- published: 25 Feb 2016
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Sport Club Internacional (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˌĩteɾnɐsjɔˈnaw]) is a Brazilian multisport club based in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Internacional is mostly known for its association football team. Internacional plays in the Campeonato Gaúcho, the state of Rio Grande do Sul's premier state league, as well as in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top tier of the Brazilian football league system. They play in red shirts and white shorts and socks, the first of which give the team its nickname of Colorado (The Red). The team's home stadium, known as "Gigante da Beira-Rio" (Riverside Giant), was one of the twelve 2014 FIFA World Cup venues and has a capacity of 50,128.
The club is one of only three teams that has competed in all the Brazilian National League's first division championships since its inception in 1971, and is one of the only five clubs to have never been relegated to the second division, along with Santos, São Paulo, Flamengo and Cruzeiro. Internacional is ranked first in Americas and sixth in the World in number of paying members, with more than 104,000. Internacional were South American champions in 2010, winning their second Copa Libertadores title. 2006 was the most successful year in Inter's history as they won the Copa Libertadores and the FIFA Club World Cup, defeating European champions FC Barcelona in the latter and South American reigning champions São Paulo FC in the former. Other international titles include the 2007 Recopa Sudamericana, the 2008 Copa Sudamericana and the 2011 Recopa Sudamericana.
Edward Christopher "Ed" Sheeran (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was born in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk. After dropping out of school at 16, he moved to London the following year, in 2008, to pursue a career in music. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project, which caught the attention of Elton John and Jamie Foxx. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (read as "plus"), was released on 9 September 2011 and has since been certified six-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act.
Sheeran's popularity abroad began in 2012. In the US, he made a guest appearance on Taylor Swift's fourth studio album, Red. "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John. He spent much of 2013 opening for Swift's The Red Tour in North America dates. In late 2013, he performed three sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden as a headline act. He was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2014 Grammy Awards.