Jasper Cillessen

Jasper Cillessen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjɑs.pər ˈsɪ.lə.ˌsə(n)]; born 22 April 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Eredivisie club Ajax.

In May 2011, he received his first call-up for the Netherlands national team. He made his international debut in 2013 and was the country's first-choice goalkeeper as they finished third at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

NEC

Cillessen was born in Nijmegen and grew up in nearby Groesbeek. Cillessen began playing for the youth team of local club De Treffers, before being scouted to the NEC/FC Oss youth academy in 2001. In 2008 he signed his first professional contract with NEC, and started playing for the reserves. In 2010, Cillessen agreed a new two-year contract at NEC until June 2012.

Following an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Gábor Babos, Cillessen made his senior debut on 28 August 2010 in a 2–2 home draw against SC Heerenveen and was voted the man of the match. Even when Babos returned from injury, Cillessen managed to keep his spot in the first team and signed a two-year contract extension that tied him to NEC until 2014. At the end of the 2010–11 season, Cillessen was awarded Gelderland footballer of the year.

FC Barcelona

Futbol Club Barcelona (Catalan pronunciation: [fubˈbɔɫ ˈkɫub bərsəˈɫonə]), also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the second most valuable sports team in the world, worth $3.16 billion, and the world's second richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €560.8 million. The official Barcelona anthem is the "Cant del Barça", written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.

Domestically, Barcelona has won 23 La Liga, 27 Copa del Rey, 11 Supercopa de España, 3 Copa Eva Duarte and 2 Copa de la Liga trophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, Barcelona has won five UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, a shared record five UEFA Super Cup, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a record three FIFA Club World Cup trophies. Barcelona was ranked first in the IFFHS Club World Ranking for 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 and currently occupies the second position on the UEFA club rankings. The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid; matches between the two teams are referred to as El Clásico.

Jasper

Jasper, an aggregate of microquartz and/or chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to iron(III) inclusions. The mineral aggregate breaks with a smooth surface and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is used for vases, seals, and snuff boxes. The specific gravity of jasper is typically 2.5 to 2.9. Along with heliotrope (bloodstone), jasper (green with red spots) is one of the traditional birthstones for March. Jaspilite is a banded iron formation rock that often has distinctive bands of jasper.

Etymology and history

The name means "spotted or speckled stone", and is derived via Old French jaspre (variant of Anglo-Norman jaspe) and Latin iaspidem (nom. iaspis)) from Greek ἴασπις iaspis, (feminine noun) from an oriental language (cf. Hebrew יושפה yushphah, Akkadian yashupu).

Green jasper was used to make bow drills in Mehrgarh between 4th and 5th millennium BC. Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world; its name can be traced back in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and Latin. On Minoan Crete, jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800 BC, as evidenced by archaeological recoveries at the palace of Knossos.

Atlético Madrid

Club Atlético de Madrid, SAD (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkluβ aðˈletiko ðe maˈðɾið]) commonly known as Atlético de Madrid, or simply as Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, that plays in La Liga.

In terms of importance of titles and number of followers, Atlético Madrid is the third most successful club in Spanish football, behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. In terms of the number of titles, Atlético Madrid is the fourth most successful club in Spanish football, behind Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. Atlético have won La Liga on ten occasions, including a league and cup double in 1996; the Copa del Rey on ten occasions; two Supercopas de España and one Copa Eva Duarte; in Europe, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962, were runners-up in 1963 and 1986, were European Cup runners-up in 1974 and 2014, won the Europa League in 2010 and in 2012, won the UEFA Super Cup in 2010 and 2012, won the Intertoto Cup in 2007, as well as the 1974 Intercontinental Cup.

Barcelona

Barcelona (/bɑːrsəˈloʊnə/, Catalan: [bəɾsəˈlonə], Spanish: [barθeˈlona]) is the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain and Spain's second most populated city, with a population of 1.6 million within its administrative limits. Its urban area extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 4.7 million people, being the seventh-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area, Berlin and Milan. It is the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is 512 metres (1,680 ft) high.

Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon as an economical and administrative center of this Crown and the capital of the Principality of Catalonia. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural center and a major tourist destination. Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments.