Tuesday, October 6, 2009

THE FRENCH LIGUE 1

FRENCH LIGUE 1

AN OVERVIEW

Ligue 1 (Première division or Division 1 until 2003, now officially called Ligue 1) is the top division of French football, one of two divisions making up the LFP, the other being Ligue 2. One member club, AS Monaco, is based in the independent Principality of Monaco, rather than in France proper. Ligue 1 is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked fourth in Europe behind the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, and ahead of German Fußball-Bundesliga.

HISTORY

Ligue 1 has been an all-professional league since its inception in 1932. Because of World War II, the LFP suspended play for the 1939–1940 through 1944–1945 seasons, although its member clubs continued playing in regional competitions. (For the 1943–44 season, the Vichy regime abolished professionalism, but professional clubs operated during the other war years.) Since the end of World War II, the French first division has switched several times between an 18- and a 20-team format, the latter being in force today and having the preference of clubs in spite of a busier schedule for the players.
The 20 Ligue 1 teams play each other twice (home and away) during the season for a 38-match schedule. At the end of the season, the bottom three teams in the division are relegated to Ligue 2, and are replaced by the top three teams of Ligue 2. This particular promotion and relegation format, in place since 1995, is a relative novelty in the French top flight. The traditional format has long been direct relegation of the bottom two teams and a play-off between the third-last first-division team and the winner of the second-division play-offs.
Currently, the top three teams in Ligue 1 qualify for the Champions League, with the top two proceeding directly to the group phase. The third-placed team enters in the final qualifying round. The fourth- and fifth-placed teams qualify for the UEFA Cup. The sixth- and seventh-placed teams can also qualify, depending on results in the two domestic cup competitions

Ligue 1 is generally regarded as competently run, with good planning of fixtures, complete and consistently enforced rules, timely resolution of issues, and adequate escalation procedures of judicial disputes to national or international institutions. It has faced three significant corruption scandals in its history (Olympique d'Antibes in 1933, Red Star in the 1950s, and Olympique de Marseille in 1993) and has preserved its reputation every time through swift and appropriately severe punishment of the guilty parties.


LIST OF FRENCH FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS


Amateurs (1894-1929) and professionals (since 1932) champions

Year Winner Runner Up


1893-94 Standard Athletic Club, Meudon
White Rovers Paris
1894-95 Standard Athletic Club, Meudon
White Rovers Paris
1895-96 Club Français Paris White Rovers Paris
1896-97 Standard Athletic Club, Meudon
White Rovers Paris
1897-98 Standard Athletic Club, Meudon
Club Français Paris
1898-99 Le Havre Club Français Paris
1899-00 Le Havre Club Français Paris
1900-01 Standard Athletic Club, Meudon
Le Havre
1901-02 RC Roubaix RC Paris
1902-03 RC Roubaix RC Paris
1903-04 RC Roubaix Paris United SC
1904-05 Gallia Club Paris RC Roubaix
1905-06 RC Roubaix CA Paris
1906-07 RC Paris RC Roubaix
1907-08 RC Roubaix RC Paris
1908-09 Stade Helvétique Marseille CA Paris
1909-10 Tourcoing Stade Helvétique Marseille
1910-11 Stade Helvétique Marseille RC Paris
1911-12 Saint-Raphaël Le Perreux (former AS Française Paris)
1912-13 Stade Helvétique Marseille Rouen
1913-14 Lille Sète
1918-19 Le Havre Olympique Marseille
1926-27 CA Paris Amiens
1927-28 Stade Français Paris Montpellier
1928-29 Olympique Marseille Club Français Paris
1932-33 Lille Cannes
1933-34 Sète Fives
1934-35 Sochaux Strasbourg
1935-36 RC Paris Lille
1936-37 Olympique Marseille Sochaux
1937-38 Sochaux Olympique Marseille
1938-39 Sète Olympique Marseille
1944-45 Rouen Lyon
1945-46 Lille Saint-Etienne
1946-47 CO Roubaix Reims
1947-48 Olympique Marseille Lille
1948-49 Reims Lille
1949-50 Bordeaux Lille
1950-51 Nice Lille
1951-52 Nice Bordeaux
1952-53 Reims Sochaux
1953-54 Lille Reims
1954-55 Reims Toulouse
1955-56 Nice Lens
1956-57 Saint-Etienne Lens
1957-58 Reims Nîmes
1958-59 Nice Nîmes
1959-60 Reims Nîmes
1960-61 Monaco RC Paris
1961-62 Reims RC Paris
1962-63 Monaco Reims
1963-64 Saint-Etienne Monaco
1964-65 Nantes Bordeaux
1965-66 Nantes Bordeaux
1966-67 Saint-Etienne Nantes
1967-68 Saint-Etienne Nice
1968-69 Saint-Etienne Bordeaux
1969-70 Saint-Etienne Olympique Marseille
1970-71 Olympique Marseille Saint-Etienne
1971-72 Olympique Marseille Nîmes
1972-73 Nantes Nice
1973-74 Saint-Etienne Nantes
1974-75 Saint-Etienne Olympique Marseille
1975-76 Saint-Etienne Nice
1976-77 Nantes Lens
1977-78 Monaco Nantes
1978-79 Strasbourg Nantes
1979-80 Nantes Sochaux
1980-81 Saint-Etienne Nantes
1981-82 Monaco Saint-Etienne
1982-83 Nantes Bordeaux
1983-84 Bordeaux Monaco
1984-85 Bordeaux Nantes
1985-86 Paris SG Nantes
1986-87 Bordeaux Olympique Marseille
1987-88 Monaco Bordeaux
1988-89 Olympique Marseille Paris SG
1989-90 Olympique Marseille Bordeaux
1990-91 Olympique Marseille Monaco
1991-92 Olympique Marseille Monaco
1992-93 Olympique Marseille (stripped of title) Paris SG
1993-94 Paris SG Olympique Marseille
1994-95 Nantes Lyon
1995-96 Auxerre Paris SG
1996-97 Monaco Paris SG
1997-98 Lens Metz
1998-99 Bordeaux Olympique Marseille
1999-00 Monaco Paris SG
2000-01 Nantes Lyon
2001-02 Lyon Lens
2002-03 Lyon Monaco
2003-04 Lyon Paris SG
2004-05 Lyon Lille
2005-06 Lyon Bordeaux
2006-07 Lyon Olympique Marseille
2007-08 Lyon Bordeaux
2008-09 Bordeaux Marseille

