2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids

he bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups was the process by which the locations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups were selected. The process began officially in March 2009; eleven bids from thirteen countries were received, including one which was withdrawn and one that was rejected before FIFA's executive committee voted in November 2010. Two of the remaining nine bids applied only to the 2022 World Cup, while the rest were applications, initially, for both. Over the course of the bidding, all non-European bids for the 2018 event were withdrawn, resulting in the exclusion of all European bids from consideration for the 2022 edition. By the time of the decision, bids for the 2018 World Cup consisted of a joint bid from Belgium and Netherlands, England, a joint bid from Portugal and Spain, and Russia, while bids for the 2022 World Cup came from Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, and the United States. Indonesia's bid was disqualified for lack of governmental support. Mexico withdrew its bid due to financial reasons.

The bidding process was also subject to controversy. Two members of the FIFA executive committee had their voting rights suspended following allegations that they would accept money in exchange for votes. England and Russia's respective bids also were subject to controversy following an official complaint based upon FIFA's rules regarding talking about rival bidders, though the complaint was withdrawn following Russia's apology.

On 2 December 2010, Russia and Qatar were selected as the locations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups respectively.

Background

In October 2007, FIFA ended its continental rotation policy. Instead countries that are members of the same confederation as either of the last two tournament hosts are ineligible, leaving Africa ineligible for 2018 and South America ineligible for both 2018 and 2022.Other factors in the selection process include the number of suitable stadiums, and their location across candidate nations. Voting is done using a multiple round exhaustive ballot system whereby the candidate receiving the fewest votes in each round is eliminated until a single candidate is chosen by the majority.

Rotation policy

Following the selection of the 2006 World Cup hosts, FIFA had decided on a policy for determining the hosts of future editions. The six world confederations—roughly corresponding to continents—would rotate in their turn of providing bids, for a specific edition, from within their member national associations. This system was used only for the selection of the 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 World Cup (Brazil) hosts, open only to CAF and CONMEBOL members, respectively.

In September 2007, the rotation system came under review, and a new system was proposed which renders ineligible for bidding only the last two World Cup host confederations.This proposal was adopted on 29 October 2007, in Zürich, Switzerland by FIFA's Executive Committee. Under this policy, a 2018 bid could have come from North America, Asia, Europe, or Oceania, as Africa and South America are ineligible. Likewise, no CONMEBOL member could have made a 2022 bid, and candidates from the same confederation as the successful 2018 applicant will be disregarded in the 2022 selection procedure.

The United States, the last non-European candidate in the 2018 bidding cycle, withdrew its bid for that year; hence the 2018 tournament would have to be held in Europe. This in turn means that South America and Europe were ineligible for 2022.

Freestyle football

Freestyle football, also known as freestyle soccer in North America, is the art of expressing yourself with a football, while performing various tricks with any part of the body. Similar in style to keepie uppie and kemari, it has become a widespread sport across the world and is practised by many people.

Increase in popularity
Freestyle football has existed since the early 1900s, but it has seen a surge in popularity as a result of global advertising campaigns and digital media sharing. In the early 21st century, Nike began an advertising campaign which relied heavily on the freestyle form of football, including video clips of freestyle performances. The videos are called Joga Bonito which means "play Beautifully." These advertisements featured famous players such as Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Edgar Davids. Many link such mass media attention to the start of the freestyle craze. In the YouTube era, however, many previously non-famous players have risen to prominence, and internet searches easily yield thousands of videos by amateur "freestylers" around the world.

Some of the more notable freestylers include: Hee Young Woo (Mr. Woo) of South Korea, Victor Rubilar, Four time Guinness World Record Holder[3] and John Farnworth, who appeared in Britain's Got Talent in 2009. s Some of the most notable women in the sport are Mélody Donchet and Indi Cowie. Sweden, United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Norway, France, Hungary and Poland are considered the best countries in the world regarding freestyle football.

