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The first of a five part history of the World Cup from Uruguay in 1930 up to the preparations for the 2014 finals in Brazil: Part One: The tournaments from 1930 to 1950:   Uruguay 1930 Final: July 30 1930: Centenario Stadium, Montevideo URUGUAY 4 ARGENTINA 2 Attendance: 93,000 FIFA, world soccer's governing body, had discussed holding a World Cup since the early days of its conception in 1904, but the Olympic soccer tournament adequately served the purpose of establishing the best team in the world in the opening decades of the 20th century. However, by the mid-1920s, with the growth of professionalism and the game establishing strong roots in Europe and South America, FIFA decided to go ahead with their own tournament which was awarded to Uruguay, the Olympic champions of 1924 and 1928. After some teething troubles and withdrawals, 13 countries entered and the European nations -- Belgium, Romania, Yugoslavia and France -- all travelled to South America on the same ...

All 32 World Cup squads fbl/WC/2014/Teams PARIS, June 11, 2014 (AFP) - Squads  for the 32 countries taking part in the World Cup finals from June 12, as announced by national federations (squad numbers in brackets): Group A Brazil Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Toronto FC/CAN)(12), Jefferson (Botafogo)(1), Victor (Atletico Mineiro)(22) Defenders: Dante (Bayern Munich/GER)(13), David Luiz (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA)(4), Henrique (Napoli/ITA)(15), Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA)(3), Daniel Alves (Barcelona/ESP) (2), Maicon (Roma/ITA)(23), Marcelo (Real Madrid/ESP)(6), Maxwell (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA)(14) Midfielders: Fernandinho (Manchester City/ENG) (5), Hernanes (Inter Milan/ITA)(18), Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg/GER) (17), Oscar (Chelsea/ENG)(11), Paulinho (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG)(8), Ramires (16), Willian (both Chelsea/ENG)(19) Forwards: Bernard (Shakhtar Donetsk/UKR)(20), Fred (Fluminense)(9), Hulk (Zenit Saint Petersburg/RUS)(7), Jo (Atletico Mineiro)(21), Ne...

Roof Top Football: Dutch innovations on football pitch By Armstrong Vas The idea of football match on the roof top of a building will be shot down as bizarre and impossible in most places. But not for innovative Dutch. They have made it happen. Welcome to the Netherlands city of Utrecht, home to Faja Lobi KDS, an amateur club playing in the sixth level of eight-tier amateur division of Dutch Football League. The club plays all its home matches on the artificial turf on the roof top of a parking lot of a super market store. The football field at Faja Lobi KDS is one of the several innovative ideas which the Dutch are using in various walks of life as they aim to utilize the limited land resources in the best possible way in a small country spread over an area of 33,800 sqkm and with a population of 16,839,786. The idea to construct a football pitch materialises out of a necessity say officials of IKEA, the company that constructed the artificial turf pitch on the roof top. In th...

Brazil gets Dutch help ahead of Rio Games Doha:  Brazilian hockey teams are in a race to be worthy participants for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The Rio 2016 Games may come to represent a milestone in the history of Brazilian hockey. With an active national hockey team since 1998, the country is working hard in order to make their debut on the Olympic pitch in Rio de Janeiro. The south American country cannot automatically qualify as hosts for the Rio de Janeiro Games but have to make it through the qualifying process set by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). FIH established goals for Brazil’s national teams, which, if achieved, will be rewarded with an Olympic place. Regarding the men’s competition, the national team coached by Claudio Rocha must be among the top 30 in the ranking to qualify. Currently, it is number 33. In the women’s section, the Brazilians must stay in the top number 40 in the international ranking. The team coached by Eduardo Ma...

Time for new committee to take over at Goa Football Association Goa Football Association Executive Committee 2010-2014 President: Mr. Shrinivas V. S. Dempo Vice - Presidents: Mr. Elvis Gomes, Mr. Lavinio Jude Rebello Co-Opted Members: Dr. Susana De Sousa, Mr. Anthony John D'costa Members: Mr. Alirio Lobo, Mr. Angelo Albuquerque,Mr. Anthony Pango, Mr. Babli K. Mandrekar, Mr. Benedito B. Themudo, Mr. Benjamin Silva, Mr. Gajanan Kerkar Mr. Lawrence Gomes, Mr. Prakash Naik, Mr. Sanjiv S. Nagvekar, Mr. Savio Messias, Mr. Schubert Furtado, Mr. Uday Lingudkar and Mr. Welvin Menezes

Netherlands eye ‘explosive growth’ in hockey March 04, 2014 - 8:26:36 am Doha:  Sixteen years back when Netherlands hosted the World Cup in hockey the country saw an ‘explosive growth’ in the popularity of the game.  The Dutch are expecting history to repeat itself. “The last time we hosted the World Cup in 1998 membership increased from 125,000 in 1998 to 225,000 in 2009. Hockey became increasingly popular, especially among young boys and girls,” said Lex Donia, an official of the FIH Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014 Organising Committee and a member of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Hockey Bond (KNHB). The three-time World Cup winners will host the 13th edition from May 31 to June 15 in The Hague, a city which is the seat of the International Court of Justice, and are looking for a significant rise in the number of players joining the 300-odd hockey clubs based in the country after the event. Donia said the Netherlands have a strong hockey club culture and had some 600 t...