El Balón Oficial de la Copa América 2011

Este es el balón oficial de la Copa América,  se llama Tracer Doma y es de Nike.

This is the official ball for the Copa America,  it is called Tracer Doma and is made by Nike.

A First For Athletic Bilbao's Long Standing Policy

Athletic Bilbao are one of the most successful clubs in Spanish history, only Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are ranked above them in the historical classification of La Liga. Athletic Bilbao (along with Real Madrid and Barcelona) have also never been relegated from the Spanish top flight.

 

An interesting fact about Athletic Bilbao is that all the players they use are from the Greater Basque Country. To all you non-geographers out there the Greater Basque country consists of 7 regions.  4 in Spain: Vizcaya, Álava, Guipúzcoa and Navarra. And 3 in Southern France: Baja Navarra, Labort and Sola.



    Above names are in Euskera (Basque).    Greater Basque Country's location within Europe

 Athletic Club play their home matches in the San Mamés stadium located in Bilbao - the largest city in the Greater Basque Country, it is situated in the province of Vizcaya. The Greater Basque Country has a population of about 3 million people and Vizcaya's is about 1.15 million . 

On the 2/3/11 in their game away at Real Zaragoza, Athletic Bilbao made history as it was the first time that they have ever fielded a side, including substitutes which contained no Vizcainos (the demonym of Vizcaya).
Source : 2010MisterChip (Twitter username) 

The team was as follows:

Goalkeeper

Name: Gorka Iraizoz

DOB: 06/03/81

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Defenders

Name: Andoni Iraola

DOB: 22/06/82

From: Usúrbil, Guizpúzcoa (Gipuzkoa)

Name: Mikel San José

DOB:  30/05/89

From: Villava, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Name: Borja Ekiza

DOB:  06/03/88

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Name: Mikel Balenziaga

DOB:  29/02/88

From: Zumárraga, Guizpúzcoa (Gipuzkoa)

Midfielders

Name: Pablo Orbaiz

DOB: 06/02/79

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Name: Igor Gabilondo

DOB: 10/02/79

From: San Sebastián, Guizpúzcoa (Gipuzkoa)

Name: Markel Susaeta

DOB: 14/09/87

From: Éibar, Guizpúzcoa (Gipuzkoa)

Name: Javi Martínez

DOB: 02/09/88

From: Ayegui, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Strikers

 Name: Gaizka Toquero

DOB: 09/08/84

From: Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava (Araba)

Name: Fernando Llorente

DOB: 26/02/85

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Subs Used

 Name: Iñigo Pérez

DOB: 18/01/88

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Name: David López

DOB: 10/09/82

From: Logroño, La Rioja (Product of CA Osasuna's Youth Setup)

Name: Iker Muniain

DOB: 19/12/92

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Gaucho Catania

Take a look at the line-up below.

Potential Starting XI for Catania

What do all the players have in common? They're Argentinian... sure, you could be forgiven for thinking that this could be their B or C team. More curiously however, is that they all play for Calcio Catania in Serie A.

Catania must be one of the very few European teams able to field 11 players from the same foreign country. What is more, the manager is Diego Pablo Simeone, once the most capped player for Argentina. There is even a few players left over for substitutes.

Goalkeeper

Name: Mariano Andújar. 

DOB: 30/07/83

Previous Clubs: Huracán, Palermo (Loan), Estudiantes.

International Appearances: 4

Defenders

Name: Nicolás Spolli 

DOB: 20/02/83

Previous Clubs: Newell's Old Boys

International Appearances: 0

Name: Matías Silvestre

DOB: 25/09/84

Previous Clubs: Boca Juniors

International Appearances: 0

Name: Pablo Álvarez

DOB: 17/04/84

Previous Clubs: Boca Juniors, Estudiantes, Rosario Central (Loan)

International Appearances: 0

Midfielders

Name: Ezequiel Carboni 

DOB: 04/04/79

Previous Clubs: Lanús, Red Bull Salzburg

International Appearances: 0

Name: Cristian Llama

DOB: 26/06/86

Previous Clubs: Arsenal de Sarandí, Newell's Old Boys (Loan)

International Appearances: 0

Name: Pablo Ledesma

DOB: 04/02/84

Previous Clubs: Talleres, Boca Juniors

International Appearances: 2

Name: Mariano Izco

DOB: 13/03/83

Previous Clubs: San Telmo, Club Almagro, Tigre

International Appearances: 0

Name: Alejandro Gómez

DOB: 15/02/88

Previous Clubs: Arsenal de Sarandí, San Lorenzo (Loan)

International Appearances: Capped at U-20 level.

Strikers

Name: Maxi López

DOB: 03/04/84

Previous Clubs: River Plate, Barcelona, Mallorca (Loan), FC Moscow, Gremio (Loan)

International Appearances: Capped at U17 and  U20 level.

Name: Gonzalo Bergessio

DOB: 20/07/84

Previous Clubs: Platense, Instituto, Racing Avellaneda, Benfica, San Lorenzo, Saint-Étienne

International Appearances: Capped at U17 and  U20 level.

Manager

Name: Diego Simeone

DOB: 28/04/70

Previous Clubs: Véléz Sársfield, Pisa, Sevilla, Atlético Madrid, Inter, Lazio, Atlético Madrid, Racing Club

International Appearances: 106 (11 goals)

Subs

Name: Adrián Ricchuiti

DOB: 30/06/78

Previous Clubs: Ternana, Genoa, Carpi, Pistoiese, Livorno, Arezzo, Rimini

International Appearances: 0

Name: Ezequiel Schelotto

DOB: 23/05/89

Previous Clubs: Cesena, Atalanta, Cesena (Loan)

International Appearances: 0

Charlton just cant forget their old manager.

