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After every World Cup final tournament, FIFA awards both players and teams who have made a mark in various aspects of the game. These are some of the six most coveted and recognized awards in the world of soccer.

The Golden Ball – Popularly known as the Adidas Golden Ball, it is given to the best player in the World Cup final. FIFA’s technical committee draws up a shortlist and the winner is chosen by the media. The runners-up receive the Adidas Silver Ball and Bronze Ball. Soccer legends who have won The Golden Ball are Didi, Garrincha, Bobby Charlton, Pelé, Johan Cruyff, Mario Kempes, Paolo Rossi, Maradona, Salvatore Schillaci, Romário, Ronaldo, Oliver Kahn and Zidane.

The Golden Shoe – Also called the Golden Boot, it has been renamed the Adidas Golden Shoe since 1982. This award for the top goal scorer goes back to 1930. The 1994 World Cup saw Silver and Bronze Shoes being added in recognition of the second and third best scorers in the tournament. Past Golden Shoe winners are Just Fontaine, Eusébio, soccer uniforms 10 Gerd Müller, Mario Kempes, Paolo Rossi, Gary Lineker, Salvatore Schillaci, Ronaldo and Miroslav Klose.

The Yashin Award for Best Goalkeeper – First awarded in 1994, this award is named in honor of the late USSR goalkeeper, Lev Yashin. The top goalkeeper is selected on the basis of his performance throughout the final competition. Even though goalkeepers have this award, they are also eligible for the Golden Ball. Oliver Kahn won this honor in the 2002 World Cup. Other Yashin Award winners Fabien Barthez and Gianluigi Buffon.

The Gillette Best Young Player – This Award goes to the best player under the age of 21. Started as late as 2006, that year’s award was won by Lukas Podolski. In order to choose the best young player between 1958 and 2002, FIFA undertook an Internet survey. Pele won with 61% of the votes.

The FIFA Fair Play Trophy – This trophy has been around since 1970 and goes to the team with the best record of fair play. It is different from the FIFA Fair Play Award. Teams that qualify for the second round get considered for this Trophy, which entitles them to the Fair Play Trophy, a diploma, a medal for each player and official, as well as $50,000 worth of soccer equipment for youth development. Though the award was originally a certificate, it was later based on the soccer crazy cartoon character, Sport Billy. Recently, the character was changed to a footballer’s figure. Peru won the first FIFA Fair Play trophy back in 1970, while Brazil and Spain both won the 2006 Trophy.

The Most Entertaining Team – This award is decided by the public through a poll. It was first awarded in 1994 with Brazil winning the honor. Recent awards have been based on Internet votes, earning the criticism of not representing the fan base accurately. Other teams to have won this award are France, Korea Republic and Portugal.

Are you totally ignorant about football? Know nothing about the beautiful game? With the 2010 Fifa World Cup just round the corner, here you 3 of the biggest names on show. Learn them and not be left out of the conversation.

1) Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is the 2009 European and World Footballer of the Year and one of the most skillful footballers in the world. Only 22, his dribbling skills have earned him comparisons with the great Diego Maradona. Messi has just completed a fantastic season for Barcelona, helping them retain the league title. Many fans feel that it’s a matter of time before Messi is elevated to the true greats of football, joining the likes of Pele and Maradona. However, in order to reach such heights, Messi must first win the World Cup. Will he be able to do so in South Africa this June? Messi has never been able to replicate his form for Argentina but is well poised to do so in the grandest stage of all.

2) Cristiano Ronaldo

Love him or hate him, Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most well known footballers today. Ronaldo shot to fame with his transfer to Manchester United in 2003 and won the coveted Champions League with the Red Devils in 2008. A dazzling dribber, Ronaldo is also an accomplished scorer and header of the ball. The 2009 World Player of the Year, Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid in 2009 for a world record 80 million pounds and narrowly missed out on the league title with his new club. The biggest star in a skill Portuguese team, Ronaldo is already assured of his place as one of the greatest footballers of all time.

3) Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney, only 24, is England’s biggest star. His rise has been meteoric, becoming the youngest player to score in the Premier League in 2002, breaking Arsenal’s then unbeaten spell. His subsequent transfer from Everton to Manchester United has seen him pick up numerous accolades such as the 2010 Players’ Player of the Year. Known for this aggressive running and never say die attitude, Rooney has had his best season so far and is so important to England that then manager Sven Goran Eriksson took him to the 2006 World Cup even though he wasn’t fully fit. Having tarnished his last World Cup appearance by getting sent off against Portugal for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho, Rooney has improved his temperament and is in good form for the World Cup.

Welcome to Haiti– The Black Pearl of the World!

Geography

The modern republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located on the island of Hispaniola (Caribbean, Americas). Geographically, Haiti is the 147th largest country on Earth, ahead of Israel, Puerto Rico and Qatar.

Haiti & Canada

Born-Haitian Michaëlle Jean has become Governor General of Canada, who represents Queen Elizabeth as the country’s Head of State, since September 2005. Prior to being named Governor General, she was a television journalist from Quebec, Canada. She was born in Port-au Prince on September 6, 1957.

History

On January 4, 1804, the Republic of Haiti wrote one of the most important chapters in history when it became the first black nation on Earth, after a Revolution led by Toussaint L’ Ouverture, today one of the national heroes on Haiti. In addition to being the world’s first black republic, the island of Haiti is the first independent country in Latin America, well ahead of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.

Modern History

On March 3, 1990, Ertha Pascal-Trouillot made international headlines when she was named Head of State of Haiti, becoming one of the first female leaders in the Caribbean. Hailing from Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital, Pascal-Trouillot was one of the few black women Presidents in the 20th Century.

Olympic Sport

Against all odds, the Haitian Shooting Team captured the bronze medal at the 1924 Summer Olympic Games in Paris (France), winning the admiration and respect of many people around the world. Due to this notable performance, the island finished 23rd in the medal count, together with Japan, Portugal, New Zealand and Romania. The Olympic medallists were Ludovic Augustin, L. H. Clermont, Destin Destine, C. Dupre, Eloi Metullus, Astrel Rolland and Ludovic Valborge.

Painting

Haiti is well-known for its outstanding painters since the second half of the 20th century. Despite its difficult history and poverty, the Caribbean island -among the least-developed nations in the Third World– has produced notable artists such as Rigaud Benoit, Wilson Bigaud, Castera Bazile, Jacques Enguerrand Gourgue, Hector Hyppolite, Philomé Obin and Louverture Poison, among others painters. In December 1945, the Haitian paintings had captured the attention of Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism. The Haitian paintings, on the other hand, are in great demand among tourists.

World Heritage Sites

Touristically, the National Historic Park is one of the most beautiful places on Haiti. It was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO since the early 1980s; one of the first in the Caribbean. This amazing park is made up of three Haitian monuments: Citadel, San Souci and Ramiers. These sites were built when Haiti became the first black republic in the world. On January 4, 1954, America’s performer Mariam Anderson sang at Sans Souci Palace.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Cocaine was the drug used by the disgraced Cuban sportsman Javier Sotomayor Sanabria, who has been known for his stunning disqualification from the 1999 Pan American Games in Canada. After a failed drug test and an investigation, the ODEPA (Pan-American Sports Organization), ordered Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor Sanabria to return the gold medal he won in the high jump. He said, «I have only seen that substance in the movies. I am the victim of a maneuver, a dirty trick».

