title: National Hockey League

text: The NHL fought the WHA for players, losing 67 to the new league in its first season of 1972–73, including the Chicago Black Hawks' Bobby Hull, who signed a ten-year, $2.5 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets, then the largest in hockey history. The league attempted to block the defections in court, but a counter-suit by the WHA led to a Philadelphia judge ruling the NHL's reserve clause to be illegal, thus eliminating the elder league's monopoly over the players. Seven years of battling for players and markets financially damaged both leagues, leading to a merger agreement in 1979 that saw the WHA cease operations while the NHL absorbed the Winnipeg Jets, the Edmonton Oilers, the Hartford Whalers, and the Quebec Nordiques. The owners initially rejected this merger agreement by one vote, but a massive boycott of Molson Brewery products by Canadian fans resulted in the Montreal Canadiens, which was owned by Molson, reversing its position, along with the Vancouver Canucks. In a second vote, the plan was approved.


title: National Hockey League

text: Wayne Gretzky played one season in the WHA for the Indianapolis Racers (eight games) and the Edmonton Oilers (72 games) before the Oilers joined the NHL for the 1979–80 season. Gretzky went on to lead the Oilers to win four Stanley Cup championships in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988, and set single season records for goals (92 in 1981–82), assists (163 in 1985–86) and points (215 in 1985–86), as well as career records for goals (894), assists (1,963) and points (2,857). In 1988, he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in a deal that dramatically improved the league's popularity in the United States. By the turn of the century, nine more teams were added to the NHL: the San Jose Sharks, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Ottawa Senators, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Florida Panthers, the Nashville Predators, the Atlanta Thrashers (now the Winnipeg Jets), and in 2000, the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets. On July 21, 2015, the NHL confirmed that it had received applications from prospective ownership groups in Quebec City and Las Vegas for possible expansion teams, and on June 22, 2016, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the addition of a 31st franchise, based in Las Vegas and later named the Vegas Golden Knights, into the NHL for the 2017–18 season. On December 4, 2018, the league announced a 32nd franchise in Seattle, later named the Seattle Kraken who joined in the 2021–22 season.


title: National Hockey League

text: There have been four league-wide work stoppages in NHL history, all occurring after 1992. The first was a strike by the National Hockey League Players' Association in April 1992, which lasted for ten days but was settled quickly with all affected games rescheduled.


title: National Hockey League

text: A lockout at the start of the 1994–95 season forced the league to reduce the schedule from 84 games to 48, with the teams playing only intra-conference games during the reduced season. The resulting collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was set for renegotiation in 1998, and extended to September 15, 2004.


title: National Hockey League

text: With no new agreement in hand when the contract expired, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and closed the league's head office for the 2004–05 season. The league vowed to install what it dubbed "cost certainty" for its teams, but the Players' Association countered that the move was little more than a euphemism for a salary cap, which the union initially said it would not accept. The lockout shut down the league for 310 days, making it the longest in sports history, as the NHL became the first professional sports league to lose an entire season. A new collective bargaining agreement was eventually ratified in July 2005, including a salary cap. The agreement had a term of six years with an option of extending the collective bargaining agreement for an additional year at the end of the term, allowing the league to resume as of the 2005–06 season.


title: National Hockey League

text: On October 5, 2005, the first post-lockout season took to the ice with all 30 teams. The NHL received record attendance in the 2005–06 season, with an average of 16,955 per game. However, its television audience was slower to rebound due to American cable broadcaster ESPN's decision to drop its NHL coverage. The league's post-lockout agreement with NBC gave the league a share of revenue from each game's advertising sales, rather than the usual lump sum paid up front for game rights. The league's annual revenues were estimated at $2.27 billion.


title: National Hockey League

text: On September 16, 2012, the labour pact expired, and the league again locked out the players. The owners proposed reducing the players' share of hockey-related revenues from 57 percent to 47 percent. All games were cancelled up to January 14, 2013, along with the 2013 NHL Winter Classic and the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend. On January 6, a tentative agreement was reached on a ten-year deal. On January 12, the league and the Players' Association signed a memorandum of understanding on the new deal, allowing teams to begin their training camps the next day, with a shortened 48-game season schedule that began on January 19.


title: National Hockey League

text: Player safety has become a major issue in the NHL, with concussions resulting from a hard hit to the head being the primary concern. Recent studies have shown how the consequences of concussions can last beyond player retirement. This has significant effects on the league, as elite players have suffered from the aftereffects of concussions (such as Sidney Crosby being sidelined for approximately ten and a half months), which adversely affects the league's marketability. In December 2009, Brendan Shanahan was hired to replace Colin Campbell, and was given the role of senior vice-president of player safety. Shanahan began to hand out suspensions on high-profile perpetrators responsible for dangerous hits, such as Raffi Torres receiving 25 games for his hit on Marian Hossa.


title: National Hockey League

text: To aid with removing high-speed collisions on icing, which had led to several potential career-ending injuries such as Hurricanes' defenceman Joni Pitkanen, the league mandated hybrid no-touch icing for the 2013–14 NHL season.


title: National Hockey League

text: On November 25, 2013, ten former NHL players (Gary Leeman, Rick Vaive, Brad Aitken, Darren Banks, Curt Bennett, Richie Dunn, Warren Holmes, Bob Manno, Blair Stewart, and Morris Titanic) sued the league for negligence in protecting players from concussions. The suit came three months after the National Football League agreed to pay former players US$765 million due to a player safety lawsuit.


title: National Hockey League

text: From 1952 to 1955, Marguerite Norris served as president of the Detroit Red Wings, being the first female NHL executive and the first woman to have her name engraved on the Stanley Cup. In 1992, Manon Rhéaume became the first woman to play a game in any of the major professional North American sports leagues, as a goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues, stopping seven of nine shots. In 2016, Dawn Braid was hired as the Arizona Coyotes' skating coach, making her the first female full-time coach in the NHL. The first female referees in the NHL were hired in a test-run during the league's preseason prospect tournaments in September 2019.


title: National Hockey League

text: In 2016, the NHL hosted the 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic, an exhibition game between the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League and the Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Women's Hockey League, as part of the 2016 NHL Winter Classic weekend festivities. In 2019, the NHL invited four women from the US and Canadian Olympic teams to demonstrate the events in All-Star skills competition before the All-Star Game. Due to Nathan MacKinnon choosing not to participate following a bruised ankle, Team USA's Kendall Coyne Schofield competed in the Fastest Skater competition in his place becoming the first woman to officially compete in the NHL's All-Star festivities. The attention led the NHL to include a 3-on-3 women's game before the 2020 All-Star Game. Rheaume returned to perform as a goaltender for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game's Breakaway Challenge.


title: National Hockey League

text: The Board of Governors is the ruling and governing body of the National Hockey League. In this context, each team is a member of the league, and each member appoints a Governor (usually the owner of the club), and two alternates to the Board. The current chairman of the Board is Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs. The Board of Governors exists to establish the policies of the league and to uphold its constitution. Some of the responsibilities of the Board of Governors include:


title: National Hockey League

text: The Board of Governors meets twice per year, in the months of June and December, with the exact date and place to be fixed by the Commissioner.


title: National Hockey League

text: The chief executive of the league is Commissioner Gary Bettman. Some of the principal decision-makers who serve under the authority of the commissioner include:


title: National Hockey League

text: From the 2017–18 season to the 2019–20 season, the NHL consisted of 31 teams—24 based in the United States and seven in Canada. The NHL divided the 31 teams into two conferences: the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Each conference was split into two divisions: the Eastern Conference contained 16 teams (eight per division), while the Western Conference had 15 teams (seven in the Central and eight in the Pacific). The league temporarily realigned for the 2020–21 season but returned to the previous alignment the following year. With the addition of the Seattle Kraken in 2021–22 to the Pacific Division and the Arizona Coyotes' move from the Pacific to the Central, all four divisions now have eight teams each and both conferences have 16 teams.


title: National Hockey League

text: The number of NHL teams held constant at 30 teams from the 2000–01 season, when the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets joined the league as expansion teams, until 2017. That expansion capped a period in the 1990s of rapid expansion and relocation when the NHL added nine teams to grow from 21 to 30 teams, and relocated four teams mostly from smaller, northern cities to larger, more southern metropolitan areas (Minneapolis to Dallas, Quebec City to Denver, Winnipeg to Phoenix, and Hartford to Raleigh). The league has not contracted any teams since the Cleveland Barons folded in 1978. The league expanded for the first time in 17 years to 31 teams with the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, then to 32 with the addition of the Seattle Kraken in 2021.


title: National Hockey League

text: The National Hockey League's rules are one of the two standard sets of professional ice hockey rules in the world, the other being the rules of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), as used in tournaments such as the Olympics. The IIHF derived from the Canadian amateur ice hockey rules of the early 20th century, while the NHL rules evolved directly from the first organized indoor ice hockey game in Montreal in 1875, updated by subsequent leagues up to 1917, when the NHL adopted the existing NHA set of rules. The NHL's rules are the basis for rules governing most professional and major junior ice hockey leagues in North America.


title: National Hockey League

text: The NHL hockey rink is , approximately the same length but much narrower than IIHF standards. A trapezoidal area appears behind each goal net. The goaltender can play the puck only within the trapezoid or in front of the goal line; if the goaltender plays the puck behind the goal line and outside the trapezoidal area, a two-minute minor penalty for delay of game is assessed. The rule is unofficially nicknamed the "Martin Brodeur rule"; Brodeur at the time was one of the best goaltenders at getting behind the net to handle the puck. Since the 2013–14 season, the league trimmed the goal frames by on each side and reduced the size of the goalies' leg pads.


