title: Leeds United F.C.

text: Initially, the ground was the home of the Holbeck Rugby Club, which played in the Northern Rugby Union, the forerunner of the Rugby Football League. One of Leeds' first nicknames", 'The Peacocks"', comes from the original name of Elland Road – 'The Old Peacock ground'. It was named by the original owners of the ground, Bentley's Brewery, after its pub The Old Peacock, which still faces the site. The newly formed Leeds City agreed to rent and later own Elland Road. After their disbandment, it was sold to Leeds United. The most recent stand at Elland Road is the East, or Family, Stand, a cantilever structure completed during the 1992–93 season that can hold 17,000 seated spectators. It is a two-tiered stand that continues around the corners and is the largest part of the stadium. "The Don Revie Stand" was opened at the start of the 1994–95 season, and can hold just under 7,000 seated spectators. The roof of the West Stand holds a television commentary gantry and walkway for TV personnel. Elland Road was named in December 2009 as one of the contenders for the England 2018 World Cup bid. As a result of the bid, Leeds drew up plans to redevelop parts of Elland Road and increase the stadium's capacity. Ken Bates also revealed plans to take out the executive boxes out of the South Stand to increase the starting capacity by a further 2,000–3,000. More executive boxes would be built in the east stand.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: Alex Ferguson has said that Elland Road has one of the most intimidating atmospheres in European football.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: A statue of legendary captain Billy Bremner was unveiled outside the stadium in 1999 in the area known as 'Bremner Square'. Then a bronze statue for Leeds' most successful manager Don Revie was also unveiled in 2012, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the club winning the FA Cup. As part of the renovation of the Bremner statue in summer 2018, a 'Bremner Square XI' was announced. The XI featured ten further 'legendary Leeds players' who have engraved stones featuring their key stats and achievements during their careers with Leeds United.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: On 28 June 2017, new Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani completed the re-purchase of Elland Road, via his investment company, Greenfield Investment Pte Ltd, the company used to buy Leeds. Leeds will have a period of paying no rent and be able to invest in other areas of the club. In July 2018, Elland Road was voted 'Best Ground in the Championship' by football supporters.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: In 2003, Peter Reid commented on the support at Elland Road after being relieved of his managerial duties, saying that "In 30 years I've never seen support like I did at the Leeds/Arsenal game a couple of weeks ago. The fans at Leeds are fantastic." Two other former Leeds managers have also spoken highly of the club's supporters; Kevin Blackwell said "fans will follow them everywhere" and David O'Leary commented "There is an immense fan base and they are still with the club".


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: Leeds supporters are renowned for singing the signature song "Marching on Together" before and during matches. Other notable songs Leeds fans sing during games include "We Are The Champions, Champions of Europe" (more commonly known as WACCOE) in reference to the 1975 European Cup Final which Leeds lost due to dubious refereeing decisions. Riots by the Leeds fans during the match led to UEFA banning the club from European competition for four years, although this was reduced to two years on appeal.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: Famous Leeds supporters include: actors Ralph Ineson, Russell Crowe, Matthew Lewis, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; comedian Jon Richardson and boxer Josh Warrington.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: Leeds United supporters also have their own salute. Leeds are 10th in the all-time average attendance figures for the Football League and Premier League. They have the third most rivalries in the English League. Sir Alex Ferguson once said that Elland Road has one of the most intimidating atmospheres in European football.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: An LGBT fans' group, "Marching Out Together," was formed in 2017 and sits on the club's Supporters' Advisory Group. There is also a group for Sikh supporters, called Punjabi Whites. The Leeds United Disabled Organisation (LUDO) was founded in 1992. There is a well-known hooligan firm amongst the fans known as the Leeds United Service Crew.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: Leeds' main rivals are widely considered to be Manchester United. As the largest cities within the historic counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, animosity between the regions date back to the War of the Roses, although more recent tensions between the football clubs date back to the 1960s and the iconic managers of Don Revie and Matt Busby.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: The rivalry has been described as one of the fiercest in world football, and the most intense and inexplicable in England. Sir Alex Ferguson has described Elland Road as ‘hostile’ and ‘frightening’, and stated that the ferocity of games between the two surpassed the ones with Liverpool.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: On the pitch, the clubs have competed for league titles and cups in the 1960s, 1970s, 1990s and early 2000s; while players such as Johnny Giles, Gordon Strachan and Eric Cantona have been highly successful after moving between the clubs. Leeds’ relegation to the Football League in 2004 caused a long interval in games between the two, although promotion in 2020 restored their top flight status.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: Leeds' secondary rivals are generally regarded to be Chelsea, which largely stems from the 1970 FA Cup Final. The clubs competed at the top end of the Premier League in the late 1990s and early 2000s and games were often bad-tempered. While the rivalry has subsided with Leeds’ relegation 2004, controversial figures such as Ken Bates and Dennis Wise — both of whom had long associations with Chelsea — presided over the club’s relegation to the third division in 2007 and subsequent administration, prolonging the enmity.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: Leeds also hold extreme bitterness towards the Turkish club Galatasaray following the deaths of the two supporters the night before a UEFA Cup semi-final in Istanbul in April 2000. During the game, supporters of Galatasaray mocked the deaths, while their team refused to wear black armbands. The then Leeds Chairman Peter Ridsdale accused the club of 'lacking common decency’.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: During their time outside of the Premier League between 2004 and 2020, Leeds had a number of transitory rivalries with divisional competitors such as Cardiff City, Derby County and Millwall, as well as Yorkshire neighbours Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: The single 'Leeds United' was released in April 1972 to coincide with the team reaching the 1972 FA Cup Final, composed by Les Reed and Barry Mason with the team providing the vocals. The record stayed in the UK Singles Chart for almost three months, peaking at number 10. The B-side 'Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!' (commonly known as "Marching on Together") has since become the club's anthem and is regularly sung by supporters.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: The club's current manager Jesse Marsch, is the thirty-eighth permanent holder of the position since Leeds were founded in 1919. Leeds have also had nine caretaker managers, three of whom had previously occupied the role on a full-time basis, and one of whom occupied the role three times.