DID YOU KNOW THAT… The most famous Sudanese athlete in history, Yamilé Aldama was born in Havana, Cuba. Yamilé Aldama is a Sudanese athlete specializes in the triple jump and long jump. She represented Cuba until 2003 (Pan American Games and World Championships). After she became a Sudanese citizen. Sudan is one of the most poorest black African countries…

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Cuba sent only 7 athletes to the 2007 World University Games in Thailand, heeding Fidel Castro´s fears about future defections…Cuban delegation had athletes competing in two olympic sports: judo (yanelis Mestre and Kaliema Antomadim) and track and field(Andy Gonzáez, Yarianna Martínez,Yenimar Arencibia and Alexei Chivas). Overall, the Cuban team finished 40th place, after the Peoples´s Republic of China, Great Britain, South Korea, Thailand, Germany, United States, Taiwan, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, Iran, Australia, Belarus, Mexico, Turkey, Austria, Poland, Hungary, North Korea, Czech Republic, Morocco, Lithuania, Switzerland, Finland, France, Ukraine, Brazil, Romania, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Cyprus, Ireland, Latvia, Slovenia, Egypt, Mongolia and Portugal.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… For political reasons, Cuba boycotted the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Like Czechoslovakia (currently Czech Republic), Hungary, Poland,East Germany (currently Germany), Bulgaria, North Korea and the USSR, Cuba boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles(Unites States). Some Cuban sportspersons -sprinter Sylvio Leonard, runner Alberto Juantorena, boxer Juan Hernández, hurdler Alejandro Casañas, volleyball players Mireya Luis Hernández, Mercedes «Mamita» Pérez, Mercedes Pomares, Imilcis Téllez, Josefina Capote, and Leonel Marshall-lost their olympic opportunities.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Niurka Montalvo is a Spanish long jumper. She was born on June 4, 1968 in Havana, Cuba. Like Magaly Esther Carvajal Rivera (volleyball player), Ivan Pérez Vargas (water polo player), Joan Lino Martínez (long jumper) and Rolando Uríos (handball player), she became a Spanish citizen in 1999.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… In the 1940s and 1950s, baseball became the most popular sport in Cuba, thanks to such heroes as Adolfo Luque, Sandalio Consuegra, Conrado Marrera and Orestes Miñoso.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Cuba hosted the 2nd Baseball World Cup in 1939. The Cuban team won the championship, with Nicaragua second and the United States taking third…

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Between February 25 and March 9,1951, the Cuban delegation participated in the First Pan American Games held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, winning 7 gold, 8 silver, and 10 bronze medals. Overall the Cuban team ranked fourth, after Argentina, United States, and Chile.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… From 1900 to 1958, Cuba had great athletes: Rafael Fortún (track and field), Angel García (track and field), Bertha Díaz (track and field), Margaret Chapman (diving), Ricardo Morales (tennis), Raul Capablanca (chess) and Ramón Fonst (fencing).

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Lissethe Bustamante, a Cuban journalist and witer, known for her interviews with Fidel Castro has alleged that she was raped by olympic champion Teofilo Stevenson in 1984.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… For political reasons, Cuba will not send a boxing team to the World Cup in the United States.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… The 1991 Pan American Games were held in Havana, Cuba, between August 2 and August 18, with 39 countries participating. The 1991 Pan American Games were a huge source of pride for Fidel Castro Ruz.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Between August 25 and September 2, 2007, the Cuban delegation participated in the World Track and Field Championships in Osaka,Japan. Overall, the Cuban delegation ranked 11th place, after the United States, Kenya (Africa), Russia, Ethiopia (Africa), Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, Jamaica (Caribbean), Bahamas (Caribbean), Great Britain and Belarus.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… In 1987,Cuba did not compete at the Women´s World Junior Volleyball Championships in Seoul (South Korea). The reason: There was not diplomatic relations between Cuba and South Korea.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… In the 1970s, Alberto Juantorena, a famous Cuban runner, was coached by Zygmunt Zabierzowski, who was born in Poland. Under the leadership of Zygmunt Zabierzowski, Alberto Juantorena won two gold medals at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… For political reasons, Cuba did not send a baseball team to the 27th Baseball World Cup in South Korea in 1982.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Along with North Korea, Seychelles, Albania, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Nicaragua, Cuba boycotted the 1988 Olympic Games in South Korea.