English Football Cup Competitions

English Football Cup Competitions:

English football clubs contest a dizzying array of competitions, surely more than any other country. There is everything from the venerable FA Cup to the

non-league FA Trophy all the way down to the county cups and league cups all across the country. The English love their cups! Out of all these there are a few

that are considerably more important than the rest.

* The FA (Football Association) Cup is the oldest surviving football competition in the world. Soon after the foundation of the Football Association a

knockout competition open to all its members was launched, the first winners being Wanderers 1-0 over Royal Engineers in 1872. While the number of entrants

continues to grow (762 for the 2009-10 edition) the FA Cup plays a distant second fiddle to the English Premier League in importance. Top-tier clubs enter at

the third round (of 64 clubs) which is traditionally played on the first weekend of January while the final takes place at Wembley Stadium in May and is

normally one of the last matches of the English football season.
* The League Cup is contested by all members of the English Premier League plus Football League Championship, League One and League Two, a total of

92 clubs. It is seen as a nuisance by many clubs, with low attendance and often second-string squads until the final rounds. Nonetheless it provides a trip to

Wembley for the finalists and a spot in the next season's Europa League.
* The Community Shield (originally the Charity Shield) is the traditional season-opener of the English football calendar and is contested (at Wembley)

between the previous season's English Premier League champion and FA Cup winner. While a trophy is a trophy, little significance is attached to winning or

losing and it's mainly just a moment to get the ball rolling.

List of Major Titles Won in English Football:

The FA Cup:

11 Manchester United
10 Arsenal
8 Tottenham Hotspur
7 Aston Villa
7 Liverpool
6 Blackburn Rovers
6 Newcastle United
5 Everton
5 The Wanderers
5 West Bromwich Albion
4 Bolton Wanderers
4 Chelsea
4 Manchester City
4 Sheffield United
4 Wolverhampton Wanderers
3 Sheffield Wednesday
3 West Ham United
2 Bury
2 Nottingham Forest
2 Old Etonians
2 Porstmouth
2 Preston North End
2 Sunderland
1 Barnsley
1 Blackburn Olympic
1 Blackpool
1 Bradford City
1 Burnley
1 Cardiff City
1 Charlton Athletic
1 Clapham Rovers
1 Coventry City
1 Derby County
1 Huddersfield Town
1 Ipswich Town
1 Leeds United
1 Notts County
1 Old Carthusians
1 Oxford University
1 Royal Engineers
1 Southampton
1 Wimbledon

