query: When was the ANC formed?

title: History of the African National Congress

text: The African National Congress (ANC) is the current governing party of the Republic of South Africa. The ANC was founded in 1912 in Bloemfontein and is second the oldest liberation movement in Africa (the Natal Indian Congress was established in 1894) and one of the oldest liberation movements in the world.[1]

title: Bisho Massacre

text: With multi-racial democratic elections as the likely outcome of the negotiations, the ANC wished to organise and mobilise its supporters in the Ciskei, particularly as it lay in the Eastern Cape area, a traditional stronghold for ANC supporters. However, its military leader Brigadier Oupa Gqozo resisted this and prevented the ANC from organising. In 1991, Gqozo formed the African Democratic Movement to counter the ANC in Ciskei. In December of the same year, he was part of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) negotiations. Codesa was a forum made up of government (National Party) and non-government interest groups to negotiate a new constitution and the transition to democracy in South Africa. In March 1992, Gqozo accused the ANC of planning to overthrow him and in August he stopped ANC marchers from entering Ciskei from King William's Town, a town in South Africa, although close enough to Ciskei.

title: 2016 South African municipal elections

text:
The decline in ANC support was most significant in urban areas, with the ANC losing its outright majority in 4 of the country's 8 metropolitan municipalities for the first time since 1994. The ANC retained Buffalo City, Mangaung and eThekwini, but with decreased majorities in Buffalo City and eThekwini. In the City of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, the ANC lost its majority but retained a plurality.
The DA increased its majority in the City of Cape Town, and achieved pluralities in Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay, its first in metropolitan municipalities outside of the Western Cape. Of the 4 hung metropolitan municipalities, the ANC retained Ekurhuleni through a coalition, while the DA gained control of Nelson Mandela Bay through a coalition, and formed minority governments in Johannesburg and Tshwane.

title: ANC Sports

text: ANC formed a technology division, ANC Technologies, in 1999. ANC Technologies developed FasciaSOFT, an operating engine for LED systems, permitting the company to debut the first 360° LED fascia signage in the National Hockey League. That same year, ANC Marketing was created to provide consulting services and assist clients with marketing strategies. ANC Marketing also helped grow sponsorship revenue streams by executing programs based on each individual client’s business. ANC Design was added in 2001 to create custom LED graphics and animations as well as meet its clients’ graphic needs created by their new LED fascia systems.

title: Potlako Leballo

text: He was active in the African National Congress Youth League until he and other radical leaders including Robert Sobukwe were expelled from the ANC and went on to form the PAC, a more radical Africanist movement. He held the distinction of having successfully nominated Chief Albert Lutuli (1952) and Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe (1959) to the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) respectively. He stated later (1984) than he believed that leaving the ANC (although encouraged by Kwame Nkrumah and the Basuto leader Ntsu Mokhehle) was a mistake and that his "Africanists" should have fought for control of the party rather than forming a new one. He was elected Secretary General of the PAC and within a year the new party was seriously challenging the ANC.

title: 2012 Catalan independence demonstration

text: The banner was carried by 10 representatives of the territorial regions of the ANC and by 10 representatives of the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI). Directly behind them was the president of the ANC, Carme Forcadell and the vicepresident, Carles Castellanos. They were accompanied by Joan Rigol and Ernest Benach. The third group was formed by a group of representatives of both the ANC and the AMI.

text: The African National Congress Women's League is the women's wing of the African National Congress (ANC). It was founded in 1931 as the Bantu Women's League, with Charlotte Maxeke as its first president. It was integrated into the ANC during the period from 1943, when women were first admitted as members of the ANC, to 1948, when the ANCWL was officially founded. It participated with the Federation of South African Women in protests against the apartheid-era government, such as the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the Women's March of 9 August 1956. In 1956, Lilian Ngoyi became the first elected female member of the ANC National Executive Committee. In 1960 the organization was banned along with the ANC forcing its central leaders underground; it was unbanned in 1990 when the ANC was likewise unbanned.

title: Politics of the Western Cape

text: In the election of 2004, no party achieved an absolute majority in the province, with the ANC having a plurality of 45% of the votes. However, the ANC was in an alliance with the New National Party (NNP), which had 11% of the votes, which allowed the ANC-NNP coalition to form a provincial government. During the 2005 floor crossing period all of the NNP members of the Provincial Parliament moved to the ANC, giving the ANC an absolute majority in the province. The ANC chose Ebrahim Rasool as Premier; in 2008 he was replaced by Lynne Brown. The provincial leader of the ANC is Mcebisi Skwatsha.

title: Steve Biko

text: Amid the dismantling of apartheid in the early 1990s, various political parties competed over Biko's legacy, with several saying they were the party that Biko would support if he were still alive. AZAPO in particular claimed exclusive ownership over Black Consciousness. In 1994, the ANC issued a campaign poster suggesting that Biko had been a member of their party, which was untrue. Following the end of apartheid when the ANC formed the government, they were accused of appropriating his legacy. In 2002, AZAPO issued a statement declaring that "Biko was not a neutral, apolitical and mythical icon" and that the ANC was "scandalously" using Biko's image to legitimise their "weak" government. Members of the ANC have also criticised AZAPO's attitude to Biko; in 1997, Mandela said that "Biko belongs to us all, not just AZAPO." On the anniversary of Biko's death in 2015, delegations from both the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters independently visited his grave. In March 2017, the South African President Jacob Zuma laid a wreath at Biko's grave to mark Human Rights Day.

title: Kannaland Local Municipality

text: The election of 3 August 2016 left the party composition of the council unchanged. The DA and ANC councillors formed a coalition to govern without ICOSA, but DA national leadership said that the coalition had not been authorized. In March 2017 the ANC recalled its councillors to put an end to the coalition. However the mayor has not been recalled despite the national ANC structures stating that this would happen. A motion of no confidence in the mayor and speaker of the municipality was put forward in August 2017. The motion failed with the DA and ANC in the municipality against the motion, leaving the ANC mayor Magdalene Barry in power. The Democratic Alliance spokesperson on local government stated that the party would side with the ANC in order to keep the Independent Civic Organisation away from the public purse. This follows forensic evidence detailing financial misconduct that amounted to more than R14 million under Jeffrey Donson's tenure.

title: Umtshezi Local Municipality

text: The ANC and the NFP formed a coalition to govern the majority. Subsequently, the ANC won a by-election in a ward previously held by the IFP, giving the ANC a majority of nine seats.

title: Overstrand Local Municipality

text: After the 2000 election, Willie Smuts, previously mayor of Hangklip-Kleinmond Municipality, was elected mayor, representing the Democratic Alliance (DA), before he defected along with seven other DA councillors to the New National Party (NNP) after the October 2002 floor-crossing window. The NNP then formed a coalition with the African National Congress (ANC) when the council was reconstituted. After the September 2004 floor crossing Smuts then crossed the floor to the ANC along with most NNP councillors which gave the ANC an outright majority in the town for the first time.

title: Nomvula Mokonyane

text: Prior to the South African general election, Mokonyane was not placed first on the ANC's list for Provincial Legislature. Following the elections, the ANC won 53% of the Provincial vote and she was subsequently succeeded as Premier by David Makhura, the provincial secretary of the ANC. This followed harsh criticisms of Mokonyane after she had addressed the Bekkersdal community following protests in the area, saying that the ANC doesn't want their "dirty votes". The comment was widely criticised by the community and public. The ANC Youth League was among the most prominent critics of the decision, and indeed called on the ruling party to reconsider and reappoint Mashatile, who had earlier taken over from Mbhazima Shilowa on the latter's defection from the ANC to form the breakaway party Congress of the People.

title: Parliament of South Africa

text: African National Congress: The ANC was created in 1912, but became the leading political party after the end of apartheid in 1994. Its main platform rests on racial equality and eradicating the socioeconomic classes which are often based on race. The ANC has been considered a party for native South Africans, especially before 2009 when party leader President Zuma faced multiple accusations regarding corruption, particularly using public funds for his own purposes. The economic struggle of South Africa as well as the police brutality have both been blamed on the ANC. Currently the ANC holds 249 seats in parliament. Support for the ANC went down between the 2009 and the 2014 elections, with violent protests erupting all over the country in response to the allegations of corruption within the ANC.

title: Lindiwe Mabuza

text: In 1979 the then ANC president Oliver Reginald Tambo assigned Mabuza to open ANC offices in Scandinavia and to become the ANC's Chief Representative to Scandinavian countries, residing in Stockholm, Sweden. Tambo reflected later in his speech to the ANC's women section in 1981 in Angola that "Comrade Lindiwe Mabuza cried and sobbed and ultimately collapsed on top of herself when she learnt she had been appointed ANC Chief Representative to the Scandinavian countries. But, looking at the record, could any man have done better?" During her time in Sweden, she mobilised support for the ANC and raised funds for ANC work across the world, especially for exiled South Africans in Zambia. She also led campaigns and lobbied towards the isolation of South Africa through trade bans and boycotts. She forged strong relationships with Scandinavians and was very close to the President of Sweden, Olof Palme, who was a major supporter of the ANC and resistance to the apartheid government. She had become such a formidable force against the apartheid government that on Monday, 8 September 1986, the ANC office was bombed with the hope of killing her and sabotaging the work she was doing. By the time Mabuza left Scandinavia. she had been so successful that the international offices of the ANC that she managed had grown to include Finland, Denmark, and Norway.

