The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA.
Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been invited as qualifiers runners-ups only after Yugoslavia was disqualified as a result of the breakup of the country and the ensuing warfare there. Eight national teams contested the final tournament.
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process along with hosts Germany for the finals tournament. It was the second time that Germany staged the competition and the first as a unified country along with the former East Germany with Leipzig as a host city (the other was in 1974 in West Germany), and the 10th time that the tournament was held in Europe.
Italy won the tournament, claiming their fourth World Cup title, defeating France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out in the final after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish in third place. Angola, Ukraine, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Trinidad and Tobago and Togo made their first appearances in the competition. It was also the only appearance of Serbia and Montenegro under that name; they had previously appeared in 1998 as Yugoslavia. In late May 2006, immediately prior to the tournament, Montenegro voted in a referendum to become an independent nation and dissolve the loose confederacy then existing between it and Serbia; Serbia recognised the results of the referendum in early June. Due to time constraints, FIFA had Serbia and Montenegro play in the World Cup tournament as one team, marking the first instance of multiple sovereign nations competing as one team in a major football tournament since UEFA Euro 1992.
The 1993 Artemio Franchi Cup was the second edition of the Artemio Franchi Cup, a football match between the winners of the previous South American and European championships. The match featured Argentina, winners of the 1991 Copa América, and Denmark, winners of UEFA Euro 1992. It was played at Estadio José María Minella in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on 24 February 1993.
Argentina won the match 5–4 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time to win their first Artemio Franchi Cup title. It would be the last trophy Diego Maradona won with Argentina.
Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈfrɑŋklɪn ˈɛtmundoː ˈfrɑŋk ˈrɛikaːrt] ; born 30 September 1962) is a Dutch former football player and manager who primarily played as a defensive midfielder. Regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Rijkaard played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and AC Milan. With Ajax, he won five Eredivisie titles and the 1994–1995 Champions League. With AC Milan, he won Serie A titles, as well as the 1988–89 and 1989–90 European Cup (Champions League) titles.
Rijkaard earned 73 caps for the Netherlands national team. He was part of the team that won the 1988 European championship and finished third in the 1992 European championship. He also played in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups.