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A sports club, sport club, athletics club or sports association is an eclectic institution oriented to multiple sports, which fields many teams and in several sports, working under the same umbrella organization. In a larger sense, it may also refer to any sports institution, even those that have only one sports team or a single sports department. In order to differentiate a single-sport institution from a multi-sport one, the term multi-sport club is used. The term athletics club may either mean a sports club or a club for the sport of athletics outside of the United States and Canada. 
A sport club in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, showing various paved and painted surfaces for futsal, basketball and volleyball, with two swimming pools in the foreground. Sports clubs around the World In many regions of the world like Europe, North Africa, Middle East, Indian subcontinent or Latin America, sports clubs with several sports departments (multisports clubs) or branches, including highly competitive professional teams, are very popular and have developed into some of the most powerful and representative sports institutions in those places. In general, student sports can be described as composed by multisports clubs, each one representing its educational institution and competing in several sport disciplines. In the United States of America major institutions like The New York Athletic Club, Los Angeles Athletic Club or many university athletic programs such as the California Golden Bears, Stanford Cardinal and Texas Longhorns are good examples of a sports club (see list of College Athletic Programs by US State). However, examples abound of sports clubs that are in effect one sports team. Each team from the NBA (basketball), NFL (American football) or MLS (association football) American sports leagues, can be called sports clubs, but in practice, they focus solely on a single sport. On the other hand, American varsity teams are generally organized into a structure forming a true multi-sport club belonging to an educational institution. In the United Kingdom, almost all major sports organizations are dedicated to a single sport, however, rare examples of minor multisport clubs were found like Catford Wanderers. In addition, like in several other countries, many universities and colleges develop a wide range of student sport activities including at a professional or semi-professional level. Fulham F.C. once ran a professional rugby league team and rowing club, which other football clubs have emulated since. Many football clubs originate from cricket teams. Today, most major cities will have separate clubs for each sport (e.g. Manchester United and Manchester City football clubs and Lancashire County Cricket Club are based in Manchester and Norwich is home to Norwich City F.C. and several athletic clubs). Association football provides an interesting contrast between cultures and nations. There are many football clubs named "FC" (Football Club) or "CF" (Clube de Futebol in Portuguese and Club de Fútbol in Spanish). Generally, British football clubs field only football teams; examples include Liverpool, Newcastle United, Rangers and Celtic (although its full name was until 1994 The Celtic Football and Athletic Company Ltd.). Their counterparts in several other countries tend to be full multi-sport clubs; examples include Benfica, Porto and Sporting in Portugal, Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, Lazio in Italy, TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen in Germany, PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Olympiacos, PAOK and Panathinaikos in Greece, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş in Turkey, Partizan Belgrade and Red Star Belgrade in Serbia, Albirex Niigata in Japan, Qatar Sports in Qatar, Vasco da Gama, Flamengo and Portuguesa in Brazil, CSKA Moscow and Dynamo Moscow in Russia, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, and Boca Juniors and River Plate in Argentina, only to name a few.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Supporters Associations (Sports) |