title: Floor crossing (South Africa)

text: Floor crossing legislation was initially requested by the Democratic Party and the New National Party in November 2001, as a means of formalising their unification into the Democratic Alliance. The African National Congress, which held the power in the legislature to change the constitution, did not favour the measure at the time, as they perceived the DA initiative to be a "congealing of a race and class based political opposition". However, when the NNP leadership announced their desire to leave the DA and form alliances with the ANC in 2001, the ANC passed the legislation. ANC chairman Mosiuoa Lekota stated that the party's reasons for the legislation was "for some political realignment…and the break-up of racial power blocks".

title: Thabo Mbeki

text:
In January 1975, just a few months after his marriage to Zanele, Mbeki was sent to Swaziland to assess the possibility of setting up an ANC frontline base in the country. Ostensibly attending a UN conference, Mbeki was accompanied by Max Sisulu. The duo met with Sisulu's sister, Lindiwe Sisulu, who was studying at the University at Swaziland. Lindiwe set up a meeting for the two at the home of S'bu Ndebele, then a librarian at the university. Mbeki and Sisulu held meetings in Swaziland for a week with South Africans studying there to assess the situation. They returned to Lusaka after a week, when their visas had expired. Mbeki reported back to the ANC that the possibility of establishing an ANC base in Swaziland was promising, especially because of its location, as it was close to Johannesburg and Durban.
As a result, Mbeki was sent back to Swaziland to recruit soldiers for the organisation's military wing. In Swaziland, Mbeki recruited hundreds of people into the ANC. He also liaised with Buthelezi and the latter's newly formed Inkatha movement, and set up structures within South Africa. Mbeki's aim was to establish contact with as many Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) members as he could and to draw them into the ANC. Ironically, while Mbeki was converting BC adherents into ANC members, he would himself absorb many aspects of BC ideology.

title: Alfred Baphethuxolo Nzo

text: In 1969, Nzo was elected ANC Secretary-General at the Morogoro Conference in Tanzania. He was re-elected to this position at the Kwabe Conference in 1985. After the unbanning of the liberation movements in 1989, Nzo formed part of the ANC delegation that entered into deliberations with the National Party government. Nzo lost the position of Secretary-General to Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC July 1991 National Conference held in South Africa for the first time after the unbanning of the liberation movements. He was then elected deputy head of the ANC's security department.

title: Grizelda Cjiekella

text: Cjiekella’s involvement in politics, many have recalled, dated from her school days when she was a “vibrant and outspoken” SRC member. In 1986 she was elected branch chairperson of the ANC Youth Congress in Upington, a role she fulfilled until 1988. Concurrently and up to 1990 she was a member of the Civic Organisation; becoming branch chairperson of the ANC Women's Congress in Upington (1988-1989). Her position in African National Congress structures was consolidated in her becoming ANC Branch Executive Deputy Chairperson (1990-1994), ANC Regional Deputy Chairperson (1995-1996), ANC Acting Regional Chairperson (1996-1997), ANC Women's Provincial Secretary (1997-2003), and ANC Women's League Provincial Deputy Chairperson (2003-2008). She was currently the ANC Women's League Provincial Chairperson and also a PEC and PWC member of the ANC. She served in the ANC Women's League NEC by virtue of being the Provincial Chairperson.

title: History of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa)

text: The brittle alliance with the NNP lasted only until October 2001, when the NNP left to form a new alliance with the African National Congress. The Federal Alliance also left the DA to instead join the Freedom Front Plus. A new government was formed in the Western Cape consisting of the NNP and the ANC in December 2001, while the defection of some NNP councillors during the October 2002 floor-crossing window resulted in the DA losing control of Cape Town and most of the local municipalities in the Western Cape. Partially compensating for this, the DA accepted an offer late in 2002 to join the governing coalition in the KwaZulu-Natal province, in which it held cabinet seats until 2004 when that province too was won by an ANC-led coalition.

title: Apartheid

text: Persistent violence added to the tension during the negotiations. This was due mostly to the intense rivalry between the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the ANC and the eruption of some traditional tribal and local rivalries between the Zulu and Xhosa historical tribal affinities, especially in the Southern Natal provinces. Although Mandela and Buthelezi met to settle their differences, they could not stem the violence. One of the worst cases of ANC-IFP violence was the Boipatong massacre of 17 June 1992, when 200 IFP militants attacked the Gauteng township of Boipatong, killing 45. Witnesses said that the men had arrived in police vehicles, supporting claims that elements within the police and army contributed to the ongoing violence. Subsequent judicial inquiries found the evidence of the witnesses to be unreliable or discredited, and that there was no evidence of National Party or police involvement in the massacre. When de Klerk visited the scene of the incident he was initially warmly welcomed, but he was suddenly confronted by a crowd of protesters brandishing stones and placards. The motorcade sped from the scene as police tried to hold back the crowd. Shots were fired by the police, and the PAC stated that three of its supporters had been gunned down.[208] Nonetheless, the Boipatong massacre offered the ANC a pretext to engage in brinkmanship. Mandela argued that de Klerk, as head of state, was responsible for bringing an end to the bloodshed. He also accused the South African police of inciting the ANC-IFP violence. This formed the basis for ANC's withdrawal from the negotiations, and the CODESA forum broke down completely at this stage.

title: African National Congress

text: Following Zuma's accession to the ANC leadership in 2007 and Mbeki's resignation as president in 2008, a number of former ANC leaders led by Mosiuoa Lekota split away from the ANC to form the Congress of the People.

title: National Intelligence Service (South Africa)

text: On 12 September 1989, Lucerne, Switzerland, Mike Louw, (Deputy-Director NIS) and Maritz Spaarwater (Chief of Operations NIS) met Thabo Mbeki (ANC National Executive Council member) and Jacob Zuma (Deputy Head of the Department of Intelligence and Security – ANC) at a hotel room in the Palace Hotel. The outcome of the meeting was the ANC was prepared to enter into further discussions with the South African government while the NIS would report back to F.W. de Klerk. On the 16 September, Mike Louw and Maritz Spaarwater met F.W. de Klerk in Cape Town who became angry when he was told of the NIS meeting but calmed down when shown the authorization for the meeting by Louw. Further meetings would take place between the NIS and the ANC with Niel Barnard and Joe Nhlanhla, the head of the ANC's Department of Intelligence and Security (DIS).

title: Knysna Local Municipality

text: Joy Cole was first elected mayor under the DA in December 2000 but defected in the September 2004 floor-crossing to become an ANC-aligned independent and reconstituted the council under ANC control. Cole formed a broad-based coalition of the ANC and DA after the March 2006 local government elections when neither party had obtained an outright majority. After Cole resigned in December 2006 to pursue another career, Doris Wakeford-Brown of the DA formed a multi-party coalition. This short-lived coalition collapsed in May 2007 when the Knysna Civic Alliance switched allegiances to the ANC, which brought Eleanore Bouw-Spies in as the new mayor. In the September 2007 floor crossing window the two civic party councillors defected to the ANC, giving the party an outright majority of 9 seats out of 16. Bouw-Spies' term as mayor ended when the DA won an absolute majority in the 2011 election and Georlene Wolmarans was elected mayor. In the 2016 election the DA fell short of an absolute majority, but formed a coalition with the ACDP and an independent councillor. Bouw-Spies, who had crossed to the DA in 2014, returned for a second term as mayor.

title: Sophia Williams-De Bruyn

text: By 1963, her husband was forced into exile in Lusaka, Zambia where he was appointed Chairman of the Regional Political Committee of the ANC. . She joined him six years later and went on to complete her studies and obtain her teacher diploma by 1977, all while working as an administrator for the ANC in Lusaka. She was one of the founder members of the ANC education council formed in 1980. The council set the curriculum for the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College. The college was established in 1978 by the exiled African National Congress (ANC) in Mazimbu, Tanzania.

title: Tryphina Mboxela Jokweni

text: Mboxela was recruited to the ANC by the late Dorothy Nyembe in 1951 when they were both residents of the informal settlement of Umkhumbane. Mboxela served the MK and ANC with loyalty and dedication over the years. While at Umkhumbane she worked as an ANC volunteer and regularly distributed informative pamphlets to the public (with the assistance of Dorothy Nyembe and Steve Dlamini) about ANC policies in order to drum up support for the ANC at the time.

title: English Braille

text: When there are several ways to write a word, the shortest one is chosen, and when they are of equal length, the one without (two-cell) abbreviations is chosen. So, "thence" is written "th-ence" (3 cells) rather than "the-n-c-e" (4 cells). However, with the sequences "-anced, -ancer, -enced, -encer", the form with "-ance/-ence" is used even if not shorter.

