April 10

April 10 is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 265 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Zlatan Ibrahimović

Zlatan Ibrahimović (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈslaːtan ɪbraˈhiːmɔvɪtɕ], Bosnian pronunciation: [zlǎtan ibraxǐːmoʋit͡ɕ]; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for French club Paris Saint-Germain and the Sweden national team for which he is captain.

Ibrahimović started his career at Malmö FF in the late 1990s before being signed by Ajax, where made a name for himself. He signed for Juventus and excelled in Serie A in a strike partnership with David Trezeguet. In 2006, he signed for rivals Internazionale and was named in the 2007 and 2009 UEFA Team of the Year, in addition to finishing as the league's highest scorer in 2008–09 while winning three straight Scudetti. In the summer of 2009, he transferred to Barcelona before moving back to Serie A football with A.C. Milan the following season, in a deal which made him one of the highest paid players in the world. After winning a further Scudetto with Milan in 2010–11, he signed with Paris Saint-Germain in July 2012. With PSG, Ibrahimović has won three Ligue 1 championships, two Coupes de la Ligue, one Coupe de France, and in October 2015 he became the club's all time leading goalscorer.

Football League Cup

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or by the name referring to the title sponsor (currently the Capital One Cup), is a football competition played by teams in England and Wales. Similar to the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. Unlike the FA Cup, where 758 teams entered in 2012–13, only 92 clubs can enter the League Cup – the 20 Premier League clubs, and the 72 clubs of The Football League, which organises the competition. Also unlike the FA Cup, the semi-finals are played over two legs. The winners qualify for the UEFA Europa League, unless they have qualified for the Champions League through their league position, in which case the Europa League berth goes to the highest-placed team from the Premier League not already qualified for Europe. The current holders are Chelsea, who beat Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 in the 2015 final to win their fifth League Cup.

Although the League Cup is one of the three major domestic trophies attainable by English league teams, it is perceived by larger clubs as a lower priority than the league championship, UEFA Champions League, and the FA Cup. League Cup winners receive £100,000 prize money (awarded by the Football League) with the runners-up receiving £50,000, considered relatively insignificant to top-flight teams, compared to the £2 million prize money of the FA Cup, which is in turn eclipsed by the Premier League's television money (awarded on final league position) and consequent participation in the Champions League.

Beijing Guoan F.C.

Beijing Guoan F.C. (Chinese: 北京国安; pinyin: Běijīng Guó'ān) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in the Chaoyang District in Beijing and their home stadium is the Workers Stadium that has a seating capacity of 66,161. Their majority shareholder is the CITIC Group, a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China.

The club's predecessor was called Beijing Football Club and they predominantly played in the top tier, where they won several domestic league and cup titles. On December 31, 1992 the club was reorganized to become a completely professional football club making them one of the founding members of the first fully professional top tier league in China. Since then they have gone on to win their first ever professional league title in the 2009 league season as well as the 1996, 1997 and 2003 Chinese FA Cup.

History

Early club era

Ballon d'Or (1956–2009)

The Ballon d'Or (French pronunciation: ​[balɔ̃ dɔʁ]; "Golden Ball"), often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award, was an annual association football award presented by France Football between 1956 and 2009. Conceived by chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot, the award honoured the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year, based on a voting by Europe-based journalists. Originally, only European players were in contention for the Ballon d'Or, but from 1995 all players at European clubs were eligible.

Stanley Matthews of Blackpool was the inaugural winner of the Ballon d'Or.Milan's George Weah, the only African recipient, became the first non-European to win the award in the year the rules of eligibility were changed.Ronaldo of Internazionale became the first South American winner two years later. The final recipient of the Ballon d'Or was Barcelona's Lionel Messi. Three players won the award three times each: Johan Cruyff of Ajax and Barcelona, Michel Platini of Juventus, and Marco van Basten of Milan. With seven awards each, Dutch and German players won the most Ballons d'Or. Italian clubs Juventus and Milan had the most winners respectively; six players won eight awards while playing for each club.