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Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is a professional football club based in Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894. The club's home ground is the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester, to which they moved in 2003, having played at Maine Road since 1923. Manchester City adopted their sky blue home shirts in 1894, the first season with the current name. The club has won 10 league titles, seven FA Cups, eight League Cups, six FA Community Shields, one UEFA Champions League, one European Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Manchester City joined the Football League in 1892, and won their first major honour, the FA Cup, in 1904. The club had its first major period of success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, winning the league title, FA Cup, League Cup, and European Cup Winners Cup under the management of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. After losing the 1981 FA Cup final, Manchester City went through a period of decline, culminating in relegation to the third tier of English football for the only time in their history in 1998. They since regained promotion to the top tier in 2001–02 and have remained a fixture in the Premier League since 2002–03.

Manchester City received considerable financial investment both in playing staff and facilities following its takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Abu Dhabi United Group in August 2008. This started a new era of unprecedented success, with the club winning the FA Cup in 2011 and the Premier League in 2012, both their first since the 1960s, followed by another league title in 2014. Under the management of Pep Guardiola, Manchester City won the Premier League in 2018, becoming the only team in the competition history to attain 100 points in a single season. In 2018–19, they won four trophies, completing an unprecedented sweep of all domestic titles in England and becoming the first English men's team to win the domestic treble. This was followed by four consecutive Premier League titles in 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24, as well as the club's first-ever Champions League final in 2021, which they lost to Chelsea. The 2022–23 season saw Manchester City win their maiden European Cup and complete the continental treble in the process, becoming the second English club to do so. The club is ranked first in the UEFA coefficient standings as of 2023.

Manchester City was listed in the Deloitte Football Money League at the end of the 2022–23 season, making it the football club with the second highest revenue in the world, approximated at €825 million. In 2022, Forbes estimated the club was the sixth-most valuable in the world, worth $4.250 billion. Manchester City are owned by City Football Group Limited, a holding company valued at £3.73 ($4.8) billion in November 2019 and majority-owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group.

Early years and first trophies
City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899; with it came promotion to the highest level in English football, the First Division. They went on to claim their first major honour on 23 April 1904, beating Bolton Wanderers 1–0 at Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup; the Blues narrowly missed out on a League and Cup double that season after finishing runners-up in the league campaign, but they still became the first club in Manchester to win a major honour. In the seasons following the FA Cup triumph, the club was dogged by allegations of financial irregularities, culminating in the suspension of seventeen players in 1906, including captain Billy Meredith, who subsequently moved across town to Manchester United. A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, and in 1923 the club moved to their new purpose-built stadium at Maine Road in Moss Side.

In the 1930s, Manchester City reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to Everton in 1933, before claiming the Cup by beating Portsmouth in 1934. During the 1934 run, the club broke the record for the highest home attendance of any club in English football history, as 84,569 fans packed Maine Road for a sixth-round FA Cup tie against Stoke City – a record which stood until 2016. The club won the First Division title for the first time in 1937, but were relegated the following season, despite scoring more goals than any other team in the division. Twenty years later, a City team inspired by a tactical system known as the Revie Plan reached consecutive FA Cup finals again, in 1955 and 1956; just as in the 1930s, they lost the first one, to Newcastle United, and won the second. The 1956 final, in which the Blues defeated Birmingham City 3–1, saw City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann continuing to play on after unknowingly breaking his neck.

First golden era and subsequent decline
After being relegated to the Second Division in 1963, the future looked bleak with a record low home attendance of 8,015 against Swindon Town in January 1965. In the summer of 1965, the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison was appointed. In the first season under Mercer, Manchester City won the Second Division title and made important signings in Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell. The 1965-66 season also saw City field a Black player for the first time when Stan Horne made his debut on 22 September 1965 in an away game against Leicester City. Two seasons later, in 1967–68, City claimed the league championship for the second time, beating their close neighbours Manchester United to the title on the final day of the season with a 4–3 victory at Newcastle United. Further trophies followed: City won the FA Cup in 1969 and a year later triumphed in the European Cup Winners' Cup, defeating Górnik Zabrze 2–1 in the 1970 final. This was the club's only European honour until their triumph in the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League. The Blues also won the League Cup that year, becoming the second English team to win a European trophy and a domestic trophy in the same season.

The club continued to challenge for honours throughout the 1970s, finishing one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup. One of the matches from this period that is most fondly remembered by supporters of Manchester City is the final match of the 1973–74 season against arch-rivals Manchester United, who needed to win to have any hope of avoiding relegation. Former United player Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1–0 win at Old Trafford and confirm the relegation of their rivals. The final trophy of the club's most successful period of the 20th century was won in 1976, when Newcastle United were beaten 2–1 in the League Cup final.

A long period of decline followed the success of the 1960s and 1970s. Malcolm Allison rejoined the club to become manager for the second time in 1979, but squandered large sums of money on several unsuccessful signings, such as Steve Daley. A succession of managers then followed – seven in the 1980s alone. Under John Bond, City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur. The club were twice relegated from the top flight in the 1980s (in 1983 and 1987), but returned to the top flight again in 1989 and finished fifth in 1991 and 1992 under the management of Peter Reid. However, this was only a temporary respite, and following Reid's departure Manchester City's fortunes continued to fade. City were co-founders of the Premier League upon its creation in 1992, but after finishing ninth in its first season they endured three years of struggle before being relegated in 1996. After two seasons in the First Division, City fell to the lowest point in their history, becoming the second ever European trophy winners to be relegated to their country's third-tier league after 1. FC Magdeburg of Germany.

Recovery and two takeovers
After relegation, the club underwent off-the-field upheaval, with new chairman David Bernstein introducing greater fiscal discipline. Under manager Joe Royle, City were promoted at the first attempt, achieved in dramatic fashion in the Second Division play-off final against Gillingham. A second successive promotion saw City return to the top division, but this proved to have been a step too far for the recovering club, and in 2001 City were relegated once more. Kevin Keegan replaced Royle as manager in the close season, and achieved an immediate return to the top division as the club won the 2001–02 First Division championship, breaking club records for the number of points gained and goals scored in a single season in the process. The 2002–03 season was the last at Maine Road and included a 3–1 derby victory over rivals Manchester United, ending a 13-year run without a derby win. Additionally, City qualified for European competition for the first time in 25 years via UEFA fair play ranking. In the close 2003–04 season, the club moved to the new City of Manchester Stadium. The first four seasons at the stadium all resulted in mid-table finishes. Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson became the club's first foreign manager when appointed in 2007. After a bright start, performances faded in the second half of the season, and Eriksson was sacked on 2 June 2008; he was replaced by Mark Hughes two days later.

By 2008, Manchester City were in a financially precarious position. Thaksin Shinawatra had taken control of the club the year before, but his political travails saw his assets frozen. Then, in August 2008, City were purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group. The takeover was immediately followed by a flurry of bids for high-profile players; the club broke the British transfer record by signing Brazilian international Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5 million. There was not a huge improvement in performance compared to the previous season despite the influx of money however, with the team finishing tenth, although they did well to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. During the summer of 2009, the club took transfer spending to an unprecedented level, with an outlay of over £100 million on players Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez, and Joleon Lescott. In December 2009, Mark Hughes – who had been hired shortly before the change in ownership but was originally retained by the new board – was replaced as manager by Roberto Mancini. City finished the season in fifth position in the Premier League, narrowly missing out on a place in the Champions League but qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.

Second golden era and arrival of Pep Guardiola
Continued investment in players followed in successive seasons, and results began to match the upturn in player quality. City reached the FA Cup final in 2011, their first major final in over 30 years, after defeating derby rivals Manchester United in the semi-finals, the first time they had knocked their rival out of a cup competition since 1975. The Blues defeated Stoke City 1–0 in the final, securing their fifth FA Cup and the club's first major trophy since winning the 1976 League Cup. On the last day of the 2010–11 season, City beat out Arsenal for the third place, thereby securing qualification directly into the Champions League group stage.

Strong performances continued to follow in the 2011–12 season, including a 5–1 victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane and a record-equalling 6–1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford, but a poor run of form in the second half of the season left City in second place, eight points behind United with only six games left to play. At this point, United suffered their own loss of form, dropping eight points in the space of four games, while City began a run of successive wins which saw both teams level on points with two games to go. Despite the Blues only needing a home win against Queens Park Rangers, a team in the relegation zone, they fell 1–2 behind by the end of normal time. However, two goals in injury time – the second by Sergio Agüero in the fourth added minute – settled the title in City's favour, making them the first team to win the Premier League on goal difference alone.

The following season, City were unable to replicate the previous year's success. After finishing second in the league, eleven points behind Manchester United, and losing the FA Cup final 0–1 to relegated Wigan Athletic, Mancini was sacked. He was replaced by Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini. In Pellegrini's first year in charge, City won the League Cup and regained the Premier League title on the last matchday of the season. The team's league form then slowly declined over the next couple of years, as the Blues finished second in 2014–15 and then dropped to fourth in 2015–16, although the 2015–16 season would see City win another League Cup title and reach the Champions League semi-finals for the first time.

Pep Guardiola, former head coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, was confirmed to become Manchester City's new manager on 1 February 2016, with the announcement having been made several months before Manuel Pellegrini left his position. Guardiola's first season in Manchester would end trophyless, with the Blues placing third in the league standings, but the following season proved far more successful, as City won the Premier League title with the highest points total in history and broke numerous other club and English league records along the way.

This would prove to be the start of a period of unprecedented success for Manchester City under Guardiola. Between the 2017–18 and 2023–24 Premier League seasons, City won six out of possible seven league titles, only finishing second behind Liverpool in the 2019–20 season. Guardiola also guided the Blues to silverware in domestic cup competitions, highlighted by four consecutive League Cup triumphs in 2018–2021. During the 2018–19 season, City completed an unprecedented domestic treble of English men's titles. Apart from winning all three of the major English football tournaments, they also won the Community Shield, the first time any team has ever held all four of England's primary football trophies at the same time. On the continental stage, the club achieved breakthrough in 2020–21, reaching their first-ever Champions League final. In an all-English affair, City lost 0–1 to Chelsea at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto.

The 2022–23 season turned out to be the greatest in the club's history, as Manchester City won their third consecutive Premier League title, the FA Cup final against rivals Manchester United, and their maiden Champions League title at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul against Inter Milan, thereby assembling a rare feat – the continental treble. The road to the Champions League victory included wins over European giants Bayern Munich, who were defeated 4–1 on aggregate, and Real Madrid, who suffered a 1–5 aggregate loss at the hands of City.

In the 2023–24 season City became the first English men's club to win four consecutive league titles.

Manchester City's era of sustained competitive excellence coincided with charges of breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. In 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that sanctions placed on the club by UEFA were not justified, overturning City's two-year European ban. In 2023, the Premier League announced its own investigation of the allegations levied against Manchester City, charging the club with 115 breaches of its FFP rules up to the 2017–18 season. In the summer of 2024, Manchester City initiated legal action against the Premier League. The club claims that the league's Associated Party Transaction rules are unlawful and are seeking damages from the league.

League history
L1 = Level 1 of the football league system; L2 = Level 2 of the football league system; L3 = Level 3 of the football league system.

Club badge and colours

Manchester City's home colours are sky blue and white. Traditional away kit colours have been either maroon or (from the 1960s) red and black; however, in recent years several colours have been used. The origins of the club's home colours are unclear, but there is evidence that the club has worn blue since 1892 or earlier. A booklet entitled Famous Football Clubs – Manchester City published in the 1940s indicates that West Gorton (St. Marks) originally played in scarlet and black, and reports dating from 1884 describe the team wearing black jerseys bearing a white cross, showing the club's origins as a church side. The infrequent yet recurrent use of red and black away colours comes from former assistant manager Malcolm Allison's belief that adopting the colours of AC Milan would inspire City to glory. Allison's theory seemingly took effect, with City winning the 1969 FA Cup final, 1970 League Cup final, and 1970 Cup Winners' Cup final in red and black stripes as opposed to the club's home kit of sky blue.

City had previously worn three other badges on their shirts, prior to their current badge being implemented in 2016. The first, introduced in 1970, was based on designs which had been used on official club documentation since the mid-1960s. It consisted of a circular badge which used the same shield as the present badge (including a ship, based on the City of Manchester coat of arms), inside a circle bearing the name of the club. In 1972, this was replaced by a variation which replaced the lower half of the shield with the red rose of Lancashire. In 1976, a heraldic badge was granted by the College of Arms to the English Football League for use by City. The badge consisted of the familiar ship above a red rose but on a circular device instead of a shield (blazoned as "A roundel per fess azure and argent in chief a three masted ship sails set pennons flying or in base a rose gules barbed and seeded proper").

On occasions when Manchester City played in a major cup final, the club wore shirts bearing the City of Manchester coat of arms, as a symbol of pride in representing the city at a major event. This practice originated from a time when the players' shirts did not normally bear a badge of any kind. The club has since abandoned the practice; for the 2011 FA Cup final, its first in the 21st century, City used the usual badge with a special legend, but the Manchester coat of arms was included as a small monochrome logo in the numbers on the back of players' shirts.

A new club badge was adopted in 1997, as a result of the previous badge being ineligible for registration as a trademark. This badge was based on the arms of the city of Manchester, and consisted of a shield in front of a golden eagle. The eagle is an old heraldic symbol of the city of Manchester; a golden eagle was added to the city's badge in 1958 (but had since been removed), representing the growing aviation industry. The shield featured a ship on its upper half representing the Manchester Ship Canal, and three diagonal stripes in the lower half symbolised the city's three rivers – the Irwell, the Irk and the Medlock. The bottom of the badge bore the motto "Superbia in Proelio", which translates as "Pride in Battle" in Latin. Above the eagle and shield were the three stars, added for decorative purposes.

On 15 October 2015, following years of criticism from the fans over the design of the 1997 badge, the club announced they intended to carry out a fan consultation on whether to discontinue the current badge and institute a new design. After the consultation, the club announced in late November 2015 the badge would be replaced in due course by a new version which would be designed in the style of the older, circular variants. A design purporting to be the new badge was unintentionally leaked two days early prior to the official unveiling on 26 December 2015 by the IPO when the design was trademarked on 22 December. The new badge was officially unveiled at Manchester City's home match against Sunderland on 26 December.

EDS and Academy
The following players have previously made appearances or have appeared on the substitutes bench for the first team.

Retired numbers
Since 2003, Manchester City have not issued the squad number 23. It was retired in memory of Marc-Vivien Foé, who was on loan to the club from Lyon at the time of his death on the field of play while playing for Cameroon in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Club captains
This is a list of City's official club captains, who are currently appointed via a vote of players and staff. Other players (vice-captains) have led the team on the pitch when the club captain is not playing or not available. Some players have been made captain on a one-off basis to celebrate or commemorate an event, e.g. Oleksandr Zinchenko captained the team in their 2021–22 FA Cup fifth round tie at Peterborough United in support of his country during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Player of the Year
Each season since the end of the 1966–67 season, the members of the Manchester City Official Supporters Club have voted by ballot to choose the player on the team they feel is the most worthy of recognition for his performances during that season. The following table lists the recipients of this award since 2000.

Sources:

Manchester City Hall of Fame
The following former Manchester City players and managers have been inducted into the Manchester City F.C. Hall of Fame, and are listed according to the year of their induction:

National Football Museum Hall of Fame
The following former Manchester City players and managers have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame (a.k.a. the National Football Museum Hall of Fame), and are listed according to the year of their induction within the various categories:

Premier League Hall of Fame
The following former Manchester City players have been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. Inaugurated in 2020, but delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hall of Fame is intended to recognise and honour players that have achieved great success and made a significant contribution to the league since its founding in 1992.

Scottish Football Museum Hall of Fame
The following former Manchester City players and managers have been inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame (a.k.a. the Scottish Football Museum Hall of Fame), and are listed according to the year of their induction within the various categories:

Welsh Sports Hall of Fame
The following former Manchester City players have been inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame, and are listed according to the year of their induction:

Coaching

Source:

Notable managers

 * Manchester City managers to have won major honours. Table correct as of 25 May 2024

Supporters
Since moving to the City of Manchester Stadium, the club's average attendances have been in the top six in England, usually in excess of 40,000. Even in the late 1990s, when City were relegated twice in three seasons and playing in the third tier of English football (then the Second Division, now the EFL League One), home attendances were in the region of 30,000, compared to an average of fewer than 8,000 for the division. Research carried out by Manchester City in 2005 estimated a fanbase of 886,000 in the United Kingdom and a total in excess of 2 million worldwide, although since the purchase of the club by Sheikh Mansour, and City's recent achievements, that figure has since ballooned to many times that size.

Manchester City's officially recognised supporters club is the Manchester City F.C. Supporters Club (1949), formed by a merger of two existing organisations in 2010: the Official Supporters Club (OSC) and the Centenary Supporters Association (CSA). City fans' song of choice is a rendition of "Blue Moon", which despite its melancholic theme is belted out with gusto as though it were a heroic anthem. City supporters tend to believe that unpredictability is an inherent trait of their team, and label unexpected results "typical City". Events that fans regard as "typical City" include the club being the only reigning English champions ever to be relegated (in 1938), the only team to score and concede over 100 goals in the same season (1957–58), or the more recent example where Manchester City were the only team to beat Chelsea in the latter's record-breaking 2004–05 Premier League season, yet in the same season City were knocked out of the FA Cup by Oldham Athletic, a team two divisions lower.

In the late 1980s, City fans started a craze of bringing inflatable objects to matches, primarily oversized bananas. One disputed explanation for the phenomenon is that in a match against West Bromwich Albion, chants from fans calling for the introduction of Imre Varadi as a substitute mutated into "Imre Banana". Terraces packed with inflatable-waving supporters became a frequent sight in the 1988–89 season, as the craze spread to other clubs (inflatable fish were seen at Grimsby Town), with the craze reaching its peak at City's match at Stoke City on 26 December 1988, a game declared by fanzines as a fancy dress party. In 2010, Manchester City supporters adopted an exuberant dance, dubbed The Poznań, from fans of Polish club Lech Poznań that they played in the Europa League. In 2022, Manchester City proposed the release of the Connected Scarf, that would contain a sensor tracking physiological and emotional data of the wearer, for supporters in 2023.

Rivalries
Manchester City's biggest rivalry is with neighbours Manchester United, against whom they contest the Manchester derby. Before the Second World War, when travel to away games was rare, many Mancunian football fans regularly watched both teams even if considering themselves "supporters" of only one. This practice continued into the early 1960s but as travel became easier, and the cost of entry to matches rose, watching both teams became unusual and the rivalry intensified. A common stereotype is that City fans come from Manchester proper, while United fans come from elsewhere. A 2002 report by a researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University found that while it was true that a higher proportion of City season ticket holders came from Manchester postcode areas (40% compared to United's 29%), there were more United season ticket holders, the lower percentage being due to United's higher overall number of season ticket holders (27,667 compared to City's 16,481). The report noted that since the compiling of data in 2001, the number of both City and United season ticket holders had risen; expansion of United's ground and City's move to the City of Manchester Stadium have caused season ticket sales to increase further.

Over the last few years, Manchester City has also developed a notable rivalry with Liverpool, currently considered one of the biggest in association football. Though the two clubs had been involved in a title race in the 1976–77 season, Liverpool and City's modern rivalry began in the 2010s, with the Blues beating Liverpool to the 2013–14 title by just two points on the final day of the season. In the final of the 2015–16 League Cup, City defeated Liverpool on penalties after a 1–1 draw. The two clubs met in European competition for the first time in the 2017–18 Champions League quarter-finals, where Liverpool won 5–1 on aggregate, ultimately reaching the final and then winning the competition a year later. In the 2018–19 season, City again won the title on the final day, with the Blues' 98 points and Liverpool's 97 being the third- and fourth-highest Premier League points totals ever. The following season, Liverpool clinched the title, recording 99 points (the second-highest Premier League total ever after Manchester City's 100 in 2017–18) to finish 18 points above runners-up City. The Blues then regained the title in 2020–21 and outgunned Liverpool in another closely-fought title race in 2021–22, to finish with 93 points to Liverpool's 92.

The success of the two teams in the 2010s and 2020s has led to the development of a rivalry between Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, the managers of Liverpool and Manchester City, with the two previously having been the respective managers of Der Klassiker rivals Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. At the end of the 2018–19 season, Guardiola described his relationship with Klopp as a "beautiful rivalry" and called Klopp's Liverpool team "the strongest opponents I have faced in my career as a manager". In September 2019, Klopp hailed Guardiola for being his 'greatest rival ever', after both were nominated for the FIFA Men's Coach of the Year award in 2019, which Klopp ultimately won. In a 2019 survey, City fans answered that Liverpool, and not Manchester United, are the club's biggest rivals.

Manchester City also have long established local rivalries with Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic, and Stockport County, and more recent competitive Premier League rivalries with Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Ownership and finances
The holding company of Manchester City F.C., Manchester City Limited, is a private limited company, with approximately 54 million shares in issue. The club has been in private hands since 2007, when the major shareholders agreed to sell their holdings to UK Sports Investments Limited (UKSIL), a company controlled by former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. UKSIL then made a formal offer to buy the shares held by several thousands of small shareholders.

Prior to the Thaksin takeover, the club was listed on the specialist independent equity market PLUS (formerly OFEX), where it had been listed since 1995. On 6 July 2007, having acquired 75% of the shares, Thaksin de-listed the club and re-registered it as a private company. By August, UKSIL had acquired over 90% of the shares and exercised its rights under the Companies Act to "squeeze out" the remaining shareholders, and acquire the entire shareholding. Thaksin Shinawatra became chairman of the club and two of Thaksin's children, Pintongta and Oak Chinnawat became directors. Former chairman John Wardle stayed on the board for a year, but resigned in July 2008 following Nike executive Garry Cook's appointment as executive chairman in May. The club made a pre-tax loss of £11m in the fiscal year ending 31 May 2007, the final year for which the club published accounts as a public company.

Thaksin's purchase prompted a period of transfer spending at the club, in total around £30 million, whereas over the several previous seasons Manchester City's net spending had been among the lowest in the Premier League. A year later, this investment was dwarfed by an influx of money derived from the club's takeover. On 1 September 2008, Abu Dhabi-based Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited completed the takeover of Manchester City. The deal, worth a reported £200 million, was announced on the morning of 1 September. It sparked various transfer "deadline-day" rumours and bids such as the club's attempt to gazump Manchester United's protracted bid to sign Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur for a fee in excess of £30 million. Minutes before the transfer window closed, the club signed Robinho from Real Madrid for a British record transfer fee of £32.5 million. The wealth of the new owners meant that, in the summer of 2009, City were able to finance the purchase of experienced international players prior to the new season, spending more than any other club in the Premier League.

City Football Group
Created in the 2013–14 season to manage the global footballing interests of the Abu Dhabi United Group, City Football Group (CFG) is an umbrella corporation owning stakes in a network of global clubs for the purposes of resource sharing, academy networking and marketing.

CFG ownership
Through City Football Group, Manchester City owns stakes in a number of clubs:
 * 🇦🇺 Melbourne City FC (2014–present)
 * On 23 January 2014, it was announced that Manchester City had partnered with the Australian rugby league franchise Melbourne Storm, purchasing a majority stake in A-League team Melbourne City FC. On 5 August 2015, CFG bought out the Storm and acquired full ownership of the team.

 * 🇯🇵 Yokohama F. Marinos (2014–present)
 * On 20 May 2014, it was announced that Manchester City had partnered with the Japanese Automotive company Nissan to become a minority shareholder in Yokohama based J-League side, Yokohama F. Marinos.

 * 🇺🇸 New York City FC (2015–present)
 * On 21 May 2013, it was announced that Manchester City had partnered with the American baseball franchise the New York Yankees to introduce the 20th Major League Soccer expansion team, New York City FC as its majority shareholder. The club began play in the 2015 Major League Soccer season.

 * Montevideo City Torque (2017–present)
 * On 5 April 2017, CFG confirmed the purchase of Uruguayan second division team Montevideo City Torque.

 * 🇪🇸 Girona FC (2017–present)
 * On 23 August 2017, it was announced that CFG had acquired 44.3% of Segunda División (second tier) side Girona FC. Another 44.3% was held by the Girona Football Group, led by Pere Guardiola, brother of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

 * 🇨🇳 Shenzhen Peng City (2019–present)
 * On 20 February 2019, it was announced that CFG as well as UBTECH and China Sports Capital had acquired Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.

 * 🇮🇳 Mumbai City FC (2019–present)
 * CFG was announced as majority stakeholder of Mumbai City FC on Thursday 28 November 2019 after acquiring 65% of the club. Mumbai City is the professional football club based in Mumbai, competing in the Indian Super League.

 * 🇧🇪 Lommel S.K. (2020–present)
 * CFG was announced as a majority stakeholder of Lommel S.K. on Monday 11 May 2020, acquiring the majority (unspecified) of the club's shares. Lommel S.K. is a professional football club based in Lommel, competing in the Belgian First Division B (second tier).

 * 🇫🇷 Troyes AC (2020–present)
 * On 3 September 2020, CFG announced that they had purchased the shares of Daniel Masoni, the former owner of Ligue 2 (second tier) club Troyes AC, making them the majority shareholder of the French club.

 * 🇮🇹 Palermo FC (2022–present)
 * On 4 July 2022, Italian Serie B (second tier) club Palermo announced that CFG had acquired an 80% majority stake in their ownership.

 * 🇧🇷 Bahia (2023–present)
 * On 3 December 2022, CFG acquired 90% of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Bahia. The deal was finalised on 4 May 2023.

Partner clubs

 * 🇧🇴 Club Bolívar (2021–present)
 * On 12 January 2021, CFG announced Bolivian club Club Bolívar as its first partner club.

 * 🇫🇷 Vannes OC (2021–present)
 * On 18 February 2021, CFG announced that French Championnat National 2 (tier 4) club Vannes OC would be its second partner club.

Stadium
The City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester, known as the Etihad Stadium since 2011 for sponsorship reasons, is on a 200-year lease from Manchester City Council to Manchester City. It has been the club's home since the end of the 2002–03 season, when City moved from Maine Road. Before moving to the stadium, the club spent in excess of £30 million to convert it to football use: the pitch was lowered, adding another tier of seating around it, and a new North Stand was constructed. The inaugural match at the new stadium was a 2–1 win over Barcelona in a friendly match. A 7,000-seat third tier on the South Stand was completed in time for the start of the 2015–16 football season, increasing the stadium's capacity to 55,097. A North Stand third tier is in development, potentially increasing capacity to around 61,000.

After playing home matches at five stadiums between 1880 and 1887, the club settled at Hyde Road Football Stadium, its home for 36 years. A fire destroyed the Main Stand in 1920, and the club moved to the 84,000 capacity Maine Road three years later. Maine Road, nicknamed the "Wembley of the North" by its designers, hosted the largest-ever crowd at an English club ground when 84,569 attended an FA Cup tie against Stoke City on 3 March 1934. Though Maine Road was redeveloped several times over its 80-year lifespan, by 1995 its capacity was restricted to 32,000, prompting the search for a new ground which culminated in the move to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003; it was renamed the Etihad Stadium in 2011.

Honours
Based on trophy count, Manchester City are one of the most successful teams in England – their thirty-five major domestic, european and worldwide honours rank them fourth on the list of most decorated sides in England, ahead of Chelsea with 34.

The club's first major trophy was the 1904 FA Cup, though they had previously won three regional Manchester Cups before that point. Their first top division league title came in the 1936–37 season, with the first Charity Shield won in the following August. City's first League Cup and European trophy both came at the end of the 1969–70 season, the two trophies also constituting the team's first double of any kind. In the 2018–19 season, City became the first team to claim all of the major English trophies available in a single season, winning not just the Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup, but also the Community Shield.

The 1970 Cup Winners' Cup victory remained City's only European trophy until their triumph in the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League. They have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League four times overall, losing in 2016, then winning en route to their first-ever final in 2021, losing in 2022, and winning en route to their maiden European Cup title in 2023.

They are only the second English club to complete a Continental Treble, in the 2022–23 season; and in 2023–24 became the first English club to win four consecutive league titles.

Manchester City used to hold the record for most second division titles, having won the league on seven occasions. Man City's first victory was in 1898–99, and the most recent in 2001–02. The record was broken by Leicester City after they clinched their eighth title in 2023–24.

Leagues

 * First Division / Premier League (Level 1)
 * Winners (10): 1936–37, 1967–68, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Runners-up (6): 1903–04, 1920–21, 1976–77, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2019–20
 * Second Division / First Division / Championship (Level 2)
 * Winners (7): 1898–99, 1902–03, 1909–10, 1927–28, 1946–47, 1965–66, 2001–02
 * Runners-up (4): 1895–96, 1950–51, 1988–89, 1999–2000
 * Promoted third place (1): 1984–85
 * Third Division / Second Division / League One (Level 3)
 * Promoted third place (1): 1998–99

Cups

 * FA Cup
 * Winners (7): 1903–04, 1933–34, 1955–56, 1968–69, 2010–11, 2018–19, 2022–23
 * Runners-up (6): 1925–26, 1932–33, 1954–55, 1980–81, 2012–13, 2023–24
 * Football League Cup / EFL Cup
 * Winners (8): 1969–70, 1975–76, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21
 * Runners-up (1): 1973–74
 * FA Charity Shield / FA Community Shield
 * Winners (6): 1937, 1968, 1972, 2012, 2018, 2019
 * Runners-up (9): 1934, 1956, 1969, 1973, 2011, 2014, 2021, 2022, 2023

European

 * UEFA Champions League
 * Winners (1): 2022–23
 * Runners-up (1): 2020–21
 * European Cup Winners' Cup
 * Winners (1): 1969–70
 * UEFA Super Cup
 * Winners (1): 2023

Worldwide

 * FIFA Club World Cup
 * Winners (1): 2023

Doubles and Trebles

 * Doubles
 * League and FA Cup (2): 2018–19, 2022–23
 * League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1969–70
 * Domestic treble
 * League, FA Cup, and League Cup (1): 2018–19
 * Continental treble
 * League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League (1): 2022–23

Four-peats

 * Four-peats
 * Premier League: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
 * EFL Cup: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21

Club records

 * Record league victory – 11–3 vs Lincoln City (23 March 1895, most goals scored); 10–0 vs Darwen (18 February 1899, widest margin of victory)
 * Record FA Cup victory – 12–0 vs Liverpool Stanley (4 October 1890)
 * Record European victory – 7–0 vs Schalke 04, UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg (12 March 2019); 7–0 vs RB Leipzig UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg (14 March 2023)
 * Record league defeat – 0–8 vs Burton Wanderers (26 December 1894); 0–8 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (23 December 1933); 1–9 vs Everton (3 September 1906); 2–10 vs Small Heath (17 March 1893)
 * Record FA Cup defeat – 0–6 vs Preston North End (30 January 1897); 2–8 vs Bradford Park Avenue (30 January 1946)
 * Record European defeat – 0–4 vs Barcelona, UEFA Champions League group stage (19 October 2016)
 * Highest home attendance – 84,569 vs Stoke City, FA Cup sixth round (3 March 1934)
 * Most league appearances – 561 + 3 sub, Alan Oakes, 1958–76
 * Most European appearances – 59 + 16 sub, Fernandinho, 2013–22
 * Most appearances overall – 676 + 4 sub, Alan Oakes, 1958–76
 * Most goals scored overall – 260, Sergio Agüero, 2011–21
 * Most goals scored in a season – 52, Erling Haaland, 2022–23
 * Record transfer fee paid – £100 million to Aston Villa for Jack Grealish, August 2021
 * Record transfer fee received – £54.8 million from Bayern Munich for Leroy Sané, July 2020

title: Manchester City F.C.


text:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game in The Legend of Zelda series and was released in 1991 in Japan and 1992 in North America and Europe.

The story is set many years before the events of the first two Zelda games. The player assumes the role of Link as he journeys to save Hyrule, defeat the demon king Ganon, and rescue the descendants of the Seven Sages. It returns to a top-down perspective similar to the original The Legend of Zelda, dropping the side-scrolling gameplay of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It introduced series staples such as parallel worlds and items including the Master Sword.

A Link to the Past is widely considered among the greatest video games ever made, with particular praise for its presentation and innovative gameplay. It was ported to the Game Boy Advance as A Link to the Past and Four Swords in 2002, and sold 6.5 million copies across both platforms by 2004. It was subsequently re-released on the Wii, Wii U, and New Nintendo 3DS via the Virtual Console, the Nintendo Switch via Nintendo Switch Online, and the Super NES Classic Edition. A sequel, A Link Between Worlds, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013.

Gameplay

A Link to the Past puts the player in control of its protagonist, Link, and is viewed and controlled from an overhead perspective, much like the original The Legend of Zelda. This contrasts its predecessor, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, which had a side-scrolling perspective. Where Link could only move in four directions in the original The Legend of Zelda, Link can now move diagonally as well. The player explores the overworld of Hyrule while entering dungeons in order to defeat bosses and receive items necessary for completing Link's quest. These dungeons are often multi-level, requiring Link to ascend and descend stairs or fall into holes to progress. Link is able to use a variety of weapons and items, with his two main items being his sword and shield, both of which are acquired early and can be upgraded multiple times. Certain items, such as the Lantern, use magic points when used. Link acquires items at various point in his journey, sometimes in the overworld. Each dungeon has a large chest, which grants a piece of equipment that is typically necessary to complete the game. As the player explores the overworld, they can find optional health upgrades called Heart Pieces; when four are collected, they form a Heart Container, which increases Link's health by one.

A Link to the Past features two separate but similar overworlds: the Light World and the Dark World. Link starts in the Light World, but by traveling through portals, he can enter the Dark World, a parallel version of the Light World. The Dark World has different enemies, non-playable characters, and dungeons, and the player will often have to travel back and forth between the two worlds to progress. The Dark World's locations and geography often line up with the Light World's, such as Kakariko Village and Thieves Town. While Link can enter the Dark World via portals, he can only exit the Dark World using an item called the Magic Mirror. This leaves a special portal behind that allows him to return through it, though it is erased if Link uses the Magic Mirror in the Dark World. At times, this allows Link to reach areas otherwise inaccessible.

Plot
A Link to the Past is a distant prequel to the original The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and, within the official chronology, is the first game in the "Defeated Hero" timeline that connects to an alternate reality scenario where the Hero of Time does not succeed in Ocarina of Time. This results in Ganon being imprisoned in the Sacred Realm in his Dark Beast form out of desperation. Having successfully gathered all three pieces of the Triforce, Ganon's evil desires have transformed the realm into the Dark World. The game is set in Hyrule, also known as the Light World, which parallels the Dark World. Before the events of the game, the descendants of the Seven Sages who imprisoned Ganon are captured, Princess Zelda included, and, one by one, sent to the Dark World. The King of Hyrule is also murdered, and the wizard, Agahnim, takes over.

The game begins with series protagonist Link, the last descendant of the Knights of Hyrule, and his uncle being awakened by a telepathic message from Zelda, who says that she has been locked in Hyrule Castle's dungeon by Agahnim and requires rescue. Link's uncle goes to rescue her first, and Link follows, despite his uncle's orders to remain home. His uncle is mortally wounded and, before succumbing, Link receives a sword and shield from him. He infiltrates Hyrule Castle and successfully hides Zelda in the Sanctuary as his uncle's last wish. Zelda remains in the Sanctuary with the priest, who tells Link that Agahnim is a powerful wizard planning to free Ganon from the Dark World, after he was imprisoned for attempting to use the Triforce for evil purposes. Agahnim's weak point is the Master Sword, a relic weapon only the chosen hero can wield; to do so, the hero must obtain the three pendants.

Link journeys to find the three pendants, aided by Sahasrahla along the way, and eventually obtaining the Master Sword. Zelda communicates her peril to Link telepathically and, upon returning to the Sanctuary, finds the priest dying, who tells him to rescue Zelda. He attempts to rescue Zelda, but to no avail, as Agahnim sends her to the Dark World. After defeating Agahnim, the wizard sends Link to the Dark World, where he must rescue the descendants of the Seven Sages. He once again battles Agahnim and, upon defeat, Ganon appears from Agahnim's corpse and flies to the Pyramid of Power. Upon defeating Ganon, Link retrieves the Triforce and is given the chance to make a wish. In the ending, his uncle, the priest, and the King of Hyrule are all resurrected, everyone trapped in the Dark World comes home, and Link later puts the Master Sword back into its pedestal.

Development
In 1988, development of a new NES The Legend of Zelda video game began, but one year later, the project was brought to Nintendo's next console; the Super Famicom (known as the Super NES in other regions). Due to the success of previous Zelda games, Nintendo was able to invest a large budget and ample development time and resources into the game's production. At the time, most Super NES game cartridges had 4 Mbit (512 KB) of storage space. This game broke the trend by using 8 Mbit (1 MB), allowing the Nintendo development team to create a remarkably expansive world for Link to inhabit. Like Super Mario World, this game used a simple graphic compression method on the Super NES by limiting the color depth of many tiles to eight colors instead of the Super NES's native 16-color tiles. The tiles were decompressed at runtime by adding a leading bit to each pixel's color index. Storage space was also saved by eliminating duplication: The Light World and the Dark World are almost identical in layout (though using differing texture tiles), and the Dark World exists in the ROM only as an "overlay" of the Light World. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto originally intended the game to feature a party, "one that consists of the protagonist, ... a magic user, and a girl". The script was written by series newcomer Kensuke Tanabe, while Yoshiaki Koizumi was responsible for the background story explained in the instruction manual. Due to time constraints, certain features were cut from the final release, such as the ability to cause wildfires in grassy areas (which would later be incorporated into Four Swords Adventures). The player was able to freely choose which weapons to hold and would be able to swap and combine items such using both bombs and arrows at the same time. According to Tezuka, this did not come to pass as Miyamoto requested that Link always have the sword equipped.

Music
The score was composed, arranged, and produced by Koji Kondo. The overworld theme of The Legend of Zelda ("Hyrule Overture") returns in A Link to the Past, redone in S-SMP style. The theme is also featured in "Light World Overworld" and in "End Credits". A Link to the Past helped to establish the musical core of the Zelda series. While the first game originated the "Hyrule Overture", many recurring motifs of the Zelda scores come from A Link to the Past, including "Zelda's Lullaby" (Princess Zelda's Theme), "Ganondorf's Theme", "Hyrule Castle" (Royal Family Theme), "Kakariko Village" and "Select Screen/Fairy Cave". These themes have been used in subsequent The Legend of Zelda games. A soundtrack to Kamigami no Triforce, entitled The Legend of Zelda: Sound and Drama, was released by Sony Records in Japan on June 22, 1994. The first disc is 44 minutes long and features rearranged versions of a selection of the game's themes, along with a bonus drama track. The second disc features 54 minutes of the original arrangements for the game and those of the original NES game.

Localization
The English-language localization included changes to the original Japanese game. The most common change was the removal of religious references to conform with Nintendo of America's content guidelines. The most obvious change was made to the subtitle, which was renamed from Kamigami no Triforce ("Triforce of the Gods") to A Link to the Past. The font used to represent an unreadable language, Hylian, was based on Egyptian hieroglyphs, which carry religious meanings, and it was altered in the English version. The priest Agahnim became a wizard.

Easter egg
In 1990, Nintendo Power held a contest, requiring players to take a photo of the "WarMECH", a powerful and rare enemy in Final Fantasy. As a prize, one of the successful entrants was to be selected at random to appear in an upcoming game, though it was not revealed which game it would be. As a result, a hidden room exists in A Link to the Past containing 45 blue rupees and a greeting from Chris Houlihan, the winner of the contest, reading "My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, okay?"

The room was intended as a crash prevention measure; the game would send players to this room if it could not determine where Link was going when he goes to another area, and has been found through five different methods. There was no wide awareness of the room until the 2000s, more than a decade after the release of A Link to the Past with the increased popularity of the Internet and Super NES emulators.

The Game Boy Advance re-release, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords, removed the ability to access the room, though it could still be found in the game's code. The Virtual Console re-releases on the Wii, Wii U, and New Nintendo 3DS, as well as the version present on Nintendo Switch Online, contain the room, being emulations of the original game.

Reception
A Link to the Past was critically acclaimed upon release for its graphics and gameplay, and has since been recognized by critics as one of the greatest video games of all time. Famitsu's four reviewers Tofuya Famibou, Muzno, Mariko Morishita and Giorgio Nakaji gave the game a nine out of ten from Famibou and four ten out of ten from the other reviewers. The reviewers praised the games story and graphics with Morishita noting that the even the smallest gestures of characters were very detailed. Nakaji noted the game may be difficult for players new to the Zelda games, but declared it a game that will remind players "how much fun games can be."

It was the first game to receive a near-perfect score of 39 out of 40 from Famitsu magazine. It was awarded Best Sequel of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. Chicago Tribune selected it as Best Game of the Year, tied with Street Fighter II. A Link to the Past was reviewed in Dragon magazine by Sandy Petersen in 1993, giving it 5 out of 5 stars.

In 1995, Total! listed the game 2nd on its "Top 100 SNES Games". In 1996, GamesMaster rated the game 80th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time". In 2005, IGN editors placed it 11th in its "Top 100 Games", while readers voted it to 5th place, before IGN later ranked it the second best game of all time in 2015 and 2019. In 2006, Entertainment Weekly chose it as the best game of all-time and it was inducted into GameSpot's list of the greatest games of all time. It has also been listed as the best game of all time by Next Generation and Popular Mechanics magazines, and as the second best game of all time by G4 and Gamereactor. Members of GameFAQs ranked it the 4th best, and readers of Japanese magazine Famitsu ranked it 31st in a 2006 poll. It also placed 3rd in Electronic Gaming Monthlys list, 23rd in Game Informers, and 3rd in a best 200 Nintendo games list by Nintendo Power. In July 2007, readers of the magazine Edge voted it sixth in a poll of the 100 best games of all time. ScrewAttack placed it 2nd on their list of top 20 Super Nintendo games. GamesRadar named A Link to the Past the third best Super NES game of all time, losing only to Chrono Trigger (2nd) and Super Metroid (1st). It placed eighth (the second-highest Zelda game on the list) in Official Nintendo Magazine's "100 greatest Nintendo games of all time" list. In 2009, Game Informer put A Link to the Past 12th on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", saying that it "remains a blast today". This is 11 places ahead of the rank it had back in 2001. In 2018, Complex listed the game 2nd on its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time". They felt the game is "definitely Nintendo's best first-party title for the SNES".

A Link to the Past and Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance received positive reviews. IGN praised it for being a faithful conversion of the original, but noted that the audio did not sound as crisp on the Game Boy Advance, and found the frequent sound effects tiresome. The game holds the top spot of Metacritic's all-time high scores for Game Boy Advance games with a score of 95. In 2007, IGN named A Link to the Past and Four Swords the third best Game Boy Advance game of all time. GamePro's Star Dingo called it a "masterpiece", as well as an "important part of the Grand Renaissance of the Second Dimension". He also praised the overworld for its secrets and "quirky random characters", adding that playing it required patience and exploring. Star Dingo praised the port of A Link to the Past's ability to retain its visuals. He specifically praises its "clean sprites", calling its overworld a "colorful, happy place", sarcastically calling it kiddy. He also questioned how the series' cartoon style was abnormal for the series. Star Dingo called the sound effects "indelible", though he noted that they were "a little dated". UGO Networks compared Four Swords to Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, calling it "similarly gimmicky". They commented that the best Four Swords brought was its sequel, The Minish Cap. CNET praised both the original A Link to the Past release as well as the Four Swords multiplayer mode, calling the former a "great handheld port of one of the greatest games ever released for Nintendo's 16-bit system", while describing the latter as "an exciting, replayable multiplayer experience". Nintendo Power had a positive review for the GBA version, praising the level design and puzzles.

Sales
A Link to the Past was set for release in March 1991. Additional staff were hired to complete the game by adding further elements to the game such more enemies and a scenario. According to Miyamoto, these elements took an additional eight months to develop. It was released in Japan on November 21, 1991. Releases in North America and Europe followed on April 13, 1992 and September 24, 1992 respectively. The game was a commercial success upon release. In Japan, it topped the Famitsu sales charts during November–December 1991 and January 1992, becoming the best-selling 1991 release. In the United States, it became the third best-selling game of 1992 (below Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Street Fighter II) with one million units sold. It had an exceptionally long stay on Nintendo Powers top games list (ranking number 2 in Nintendo Powers last issue in December 2012): when the Super NES list was retired, A Link to the Past had more than five consecutive years in the number one spot. It was later re-released as a Player's Choice title in North America, indicating that it had sold a minimum of one million copies there. Worldwide, it was one of the best-selling Super NES games, with 4.61 million units sold as of 2004.

The later Game Boy Advance version in the United States alone sold 1.4 million copies and earned $41 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 8th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, or PlayStation Portable in that country. The Game Boy Advance version sold 1.89 million units worldwide by 2004, bringing total sales to 6.5 million units as of 2004.

Chris Houlihan Room
The Escapist, G4TV, GameSpy, Good Game, IGN, Nintendo Life, and PALGN referenced the Chris Houlihan room in articles which discuss video game easter eggs and secrets.

GamesRadar included it in its lists of the greatest video game Easter eggs and the thirteen "video game secrets that were almost never found". GamesRadar's Jason Fanelli called it "one of the Zelda franchise's biggest mysteries". GamesRadar's Justin Towell included it in his list of the top seven secret rooms in video games at number two. He felt that the contest prize was exciting, and called it "one of the coolest and most exclusive secrets in the Zelda universe". 1UP.com featured it in its list of "25 things you didn't know about The Legend of Zelda".

Comics
A comic book adaptation of A Link to the Past illustrated by Shotaro Ishinomori was published in Nintendo Power that was serialized for 12 issues from January to December 1992. The comic was then re-released as a trade paperback in 1993. The comic is a loose adaptation of the original game's story, featuring several plot changes and new characters. Two other manga were released in Japan: a manga by Ataru Cagiva from 1995 to 1996 that was serialized in Enix Corporation's Monthly GFantasy and later collected into three volumes and a one-volume manga by the duo Akira Himekawa released in 2005 corresponding with the release of Game Boy Advance version. Both follow the game's plot more closely, and the latter introduced a new character called "Ghanti", a thief with a single devil's horn and a star under her eye.

Related games
A French version of this game was released in Canada, making it the only French-only release in North America for the Super NES. This version had the same case as the English release in North America, but the whole game was translated into French. The next Zelda game, Link's Awakening was released in 1993 for the Nintendo Game Boy. It retained many of A Link to the Past gameplay mechanics, including the top-down perspective, as well as an overworld which resembled that of A Link to the Past. After traveling to train abroad, Link is shipwrecked and awakens on an island called Koholint. Beginning on March 2, 1997, a simple unaltered re-release of the original Japanese version of A Link to the Past was broadcast via Satellaview. The game was rebroadcast more often than any other Zelda game on the Satellaview, and was the only Zelda title broadcast by St.GIGA after ties with Nintendo were broken in April 1999. Unlike other two Satellaview Zelda games, Kamigami no Triforce lacked SoundLink support.

Apart from official sequels and re-releases made or licensed by Nintendo, A Link to the Past has proven to be very popular within the game-modding community, inspiring the development of numerous fangames, such as the unofficial 2007 sequel The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds. In 2023, A Link to the Past was reverse-engineered, making unofficial ports possible on a broad range of platforms.

Inishie no Sekiban
In 1997, a follow-up, BS Zelda no Densetsu: Inishie no Sekiban (lit. "BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets" or "Stone Tablets of Antiquity"), was released in Japan. Designed exclusively for the Super Famicom's Satellaview peripheral, BS Zelda made use of a voice broadcast system, SoundLink, to provide voice-acting for several characters. The game takes place six years after the events in A Link to the Past and is set in Hyrule's Light World. It lacks a Link character, and instead the player character is known as the Hero of Light. The available player-characters are actually the male and female BS-X avatars that also featured in BS Zelda no Densetsu. The game was divided into four weekly episodes. These episodes were played live, and a voice-acted soundtrack simultaneously ran on the satellite network, sometimes containing suggestions, clues, and plot development for the game currently being broadcast. Each week, the player could only access certain portions of the overworld. Areas shrouded in clouds were unreachable. Two dungeons were accessible per week, but the episode ended only when time expired and not when the player had completed all the objectives for that week. The game could only be played during the set hours because the SoundLink content was central to gameplay (and not stored on the base unit or flash-RAM cartridge in any way), and the timer was based on a real-time clock set by the satellite itself.

A Link to the Past and Four Swords
A Link to the Past was re-released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002 in North America and 2003 in other territories as part of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords, a collaborative development effort between Nintendo and Capcom. The port of A Link to the Past contains minor changes from the original, including the addition of voice clips and other sound effects taken from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Four Swords is a multiplayer adventure that interacts with the single-player adventure. Accomplishments can be transferred between the two; for example, if the player learns a new sword technique, it is made available in both modes. By completing Four Swords, a new dungeon called the Palace of the Four Sword is unlocked in A Link to the Past. In Four Swords, dungeons are randomly generated and are affected by the number of players. If only two players are active, the game ensures that all puzzles generated do not require a third or fourth player to solve. The plot of Four Swords revolves around the wind mage Vaati, who escapes from the Four Sword he is sealed in and captures Princess Zelda to marry her. Link uses the Four Sword to create three copies of himself and rescues Zelda, trapping Vaati in the sword once again. At the time of its release, the story of Four Swords was considered the earliest point in the series' timeline.

A Link Between Worlds
In 2011, Shigeru Miyamoto expressed desire to have A Link to the Past remade for the Nintendo 3DS, stating how attractive the two layers would look. Planning for this successor actually began after the completion of Spirit Tracks in 2009, though full development did not begin until 2012. In April 2013, Nintendo revealed in its Nintendo Direct presentation a new game based on the same world as A Link to the Past for Nintendo 3DS, featuring new 3D visuals, completely new dungeons, new gameplay mechanics, and an original story. On November 22, Nintendo released A Link Between Worlds, which takes place in the same world, but features a new storyline, new puzzles and original dungeons. Height and depth play a large role by taking advantage of the 3D feature of the 3DS, while maintaining the traditional top-down perspective.

In other media
A Link to the Past has been prominently represented in other Zelda-related media since its original release, chiefly the Super Smash Bros. series. Several music tracks from the game appear in the game on Zelda-themed stages. Finally, Princess Zelda's design in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is partially based on her incarnation from A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds, replacing her previous incarnations from Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.

Speedrunning
A Link to the Past is a popular game for speedrunning. It had the fourth highest number of players of all games listed on Speedrun.com in 2019, though it has since fallen to a lower position. It is commonly run at the Games Done Quick charity marathon, where it is often considered one of the highlights of the event. Many speedrunners also play using A Link to the Past: Randomizer, a mod that randomizes the locations of most of the items, in an attempt to evoke the uncertainty and excitement of playing the game for the first time.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past


text:
Bobby Bland

Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer.

Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was described as "among the great storytellers of blues and soul music... [who] created tempestuous arias of love, betrayal and resignation, set against roiling, dramatic orchestrations, and left the listener drained but awed." The inspiration behind his unique style was a Detroit Preacher, CL Franklin, because Bland studied his sermons. He was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues" and as the "Sinatra of the Blues". His music was influenced by Nat King Cole.

Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2012. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame described him as "second in stature only to B.B. King as a product of Memphis's Beale Street blues scene". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Bland at number 163 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Early life
Bland was born Robert Calvin Brooks in the small town of Barretville, Tennessee. His father, I. J. Brooks, abandoned the family not long after Robert's birth. Robert later acquired the name "Bland" from his stepfather, Leroy Bridgeforth, who was also called Leroy Bland. Robert dropped out of school in third grade to work in the cotton fields and never graduated from school.

With his mother, Bland moved to Memphis in 1947, where he started singing with local gospel groups, including the Miniatures. Eager to expand his interests, he began frequenting the city's famous Beale Street, where he became associated with a circle of aspiring musicians, including B.B. King, Rosco Gordon, Junior Parker and Johnny Ace, who collectively were known as the Beale Streeters.

Early career
In 1951, talent scout Ike Turner recorded Bland for Modern Records at Tuff Green's house in Memphis. Because Bland was illiterate, they first recorded the one song he knew, "They Call It Stormy Monday." While the recording was never released, Bland later recorded the song in 1961, which became one of his hit singles. Turner backed Bland on piano for his first two records which were released under the name Robert Bland. Between 1951 and 1952, Bland recorded commercially unsuccessful singles for Modern and Sun Records (which licensed its recordings to Chess Records). However, these records caught the attention of Duke Records. Bland's recordings from the early 1950s show him striving for individuality, but his progress was halted for two years while he served in the U.S. Army, during which time he performed in a band with the singer Eddie Fisher.