title: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

text: Madkizela-Mandela was largely sidelined by the ANC in the post-apartheid period. and, despite her status as an ANC MP over much of that period, she largely associated with non-ANC figures including Bantu Holomisa and Julius Malema. Madikizela-Mandela was a political patron of Malema, who quit the ANC to form his own party, the Economic Freedom Fighters.

title: ANC Headlines

text: In event of special live coverage, ANC airs ANC Live whereas, when a developing story breaks or a sudden event of great importance happened ANC's regular programming is interrupted to make way for its ANC Breaking News, possibly, a reporter at the location of the breaking event is being interviewed live by the anchor to share more information about the story as it breaks.

title: Ahmed Kathrada

text: After the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990, Kathrada served on the interim leadership committees of both the ANC and the South African Communist Party. He resigned from the latter position when he was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in July 1991. During the same year, he was appointed as head of ANC public relations as well as a fellow of the University of the Western Cape's Mayibuye Centre.

title: Billy Modise

text: In 1966 the ANC Youth and Student Section (ANC YSS) was formed, with Former President Thabo Mbeki as leader in the United Kingdom. ANC YSS would later play critical roles in the country’s transition to a democracy. The leadership of the ANC YSS included Billy Modise, Joe Nhlanhla who would later become Mbeki’s first minister of intelligence and was the chair of the ASA (The African Students Association) in Moscow and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Jackie Selebi along with many others. The ANC YSS had two main objectives: looking after the welfare of the ANC youth and mobilising youth against apartheid internationally


query: Who led the British forces in the Battle of Morval?

title: Battle of Morval

text: At the beginning of August, optimistic that the Brusilov Offensive would continue to absorb German and Austro-Hungarian reserves and that the Germans had abandoned their offensive at Verdun, Sir Douglas Haig advocated to the War Committee in London, that relentless pressure be kept on the German armies in France for as long as possible. Haig had hoped that the delay in producing tanks had been overcome and that enough would be ready to be used in September. Despite the small numbers of tanks available and the limited time for the training of crews by September 1916, Haig had committed them in the Battle of Flers–Courcelette, in view of the importance of the general Allied offensive being conducted on the Western Front in France, by Italy against the Austro-Hungarians and by Brusilov in Russia, which could not continue indefinitely. Haig had believed that the German defence of the Somme front was weakening and that by mid-September might collapse altogether.[2]

title: Abyssinia (battle honour)

text: A diplomatic contretemps by the British Foreign Office led to a rupture of relations between Britain and Ethiopia. The Ethiopian monarch Tewodros had imprisoned a number of Europeans, mostly British and German, including the British Consul, Charles Duncan Cameron, in 1864. A diplomatic mission led by Hormuzd Rassam to gain their freedom, which entered the country in 1866 after numerous delays, met the same fate. In order to obtain their release and punish the offender, an expeditionary force consisting of units from the Bombay and Bengal Armies was despatched from Bombay. The force disembarked on the Red Sea south of Massawa in 1868, traversed 500 kilometres using native labour for road construction, crossed mountain ranges as high as 2,970 metres to storm the Imperial fortress at Magdala to release the prisoners. In the end, only a brief battle was fought against the men who were still loyal to Tewodros, two of the British soldiers wounded in the attack would later die from their injuries, the only other British Forces' deaths were due to disease . The Emperor committed suicide and the force withdrew.

title: Battle of Morval

text: The Battle of Morval, 25–28 September 1916, was an attack during the Battle of the Somme by the British Fourth Army on the villages of Morval, Gueudecourt and Lesbœufs held by the German 1st Army, which had been the final objectives of the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (15–22 September). The main British attack was postponed, to combine with attacks by the French Sixth Army on the village of Combles south of Morval, to close up to the German defences between Moislains and Le Transloy, near the Péronne–Bapaume road (N 17). The combined attack from the Somme river northwards to Martinpuich on the Albert–Bapaume road, was also intended to deprive the German defenders further west near Thiepval of reinforcements, before an attack by the Reserve Army, due on 26 September. The postponement was extended from 21–25 September because of rain, which affected operations more frequently during September.[lower-alpha 1]

title: Morval

text: The Battle of Morval, a British offensive action, occurred as part of the larger Battle of the Somme in September. It destroyed Morval and nearby villages.

title: Battle of Morval

text: The 6th Division attacked from north of Morval, to the road through the middle of Lesbœufs, on the left of the 5th Division. The first objective was taken by a battalion of the 16th Brigade on the right and two battalions of the 18th Brigade on the left. The final objective east of the Morval–Lesbœufs road was captured by two battalions leapfrogging through on the right and one on the left, to clear the south end of Lesbœufs, where the Guard Division was met as it occupied the north end. The attack benefitted from good weather, which led to a good preliminary bombardment and an accurate creeping barrage, 500 prisoners being taken. The 5th and 6th divisions consolidated on spurs east and north-east of Morval. At 6:00 p.m., the adjoining brigades advanced another 200yd (180m) east of Morval and also put posts on a line from Morval Mill north to Lesbœufs.[30]

title: Battle of the Somme

text: The Battle of Morval was an attack by the Fourth Army on Morval, Gueudecourt and Lesboeufs held by the German 1st Army, which had been the final objectives of the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (15–22 September). The attack was postponed to combine with attacks by the French Sixth Army on Combles, south of Morval and because of rain. The combined attack was also intended to deprive the German defenders further west, near Thiepval of reinforcements, before an attack by the Reserve Army, due on 26 September. Combles, Morval, Lesboeufs and Gueudecourt were captured and a small number of tanks joined in the battle later in the afternoon. Many casualties were inflicted on the Germans but the French made slower progress. The Fourth Army advance on 25 September was its deepest since 14 July and left the Germans in severe difficulties, particularly in a salient near Combles. The Reserve Army attack began on 26 September in the Battle of Thiepval Ridge.

title: Battle of Morval

text: The British plan was for an advance to the final objective set for the attacks of 15–22 September, during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette. The ground to be taken was on the east side of Bazentin ridge, which ran north-west from the Somme to a hollow facing north-east with Combles at the west end, the hollow running towards Rocquigny beyond the Péronne–Bapaume road. North of the hollow the ridge continued through Morval, Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt, then the Albert–Bapaume road, west of Le Sars to Thiepval. Spurs ran down the eastern slope, generally to the north-east in the direction of the Péronne–Bapaume road, before the ground rose again from St Pierre Vaast Wood to Sailly-Saillisel, Le Transloy, Beaulencourt and Thilloy.[12]

title: History of the Scots Guards (1642–1804)

text: In 1745, the regiment took part in the Battle of Fontenoy in the Austrian Netherlands between a British and Allies force and the French. The British and Allied force were under the command of the Duke of Cumberland while the French force was commanded by Maurice de Saxe. The British and their Allies, despite performing valiantly, lost the battle to the French with both sides losing many men. The battle was quite fierce, and the 3rd Foot Guards suffered quite badly, losing over 100 officers and men during the engagement. The regiment subsequently had a brief period back in Great Britain during the Second Jacobite Rebellion which was led by Bonnie Prince Charlie who claimed the throne of Great Britain, aided by France. The regiment was soon back in the Low Countries though, and in 1747 took part in the Battle of Lauffeld which ended in a defeat for Britain and her Allies who had been outnumbered by the French. The long War of the Austrian Succession would finally end the following year.

title: Battle of Morval

text: An advance on the main front of the British attack of 1,200–1,500yd (1,100–1,400m) was to be made in stages. The first step was an advance to the third of the objective lines set for 15 September and to the Gird Trenches (Gallwitz Riegel) south of Gueudecourt, beginning at 12:35 p.m. The second objective was a line along the sunken road running from Combles to Gueudecourt, west of Morval and Lesbœufs, then over a spur south-east of Gueudecourt and through the centre of the village, beginning at 1:35 p.m. The final objective was on the east side of Morval, Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt, the advance to begin at 2:35 p.m., with the objectives to be reached by 3:00 p.m.[13]

title: History of the Irish Guards

text: The 1st Battalion, Irish Guards spent much of the remainder of 1915 in the trenches, but, on 1 July 1916 the Battle of the Somme began, it was, and still is, the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army. The 1st Irish Guards took part in an action at Flers–Courcelette where they suffered severe casualties in the attack in the face of withering fire from the German machine-guns. The battalion also took part in the action at Morval. They were involved in the capture of the northern part of a village, during the action and were relieved the following day by the 2nd Irish Guards. The 1st Irish Guards suffered quite heavily during the Morval engagement.

title: Vandavasi

text: Vandavasi was the scene of a decisive battle in the 18th-century war between France and the United Kingdom for the control of South Asia. The Battle of Wandiwash was a watershed in Indian history as it cemented British supremacy in South Asia. On 22 January 1760, a British force led by Eyre Coote defeated a French force led by General Thomas Lally.

title: Battle of Morval

text: Anglo-French attacks had been expected on 23 September, rather than 25 September and the timing of the attack for the afternoon, also wrong-footed some of the defenders. The 51st and 52nd Reserve divisions of the XXVI Reserve Corps were quickly pushed back, part of the 236th Reserve Regiment being "destroyed" at the tram line north of Bouleaux Wood. Parts of the 235th Reserve Regiment west of Combles and the 234th Reserve Regiment in the village, were threatened with encirclement by the British from the north and the French in the south. A battalion of the 239th Reserve Regiment of the 52nd Reserve Division was cut off in Morval and part of the regiment was overwhelmed north of the village near Lesbœufs. The rest of Lesbœufs, held by the 240th Reserve Regiment from the same division fell easily. Parts of the 51st and 52nd Reserve divisions counter-attacked Morval but were only able to advance a short distance and cover the withdrawal of their artillery, eventually forming new a line along the Le Transloy road 1,000yd (910m) east of Morval.[49]

title: Battle of Queenston Heights

text: The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major battle in the War of 1812. Resulting in a British victory, it took place on 13 October 1812, near Queenston, Upper Canada (the present-day province of Ontario). It was fought between United States regulars and New York militia forces led by Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer, and British regulars, York and Lincoln militia and Mohawk warriors led by Major General Isaac Brock, and Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, who took command when Brock was killed.

title: Iroquois

text: On 9 July 1755, a force of British Army regulars and the Virginia militia under General Edward Braddock advancing into the Ohio river valley was almost completely destroyed by the French and their Indian allies at the Battle of the Monongahela. Johnson, who had the task of enlisting the League Iroquois on the British side, led a mixed Anglo-Iroquois force to victory at Lac du St Sacrement, known to the British as Lake George. In the Battle of Lake George, a group of Catholic Mohawk (from "Kahnawake") and French forces ambushed a Mohawk-led British column; the Mohawk were deeply disturbed as they had created their confederacy for peace among the peoples and had not had warfare against each other. Johnson attempted to ambush a force of 1,000 French troops and 700 Canadian Iroquios under the command of Baron Dieskau, who beat off the attack and killed the old Mohawk war chief, Peter Hendricks. On 8 September 1755, Diskau attacked Johnson's camp, but was repulsed with heavy losses. Though the Battle of Lake George was a British victory, the heavy losses taken by the Mohawk and Oneida at the battle caused the League to declare neutrality in the war. Despite Johnson's best efforts, the League Iroquois remained neutral for next several years, and a series of French victories at Oswego, Louisbourg, Fort William Henry and Fort Carillon ensured the League Iroquois would not fight on what appeared to be the losing side.

title: Alexander Cochrane

text: Cochrane led the British force that won the Battle of Lake Borgne, in Louisiana, in December 1814. His forces built a hard short road to New Orleans for use by British armed forces. But the British army was defeated at the Battle of New Orleans on 8 January 1815.

title: Battle of Pensacola (1814)

text: The Battle of Pensacola was a battle in the War of 1812 in which American forces fought against forces from the kingdoms of Britain and Spain, along with Creek Native Americans and African-American slaves allied with the British. The American commander, General Andrew Jackson, led his infantry against British and Spanish forces controlling the city of Pensacola in Spanish Florida. The British abandoned the city and it was surrendered to Jackson by the Spanish.

title: Gloucestershire Regiment in World War I

text: On 3 September, during the Battle of Guillemont (3–6 September), 12th Battalion lost 328 men in an attack that succeeded in occupying the German second line from Wedge Wood to the southeastern edge of Guillemont. After the village was captured the battalion pushed on to Leuze Wood, nearly east of Guillemont, completing an advance of by 95th Brigade during the battle. The battalion was in action again during the Battle of Morval (25–28 September) when, along with 2nd Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers, it captured the southern half of Morval.

title: Capture of Combles

text: Combles lies north-east of Amiens and east of Albert, on the D 20 Rancourt–Guillemont road, south of Bapaume, in the Combles valley a hollow between outcrops of Bazentin Ridge, between Morval to the north, Ginchy to the north-west and Falfemont Farm to the west. North of the village the valley widens into a basin, which forks north-east around the Morval Spur. In late September 1914, military operations took place in the vicinity, when the II Bavarian Corps was engaged by French Territorial divisions in an encounter battle. The French divisions were forced back and the two divisions of the II Bavarian Corps, advanced westwards on the north side of the Somme, eventually being stopped around Maricourt, Montauban and Fricourt. Combles became a backwater until the Battle of the Somme in 1916, when it was used as a shelter for reserves, supplies and engineer stores and a staging area for reinforcements. the German third defensive position being built as the battle began, ran close behind the village.

title: Battle of Cowan's Ford

text: The Battle of Cowan's Ford was a battle in the Southern Theater of Cornwallis's 1780–1782 Campaign that eventually led to the British Army's surrender at Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on at Cowan's ford on the Catawba River in northwestern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, between a force of about 5,000 British and fewer than a thousand Americans who were attempting to slow the British advance across the river. The American general William Lee Davidson was killed in this battle.

title: Capture of Gueudecourt

text: The British plan was for an advance to the final objective set for the attacks of during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette. The ground to be taken was on the east side of Bazentin ridge, which ran north-west from the Somme to a hollow facing north-east with Combles at the west end. North of the hollow, lay Morval, Lesboeufs, Gueudecourt and the Albert–Bapaume road. Spurs ran down the eastern slope generally to the north-east, in the direction of the Péronne–Bapaume road, before the ground rose again from St Pierre Vaast Wood to Sailly-Saillisel, Le Transloy, Beaulencourt and Thilloy. An advance on the main front of the British attack of , was to be made in three stages. The first stage was an advance to the third of the objective lines set for 15 September and to the Gird Trenches () south of Gueudecourt, beginning at The second objective was along a line along the sunken road from Combles to Gueudecourt to the west of Morval and Lesboeufs, then over a spur south-east of Gueudecourt and through the centre of the village, beginning at . The final objective was on the east side of Morval, Lesboeufs and Gueudecourt, the advance to begin at with the objectives to be reached by

title: Early life and career of Suharto

text: The arrival of the Allies, under a mandate to return the situation to the "status quo ante bellum", quickly led to clashes between Indonesian republicans and Allied forces, namely returning Dutch and assisting British forces. Suharto led his Battalion X when it was sent northwards to repel British advance towards Yogyakarta from British-occupied port of Semarang. In a series of battles at Magelang and Ambarawa lasting from late-October to December 1945, Republican forces forced the British to retreat to the confines of Semarang. Suharto's battle performance attracted attention of Sudirman, the Republican armed forces commander, who promoted him to lead newly formed Regiment III of Division IX (2,250 men) with rank of lieutenant-colonel on early 1946. On May 1946, Suharto's umbrella Division IX was amalgamated into new Division III under leadership of newly promoted Major-General Sudarsono. On 17 May 1946, the British handed-over control of Semarang to the Dutch T ("Tijger") Brigade. Suharto participated in a battle at Kendal where Division III successfully halted a southward advance by the Dutch brigade. As evidence of Suharto's increasing stature, on June 1946 Lieutenant-Colonel Sunarto Kusumodirdjo invited him to draft the working guidelines for the Battle Leadership Headquarters (MPP), a body created to organise and unify the command structure of the Indonesian nationalist forces.

title: Capture of Combles

text: 25 September dawned bright and cloudless, with a ground haze but reports from contact patrol observers were notably accurate, as the infantry advanced to their objectives on the Fourth Army front, from Morval to Gueudecourt and around Flers. Ground at the south-east edge of Morval was captured in the evening, completing the occupation of the ground on the main ridge and making Combles untenable, although British balloon observers could see that the French advance from the south had been delayed at Frégicourt. After a captured German officer disclosed that Combles was to be evacuated during the night, British artillery bombarded the valley to the east of the village. In the early hours of the morning, British troops entered the north end of Combles as French troops advanced from the south. The position of the ground forces was reported at noon by a reconnaissance crew, who returned at to observe the position of the new line but at were hit by an anti-aircraft shell and blown up.

title: Battle of Morval

text: Monday 25 September, was bright and cloudless, with a ground haze but reports from observers in contact patrol aircraft were notably accurate, as the infantry advanced to their objectives on the Fourth Army front, from Morval to Gueudecourt and around Flers. Observers in reconnaissance aircraft located 124 German artillery batteries; 47 were engaged and 21 silenced by zone calls.[45][lower-alpha 4] At 2:35 p.m., observers watched the advance to the final objective and after twenty-one minutes, almost all of it was reported captured. A map compiled from air reports was later shown to be more accurate than infantry progress reports. The ground not taken near Morval fell in the evening, completing the capture of the ground on the main ridge, making Combles untenable, although British balloon observers were able to see that the French advance from the south had been delayed. There was extensive German air activity during the day but most aircraft flew above 14,000ft (4,300m), which few British aircraft could reach.[46]

title: Battle of Magdala

text: The Battle of Magdala was the conclusion of the British Expedition to Abyssinia fought in April 1868 between British and Abyssinian forces at Magdala, from the Red Sea coast. The British were led by Robert Napier, while the Abyssinians were led by Emperor Tewodros II.