The carling cup (League Cup):

7 Liverpool
5 Aston Villa
4 Chelsea
4 Nottingham Forest
4 Tottenham Hotspur
3 Leicester City
3 Manchester United
2 Arsenal
2 Manchester City
2 Norwich City
2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
1 Birmingham City
1 Blackburn Rovers
1 Leeds United
1 Luton Town
1 Middlesbrough
1 Oxford United
1 Queen's Park Rangers
1 Sheffield Wednesday
1 Stoke City
1 Swindon Town
1 West Bromwich Albion

The Community/Charity Shield:

17 (4) Manchester United
15 (5) Liverpool
12 (1) Arsenal
9 (1) Everton
7 (3) Tottenham Hotspur
4 Chelsea
4 (1) Wolverhampton Wanderers
3 Manchester City
2 Leeds United
2 (1) Burnley
2 (1) West Bromwich Albion
1 Blackburn Rovers
1 Bolton Wanderers
1 Brighton & Hove Albion
1 Cardiff City
1 Derby County
1 Huddersfield Town
1 Leicester City
1 Newcastle United
1 Nottingham Forest
1 Sheffield Wednesday
1 Sunderland
1 (1) Aston Villa
1 (1) Portsmouth
1 (1) West Ham United

NOTE: numbers in bracket represent runners up

THE BUNDESLIGA

THE BUNDESLIGA

Full Name: Bundesliga
Founded: 1963
Level: 1
Number of Teams: 18
Record Bundesliga Titles: Bayern München, 20
Record German Championship Titles: Bayern München, 21
Official Website: bundesliga.de

Description:

The Bundesliga (National League) is the top tier of the German football pyramid. It was launched for the 1963-64 season - previously there had been regional

leagues leading up to a championship playoff.

The Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's football league system. The term Bundesliga also applies to football in Austria and is used to refer to the

highest level league competitions in several other sports in the two countries.
Germany was unusual, in that, unlike in other countries, a unified national league structure was quite late in developing. The Bundesliga was not formed until

1963 and the structure and organisation of the nation's football leagues have undergone frequent changes right up to the present day. The league was

originally founded by the German Football Association, but is now operated by the Deutsche Fußball Liga.
The Bundesliga is composed of two divisions: the 1. Bundesliga (although it is rarely referred to with the First prefix), and, below that, the 2. Bundesliga

(Second Bundesliga), which has been the second tier of German football since 1974. The Bundesligen (pl.) are professional leagues. Since 2008, the 3. Liga (3rd

League) in Germany is also a professional league, but may not be called Bundesliga because the league is run by the German Football Association (DFB) and

not, as are the 2 Bundesligen, by the German Football League (DFL).

Format:

The 18 Bundesliga clubs play each other twice (home and away) for a total of 34 games. The season runs from August to May with a one month winter break.

The bottom 2 clubs are automatically relegated while the 16th-placed club goes into a promotion/relegation playoff with the 3rd-placed team from the

second-tier 2. Bundesliga. All Bundesliga clubs enter the German Cup (the DFB-Pokal) from the first round of 64 teams.
International Tournament Qualification:

* UEFA Champions League - The top two finishers in the Bundesliga qualify directly to the group stage of the Champions League. The 3rd-place finisher

enters at the 4th Qualifying Round.
* UEFA Europa League - the DFB-Pokal winner and the two next highest-placed Bundesliga finishers qualify for the Europa League. If the DFB-Pokal

winner qualifies for the Champions League the DFB-Pokal spot goes to the losing finalists. If both finalists qualify for the Champions League the spot goes to

the next-highest Bundesliga finisher.

German National Championship:

1903 VfB Leipzig
1904 Not Completed
1905 Union Berlin
1906 VfB Leipzig
1907 Freiburger FC
1908 Viktoria Berlin
1909 Phönix Karlsruhe
1910 Karlsruher FV
1911 Viktoria Berlin
1912 Holstein Kiel
1913 VfB Leipzig
1914 SpVgg Fürth

1920 1. FC Nürnberg
1921 1. FC Nürnberg
1922 Not Completed
1923 Hamburger SVer SV
1924 1. FC Nürnberg
1925 1. FC Nürnberg
1926 SpVgg Fürth
1927 1. FC Nürnberg
1928 Hamburger SV
1929 SpVgg Fürth
1930 Hertha BSC
1931 Hertha BSC
1932 Bayern München
1933 Fortuna Düsseldorf
1934 FC Schalke 04
1935 FC Schalke 04
1936 1. FC Nürnberg
1937 FC Schalke 04
1938 Hannover 96
1939 FC Schalke 04
1940 FC Schalke 04
1941 Rapid Wien
1942 FC Schalke 04
1943 Dresdner SC
1944 Dresdner SC