When Bland returned to Memphis in 1954, several of his former associates, including Johnny Ace, were enjoying considerable success. He joined Ace's revue and returned to Duke Records, which was then being run by the Houston entrepreneur Don Robey. According to his biographer Charles Farley, "Robey handed Bobby a new contract, which Bobby could not read, and helped Bobby sign his name on it". The contract gave Bland just half a cent per record sold, instead of the industry standard of 2 cents.

Bland released his first single for Duke in 1955. In 1956 he began touring on the Chitlin' Circuit with Junior Parker in a revue called Blues Consolidated, initially doubling as Parker's valet and driver. He began recording for Duke with the bandleader Bill Harvey and the arranger Joe Scott, asserting his characteristic vocal style and, with Harvey and Scott, beginning to craft the melodic big-band blues singles for which he became famous, often accompanied by the guitarist Wayne Bennett. Unlike many blues musicians, Bland played no instrument.

Commercial success
Bland's first chart success came in 1957 with "Farther Up the Road", which reached number 1 on the R&B chart and number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was followed by a series of hits on the R&B chart, including "Little Boy Blue" (1958). He also recorded an album with Parker, Blues Consolidated, in 1958. Bland's craft was most clearly heard on a series of early-1960s releases, including "Cry Cry Cry", "I Pity the Fool" (number 1 on the R&B chart in 1961) and "Turn On Your Love Light", which became a much-covered standard by many bands. Despite credits to the contrary—often claimed by Robey—many of these classic works were written by Joe Scott. Bland also recorded a hit version of T-Bone Walker's "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)", which was erroneously given the title of a different song, "Stormy Monday Blues".

His last record to reach number 1 on the R&B chart was "That's the Way Love Is", in 1963, but he continued to produce a consistent run of R&B chart entries through the mid-1960s. He barely broke into the mainstream market; his highest-charting song on the pop chart, "Ain't Nothing You Can Do", peaked at number 20 in 1964, in the same week in which the Beatles held down the top five spots. Bland's records mostly sold on the R&B market rather than achieving crossover success. He had 23 top ten hits on the Billboard R&B chart. In the book Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–1995, by Joel Whitburn, Bland was ranked number 13 of the all-time top-charting artists.

Later career
Financial pressures forced the singer to cut his touring band and in 1968 the group broke up. He suffered from depression and became increasingly dependent on alcohol, but he stopped drinking in 1971. His record company, Duke Records, was sold to the larger ABC Records group. This resulted in several successful and critically acclaimed contemporary blues and soul albums including His California Album and Dreamer, arranged by Michael Omartian and produced by ABC staffer Steve Barri. The albums, including the later "follow-up" in 1977, Reflections in Blue, were recorded in Los Angeles and featured many of the city's top session musicians at the time.

The first single released from His California Album, "This Time I'm Gone for Good" took Bland back into the pop Top 50 for the first time since 1964 and made the R&B top 10 in late 1973. The opening track from Dreamer, "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City", was a strong R&B hit. A version of it was released in 1978 by the hard-rock band Whitesnake, featuring the singer David Coverdale. Much later it was sampled by Kanye West on Jay-Z's hip-hop album The Blueprint (2001). The song is also featured on the soundtrack of the crime drama The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), starring Matthew McConaughey. The follow-up, "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog" was his biggest R&B hit for some years, climbing to number 3 in late 1974, but as usual his strength was never the pop chart (on which it reached number 88). Subsequent attempts at adding a disco flavor were mostly unsuccessful. A return to his roots in 1980 for a tribute album to his mentor Joe Scott, produced by music veterans Monk Higgins and Al Bell, resulted in the album Sweet Vibrations, but it failed to sell well outside of his traditional "chitlin circuit" base.

In 1985, Bland signed a contract with Malaco Records, specialists in traditional Southern black music, for which he made a series of albums while continuing to tour and appear at concerts with B. B. King. In the late 70s and throughout the 80s most blues artists were performing for white audiences; however, Bobby wanted to continue performing for African American audiences and felt that signing with Malaco Records would help him to do that. The two had collaborated on two albums in the 1970s. Despite occasional age-related ill health, Bland continued to record new albums for Malaco and perform occasional tours alone, with the guitarist and producer Angelo Earl and also with B. B. King, and performed at blues and soul festivals worldwide. In 1985, the album Members Only on Malaco reached number 45 on Billboard's R&B albums chart, and the title song reached number 54 for R&B singles. It was his last chart single, and became Bland's signature song for the rest of his career. Bland was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame described him as "second in stature only to B. B. King as a product of Memphis's Beale Street blues scene".

Collaborations and tributes
The Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison was an early adherent of Bland, covering "Turn On Your Love Light" while with the band Them (he later covered "Ain't Nothing You Can't Do" on his 1974 live album It's Too Late to Stop Now), and Bland was an occasional guest singer at Morrison's concerts. He also included a previously unreleased version of a March 2000 duet of Morrison and Bland singing "Tupelo Honey" on his 2007 compilation album, The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3.

In 1987 the first solo album by American singer Patty Smyth after departing the band Scandal, featured a song co-written by Smyth and Rick Chertoff, Eric Bazillian and Rob Hyman entitled "Heartbreak Heard Around the World", which featured the lyrics: I'm not crazy, well maybe I am/'Cause I just wanna sing like Bobby Blue Bland. The album reached #66 on the Billboard US Albums chart and the song was released internationally as the B-side of the first single released from the album.

In 2008 the British singer and lead vocalist of Simply Red, Mick Hucknall, released the album Tribute to Bobby, containing songs associated with Bland. The album reached 18 in the UK Albums Chart.

Death
Bland continued performing until shortly before his death. He died on June 23, 2013, at his home in Germantown, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis, after what family members described as "an ongoing illness." He was 83. He is interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis. He is survived by his wife, Willie Martin Bland, and his son Rodd, who is also a musician. After his death, his son Rodd told news media that Bland had recently told him that the blues musician James Cotton was Bland's half-brother.

Accolades
Bland was nominated for seven Grammy Awards in the course of his career.

He received the following honors:

 * Blues Hall of Fame – inducted 1981
 * Rhythm and Blues Pioneer Award – 1992
 * Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – inducted 1992
 * Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award – 1997
 * Rhythm & Blues Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award – 1998
 * Grammy Hall of Fame – "Turn On Your Love Light" (1999)
 * Memphis Music Hall of Fame – inducted 2012
 * National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame – inducted 2021

Collaborative album

 * Blues Consolidated, 1958 (Duke Records) (with Junior Parker)

Compilations

 * The Best of Bobby Bland, 1967 (Duke Records)
 * The Best of Bobby Bland, vol. 2, 1968 (Duke Records)
 * First Class Blues, 1987 (Malaco Records)
 * The "3B" Blues Boy: The Blues Years 1952–1959, 1991 (Ace Records)
 * I Pity the Fool: The Duke Recordings, vol. 1, 1992 (MCA)
 * Turn on Your Love Light: The Duke Recordings, vol. 2, 1994 (MCA)
 * That Did It!: The Duke Recordings, vol. 3, 1996 (MCA)
 * Greatest Hits, Vol. 1: The Duke Recordings, 1998 (MCA, Duke/Peacock)
 * Greatest Hits, Vol. 2: The ABC–Dunhill/MCA Recordings, 1998 (MCA)
 * The Anthology, 2001 (MCA)
 * Unmatched: The Very Best of Bobby Bland, 2011 (Malaco)
 * Angel in Anguish: The Deep, Deep Soul of Bobby Blue Bland, 2013 (Fingertips)

title: Bobby Bland