ().
In the later Middle Ages, the kings of England were also the kings of Ireland. However, the two kingdoms were separate, even though they had the same king. In 1603, the two kingdoms in Great Britain (Scotland and England) also started to share the same king. In 1604, James VI and I was the first king to be named "King of Great Britain". He was the king of Scotland when England's queen, Elizabeth I, died. From Elizabeth, James inherited the kingdoms of England and Ireland, whereby Great Britain (and the British Isles started) to share one king. People started to use the Union Jack flag in the time of King James, who had ordered ships to use it in 1607. The flag joined the flag of Scotland and the flag of England together in one flag. However, the three kingdoms were separate.
The political union that joined the kingdoms of England and Scotland happened because of the Acts of Union 1707. These acts of parliament merged the two nations' parliaments (the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England), and joined the two kingdoms into a new Kingdom of Great Britain, or the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The whole island became one kingdom in this way on 1 May 1707, while Anne as queen. The Union Jack changed to its present design, which now has another saltire.
The Parliament of Ireland and the Parliament of Great Britain also merged with one another because of the Act of Union 1800. In 1801, Great Britain and Ireland started to be one kingdom: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This happened on 1 January 1801, while George III was king. The Irish Free State left the United Kingdom in 1922, and in 1927, the UK's name changed to be the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
List of English football teams
This is a list of English football teams and the leagues they play in.
Scottish Football League
These are the Scottish football (soccer) teams and the leagues they played in for the 2005/06 season.
It was founded in 1903. They play at the Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen.
In the 1980s Sir Alex Ferguson was the manager of Aberdeen F.C. and they won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983.
They were started in 1888. They play at Celtic Park in Glasgow. They are rivals with Rangers F.C..
Celtic were the first British team to win the European Champion Clubs' Cup. Celtic did this in 1967. The final of the European Champion Clubs' Cup was in Lisboniure6f4y68uy746ghuthguyfu43678hgdjhdfuiy8974yrtouihdshfjhy
Hibernian Football Club were founded in 1875. They play in the Scottish capital of Edinburugh at Easter Road Stadium. Hibernian or, "The Hibees" play in green and white shirts with white shorts and stokings. A traditionally Catholic team, they play in the Scottish Premiere League, or SPL.
"Glory glory to The Hibees,
Glory glory to the Hibees,
And The Hibs go marching on!"
Rangers Football Club were formed in 1873 and are the most successful football team in world football history reaching an unprecedented fifty one league titles in the 2004/2005 season. Rangers achieved European success in 1972; they won the European Cup Winners Cup. Overall they have won over a hundred major trophies throughout their history. Ranger's play their rivals Celtic F.C. in the famous "Old Firm Derby".
Rangers home ground is Ibrox Stadium which is in Glasgow, Scotland.
In June 1893, Dundee Football Club was formed by an amalgamation of two city teams, Our Boys and East End. Dundee have played at Dens Park Stadium since 19th August 1899. Dundee became the Champions of Scotland on 28th April 1962 for the first and only time to date. Dundee have also won the Scottish Cup once, in 1910.
List of French football teams
These are some French football (soccer) teams.
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List of German football teams
These are the German football teams and the leagues they played in for the 2013/14 season (1st to third league). The highest German league is the Bundesliga (First Division). Below it is the second "Bundesliga" (Second Division). The Third Division is called 3. Liga. The Fourth Division, called "Regionalliga" is split into a northern, a southern and a western part. The northern part is called "Regionalliga Nord", the southern part "Regionalliga Süd" and the western part "Regionalliga West".
List of Italian football teams
These are some Italian football teams that are or have been in the past years in the main professional division (Serie A).
List of Spanish football teams
These are the Spanish football (soccer) teams and the leagues they played in for the 2014/15 season.
Welsh League
The Welsh League is a football league in Wales. Some large Welsh clubs play in England's Football League.
These are the Welsh football (soccer) teams that played in the Welsh League for the 2003/04 season:
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is an English football club based in London that currently plays in the English Premier League.
The club was founded in 1886 and was originally called Dial Square F.C. named after a sundial on the side of a factory. The team plays in a traditional red and white kit. They played at Highbury in North London from 1913 - 2006, but now they play at the Emirates Stadium. The current captain of the side is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Their biggest rivals are Tottenham Hotspur, and the two play against each other in what is called the North London Derby.
Arsenal won the First Division and Premier League 13 times and the FA Cup 10 times. They are the only British club to have been the subject of a feature film.
In 2003/04 season Arsenal broke the record for the longest unbeaten run in all competitions spanning over a season with over 38 games. They were hailed as the 'New Invincibles'.
The Evelina approach was the main reason Arsenal were able to achieve this, first implemented by manager Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal are also the team who have gone the longest in the Premier League without being relegated. They were last relegated during WW1 over 90 years ago.