1948 1. FC Nürnberg
1949 VfR Mannheim
1950 VfB Stuttgart
1951 1. FC Kaiserslautern
1952 VfB Stuttgart
1953 Kaiserlautern
1954 Hannover 96
1955 Rot-Weiss Essen
1956 Borussia Dortmund
1957 Borussia Dortmund
1958 FC Schalke 04
1959 Eintracht Frankfurt
1960 Hamburger SV
1961 1. FC Nürnberg
1962 1. FC Köln
1963 Borussia Dortmund

Bundesliga Champions:


1964 1. FC Köln
1965 Werder Bremen
1966 1860 München
1967 Eintracht Braunschweig
1968 1. FC Nürnberg
1969 Bayern München
1970 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1971 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1972 Bayern München
1973 Bayern München
1974 Bayern München
1975 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1976 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1977 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1978 1. FC Köln
1979 Hamburger SV
1980 Bayern München
1981 Bayern München
1982 Hamburger SV
1983 Hamburger SV
1984 VfB Stuttgart
1985 Bayern München
1986 Bayern München
1987 Bayern München
1988 Werder Bremen
1989 Bayern München
1990 Bayern München
1991 1. FC Kaiserslautern
1992 VfB Stuttgart
1993 Werder Bremen
1994 Bayern München
1995 Borussia Dortmund
1996 Borussia Dortmund
1997 Bayern München
1998 1. FC Kaiserslautern
1999 Bayern München
1900 Bayern München
2001 Bayern München
2002 Borussia Dortmund
2003 Bayern München
2004 Werder Bremen
2005 Bayern München
2006 Bayern München
2007 VfB Stuttgart
2008 Bayern München
2009 VfL Wolfsburg

Total Bundesliga Titles:

20 Bayern München
5 Borussia Mönchengladbach
4 Werder Bremen
3 Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, VfB Stuttgart
2 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Köln
1 1. FC Nürnberg, 1860 München, Eintracht Braunschweig, VfL Wolfsburg

Total German Championship Titles:


21 Bayern München
9 1. FC Nürnberg
7 FC Schalke 04
6 Hamburger SV, Borussia Dortmund
5 VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Mönchengladbach
4 Werder Bremen, 1. FC Kaiserslautern
3 1. FC Köln, VfB Leipzig, Greuther Fürth
2 Hertha BSC, Viktoria 89 Berlin, Dresdner SC, Hannover 96
1 Karlsruher FV, Holstein Kiel, 1860 München, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Eintracht Frankfurt, Blau-Weiss Berlin, Eintracht Braunschweig, Rot-Weiss Essen,
Freiburger FC, Phönix Karlsruhe, VfR Mannheim, Rapid Wien, VfL Wolfsburg

Total Bundesliga Seasons:

46 Hamburger SV
45 Werder Bremen
44 Bayern München
43 VfB Stuttgart
42 1 FC Kaiserslautern, Borussia Dortmund
41 Borussia Mönchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt, FC Schalke 04
40 1. FC Köln
33 VfL Bochum
30 Bayer Leverkusen
27 1. FC Nürnberg, Hertha BSC
25 MSV Duisburg
24 Karlsruher SC
22 Fortuna Dusseldorf
21 Hannover 96
20 1860 München, Eintracht Braunschweig
17 Arminia Bielefeld
14 Bayer Uerdingen
12 Hansa Rostock, VfL Wolfsburg
10 SC Freiburg
7 FC St Pauli, Kickers Offenbach, Rot-Weiss Essen, Waldhof Mannheim
6 Energie Cottbus
5 Saarbrucken
4 Alemania Aachen, Dynamo Dresden, Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, SG Wattenscheid 09
3 1. FSV Mainz, Borussia Neunkirchen, FC 08 Homburg, Meidericher, Wuppertaler SV Borussia
2 SpVgg Unterhaching, Stuttgart Kickers, SV Darmstad 98, Tennis Borussia Berlin
1 1899 Hoffenheim, Blau-Weiss Berlin, Fortuna Köln, Lokomotiv Leipzig, Preussen Munster, SSV Ulm 1846, Tasmania Berlin

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