title: National Hockey League

text: The league has regularly modified its rules to counter perceived imperfections in the game. The penalty shot was adopted from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association to ensure players were not being blocked from opportunities to score. For the 2005–06 season, the league changed some of the rules regarding being offside. First, the league removed the "offside pass" or "two-line pass" rule, which required a stoppage in play if a pass originating from inside a team's defending zone was completed on the offensive side of the centre line, unless the puck crossed the line before the player. Furthermore, the league reinstated the "tag-up offside" which allows an attacking player a chance to get back onside by returning to the neutral zone. The changes to the offside rule were among several rule changes intended to increase overall scoring, which had been in decline since the expansion years of the mid-nineties and the increased prevalence of the neutral zone trap. Since 2005, when a team is guilty of icing the puck they are not allowed to make a line change or skater substitution of any sort before the following face-off (except to replace an injured player or re-install a pulled goaltender). Since 2013, the league has used "hybrid icing", where a linesman stops play due to icing if a defending player (other than the goaltender) crosses the imaginary line that connects the two face-off dots in their defensive zone before an attacking player is able to. This was done to counter a trend of player injury in races to the puck.


title: National Hockey League

text: In the NHL, fighting leads to "major penalties" while IIHF rules, and most amateur rules, call for the ejection of fighting players. Usually, a penalized team cannot replace a player that is penalized on the ice and is thus short-handed for the duration of the penalty, but if the penalties are coincidental, for example when two players fight, both teams remain at full strength. Also, unlike minor penalties, major penalties must be served to their full completion, regardless of number of goals scored during the power play.


title: National Hockey League

text: The league also imposes a conduct policy on its players. Players are banned from gambling and criminal activities have led to the suspension of players. The league and the Players' Association agreed to a stringent anti-doping policy in the 2005 collective bargaining agreement. The policy provides for a twenty-game suspension for a first positive test, a sixty-game suspension for a second positive test, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test.


title: National Hockey League

text: At the end of regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, overtime ensues. During the regular season, overtime is a five-minute, three-on-three sudden-death period, in which whoever scores a goal first wins the game. If the game is still tied at the end of overtime, the game enters a shootout. Three players for each team in turn take a penalty shot. The team with the most goals during the three-round shootout wins the game. If the game is still tied after the three shootout rounds, the shootout continues but becomes sudden-death. Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded a goal in the game score and thus awarded two points in the standings. The losing team in overtime or shootout is awarded one point. Shootout goals and saves are not tracked in hockey statistics; shootout statistics are tracked separately.


title: National Hockey League

text: There are no shootouts during the playoffs. Instead, multiple sudden-death, 20-minute five-on-five periods are played until one team scores. Two games have reached six overtime periods, but none have gone beyond six. During playoff overtime periods, the only break is to clean the loose ice at the first stoppage after the period is halfway finished.


title: National Hockey League

text: The National Hockey League season is divided into a preseason (September and early October), a regular season (from early October through early to mid-April) and a postseason (the Stanley Cup playoffs).


title: National Hockey League

text: Teams usually hold a summer showcase for prospects in July and participate in prospect tournaments, full games that do not feature any veterans, in September. Full training camps begin in mid-to-late September, including a preseason consisting of six to eight exhibition games. Split squad games, in which parts of a team's regular season roster play separate games on the same day, are occasionally played during the preseason.


title: National Hockey League

text: During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. Since 2021, in the regular season, all teams play 82 games: 41 games each of home and road, playing 26 games in their own geographic division—four against five of their seven other divisional opponents, plus three against two others; 24 games against the eight remaining non-divisional intra-conference opponents—three games against every team in the other division of its conference; and 32 against every team in the other conference twice—home and road.


title: National Hockey League

text: The league's regular season standings are based on a point system. Two points are awarded for a win, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned the division champion, and the league's overall leader is awarded the Presidents' Trophy.


title: National Hockey League

text: The Stanley Cup playoffs, which go from April to the beginning of June, are an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the Stanley Cup champion. Eight teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs: the top three teams in each division plus the two conference teams with the next highest number of points. The two conference champions proceed to the Stanley Cup Finals. In all rounds, the higher-ranked team is awarded home-ice advantage, with four of the seven games played at this team's home venue. In the Stanley Cup Finals, the team with the most points during the regular season has home-ice advantage.


title: National Hockey League

text: The annual NHL Entry Draft consists of a seven-round off-season draft held in late June. Early NHL drafts took place at the Queen Elizabeth (currently Fairmont) Hotel in Montreal. Amateur players from junior, collegiate, or European leagues are eligible to enter the Entry Draft. The selection order is determined by a combination of the standings at the end of the regular season, playoff results, and a draft lottery. The 16 teams that did not qualify for the playoffs are entered in a weighted lottery to determine the initial draft picks in the first round, with the last place team having the best chance of winning the lottery. Once the lottery determines the initial draft picks, the order for the remaining non-playoff teams is determined by the standings at the end of the regular season. For those teams that did qualify for the playoffs, the draft order is then determined by total regular season points for non-division winners that are eliminated in the first two rounds of the playoffs, then any division winners that failed to reach the Conference Finals. Conference finalists receive the 29th and 30th picks depending on total points, with the Stanley Cup runner-up given the 31st pick and the Stanley Cup champions the final pick.


title: National Hockey League

text: The most prestigious team award is the Stanley Cup, which is awarded to the league champion at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The team that has the most points in the regular season is awarded the Presidents' Trophy.


title: National Hockey League

text: The Montreal Canadiens are the most successful franchise in the league. Since the formation of the league in 1917, they have 25 NHL championships (three between 1917 and 1925 when the Stanley Cup was still contested in an interleague competition, twenty-two since 1926 after the Stanley Cup became the NHL's championship trophy). They also lead all teams with 24 Stanley Cup championships (one as an NHA team, twenty-three as an NHL team). Of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, the Montreal Canadiens are surpassed in the number of championships only by the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, who have three more.


title: National Hockey League

text: The longest streak of winning the Stanley Cup in consecutive years is five, held by the Montreal Canadiens from 1955–56 to 1959–60. The 1977 edition of the Montreal Canadiens, the second of four straight Stanley Cup champions, was named by ESPN as the second greatest sports team of all time.


title: National Hockey League

text: The next most successful NHL franchise is the Toronto Maple Leafs with 13 Stanley Cup championships, most recently in 1967. The Detroit Red Wings, with 11 Stanley Cup championships, are the most successful American franchise.


title: National Hockey League

text: The same trophy is reused every year for each of its awards. The Stanley Cup, much like its Canadian Football League counterpart, is unique in this aspect, as opposed to the Vince Lombardi Trophy, Larry O'Brien Trophy, and Commissioner's Trophy, which have new ones made every year for that year's champion. Despite only one trophy being used, the names of the teams winning and the players are engraved every year on the Stanley Cup. The same can also be said for the other trophies reissued every year.


title: National Hockey League

text: There are numerous trophies that are awarded to players based on their statistics during the regular season; they include, among others, the Art Ross Trophy for the league scoring champion (goals and assists), the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for the goal-scoring leader, and the William M. Jennings Trophy for the goaltender(s) for the team with the fewest goals against them.


title: National Hockey League

text: The other player trophies are voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association or the team general managers. These individual awards are presented at a formal ceremony held in late June after the playoffs have concluded. The most prestigious individual award is the Hart Memorial Trophy which is awarded annually to the Most Valuable Player; the voting is conducted by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association to judge the player who is the most valuable to his team during the regular season. The Vezina Trophy is awarded annually to the person deemed the best goaltender as voted on by the general managers of the teams in the NHL. The James Norris Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's top defenceman, the Calder Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the top rookie, and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player deemed to combine the highest degree of skill and sportsmanship; all three of these awards are voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.


title: National Hockey League

text: In addition to the regular season awards, the Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded annually to the most valuable player during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs. Furthermore, the top coach in the league wins the Jack Adams Award as selected by a poll of the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association. The National Hockey League publishes the names of the top three vote getters for all awards, and then names the award winner during the NHL Awards Ceremony.


title: National Hockey League

text: Players, coaches, officials, and team builders who have had notable careers are eligible to be voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Players cannot enter until three years have passed since their last professional game, currently tied with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for the shortest such time period of any major sport. One unique consequence has been Hall of Fame members (specifically, Gordie Howe, Guy Lafleur, and Mario Lemieux) coming out of retirement to play once more. If a player was deemed significant enough, the three-year wait would be waived; only ten individuals have been honoured in this manner. In 1999, Wayne Gretzky joined the Hall and became the last player to have the three-year restriction waived. After his induction, the Hall of Fame announced that Gretzky would be the last to have the waiting period waived.


title: National Hockey League

text: In addition to Canadian and American-born and trained players, who have historically composed a large majority of NHL rosters, the NHL also draws players from an expanding pool of other nations where organized and professional hockey is played. Since the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, political/ideological restrictions on the movement of hockey players from this region have disappeared, leading to a large influx of players mostly from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia into the NHL. Swedes, Finns, and other Western Europeans, who were always free to move to North America, came to the league in greater numbers than before.


title: National Hockey League

text: Many of the league's top players in recent years have come from these European countries including Daniel Alfredsson, Erik Karlsson, Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Lundqvist, Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias, Zdeno Chara, Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin, Nicklas Lidstrom and Alexander Ovechkin. European players were drafted and signed by NHL teams in an effort to bring in more "skilled offensive players", although as of 2008 there has been a decline in European players as more American players enter the league. The addition of European players changed the style of play in the NHL and European style hockey has been integrated into the NHL game.


title: National Hockey League

text: As of the 2017–18 season, the NHL has players from 17 countries, with 46.0% coming from Canada and 26.0% from the United States, while players from a further 15 countries make up 26.4% of NHL rosters. The following table shows the seven countries that make up the vast majority of NHL players. The table follows the Hockey Hall of Fame convention of classifying players by the currently existing countries in which their birthplaces are located, without regard to their citizenship or where they were trained.


title: National Hockey League

text: The NHL lists its several official corporate partners into three categories: North American Partners, USA Partners, and Canada Partners. Discover Card is the league's official credit card in the US, while competitor Visa is an official sponsor in Canada. Likewise, Tim Hortons is the league's official coffee and doughnuts chain in Canada, while Dunkin' Donuts is the NHL's sponsor in the US.


title: National Hockey League

text: Among its North American corporate sponsors, Kraft Heinz sponsors "Kraft Hockeyville", an annual competition in which communities compete to demonstrate their commitment to the sport of ice hockey. The winning community gets a cash prize dedicated to upgrading their local home arena, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game. Two contests are held, one for communities across Canada and a separate competition for communities in the US.


title: National Hockey League

text: At least two of the North American corporate sponsors have ties to NHL franchise owners: the Molson family, founders of Molson Brewery, has owned the Montreal Canadiens for years, while SAP was co-founded by Hasso Plattner, the current majority owner of the San Jose Sharks.


title: National Hockey League

text: Many of these same corporate partners become the title sponsors for the league's All-Star and outdoor games.


title: National Hockey League

text: Beginning in the 2020–21 NHL season, the league allowed for advertising on its gameday uniforms for the first time, starting with helmet ads. The NHL will have advertising on the front of team jerseys for the first time starting in the 2022–23 season.


title: National Hockey League

text: On May 14, 2021, NHL and the sports betting company Betway announced a multi-year partnership in which Betway became the official sports betting partner to the NHL in North America.


title: National Hockey League

text: Broadcasting rights in Canada have historically included the CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" ("HNIC"), a Canadian tradition dating to 1952, and even prior to that on radio since the 1920s.


title: National Hockey League

text: The current national television and digital rightsholder is Rogers Communications, under a 12-year deal valued at C$5.2 billion which began in the 2014–15 season, as the national broadcast and cable television rightsholders. National English-language coverage of the NHL is carried primarily by Rogers' Sportsnet group of specialty channels; Sportsnet holds national windows on Wednesday and Sunday nights. "Hockey Night in Canada" was maintained and expanded under the deal, airing up to seven games nationally on Saturday nights throughout the regular season. CBC maintains Rogers-produced NHL coverage during the regular season and playoffs. Sportsnet's networks also air occasional games involving all-U.S. matchups.


title: National Hockey League

text: Quebecor Media holds national French-language rights to the NHL, with all coverage airing on its specialty channel TVA Sports.


title: National Hockey League

text: Games that are not broadcast as part of the national rights deal are broadcast by Sportsnet's regional feeds, TSN's regional feeds, and RDS. Regional games are subject to blackout for viewers outside of each team's designated market.


title: National Hockey League

text: Historically, the NHL has never fared well on American television in comparison to the other American professional leagues. The league's American broadcast partners had been in flux for decades prior to 1995. Hockey broadcasting on a national scale was particularly spotty prior to 1981; NBC, CBS, and ABC held rights at various times during that period but with limited schedules during the second half of the regular season and the playoffs, along with some (but not all) of the Stanley Cup Finals. The NHL primarily was then only available on cable television after 1981, airing on the USA Network, SportsChannel America, and ESPN at various times. Since 1995, national coverage has been split between broadcast and cable, first with Fox and ESPN from 1995 to 1999, then followed by ABC and ESPN from 1999 to 2004. The U.S. national rights were then held by NBC and OLN (later renamed Versus, then NBCSN) between the 2004–05 NHL lockout and 2021.


title: National Hockey League

text: The 2021–22 season marks the first year of seven-year agreements with ESPN and Turner Sports. ESPN's deal includes 25 regular season games on ABC or ESPN, and 75 exclusive games streamed on ESPN+ and Hulu. Turner Sports' coverage includes up to 72 regular season games on TNT or TBS. The playoffs will be split between ESPN and Turner, with ABC televising the Stanley Cup Finals during even years and TNT televising the championship series during odd years.


title: National Hockey League

text: As in Canada, games not broadcast nationally are aired regionally within a team's home market and are subject to blackout outside of them. These broadcasters include regional sports network chains. Certain national telecasts are non-exclusive, and may also air in tandem with telecasts of the game by local broadcasters. However, national telecasts of these games are blacked out in the participating teams' markets to protect the local broadcaster.


title: National Hockey League

text: The league co-owns the NHL Network, a television specialty channel devoted to the NHL. Its signature show is "NHL Tonight". The NHL Network also airs live games, but primarily simulcasts of one of the team's regional broadcasters.


title: National Hockey League

text: NHL Centre Ice in Canada and NHL Center Ice in the United States are the league's subscription-based, out-of-market sports packages that offer access to out-of-market feeds of games through a cable or satellite television provider.


title: National Hockey League

text: The league originally launched "NHL GameCenter Live" in 2008, allowing the streaming of out-of-market games over the internet. MLB Advanced Media then took over of its day-to-day operations in 2016, renaming it "NHL.tv". Under its contract, Rogers Communications distributes the service in Canada as "NHL Live"; it will be incorporated into Sportsnet Now Premium for the 2022–23 season. Under ESPN's contract, the league's out-of-market streaming package was incorporated into ESPN+ for those viewers in the United States in 2021.


title: National Hockey League

text: Outside of Canada and the United States, NHL games are broadcast across Europe, in the Middle East, in Australia, and in the Americas across Mexico, Central America, Dominican Republic, Caribbean, South America and Brazil, among others.


title: National Hockey League

text: "NHL.tv" is also available for people in most countries to watch games online, but blackout restrictions may still apply if a game is being televised in the user's country. For those in selected international markets where ESPN also holds the streaming rights, they must instead access games on the ESPN platform used in that particular country: ESPNPlayer, ESPN Play, the ESPN App, or Star+. And those in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, and Sweden must use Viaplay.


title: National Hockey League

text: The National Hockey League has occasionally participated in international club competitions. Most of these competitions were arranged by the NHL or NHLPA. The first international club competition was held in 1976, with eight NHL teams playing against the Soviet Championship League's HC CSKA Moscow, and Krylya Sovetov Moscow. Between 1976 and 1991, the NHL, and the Soviet Championship League would hold several exhibition games between the two leagues known as the Super Series. No NHL club had played a Soviet or Russian-based club from the end of the Super Series in 1991 to 2008 when the New York Rangers faced Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the 2008 Victoria Cup.


title: National Hockey League

text: In addition to the Russian clubs, NHL clubs had participated in several international club exhibitions and competitions with various European-based clubs. The first exhibition game to feature an NHL team against a European-based team (aside from clubs based in the former Soviet Union) was in December 1977, when the New York Rangers faced Poldi Kladno of the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League. In the 2000s the NHL organized four NHL Challenge series between NHL and European clubs. The NHL continued to organize exhibition games between NHL and European teams before the beginning of the NHL season; those games were known as the NHL Premiere from 2007 to 2011 and as the NHL Global Series since 2017. The 2022 NHL Global Series was the last NHL-organized club competition involving European teams. NHL clubs have also participated in IIHF-organized club tournaments. The most recent IIHF-organized event including an NHL club was the 2009 Victoria Cup, between the Swiss National League A's ZSC Lions, and the Chicago Blackhawks.


title: National Hockey League

text: NHL players also participate in international competitions featuring national teams. The annual Ice Hockey World Championships is held every May, at the same time as the Stanley Cup playoffs. Because of its timing, NHL players generally only join their respective country's team in the World Championships if their respective NHL team has been eliminated from Stanley Cup contention. From 1998 to 2014, during the year of the quadrennial Winter Olympics, the NHL suspended its all-star game and expanded the traditional all-star break to allow NHL players to participate in the Olympic ice hockey tournament. In 2018, an Olympic break was not scheduled by the NHL, resulting in their players not participating in that year's Olympic tournament. An Olympic break was also not scheduled in 2022, with the NHL opting to not permit its players to participate due to a shortened NHL season that year, and concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. The NHL and the NHLPA also organize the World Cup of Hockey. Unlike the Ice Hockey World Championships and the Olympic tournament, the World Cup of Hockey is played under NHL rules and not those of the IIHF.


title: National Hockey League

text: In 2007, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) formalized the "Triple Gold Club", the group of players and coaches who have won an Olympic gold medal, a World Championship gold medal, and the Stanley Cup. The term had first entered popular use following the 2002 Winter Olympics, which saw the addition of the first Canadian members.


