title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: On 5 June 1993, Scarborough made international headlines when a landslip caused part of the Holbeck Hall Hotel, along with its gardens, to fall into the sea. Although the slip was shored up with rocks and the land has long since grassed over, evidence of the cliff's collapse remains clearly visible from The Esplanade, near Shuttleworth Gardens.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough has been affiliated with a number of Royal Navy vessels, including HMS "Apollo", HMS "Fearless" and HMS "Duncan".


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The town has an Anglican church, St Martin-on-the-Hill, built in 1862–63 as the parish church of South Cliff. It contains works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Madox Brown. A young Malton architect, John Gibson, designed the Crown Spa Hotel, Scarborough's first purpose-built hotel.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Notable Georgian structures include the Rotunda Museum, Cliff Bridge and Scarborough Pier Lighthouse. Victorian buildings include the Classical Public Library and Market Hall, the Town Hall, Scarborough Spa, the Art Gallery, the South Cliff Methodist Church, and Scarborough railway station. The architecture of Scarborough generally consists of small, low, orange pantile-roofed buildings in the historic old town, and larger Classical and late Victorian buildings reflecting the time during the 19th century as it expanded away from its historic centre into a coastal spa resort.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: A notable landmark in the town is the Grand Hotel on St Nicholas Cliff. Designed by Cuthbert Brodrick of Hull, it was completed in 1867; at the time of its opening, it was the largest hotel and the largest brick structure in Europe. It uses local yellow brickwork with red detailing and is based around a theme of time: four towers represent the seasons, 12 floors the months, 52 chimneys the weeks and the original 365 bedrooms represented the days of the year. A blue plaque outside the hotel marks where the novelist Anne Brontë died in 1849. She was buried in the graveyard of St Mary's Church by the castle.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: An amount of 20th century architecture exists within the main shopping district and in the form of surrounding suburbs. Buildings from this century include the Futurist Theatre (1914), Stephen Joseph Theatre, Brunswick Shopping Centre (1990), and GCHQ Scarborough, a satellite station on the outskirts of the town.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The most striking feature of the town's geography is the high rocky promontory pointing eastward into the North Sea. The promontory supports the 11th-century ruins of Scarborough Castle and divides the seafront into two bays, north and south.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The South Bay was the site of the original medieval settlement and harbour, which form the old town. This remains the main tourist area, with a sandy beach, cafés, amusements, arcades, theatres and entertainment facilities. The modern commercial town centre has migrated north-west of the harbour area and above it and contains the transport hubs, main services, shopping and nightlife. The harbour has undergone major regeneration including the new Albert Strange Pontoons,


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The North Bay has traditionally been the more peaceful end of the resort and is home to Peasholm Park which, in June 2007, was restored to its Japanese-themed glory, complete with reconstructed pagoda, a new boat house was added in 2018. For many years a mock maritime battle (based on the Battle of the River Plate) has been regularly re-enacted on the boating lake with large model boats and fireworks throughout the summer holiday season. The North Bay Railway is a miniature railway running from the park through Northstead Manor Gardens to the Sea Life Centre at Scalby Mills. The North Bay Railway has what is believed to be the oldest operational diesel-hydraulic locomotive in the world. Neptune was built in 1931 by Hudswell Clarke of Leeds and is appropriately numbered 1931.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Northstead Manor Gardens include the North Bay Railway and three other attractions: a water chute, a boating lake with boats for hire during the summer season and the open-air theatre. The water chute is now grade II listed and is one of the oldest surviving water chutes in Britain, with the ride of today being the same as when it was opened in the 1930s.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: North Bay and South Bay are linked by Marine Drive, an extensive Victorian promenade, built around the base of the headland. Overlooking both bays is Scarborough Castle, which was bombarded by the German warships and in the First World War. The town was badly damaged in a 98 plane bombing raid by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, on 18 March 1941. Twenty eight civilians were killed & hundreds injured, over 1,400 buildings were damaged. Both bays have popular sandy beaches and numerous rock-pools at low tide.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The South Cliff Promenade above the Spa and South Cliff Gardens has wide views of the South Bay and old town. Its splendid Regency and Victorian terraces are still intact, with a mix of quality hotels and flats. The ITV television drama "The Royal" and its recent spin-off series, "The Royal Today" were both filmed in the area. The South Bay has the largest illuminated 'star disk' anywhere in the UK. It is across and fitted with subterranean lights representing the 42 brightest stars and major constellations that can be seen from Scarborough in the northern skies.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: To the south-west of the town, beside the York to Scarborough railway line, is an ornamental lake known as Scarborough Mere. In the 20th century the Mere was a popular park, with rowing boats, canoes and a miniature pirate ship – the "Hispaniola" – on which passengers were taken to 'Treasure Island' to dig for doubloons. Since the late 1990s the Mere has been redesigned as a natural space for picnics, fishing and walkers. In 2012 a new snack bar was built alongside the Mere. The lake is now part of the Oliver's Mount Country Park and the "Hispaniola" now sails out of Scarborough harbour during the summer season.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Surrounding the River Derwent as it flows into the sea are high hills with tall, dense grasses and fertile soil, due to the stream 'Sea Cut' leading from the River Derwent to the estuary at the North Sea. The area has flourishing and vibrant flora and crop growth.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The climate is temperate with mild summers and cool, windy, winters. The hottest months of the year are July and August, with temperatures reaching an average high of 17 °C and falling to 11 °C at night. The average daytime temperatures in January are 4 °C, falling to 1 °C at night. The station's elevation of is far above sea level compared to the immediate coastline, where the climate is likely slightly milder year round.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough's fishing industry is still active, though much reduced in size. The working harbour is home to a fish market including a shop and wooden stalls where fresh, locally-caught seafood can be purchased by the public. A seaweed farm has been in operation since 2018, with a licence to go into a large-scale commercial operation from 2019. SeaGrown have an intent to move into the bioplastics market.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The tourism trade continues to be a major part of the local economy with Scarborough being the second most-visited destination in England by British holidaymakers. While weekend and mid-week-break trade are tending to replace the traditional week-long family holiday, the beaches and attractions are busy throughout summer, a contrast to quieter winter months.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough's town centre has many major shopping chains alongside boutique independent shops. As well as a main pedestrianised shopping street (home to various chain stores and eateries) and the Brunswick shopping centre, boutique stores can be found on Bar Street and St Thomas Street. The town also has an indoor market with a large range of antique shops and independent traders in its vaults, and a smaller market on the South Bay. Boyes, a discount department store chain which has over 65 stores across the north is based at Eastfield, on the outskirts of Scarborough. Its flagship store is located in Queen Street.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Manufacturers based in Scarborough include the Plaxton Company (a division of Alexander Dennis) which has been building coaches and buses since 1907 Sirius Minerals which is developing a potash mine near Whitby has its headquarters in Scarborough. McCain Foods has a factory in the town for over 50 years, and sponsored the previous football stadium. Scarborough power station supplied electricity to the town and the surrounding area from 1893 to 1958. It was owned and operated by the Scarborough Electric Supply Company Limited from 1893 to 1925, then by Scarborough Corporation until the nationalisation of utilities by the Attlee ministry in 1948. The coal-fired power station had an electricity generating capacity of 7 MW prior to its closure in October 1958.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Creative industries have been cited as playing a vital role in the regeneration of Scarborough; a report in 2005 estimated that they comprised 19% of the town's economy. They were also a major focus of Scarborough's winning entry in the 2008 Enterprising Britain competition, with representatives from Woodend Creative Workspace and Scarborough-based Electric Angel Design representing the town in the Yorkshire and Humber regional heats. In the finals in London on 16 October 2008, Scarborough won the title of Britain's Most Enterprising Town, and subsequently went on to win the European Enterprise Awards as Great Britain's representative, on 13 May 2009 in Prague.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: In 2010 the town was the winner of the 'Great Town Award', as nominated by the Academy of Urbanism, beating Chester and Cambridge respectively.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough Hospital is the local district general NHS hospital. It is run by the York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and is the largest employer in the area employing over 2,400 staff. A review of acute healthcare in the town in 2019 identified problems recruiting staff at the hospital but promised to maintain the site's Accident and Emergency department.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: most of the Newby and Scalby civil parish population was included in the area. It's unparished area has a larger population than the rest of parished areas of the wider Borough of Scarborough, including the coastal towns of Whitby and Filey.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The borough as a whole has a population of around 108,000; during the peak season, tourism can double these figures. 7.5% of the population are aged over 60, compared with an average of 20.9% nationally. Only 21.9% of the population are aged between 20 and 39, compared to 28.1% nationally.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough has four major roads serving the town; these also link it to other major towns and cities:


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough has 25 main bus routes, operated by Scarborough Locals, Arriva North East, Shoreline Suncruisers and Yorkshire Coastliner. These link the town centre with its suburbs, the North York Moors and local towns and cities such as Bridlington, Whitby, York, Hull, Middlesbrough and Leeds.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The town is also served by two Park and Ride services, with locations on the A64 and A165. Buses run from each terminus to the town centre and South Bay at least every 12 minutes, seven days a week, with stopping points around the town centre. Buses from the Filey Road terminus on the A165 also stop at the University of Hull's Scarborough campus. Open top tourist buses, branded Beachcomber, also run along the sea front and Marine Drive, linking the South and North bays.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough railway station is close to the town centre and runs services from , , and on the North TransPennine Express route and from Hull on the Yorkshire Coast Line. It has the longest station seat in the world at 152 yards (139 m) in length. The town used to be connected to Whitby, via the Scarborough and Whitby Railway along the Yorkshire coast, but this closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts. There is also Seamer railway station in the suburb of Crossgates.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: There are two operational funicular railways, both situated on South Bay. An additional funicular exists on the South Bay but no longer operates and two funiculars on North Bay have been demolished.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: An electric tramway service with six routes was provided by the Scarborough Tramways Company between 1904 and 1931, after which it was bought by the council and replaced by omnibuses.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Although the town has no ferry services, there are transport links to Hull which runs frequent services to northern Europe.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough receives their news and television programmes from BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire in its Oliver's Mount TV transmitter.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough was home to local commercial radio station, Yorkshire Coast Radio, in August 2018 the station achieved the highest weekly reach of any radio station in England with a 53% weekly reach.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: However, in August 2020 YCR ceased broadcasting as it was bought out by Bauer Media and rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire Coast. The radio DJs and staff were made redundant. Some of the YCR team have since launched a new local station for the area, This is The Coast broadcasting online and on DAB.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The town is also the home of the online only community radio station, Radio Scarborough. The station was raided in August 2017 by Ofcom for illegally broadcasting their service.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: "The Scarborough News", is the weekly newspaper for the town and local district. It was first published on 31 May 2012, as a relaunch of the former daily publication, "The Scarborough Evening News". The first newspaper recorded as printed in the town, was in 1876


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Dramatist Alan Ayckbourn has lived in Scarborough for many years. He has produced seventy-five plays in Scarborough and was formerly the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, where almost all his plays receive their first performance. Chris Monks took over as artistic director in 2009, followed by Paul Robinson in 2016.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The Open Air Theatre, at the Northstead Manor Gardens, originally had a seating capacity of 6,500 (now 8,000). The Lord Mayor of London opened the theatre in 1932 and audiences flocked to see "Merrie England", the opera was the first work to be staged at the outdoor venue. Productions were performed during the summer seasons until musicals ceased in 1968 after "West Side Story", apart from a YMCA production in 1982. In 1997, the dressing rooms and stage set building on the island were demolished and the seating removed. The last concert to be held at the open-air theatre before it closed in 1986 was James Last and his orchestra. The venue was restored and officially opened by The Queen on 20 May 2010. The venue is now a prime concert locality.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The YMCA Theatre is an amateur theatre seating 290. It hosts some 35 productions a year, including musicals and dance shows.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: A third, the Futurist Theatre, closed in January 2014 when the operator's lease expired. The building was later demolished. A new multi-complex cinema development is planned for the town,the location as yet unknown.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough has a long-established museum and visual-arts facilities. Wood End, the former home of The Sitwells, was converted into the Woodend museum, a creative centre including workspace for artists and the digital cluster, plus an exhibition space. The Rotunda Museum underwent a multimillion-pound redevelopment to become a national centre for geology. 2006 also saw the formation of a creative industries network called 'Creative Coast' comprising artists, designers, writers and other creatives with the shared vision of a culturally vibrant economy on the North Yorkshire coast.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The Rotunda Museum nowadays forms part of the Scarborough Museums Trust. The other part is the Scarborough Art Gallery, which houses the collections of fine arts since 1947. This gallery is based in a Grade II* Italianate villa, Crescent Villa, that was built in the 1840s.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: For a short time, a walkthrough attraction called 'Millennium' operated at the end of Sandside near the Harbour. Created by local amusement owner Henry Marshall in a former sail loft, the attraction depicted 1000 years of Scarborough's history. It opened in 1993 but closed in 2002.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough has a considerable graffiti culture, with as many as 20 'writers' currently active. There are two areas where graffiti art is legal in Scarborough, Sainsbury's basketball courts / all-weather pitch and Falsgrave Park wall. Both have seen many collaborations and murals.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The Grade II listed Scarborough Spa complex is home to the Scarborough Spa Orchestra, the last remaining seaside orchestra in the UK.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The globally successful pop / soul singer Robert Palmer spent his teenage years in Scarborough, attending Scarborough High School for Boys'.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: During the late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, Scarborough band Little Angels were one of the best known hard rock bands in the UK. Their third and final studio album, "Jam", peaked at No. 1 on the UK charts in early 1993. Chris Helme of The Seahorses, Eliza Carthy, Ashley Hicklin, Oliver Knight and Sophia Wardman, also attended schools and colleges in the area.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: 'Acoustic Gathering', a free one-day music festival, has been held annually in Peasholm Park, since September 2005. This features over 20 bands and singer/songwriters from all parts of the UK including a number of local groups and musicians, all performing from the bandstand in the centre of the lake.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Finnish idols winner Koop Arponen filmed his video for the song, "Young and Foolish" in the town, and One Night Only shot the video for their hit "Just For Tonight", mostly along Scarborough foreshore.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The films "Little Voice", "Possession", and "A Chorus of Disapproval" were filmed on location in Scarborough and surrounds. Also shot in the Scarborough (borough) & North York Moors are over 90 films, documentaries and various TV programmes. Films include "An Inspector Calls", "Miranda", "Dancing Queen", "Beltenebros", "The Brides in the Bath", "Screwed", "The Damned United", "Scarborough", "A is for Acid" and "Saint Maud". Television series filmed in the area include "Heartbeat", its spin-off series "The Royal", "CBBC"'s "All at Sea", BBC1's "Rosie", BBC1's "Remember Me", German TV crime drama, "The Search", scenes from the second series of "Five Days" and an episode each of "Barbara", "Coronation Street" & "Last of the Summer Wine". The 2015 series of "The Syndicate" starring Anthony Andrews, Melanie Hill and Lenny Henry also filmed scenes in Scarborough. A sitcom named "Scarborough" was filmed in the town in 2019. The show being the brainchild of Derren Litten the creator of ITV hit "Benidorm" was based on a group of friends who meet up for Karaoke nights in the town. The show first aired on BBC1 on 6 September 2019 in a primetime Friday night slot (9:30 pm) the day before transmission the first two episodes were given a 'world premiere' to an audience at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. The third series of reality TV show "Celebs on the Farm", was filmed on location in the outskirts of the town, in 2021.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The four main state secondary schools in Scarborough are Graham School, George Pindar School, Scalby School, and St Augustine's Catholic School. Raincliffe School formally closed on 31 August 2012, merging with Graham School (the Raincliffe site closed completely on 23 June 2017). In September 2016, Scarborough University Technical College (UTC) opened for 14- to 18-year-olds. The campus is part of a £47 million pound development including Coventry University Scarborough Campus and a sports village in the Weaponness Valley.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough College abolished A-levels and has been an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School since June 2006. Ranked within Top 50 independent schools by The Times based on post-16 results, 2017.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough International School of English, established in 1968 is accredited by the British Council and members of English UK and English UK North. The school offers English Language courses to students from around the world.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: There is also a private international language school called Anglolang, established in 1985, which teaches the English language to overseas students, companies, educational institutions, organised groups and individuals.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Education in Scarborough has been notable for its commitment to the digital economy, particularly with the formation of the University of Hull's School of Arts and New Media, at the Scarborough Campus in 2006. This made Scarborough one of the UK mainland's first wireless campuses.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: In 2015, Coventry University Scarborough Campus opened in the town with a small first cohort and moved from temporary accommodation to a purpose-built site in September 2016. Ultimately, the university will cater for 3000 students studying an innovative, intensive pattern of study. Further Education is provided by Scarborough Sixth Form College and Yorkshire Coast College, which took over the University of Hull's campus in Scarborough in 2016.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The Scarborough Amateur Rowing Club was founded in May 1869, and is the oldest surviving rowing club on the north-east coast. For more than 100 years, sea rowing has taken place on the Yorkshire coast between the Tees and the Humber. Beginning with friendly rivalry between the fishermen and the jet miners from Blyth (the German Ocean Race), the sport has progressed to what it is today. More recent successes for the club include Bob Hewitt, who now competes as a lightweight rower for the national team. In 2006 the club finally won the acclaimed Wilson Cup, until then held by rival clubs in neighbouring town Whitby for over eighty years. Rowing takes place throughout the summer months.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The Blue Riband event for Scarborough Yacht Club, is the annual 210 nautical mile race, from the town, to IJmuiden in the Netherlands. The Yacht Club is based in the old keepers' accommodation adjoining Scarborough Pier Lighthouse in the harbour.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough is home to the Oliver's Mount racing circuit. This track is composed of twisty public roads and has played host to domestic motorcycling and rallying events for many years. Noted motorcycle racers who have raced at Oliver's Mount include Barry Sheene, Ron Haslam and Guy Martin. The town was the home of the 2nd RAC Rally in 1952. In March 2019 newly formed motorcycle racing club, Two Four Three Road Racing Association was granted a lease to run road races at the venue, and they restarted road racing at the venue in July 2019 after a year's absence.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough Cricket Club have won the ECB National Club Cricket Championship at Lord's, on five occasions between 1972 and 1982, a record number of victories. The club also hosts the annual Scarborough Cricket Festival, and Yorkshire play at North Marine Road, in a selection of home fixtures throughout the season. The club has competed in the Yorkshire Premier League North since 2016. The club won the former Yorkshire League on thirteen occasions and seven regional titles, prior to that league's installation.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The former Scarborough Football Club enjoyed a career in the Football League during the 1990s before being relegated to the Conference North in 2006, and to the Northern Premier League the following year. One of its greatest achievements was winning the FA Trophy at Wembley Stadium on three occasions and being runners-up on one. They were also the first club to win automatic promotion to the Football League, when in 1987 they were promoted as champions of the GM Vauxhall Conference. In 2007 a new club, Scarborough Athletic, was formed and they play their home matches at the Flamingo Land Stadium.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: In 2007, the town hosted the World Thundercat Championships (for inflatable powerboats), and similar events in 2008 and 2015. Scarborough Rugby Union Football Club moved to a new £4-million ground development, on the outskirts of town in January 2009 (Silver Royd), the club is very ambitious and reached the semi-finals of the RFU Intermediate Cup, in 2015. The venue is also home to Scarborough Athletic Club and many sports facilities. The nationally achieving Scarborough Gymnastics Academy, has a highly developed specialist facility in the west of the town. The former Scarborough Sports Centre was a past venue for the Slazenger Pro Championships, attracting such stars as Fred Perry, Rod Laver and Pancho Gonzales. Scarborough Bowls Centre, on the site of the former Floral Hall, is utilized for a variety of events throughout the year.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The town has two principal golf courses, North Cliff and South Cliff, plus some smaller ventures. Ganton Golf Club, which has hosted tournaments such as the Ryder Cup and Walker Cup, is situated approximately to the west of Scarborough.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: George Pindar School, which is based at Eastfield, is a Sports Community College, and is home to Scarborough Pirates ARLFC, Scarborough Seahawks Basketball and formerly Scarborough Hockey Club, who are now at Scarborough College. The centre also has a tennis facility. Scarborough Table Tennis Centre is located at Graham School.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: The Tourist Information Centre in the South Bay is the finishing point of The White Rose Way, a long-distance walk from Leeds.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: Scarborough was the finishing point, for Stage 1 of the inaugural 2015 Tour de Yorkshire, hosted on 1 May, and has hosted a stage finish every year since.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: A sports village based in Weaponness Valley, that is now the home stadium of Scarborough Athletic, was opened in July 2017.


title: Scarborough, North Yorkshire

text: In recent decades, due to frequent low pressure systems in the North Atlantic, Scarborough has also become home to a thriving cold water surfing scene with numerous surf shops and competitions taking place including the King of The Point, a big wave contest designed to show off the quality of surf the North Yorkshire coast can receive.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Arnon Milchan (; December 6, 1944) is an Israeli businessman, film producer and spy. He has been involved in over 130 full-length motion pictures and is the founder of production company Regency Enterprises. Regency's film credits include "12 Years a Slave," "JFK", "Heat", "Fight Club", and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". Milchan has earned two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture, for "L.A. Confidential" and "The Revenant". Milchan was also an Israeli intelligence operative from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan was born in Rehovot, then-British Mandate of Palestine, to a Jewish family. He has a sister named Dalia. His mother was descended from European Jewish disciples of the rabbi Vilna Gaon who came to Palestine in the early 19th century, and he is the eighth generation of his family in the country.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan was first married to French model, Brigitte Genmaire, and later divorced. The couple had three children, Elinor, Alexandra, and Yariv. Elinor Milchan is a professional photographer. He later married South African retired professional tennis player Amanda Coetzer and had two children with her (Shimon and Olivia).


title: Arnon Milchan

text: His father owned a fertilizer company, which Milchan inherited at the age of 21 upon his father's sudden death. Over the years, Milchan turned the company into a successful chemical business. He also earned a degree from the London School of Economics, before he and his company (Milchan Brothers Ltd.) were recruited to Lekem, a secret Israeli intelligence organization responsible for obtaining technology and material for Israel's nuclear program, and other highly secretive programs.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan became involved in the movie business in 1977, after an introduction to American producer Elliot Kastner. In 1981 he partnered with Sydney Pollack on the US miniseries "Masada" Most notable among Milchan's film collaborations was his early work with Martin Scorsese. He developed close friendships with Robert De Niro, and directors Roman Polanski, Sergio Leone, Terry Gilliam and Oliver Stone. Milchan started his own production company in 1991 called New Regency Productions. Through his company Regency, in partnership with Warner Bros., and later with Rupert Murdoch at 20th Century Fox, and other business ventures, such as Puma AG, Milchan acquired a net worth estimated at $5.1 billion .


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan has produced over 130 films, such as "Noah" (2014), "12 Years a Slave" (2013), "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984) (in which he also makes a cameo appearance as the chauffeur), "Brazil" (1985), "Pretty Woman" (1990), "JFK" (1991), "Under Siege" (1992), "Natural Born Killers" (1994), "Boys on the Side" (1995), "Heat" (1995), "L.A. Confidential" (1997), "Fight Club" (1999), "Unfaithful" (2002), "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (2005), and "Knight and Day" (2010), among others, to his credit. He was a producer on two more recent Oscar-winners for Best Picture, "12 Years a Slave" in 2014 and "Birdman" in 2015, but he was not listed as a producer in the nominees list.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan is also the owner of the WTA broadcasting rights. He was married to model Brigitte Genmaire. He is now married to former South African tennis professional Amanda Coetzer. He is owner of the network which transmits Israeli television programming to the United States and Canada. He is also a part owner of Israel's TV Channel 10, and a former owner of Puma, the international sportswear line.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Speculation about Milchan's involvement in arms dealing and intelligence activities was sparked after the indictment in 1985 of Dr. Richard Kelly Smyth, an aerospace executive and scientist who had made illegal shipments of Krytrons, which could be used as nuclear weapon triggers, through one of Milchan's companies. This remained largely in the category of rumor until biographers Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman wrote a controversial unauthorized biography of Milchan that was published in July 2011. The biography "Confidential", which is largely sympathetic to Milchan, revealed in detail how he involved himself in espionage, big-ticket arms-dealing, and obtaining sensitive technology and materials for Israel's nuclear weapons program. The research in "Confidential – The Life Of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon" established that "at least through the mid-1980s [Milchan] was a full-fledged operative for Israel's top-secret intelligence agency, Lekem. His activities included "buying components to build and maintain Israel's nuclear arsenal" and supervising "government-backed accounts and front companies that financed the special needs of the entirety of Israel's intelligence operations outside the country". Interviewed regarding Milchan's intelligence activities, Israeli President Shimon Peres stated:


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Two years later, on November 25, 2013, on Israel's channel 2 documentary program , Milchan confirmed on camera the central claims in the book "Confidential" that had been released earlier. The announcement caused international interest in the story and was covered widely.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Peres, the architect of Israel's secret nuclear weapons program in the 1960s, stated that in the 1960s he recruited Milchan to work for the Israeli Bureau of Scientific Relations (LEKEM or LAKAM), a secret intelligence organization tasked with obtaining military technology and science espionage. Milchan acknowledged that he was a secret arms dealer for the Israeli government and claimed to have used his connections to promote the apartheid regime in South Africa in exchange for it helping Israel to acquire uranium for its nuclear program.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: In February 2018, Israeli Police recommended that Arnon Milchan, alongside Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, be charged with bribery. The recommendation in the case, nicknamed "Case 1000", relates to alleged bribes Milchan provided to Netanyahu in exchange for special tax exemption legislation believed to benefit Milchan in his homeland of Israel. The proposed legislation, nicknamed "Milchan's Law", dates back to 2013 and was an alleged ploy to extend Milchan's status as a returning resident to allow him to take advantage of tax breaks. According to the police, the gifts from Milchan were worth more than 1 million shekels. Milchan had held fundraisers for Netanyahu, which included a 2014 event at a residence on Carbon Beach in Malibu that controversially inconvenienced residents and commuters with hours of unexpected lane blockages on Pacific Coast Highway, despite being a private event.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan is an art collector, and in April 2015, CNBC ranked him at No. 3 in their list of "Hollywood's top 10 art collectors" with a collection valued at $600 million, equal with George Lucas, ranked No. 2, but some way behind David Geffen at No. 1, with a collection valued at $2.3 billion.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan is married, with four children. He is not a United States citizen, and does not hold a green card either.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan had a long-term U.S. visa. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry three times in 2014 to intervene on behalf of Israeli film producer Arnon Milchan and arrange a long-term visa for Milchan to live in the United States.


title: Arnon Milchan

text: Milchan does not live in Israel. During the seven years 2009-2016 he spent in Israel a total of less than 700 days, and has not been there since 2016.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Mehmet Ali Ağca (; born 9 January 1958) is a Turkish assassin who murdered left-wing journalist Abdi İpekçi on 1 February 1979, and later shot and wounded Pope John Paul II on 13 May 1981, after escaping from a Turkish prison. After serving 19 years of imprisonment in Italy where he was visited by the Pope, he was deported to Turkey, where he served a ten-year sentence. According to his own words, he converted to the Roman Catholic Church on 13 May 2007 (the 26th anniversary of his deed).


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Ağca was released from prison on 18 January 2010. He described himself as a mercenary with no political orientation, although he is known to have been a member of the fascist, Islamic Turkish ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves organization and the state-sponsored Counter-Guerrilla.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: On 27 December 2014, 33 years after his crime, Ağca publicly arrived at the Vatican to lay white roses on the recently canonized John Paul II's tomb and said he wanted to meet Pope Francis, a request that was denied.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Ağca was born in the Hekimhan district, Malatya Province in Turkey. As a youth, he became a petty criminal and a member of numerous street gangs in his hometown. He became a smuggler between Turkey and Bulgaria. He claims to have received two months of training in weaponry and terrorist tactics in Syria as a member of the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) paid for by the Communist Bulgarian government, although the PFLP has denied this.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: After training, Mehmet Ali Ağca went to work for the ultranationalist Turkish organization Grey Wolves.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: On 1 February 1979, in Istanbul, under orders from the Grey Wolves, he murdered Abdi İpekçi, editor of the major Turkish newspaper "Milliyet". After being denounced by an informant, he was caught and sentenced to life in prison. After serving six months, he escaped with the help of Abdullah Çatlı, second-in-command of the Grey Wolves, and fled to Bulgaria, which was a base of operations for the Turkish mafia. According to investigative journalist Lucy Komisar, Mehmet Ali Ağca had worked in the 1979 assassination with Abdullah Çatlı, who “then reportedly helped organize Ağca's escape from an Istanbul military prison”. According to Komisar, “some have suggested Çatlı was even involved in the Pope's assassination attempt”. According to Reuters, Ağca had "escaped with suspected help from sympathizers in the security services". Lucy Komisar added that at the scene of the Mercedes-Benz crash where Çatlı died, he was found with a passport under the name of "Mehmet Özbay" — an alias also used by Mehmet Ali Ağca.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: In 1979 "The New York Times" reported that Ağca, whom it called "the self-confessed killer of an Istanbul newspaperman", had described the Pope as "the masked leader of the crusades" and threatened to shoot him if he did not cancel his planned visit to Turkey, which went ahead in late November 1979. The paper also said (on 28 November 1979) that the killing would be in revenge for the then still ongoing attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, which had begun on 20 November, and which he blamed on the United States or Israel.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: According to Ağca's later testimony, he met with three accomplices in Rome, one a fellow Turk and the other two Bulgarians. The operation was commanded by Zilo Vassilev, the Bulgarian military attaché in Italy. He said that he was assigned this mission by Turkish mafioso Bekir Çelenk in Bulgaria. "Le Monde diplomatique", however, has alleged that the assassination attempt was organized by Abdullah Çatlı "in exchange for the sum of 3 million marks", paid by Bekir Çelenk to the Grey Wolves.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: According to Ağca, the plan was for him and the back-up gunman Oral Çelik to open fire in St. Peter's Square and escape to the Bulgarian embassy under the cover of the panic generated by a small explosion. On 13 May they sat in the square, writing postcards and waiting for the Pope to arrive. When the Pope passed them, Ağca fired several shots and wounded him, but was grabbed by spectators and Vatican security chief Camillo Cibin. This prevented him from finishing the assassination or escaping. Four bullets hit John Paul II, two of them lodging in his lower intestine, the others hitting his left hand and right arm. Two bystanders were also hit. Çelik panicked and fled without setting off his bomb or opening fire. The Pope survived the assassination attempt.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Ağca was sentenced in July 1981 to life imprisonment in Italy for the assassination attempt. Following his shooting, Pope John Paul II asked people to "pray for my brother (Ağca), whom I have sincerely forgiven." In 1983, the Pope and Ağca met and spoke privately at the prison where Ağca was being held. The Pope was also in touch with Ağca's family over the years, meeting his mother in 1987 and his brother a decade later.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: On 9 June 1997, Air Malta Flight 830 was hijacked by two men. After landing in Cologne, the hijackers demanded the release of Ağca. He was not released and the hijackers surrendered.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: After serving almost 20 years of a life sentence in prison in Italy, at the request of Pope John Paul II, Ağca was pardoned by the then Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in June 2000 and deported to Turkey.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Following his extradition to Turkey, he was imprisoned for the 1979 murder of Abdi İpekçi and for two bank raids carried out in the 1970s. Ağca was arrested on 25 June and incarcerated in the Maltepe Military Prison. He fled to Bulgaria on 25 November and was sentenced to death "in absentia". Ağca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 by benefiting from the Conditional Amnesty Law. This consideration granted to the ex-convict elicited strong reactions. Both cases about Ağca were merged and tried before the Kadıköy 1st High Criminal Court. The single trial concerned the hijacking of Cengiz Aydos's taxi in 1979, robbing the Yıldırım jewelry store in Kızıltoprak on 22 March 1979 and stealing money from the Fruko soda storage on 4 April 1979. On 18 January 2000, the judges dismissed the charges because of the statute of limitation on the case filed for the jewelry store robbery and for "breach of the Firearms Act" (law no. 6136). For embezzlement and money theft Ağca was sentenced to 36 years of imprisonment. Ağca's lawyers applied for their client's release under Law no. 4516 on Parole and Deferral of Penalties in December 2000. Their request was denied by the 1st High Criminal Court of Kartal. The lawyers filed an appeal against this decision, but the appeals court upheld the ruling. Ağca's life sentence was reduced to 10 years in prison for murder under a Turkish law that shortened prison sentences if served in a foreign prison. The money-laundering conviction and 36-year sentence were overturned because of the statute of limitations for robbery, which was 7 years under Turkish law.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: In early February 2005, during the Pope's illness, Ağca sent a letter to the Pope wishing him well and also warning him that the world would end soon. When the Pope died on 2 April 2005, Ağca's brother Adnan gave an interview in which he said that Ağca and his entire family were grieving, and that the Pope had been a great friend to them.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Ağca was released on parole on 12 January 2006. Mustafa Demirbağ, his lawyer, explained his release as a combination of amnesty and penal reform: an amnesty in 2000 deducted 10 years from his time, the court then deducted his 20 years in the Italian prison based on a new article in the penal code, and so he became eligible for parole for good behavior. However, a report from the French AFP news agency stated that "The Turkish judicial authorities still haven't explained exactly which legal resources he had access to", and former Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Türk, in government at the time of Ağca's extradition, claimed that, from a legal viewpoint, his release was a "serious mistake" at best, and that he should have not been freed before 2012. However, on 20 January 2006, the Turkish Supreme Court ruled that his time served in Italy could not be deducted from his Turkish sentence and he was again imprisoned.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: On 2 May 2008, Ağca asked to be awarded Polish citizenship as he wished to spend the final years of his life in Poland, Pope John Paul II's country of birth. Ağca stated that upon his release he wanted to visit Pope John Paul II's tomb and partner with Dan Brown on writing a book.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Ağca was released from jail on 18 January 2010. He was transferred to a military hospital in order to assess if, at 52, he was still fit for compulsory military service. The military found him unfit for military service for having "antisocial personality disorder". In a statement, he announced: "I will meet you in the next three days. In the name of God Almighty, I proclaim the end of the world in this century. All the world will be destroyed, every human being will die. I am not God, I am not son of God, I am Christ eternal."


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Ağca manifested a desire to become a Catholic priest in 2016 and go to Fatima, Portugal to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions there (Our Lady of Fátima).


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: In November 2010, he accused Cardinal Agostino Casaroli as the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: It has also been alleged that the Soviet Union's KGB ordered the assassination, because of John Paul II's support for the Solidarity labor movement in Poland. Ağca stated this during one of his interrogations before trial.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: However, when Ağca published his memoirs in 2013, his story changed completely, writing that the Iranian government and Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the assassination attempt on John Paul II.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: According to this new version of the events, Ağca received instructions and training in weapons and explosives in Iran, from Mohsen Rezai, under the orders of Ayatollah Jaffar Subhani and Ayatollah Khomeini. In his book, Ağca acknowledges that he lied previously about the Bulgarian and Soviet connection. He stayed in Sofia for about a month, but he was not in contact with any Bulgarian or other intelligence officers, he was in transit from Turkey to Western Europe, and was delayed in Sofia because his fake Indian passport was of such poor quality that on several occasions he had to bribe officials who became suspicious. So, he waited to receive a much better quality Turkish passport from the Grey Wolves: a genuine passport issued by the Turkish government to another person, Faruk Faruk Özgün, only the photo of Özgün was replaced by a photo of Ağca.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: When Pope John Paul II visited him in prison in Italy, on 27 December 1983 (two and a half years after the assassination attempt), Ağca recalls in his memoirs he kissed the hand of the Pope, having kissed three years earlier the hand of Khomeini in Iran, and when asked, he told John Paul II that Ruhollah Khomeini ordered the assassination. The claim was subsequently dismissed by the Vatican as a lie.


title: Mehmet Ali Ağca

text: Ağca's shooting of the Pope and possible KGB involvement is featured in Tom Clancy's 2002 novel "Red Rabbit" and Frederick Forsyth's novel "The Fourth Protocol". He has also been mentioned in the book "The Third Revelation" by Ralph McInerny, and was portrayed by actors Christopher Bucholz in the RAI production "Attentato al papa", Sebastian Knapp in the ABC TV biopic movie "", Massimiliano Ubaldi in CBS's TV miniseries "Pope John Paul II" (both 2005) and Alkis Zanis in the 2006 Canadian TV sequel "".


title: SBV Vitesse

text: SBV Vitesse Arnhem ("Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem"), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally as well Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional football club located in the municipality of Arnhem. Established on 14 May 1892, Vitesse is one of the oldest professional football clubs in the Eredivisie. Since 1998, the club has played its home games at the GelreDome.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse had its most successful period in the 1990s. Their best result in the Eredivisie was third place in 1997–98. They won the KNVB Cup in 2017 and also reached the final in 1912, 1927, 1990 and 2021. Throughout the years, Vitesse established itself as a stepping stone for future top class players like Raimond van der Gouw, Phillip Cocu, Roy Makaay, Sander Westerveld, Nikos Machlas, Mahamadou Diarra, Nemanja Matić, Wilfried Bony, Bertrand Traoré, Robin Gosens and Mason Mount.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse, founded in 1892, is the 2nd oldest professional football club still in existence in the Netherlands, after Sparta Rotterdam who were formed in 1888. The roots of Vitesse actually pre-dated Sparta by a year as in 1887, a club with the name "Arnhemsche cricket- en voetbalvereeniging Vitesse" was formed by a group of high school students who played their sport on the Rijnkade, overlooking the River Rhine in the city centre. Reluctant to choose a Latin or English name for the club as they felt those languages were too elitist, they picked the French word "Vitesse", meaning "speed".


title: SBV Vitesse

text: In 1891 the club disbanded as they were no longer able to find anywhere suitable to play cricket after a Velodrome was built on their usual playing field in the Klarenbeek Park. The following year a group of wealthy students resurrected the sports club, this time with the name AVC (Arnhemse Voetbal en Cricketclub) Vitesse. In the summer they played cricket and in the winter football. In the end of 1892, Vitesse played its first real football match, and in 1894 Vitesse disbanded the cricket branch. In 1895 and 1896 Vitesse became champions of the Gelderland competition. From the foundation of the Netherlands national football championship in 1898 until 1954, the title was decided by play-offs by a handful of clubs who had previously won their regional league. Vitesse lost the final of the national championship six times "(1898, 1899, 1903, 1913, 1914 and 1915)".


title: SBV Vitesse

text: In 1912, Vitesse reached the final of the Dutch Cup Tournament for the first time. Vitesse lost the final with 0–2 from HFC Haarlem. In this period Vitesse had top players, likes Willem Hesselink and Just Göbel. These players were also active in the Netherlands national team. In 1914 John William Sutcliffe became the first foreign trainer.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: During World War II, Vitesse did not play-official matches because playing football in the open air was forbidden. During the Battle of Arnhem, the residents of the city were forcibly evicted from their homes, allowing the Germans to turn the north bank of the Rhine into a heavily defended line. Residents were not allowed to return home without a permit and most did not return until after the war. The football field and clubhouse was completely destroyed. The damage was repaired in the years after the liberation.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: In 1984 it was decided to divide the professional and amateur sections of the club. The professional section was renamed SBV (Stichting Betaald Voetbal – "Professional Football Foundation") Vitesse whilst the amateur section became "Vitesse 1892", which lasted until they disbanded in 2009.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: From 1984, Karel Aalbers was the president of SBV Vitesse. Aalbers' goal was to bring Vitesse from the bottom of the Second League (Eerste divisie, now Jupiler League), the league in which the club originated, to the top 40 soccer clubs of Europe. He developed the basic idea for the 'Gelredome', a stadium with a sliding pitch that can be moved out of the building. Later, the same system was applied in Gelsenkirchen (Schalke 04) and in Japan. Events such as pop concerts can be held without damaging the grass. Gelredome opened in 1998. It has a roof that can be opened and closed. It is fully climate controlled as well. In the first season after the opening, Gelredome's attendance rose to 20,000, (from less than 8,000 in the old stadium).


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse made their debut in European competition in 1990. The club won their first match in the first round 1–0 over Derry City.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The club remained financially sound through making notable profits on the transfer market. Players such as Roy Makaay, Sander Westerveld, Nikos Machlas, Glenn Helder and Philip Cocu were sold for large sums of money. Others came to occupy empty player positions, such as Mahamadou Diarra and Pierre van Hooijdonk. Vitesse finished in top 4 positions, made profits and showed a solid balance sheet in the final years of Aalbers' presidency. Also, the club became regular competitors in the UEFA Cup and in 1997–1998 finished third in the Eredivise, its record highest finish to date.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Herbert Neumann was Vitesse's manager over most of these years (1992–95 and 1998–99), while star players included: Nikos Machlas, the first ever Vitesse player to win the European Golden Boot in 1998 when he scored 34 goals in a season; John van den Brom, who played 378 matches for Vitesse during this period scoring 110 goals from midfield; and Edward Sturing, who played 383 matches in defence for Vitesse from 1987 to 1998, as well as receiving 3 caps for the Netherlands national team. Additional stars included Dejan Čurović, who spent six years at Vitesse playing 109 matches as a striker, scoring 41 goals including the first goal in GelreDome. Meanwhile, Dutch forward Roy Makaay spent four years at Vitesse, scoring 42 goals in 109 matches between 1993 and 1997.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Aalbers resigned on 15 February 2000, after the main sponsor, Nuon, threatened to pull the plug if he did not. Nuon, as a public utility company owned by local authorities, had trouble explaining why it invested heavily in Aalbers' ambitious plans. His successor was Jan Koning (former chief of Sara Lee/DE who resigned after four months). In a short period of time, Vitesse began to show negative financial results due to poor deals on the transfer market. The club survived numerous financial crises, such as the last one in 2008, when debts were bought off, under the threat of bankruptcy.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The club was in serious financial trouble, and in August 2010 its majority shareholder agreed to sell the club to the Georgian businessman Merab Jordania. There were rumors that this purchase was engineered by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. The club underwent a successful transformation into a modern, commercial sports organization and established itself as one of the dominant teams of the Eredivisie.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: On 1 July 2012, Fred Rutten signed a contract as the new manager of Vitesse, for the season 2012-13. Rutten left Vitesse after the season, finishing in 4th place. Wilfried Bony ended the season as the Eredivisie's top scorer with 31 goals in 30 matches and was awarded the Golden Shoe for the best player in the Netherlands.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: For the 2013–14 season, Vitesse appointed Peter Bosz as its new manager. In November 2013, Vitesse was top of the league in the Eredivisie for the first time since 2006. It was the first time since 2000 they'd been top of the league later than the first week. Halfway through the season, after 17 matches, Vitesse was the leader in the competition. Key players in the squad from this period included Davy Pröpper, Christian Atsu and Bertrand Traoré.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse announced on 13 June 2016 that Henk Fraser would replace Bosz at the start of the 2016–17 season. In his first full season, won the club first major trophy in its 125-year existence. Fraser defeating AZ by a score of 2−0 in the final of the KNVB Cup, with two goals from Ricky van Wolfswinkel. On 5 August 2017 Vitesse were beaten 1–1 "(4–2 pen.)" at De Kuip, Rotterdam in the Johan Cruyff Shield final by Feyenoord. In the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stage, Vitesse's opponents were Lazio Roma, OGC Nice and Zulte Waregem. Vitesse ultimately finished the group stage in fourth place. In October 2017, Guram Kashia wore a rainbow-striped captain's armband for Vitesse against Heracles Almelo in support of LGBT rights, leading to a backlash in his own country. In August 2018, he became the inaugural recipient of UEFA's #EqualGame award for his act.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: In 2021, after beating VVV-Venlo in the semi-final, Vitesse reached the KNVB Cup Final for the fifth time in their history. Vitesse lost the final 2–1 to AFC Ajax. Vitesse finished the 2020–21 Eredivise season in 4th place. In July and August 2021, Vitesse qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League. Vitesse knocked-out Dundalk F.C. (2-2 and 2-1) and R.S.C. Anderlecht (3-3 and 2-1) in the qualifiers. On 27 August, Vitesse was drawn on Group G of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League alongside Tottenham Hotspur, Stade Rennais and NŠ Mura. Vitesse eventually placed 2nd in the group, making it to the round of 32.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The club plays its home games at the GelreDome stadium, with a capacity of 21,000 seats. The GelreDome was built to serve as a multifunctional stadium suited for sports, concerts and other events. It was the first football stadium in the world to have a retractable pitch, and, after the Amsterdam ArenA, the second stadium in Europe to have a sliding roof. The pitch is surrounded on each side by four covered all-seater stands, officially known as the Edward Sturing Stand (North), Charly Bosveld Stand (East), Theo Bos Stand (South) and Just Göbel Stand (West).


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The idea of building a multifunctional stadium, which had more than double the capacity of Vitesse's old Nieuw Monnikenhuize stadium, came from former Vitesse chairman Karel Aalbers. The ambitious chairman had been playing with the idea from as early as the late 1980s, but it took until 1996 and the prospect of the upcoming Euro 2000 championships for construction to finally begin. The GelreDome opened two years later, on 25 March 1998, with a league match between Vitesse and NAC Breda (4-1). Three international matches of the Netherlands national football team were played in the stadium, the first one being on May 27, 1998: a friendly against Cameroon (0–1). The last one, played on April 26, 2000, was also a friendly: a 0–0 against Scotland. In 2019, the Netherlands women's national team, also played their an international (friendly) match at the stadium. Furthermore, the GelreDome was the location for three UEFA Euro 2000 group stage matches, as well as the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship tournament.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse's training facilities are conducted at National Sports Centre Papendal, located in the outskirts of Arnhem in woodland surroundings. The training ground consists of several pitches, a number of which have an artificial turf pitch, and extensive training facilities, including a fitness centre. Papendal, a mere twelve kilometers north of the GelreDome, is not only the training facility for Vitesse's first team; the youth teams play their home matches here as well. Its main field has seating capacity for 500 people. The complex is situated in large wooded area, where the players can prepare in a peaceful and private environment, whilst not being too far from the hustle and bustle of Arnhem's city centre. Papendal is also the base for administration staff, scouting department and all club coaches.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse are well known for the American bald Eagle 'Hertog', which is released before the match and flies over the crowds.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse fans are known to be creative and have various songs and chants during matches. Among the most important Vitesse songs are "Geel en Zwart zijn onze kleuren" by Emile Hartkamp, "Ernems Trots" by Joey Hartkamp, and "Bouw mee aan een steengoed Vites!" by Henk Bleker & Enka Harmonie. Vitesse opens its home matches with "Whatever You Want" by Status Quo, and after every home goal "Bro Hymn" by Pennywise is played.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Theo Bos was raised in Arnhem and started playing football from an early age. He began his career at amateur club Sv Sempre Avanti and played from 1979 to 1983 in the academy of Vitesse. Manager Leen Looijen gave him his professional debut on 13 August 1983 against FC Wageningen; the match ended in a 3–0 victory for Vitesse. Bos spent his entire playing career for Vitesse, making a total 369 appearances in 14 seasons with his club. After his playing career, Bos worked at Vitesse as youth coach, assistant coach and manager. He is therefore considered to be "Mister Vitesse". In 2012, the south stand of the GelreDome stadium was named the Theo Bos Stand. Bos died on 28 February 2013 of pancreatic cancer, aged forty-seven. Following his death, a special remembrance to honour Theo Bos took place at Gelredome with around 7,000 Vitesse supporters. As of the 2012–13 season, no player will wear the number 4 shirt at Vitesse after the club decided to retire the shirt out of respect for Theo Bos, "the legendary number four". Dutch defender Jan-Arie van der Heijden was the last player to wear the number. In November 2013, his biography "Het is zoals het is" ('It is what it is') was published, written by journalist Marcel van Roosmalen. In 2015, a statue of Bos was erected outside of the training complex at Papendal.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Around September there is an annual 'Airborne memorial' football match. During this annual Airborne-match the veterans of World War II will be honored. The Gelredome is decorated with Airborne flags, both outside and inside the stadium, and at halftime, 120 members of the Royal British Legion played the bagpipes with some other musical guests. Clubsymbol Hertog fly with the typical Airborne colours. The match is traditionally visited by veterans who were fighting in this battle, while a special shirt is worn by Vitesse. The club drop their normal striped black and yellow kit for this special match. Instead they wear claret and blue outfits, the same colours of the 1st Airborne Division, with a 1st Airborne 'winged horse' emblem also etched on the kit. Pictured on the collar sticker is the John Frost Bridge. These shirts are after the match auctioned for charity. In addition, Vitesse wearing a special captain's armband as a sign of recognition and respect for those who have fought for our freedom. In the 2014–15 and 2019–20 seasons, Vitesse played their away games in the same colours of the 1st Airborne Division.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Originally, Vitesse played in white shirts with a blue sash from inception until 1900, paying hommage to the city's colours. At the turn of the century, player Reinhard Jan Christiaan baron van Pallandt offered to sponsor the club's shirts in exchange for Vitesse switching to his family colours of black and yellow. The board were quick to accept, noting that Vitesse, being one of the strongest team in the province of Gelderland, would be vindicated in playing in what could also be considered the province's colours (the flag of Gelderland is a tricolour in blue, yellow, and black).