The current manager of Arsenal is Mikel Arteta. The assistant manager is Fredrik Ljungberg. Their new Emirates Stadium was opened on the 27th of October 2006, by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Arsenal also has a women's team called Arsenal Ladies F.C.. The ladies team is the only team in women's football history to have ever won four trophies in one season. The most famous, and successful, Arsenal manager before Wenger is thought to be Herbert Chapman. Chapman won the First Division with Arsenal twice and the FA Cup once.
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club (nicknamed Villa), is an English football club based in Birmingham. They have played at Villa Park, in Aston, since 1897. They were one of the teams that started the English Football League in 1888. They were also one of the teams that started the Premier League in 1992. They are one of five English clubs to have won the European Cup. They won this in 1982. They have also won the Football League First Division seven times, the FA Cup seven times, the League Cup five times, and the European Super Cup once.
Villa have a large rivalry with nearby team Birmigham City. This is called the Second City Derby, and they have been playing against each other since 1879. The team's main home colours are claret and light blue. Their badge is a yellow lion. The club is owned by the NWSE group (owned by Egyptian Nassef Sawiris) and American Wes Edens.
Aston Villa have won European and domestic league trophies. The club's last English trophy was in 1996 when they won the League Cup, and most recently they won the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club, is an English football club.
The club play in the Championship, their current manager is Gary Monk. Their home ground is St.Andrews
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers F.C. is an English football club. They play at Ewood Park, which is in Blackburn, Lancashire. The manager of the club is Tony Mowbray.
Blackburn Rovers won the FA Premier League once in the 1994/1995 season. However, in 1999, they were relegated.
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers F.C. is an English football club. It is based 15 miles north of Manchester. The club plays in the Championship, the second highest league in England. Their home is the Reebok Stadium. It holds around 28,723 people. Their manager is Dougie Freedman. At home they play in a white shirt, navy blue shorts & white socks. Away they play in a navy blue shirt, white shorts and navy blue socks.
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club, is an English football club.
The club plays in the Football League One.
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea F.C. is an English football club that plays in the English Premier League. Their home stadium is Stamford Bridge in Fulham, London.
Chelsea is considered to be one of the most successful clubs of England, having won many trophies, including 6 Premier League, 2 UEFA Champions League, 2 UEFA Europa League, 5 League Cup, 8 FA Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup and 2 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup titles. Their all-time highest goalscorer is Frank Lampard and their most successful goalkeeper (on the basis of clean sheets and titles statistics) is Petr Čech. Chelsea is owned by the Russian billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich.
There was a supposed breakaway European Super League that Chelsea were apart of but this quickly collapsed as many English teams pulled out due to fan disagreement. Chelsea were the first of the English teams to pull out after Chelsea fans protested outside of the stadium before their match against Brighton.
Chelsea started in 1905 and played the second division of the league. They won their first trophy in 1955, when they became Champions of the First Division. They won the FA Cup in 1970, 1997, 2000 and 2007. They won the League Cup in 1965, 1998, 2005 and 2007. In 1970s Chelsea failed to maintain their position of the first division, due to the financial difficulties. In 1990s they challenged the title of Premier League. They came close but did not win it until 2005 and 2006.
In 2003 the Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, purchased Chelsea and invested lots of capital to employ new football players. He also hired Luiz Felipe Scolari as the manager of the club. Abramovich also employed Peter Kenyon as the chief executive to be responsible for the commercial strategies of the club. This made Chelsea stronger, and they won the Premier League in consecutive years. A third straight FA Premier League title slipped through Chelsea's fingertips after their failure to defeat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, meaning that Manchester United had won their ninth league title in fifteen tries.
On September 20, 2007, the very successful manager José Mourinho left the club by "mutual consent". This exit came just days after a shockingly poor performance which saw them barely scrape out a 1-1 draw in a Champions League tie against Norwegian side Rosenborg B.K.. Following Mourinho's exit, Chelsea made Director of Football Avram Grant, the former manager of Israel from 2002 to 2006, the new manager of the club, until May 2008. Grant took over with Chelsea trailing in the Premier League "title race" behind Manchester United and Arsenal, and managed to keep Chelsea in the hunt for the league until the last game of the season. He got Chelsea into the Champions League Final for the first time as well as the Carling Cup Final, but he was sacked at the end of the season, along with assistant Henk ten Cate. Grant was sacked from the job after he lost in the final in a 5-6 penalty shootout loss to Manchester United and replaced by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the then-Portugal coach, in August. However, after a poor run of results Scolari was sacked on February 9, 2009. Guus Hiddink took over the club until the rest of the season. In early June they played in the FA Cup final against Everton, where Chelsea won 2-1, after Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba scored goals. In that final, Louis Saha of Everton scored the fastest goal in FA Cup history, in 25 seconds. A week later, the former Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti was named as the new manager of Chelsea. Antonio Conte was their manager until July 2018 and helped them win the 2016/17 league title. Frank Lampard, former Chelsea player, became Chelsea F.C.'s successor manager. He was sacked in mid-season of 2020/21 following series of poor performances. Thomas Tuchel replaced him, and successfully took Chelsea to the finals of UEFA Champions League 2020/21, played against Manchester City, held in Istanbul, Turkey. Chelsea won the final 1-0, with the winning goal scored by Kai Havertz.
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English football club from the city of Liverpool. The club currently competes in the Premier League and have played more seasons in the top league of English football than any other team.
Everton were founded in 1878. They have a long rivalry with Liverpool, mostly because both clubs have their home grounds in the same city. When they play each other, the match is known as the "Merseyside derby".
In the 1890s Everton played at Anfield, which later became Liverpool's stadium. However, the owner of the stadium increased the rent by a lot, so the club decided to stop paying and leave and build their own instead. Everton were then moved to a new stadium called Goodison Park.
Everton started out in 1878 with the name St Domingo's FC. At first it was only for people who went to St Domingo's church, but so many people were interested they let people from the local area join as well. A year later the club was renamed Everton Football Club, after the area. Everton's first ever match was against a team called St Peter's in 1879. Everton won 6-0.
Everton entered the FA Cup in the 1886/87 season. They were beaten 1-0 by Rangers in the first round. As football became more and more popular around England, the clubs realised they needed an organised league. In 1888 the Football League was founded. Everton were one of the 12 founding members. Preston North End won the first two leagues and Everton won the third in 1891. They won their second ever trophy, the FA Cup, in 1905 but did not win another until 1916. It was not until 1927 that Everton had their first period of long success. In 1925 they signed Dixie Dean and in 1927 he scored 60 goals in 39 games, setting a new world record and taking Everton to another league title. Everton were relegated to the second division in 1930/1931. Within a year they were promoted again, and remained in the first division until they were relegated again in 1950/51 (which resulted in three seasons in the second tier). This makes them the English football team with the second most consecutive seasons in the top league of English football, behind Arsenal who have been in the top flight continuously since 1919/20.
Everton's second successful period came after 1961 when Harry Catterick was appointed manager. With Catterick in charge Everton won two league titles and four cups between 1961 and 1970. This success did not last however, and after three years of low league finishes Catterick quit his job. The club finished in mid-table positions for the rest of the 1970s with a line of unsuccessful managers. In 1981 the club appointed Howard Kendall to be the new manager. He turned Everton around and eventually became the most successful manager in the clubs history, winning two league titles and three cups between 1981 and 1987. This era also brought Everton's one and only European title, the Cup Winners Cup in 1985. They won the final 3-1 against Rapid Vienna of Austria. The semi final saw Everton beat German champions Bayern Munich 3-1, a match voted the greatest of all time at Goodison Park.
In 1985 several Liverpool and Juventus fans died when the crowd started fighting at a stadium in Heysel, Belgium. UEFA decided that Liverpool fans were mainly to blame. Because of this all English clubs were not allowed to play against European teams until 1991. This denied Everton the chance to defend their European title and the team gradually broke up. Many of their best players left to other European clubs.
The club did not do very well in the early 90s. They nearly got relegated twice and went through lots of money problems. However they still became one of the first members of the new English Premier League when it started in 1992. They were quite successful under manager Joe Royle, who took over in 1994. In his second season in charge he kept Everton clear of relegation and won the FA cup, the club's first trophy in seven years. The club had steady improvement under Royle, finishing 6th and 7th in the 1996 and 1997 seasons.
After two seasons however the club's performance went downhill and Kendall was sacked after barely avoiding relegation in the 1998-99 season. Former player Walter Smith took over for three seasons, but failed to perform well. He spent a lot of money on players but didn't lead the team to good league positions. David Moyes took over in 2002 and has been one of the club's most successful managers to date. Under his management Wayne Rooney was brought into the first team and he was quickly sold to Manchester United for £28 million, a club record fee. Moyes later broke the transfer record again in 2008 with the signing of Marouane Fellaini.
Moyes led Everton to a 4th place finish in the 2004–05 season, their best finish ever. Since 2006 Everton have enjoyed regular top 10 finishes and reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup in 2007 and were runner-ups in the 2009 FA Cup final. From the 2006-07 season until the 2012–13 season, which was the last season that Moyes was in charge, Everton placed in the top 8 positions.
At the end of the 2012–13 season Moyes left the club for Manchester United. He had managed Everton for 11 years. Moyes was replaced by Roberto Martínez. Martinez led Everton to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup and the FA Cup in 2015–16. However, he was sacked with two games left in the season due to poor performances.
He was replaced in the summer of 2016 by Ronald Koeman. In his first season at the club, he guided them to the group stages of the Europa League, after finishing 7th in the previous Premier League season. He was sacked the following season after leaving the club in the relegation zone.
Everton usually wear Royal blue shirts with white shorts and white socks.
They wore many different kit colours in their first few years. At first, they wore white shorts and white shirts with blue stripes. However, many players who moved to Everton still wore the shirts of their old team, so things were confusing. To solve this the club introduced an all black kit to the club, as black dye was cheap and easily available. However many fans thought this was boring and morbid so a red band was added across the chest.
It was not until the 1901/02 season that the colours of royal blue and white were first introduced. This kit has stayed, with a few small changes, almost exactly the same from then until the present day. In 1986, a white hoop was added to the chest, but the fans did not like this at all and it was quickly changed back again.
Everton's current shirt sponsor is SportPesa. They are an African online betting firm based in Nairobi, Kenya. Previous shirt sponsors included: Chang Beer (2004-17), Kejian (2002-04), mobile network operator One2one (1997-2002), Printer company Danka (1995-97), and electronics company NEC (1985-95). Everton were the first Premier League team to take off shirt sponsors from their child shirts because they did not like advertising alcohol to children.
Everton's current kit manufacturers are Umbro. They have been the club's kit manufacturer three times previously (1974–83, 1986–2000, and 2004–09). Other previous manufacturers are Le Coq Sportif (1983–86, 2009–12), Puma (2000–04) and Nike (2012–14).
Everton take their name from the district of Everton in Liverpool where it was originally formed.
Everton's nickname is the "Toffees", or sometimes the "Toffeemen". This comes from one of two toffee shops that were located in Everton village at the time the club was founded. Both Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House and Old Mother Nobletts Toffee Shop claim to have started off the nickname. At first Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House was very popular with fans because it was near to their stadium in the Everton district. Old Mother Nobletts Toffee Shop sold sweets called 'Everton mints', which proved even more popular. Faced with going out of business, Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House got a licence to throw free toffees to the crowd inside the ground before the match. This tradition continues even today. A teenage girl is chosen from the crowd to throw mints to the crowd before the match.
At other times in their history Everton have also been known as 'The Black Watch', 'The Blues' and, in the 1980s, 'The School of Science'.
Like many Premier League football clubs, Everton's players walk out onto the pitch to a particular song at the beginning of every match. With Everton it is the theme tune to a 1960s television series called Z-Cars. Z-Cars was about police working in a made up town, which many people believed was based on real life Liverpool.
When Everton were first created, they played at Anfield. The owner of the stadium put the rent up by so much the club decided to stop paying and leave and build their own instead. Everton then moved to their new stadium called Goodison Park, which was opened in 1892. They still play there today.
Everton are currently planning a new stadium called , which is located at the Bramley-Moore Dock. It will have a capacity of 52,000, and will be completed in 2023 or 2024.
Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is an English football club from London that currently plays in the EFL Championship in the 2021–22 season. It plays in a white shirt and black shorts for home games. For away games, it played in red shirts and white shorts in 2013/14, but has played in colours such as green, yellow or black. The team's away kit in 2014 is navy with orange sleeves. Shahid Khan owns the club. He is from the United States, and also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, a famous NFL team.
The club was made in 1879 as Fulham St. Andrews. Lots of famous players used to play for Fulham, like Johnny Haynes (1950s), Bobby Moore (1970s), George Best (1970s) and Edwin van der Sar (2000s). Fulham have won one international tournament; the Intertoto Cup in 2003. They also were runner-up of the 2009-10 UEFA Europe League. They lost to Atletico Madrid in the final.
When Mohamed Al-Fayed bought Fulham in 1997, it was in the 3rd division of English football (Football League One). He put lots of money into the club, and he made good choices about the club. The club won promotion two times, which means that in 2001 it was now in the top division of English Football, the Premier League.
Fulham's stadium is called Craven Cottage. It was built 100 years ago. It has a pretty building in one corner of the pitch, this is the "Cottage". The fans of Fulham like to call it "The Cottage", and it can have 27,000 people sitting in it.
From 2002 to 2004, Fulham had to play at Loftus Road, which is the ground of Queens Park Rangers, near the BBC headquarters. This was because the club needed to renovate Craven Cottage because of new rules. The rules said that nobody can stand at football games, so the club had to install new seats.
Some people who live near to Craven Cottage do not like having a big club near to them. They made it hard for the club to be allowed to make the changes. This is why the changes took a long time, even though it was easy work for the builders.
Because of the "Cottage", the club and its supporters are called "The Cottagers".
The club plays in the Premier League, the top football league in England. The club is managed by Scott Parker in the 2020/21 season.