title: Capture of Gueudecourt

text: The cavalry patrols which moved past Gueudecourt to scout the ground towards Ligny Thilloy and Le Transloy had been forced to dismount but the German defence was in disorder, suggesting that an opportunity to exploit the situation with cavalry was close. The depth of advance and relatively light British casualties during the Battle of Morval was partly due to the improvement of the tactical methods in the Fourth Army, particularly in infantry–artillery co-operation. Prior and Wilson called the battle an "outstanding success", although they attributed this to accident more than design. The German defenders had been forced out of their prepared defences and had to fight in improvised positions but had still managed to withdraw all but two field guns. The Fourth Army divisions were so tired, that they could do no more than advance to regain contact with the Germans

title: Battle of Morval

text: Combles, Morval, Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt were captured and many casualties inflicted on the Germans. The French made slower progress near the inter-army boundary, due to the obstruction of St Pierre Vaast Wood to the French attack north towards Sailly and Sailly-Saillisel. The inter-army boundary was moved north from 27–28 September, to allow the French more room to deploy their forces but the great quantity of German artillery-fire limited the French advance. The Fourth Army advance on 25 September was its deepest since 14 July and left the Germans in severe difficulties, particularly in a salient which developed to the north-east of Combles. Tiredness and lack of reserves prevented the Fourth Army exploiting its success beyond patrolling and cavalry probes. The Reserve Army attack began on 26 September, at the Battle of Thiepval Ridge. Deteriorating weather and the shorter days, greatly increased British and French transport difficulties; rain and fog grounded aircraft and impeded artillery observation. Mud reduced the blast effect of shells and immobilised infantry, which was an advantage to the defenders. A small number of tanks joined in the battle later in the afternoon, after having been held back because of the later start and reduced a number of German strong points which had withstood earlier attacks.

title: History of the Scots Guards (1914–1945)

text:
On 1 July 1916, the first Battle of the Somme began, and on the very first day of the offensive, over 57,000 British soldiers became casualties. In September, the Scots Guards got involved in the Somme Offensive for the first, taking part in the subsidiary Battle of Flers–Courcelette, which saw the first introduction of the tank, and at another subsidiary battle, at Morval, where the Guards captured Lesboeufs. On 15 July, Lance-Sergeant Frederick McNess of the 1st Battalion, led a bombing party under very heavy shell and machine-gun fire. The party successfully reached the first enemy trench but found the left flank to be exposed, and the enemy were lobbing bombs. Sergeant McNess duly led a counter-attack, being badly wounded in the jaw and neck in the process. Despite the severe wounds the Sergeant subsequently made a 'block', encouraged his men and continued to throw grenades until eventually succumbing to the loss of blood.
In July 1917, the regiment began its involvement in the Third Battle of Ypres, which lasted into November. The regiment took part in the subsidiary engagements at Pilckem, Menin Road, Poelcapelle, Passchendaele, experiencing very severe fighting which saw the British suffer very heavy casualties against stiff German defenders in terrible fighting conditions. In November, the regiment took part in the Battle of Cambrai (1917), most famous for the first large-scale use of British tanks, eventually 476 tanks in total, in battle.

title: Capture of Gueudecourt

text: During the Battle of Flers–Courcelette the Germans were forced back from Flers and the survivors retired to , a defence line which ran in front of Gueudecourt. At the Battle of Morval (25–28 September), the first attack by the 21st Division on 25 September, was stopped short of the village. Next day a combined infantry, tank and aircraft operation inflicted many casualties on the defenders and forced the survivors to surrender, after which the village was occupied and consolidated. To exploit the success, British cavalry went forward to probe the area around the village but were repulsed by machine-gun and artillery-fire from improvised German defences on Transloy Ridge.

title: Southern United States

text: In 1780 and 1781, the British largely halted reconquest of the northern states, and concentrated on the south, where they were told there was a large Loyalist population ready to leap to arms once the royal forces arrived. The British took control of Savannah and Charleston, capturing a large American army in the process, and set up a network of bases inland. There were many more Loyalists in the South than in the North, but they were concentrated in larger coastal cities and were not great enough in number to overcome the revolutionaries. Large numbers of loyalists from South Carolina fought for the British in the Battle of Camden. The British forces at the Battle of Monck's Corner and the Battle of Lenud's Ferry consisted entirely of Loyalists with the exception of the commanding officer (Banastre Tarleton). Both white and black Loyalists fought for the British at the Battle of Kemp's Landing in Virginia. Led by Nathanael Greene and other generals, the Americans engaged in Fabian tactics designed to wear down the British invasion force, and to neutralize its strong points one by one. There were numerous battles large and small, with each side claiming some victories. By 1781, however, British General Cornwallis moved north to Virginia, where an approaching army forced him to fortify and await rescue by the British Navy. The British Navy did arrive, but so did a stronger French fleet, and Cornwallis was trapped. American and French armies, led by Washington, forced Cornwallis to surrender his entire army in Yorktown, Virginia in October 1781, effectively winning the North American part of the war.

title: Capture of Lesbœufs

text: Lesbœufs () is a village on the D 74 between Gueudecourt and Morval, about north-east of Amiens; Le Transloy lies to the north-west and Bapaume is to the north. French Territorials fought the II Bavarian Corps on the north bank of the Somme in late September 1914, after which the front line moved west past Lesbœufs. Little military activity occurred round the village until the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, when German troops passed through the village in the first weeks of the battle. During the Battle of Flers–Courcelette advances by the right flank corps of the British Fourth Army, brought the front line forward to the trenches west of Lesbœufs but exhaustion prevented the British from reaching their third objective, a line east of Morval, Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt.

title: Battle of Ramnagar

text: The Battle of Ramnagar (sometimes referred to as the Battle of Rumnuggur) was fought on 22 November 1848 between British and Sikh forces during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. The British were led by Sir Hugh Gough, while the Sikhs were led by Sher Singh Attariwalla. The Sikhs repelled an attempted British surprise attack.


query: How many countries are in FIFA?

title: FIFA

text: FIFA was founded in 1904[3] to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 211 national associations. Member countries must each also be members of one of the six regional confederations into which the world is divided: Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.

title: United Passions

text: Corruption within FIFA builds up over the years from Havelange's expansion efforts. As president of FIFA, Blatter is tasked to clean this up, for which he is seen as a controversial president. Many FIFA officials attempt to vote him out of office because of how incorruptible he is. The movie ends with a 2006 vote, in which Blatter is able to retain his presidency by cowing the corrupt members of FIFA, threatening to expose their ill deeds if they do not endorse Blatter and his anti-corruption campaign by voting for him as the FIFA president.

title: South American nations at the FIFA World Cup

text: For each World Cup, the number of countries in the finals (Size), the number of entries from around the world including any rejections and withdrawals (E), the number of South American entries (SA), how many of those South American entries withdrew before or during qualification or were rejected by FIFA (W), the South American representatives at the World Cup finals, the number of World Cup Qualifiers each South American representative had played to get to the finals (WCQ), the furthest stage they reached, their results, and their coaches.

title: List of FIFA country codes

text: FIFA assigns a three-letter country code (more properly termed a trigramme or trigram) to each of its member and non-member countries. These are the official codes used by FIFA and its continental confederations (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA) as name abbreviations of countries and dependent areas, in official competitions.

title: 2006 FIFA World Cup seeding

text: The seedings table uses these points obtained from the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2002 FIFA World Cup averaged in a 1:2 ratio respectively, added to the average amount of points derived from the World Rankings at three given dates (at ratio 1:1:1), December 2003, December 2004, and November 2005. This generates a view of how well the teams have performed over the last ten years (since the rankings in 2003 include results from eight years previous to that) with a specific focus on how the teams have performed in the FIFA World Cup on previous occasions. Significant differences between this ranking of the teams and the official FIFA rankings at the time of the draw can be seen for Czech Republic, Germany and South Korea (ρ=0.87).

title: Economics of the FIFA World Cup

text:
In the 2002 World Cup, several other advantages were discovered when the host was split between Japan and Korea. This was the first time the tournament had been hosted in two countries, with thirty two matches being played in each country with a grand total of sixty four matches. With the three million live spectators ticket sales were 1.2 billion dollars. FIFA promised each country 110 million for hosting and all revenue from their ticket sales.
Each country expanded their 20 soccer facilities with a total investment of 4.7 billion. A host country can also see value in the national exposure with so many people viewing and attending the event.

title: FIFA International Referees List

text: FIFA member countries are invited annually to nominate male and female officials for association football, futsal and beach soccer. Each country's Referee's Committee selects the referees to be nominated to FIFA.

title: Philipp Lahm

text: Lahm is involved in many charity campaigns and events. In June 2007, FIFA announced that Lahm and Owen Hargreaves would visit South Africa in advance to support the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Although Hargreaves never managed to take part in the trip due to injury, Lahm and German national teammate Piotr Trochowski visited the country taking time not only to visit the 2010 FIFA World Cup organizers but also to visit a local SOS Children's Village and to take part in the Kick-AIDS event.

title: 2014 FIFA World Cup preparations

text: Former Brazilian footballer Romário, now a political figure, criticised his country's handling of these preparations but said that "FIFA's requirements were excessive". Another former Brazilian player, Ronaldo, said he felt "embarrassed" about the state of the country's infrastructure and how "a series of investments were promised that won't be delivered - only 30% percent will be delivered".

title: Sports in Ghana

text: Association football is administered by the Ghana Football Association and the national men's football team is known as the Black Stars, with the under-20 team known as the Black Satellites. Ghana has participated in many championships, including the African Cup of Nations with 4 titles, the FIFA World Cup three times, (2006, 2010, and 2014), and the FIFA U-20 World Cup with 1 title. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Ghana became the third African country to reach the quarter-final stage of the World Cup after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. Ghana national U-20 football team, known as the "Black Satellites", is considered to be the feeder team for the Ghana national football team. Ghana is the first and only country on the Africa continent to be crowned FIFA U-20 World Cup Champions and two-time runner up in 1993 and 2001. The Ghana national U-17 football team, known as the Black Starlets, are two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup champions in 1991 and 1995, two-time runners up in 1993 and 1997.

title: 1962 FIFA World Cup

text: Chile's football federation committee, led by Carlos Dittborn and Juan Pinto Durán, toured many countries convincing various football associations about the country's ability to organise the tournament in comparison to Argentina's superior sports infrastructure and prestige. The FIFA Congress met in Lisbon, Portugal on 10 June 1956. That day, Raul Colombo, representing Argentina's candidacy, ended his speech with the phrase "We can start the World Cup tomorrow. We have it all." The next day, Dittborn presented four arguments that supported Chile's candidacy: Chile's continued participations at FIFA-organised conferences and tournaments, sports climate, tolerance of race and creed and political and institutional stability of the country. In addition, Dittborn invoked Article 2 of the FIFA statutes that addressed the tournament's role in promoting the sport in countries deemed "underdeveloped". Chile won 31 votes to Argentina's 12. Thirteen members abstained from voting.

title: Basque Country national football team

text: In May 1937, the team began to have problems with FIFA. Due to the civil war in Spain FIFA had banned all FIFA-affiliated countries and clubs from playing any Spanish teams. A match due to take place on 30 May in the Netherlands against Rotterdam was cancelled by the Dutch Federation. But many clubs and national sides continued to play the Basque team because they sympathised with Republican Spain which the team symbolised. The team's first match against a nation from outside of Spain was a 3–2 defeat, also in May 1937, to Czechoslovakia, who had been runners up in the 1934 World cup. In June, they played Czechoslovakia again losing 2–1. Then they played Silesia in Chorzów on June 9.

title: African nations at the FIFA World Cup

text: 41 of the 54 active FIFA and CAF members have never qualified for the final tournament.This table shows for each world cup the number of countries at the World Cup, the number of entries (#E) from around the world (including any rejections and withdrawals), the number of African entries (#A), how many of those African entries withdrew (#A-) before/during qualification or were rejected by FIFA, the African representatives at the World Cup finals, the number of World Cup Qualifiers each African representative had to play to get to the World Cup (#WCQ), the furthest stage they reached, their results, and their coaches.

title: FC Goa

text: "Our Field, Our Turf, Our Home, Our Fortress…Fatorda" that's how the Gaurs refer to the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao, Goa, it is better known as the Fatorda. This stadium is considered to be one of the finest football stadiums in the country. This venue has long been a mainstay of Indian football, having played host to many international games, including India's qualifiers for both the FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup. It was also one of the six host venues for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup held in India. Massive attendances have been recorded at The Fatorda. The noise in a number of games, including the inaugural Hero ISL's semi-final encounter between FC Goa and ATK as well as the final against Chennaiyin FC the following year, was deafening.

title: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

text: The allocation of World Cup spots and hence how many teams qualify from their regional championship to the World Cup was decided by FIFA in 2006 as follows:

title: FIFA eligibility rules

text: As the governing body of association football, FIFA is responsible for maintaining and implementing the rules that determine whether an association football player is eligible to represent a particular country in officially recognised international competitions and friendly matches. In the 20th century, FIFA allowed a player to represent any national team, as long as the player held citizenship of that country. In 2004, in reaction to the growing trend towards naturalisation of foreign players in some countries, FIFA implemented a significant new ruling that requires a player to demonstrate a "clear connection" to any country they wish to represent. FIFA has used its authority to overturn results of competitive international matches that feature ineligible players.

title: Jonny Gould

text: In 2010 Gould started to appear regularly on Al Jazeera English as a football expert to discuss a wide variety of football-related stories including the FIFA World Cup host country announcements for 2018 and 2022 and the many political controversies involving FIFA's Sepp Blatter.

title: 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup bids

text: These are the bids from countries vying to host the 2023 FIFA's Women's World Cup. The official announcement for which one of these countries will host the Women's World Cup will not be made until 5 June 2019 at the FIFA Congress in Paris, France. As of January 2019, Australia, Colombia and South Africa are the official bidders and three countries (Japan, Thailand and New Zealand) have expressed interest in hosting the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

title: Basque Country national football team

text: The Basque Country representative football team (officially, in Basque, 'Euskal selekzioa') represents the Basque Country in football. It selects players from the Basque Country autonomous community, Navarre and the French Basque Country and is organised by the Basque Football Federation. It is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA and therefore only allowed to play friendly matches against FIFA or non-FIFA affiliated teams.

title: Lists of countries and territories

text: This is a list of many lists of countries and territories by various definitions, including FIFA countries, federations, and fictional countries. A country or territory is a geographical area, either in the sense of "nation" (a cultural entity) or "state" (a political entity).The characteristics of the human population:

title: FIFA World Cup

text: The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Council. This is done under an exhaustive ballot system. The national football association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are expected from a strong bid. The bidding association also receives a form, the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the candidacy. After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to host the event and a report on the country is produced. The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament. However, there have been occasions where the hosts of multiple future tournaments were announced at the same time, as was the case for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to Russia and Qatar, with Qatar becoming the first Middle Eastern country to host the tournament.

title: FIFA

text: Reports by investigative journalists have linked FIFA leadership with corruption, bribery, and vote-rigging related to the election of FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the organization's decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. These allegations led to the indictments of nine high-ranking FIFA officials and five corporate executives by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges including racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. On 27 May 2015, several of these officials were arrested by Swiss authorities, who were launching a simultaneous but separate criminal investigation into how the organization awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Those among these officials who were also indicted in the U.S. are expected to be extradited to face charges there as well.[5][6][7] Many officials were suspended by FIFA's ethics committee including Sepp Blatter[8] and Michel Platini.[9] In early 2017 reports became public about FIFA president Gianni Infantino attempting to prevent the re-elections[10] of both chairmen of the ethics committee, Cornel Borbély and Hans-Joachim Eckert, during the FIFA congress in May 2017.[11][12] On May 9, 2017, following Infantino's proposal,[13] FIFA Council decided not to renew the mandates of Borbély and Eckert.[13] Together with the chairmen, 11 of 13 committee members were removed.[14]

title: 2006 FIFA World Cup sponsorship

text: There has been some controversy about several of FIFA’s sponsors. FIFA has been criticized for taking on McDonald's as a sponsor because many feel the chain’s unhealthy food should not be connected to a sporting event. Budweiser also has endured criticism for being the official beer of the World Cup in a country where, because it contains rice and fails the German Reinheitsgebot, it cannot be sold as a beer. Because of a longstanding copyright dispute with Czech brewery Budweiser Budvar it can also not be sold under the name of "Budweiser" in Germany. Anheuser-Busch signed its sponsorship deal with FIFA before the 2006 World Cup’s host country was chosen, and opted to advertise the brand as "Bud 百威", combining the first three letters of its English brand name with its Chinese brand name. Budweiser is the only sponsor with non English writing on its billboards.

title: Abedi Pele

text: Ayew has the singular honour of participating in more FIFA organized charity matches than any other African player. He is very popular in many African countries, especially the French-speaking countries because of his exploits in France. In countries such as Nigeria and South Africa, football fans still wear T-shirts bearing his name. He has become one of the continent's most respected and important ambassadors. Abedi Pele is a member of FIFA's Football Committee, and of the player status committees of both FIFA and CAF. That explains why the South African FA made him a Spokesperson for their 2006 World Cup bid. Abedi is considered one of the best players in World History not to have appeared at the FIFA World Cup, and perhaps the greatest African football player ever.

title: List of FIFA country codes

text:
There are currently 211 FIFA members, each one with its unique country code.
The following codes refer to countries or dependent areas that are currently not affiliated with FIFA, but whose codes either appear in the FIFA results database, or are used regularly by confederation websites.