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The first logo of Vitesse was a shield-shaped crest. In the middle there was a diagonal dividing line between the left yellow face and the right black box. In the left box, "AVC Vitesse" was diagonally written and in the right-hand side, "1892 ", the club's founding year. The old logo was replaced in 1984, the year in which the roads of the BVO branch and the amateur branch separated. The amateur branch retained the logo with limited modification, SBV Vitesse got a new logo.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The new logo of the BVO from 1984 is once again a shield-shaped figure, but it has straight lines at both the top and sides of the logo. At the top is with thick white uppercase Vitesse. Under the name is a double-headed eagle, with left and right half mirrored. Also the colors are mirrored, which is left yellow is black right and vice versa. This double-headed eagle can also be found in the coat of arms of Arnhem. In the middle of the logo is a football positioned.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: In the autumn of 2011, a new version of the logo was put into use; A total of 13 changes have been made. For example, the symmetry of the eagle was improved, the black outer edge replaced by a white and in the writing has been made thinner. The football has been altered in terms of appearance as a shadow effect is added and (if the context allows it) the year of creation as text EST. 1892 under the logo can be found.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Since 2019, Vitesse's kit has been manufactured by Nike. Previous manufacturers include Adidas (1982–89), Hummel (1989–90), Bukta


title: SBV Vitesse

text: (1990–91), Diadora (1991–93), Umbro (1993–97), Lotto Sport Italia (1997–99), Uhlsport (1999–05), Quick (2005–06), Legea (2006–09), Klupp (2009–12), Nike (2012–14), and Macron (2014-19).


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The club's shirts are currently sponsored by eToro. Previous commercial sponsors have been Akai (1982–83), Oad Reizen (1983–85), Spitman (1985–86), Schoenenreus (1987–89), RTL 4 (1990–1991), PTT Telecom (1991–92), BFI (1991–92), Spaarenergie (1992–93), Nuon Energy (1993–01), ATAG Benelux (2000–01), SITA (2002–03), Hubo (2002–03), Bavaria (2002–03), SBS 6 (2002–03), Sunweb Group (2003–04), AFAB (2004–2010), Zuka.nl (2010–2011), Simpel (2011–12), Youfone (2013–14), Truphone (2014–17), SWOOP (2017–18), Droomparken (2018–19), Royal Burgers' Zoo (2019–20), The Netherlands Open Air Museum (2019–20) and Waterontharder.com (2020–21).


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The supporters of the club are known as "Vitessenaren". Vitesse has two independent fan bodies. The "Supportersvereniging Vitesse" was founded in 1992 and currently consists of 3,000 members. They own a fan base within the GelreDome. The second one, "Arnhem Ultras", serve a more specific purpose: to improve the atmosphere in the stadium. Besides the fan unions, there are several sets of fans who work together on tifo choreography, likes "VIVO (Vitesse Is van Ons)", "De Aftrap", "VAK 113", "VAK 212", "RFFC", "Crew 81" and "BGN" among others. Nowadays, Vitesse is supported by one fanatic side: The "Theo Bos – South Stand". This stand is responsible for a big part of the atmosphere in the stadium.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse have attracted around 18,000 people to Eredivisie matches on average in the last years. The record attendance stands at 26,600, achieved in a match against NAC Breda at 25 March 1998. Research showed that about 10,000 season ticket holders from Gelderland, with other significant groups coming from Utrecht, South Holland and North Rhine-Westphalia.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The "Vitesse Kids Club" was founded by Vitesse in 1998 for children up to 16 years. Every year, the "Vitesse Kids Club Day" is organized, offering activities for members who are joined by the first team squad. During pre-season, Vitesse also holds an Open Day for people of all ages; the event gives the opportunity for sponsors and new player signings to be presented.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse fans have established a close friendship with the supporters of FC Petrolul Ploiești and RFC de Liège. Back in the days they had a friendship with Lierse SK till there was a big riot between them at a friendly match in 2011.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: NEC from Nijmegen are Vitesse's archrivals. The two clubs share a long history together and matches between the two clubs are called the Gelderse Derby "(Derby of Gelderland)". The rivalry between these two clubs goes beyond the football rivalry, it transcends into the city rivalry between the two largest cities of Gelderland: Nijmegen and Arnhem. This city rivalry began when these two cities first received their city rights. The two cities are just 20 kilometres apart, leading to an intense feeling of a cross-town rivalry, heightened by a feeling that local pride is at stake. The meeting between the two teams is still considered to be one of the biggest matches of the season.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The inhabitants of these cities differ extremely in both attitudes and cultures which is clearly reflected on the football pitch. Vitesse's style of play has long been a source of pride for the supporters, and one of irritation for the NEC fans.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Since 1813, Arnhem has been the capital of Gelderland, historically based on finance and trade. Arnhem is perceived as an office city with modern buildings. Nijmegen, on the other hand, is predominantly a workers' city, with middle and high-income groups in the minority. People from Nijmegen see Arnhem as arrogant and lazy.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: De Graafschap are also a rival of Vitesse, but in terms of tension and rivalry, these matches are not as loaded as the duels with NEC Nijmegen. The rivalry has existed for some time with De Graafschap and stems from various causes, such as the opposition between the large city (Arnhem) and the countryside (Doetinchem).


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Further teams who share a rivalry with Vitesse include FC Twente, FC Utrecht and AFC Ajax. Past rivalries include local derbies between Vitesse and clubs such as FC Wageningen, Go Ahead Eagles, Quick 1888, Arnhemse Boys and VV Rheden. However, the tension between the local sides lessened as the division of the clubs through playing in different leagues over time became greater. Years of not competing in the same league resulted in less frequent match-ups, until tensions finally settled between the local clubs.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The club is famous, however, for its Youth Academy, which is rated with the maximum of 4 Stars by the KNVB. Many players in professional football in Europe have played at Vitesse in the past including Roy Makaay, Robin Gosens, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Davy Pröpper, Alexander Büttner, Stijn Schaars, Peter Bosz, Marco van Ginkel, Theo Janssen, Erwin Mulder, Eloy Room, Piet Velthuizen, Martin Laamers, Nicky Hofs and Mitchell van Bergen. All youth teams will train and play their matches at Papendal.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The Vitesse Academy comprises age-group teams ranging from U8's up to the flagship U19's. The youngest players are scouted at amateur clubs in the direct surroundings of Arnhem. For the age of twelve and older the academy extends its scouting area, mainly to the remaining part of the Netherlands and Germany. In Vitesse's youth efficient and qualified training is done by full-time coaches and organized by further employees looking after the administration. Goal of the sporting education is to train the youths from basic to development to performance levels, for them to fulfil the sportive and non sportive demands of professional football.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: After Karel Aalbers left, the financial situation for the club became dire. This downfall almost led Vitesse into bankruptcy in 2008, as they were not able to pay back loans given by their sponsor AFAB Geldservice B.V. Eventually the club arranged a deal that saw AFAB's owner, Maasbert Schouten, gain 100% of Vitesse's shares. Schouten immediately expressed his intent to sell the club, which opened the window for Merab Jordania to buy Vitesse. When Jordania, a former Dinamo Tbilisi player and owner, bought the team in 2010, Vitesse became the first Dutch club in history with a foreign owner. In 2013, Russian businessman Alexander Tsjigirinski bought the club from Jordania. In May 2018 a new acquisition took place at Vitesse. Valeriy Oyf became the new majority shareholder of Vitesse. The Russian oligarch, who was part of the Board of Directors of Vitesse from 2016, took over the shares of Tsjigirinski.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: The first chairman was Frans Dezentjé. Willem Hesselink was chairman of the club from 1917 to 1922 and was appointed honorary chairman in 1962. Although Vitesse's coaches have come from all over Europe, the club's chairmen have been mostly Dutch, with Merab Jordania and Yevgeny Merkel as the only exceptions. The name of Karel Aalbers is inseparably linked to Vitesse. Although a club's success is never the work of a single man, nonetheless, the former chairman's part in the sportive and professional growth of Vitesse may be labelled as truly exceptional. Karel Aalbers handled the chairman's gavel from 1984 to 2000.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse's Player of the Season award is voted for by the club's supporters. It was first introduced in the 1989–90 season.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse's reserve team (Under-21) currently plays in the Beloften Eredivisie. It plays its home matches at Papendal and it is coached by Joseph Oosting. The team is composed mostly of professional footballers, who are often recent graduates from the highest youth level (Vitesse U19) serving their first professional contract as a reserve, or players who are otherwise unable to play in the first team.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: In 1984 it was decided to divide the professional and amateur sections of the club. The professional section was renamed SBV (Stichting Betaald Voetbal – "Professional Football Foundation") Vitesse whilst the amateur section became "(AVC) Vitesse 1892", who played their home matches at the Sportcomplex Valkenhuizen. In total, the club has won 5 trophies; one Derde Klasse title, one Vierde Klasse title, one Zesde Klasse title and two Arnhem Cups. On 2009, Vitesse 1892 was declared bankrupt. The amateur section has produced a number of professional players including Andy van der Meijde, Nicky Hofs, Léon Hese, Erwin van de Looi en Theo Janssen.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: Vitesse Legends are a beneficiary team that was initiated by Ben Snelders, Leo de Kleermaeker and Dik Herberts in the 1990s, competing in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity and/or to bid farewell to retiring former Vitesse players. The team is made up of various members of the Club van 100 of Vitesse who will come out of retirement for this match to face the current Vitesse squad. Past participants have included Theo Janssen, Marc van Hintum, Edward Sturing, Ruud Knol, Remco van der Schaaf, Nicky Hofs, Erwin van de Looi, Glenn Helder, Philip Cocu, John van den Brom, Theo Bos, Martin Laamers, Michael Dingsdag, Roberto Straal, Frans Thijssen, Dejan Čurović, Jhon van Beukering and Huub Loeffen.


title: SBV Vitesse

text: A number of Vitesse players have represented the Neherland national team, the first official international being Willem Hesselink. He was one of the founders of Vitesse in 1892 at age 14. In 1905 he started in the first ever home match of the Netherlands national football team, a 4–0 victory against Belgium. Some historians attribute one of the goals scored to him. Just Göbel played 22 matches for the Dutch team, being best remembered for his numerous saves during the 2–1 win over England's amateurs and his bronze medal in the football tournament of the 1912 Summer Olympics. The record number of Vitesse players for the Netherlands was three, which occurred on two occasions in 1989. The following players were called up to represent the Netherlands national team in international football and received caps during their tenure with Vitesse:


title: United States special operations forces

text: United States special operations forces (SOF) are the special forces of the United States Department of Defense's United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) within the United States Armed Forces, used for special operations.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta Vieira da Silva (born 19 February 1986), known mononymously as Marta (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Brazil national team. Marta is often regarded as the greatest female footballer of all time. She has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, five of them being consecutive (from 2006 through 2010) and the latest award coming in 2018.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta holds the record for being Brazil's top international goalscorer of any gender, with 115 goals. With 17 goals, Marta also holds the record for most goals scored in the FIFA World Cup tournament (women's or men's). Moreover, she was the first footballer of any gender to score at five World Cup editions, a feat matched by Christine Sinclair in 2019 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022, and also the first female footballer to score at five consecutive Olympic Games. She was a member of the Brazilian national teams that won the silver medal at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. She was also awarded the Golden Ball (MVP) at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship and won both the Golden Ball award as the best player and the Golden Boot award as the top scorer in the 2007 Women's World Cup after leading Brazil to the final of the tournament.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: At a club level, Marta won the UEFA Women's Cup at Swedish club Umeå IK in 2004 and won seven Swedish league championships during her time playing for various teams in the country.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: In January 2013, she was named as one of the six Ambassadors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, alongside Amarildo, Bebeto, Carlos Alberto Torres, Ronaldo and Mario Zagallo. She also appeared in the Sveriges Television television documentary series "The Other Sport" from 2013. In August 2016, Marta was one of the eight to carry the Olympic Flag in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as a Sustainable Development Goals advocate. The SDG are 17 global goals set with hopes of making the world a better place, and 17 advocates were appointed to help accomplish it.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta was discovered by Brazilian female coach Helena Pacheco when she was 14 years old. After playing for the CSA youth team, Marta started her professional career at Vasco da Gama in 2000. After two years, she was transferred to Santa Cruz, a small club in the state of Minas Gerais, where she would play for two more seasons, before joining Umeå IK of Sweden.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta joined Umeå IK prior to the 2004 season during which Umeå reached the final of the UEFA Cup, winning 8–0 on aggregate against Frankfurt, with Marta scoring three goals over the two-legs. In the league, despite amassing a total of 106 goals, which was 32 more than the Champions, Umeå finished second, beaten by a single point by Djurgården. Marta scored 22 league goals, and also got on the scoresheet at the cup final against Djurgården, scoring the only goal in a 2–1 Umeå loss.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Her second season (2005) ended with Marta scoring 21 goals and with Umeå winning the league, having gone undefeated. Once again, Umeå was beaten by Djurgården in the cup losing by a score of 3–1 in the final; thus avenging a 7–0 league defeat to Umeå some three weeks earlier.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: In 2006, Umeå once again won the league without losing, and Marta, as in the previous year, was the league's top scorer with 21 goals. Umeå cruised to an 11–1 aggregate win over Norwegian side Kolbotn FK in the UEFA Women's Cup, with Marta scoring twice in both matches. For the third time in a row, she was on the losing side in the Swedish cup final when her side was defeated 3–2 by Linköpings FC.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: The 2007 season was relatively successful for Umeå, with the club winning both the league, in which they finished nine points ahead of Djurgården, and the Swedish Cup, beating AIK 4–3 in a match in which Marta scored a hat-trick, the last (winning) goal coming three minutes from time. Marta scored 25 goals in the league finishing one goal behind the top scorer Lotta Schelin. In the UEFA Women's Cup they reached the final for the fourth time but suffered a disappointment, losing 1–0 on aggregate to Arsenal.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: The 2008 season saw Umeå and Marta win another Swedish championship title. After the end of the season, speculation arose concerning the future of Marta and a couple of months later, on the day of the FIFA World Player of the Year Awards in January 2009, Marta announced that she would play for the American side Los Angeles Sol for the next three years. At the request of Marta, the Los Angeles side also purchased Johanna Frisk from Umeå IK, which led to a report by Swedish TV4 sports presenter Patrick Ekwall that Marta and Frisk were a lesbian couple. Both players denied this to be true.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta's life and football prowess was depicted in the 2005 Swedish television documentary "Marta – Pelés kusin" ("Marta – Pelé's cousin").


title: Marta (footballer)

text: On the day she was named FIFA World Player of the Year in January 2009, Marta announced that she would be joining Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) team Los Angeles Sol for the league's inaugural season on a three-year contract. Of her signing, she said, "For me the most important thing is to be in a place where the best players in the world are playing and this is what they are trying to do here. The American League is being considered one of the best in the world, so I had to come now."