Freestyle has also become very popular in South America, with countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Chile forming freestyle crews of dozens or even hundreds of freestylers, some of the most important Latin Freestylers are Charly Iacono who got to the Semi finals of "Talento Argentino" a Argentinian talent show, John Acquaviva who inaugurated the first ever freestyle academy in Venezuela, and Cristian "Rocky" Mayorga who came third in the South Africa 2010 Red Bull Street Style world finals.

Indian Premier League

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), headquartered in Mumbai.0 teams consisting of players from around the world. It was started after an altercation between the BCCI and the Indian Cricket League
.
First season-The inaugural season of the tournament started on 18 April 2008 and lasted for 46 days with 59 matches scheduled,
Second season-The 2009 season coincided with the General Elections in India. Owing to concerns regarding players' security, the venue was shifted to South Africa.
Third season-The third season opened in January 2010 with the auction for players. 66 players were on offer but only 11 players were sold. In this season, Deccan Chargers did not play at their preferred home location of Hyderabad, India due to the ongoing political crisis in the Telangana region .
Forth season-On 21 March 2010, it was announced in Chennai that two new teams from Pune and Kochi will be added to the IPL for the fourth season. However, the bid around the Kochi franchisee turned controversial resulting in the resignation of minister, Shashi Tharoor from the Central Government and investigations by various departments of the Government of India into the financial dealings of IPL and the other existing franchisees.

Watched by a 30,000 crowd, the 34-year-old striker came on for the last 15 minutes of the match with the home side already ahead through a goal from Fred after 21 minutes and he had several goal chances in that time.

“I had three goal opportunities but did not manage to score which would have been a nice present to give back to those who gave me so much,” he said afterwards to fans in a chilly Pacaembu stadium.

Fred’s match-winning goal was set up by the latest Brazilian golden boy Neymar, who has been linked to a move into the English Premier League.

Ronaldo announced his retirement in February citing recurring injury and health problems.

During a glittering 14-year spell in Europe, Ronaldo scored goals at a prolific rate for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan, before returning to Brazil in 2009.

He won the World Cup with Brazil as a youngster in 1994 and then in 2002 and became the leading scorer in World Cup finals tournaments when he scored his 15th goal at the 2006 tournament in Germany.

He was twice named European Footballer of the Year, in 1997 and 2002, FIFA world footballer of the year in 1996, 1997 and 2002 and finished his international career with 62 goals in 97 appearances.

Ronaldo History

PSV paid a then record fee of 4 million for the prodigiously talented teenager who
was an unused member of Brazil's 1994 World Cup winning squad.

After averaging a goal a game in the Dutch league Barcelona won a fierce battle with
Inter over Ronaldo's signature. An amazing start to his Spanish career saw him collect
the first of his FIFA and World Soccer player awards. He finished La Liga top scorer,
scored the winning goal for Barcelona in the Cup Winners Cup final and also scored
in the Copa America final for Brazil.
1 year after missing out on his signature, Inter snatched him away from Barca by
paying the 19 million buy out clause in his contract,

Ronaldo completed an unwanted hat-trick of second place finishes following a hugely
controversial defeat against Juventus.
Clearly established as the best player in the World Ronaldo lived up to the hype at
the 1998 World Cup. He was outstanding as both goalscorer and goal maker as Brazil
marched relentlessly towards a record fifth World Cup with victories over Denmark
and Holland in classic encounters. Ronaldo's name didn't appear on Brazil's initial
team sheet for the final against France. Rumours that the striker had suffered a
convulsive fit on the eve of the finals were later confirmed. A lethargic Ronaldo
watched on helplessly as hosts France thrashed them to win their first ever World Cup.

Ronaldo ended a frustrating, injury plagued 1998-1999 campaign on a high note by
helping Brazil retain the Copa America. He ruptured a tendon in his right knee in
November and lasted six minutes into his comeback in an Italian Cup tie against
Lazio. Lazio proved to be the striker's bogey club. After missing almost two years
with injury Ronaldo returned to action in 2002. Inter needed victory away to Lazio to
win the championship. They were crushed 4-2 and Ronaldo left the pitch in tears after
being substituted late in the second half.

Ronaldo would cry tears of joy in the World Cup that summer. Champions France and
arch rivals Argentina fell in the first round and Brazil took full advantage of a weak
field to win a fifth World Cup, Ronaldo scored both goals in the final against Germany.

An unhappy five year stay in Italy ended with a move to Real Madrid. An overweight
Ronaldo was pillared by the Spanish press following indifferent form but finally came
good in the second half of the season as Real made up for a champions league exit at
the hands of Juventus to win the Spanish championship, his first ever league title.

Knee injuries have robbed 'Il Fenomeno'' of his astonishing pace but he still remains
one of the deadliest strikers in the game. Despite poor performances in the 2006
World Cup he managed to break Gerd Muller's record as all time leading scorer
in the competition with 15 goals and has already established himself as one of
the all time greats.

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. Each player begins the game with sixteen pieces: One king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. Pieces move in different assigned ways according to their type, and accordingly are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to move or defend it.

Games of chess begin according to either standard (studied in-depth) or non-standard openings, in which the purpose is the development of pieces —moving them into positions where they can be effective. Moves are chosen with offensive and defensive considerations, according to a strategy of attack, or to respond to urgent threats. Throughout the game, players seek to set up and execute exchanges of pieces which gain the advantage in terms of piece value or board position (for example, one may exchange a knight for a knight plus a pawn). At critical stages, winning often requires solving unique or clever situations or puzzles. In addition to checkmate, games may be won by resignation, if too much material has been lost, or if one's position is severely compromised and a checkmate appears unavoidable. Strong players are those who have studied game openings and have developed the skills of depth and insight in their reading of the game position. Theoreticians have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the game's inception.

The game's present form emerged in Europe during the second half of the 15th century, an evolution of an older Indian game, Shatranj (cf. Chaturanga). Organized competitive chess began during the 16th century. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; the current World Champion is Viswanathan Anand from India. In addition to the World Championship, there is the Women's World Championship, the Junior World Championship, the World Senior Championship, the Correspondence Chess World Championship, the World Computer Chess Championship, and Blitz and Rapid World Championships (see fast chess). The Chess Olympiad is a popular competition among teams from different nations. Online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players. Chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee, and international chess competition is sanctioned by the FIDE. Chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments. Some other popular forms of chess are fast chess and computer chess. There are many chess variants that have different rules, different pieces, and different boards. These variants include blindfold chess and Fischer Random Chess/Chess960.

Computers have been used for many years to create chess-playing programs, and their abilities and insights have contributed significantly to modern chess theory. One, Deep Blue, was the first machine to overcome a reigning World Chess Champion in playing ability when it defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997.

Wrestling

Wrestling is a martial art[citation needed] that uses grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two (occasionally more) competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position. There are a wide range of styles with varying rules with both traditional historic and modern styles. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into other martial arts as well as military hand-to-hand combat systems.Wrestling is one of the oldest forms of combat with references to it as early as the Iliad, in which Homer recounts the Trojan War in the 13th or 12th century BC.[3] The origins of wrestling can be traced back 15,000 years through cave drawings in France. Babylonian and Egyptian relief's show wrestlers using most of the holds known to the present-day sport. In ancient Greece, wrestling occupied a prominent place in legend and literature; wrestling competition, brutal in many aspects, was the number one sport of the Olympic Games. The ancient Romans borrowed heavily from Greek wrestling, but eliminated much of its brutality.

During the Middle Ages (fifth century to fifteenth century) wrestling remained popular and enjoyed the patronage of many royal families, including those of France, Japan, and England.

Early Americans brought a strong wrestling tradition with them when they came from England. The settlers also found wrestling to be popular among Native Americans. Amateur wrestling flourished throughout the early years of the country and served as a popular activity at country fairs, holiday celebrations, and in military exercises. The 1st organized national wrestling tournament was held in New York City in 1888, while the 1st wrestling competition in the modern Olympic Games was held in 1904 in Saint Louis, Missouri. FILA was founded in 1912, in Antwerp, Belgium. The 1st NCAA Wrestling Championships were also held in 1912, in Ames, Iowa. USA Wrestling, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, became the national governing body of amateur wrestling in 1983. It conducts competitions for all age levels.