title: Morocco 2026 FIFA World Cup bid

text: Morocco did not mention that homosexuality is illegal in the country in its bid book. There was also no attempt how this would be mitigated (for LGBT athletes and fans) if the country was given the right to host the World Cup. FIFA's guidelines for World Cup hosts explicity mentioned that "host countries must guarantee there is no discrimination of any nature". Ahmed El Haij, president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, told the Associated Press, "it is evident that if Morocco was to host the World Cup, LGBT people coming to watch the games will face a lot of discrimination. The state will not be able to protect them nor will it be able to commit in preventing measures that could be taken against them by both the state and society".

title: Vatican City national football team

text: The Vatican is one of only nine fully recognized sovereign states whose national team is not a FIFA member. The others are the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom (though the UK's four "home countries" (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) have individual FIFA teams each of which is also a member of the IFAB). In May 2014, Domenico Ruggerio, president of the national football association, stated that "I prefer to be amateur...To join FIFA, at that level, will be like a business" after stating "The important message of friendship and love is demonstrated by the sport — the real sport, not the business that is in football these days...It is not just important to win a match; it is how you carry yourself." Therefore, that, he added, meant that "the ethos of the Vatican’s soccer team was, at odds with FIFA membership."

title: List of FIFA country codes

text: The following codes refer to countries or dependent areas that are currently not affiliated with FIFA. Even though they are members or associate members of their regional confederations, these codes are not regularly used in communications of FIFA.

title: FIFA Congress

text: Each of the 211 members of FIFA has one vote in the congress. The members of FIFA can propose candidates for the World Cup Host and Presidency of FIFA. The FIFA Presidential Election and FIFA World Cup Host country election takes place at the congress in the year following the FIFA World Cup.

title: 2026 FIFA World Cup

text:
The issue of how to allocate automatic host country qualification given that there are multiple host countries has not yet been resolved and will be decided by the FIFA council.
The United bid anticipated all three host countries being awarded automatic places.

title: 61st FIFA Congress

text:
The congress agenda was released on 5 May.
Following the allegations of corruption Blatter announced changes to FIFA's internal processes. Future FIFA World Cups will be selected by the whole FIFA Congress rather than the FIFA Executive Committee, an internal committee will examine FIFA's corporate governance, and the FIFA Ethics Committee will be strengthened.
A motion bought by the United Arab Emirates Football Association to relax eligibility rules for foreign-born players was rejected by 153 to 42, with 11 abstentions. The motion argued that players 18 or older could switch countries after three years' residence instead of five. The president of the UAE football association Mohamed al-Rumaithi argued that the proposed change was good for countries trying to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. The motion was also supported by the UAE Football League and Srečko Katanec, the head coach of the United Arab Emirates national football team. The proposal was interpreted as a way for rich countries to attract foreign players with offers of citizenship.


query: How tall is Michelangelo's David?

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. David is a 5.17-metre (17.0ft)[lower-alpha 1] marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence.[1]

title: David (inspired by Michelangelo)

text: David (inspired by Michelangelo) is a sculpture by Turkish conceptual artist Serkan Özkaya. It is a reproduction of Michelangelo's "David" made of gold-painted foam, twice the size of the original, and based on a computer model by Stanford University professor Marc Levoy. It was originally created for the 9th International Istanbul Biennial in 2005, and took six people six months to build, but it collapsed during installation.

title: Tityus Drawing by Michelangelo

text: The presentations drawings by Michelangelo to Tomasso Cavalieri have been a topic of interest among scholars because of their highly finished nature and because of the implications that they might have about Michelangelo’s sexuality. The drawings have been argued to be expressions of homo-eroticism and also teaching tools for the purpose of instructing Cavalieri on how to draw. Also, Tityus has become of special interest among this grouping because of the Risen Christ depiction on the back. The purpose of this figure on the back along with who drew it is still unknown by scholars and remains a mystery.

title: Michelangelo

text: With the completion of the David came another commission. In early 1504 Leonardo da Vinci had been commissioned to paint The Battle of Anghiara in the council chamber of the Palazzo Vecchio, depicting the battle between Florence and Milan in 1440. Michelangelo was then commissioned to paint the Battle of Cascina. The two paintings are very different: Leonardo depicts soldiers fighting on horseback, while Michelangelo has soldiers being ambushed as they bathe in the river. Neither work was completed and both were lost forever when the chamber was refurbished. Both works were much admired, and copies remain of them, Leonardo's work having been copied by Rubens and Michelangelo's by Bastiano da Sangallo.[32]

title: Michael Hirst (art historian)

text: David Michael Geoffrey Hirst was born on 5 September 1933 and studied at New College, Oxford, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Lecturer, Reader and Professor of Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, and a Fellow of the Academy since 1983, Hirst has been one of the foremost specialists on the drawings of Michelangelo. Indeed, such was his international standing in the world of Michelangelo studies that he was made a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Restoration of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling in 1987, and the following year curated an exhibition on Michelangelo as Draftsman for the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

title: Apollo (Michelangelo)

text: The Apollo, Apollo-David, David-Apollo, or Apollino is a 1.46 m unfinished marble sculpture by Michelangelo that dates from approximately 1530. It now stands in the Bargello museum in Florence.

title: Mannerism

text: As in painting, early Italian Mannerist sculpture was very largely an attempt to find an original style that would top the achievement of the High Renaissance, which in sculpture essentially meant Michelangelo, and much of the struggle to achieve this was played out in commissions to fill other places in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, next to Michelangelo's "David". Baccio Bandinelli took over the project of "Hercules and Cacus" from the master himself, but it was little more popular then than it is now, and maliciously compared by Benvenuto Cellini to "a sack of melons", though it had a long-lasting effect in apparently introducing relief panels on the pedestal of statues. Like other works of his and other Mannerists it removes far more of the original block than Michelangelo would have done. Cellini's bronze "Perseus with the head of Medusa" is certainly a masterpiece, designed with eight angles of view, another Mannerist characteristic, and artificially stylized in comparison with the "David"s of Michelangelo and Donatello. Originally a goldsmith, his famous gold and enamel Salt Cellar (1543) was his first sculpture, and shows his talent at its best.

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: David has stood on display at Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia since 1873. In addition to the full-sized replica occupying the spot of the original in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, a bronze version overlooks Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo. The plaster cast of David at the Victoria and Albert Museum has a detachable plaster fig leaf which is displayed nearby. Legend claims that the fig leaf was created in response to Queen Victoria's shock upon first viewing the statue's nudity, and was hung on the figure prior to royal visits, using two strategically placed hooks.[30]

title: Michelangelo

text: Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1499. The republic was changing after the fall of its leader, anti-Renaissance priest Girolamo Savonarola, who was executed in 1498, and the rise of the gonfaloniere Piero Soderini. Michelangelo was asked by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete an unfinished project begun 40 years earlier by Agostino di Duccio: a colossal statue of Carrara marble portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom to be placed on the gable of Florence Cathedral.[30] Michelangelo responded by completing his most famous work, the statue of David, in 1504. The masterwork definitively established his prominence as a sculptor of extraordinary technical skill and strength of symbolic imagination. A team of consultants, including Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, was called together to decide upon its placement, ultimately the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. It now stands in the Academia while a replica occupies its place in the square.[31]

title: Cecchino dei Bracci

text: Michelangelo composed more than forty-two epigrams of four lines each. In a letter to del Riccio Michelangelo wrote of Cecchino as "the flame who consumes me" and related a dream in which the boy "mocked my senile love"; also alluding to physical consummation in one of his quatrains: "Do yet attest for him how gracious I was in bed/ When he embraced, and in what the soul doth live." This was accompanied by a note advising Riccio to burn the last two lines "in the fire without witness", lest Michelangelo be disgraced.

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: Michelangelo's David has become one of the most recognized works of Renaissance sculpture, a symbol of strength and youthful beauty.

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: Just the colossal size of the statue impressed Michelangelo's contemporaries. Vasari described it as "certainly a miracle that of Michelangelo, to restore to life one who was dead," and then listed all of the largest and most grand of the ancient statues that he had ever seen, concluding that Michelangelo's work surpassed "all ancient and modern statues, whether Greek or Latin, that have ever existed."[23]

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: It is possible that the David was conceived as a political statue before Michelangelo began to work on it.[24] Certainly David the giant-killer had long been seen as a political figure in Florence, and images of the Biblical hero already carried political implications there.[25] Donatello's bronze David, made for the Medici family, perhaps c. 1440, had been appropriated by the Signoria in 1494, when the Medici were exiled from Florence, and the statue was installed in the courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria, where it stood for the Republican government of the city. By placing Michelangelo's statue in the same general location, the Florentine authorities ensured that David would be seen as a political parallel as well as an artistic response to that earlier work. These political overtones led to the statue being attacked twice in its early days. Protesters pelted it with stones the year it debuted, and, in 1527, an anti-Medici riot resulted in its left arm being broken into three pieces.

title: Epifania (Michelangelo drawing)

text: Epifania () is a cartoon or full-scale drawing in black chalk by Michelangelo, produced in Rome around 1550–53. It is 2.32 metres tall by 1.65 m wide, and is made up of 26 sheets of paper.

title: Michelangelo (song)

text: "Michelangelo", written by Bengt Palmers and Björn Skifs, is a Swedish song performed by Björn Skifs, reaching fifth place in Melodifestivalen 1975, the Swedish qualification competition for the Eurovision Song Contest that year. The song is about trying to call Michelangelo Buonarroti to find out how he made his nice paintings.

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: The pose of Michelangelo's David is unlike that of earlier Renaissance depictions of David. The bronze statues by Donatello and Verrocchio represented the hero standing victorious over the head of Goliath, and the painter Andrea del Castagno had shown the boy in mid-swing, even as Goliath's head rested between his feet,[19] but no earlier Florentine artist had omitted the giant altogether. According to Helen Gardner and other scholars, David is depicted before his battle with Goliath.[20][21] Instead of being shown victorious over a foe much larger than he, David looks tense and ready for combat.

title: The Battle of Anghiari (Leonardo da Vinci)

text: In 1504 Leonardo da Vinci was given the commission by gonfaloniere Piero Soderini, a contract signed by Niccolò Machiavelli, to decorate the Hall of Five Hundred. At the same time his rival Michelangelo, who had just finished his "David", was designated the opposite wall. This was the only time that Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo worked together on the same project. The painting of Michelangelo depicted an episode from the Battle of Cascina, when a group of bathing soldiers was surprised by the enemy. However Michelangelo did not stay in Florence long enough to complete the project. He was able to finish his cartoon, but only began the painting. He was invited back to Rome in 1505 by the newly appointed Pope Julius II and was commissioned to build the Pope's tomb.

title: The Entombment (Michelangelo)

text: There is an anecdote that Michelangelo received a letter from his father saying that he should abandon whatever he was doing because a great piece of marble had arrived for him, which would become his "David" sculpture.

title: David (inspired by Michelangelo)

text: The sculpture is a subject of a 2010 film by Danila Cahen, "Friendly Enemies", and of a 2011 book, "Rise and Fall and Rise of David (inspired by Michelangelo)".

title: Michelangelo

text: In the two frescos of the Pauline Chapel, The Crucifixion of St. Peter and The Conversion of Saul, Michelangelo has used the various groups of figures to convey a complex narrative. In the Crucifixion of Peter soldiers busy themselves about their assigned duty of digging a post hole and raising the cross while various people look on and discuss the events. A group of horrified women cluster in the foreground, while another group of Christians is led by a tall man to witness the events. In the right foreground, Michelangelo walks out of the painting with an expression of disillusionment.

title: El Greco

text: By the time El Greco arrived in Rome, Michelangelo and Raphael were dead, but their example continued to be paramount, and somewhat overwhelming for young painters. El Greco was determined to make his own mark in Rome defending his personal artistic views, ideas and style. He singled out Correggio and Parmigianino for particular praise, but he did not hesitate to dismiss Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel; he extended an offer to Pope Pius V to paint over the whole work in accord with the new and stricter Catholic thinking. When he was later asked what he thought about Michelangelo, El Greco replied that "he was a good man, but he did not know how to paint". And thus we are confronted by a paradox: El Greco is said to have reacted most strongly or even condemned Michelangelo, but he had found it impossible to withstand his influence. Michelangelo's influence can be seen in later El Greco works such as the "Allegory of the Holy League". By painting portraits of Michelangelo, Titian, Clovio and, presumably, Raphael in one of his works ("The Purification of the Temple"), El Greco not only expressed his gratitude but also advanced the claim to rival these masters. As his own commentaries indicate, El Greco viewed Titian, Michelangelo and Raphael as models to emulate. In his 17th century "Chronicles", Giulio Mancini included El Greco among the painters who had initiated, in various ways, a re-evaluation of Michelangelo's teachings.

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: The proportions of the David are atypical of Michelangelo's work; the figure has an unusually large head and hands (particularly apparent in the right hand). The small size of the genitals, though, is in line with his other works and with Renaissance conventions in general, perhaps referencing the ancient Greek ideal of pre-pubescent male nudity. These enlargements may be due to the fact that the statue was originally intended to be placed on the cathedral roofline, where the important parts of the sculpture may have been accentuated in order to be visible from below. The statue is unusually slender (front to back) in comparison to its height, which may be a result of the work done on the block before Michelangelo began carving it.

title: Galleria dell'Accademia

text: The Galleria dell'Accademia has housed the original "David" by Michelangelo since 1873. The sculpture was allegedly brought to the Accademia for reasons of conservation, although other factors were involved in its move from its previous outdoor location on Piazza della Signoria. The original intention was to create a 'Michelangelo museum', with original sculptures and drawings, to celebrate the fourth centenary of the artist's birth. Today, the gallery's small collection of Michelangelo's work includes his four unfinished "Prisoners", intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II, and a statue of Saint Matthew, also unfinished. In 1939, these were joined by a "Pietà" discovered in the Barberini chapel in Palestrina, though experts now consider its attribution to Michelangelo to be dubious.

title: Apollo (Michelangelo)

text: Hallmarks of his style and methods exist on the unfinished work that support the attribution of the statue to Michelangelo. The subject of the unfinished statue was never noted by Michelangelo, however, and contemporary historical sources disagree about the subject. According to Vasari it is an "Apollo", perhaps in the act of taking an arrow from a quiver. In the inventory of Cosimo I of 1553, however, it is identified as, "David", by whoever drew up the historic catalogue. Art critics therefore identify the sculpture as one or the other, or, by showing a hyphenated title, "Apollo-David" or "David-Apollo", to note the uncertainty. Factors favoring the identity as Apollo are: the body is stocky and mature, as Apollo often was portrayed, rather than the typical portrayal of a youthful David; no bow is represented in the carving and, no unfinished portion of the statue allows enough area for one.

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: List of works by Michelangelo List of statues by height

title: David (Bernini)

text: The Baroque saw significant changes in the art of sculpture; Bernini was at the forefront of this. The statues of the Renaissance masters had been strictly frontal, dictating the spectator to view it from one side, and one side only. Bernini's "David" is a three-dimensional work that needs space around it and challenges the viewer to walk around it, in order to contemplate its changing nature depending on the angle from which it is seen. The sculpture relates to an unseen entity – in the form of Goliath, the object of David's aggression – as well as to the spectator, caught in the middle of the conflict. The warrior even literally oversteps the boundaries between life and art, putting his toes over the edge of the plinth. The conventions of time, as well as space, were challenged. Instead of the serene constancy of, for example, Michelangelo's "David", Bernini has chosen to capture a fraction of time in the course of a continuous movement. Thus the latent energy that permeates Michelangelo's "David" is here in the process of being unleashed.

title: David (Michelangelo)

text: Coonin, A. Victor, From Marble to Flesh: The Biography of Michelangelo’s David, Florence: The Florentine Press, 2014. ISBN9788897696025. Hall, James, Michelangelo and the Reinvention of the Human Body New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. Hartt, Frederick, Michelangelo: the complete sculpture, New York: Abrams Books,1982. Hibbard, Howard. Michelangelo, New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Hirst Michael, “Michelangelo In Florence: David In 1503 and Hercules In 1506,” The Burlington Magazine, 142 (2000): 487–492. Hughes, Anthony, Michelangelo, London: Phaidon Press, 1997. Levine, Saul, "The Location of Michelangelo's David: The Meeting of January 25, 1504", The Art Bulletin, 56 (1974): 31–49. Pope-Hennessy, John, Italian High Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture. London: Phaidon, 1996. Seymour, Charles, Jr. Michelangelo's David: a search for identity (Mellon Studies in the Humanities), Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1967. Vasari, Giorgio, The Lives of the Artists (Penguin Books), “Life of Michelangelo”, pp.325–442.

title: Separation of Light from Darkness

text: At the center of the composition, God is shown in "contrapposto" rising into the sky, with arms outstretched separating the light from the darkness. Michelangelo employed in this fresco the challenging ceiling fresco technique of "sotto in su" ("from below, upward"), which makes a figure appear as if it is rising above the viewer by using foreshortening. The contrapposto pose was also used by Michelangelo in the "David". It is reported that Michelangelo painted this fresco in a single "giornata", that is, a single working day of approximately eight hours. During Michelangelo's lifetime, this fresco was considered evidence of the painter's technical prowess at its peak. For instance, Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574), Michelangelo's student and biographer, wrote in 1550:

title: Michelangelo

text: at the Encyclopædia Britannica at Project Gutenberg at Internet Archive at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project How to decide if a drawing is by Michelangelo.

title: Piazzale Michelangelo

text: The square, dedicated to the Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo, has bronze copies of some of his marble works found elsewhere in Florence: the David and the four allegories of the Medici Chapel of San Lorenzo. The monument was brought up by nine pairs of oxen on 25 June 1873.