Alan Curbishley was the manager of Charlton for 15 years, his prolonged spell coming to an end in 2006. Five years later, it seems they just cant forget him.

Argentine Clausura Preview

Like many other leagues in Latin America the Argentine season is split into two parts. The Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura. The Torneo Apertura usually runs from August to December and the Torneo Clausura from Februrary to June. In the Apertura 19 games are played with the reverse fixtures (as regards home and away games) being played in the Clausura. The league consists of 20 teams and relegations are decided by a 3 year averaging system. The winner of the Apertura this year was Estudiantes and the Clausura is due to start on Friday 11th 2011.

The Clubs:

All Boys
Apertura Position: 8th
Manager: José Romero
Location: Buenos Aires (Capital Federal)
Stadium: Estadio Islas Malvinas
Capacity: 25,000
Star Player: Ariel Ortega

Argentinos Juniors

Apertura Position: 13th

Manager: Pedro Troglio

Location: Buenos Aires (Capital Federal)

Stadium: Estadio Diego Armando Maradona

Capacity: 24,800

Star Player: Juan Mercier

Arsenal de Sarandí

Apertura Position: 3rd

Manager: Gustavo Alfaro

Location: Gran Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Julio Humberto Grondona

Capacity: 18,300

Star Player: Luciano Leguizamón

Banfield

Apertura Position: 15th

Manager: Sebastián Méndez

Location: Lomas de Zamora, Gran Buenos Aires 

Stadium: Estadio Florencio Solá

Capacity: 37,245

Star Player: Víctor Lopéz

Boca Juniors

Apertura Position: 11th

Manager: Julio César Falcioni

Location: Buenos Aires (Capital Federal)

Stadium:  Estadio Alberto J. Armando (La Bombonera)

Capacity: 49,000

Star Player: Juan Román Riquelme

Colón 

Apertura Position: 10th

Manager: Fernando Gamboa

Location: Santa Fe

Stadium: Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López (Cementario de los Elefantes)

Capacity: 33,548

Star Player: Esteban Fuertes

Estudiantes

Apertura Position: 1st

Manager: Eduardo Berizzo

Location: La Plata, Gran Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi. Now playing at Estadio Ciudad de la Plata.

Capacity: 23,000

Star Player: Juan Sebastián Verón

Gimnasia y Esgrima de la Plata

Apertura Position: 19th

Manager: Ángel Cappa

Location: La Plata, Gran Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Juan Carlos Zerillo (El Bosque)

Capacity: 25,544

Star Player: Guillermo Barros Schelotto

Godoy Cruz

Apertura Position: 5th

Manager: Jorge Da Silva

Location: Mendoza

Stadium: Estadio Feliciano Gambarte. Now playing at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas de Mendoza.

Capacity: 14,000

Star Player: Nicolás Olmedo



Huracán

Apertura Position: 18th

Manager: Miguel Ángel Brindisi

Location: Buenos Aires (Capital Federal)

Stadium: Estadio Tomás Adolfo Ducó

Capacity: 48,314

Star Player: Rolando Zárate

Independiente

Apertura Position: 20th

Manager: Antonio Mohamed

Location: Avellanada, Gran Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Libertadores de América

Capacity: 44,000

Star Player: Hilario Navarro

Lanús

Apertura Position: 7th

Manager: Gabriel Schrürrer

Location: Lanús, Gran Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Ciudad de Lanús

Capacity: 46,619

Star Player: Mauro Camoranesi

Newell's Old Boys

Apertura Position: 9th

Manager: Roberto Sensini

Location: Rosario

Stadium: Estadio Marcelo Bielsa

Capacity: 38,095

Star Player: Rolando Schiavi

Olimpo

Apertura Position: 17th

Manager: Omar de Felippe

Location: Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Roberto Natalio Carminatti

Capacity: 16,000

Star Player: Laureano Tombolini

Quilmes

Apertura Position: 16th

Manager: Leonardo Madelón

Location: Quilmes, Gran Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Dr. José Luis Meiszner

Capacity: 30,200

Star Player: Juan José Morales

Racing

Apertura Position: 6th

Manager: Miguel Ángel Russo

Location: Avellaneda, Gran Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Perón

Capacity: 51,389

Star Player: Giovanni Moreno

River Plate

Apertura Position: 4th

Manager: Juan José López

Location: Buenos Aires (Capital Federal)

Stadium: Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti

Capacity: 57,921

Star Player: Mariano Pavone

San Lorenzo

Apertura Position: 13th

Manager: Ramón Díaz

Location: Buenos Aires (Capital Federal)

Stadium: Estadio Pedro Bidegain

Capacity: 43,494

Star Player: Juan Manuel Torres

Tigre 

Apertura Position: 14th

Manager: Rodolfo Arruabarrena

Location: Gran Buenos Aires

Stadium: Estadio Coliseo de Victoria

Capacity: 30,000

Star Player: Denis Stracqualursi

Vélez 

Apertura Position: 2nd

Manager: Ricardo Gareca

Location: Buenos Aires (Capital Federal)

Stadium: Estadio José Amalfitani

Capacity: 49,540

Star Player: Juan Manuel Martínez