INTRODUCTION 10 A DOG AND THE RED DEVILS 14 MEMORABLE MATCHES TIMELINE April 24 1909 v Bristol City May 29 1968 v Benfica May 21 1977 v Liverpool May 26 1999 v Bayern Munich May 21 2008 v Chelsea September 20 2009 v Manchester City UP AND DOWN WAY DOWN 18 BUSBY BABES ARE BORN 22 FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS Billy Meredith Frank Barson Duncan Edwards George Best David Beckham Ryan Giggs THE PREMIER TEAM IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE 28 Manchester United Titles 44 Selected Bibliography 46 Websites 47 Index 48 THE FERGUSON ERA ENDS
Forward Danny Welbeck
Fis INTRODUCTION Soccer or football as it is known almost everywhere else in the world is truly a universal game Nowhere is the play more competitive than in Europe Almost every European country has its own league and generally that league has several divisions A typical season lasts eight or nine months from late summer to mid spring Every team in each level plays all other teams in its level twice once at home and once on the other team's pitch At the end of the season the bottommost teams in one division are relegated moved down to the next lower division with the same number of topmost teams from that lower division promoted to replace them Such a system ensures that a high level of competition is maintained and that late season games between teams with losing records remain important as they seek to avoid relegation Individual countries also feature their own tournaments such as England's FA Cup and Spain's Copa del Rey In theory these tournaments allow almost any team the opportunity to win the championship but in reality the best clubs dominate the competition An assortment of European wide tournaments complement individual nations league and cup play The most prestigious is the Union of European Football Associations UEFA Champions League Known as the European Cup until
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