FIFA World Cup 2018: Russia

After a waiting of a long time of four years, it’s time once more to prepare our voice for an insufficient days of yelling at TV monitor. FIFA World Cup 2018 frights in Moscow on 14th June. The match will get 32 countries scuffle to choose who will boost golden crown. Since the previous World Cup was observed by around 3200 million people – that’s nearly half of the sphere’s entire people – this significant event that is humbly not possible to overlook.

Hosting country of FIFA World Cup 2018

For the first time Russia hosting the tournament of. The competitions will occur in twelve stadiums, circulated across eleven cities. Russia is a massive country, thus almost all of the tournaments will play in cities to the country’s west to reduce transportable time among matches for supporters and teams. Despite that, the distance among the host cities nearly be about 2400 kilometers. That’s around the same space as between London and Moscow.

Group Stage of FIFA World Cup 2018

Group Stage denotes the first two weeks of match. The 32 challenging countries have been distributed into 8 groups. Each country perform a match beside the 3 other challenger in their group. For this phase, any team can success, fail or draw any match. As a results of these competitions, the next round will find two challenger from each group.

Round of 16 of FIFA World Cup 2018

When the Group Stage comes to end, the rest matches plays as a knockout stage. It means it is single probable to win or else lose a competition. If the result of 90 minutes is come to draw, the competition goes to additional time of 30 minutes or else even a tiebreaker shootout. The initial phase of the knockout stage is named as round of 16 and in which the qualified team as of the Group Stage perform against each other. It chooses which eight teams qualified for the finals.

2018 FIFA World Cup Russia finals

On July 6 and 7, the match of quarter-finals will come to pass. From the qualified 8 teams, the 4 winning teams will qualified for the semi-finals. At last, on 15 July, two remaining challenger will run through the final match in Moscow.

Experts’ opinion in FIFA World Cup 2018

Obviously, everybody has their beloved team that they want them to win. But specialists agree for some teams that have a predictable chance. Germany were the previous World Cup winner. They are quiet at the highest of FIFA global positions and many people wish that they might win the Cup again. Another team that have a good opportunities is Brazil. With 5 previous FIFA winner, the most popular team of the tournament in the history is Brazil and might be capable to win again. Further expected teams are France, Spain and Argentina.

FIFA World Cup 2018 Superstar players

All focus will be on soccer’s biggest heroes: Lionel Andres Messi captain of Argentina on the other hand Cristiano Ronaldo captain of Portugal. In spite of their many achievements for the Spanish league, other player hasn’t ever raised the award. Both of them are in their 30s, probably this might be their last opportunities. Beside them there to watch the Egyptian player Mohamed Salah, who has counted so several goals for the UK club Liverpool present time. The highest scorer of World Cup 2014 was James Rodriguez player of Colombia, who is willing to amaze fans once again.The Brazilians star player Neymar who will have improved from a newly injury.

In my opinion about FIFA World Cup 2018

With so much superstars, there’s no suspicion that FIFA 2018 is going for an international fascination in this month of June-July. So confirm you are watching. And if you are included one of the prosperous of the 32 challenging nations, then best of luck!

1966 was a the greatest year for English football, after being selected to host the World Cup Finals and England proceeded to win the competition for the first and only time by beating West Germany 4-2 in the Final in front of 100,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

The World Cup Final was a glorious occasion marked by a hat-trick scored by Geoff Hurst, who scored two of his goals in extra time to seal England’s victory.

English fans are passionate about football and their national team and long for the day when the team will lift the World Cup again, there have been eleven World Cups since England’s famous victory in 1966, and by the time of the next World Cup Finals in Brazil in 2014, it will have been 48 years since England won the trophy.

The 1970 World Cup saw England attempt to defend their trophy in Mexico, but lost in the Quarter Final stage in a re-match of the 1966 Final with West Germany, who this time overcame a 2-0 England lead to win 3-2 after extra time and bring an end to England’s reign as World Champions.