title: Leeds United F.C.

text: The most successful manager of Leeds United is Don Revie, who won two League Championships, two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, one Division Two Championship, one FA Cup, one League Cup and one Charity Shield in his 13-year reign as manager. He is also the club's longest-serving manager, presiding over 740 games from 1961 to 1974.


title: Allison Mack

text: Allison Christin Mack (born July 29, 1982) is an American former actress. She played Chloe Sullivan on the superhero series "Smallville" (2001–2011) and had a recurring role on the comedy series "Wilfred" (2012–2014).


title: Allison Mack

text: Mack was a member of NXIVM, a cult and a multi-level marketing company selling professional and personal development seminars. In 2018, federal authorities arrested Mack on charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and forced labor conspiracy related to her NXIVM and DOS activities. She pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges and in 2021 was sentenced to three years in prison.


title: Allison Mack

text: Mack was born on July 29, 1982, in Preetz, West Germany, to American parents Jonathan Mack, an opera singer, and Mindy Mack, a schoolteacher and bookkeeper. Her parents were in Germany at the time of her birth because Jonathan was performing there; they lived in Germany for two years before moving to California.


title: Allison Mack

text: Mack's first job was for a German chocolate company in a series of print ads and commercials. She went into modeling for a short period and studied at the Young Actors Space in Los Angeles at age seven.


title: Allison Mack

text: Mack's first major television role was in an episode of the WB series "7th Heaven", in which she gained attention playing a teenager who cut herself. In 2000, she co-starred in the short-lived series "Opposite Sex". Her film credits include roles in "My Horrible Year!" (Eric Stoltz's directorial debut) as a girl having great difficulties in her life as she turns 16. She was also featured in "Camp Nowhere" and in the Disney film "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves".


title: Allison Mack

text: In October 2001, Mack began starring as Chloe Sullivan (an original character created for the show) one of Clark Kent's best friends in the WB/CW television series "Smallville". Mack earned several awards and nominations for her portrayal of Chloe, including the Teen Choice Award for Best Sidekick in 2006 and 2007. She appeared as a series regular for nine seasons and returned as an intermittent main cast member in the tenth season, including the two-part series finale. From 2003 to 2006, Mack's character appeared in her own miniseries "Smallville: Chloe Chronicles" and "Smallville: Vengeance Chronicles". In 2008, Mack made her directorial debut in "Smallville" season 8 episode "Power".


title: Allison Mack

text: In 2002, she made a couple of appearances along with her "Smallville" castmate Sam Jones III in R. L. Stine's miniseries "The Nightmare Room". In 2006, Mack appeared in the animated movie "The Ant Bully". That same year, she voiced Clea, a museum curator, in an episode of "The Batman". Adding to her Superman resume, she lent her voice for Power Girl in the animated feature "" (2009). Mack had been part of a project with the Iris Theatre Company.


title: Allison Mack

text: In March 2012, Mack was cast in a recurring role in the second season of the FX sitcom "Wilfred". She played Amanda, the love interest of Elijah Wood's lead character Ryan. Mack returned to "Wilfred" for one episode of the fourth and final season. In 2014, Mack guest-starred as a policewoman named Hilary in an episode of the Fox thriller "The Following". On March 21, 2015, she tweeted that she would be appearing in "American Odyssey" as Julia, who befriends Suzanne, the daughter of Anna Friel's lead character Sgt. Odelle Ballard.


title: Allison Mack

text: Mack had a long-term relationship with actor Chad Krowchuk during the 2000s. She was engaged to fellow "Smallville" actor Sam Witwer in 2013, however the engagement ended a year later. Mack married Canadian actress Nicki Clyne, a NXIVM member, in February 2017. The marriage was alleged to have been a sham to get Clyne around US immigration laws and only became public a year later during legal proceedings on the conspiracy and racketeering charges as part of Mack's involvement with NXIVM. In December 2020, Mack filed for divorce from Clyne. Mack and Clyne were both also NXIVM founder Keith Raniere's sexual partners. It was reported in 2020 that Mack had attended classes at UC Berkeley.


title: Allison Mack

text: Mack was a member of NXIVM, a now defunct multi-level marketing company founded by Keith Raniere and headquartered in Albany, New York. In a 2003 article from "Forbes", advocates of NXIVM portrayed it as an organization focused on inspirational executive coaching, "like a practical MBA", while detractors accused the founder Keith Raniere of running "a cult-like program aimed at breaking down his subjects psychologically".


title: Allison Mack

text: In 2006, Mack joined NXIVM after attending a two-day introduction to "Jness", a women's group within NXIVM. Mack eventually became a high-ranking member of the NXIVM organization. Mack was the co-creator of "The Source", a NXIVM program that recruited actors. Mack was a member of "Simply Human", a cappella NXIVM singing group. She was also the emcee of "A Capella Innovations", a multi-day festival. Hosted by NXIVM in 2007 and 2008, the events were billed as a university singing showcase and were alleged to be "a front to draw impressionable undergrads into NXIVM."


title: Allison Mack

text: In 2015, Raniere created a secret subgroup within NXIVM called "" (DOS). Mack was allegedly second in command of DOS after Raniere. DOS was structured as a pyramid group with Raniere at the top (and the only man in DOS) with subordinates including Mack, Clyne and others as Raniere's inner circle. DOS was ostensibly built around female empowerment but mainly provided a means to traffic women for Raniere's gratification. According to prosecutors, Mack and others recruited women by telling them they were joining a women-only organization that would empower them, with Raniere's status as the leader of DOS concealed from new recruits. As a pre-condition for joining DOS, women were required to provide "collateral", which included nude photographs, damaging information about family and friends and rights to recruit's assets. Recruits were told their collateral could be released if they left DOS or told anyone about DOS's existence. Recruits were also controlled in several other ways, including requirements to seek permission, physical isolation, forced participation in "readiness drills", sleep deprivation, extremely restrictive diets, and being subject to corporal punishment.


title: Allison Mack

text: Mack reportedly recruited four women into DOS, including India Oxenberg, daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg. As directed by Raniere, Mack and others required their recruits to be branded with a symbol represening Raniere's initials, with the branding ritual following a script created by Raniere. Mack's recruits were unaware the brand was Raniere's initials and said that Mack told them the brand was a symbol of the four elements: air, earth, fire and water. Former NXIVM member Sarah Edmondson stated in a 2017 "New York Times" exposé and a 2018 A&E special on cults details DOS and that she had been branded in an initiation ceremony at Mack's house, under Mack's supervision. In a "New York Times" interview, Mack claimed that the human branding was her idea.


title: Allison Mack

text: On April 20, 2018, Mack was arrested by the FBI in Brooklyn on charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy. The federal indictment accused Mack of "recruiting women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere." Mack was one of the "top members of a highly organized scheme which was designed to provide sex to [Raniere]." Prosecutors accused Mack of concealing Raniere’s status as the leader of DOS as she coaxed recruits to provide highly damaging personal information, nude photos and rights to personal assets. After Mack recruited women to join DOS, "under the guise of female empowerment, she starved women until they fit [Raniere’s] sexual feminine ideal." Mack directly or implicitly required her recruits to engage in sexual activity with Raniere. In exchange, Mack received financial and other benefits from Raniere.


title: Allison Mack

text: On April 24, 2018, Mack was released from Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn on a $5 million bond and held under house arrest under the custody of her parents in California. During Mack's arraignment proceedings, prosecutors also accused her of entering a sham marriage with Nicki Clyne to help Clyne circumvent US immigration laws. India Oxenberg, a witness at Mack and Clyne's wedding ceremony, later confirmed the marriage was fake and orchestrated by Raniere to keep Clyne in the United States.


title: Allison Mack

text: Under the original indictment, Mack faced a minimum of 15 years to life in prison if found guilty. In March 2019, it was revealed in court that Mack and the other defendants in the case were in "active plea negotiations" as Raniere appeared in court to plead not guilty to additional child pornography charges related to the case.


title: Allison Mack

text: According to a filing by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Mack sat down for proffer sessions to assist the government in the prosecution of Raniere starting in April 2019: "Mack detailed Raniere’s role in devising assignments for Mack’s “slaves,” including, among other things, Raniere’s repeated requests for nude photographs from Mack’s DOS “slaves”; Raniere’s instructions regarding the “seduction” assignment; and Raniere’s encouragement of the use of demeaning and derogatory language, including racial slurs, to humiliate DOS “slaves.” Mack also provided information regarding Clare Bronfman’s attempts to harass and threaten DOS victims, as well as Bronfman’s efforts to initiate a criminal cybercrime investigation against an individual Bronfman believed to be critical of Raniere and Nxivm. Mack also provided relevant emails, documents and recordings to the government." The U.S. Attorney also credited Mack with providing a recording in which Raniere provided a detailed script of how he wanted the branding ceremony conducted, and was later entered as evidence in Raniere's trial as proof that Raniere was the leader of DOS.


title: Allison Mack

text: On April 8, 2019, Mack pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges and admitted to state law extortion and forced labor. In June 2019, Raniere was found guilty on all charges and was sentenced to 120 years in October 2020. Though Mack was not called to testify and her cooperation undisclosed to the public, it was disclosed to Raniere himself (pursuant to his rights under the Jencks Act).


title: Allison Mack

text: The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States delayed court proceedings, including the sentencings of Mack and other NXIVM defendants. In 2021, prosecutors began the process of sentencing Mack. Under advisory sentencing guidelines, Mack faced 14 to 17.5 years behind bars. The U.S. Attorney credited Mack with providing "detailed and highly corroborated information" but also noted that Mack could have provided even more substantial assistance had she made the decision to cooperate earlier and requested that Judge Nicholas Garaufis impose a sentence below the applicable guidelines range. In his own sentencing memorandum, Judge Garaufis recognized several factors allowing for a downward departure but felt he could not avoid sending Mack to prison stating: "I agree with the Government, and with your lawyers, that a downward departure from the Guidelines range is warranted in this case. A sentence even in the lower end of that range would be much greater than necessary. At the same time, for the reasons I have explained, I believe that the nature and consequences of your offense and the need for deterrence warrant a serious sentence. While I accept your contrition as sincere and your efforts toward rehabilitation as genuine, it is impossible to ignore the tremendous injuries that you caused. For that reason, I believe that a carceral sentence is appropriate."


title: Allison Mack

text: Days before the sentencing, Mack released a statement saying that her involvement with NXIVM was "the biggest mistake and greatest regret of [her] life" and expressed remorse in regard to those affected. In addition to the letter, her attorneys asked for no jail time in consideration for Mack's remorse and her cooperation with Raniere's prosecution.


title: Allison Mack

text: On June 30, 2021, Judge Garaufis sentenced Mack to three years in prison and three years of probation, along with 1,000 hours of community service and pay a fine of $20,000. Mack reported to Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, in Dublin, California, on September 13, 2021, to begin serving her three-year sentence.


title: Allison Mack

text: In January 2020, Mack, Raniere, Clyne and other NXIVM individuals were named as defendants in a civil lawsuit filed in federal court by 80 former NXIVM members. The lawsuit details allegations of fraud and abuse and charges of being a pyramid scheme, exploitation of its recruits, conducting illegal human experiments, and making it "physically and psychologically difficult, and in some cases impossible, to leave the coercive community."


title: Allison Mack

text: In 2019, Catherine Oxenberg produced the Lifetime television film "" with actress Sara Fletcher as Mack.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: James Metcalfe Campbell Bower (born 22 November 1988) is an English actor and singer. He made his feature film debut in 2007 with a supporting role in "". He went on to feature in "The Twilight Saga", "", and as the young Gellert Grindelwald in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1" and "".


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: In the 2010s, Bower was part of the main casts of the fantasy series "Camelot" on Starz and "Will" on TNT. In 2022, Bower received critical acclaim for his performance as Henry Creel/One/Vecna in the fourth series of "Stranger Things". From 2015 to 2020, he was the frontman of the London-based band Counterfeit.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: Bower was born in London. His mother is a music manager and his father works for the Gibson Guitar Corporation. His maternal great-great-great-great-grandfather was Sir John Campbell, of Airds, Lieutenant Governor of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: He has had an inclination toward music and performance from a young age. He started playing the violin as a young child in which he was instructed with the Suzuki method. He attended Bedales School, a co-educational independent school in Hampshire, and is a former member of the National Youth Music Theatre and the National Youth Theatre.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: Bower began his professional career when his friend Laura Michelle Kelly recommended him to her agent. He was a part-time model with Select Model Management in London. In 2008, he played Rocker in the film "RocknRolla" and Jack in "Winter in Wartime". In 2009, he starred in the 2009 remake of the series "The Prisoner" as Number 11–12.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: Also in 2009, he played the vampire Caius Volturi in the film "" and both "Twilight: Breaking Dawn" films. He appeared as a young Gellert Grindelwald, the dark wizard defeated by Albus Dumbledore, in the 2010 film "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1"; he reprised the same role in the 2018 film "", becoming one of three actors to appear in both film franchises; the second being Toby Regbo, who played young Albus Dumbledore and the third being Robert Pattinson, who appears as Cedric Diggory in the fourth Harry Potter movie, The Goblet of Fire, and Edward Cullen in the Twilight films. He played King Arthur in the 2011 television series "Camelot". In 2010, he starred in the music video for "Young (Belane)" by The Xcerts.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: In 2012, Bower appeared in the music video for "Never Let Me Go" by Florence + The Machine. He played Jace Wayland in "", the 2013 film adaption of "The Mortal Instruments" series, by Cassandra Clare. In December 2013, he joined the cast of Burberry's Campaign Stars for spring/summer 2014.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: In June 2015, Bower began playing the role of Joe, in the West End musical "Bend It Like Beckham". In July 2017, he was on the TNT original series "Will". In January 2019, Bower was announced to star in the prelude series to "Game of Thrones", titled "Bloodmoon" (also known as "The Long Night"), but HBO announced it had decided to not pick the show up to series in October 2019. He starred in the 2020 film "Six Days of Sistine", distributed by Mbur Indie Film Distributor and co-starring Elarica Johnson. Since 2015, Bower has voiced Skiff in the "Thomas & Friends" franchise, having contributed to the television show, two home videos, and the feature film "Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure".


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: In 2022, Bower starred as Henry Creel / One / Vecna in season four of the Netflix series "Stranger Things". The role required up to eight hours a day to apply the makeup for Vecna. His performance in the series garnered critical acclaim.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: Bower was the frontman and singer for the band Counterfeit, which released its first album in March 2017, and had a US tour in the same year. In November 2020, Bower announced the band's split through their Instagram page. He released music as a solo artist shortly after.


title: Jamie Campbell Bower

text: In February 2010, Bower was confirmed to be dating actress Bonnie Wright, whom he had met on the set of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1". In April 2011, they confirmed their engagement. On 30 June 2012, they amicably ended their engagement. From 2013 to 2018, Bower was in a on-again, off-again relationship with actress Lily Collins. In July 2022, he shared that he had been sober for 7 and a 1/2 years.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves. Taking inspiration from such silent film personalities as Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp, Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity. The character’s status as a small mouse was personified through his diminutive stature and falsetto voice, the latter of which was originally provided by Disney. Mickey is one of the world's most recognizable and universally acclaimed fictional characters of all time.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Created as a replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Mickey first appeared in the short "Plane Crazy", debuting publicly in the short film "Steamboat Willie" (1928), one of the first sound cartoons. The character was originally to be named “Mortimer Mouse”, until Lillian Disney instead suggested “Mickey” during a train ride. The character went on to appear in over 130 films, including "The Band Concert" (1935), "Brave Little Tailor" (1938), and "Fantasia" (1940). Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickey's cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, "Lend a Paw", won the award in 1941. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Beginning in 1930, Mickey has also been featured extensively in comic strips and comic books. The "Mickey Mouse" comic strip, drawn primarily by Floyd Gottfredson, ran for 45 years. Mickey has also appeared in comic books such as "Mickey Mouse", Disney Italy's "Topolino" and "MM – Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine", and "Wizards of Mickey". Mickey also features in television series such as "The Mickey Mouse Club" (1955–1996) and others. He appears in other media such as video games as well as merchandising and is a meetable character at the Disney parks.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey generally appears alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck and Goofy, and his nemesis Pete, among others (see Mickey Mouse universe). Though originally characterized as a cheeky lovable rogue, Mickey was rebranded over time as a nice guy, usually seen as an honest and bodacious hero. In 2009, Disney began to rebrand the character again by putting less emphasis on his friendly, well-meaning persona and reintroducing the more adventurous and stubborn sides of his personality, beginning with the video game "Epic Mickey".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character that was created by the Disney studio but owned by Universal Pictures. Charles Mintz served as a middleman producer between Disney and Universal through his company, Winkler Pictures, for the series of cartoons starring Oswald. Ongoing conflicts between Disney and Mintz and the revelation that several animators from the Disney studio would eventually leave to work for Mintz's company ultimately resulted in Disney cutting ties with Oswald. Among the few people who stayed at the Disney studio were animator Ub Iwerks, apprentice artist Les Clark, and Wilfred Jackson. On his train ride home from New York, Walt brainstormed ideas for a new cartoon character.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey Mouse was conceived in secret while Disney produced the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz. Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected. (They would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.) A male frog was also rejected, which later showed up in Iwerks' own "Flip the Frog" series. Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from a tame mouse at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney. "Mortimer Mouse" had been Disney's original name for the character before his wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it, and ultimately Mickey Mouse came to be. The actor Mickey Rooney claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him. This claim, however, has been debunked by Disney historian Jim Korkis, since at the time of Mickey Mouse's development, Disney Studios had been located on Hyperion Avenue for several years, and Walt Disney never kept an office or other working space at Warner Brothers, having no professional relationship with Warner Brothers. Over the years, the name "Mortimer Mouse" was eventually given to several different characters in the Mickey Mouse universe : Minnie Mouse's uncle, who appears in several comics stories, one of Mickey's antagonists who competes for Minnie's affections in various cartoons and comics, and one of Mickey's nephews, named Morty.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short "Plane Crazy", on May 15, 1928, but it failed to impress the audience and Walt could not find a distributor for the short. Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short, "The Gallopin' Gaucho", which was also not released for lack of a distributor.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: "Steamboat Willie" was first released on November 18, 1928, in New York. It was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator, assisted by Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy. This short was intended as a parody of Buster Keaton's "Steamboat Bill, Jr.", first released on May 12 of the same year. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut. "Willie" featured changes to Mickey's appearance (in particular, simplifying his eyes to large dots) that established his look for later cartoons and in numerous Walt Disney films.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: The cartoon was not the first cartoon to feature a soundtrack connected to the action. Fleischer Studios, headed by brothers Dave and Max Fleischer, had already released a number of sound cartoons using the DeForest system in the mid-1920s. However, these cartoons did not keep the sound synchronized throughout the film. For "Willie", Disney had the sound recorded with a click track that kept the musicians on the beat. This precise timing is apparent during the "Turkey in the Straw" sequence when Mickey's actions exactly match the accompanying instruments. Animation historians have long debated who had served as the composer for the film's original music. This role has been variously attributed to Wilfred Jackson, Carl Stalling and Bert Lewis, but identification remains uncertain. Walt Disney himself was voice actor for both Mickey and Minnie and would remain the source of Mickey's voice through 1946 for theatrical cartoons. Jimmy MacDonald took over the role in 1946, but Walt provided Mickey's voice again from 1955 to 1959 for "The Mickey Mouse Club" television series on ABC.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Audiences at the time of "Steamboat Willie"s release were reportedly impressed by the use of sound for comedic purposes. Sound films or "talkies" were still considered innovative. The first feature-length movie with dialogue sequences, "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson, was released on October 6, 1927. Within a year of its success, most United States movie theaters had installed sound film equipment. Walt Disney apparently intended to take advantage of this new trend and, arguably, managed to succeed. Most other cartoon studios were still producing silent products and so were unable to effectively act as competition to Disney. As a result, Mickey would soon become the most prominent animated character of the time. Walt Disney soon worked on adding sound to both "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho" (which had originally been silent releases) and their new release added to Mickey's success and popularity. A fourth Mickey short, "The Barn Dance", was also put into production; however, Mickey does not actually speak until "The Karnival Kid" in 1929 (see below). After "Steamboat Willie" was released, Mickey became a close competitor to Felix the Cat, and his popularity would grow as he was continuously featured in sound cartoons. By 1929, Felix would lose popularity among theater audiences, and Pat Sullivan decided to produce all future Felix cartoons in sound as a result. Unfortunately, audiences did not respond well to Felix's transition to sound and by 1930, Felix had faded from the screen.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In Mickey's early films he was often characterized not as a hero, but as an ineffective young suitor to Minnie Mouse. "The Barn Dance" (March 14, 1929) is the first time in which Mickey is turned down by Minnie in favor of Pete. "The Opry House" (March 28, 1929) was the first time in which Mickey wore his white gloves. Mickey wears them in almost all of his subsequent appearances and many other characters followed suit. The three lines on the back of Mickey's gloves represent darts in the gloves' fabric extending from between the digits of the hand, typical of glove design of the era.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: "When the Cat's Away" (April 18, 1929), essentially a remake of the "Alice Comedy", "Alice Rattled by Rats", was an unusual appearance for Mickey. Although Mickey and Minnie still maintained their anthropomorphic characteristics, they were depicted as the size of regular mice and living with a community of many other mice as pests in a home. Mickey and Minnie would later appear the size of regular humans in their own setting. In appearances with real humans, Mickey has been shown to be about two to three feet high. The next Mickey short was also unusual. "The Barnyard Battle" (April 25, 1929) was the only film to depict Mickey as a soldier and also the first to place him in combat. "The Karnival Kid" (1929) was the first time Mickey spoke. Before this he had only whistled, laughed, and grunted. His first words were "Hot dogs! Hot dogs!" said while trying to sell hot dogs at a carnival. "Mickey's Follies" (1929) introduced the song "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo" which would become the theme song for "Mickey Mouse" films for the next several years. The same song sequence was also later reused with different background animation as its own special short shown only at the commencement of 1930s theater-based Mickey Mouse Clubs. Mickey's dog Pluto first appeared as Mickey's pet in "The Moose Hunt" (1931) after previously appearing as Minnie's dog "Rover" in "The Picnic" (1930).


