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In general, "sports club" can also refer to any single sports team, like a Football Club where the only sport is Football . For instance, many British soccer clubs exist like Chelsea FC , Newcastle United or Celtic FC where the only teams fielded are Soccer teams. However, rare examples do exist such as Fisher Athletic (football, boxing and athletics) or Catford Wanderers (cricket, tennis, badminton). Each team from the NBA (basketball), NFL (American football) or MLS (soccer) North America n Sports League s, can be also called Sports clubs, but in practice, they focus solely on a single sport. On the other hand, North American Varsity Team s are generally organized into a structure forming a true multi-sport club belonging to an educational institution. There are also many clubs named "FC"/"''CF''" (English: Football Club/Portuguese:''Clube de Futebol''/Spanish:''Club de Fútbol''), among other designations, which are effectively full multisports clubs. For example, dozens of sports clubs with this designation are found in the Iberian Peninsula like the FC Porto , Boavista FC , or CF Belenenses in Portugal , and Real Madrid CF or FC Barcelona in Spain . ORGANIZATION Generally, any sports club is characterized by having professional and amateur sports departments in various sports disciplines like Football (soccer) , Basketball , Futsal , Volleyball , Handball , Rink Hockey , Water Polo , Rugby , Athletics (track And Field) , Boxing , Baseball , Tennis , Sport Rowing , Gymnastics and other. An eclectic collection of competitive, recreational, and instructional athletic programs is available through club sports. The teams and Athlete s belonging to a sports club compete in several different leagues, championships and tournaments wearing the same club logotype, equipment colors and using the same club name, sharing also the same club Fan Base , supporters and facilities. Many sports clubs have an associate system where the affiliated supporters pay an annuity fee. In those cases, the supporter becomes eligible to attend the club's home matches and exhibitions across the entire season, and have the right to practice almost every kind of sport at the club's facilities. Registered associate member fees, attendance receipts, Sponsor ing contracts, team Merchandising , TV rights, and athlete/player Transfer Fees , are usually the primary sources of sports club financing. MULTI-SPORT CLUBS IN THE WORLD In many regions of the world like Europe , Africa , Middle East , Indian Subcontinent or Latin America , sports clubs comprised of several sports departments or branches are very popular and have developed into some of the most powerful and representative sports institutions in those places. Examples of this can be found throughout the world:
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 ). Major active sports clubs Multi-sport clubs with over a hundred thousand associates or at least 4 million supporters or sympathizers (audited by independent external auditors), and several trophies won in multiple sports include: Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü (Turkey) Fenerbahçe SK from Istanbul , Turkey , is a major sports club. Its most popular branch is the Football Team , but the club also competes in Basketball , Volleyball , Rowing , Boxing , Sailing , Athletics , Swimming and Table Tennis . With an estimated 25 million "fans", Fenerbahçe is the most popular sports club in Turkey having also the highest average attendance in the Turkish Football League matches. In 2006 , Fenerbahçe Merged Its Basketball Operations with those of Ülkerspor, which in recent years had become the country's second-strongest club in that sport after Efes Pilsen . Futbol Club Barcelona (Spain) FC Barcelona from Barcelona , Catalonia , is one among many well-known examples of a major multi-sport club (''club poliesportiu'' in Catalan ). Although best known for its La Liga football team and its reserve football team FC Barcelona B , the club also incorporates other professional sports teams, having expanded into Basketball , Handball and Roller Hockey . The teams involved in these sports are subsidized by the football section and wear the same colors. These include AXA FC Barcelona , FC Barcelona-Cifec and FC Barcelona Sorli Discau . The club also includes a number of prominent amateur sports teams that compete in Rugby Union , Women's Basketball , Women's Football and Wheelchair Basketball . These include FCB Rugby , UB-Barça , and FC Barcelona-Institut Guttman . Other amateur teams represent the club in Ice Hockey , Five-a-side Football , Athletics , Baseball , Cycling , Field Hockey , Figure Skating and Volleyball . With dozens of trophies in several sports and over 150,000 associates, FC Barcelona is a powerhouse in world sports with millions of supporters and sympathizers worldwide. Futebol Clube do Porto (Portugal) FC Porto from Porto , Portugal , fields teams in Football , Basketball , Rink Hockey , Handball , Swimming , and Athletics . In total, FC Porto is the portuguese club with most international titles. In total, in all these sports including, the 1987 and 2004 Intercontinental Cup , the 1987 and 2004 European Champions Cup , the 1987 European Supercup and the 2003 UEFA Cup in football; rink hockey - European Cup in 1986 and 1990, CERS Cup in 1994 and 1996, Cup Winners Cup in 1982 and 1983, and European Supercup in 1987. In others sports is one of best clubs in the Portugal. With dozens of trophies in several sports and over 110,000 associates and is one of the most popular Portuguese Clubs with 3 million supporters in Portugal and an estimated 28% among the total population. FC Porto is a powerhouse in world sports. Olympiacos CFP (Greece) Olympiacos CFP from Piraeus, Greece, is a large multisport club in Europe and the most popular club in Greece. It develops activities in 17 different competitive departments, including football. The club boasts European and international titles in football, basketball ( Olympiacos BC ), volleyball ( Olympiakos SC ), water polo and athletics. Olympiacos have more honors than any other Greek team in men's football, volleyball and water polo. Olympiacos have achieved a Triple Crown (winning three major titles in one year) in two different sports (basketball and waterpolo). Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (Greece) Panathinaikos from Athens , Greece , is a major multisports club with many departments (24 different competitive departments) and a large number of national and international titles won by them. Furthermore, it is also the largest multisport club in Greece and also on an international scale, as measured by the number of different sports departments it maintains. The club is mostly known for its three professional teams Football ( Panathinaikos FC ), Basketball ( Panathinaikos BC ) and Volleyball ( Panathinaikos VC ), where they compete at the highest level in Europe, but has also an enormous number of distinctions from its other amateur departments (Women Volleyball , Women Basketball , Athletics, Swimming , Cycling , Boxing , Diving , Archery , Shooting , Fencing , Table Tennis , Water Polo etc). Società Sportiva Lazio (Italy) team however is by far its most important and prestigious. Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Portugal) on 10th November 2006. Guinness World Records - S.L. Benfica [http://diariodigital.sapo.pt/news.asp?section_id=129&id_news=249986][http://www.rtp.pt/index.php?article=249461&visual=5] Sporting Clube de Portugal (Portugal) , Handball , Futsal , Athletics , Swimming , Table Tennis , Boxing , Martial Arts , Shooting , Archery , Weight-lifting , and Gymnastics . Sporting claims that it is the second European most successful sports club after Barcelona. REFERENCES SEE ALSO |
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