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta was the league's top scorer for the 2009 season with ten goals and three assists. The Sol were regular season champions and reached the WPS Championship Final, where it lost 1–0 to Sky Blue FC.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: During the off-season with Los Angeles Sol, she signed a three-month loan contract with Santos to play in the Copa Libertadores and in the Copa do Brasil, helping her club win both competitions, and scoring a goal in the Libertadores final and two in the Copa do Brasil final.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: In January 2010, the Sol ceased operations and the rights to Marta, and her teammates were made available in the 2010 WPS Dispersal Draft. The rights to Marta were acquired by the FC Gold Pride as their first pick. She appeared in all of the Pride's 24 games and scored 19 goals, earning her the WPS MVP and WPS Golden Boot for the second year in a row.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta also appeared in the WPS All-Star 2010, where she captained one of the teams as the top international vote-getter. She led the Gold Pride to the regular-season championship and had two assists and a goal in the WPS Championship against the Philadelphia Independence, earning MVP honors. She became a free agent after the Gold Pride folded on 17 November 2010.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: On 16 December 2010, Santos presented again Marta. It was a two-month contract that could become a link of a year, but it did not. The board of directors has confirmed it is finalizing negotiations for the club to dispute the women's football league in the United States in 2011. However, pursuant to the competition regulation, the club would have only five Brazilian players – Marta and four.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: On 25 January 2011, Marta joined her third WPS team in three years, the expansion team Western New York Flash, who took over the third year of her contract with the Gold Pride. Marta's 2 goals and 4 assists were a key part to the 3–0–1 start for the team's 2011 season.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Western New York Flash forward Marta helped her team to the Regular Season Championship title, scoring her tenth goal of the season in a 2–0 victory over the Atlanta Beat on Sunday, en route to earning her third consecutive PUMA Golden Boot award. The Brazilian soccer star edged out fellow Flash forward Christine Sinclair in the tiebreaker, having a greater production rate based on goals per game average.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: As WPS cancelled the 2012 season, Marta decided to return to Damallsvenskan in Sweden. On 22 February 2012 she signed a two-year contract with Tyresö FF. Her extraordinary salary of about $400,000 per season was paid by external sponsors and not the club, its owners stated. Tyresö won the Damallsvenskan title for the first time in the 2012 season and Marta collected her fifth league winner's medal.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta scored twice in Tyresö's 4–3 defeat by Wolfsburg in the 2014 UEFA Women's Champions League Final. Tyresö had suffered a financial implosion in 2014 and withdrew from the 2014 Damallsvenskan season, expunging all their results and making all their players free agents. The Stockholm County Administrative Board published the players' salaries, showing Marta was the highest earner at SEK 168 000 per month.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: As news of Tyresö's financial difficulties spread, Marta had been linked with a transfer to Avaldsnes IL. But the Norwegian Toppserien club's chairman warned that she would have to take a substantial pay cut. Paris Saint-Germain Féminines were also reported to have approached Marta and Tyresö teammate Caroline Seger.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: In July 2014, she signed a six-month contract with defending champion FC Rosengård in Sweden. While with the Swedish club, Marta won the Damallsvenskan league title in 2014 and 2015, the Svenska Cupen in 2016, and the Svenska Supercupen in 2015 and 2016.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: After Rosengård lost to Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Women's Champions League, Marta joined Orlando Pride on a free transfer from Rosengård, which agreed to terminate her contract. Her new contract with Orlando is for two years with the option for a third. In her first season at Orlando, she finished second in the league in both goals and assists and was voted MVP by her teammates. The Pride ended the season in third place earning their first ever playoff appearance where they lost in the semi-finals to the Portland Thorns.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Ahead of the 2022 season, Marta was named captain following the offseason departure of Ashlyn Harris. She suffered an ACL tear in her left knee on March 26 during the second game of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup and was placed on the club's season-ending injury list after undergoing surgery.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: On 26 July 2007, Marta and the Brazilian women's team beat the US U-20 national team to win the Pan American Games at the Estádio do Maracanã in front of a crowd of 68,000. She was compared, by the Brazilian fans, with Brazilian great Pelé, being called "Pelé with skirts." Pelé himself agreed with the comparison. Marta has stated that he called her to congratulate her for the win and that she was extremely happy to hear that one of the greatest ever players followed her team's games.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Afterward, the imprint of her feet was recorded in cement at the stadium, making her the first woman to be so honored.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta participated in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup with Brazil who strolled through the group stage, winning all three games with Marta scoring four goals. In the quarter-final, Brazil won 3–2 against Australia with Marta netting from the penalty spot. In the semi-final Marta scored twice as Brazil won 4–0 against the United States—the second goal scored in spectacular fashion. In the final, Brazil lost 2–0 to Germany. Marta had a penalty kick saved midway through the second half, which would have tied the match. She finished the 2007 Women's World Cup as the winner of both the Golden Ball as the top individual player and the 'Golden Boot' as the competition's top scorer with seven goals.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta also played in the 2008 Summer Olympics, earning a silver medal. After her personal duel in the final with United States goalkeeper Hope Solo, a 1–0 defeat consigned Marta to her third consecutive runners–up medal in major international tournaments.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta was part of the Brazil team at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup where Brazil was eliminated by the United States in the quarter-finals. She recorded four goals and two assists in the tournament, to move joint top of the all-time women's World Cup goalscorer list alongside Birgit Prinz on 14. It also earned her the Silver Boot as the tournament's second-leading goal scorer. From her first touch in the tournament against Australia, Marta was heavily jeered by local and opposing fans.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: During her fourth World Cup in 2015, Marta became the all-time top scorer of the women's tournament with 15 goals once she scored the second goal in Brazil's debut against South Korea. Brazil lost to Australia in the round-of-16.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: During the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, she became the first player, male or female, to score at five FIFA World Cup tournaments when she scored a penalty against Australia in Brazil's second group game. In the next match, she scored another penalty, this time against Italy, to become the outright leading goalscorer, male or female, at the World Cup with 17 goals in total. After Brazil were knocked out by hosts France in few Round of 16, Marta gave an emotional interview to television cameras where she pleaded with Brazilian girls to continue the legacy of ageing legends such as herself, Formiga, and Cristiane. She implored them to "value [women's football] more" and to "cry at the beginning so you can smile at the end." The interview went viral during the tournament, with videos getting tens of thousands of retweets on Twitter. In that period of time Marta entered top 10 the most popular footballer in the global ranking of the Wikipedia.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: On 21 July 2021, she scored twice in a 5–0 win against China, to become the first player to score in five straight Olympics.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: A small, quick, yet sturdy and tenacious player, who is regarded by many in the sport as the greatest female footballer of all time, Marta is renowned for her flair, quick feet, and exceptional skill on the ball, which has earned her comparisons with Ronaldinho, Romário, and also Pelé, who himself dubbed her as "Pelé with skirts". In addition to her vision and technical skills, Marta is also known for her pace when dribbling at speed. Marta is capable of playing in several offensive positions: she began her career in an offensive midfield role as a classic number 10, although she was later deployed in a more advanced role, both as a supporting forward and as a main striker, or even on the wing, a position which allows her to cut into the middle and shoot on goal with her stronger left foot.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Although she is primarily known for her creativity, chance creation, and ability to play off of her teammates as an advanced playmaker, Marta is a prolific goalscorer, who is renowned for her striking ability; she is also accurate from penalties and set-pieces. In addition to her footballing abilities, Marta has also stood out for her leadership.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: Marta has three siblings, José, Valdir, and Angela. Her parents are Aldário and Tereza. Her father left the family while Marta was a baby. On 11 October 2010, Marta was named a UN goodwill ambassador. Marta is fluent in Portuguese, Swedish and English. She is a Catholic and states that God is very important to her, although she does not go to church often. In 2016, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: In March 2017, Marta received Swedish citizenship. She retained her Brazilian citizenship and, having already been capped by Brazil, it did not make her eligible to represent Sweden. She gained a U.S. green card in February 2021, giving her permanent residency status and also qualifying her as a domestic player for NWSL roster purposes.


title: Marta (footballer)

text: In January 2021, after several years of dating, Marta announced she was engaged to Orlando Pride teammate Toni Pressley.


title: Antediluvian

text: The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-flood) period is the time period chronicled in the Bible between the fall of man and the Genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmology. The term was coined by Thomas Browne. The narrative takes up chapters 1–6 (excluding the flood narrative) of the Book of Genesis. The term found its way into early geology and science until the late Victorian era. Colloquially, the term is used to refer to any ancient and murky period.


title: Antediluvian

text: The Sumerian flood myth is alleged to be the direct mythological antecessor to the biblical flood record as well as other Near Eastern flood stories, and reflects a similar religious and cultural relevance to their religion. Much as the Abrahamic religions, ancient Sumerians divided the world between pre-flood and post-flood eras, the former being a time where the gods walked the earth with humans. After the flood, humans ceased to be immortal and the gods distanced themselves.


title: Antediluvian

text: In the Christian Bible, Hebrew Torah and Islamic Quran, the antediluvian period begins with the Fall of the first man and woman, according to Genesis and ends with the destruction of all life on the earth except those saved with Noah in the ark (Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives). According to Bishop Ussher's 17th-century chronology, the antediluvian period lasted for 1656 years, from Creation (some say the fall of man) at 4004 BC to the Flood at 2348 BC.


title: Antediluvian

text: The elements of the narrative include some of the best-known stories in the Bible – the creation, Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, followed by the genealogies tracing the descendants of Cain and Seth, the third mentioned son of Adam and Eve. (These genealogies provide the framework for the biblical chronology, in the form "A lived X years and begat B".)


title: Antediluvian

text: The Bible speaks of this era as being a time of great wickedness. There were Gibborim (giants) in the earth in those days as well as Nephilim; some Bible translations identify the two as one and the same. The Gibborim were unusually powerful; Genesis calls them "mighty men which were of old, men of renown". The antediluvian period ended when God sent the Flood to wipe out all life except Noah, his family, and the animals they took with them. Nevertheless, the Nephilim (literally meaning 'fallen ones', from the Hebrew root n-f-l 'to fall') reappear much later in the biblical narrative, in Numbers (where the spies sent forth by Moses report that there were Nephilim or "giants" in the promised land).


title: Antediluvian

text: Early scientific attempts at reconstructing the history of the Earth were founded on the biblical narrative and thus used the term "antediluvian" to refer to a period understood to be essentially similar to the biblical one. Early scientific interpretation of the biblical narrative divided the antediluvian into sub-periods based on the :


title: Antediluvian

text: Prior to the 19th century, rock was classified into three main types: primary or primitive (igneous and metamorphic rock), secondary (sedimentary rock) and tertiary (sediments). The primary rocks (like granite and gneiss) are void of fossils and were thought to be associated with the very creation of the world in the primary Pre-Adamitic period. The secondary rocks, often containing copious fossils, though human remains had not been found, were thought to have been laid down in the secondary Pre-Adamitic period. The Tertiary rocks (sediments) were thought to have been put down after Creation and possibly in connection to a flood event, and were thus associated with the Adamitic period. The Post-Flood period was termed the Quaternary, a name still in use in geology.


title: Antediluvian

text: As mapping of the geological strata progressed in the early decades of the 19th century, the estimated lengths of the various sub-periods were greatly increased. The fossil rich Secondary Pre-Adamitic period was divided up into the Coal period, the Lias and the Chalk period, later expanded into the now-familiar geologic time scale of the Phanerozoic. The term "antediluvian" was used in natural science well into the 19th century and lingered in popular imagination despite increasingly detailed stratigraphy mapping the Earth's past, and was often used for the Pleistocene period, where humans existed alongside now extinct megafauna.


title: Antediluvian

text: Writers such as William Whiston ("A New Theory of the Earth", 1696) and Henry Morris ("", 1961) who launched the modern Creationist movement described the antediluvian period as follows:


title: Antediluvian

text: However, there has since been debate among Creationists over the authenticity of arguments such as the one that there was no rain before the Flood and previous ideas about what the antediluvian world was like are constantly changing.


title: Antediluvian

text: During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the understanding of the nature of early Earth went through a transformation from a biblical or deist interpretation to a naturalistic one. Even back in the early 18th century, Plutonists had argued for an ancient Earth, but the full impact of the depth of time involved in the Pre-Adamitic period was not commonly accepted until uniformitarianism as presented in Charles Lyell's "Principles of Geology" of 1830. While each period was understood to be a vast aeon, the narrative of the pre-Adamitic world was still influenced by the biblical storyline of creation in this transition. A striking example is a description from "Memoires of Ichtyosauri and Plesiosauri", 1839, describing fossil species in a world with land, sea and vegetation, but before the creation of a separate sun and moon, corresponding to the third day of creation in the Genesis narrative:


title: Antediluvian

text: A modern naturalistic view of the ancient world, along with the abandonment of the term 'antediluvian', came about with the works of Charles Darwin and Louis Agassiz in the 1860s.