title: Mickey Mouse

text: "The Cactus Kid" (April 11, 1930) was the last film to be animated by Ub Iwerks at Disney. Shortly before the release of the film, Iwerks left to start his own studio, bankrolled by Disney's then-distributor Pat Powers. Powers and Disney had a falling out over money due Disney from the distribution deal. It was in response to losing the right to distribute Disney's cartoons that Powers made the deal with Iwerks, who had long harbored a desire to head his own studio. The departure is considered a turning point in Mickey's career, as well as that of Walt Disney. Walt lost the man who served as his closest colleague and confidant since 1919. Mickey lost the man responsible for his original design and for the direction or animation of several of the shorts released till this point. Advertising for the early Mickey Mouse cartoons credited them as "A Walt Disney Comic, drawn by Ub Iwerks". Later Disney Company reissues of the early cartoons tend to credit Walt Disney alone.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Disney and his remaining staff continued the production of the Mickey series, and he was able to eventually find a number of animators to replace Iwerks. As the Great Depression progressed and Felix the Cat faded from the movie screen, Mickey's popularity would rise, and by 1932 The Mickey Mouse Club would have one million members. At the 5th Academy Awards in 1932, Mickey received his first Academy Award nomination, received for "Mickey's Orphans" (1931). Walt Disney also received an honorary Academy Award for the creation of Mickey Mouse. Despite being eclipsed by the "Silly Symphony" short the "Three Little Pigs" in 1933, Mickey still maintained great popularity among theater audiences too, until 1935, when polls showed that Popeye was more popular than Mickey. By 1934, Mickey merchandise had earned $600,000 a year. In 1935, Disney began to phase out the Mickey Mouse Clubs, due to administration problems.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: About this time, story artists at Disney were finding it increasingly difficult to write material for Mickey. As he had developed into a role model for children, they were limited in the types of gags they could present. This led to Mickey taking more of a secondary role in some of his next films, allowing for more emphasis on other characters. In "Orphan's Benefit" (1934), Mickey first appeared with Donald Duck who had been introduced earlier that year in the "Silly Symphony" series. The tempestuous duck would provide Disney with seemingly endless story ideas and would remain a recurring character in Mickey's cartoons.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey first appeared animated in color in "Parade of the Award Nominees" in 1932; however, the film strip was created for the 5th Academy Awards ceremony and was not released to the public. Mickey's official first color film came in 1935 with "The Band Concert". The Technicolor film process was used in the film production. Here Mickey conducted the "William Tell Overture", but the band is swept up by a tornado. It is said that conductor Arturo Toscanini so loved this short that, upon first seeing it, he asked the projectionist to run it again. In 1994, "The Band Concert" was voted the third-greatest cartoon of all time in a poll of animation professionals. By colorizing and partially redesigning Mickey, Walt would put Mickey back on top once again, and Mickey would reach popularity he never reached before as audiences now gave him more appeal. Also in 1935, Walt would receive a special award from the League of Nations for creating Mickey.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: However, by 1938, the more manic Donald Duck would surpass the passive Mickey, resulting in a redesign of the mouse between 1938 and 1940 that put Mickey at the peak of his popularity. The second half of the 1930s saw the character Goofy reintroduced as a series regular. Together, Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy would go on several adventures together. Several of the films by the comic trio are some of Mickey's most critically acclaimed films, including "Mickey's Fire Brigade" (1935), "Moose Hunters" (1937), "Clock Cleaners" (1937), "Lonesome Ghosts" (1937), "Boat Builders" (1938), and "Mickey's Trailer" (1938). Also during this era, Mickey would star in "Brave Little Tailor" (1938), an adaptation of "The Valiant Little Tailor", which was nominated for an Academy Award.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey was redesigned by animator Fred Moore which was first seen in "The Pointer" (1939). Instead of having solid black eyes, Mickey was given white eyes with pupils, a Caucasian skin colored face, and a pear-shaped body. In the 1940s, he changed once more in "The Little Whirlwind", where he used his trademark pants for the last time in decades, lost his tail, got more realistic ears that changed with perspective and a different body anatomy. But this change would only last for a short period of time before returning to the one in ""The Pointer"", with the exception of his pants. In his final theatrical cartoons in the 1950s, he was given eyebrows, which were removed in the more recent cartoons.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1940, Mickey appeared in his first feature-length film, "Fantasia". His screen role as The Sorcerer's Apprentice, set to the symphonic poem of the same name by Paul Dukas, is perhaps the most famous segment of the film and one of Mickey's most iconic roles. The apprentice (Mickey), not willing to do his chores, puts on the sorcerer's magic hat after the sorcerer goes to bed and casts a spell on a broom, which causes the broom to come to life and perform the most tiring chore—filling up a deep well using two buckets of water. When the well eventually overflows, Mickey finds himself unable to control the broom, leading to a near-flood. After the segment ends, Mickey is seen in silhouette shaking hands with Leopold Stokowski, who conducts all the music heard in "Fantasia". Mickey has often been pictured in the red robe and blue sorcerer's hat in merchandising. It was also featured into the climax of Fantasmic!, an attraction at the Disney theme parks.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: After 1940, Mickey's popularity would decline until his 1955 re-emergence as a daily children's television personality. Despite this, the character continued to appear regularly in animated shorts until 1943 (winning his only competitive Academy Award—with canine companion Pluto—for a short subject, "Lend a Paw") and again from 1946 to 1952. In these later cartoons, Mickey was often just a supporting character in his own shorts, where Pluto would be the main character.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: The last regular installment of the "Mickey Mouse" film series came in 1953 with "The Simple Things" in which Mickey and Pluto go fishing and are pestered by a flock of seagulls.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In the 1950s, Mickey became more known for his appearances on television, particularly with "The Mickey Mouse Club". Many of his theatrical cartoon shorts were rereleased on television series such as "Ink & Paint Club", various forms of the Walt Disney anthology television series, and on home video. Mickey returned to theatrical animation in 1983 with "Mickey's Christmas Carol", an adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" in which Mickey played Bob Cratchit. This was followed up in 1990 with "The Prince and the Pauper".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Throughout the decades, Mickey Mouse competed with Warner Bros.' Bugs Bunny for animated popularity. But in 1988, the two rivals finally shared screen time in the Robert Zemeckis Disney/Amblin film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Disney and Warner signed an agreement stating that each character had the same amount of screen time in the scene.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Similar to his animated inclusion into a live-action film in "Roger Rabbit", Mickey made a featured cameo appearance in the 1990 television special "The Muppets at Walt Disney World" where he met Kermit the Frog. The two are established in the story as having been old friends, although they have not made any other appearance together outside of this.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: His most recent theatrical cartoon short was 2013's "Get a Horse!" which was preceded by 1995's "Runaway Brain", while from 1999 to 2004, he appeared in direct-to-video features like "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas", "" and the computer-animated "Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Many television series have centered on Mickey, such as the ABC shows "Mickey Mouse Works" (1999–2000), "Disney's House of Mouse" (2001–2003), Disney Channel's "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (2006–2016), "Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures" (2017–2021) and "Mickey Mouse Funhouse" (2021–). Prior to all these, Mickey was also featured as an unseen character in the "Bonkers" episode "You Oughta Be In Toons".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 2013, Disney Channel started airing new 3-minute "Mickey Mouse" shorts, with animator Paul Rudish at the helm, incorporating elements of Mickey's late twenties-early thirties look with a contemporary twist. The creative team behind the 2017 "DuckTales" reboot had hoped to have Mickey Mouse in the series, but this idea was rejected by Disney executives. However, this did not stop them from including a watermelon shaped like Mickey Mouse that Donald Duck made and used like a ventriloquist dummy (to the point where he had perfectly replicated his voice (supplied by Chris Diamantopoulos)) while he was stranded on a deserted island during the season two finale. On November 10, 2020, the series was revived as "The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse" and premiered on Disney+