title: National Hockey League

text: The NHL is considered one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, along with Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association. The league is very prominent in Canada, where it is the most popular of these four leagues. Overall, hockey has the smallest total fan base of the four leagues, the smallest revenue from television, and the least sponsorship.


title: National Hockey League

text: The NHL holds one of the most affluent fan bases. Studies by the Sports Marketing Group conducted from 1998 to 2004 show that the NHL's fan base is much more affluent than that of the PGA Tour. A study done by the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2004, found that NHL fans in America were the most educated and affluent of the four major leagues. Further it noted that season-ticket sales were more prominent in the NHL than the other three because of the financial ability of the NHL fan to purchase them. According to Reuters in 2010, the largest demographic of NHL fans was males aged 18–34.


title: National Hockey League

text: The NHL estimates that half of its fan base roots for teams in outside markets. Beginning in 2008, the NHL began a shift toward using digital technology to market to fans to capitalize on this.


title: National Hockey League

text: The debut of the Winter Classic, an outdoor regular season NHL game held on New Year's Day 2008, was a major success for the league. The game has since become an annual staple of the NHL schedule. This, along with the transition to a national "Game of the Week" and an annual "Hockey Day in America" regional coverage, all televised on NBC, has helped increase the NHL's regular season television viewership in the United States. These improvements led NBC and the cable channel Versus to sign a ten-year broadcast deal, paying US$200 million per year for both American cable and broadcast rights; the deal will lead to further increases in television coverage on the NBC channels.


title: National Hockey League

text: This television contract has boosted viewership metrics for the NHL. The 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs saw the largest audience in the history of the sport "after a regular season that saw record-breaking business success, propelled in large part by the NHL's strategy of engaging fans through big events and robust digital offerings." This success has resulted in a 66 percent rise in NHL advertising and sponsorship revenue. Merchandise sales were up 22 percent and the number of unique visitors on the NHL.com website was up 17 percent during the playoffs after rising 29 percent in the regular season.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is an American strategic bomber under development for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Northrop Grumman. As part of the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program, it is to be a long-range, stealth intercontinental strategic bomber for the USAF, able to deliver conventional and thermonuclear weapons. The Air Force is planning to replace the Rockwell B-1 Lancer and Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit with the B-21 by 2040, and could possibly replace the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress after that.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: The Air Force began planning for the B-21 in 2011 and awarded the major development contract in 2015. The B-21 is expected to make its first flight in 2023 and enter service by 2027.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: Many aspects of the B-21 program are highly classified; the program is designated as a special access program. The Congressional Research Service noted in 2021 that the B-21's technical details and specifications, such as speed, enabling systems, "size, required stealth, structure, number and type of engines, projected weapons, and onboard sensors remain classified" although some information about various other aspects of the program have been made public since 2015. The first photos of the aircraft were released on 2 December 2022, taken during a rollout ceremony at Northrop Grumman's production facilities in Palmdale, California.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: The classified Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program began in 2011, and the Air Force issued a request for proposal to develop a LRS-B aircraft in July 2014. A development contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman in October 2015. Boeing and Lockheed Martin, who submitted losing bids for the project, filed bid protests; in October 2016, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) rejected the challenges and sustained the USAF's decision to award the LRS-B contract to Northrop Grumman. The GAO report revealed that cost was the deciding factor in selecting Northrop Grumman over the Boeing-Lockheed Martin team.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: Management and acquisition of the B-21 program is being overseen by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, rather than through the traditional military-procurement process. However, the B-21 program remains subject to the Nunn–McCurdy reporting requirements to Congress.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: A 2015 media report said the Air Force wanted the bomber to also function as an intelligence collection platform, battle manager, and interceptor aircraft. In 2016, then–Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James said that the B-21 would be a "fifth-generation global precision attack platform" with networked sensor-shoot capability. Northrop Grumman describes the B-21 as "the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft."


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: At the 2016 Air Warfare Symposium, Air Force officials announced that the LRS-B would be formally designated "B-21" because the aircraft would be the 21st century's first bomber. In September 2016, Air Force officials announced that the B-21 would be named "Raider" in honor of the Doolittle Raiders. Retired Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, the last living member of the Doolittle Raiders, was present at the naming ceremony at the Air Force Association conference.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: In March 2016, the USAF announced seven tier-one suppliers for the program: Pratt & Whitney, BAE Systems, Spirit AeroSystems, Orbital ATK, Rockwell Collins, GKN Aerospace, and Janicki Industries.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: In 2016, the F-35 program manager Chris Bogdan said the B-21's engines would be similar enough to the F-35's Pratt & Whitney F135 engine to reduce its cost.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: In January 2020, Air Force officials released new B-21 renderings and Northrop Grumman, showing the distinctive flush and blended inlets and the two-wheel main landing gear design. The drawing appeared to show a smaller, lighter aircraft than the B-2.In September 2022, the USAF announced that the B-21 was to be unveiled in early December 2022 at Northrop Grumman's production facilities in Palmdale, California. The ceremony took place on 2 December 2022. At the unveiling, Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said that the B-21 is designed with modular, open systems architecture to allow easy upgrades, and potentially, the ability to export components to foreign buyers. Warden said that the B-21's internal operations were "extremely advanced compared to the B-2" and that the B-21 was slightly smaller than the B-2, with a longer range.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: In February 2016, the head of the Air Force Global Strike Command said he expected the service would place an initial order for 100 B-21s and build up to a full fleet of 175 to 200. In 2017, two USAF studies suggested that Air Force could increase its initial purchase from 80-to-100 to 145 aircraft.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: Assembly of the B-21 takes place at the United States Air Force Plant 42 near Palmdale, California, at the same facility Northrop Grumman used during the 1980s and 1990s to build B-2 bombers.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: In January 2017, Northrop Grumman was awarded a $35.8 million contract modification for a large coatings facility at Plant 42, to be completed by the end of 2019; the contract announcement did not specifically mention B-21, but the facility was likely meant for B-21 stealth coating. By the summer of 2019, it was reported that construction of the first aircraft was underway. In early 2021, several media outlets reported that as completion of the first B-21 approached, construction on the second unit had begun.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: At a congressional hearing in June 2021, Darlene Costello, the acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, confirmed that the first two B-21s were under construction at Plant 42.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: By February 2022, six B-21s were under construction. The first B-21 was moved to a calibration facility the following month. About 8,000 Northrop Grumman employees had worked on the program with greater than 400 suppliers from at least 40 different states.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: In July 2016, the USAF said it would not release the estimated cost of Northrop's B-21 contract, asserting that the number would reveal too much information about the classified project to potential adversaries. The Senate Armed Services Committee also voted to not publicly release the program's cost, restricting the information to congressional defense committees over the objections of a bipartisan group of legislators led by the committee's chairman, Senator John McCain. McCain's proposed revisions to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 would have reduced authorization for the B-21 program by $302 million "due to a lower than expected contract award value", while requiring "strict...program baseline and cost control thresholds", "quarterly program performance reports", and "disclosure of the engineering and manufacturing development total contract award value". The versions of the 2017 NDAA as initially passed by the House and Senate would have required public disclosure of the total cost of the B-21, but this provision was removed in the final conference report version.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: In December 2022, the cost of a B-21 aircraft was estimated to be $700 million; at the time, Air Force officials estimated that they would spend at least $203 billion over 30 years to develop, purchase, and operate a fleet of 100 B-21s.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: Maintenance and sustainment of the B-21 will be coordinated by Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, while Edwards Air Force Base, California, will lead testing and evaluation. The B-21 is expected to operate from bases that currently host heavy bombers, such as Dyess Air Force Base, Texas; Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota; and Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. In March 2019, Ellsworth was selected as the base to host the first operational B-21 unit and the first training unit.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: The B-21 is slated by 2040 to replace the U.S. Air Force's 63 B-1 strategic bombers, which date from the 1980s, and 20 B-2 strategic bombers, which date from the 1990s. The B-21 may also eventually replace the B-52, which is slated to remain in service for many decades.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: In March 2022, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III raised the possibility of a bomber drone to work with the bomber, but the idea was later dropped because it would not save much money to produce such a large unmanned aircraft.


title: Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider

text: The USAF is also planning to acquire a new long-range fighter from its Next Generation Air Dominance program, known as the F-X or "Penetrating Counter-Air", to escort the B-21 deep into enemy territory and help it survive enemy air defenses and intercepting fighters.


title: Midfielder

text: A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundaries, with mobility and passing ability, they are often referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box midfielders, or holding midfielders. There are also attacking midfielders with limited defensive assignments.


title: Midfielder

text: The size of midfield units on a team and their assigned roles depend on what formation is used; the unit of these players on the pitch is commonly referred to as the midfield. Its name derives from the fact that midfield units typically make up the in-between units to the defensive units and forward units of a formation.


title: Midfielder

text: Managers frequently assign one or more midfielders to disrupt the opposing team's attacks, while others may be tasked with creating goals, or have equal responsibilities between attack and defence. Midfielders are the players who typically travel the greatest distance during a match. Midfielders arguably have the most possession during a game, and thus they are some of the fittest players on the pitch. Midfielders are often assigned the task of assisting forwards to create scoring chances.


title: Midfielder

text: Central or centre midfielders are players whose role is divided mostly equally between attacking and defensive duties to control the play in and around the centre of the pitch. These players will try to pass the ball to the team's attacking midfielders and forwards and may also help their team's attacks by making runs into the opposition's penalty area and attempting shots on goal themselves. They also provide secondary support to attackers, both in and out of possession.


title: Midfielder

text: When the opposing team has the ball, a central midfielder may drop back to protect the goal or move forward and press the opposition ball-carrier to recover the ball. A centre midfielder defending their goal will move in front of their centre-backs to block long shots by the opposition and possibly track opposition midfielders making runs towards the goal.


title: Midfielder

text: The 4–3–3 and 4–5–1 formations each use three central midfielders. The 4−4−2 formation may use two central midfielders, and in the 4–2–3–1 formation one of the two deeper midfielders may be a central midfielder. Prominent central midfielders are known for their ability of "pacing" the game when their team is in possession of the ball, by dictating the tempo of play from the centre of the pitch.


title: Midfielder

text: The term "box-to-box midfielder" refers to central midfielders who are hard-working and who have good all-round abilities, which makes them skilled at both defending and attacking. These players can therefore track back to their own box to make tackles and block shots and also carry the ball forward or run to the opponents' box to try to score. Beginning in the mid-2000s, the change of trends and the decline of the standard 4–4–2 formation (in many cases making way for the 4–2–3–1 and 4–3–3 formations) imposed restrictions on the typical box-to-box midfielders of the 1980s and 1990s, as teams' two midfield roles were now often divided into "holders" or "creators", with a third variation upon the role being described as that of a "carrier" or "surger". Some notable examples of box-to-box midfielders are Lothar Matthäus, Clarence Seedorf, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Steven Gerrard, Johan Neeskens, Sócrates, Yaya Touré, Park Ji-sung, Patrick Vieira, Frank Lampard,Bryan Robson and Roy Keane.


title: Midfielder

text: In Italian football, the term "mezzala" (literally "half-winger" in Italian) is used to describe the position of the one or two central midfielders who play on either side of a holding midfielder and/or playmaker. The term was initially applied to the role of an inside forward in the WM and "Metodo" formations in Italian, but later described a specific type of central midfielder. The mezzala is often a quick and hard-working attack-minded midfielder, with good skills and noted offensive capabilities, as well as a tendency to make overlapping attacking runs, but also a player who participates in the defensive aspect of the game, and who can give width to a team by drifting out wide; as such, the term can be applied to several different roles. In English, the term has come to be seen as a variant of the box-to-box midfielder role.


title: Midfielder

text: Left and right midfielders have a role balanced between attack and defence whilst they play a lot of crosses in the box for forwards.They are positioned closer to the touchlines of the pitch. They may be asked to cross the ball into the opponents' penalty area to make scoring chances for their teammates, and when defending they may put pressure on opponents who are trying to cross.


title: Midfielder

text: Common modern formations that include left and right midfielders are the 4−4−2, the 4−4−1−1, the 4–2–3–1 and the 4−5−1 formations. Jonathan Wilson describes the development of the 4−4−2 formation: "…the winger became a wide midfielder, a shuttler, somebody who might be expected to cross a ball but was also meant to put in a defensive shift." Two notable examples of wide midfielders are David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.


title: Midfielder

text: In Italian football, the role of the wide midfielder is known as "tornante di centrocampo" or simply "tornante" ("returning"); it originated from the role of an outside forward, and came to be known as such as it often required players in this position to track back and assist the back-line with defensive duties, in addition to aiding the midfield and attacking.


title: Midfielder

text: The historic position of wing-half (not to be confused with "mezzala") was given to midfielders (half-backs) who played near the side of the pitch. It became obsolete as wide players with defensive duties have tended to become more a part of the defence as full-backs.


title: Midfielder

text: Defensive midfielders are midfield players who focus on protecting their team's goal. These players may defend a zone in front of their team's defence, or man mark specific opposition attackers. Defensive midfielders may also move to the full-back or centre-back positions if those players move forward to join in an attack.


title: Midfielder

text: Sergio Busquets described his attitude: "The coach knows that I am an obedient player who likes to help out and if I have to run to the wing to cover someone's position, great." A good defensive midfielder needs good positional awareness, anticipation of opponent's play, marking, tackling, interceptions, passing and great stamina and strength (for their tackling). In South American football, this role is known as a "volante de marca", while in Mexico it is known as "volante de contención". In Portugal, it is instead known as "trinco".


title: Midfielder

text: A holding or deep-lying midfielder stays close to their team's defence, while other midfielders may move forward to attack. The holding midfielder may also have responsibilities when their team has the ball. This player will make mostly short and simple passes to more attacking members of their team but may try some more difficult passes depending on the team's strategy. Marcelo Bielsa is considered as a pioneer for the use of a holding midfielder in defence. This position may be seen in the 4–2–3–1 and 4–4–2 diamond formations.


title: Midfielder

text: Initially, a defensive midfielder, or "destroyer", and a playmaker, or "creator", were often fielded alongside each other as a team's two holding central midfielders. The destroyer was usually responsible for making tackles, regaining possession, and distributing the ball to the creator, while the creator was responsible for retaining possession and keeping the ball moving, often with long passes out to the flanks, in the manner of a more old-fashioned deep-lying playmaker or "regista" (see below). Early examples of a destroyer are Obdulio Varela, Nobby Stiles, Herbert Wimmer, Marco Tardelli, while later examples include Claude Makélélé and Javier Mascherano, although several of these players also possessed qualities of other types of midfielders, and were therefore not confined to a single role. Early examples of a creator would be Gérson, Glenn Hoddle, and Sunday Oliseh, while more recent examples are Xabi Alonso and Michael Carrick.


title: Midfielder

text: The latest and third type of holding midfielder developed as a box-to-box midfielder, or "carrier" or "surger", neither entirely destructive nor creative, who is capable of winning back possession and subsequently advancing from deeper positions either by distributing the ball to a teammate and making late runs into the box, or by carrying the ball themself; recent examples of this type of player are Clarence Seedorf and Bastian Schweinsteiger, while Sami Khedira and Fernandinho are destroyers with carrying tendencies, Luka Modrić is a carrier with several qualities of the "regista," and Yaya Touré was a carrier who became a playmaker, in later part of his career, after losing his stamina.


title: Midfielder

text: A deep-lying playmaker is a holding midfielder who specializes in ball skills such as passing, rather than defensive skills like tackling. When this player has the ball, they may attempt longer or more complex passes than other holding players. They may try to set the tempo of their team's play, retain possession, or build plays through short exchanges, or they may try to pass the ball long to a centre forward or winger, or even pass short to a teammate in the hole, the area between the opponents' defenders and midfielders. In Italy, the deep-lying playmaker is known as a "regista", whereas in Brazil, it is known as a "meia-armador". In Italy, the role of the "regista" developed from the centre half-back or "centromediano metodista" position in Vittorio Pozzo's "metodo" system (a precursor of the central or holding midfield position in the 2–3–2–3 formation), as the "metodista"s responsibilities were not entirely defensive but also creative; as such, the "metodista" was not solely tasked with breaking down possession, but also with starting attacking plays after winning back the ball.


title: Midfielder

text: Writer Jonathan Wilson instead described Xabi Alonso's holding midfield role as that of a "creator", a player who was responsible for retaining possession in the manner of a more old-fashioned deep-lying playmaker or "regista", noting that: "although capable of making tackles, [Alonso] focused on keeping the ball moving, occasionally raking long passes out to the flanks to change the angle of attack."


title: Midfielder

text: The historic central half-back position gradually retreated from the midfield line to provide increased protection to the back–line against centre-forwards – that dedicated defensive role in the centre is still commonly referred to as a "centre-half" as a legacy of its origins. In Italian football jargon, this position was known as the "centromediano metodista" or "metodista", as it became an increasingly important role in Vittorio Pozzo's "metodo" system, although this term was later also applied to describe players who operated in a central holding-midfielder role, but who also had creative responsibilities in addition to defensive duties.


title: Midfielder

text: An attacking midfielder is a midfield player who is positioned in an advanced midfield position, usually between central midfield and the team's forwards, and who has a primarily offensive role.


title: Midfielder

text: Some attacking midfielders are called "trequartista" or "fantasista" (, i.e. a creative playmaker between the forwards and the midfield), who are usually mobile, creative and highly skilful players, known for their deft touch, technical ability, dribbling skills, vision, ability to shoot from long range, and passing prowess.


title: Midfielder

text: However, not all attacking midfielders are trequartistas – some attacking midfielders are very vertical and are essentially auxiliary attackers who serve to link-up play, hold up the ball, or provide the final pass, i.e. secondary strikers. As with any attacking player, the role of the attacking midfielder involves being able to create space for attack.


title: Midfielder

text: According to positioning along the field, attacking midfield may be divided into "left", "right" and "central attacking midfield" roles but most importantly they are a striker behind the forwards. A central attacking midfielder may be referred to as a "playmaker", or "number 10" (due to the association of the number 10 shirt with this position).


title: Midfielder

text: These players typically serve as the offensive pivot of the team, and are sometimes said to be "playing in the hole", although this term can also be used as deep-lying forward. The attacking midfielder is an important position that requires the player to possess superior technical abilities in terms of passing and dribbling, as well as, perhaps more importantly, the ability to read the opposing defence to deliver defence-splitting passes to the striker.


title: Midfielder

text: This specialist midfielder's main role is to create good shooting and goal-scoring opportunities using superior vision, control, and technical skill, by making crosses, through balls, and headed knockdowns to teammates. They may try to set up shooting opportunities for themselves by dribbling or performing a give-and-go with a teammate. Attacking midfielders may also make runs into the opponents' penalty area to shoot from another teammate's pass.


title: Midfielder

text: Where a creative attacking midfielder, i.e. an Advanced playmaker, is regularly utilized, they are commonly the team's star player, and often wear the number 10 shirt. As such, a team is often constructed so as to allow their attacking midfielder to roam free and create as the situation demands. One such popular formation is the 4–4–2 "diamond" (or 4–1–2–1–2), in which defined attacking and defensive midfielders replace the more traditional pair of central midfielders. Known as the ""fantasista"" or ""trequartista"" in Italy, in Spain, the offensive playmaker is known as the ""Mediapunta", in Brazil, the offensive playmaker is known as the ""meia atacante"," whereas in Argentina and Uruguay, it is known as the ""enganche"." Some examples of the advanced playmaker would be Zico, Francesco Totti and Juan Riquelme.


title: Midfielder

text: There are also some examples of more flexible advanced playmakers, such as Zinedine Zidane, Andrés Iniesta, David Silva, and Nécib. These players could control the tempo of the game in deeper areas of the pitch while also being able to push forward and play line-breaking through balls.


title: Midfielder

text: Mesut Özil can be considered as a classic 10 who adopted a slightly more direct approach and specialised in playing the final ball.


title: Midfielder

text: The false attacking midfielder description has been used in Italian football to describe a player who is seemingly playing as an attacking midfielder in a 4–3–1–2 formation, but who eventually drops deeper into midfield, drawing opposing players out of position and creating space to be exploited by teammates making attacking runs; the false-attacking midfielder will eventually sit in a central midfield role and function as a deep-lying playmaker. The false-attacking midfielder is therefore usually a creative and tactically intelligent player with good vision, technique, movement, passing ability, and striking ability from distance. They should also be a hard-working player, who is able to read the game and help the team defensively.<ref name="Horncastle: Riccardo Montolivo straddles both sides of the Germany/Italy divide"></ref> Wayne Rooney has been deployed in a similar role, on occasion; seemingly positioned as a number 10 behind the main striker, he would often drop even deeper into midfield to help his team retrieve possession and start attacks.


title: Midfielder

text: The "false 10" or "central winger" is a type of midfielder, which differs from the false-attacking midfielder. Much like the "false 9," their specificity lies in the fact that, although they seemingly play as an attacking midfielder on paper, unlike a traditional playmaker who stays behind the striker in the centre of the pitch, the false 10's goal is to move out of position and drift wide when in possession of the ball to help both the wingers and fullbacks to overload the flanks. This means two problems for the opposing midfielders: either they let the false 10 drift wide, and their presence, along with both the winger and the fullback, creates a three-on-two player advantage out wide; or they follow the false 10, but leave space in the centre of the pitch for wingers or onrushing midfielders to exploit. False 10s are usually traditional wingers who are told to play in the centre of the pitch, and their natural way of playing makes them drift wide and look to provide deliveries into the box for teammates. On occasion, the false-10 can also function in a different manner alongside a false-9, usually in a 4–6–0 formation, disguised as either a 4–3–3 or 4–2–3–1 formation. When other forwards or false-9s drop deep and draw defenders away from the false-10s, creating space in the middle of the pitch, the false-10 will then also surprise defenders by exploiting this space and moving out of position once again, often undertaking offensive dribbling runs forward towards goal, or running on to passes from false-9s, which in turn enables them to create goalscoring opportunities or go for goal themselves.


title: Midfielder

text: In modern football, the terms winger or wide player refer to a non-defender who plays on the left or right sides of the pitch. These terms can apply to left or right midfielders, left or right attacking midfielders, or left or right forwards. Left or right-sided defenders such as wing-backs or full-backs are generally not called wingers.


title: Midfielder

text: In the 2−3−5 formation popular in the late 19th century wingers remained mostly near the touchlines of the pitch, and were expected to cross the ball for the team's inside and centre forwards. Traditionally, wingers were purely attacking players and were not expected to track back and defend. This began to change in the 1960s. In the 1966 World Cup, England manager Alf Ramsey did not select wingers from the quarter-final onwards. This team was known as the "Wingless Wonders" and led to the modern 4–4–2 formation.


title: Midfielder

text: This has led to most modern wide players having a more demanding role in the sense that they are expected to provide defensive cover for their full-backs and track back to repossess the ball, as well as provide skillful crosses for centre forwards and strikers. Some forwards are able to operate as wingers behind a lone striker. In a three-man midfield, specialist wingers are sometimes deployed down the flanks alongside the central midfielder or playmaker.


title: Midfielder

text: Even more demanding is the role of wing-back, where the wide player is expected to provide both defence and attack. As the role of winger can be classed as a forward or a midfielder, this role instead blurs the divide between defender and midfielder. Italian manager Antonio Conte has been known to use wide midfielders or wingers who act as wing-backs in his trademark 3–5–2 and 3–4–3 formations, for example; these players are expected both to push up and provide width in attack as well as track back and assist their team defensively.


title: Midfielder

text: On occasion, the role of a winger can also be occupied by a different type of player. For example, certain managers have been known to use a "wide target man" on the wing, namely a large and physical player who usually plays as a centre-forward, and who will attempt to win aerial challenges and hold up the ball on the flank, or drag full-backs out of position; Romelu Lukaku, for example, has been used in this role on occasion. Another example is Mario Mandžukić under manager Massimiliano Allegri at Juventus during the 2016–17 season; normally a striker, he was instead used on the left flank, and was required to win aerial duels, hold up the ball, and create space, as well as being tasked with pressing opposing players.


title: Midfielder

text: Today, a winger is usually an attacking midfielder who is stationed in a wide position near the touchlines. Wingers such as Stanley Matthews or Jimmy Johnstone used to be classified as outside forwards in traditional W-shaped formations, and were formally known as "Outside Right" or "Outside Left," but as tactics evolved through the last 40 years, wingers have dropped to deeper field positions and are now usually classified as part of the midfield, usually in 4–4–2 or 4–5–1 formations (but while the team is on the attack, they tend to resemble 4–2–4/2–4–4 and 4–3–3 formations respectively).


title: Midfielder

text: The prototypical winger is fast, tricky and enjoys 'hugging' the touchline, that is, running downfield close to the touchline and delivering crosses. However, players with different attributes can thrive on the wing as well. Some wingers prefer to cut "infield" (as opposed to staying wide) and pose a threat as playmakers by playing diagonal passes to forwards or taking a shot at goal. Even players who are not considered quick, have been successfully fielded as wingers at club and international level for their ability to create play from the flank. Occasionally wingers are given a free role to roam across the front line and are relieved of defensive responsibilities.


title: Midfielder

text: Although wingers are a familiar part of football, the use of wingers is by no means universal. There are many successful football teams who operate without wingers. A famous example is Carlo Ancelotti's late 2000s Milan, who typically play in a narrow midfield diamond formation or in a Christmas tree formation (4–3–2–1), relying on full-backs to provide the necessary width down the wings.


title: Midfielder

text: An inverted winger is a modern tactical development of the traditional winger position. Most wingers are assigned to either side of the field based on their footedness, with right-footed players on the right and left-footed players on the left. This assumes that assigning a player to their natural side ensures a more powerful cross as well as greater ball-protection along the touch-lines. However, when the position is inverted and a winger instead plays inside-out on the opposite flank (i.e., a right-footed player as a left inverted winger), they effectively become supporting strikers and primarily assume a role in the attack.


title: Midfielder

text: As opposed to traditionally pulling the opponent's full-back out and down the flanks before crossing the ball in near the by-line, positioning a winger on the opposite side of the field allows the player to cut-in around the 18-yard box, either threading passes between defenders or shooting on goal using the dominant foot. This offensive tactic has found popularity in the modern game due to the fact that it gives traditional wingers increased mobility as playmakers and goalscorers, such as the left-footed right winger Domenico Berardi of Sassuolo who achieved 30 career goals faster than any player in the past half-century of Serie A football. Not only are inverted wingers able to push full-backs onto their weak sides, but they are also able to spread and force the other team to defend deeper as forwards and wing-backs route towards the goal, ultimately creating more scoring opportunities.


title: Midfielder

text: Other midfielders within this tactical archetype include Lionel Messi and Eden Hazard, as well as Megan Rapinoe of the USWNT. Clubs such as Real Madrid often choose to play their wingers on the "wrong" flank for this reason; former Real Madrid coach José Mourinho often played Ángel Di María on the right and Cristiano Ronaldo on the left. Former Bayern Munich manager Jupp Heynckes often played the left-footed Arjen Robben on the right and the right-footed Franck Ribéry on the left. One of the foremost practitioners of playing from either flank was German winger Jürgen Grabowski, whose flexibility helped Germany to third place in the 1970 World Cup, and the world title in 1974.


title: Midfielder

text: A description that has been used in the media to label a variation upon the inverted winger position is that of an "attacking," "false," or "goalscoring winger," as exemplified by Cristiano Ronaldo's role on the left flank during his time at Real Madrid in particular. This label has been used to describe an offensive–minded inverted winger, who will seemingly operate out wide on paper, but who instead will be given the freedom to make unmarked runs into more advanced central areas inside the penalty area to get on the end of passes and crosses and score goals, effectively functioning as a striker. This role is somewhat comparable to what is known as the "raumdeuter" role in German football jargon (literally "space interpreter"), as exemplified by Thomas Müller, namely an attacking–minded wide player, who will move into central areas to find spaces from which they can receive passes and score or assist goals.


title: Midfielder

text: The "false winger" or "seven–and–a–half" is a label which has been used to describe a type of player who normally plays centrally, but who instead is deployed out wide on paper; during the course of a match, however, they will move inside and operate in the centre of the pitch to drag defenders out of position, congest the midfield and give their team a numerical advantage in this area, so that they can dominate possession in the middle of the pitch and create chances for the forwards; this position also leaves space for full-backs to make overlapping attacking runs up the flank. Samir Nasri, who has been deployed in this role, once described it as that of a "non-axial playmaker."


title: Bachelor of Science

text: A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin "") is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of London in 1860. In the United States, the Lawrence Scientific School first conferred the degree in 1851, followed by the University of Michigan in 1855. Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, who was Harvard's Dean of Sciences, wrote in a private letter that "the degree of Bachelor of Science came to be introduced into our system through the influence of Louis Agassiz, who had much to do in shaping the plans of this School."


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Whether Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degrees are awarded in particular subjects varies between universities. For example, an economics student may graduate as a Bachelor of Arts in one university but as a Bachelor of Science in another, and occasionally, both options are offered. Some universities follow the Oxford and Cambridge tradition that even graduates in mathematics and the sciences become Bachelors of Arts, while other institutions offer only the Bachelor of Science degree, even in non-science fields.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: At universities that offer both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in the same discipline, the Bachelor of Science degree is usually more focused on that particular discipline and is targeted toward students intending to pursue graduate school or a profession in that discipline.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service awards Bachelor of Science degrees in foreign service to all of its undergraduates, although many students major in humanities-oriented fields such as international history or culture and politics. The London School of Economics offers BSc degrees in practically all subject areas, even those normally associated with the arts, while the Oxbridge universities almost exclusively award the BA as a first degree. In both instances, there are historical and traditional reasons. Northwestern University's School of Communication grants BSc degrees in all of its programs of study, including theater, dance, and radio/television/film. University of California, Berkeley grants a BS degree in environmental economics and policy at the College of Natural Resources (CNR), a BS degree in business administration at Haas School of Business, and a BA degree in environmental economics and policy at the College of Letters and Science (L&S). Cornell University offers a BS degree in computer science from its College of Engineering and a BA degree in computer science from its College of Arts and Sciences.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Argentina most university degrees are given as a license in a discipline. They are specific to a field and awarded to students upon completion of a course of study which lasts at least four and usually five years.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In most cases, at the end of a course and as a mandatory condition for its completion (and ultimately, to obtain a degree), students are compelled to produce an original research project related to their field. This project is usually referred to as a thesis (although the term actually corresponds to post graduate studies) and, unlike a thesis, it not mandatory to have it presented in front of an assessment board.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Australia, the BSc is generally a three to four-year degree. An honours year or a master's by research degree is required to progress on to the stage of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In New Zealand, in some cases, the honours degree comprises an additional postgraduate qualification. In other cases, students with strong performance in their second or third year, are invited to extend their degree to an additional year, with a focus on research, granting access to doctoral programs.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In South Africa, the BSc is taken over three years, while the postgraduate BSc (Hons) entails an additional year of study. Admission to the honours degree is on the basis of a sufficiently high average in the BSc major; an honours degree is required for MSc level study, and admission to a doctorate is via the MSc.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Brazil, a Bachelor of Science degree is an undergraduate academic degree and is equivalent to a BSc (Hons). It could take from 4 to 6 years (8 to 12 periods) to complete, is also more specific and could be applied for Scientific Arts courses (like Engineering, Maths, Physics, etc.), somewhat is called Human Art courses in Brazil (like History, Portuguese and Literature and Lawyer studies for example) as well as for Health Arts (like Medicine, Nursery, Zootechnique, Veterinary and Biology for example). To be able to start the bachelor's degree in Brazil the candidate must prove to be proficient in different disciplines and have at least the accumulated Preliminary, Medium and High School degrees accomplished with the minimum merit of 60% to 70% of the degrees and a correspondent study period that can vary from 10 to 12 years minimum. The Bachelor of Science courses in Brazilian Universities normally have the first 1 to 2 years (first 2 to 4 periods) of basic fundamental disciplines (like for example Calculus I, II, III and IV for some engineering courses, Geometry basics and advanced, Analytical Laboratories experiments in Mechanics, Optics, Magnetism, etc.) and the last 2 to 3 years disciplines more related to the professional fields of that Bachelor of Science (for example Units Operations, Thermodynamics, Chemical Reactors, Industrial Processes, Kinetics for Chemical Engineering for example). Some disciplines are prerequisite to others and in some universities, the student is not allowed to course any discipline for the entire next period if he was unsuccessful in just one prerequisite discipline of the present period. Usually, the Bachelor of Science courses demand a one-year mandatory probation period by the end of the course (internship in the specific professional area, like a training period), followed by relatively elaborate written and oral evaluations. To get the certification as BSc, most universities require that the students achieve the accomplishment of 60% to 70% in all the "obligatory disciplines", plus the supervisioned and approved training period (like a supervisioned internship period), the final thesis of the course, and in some BSc programs, the final exam test. The final exam also is required so far. To be a professor, a Bachelor of Sciences is required to get a Licenciature degree, which lasts on top of the periods already studied until getting the BSc (Hons), plus 2 to 3 periods (1 to 1.5 years). With a master's degree (MSc) is also possible, which takes 3 to 5 periods more (1.5 to 2.5 years more).


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Commonly in British Commonwealth countries and Ireland graduands are admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Science after having completed a programme in one or more of the sciences. These programmes may take different lengths of time to complete.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: A Bachelor of Science receives the designation BSc for an ordinary degree and BSc (Hons) for an honours degree. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland an honours degree is typically completed over a three-year period, though there are a few intensified two-year courses (with less vacation time). Bachelor's degrees (without honours) were typically completed in two years for most of the twentieth century. In Scotland, where access to university is possible after one less year of secondary education, degree courses have a foundation year making the total course length four years.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Ireland, the former BS was changed to BSc (Hons), which is awarded after four years. The BSc (Ord) is awarded after three years. Formerly at the University of Oxford, the degree of BSc was a postgraduate degree; this former degree, still actively granted, has since been renamed MSc.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Chile, the completion of a university program leads to an academic degree as well as a professional title. The academic degree equivalent to Bachelor of Science is ""Licenciado en Ciencias"", which can be obtained as a result of completing a 4–6 year program. However, in most cases, 4-year programs will grant a Bachelor of Applied Science (Spanish: ""Licenciatura en Ciencias Aplicadas"") degree, while other 4-year programs will not grant to an academic degree.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Many universities in Europe are changing their systems into the BA/MA system and in doing so also offering the full equivalent of a BSc or MSc (see Bologna Process).


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Universities in the Czech Republic are changing their systems into the Bachelor of Science/Master of Science system and in doing so also offering the full equivalent of a BSc (Bc.) or MSc (Mgr./Ing.).


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Germany, there are two kinds of universities: "Universitäten" and "Fachhochschulen" (which are also called University of Applied Sciences). "Universitäten" and "Fachhochschulen" – both also called "Hochschulen" - are legally equal, but "Fachhochschulen" have the reputation of being more related to practice and have no legal right to offer PhD programmes.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: The BSc in Germany is equivalent to the BSc(Hons) in the United Kingdom. Many universities in German-speaking countries are changing their systems to the BA/MA system and in doing so also offering the full equivalent of a BSc.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Germany the BA normally lasts between three and four years (six to eight semesters) and between 180 and 240 ECTS must be earned.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Bachelor of Science(B.Sc) is usually a three year graduate program in India offered by state and central universities. Some independent private colleges can also offer BS degrees albeit minimum changes in curriculum. B.Sc is different from Bachelor of Engineering(B.E) or Bachelor of Technology(B.Tech).


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Canada, Mexico, and the United States, it is most often a four-year undergraduate degree, typically in engineering, computer science, mathematics, economics, finance, business, or the natural sciences.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: There are, however, some colleges and universities, notably in the province of Quebec, that offer three-year degree programs.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina (mostly three years, sometimes four), Cameroon, Canada (specifically Quebec), Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia (mostly three years, sometimes four), Czech Republic (mostly three years, sometimes four), Denmark, England (three or four years with a one-year placement in industry), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany (mostly three years, but can be up to four years), Hungary, Iceland, India (three-year BSc in arts and pure sciences excluding engineering, Agriculture and medicine, four years for engineering program "Bachelor of Engineering" Four year for Agriculture program "Bachelor of Agriculture"and five years for medicine program "Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery"), Ireland (Ordinary), Israel (for most subjects), Italy, Jamaica (three or four years), Latvia (three or four years), Lebanon (three or four years, five years for Bachelor of Engineering), Malaysia, New Zealand, the Netherlands (three years for research universities, four years for universities of applied sciences), Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland (Ordinary), Singapore (honours degree takes 4 years), Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa (honours degree takes 4 years), Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda (mostly three years, sometimes four), United Arab Emirates, Wales, and Zimbabwe.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Afghanistan, Albania (four or five years), Armenia (four or five years), Australia (honours degree), Azerbaijan (four or five years), Bahrain, Bangladesh (four or five years), Belarus, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil (four to five years), Brunei (three or four years), Bulgaria, Canada (except Quebec), China, Cyprus, the Dominican Republic, Egypt (four or five years), Ethiopia (engineering, five years), Finland (engineering, practice in industry not included), Georgia, Ghana (three or four years), Greece (four or five years), Guatemala, Haiti (three or four years), Hong Kong (starting from 2012, three years originally), India (four-year BS, Bsc (hons.) Agriculture, Engineering), Indonesia, Iran (four or five years), Iraq, Ireland (Honours Degree), Israel (engineering degree), Japan, Jordan (four to five years), Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Lithuania, North Macedonia (three, four or five years), Malawi (four or five years), Malta, Mexico, Montenegro (three or four years), Myanmar, Nepal (previously three, now four years), the Netherlands (three years for research universities, four years for universities of applied sciences), New Zealand (honours degree), Nigeria, Pakistan (four or five years), the Philippines (four or five years), Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland (Honours Degree), Serbia (three or four years), Spain, South Africa (fourth year is elective — to obtain an Honours degree, which is normally a requirement for selection into a master's degree program), South Korea, Sri Lanka (three, four, or five (specialized) years), Taiwan, Tajikistan (four or five years), Thailand, Romania, Tunisia (only a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration is available, solely awarded by Tunis Business School), Turkey, Ukraine, the United States, Uruguay (four, five, six, or seven years), Yemen, and Zambia (four or five years).


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Cuba (five years), Greece (four or five years), Peru, Argentina, Colombia (starting to change to 4 years), Brazil (five years), Mexico (4.5 years), Chile, Venezuela (five years), Egypt (four or five years), Haiti (four or five years).


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Nigeria (four to five years), 6 months dedicated to SIWES (Students Industrial Work Exchange Scheme) but for most sciences and all engineering courses only. A semester for project work/thesis not excluding course work during the bachelor thesis. Excluding 1 year for the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), para-military and civil service.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: North Macedonia, Sierra Leone (four years dedicated to coursework), Slovenia (four or five years), Sudan (five years for BSc honours degree and four years for BSc ordinary degree), and Syria.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: Some universities in Canada (such as University of British Columbia and Vancouver Island University) have most of their science and applied science students extend their degree by a year compared to other institutions.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: In Chile, some undergraduate majors such as engineering and geology are designed as 6-year programs. However, in practice it is not uncommon for students to complete such programs over the course of 10 years, while studying full-time without leaves of absence. This is in part due to a strict grading system where the highest grade of a typical class can be as low as 60% (C-) and the high frequency of protests and strikes organized by student federations and teacher unions, such as the 2011–13 Chilean student protests.


title: Bachelor of Science

text: There are studies that suggest a direct correlation between reduced social mobility and differences unique to the Chilean higher education system.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama ( , ; born January 30, 1980) is an American actor, producer, and television personality. He is known for his role as Fez in the sitcom "That '70s Show" (1998–2006), Agustín Madrigal in "Encanto", and as Carlos Madrigal in "" (2014–2016). He was also host of the MTV series "Yo Momma" (2006–07), the voice of Manny in the children's show "Handy Manny" (2006–2013) and has had recurring roles on "Grey's Anatomy" as well as "The Ranch" (both in 2016). He is currently part of the main cast of "NCIS", portraying Special Agent Nick Torres.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Valderrama has further performed in several prominent feature films, including "Party Monster" (2003), "Beauty Shop" (2005), "Fast Food Nation" (2006), "Unaccompanied Minors" (2006), "Larry Crowne" (2011), and "The Adderall Diaries" (2015). He voiced the character of Prince Philippe Charming in the family animated film "Charming" (2018).


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: In addition to his acting career, Valderrama tours extensively as Global Ambassador for the USO, works with the voting rights organization Voto Latino, and co-founded the non-profit Harness.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Valderrama was born in 1980 in Miami, Florida, to Balbino A. and Sobeida Valderrama. His father is Venezuelan and his mother is Colombian.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Valderrama got his start performing in numerous plays, including "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Rumors". He made his professional debut in a Spanish-language Pacific Bell commercial. At his drama teacher's suggestion, he got an agent and was cast in the CBS miniseries "Four Corners" and in "Omba Mokomba" on the Disney Channel. He made his big-screen debut in the film "Summer Catch".


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Valderrama played Fez on "That '70s Show" from 1998 to 2006; he was a senior in high school when the pilot episode was filmed. He played DJ Keoki in the 2003 film "Party Monster". He produced and hosted the MTV series "Yo Momma" from 2006 to 2007, and appeared three times on "Punk'd", hosted by fellow "That '70s Show" alumnus Ashton Kutcher.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: In April and May 2003, Valderrama appeared in the "Los Angeles Times" critic's choice play "Blackout", an adaptation of the feature film "Drunks", and on April 4, 2004, starred in the Actors' Fund of America one-performance only reading of "Sunset Boulevard". He filmed the short film "La torcedura" in which he played the lead, and appeared in "The Darwin Awards", an independent film directed by Finn Taylor.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: In animation work, Valderrama voiced Rodrigo in "Clifford's Really Big Movie". He also voices the main character, Manny, in Disney Channel's "Handy Manny" series for preschoolers. He had a starring role in "El Muerto", an indie film directed by Brian Cox and based on the comic book created by Javier Hernandez. In January 2007, Valderrama launched his own men's fashion label called "Calavena". His production company is WV Entertainment.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: In 2010, Valderrama guest-starred on Disney Channel's series "Wizards of Waverly Place" playing the role of Theresa Russo's brother, Ernesto. In 2011, he appeared in three episodes of USA Network's "Royal Pains" as Eric Kassabian, an art dealer. In 2012, Valderrama co-hosted "Premios Juventud" as a superhero on July 19, 2012. In August 2012, he appeared in house music group Nomads' music video of "Addicted to Love".


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: On September 27, 2013, Valderrama won an ALMA Award for Outstanding Social Activism. By late November 2013, Valderrama had joined the cast of "".


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: On June 16, 2016, Valderrama joined "NCIS" in its fourteenth season. He is a series regular as NCIS Special Agent Nicholas Torres. This led to crossover appearances on spin-offs "" and "".


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Wilmer also voiced Gaxton in the 2020 Disney/Pixar animated feature film, "Onward". In 2021 he lent his voice to the Disney animated film "Encanto". In December 2021, Wilmer was set to executive produce and star in an untitled Zorro series for Disney Branded Television. On April 30, 2022, it was announced that Valderrama would have a guest appearance in the follow-up sitcom, "That '90s Show".


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: On May 11, 2011, Valderrama released the song "The Way I Fiesta," which he performed as his alter ego, Eduardo Fresco. The video was directed by Akiva Schaffer from the group The Lonely Island. Danny Masterson, Valderrama's co-star from "That '70s Show", has a cameo appearance in the video. Valderrama appeared in the 2009 music video for Wisin & Yandel's song "Imagínate". He also appeared in and produced the 2011 video for LMFAO's song "Sexy and I Know It." At the Billboard Latin Music Awards, he said that he is making music which he will release in Spanish and English. On July 27, 2012, he interviewed Latina and said that he is recording tracks and is working with great artists/producers from both the English and the Spanish side. He said he was hoping to release more music in 2013. On March 10, 2014, Valderrama revealed that a "Salud Part 2" is in the works and that he has his music coming out towards the end of the summer of 2014.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Since 2007, Valderrama has taken part in multiple tours on behalf of the United Service Organizations. He has traveled more than 46 times and made hosting appearances in locations including Bagram air base in Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, Germany, Poland, South Korea, and Bahrain. In 2021, Valderrama was named a USO Global Ambassador along with singer Kellie Pickler.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: In 2017, Valderrama co-founded Harness with America Ferrera and Ryan Piers Williams, with the stated goal of improving representation in historically marginalized communities. The non-profit's Be Counted campaign encourages the Latino community to complete and return U.S. census forms.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Valderrama has worked with the voting rights non-profit Voto Latino since the organization was formed in 2004. The organization promotes increased voter participation and conducts voter registration drives at cultural events. Valderrama currently serves on the organization's impact council.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Between 2009 and 2012, Valderrama served as the spokesperson for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's Ready to Lead program.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: In July 2021, Valderrama launched "Essential Voices with Wilmer Valderrama", an iHeartRadio podcast highlighting the experiences of essential workers.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Valderrama met Mandy Moore when she was 15, and they dated when she was "16 or 17." Valderrama, who is four years her senior, later claimed that Moore had lost her virginity to him, which she denied. In 2004, Valderrama dated Lindsay Lohan, who was 18 at the time; he was 24. From 2010 to 2016, he was in an on-and-off relationship with Demi Lovato. The two met when Lovato was 17 and Valderrama was 29, though they did not begin dating until she turned 18. Lovato would later release the song "29" (2022), which was widely interpreted as a condemnation of Valderrama now that the singer herself was 29, although Lovato did not directly confirm the inspiration and simply stated, "I feel like the song says it all".


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: In January 2020, Valderrama became engaged to Amanda Pacheco, who is eleven years his junior. In December 2020, the couple announced they were expecting their first child. Their daughter was born on February 15, 2021.


title: Wilmer Valderrama

text: Valderrama is a car collector. He has retained the original model 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser used in "That '70s Show", purchased for $500 upon learning that the show was going to cease production.