England failed to qualify for the 1974 finals, after being drawn with Poland and Wales in a qualifying group of three teams. England’s only victory was a 1-0 away win over Wales, but home draws and a 2-0 defeat by Poland sealed their fate, as Poland qualified for the World Cup Finals in West Germany, as the group winners.

Qualification for the 1978 finals again ended in disappointment, as England were grouped with Italy, Finland and Luxembourg, and despite only losing one qualifying game and finishing the group on level points, Italy qualified as group winners with a superior goal difference.

In 1982 the World Cup Finals were held in Spain and England now under the management of Ron Greenwood qualified for the finals for the first time since 1970. The competition was organised into two group stages, with England beating France, Czechoslovakia and Kuwait to top the group and qualify for the next group stage which saw them play Germany and Spain, in which England drew 0-0 with both teams, but as Germany beat Spain 2-1 and top the group which qualified them for the semi finals and England were eliminated, ironically having not lost a single game in the Finals.

The 1986 finals will always be remembered by England fans for one of the worlds’ greatest players and one of the most talked about goals in World Cup history. England had started the group stage poorly as they lost 1-0 to Portugal and were then held to a 0-0 draw by Morocco, however they secured their passage to the next stage with a 3-0 victory over Poland, thanks to a first-half hat-trick from Gary Lineker.

As the competition entered the knock-out stages, England were drawn against Paraguay, and an impressive 3-0 victory set up a quarter final tie with Argentina, an entertaining game turned to controversy after 51 minutes when in an aerial challenge for the ball with England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, Diego Maradona actually punched the ball into the goal to give Argentina a 1-0 lead. Amazingly the goal was given, Maradona later claiming goal was thanks to ‘the hand of God’

Three minutes later Maradona scored a brilliant goal as he ran with the ball from his own half, beating several England players and scoring to give Argentina a 2-0 lead. Gary Lineker scored a consolation goal to make the score 2-1 but Argentina held on for victory and then went onto win the competition.

Italy hosted the 1990 World Cup Finals, which was yet again to end in disappointment for England, who were grouped with the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Egypt, amazingly all the games were drawn apart from England’s 1-0 victory over Egypt which saw them top the group and progress to the next round England beat Belgium 1-0 after extra time and progressed to the quarter-finals were England faced Cameroon winning 3-2 after extra-time after Gary Lineker scored two penalties in the match.

The 1990 World Cup Semi-Final was between England and now arch rivals West Germany, after a 1-1 draw, the game was famously decided on penalties which Germany won 4-3. In the 3rd place play-off game England lost 2-1 to Italy to finish 4th, their highest placing since 1966.

In 1994 England failed to qualify for the finals in the USA, and it was 1998 that saw them reach the finals held in France, hope were high after reaching the semi-finals of Euro ’96 and winning their qualifying group. A 2-1 defeat to Romania meant second place in the group stage and a tough match against Argentina in the first knock-out stage. Penalties proved to be England’s nemesis again after the match finished 2-2, England lost 4-3 on penalties and were on their way home once more.

The 2002 competition took place in Korea and Japan and the so called ‘group of death’ with rivals Argentina, Sweden and Nigeria, England finished second in the group, but did beat Argentina 1-0 to avenge the penalty defeat in 1998. After beating Denmark 3-0 in the next round a quarter-final against Brazil resulted in a disappointing 2-1 defeat and more World Cup woes.

2006 saw England lose out on penalties yet again, this time to Portugal after a 0-0 draw in the quarter finals, by three penalties to one scored by England.

Hopes were again high for the 2010 Cup in South Africa after a good qualifying campaign, but a poor showing and a narrow 1-0 victory over Slovenia, saw them progress from the group stage, only to be beaten 4-1 by Germany in the next round, no penalties were required this time.

The long wait for England’s World Cup success continues, but each competition brings new hope for all the long suffering English fans.