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In August 2018, ABC television announced a two-hour prime time special, "Mickey's 90th Spectacular", in honor of Mickey's 90th birthday. The program featured never-before-seen short videos and several other celebrities who wanted to share their memories about Mickey Mouse and performed some of the Disney songs to impress Mickey. The show took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and was produced and directed by Don Mischer on November 4, 2018. On November 18, 2018, a 90th anniversary event for the character was celebrated around the world. In December 2019, both Mickey and Minnie served as special co-hosts of "Wheel of Fortune" for two weeks while Vanna White served as the main host during Pat Sajak's absence.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey is the subject of the 2022 documentary film "", directed by Jeff Malmberg. Debuting at the South by Southwest film festival prior to its premiere on the Disney+ streaming service, the documentary examines the history and cultural impact of Mickey Mouse across. The feature is accompanied by an original, hand-drawn animated short film starring Mickey titled "Mickey in a Minute".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey first appeared in comics after he had appeared in 15 commercially successful animated shorts and was easily recognized by the public. Walt Disney was approached by King Features Syndicate with the offer to license Mickey and his supporting characters for use in a comic strip. Disney accepted and "Mickey Mouse" made its first appearance on January 13, 1930. The comical plot was credited to Disney himself, art to Ub Iwerks and inking to Win Smith. The first week or so of the strip featured a loose adaptation of ""Plane Crazy"". Minnie soon became the first addition to the cast. The strips first released between January 13, 1930, and March 31, 1930, has been occasionally reprinted in comic book form under the collective title ""Lost on a Desert Island"". Animation historian Jim Korkis notes "After the eighteenth strip, Iwerks left and his inker, Win Smith, continued drawing the gag-a-day format."


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In early 1930, after Iwerks' departure, Disney was at first content to continue scripting the Mickey Mouse comic strip, assigning the art to Win Smith. However, Disney's focus had always been in animation and Smith was soon assigned with the scripting as well. Smith was apparently discontent at the prospect of having to script, draw, and ink a series by himself as evidenced by his sudden resignation.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Disney then searched for a replacement among the remaining staff of the Studio. He selected Floyd Gottfredson, a recently hired employee. At the time Gottfredson was reportedly eager to work in animation and somewhat reluctant to accept his new assignment. Disney had to assure him the assignment was only temporary and that he would eventually return to animation. Gottfredson accepted and ended up holding this "temporary" assignment from May 5, 1930, to November 15, 1975.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Walt Disney's last script for the strip appeared May 17, 1930. Gottfredson's first task was to finish the storyline Disney had started on April 1, 1930. The storyline was completed on September 20, 1930, and later reprinted in comic book form as "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley". This early adventure expanded the cast of the strip which to this point only included Mickey and Minnie. Among the characters who had their first comic strip appearances in this story were Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, and Black Pete as well as the debuts of corrupted lawyer Sylvester Shyster and Minnie's uncle Mortimer Mouse. The Death Valley narrative was followed by "Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers", first printed between September 22 and December 26, 1930, which introduced Marcus Mouse and his wife as Minnie's parents.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Starting with these two early comic strip stories, Mickey's versions in animation and comics are considered to have diverged from each other. While Disney and his cartoon shorts would continue to focus on comedy, the comic strip effectively combined comedy and adventure. This adventurous version of Mickey would continue to appear in comic strips and later comic books throughout the 20th and into the 21st century.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Floyd Gottfredson left his mark with stories such as "Mickey Mouse Joins the Foreign Legion" (1936) and "The Gleam" (1942). He also created the Phantom Blot, Eega Beeva, Morty and Ferdie, Captain Churchmouse, and Butch. Besides Gottfredson artists for the strip over the years included Roman Arambula, Rick Hoover, Manuel Gonzales, Carson Van Osten, Jim Engel, Bill Wright, Ted Thwailes and Daan Jippes; writers included Ted Osborne, Merrill De Maris, Bill Walsh, Dick Shaw, Roy Williams, Del Connell, and Floyd Norman.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: The next artist to leave his mark on the character was Paul Murry in Dell Comics. His first Mickey tale appeared in 1950 but Mickey did not become a specialty until Murry's first serial for "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" in 1953 ("The Last Resort"). In the same period, Romano Scarpa in Italy for the magazine "Topolino" began to revitalize Mickey in stories that brought back the Phantom Blot and Eega Beeva along with new creations such as the Atomo Bleep-Bleep. While the stories at Western Publishing during the Silver Age emphasized Mickey as a detective in the style of Sherlock Holmes, in the modern era several editors and creators have consciously undertaken to depict a more vigorous Mickey in the mold of the classic Gottfredson adventures. This renaissance has been spearheaded by Byron Erickson, David Gerstein, Noel Van Horn, Michael T. Gilbert and César Ferioli.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In Europe, Mickey Mouse became the main attraction of a number of comics magazines, the most famous being "Topolino" in Italy from 1932 onward, "Le Journal de Mickey" in France from 1934 onward, "Don Miki" in Spain and the Greek "Miky Maous".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey was the main character for the series" MM Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine", published in Italy from 1999 to 2001.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1958, Mickey Mouse was introduced to the Arab world through another comic book called “Sameer”. He became very popular in Egypt and got a comic book with his name. Mickey's comics in Egypt are licensed by Disney and were published since 1959 by “Dar Al-Hilal” and they were successful, however Dar Al-Hilal stopped the publication in 2003 because of problems with Disney. The comics were re-released by "Nahdat Masr" in 2004 and the first issues were sold out in less than 8 hours.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Throughout the earlier years, Mickey's design bore heavy resemblance to Oswald, save for the ears, nose, and tail. Ub Iwerks designed Mickey's body out of circles in order to make the character simple to animate. Disney employees John Hench and Marc Davis believed that this design was part of Mickey's success as it made him more dynamic and appealing to audiences.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey's circular design is most noticeable in his ears. In animation in the 1940s, Mickey's ears were animated in a more realistic perspective. Later, they were drawn to always appear circular no matter which way Mickey was facing. This made Mickey easily recognizable to audiences and made his ears an unofficial personal trademark. The circular rule later created a dilemma for toy creators who had to recreate a three-dimensional Mickey.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1938, animator Fred Moore redesigned Mickey's body away from its circular design to a pear-shaped design. Colleague Ward Kimball praised Moore for being the first animator to break from Mickey's "rubber hose, round circle" design. Although Moore himself was nervous at first about changing Mickey, Walt Disney liked the new design and told Moore "that's the way I want Mickey to be drawn from now on."


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Each of Mickey's hands has only three fingers and a thumb. Disney said that this was both an artistic and financial decision, explaining, "Artistically five digits are too many for a mouse. His hand would look like a bunch of bananas. Financially, not having an extra finger in each of 45,000 drawings that make up a six and one-half minute short has saved the Studio millions." In the film "The Opry House" (1929), Mickey was first given white gloves as a way of contrasting his naturally black hands against his black body. The use of white gloves would prove to be an influential design for cartoon characters, particularly with later Disney characters, but also with non-Disney characters such as Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Mighty Mouse, Mario, and Sonic The Hedgehog.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey's eyes, as drawn in "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho", were large and white with black outlines. In "Steamboat Willie," the bottom portion of the black outlines was removed, although the upper edges still contrasted with his head. Mickey's eyes were later re-imagined as only consisting of the small black dots which were originally his pupils, while what were the upper edges of his eyes became a hairline. This is evident only when Mickey blinks. Fred Moore later redesigned the eyes to be small white eyes with pupils and gave his face a Caucasian skin tone instead of plain white. This new Mickey first appeared in 1938 on the cover of a party program, and in animation the following year with the release of "The Pointer". Mickey is sometimes given eyebrows as seen in "The Simple Things" (1953) and in the comic strip, although he does not have eyebrows in his subsequent appearances.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Originally characters had black hands, but Frank Thomas said this was changed for visibility reasons. According to Disney's , written by former Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, "The characters were in black and white with no shades of grey to soften the contrast or delineate a form. Mickey's body was black, his arms and his hands- all black. There was no way to stage an action except in silhouette. How else could there be any clarity? A hand in front of a chest would simply disappear."


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Multiple sources state that Mickey's characteristics, particularly the black body combined with the large white eyes, white mouth, and the white gloves, evolved from blackface caricatures used in minstrel shows.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Besides Mickey's gloves and shoes, he typically wears only a pair of shorts with two large buttons in the front. Before Mickey was seen regularly in color animation, Mickey's shorts were either red or a dull blue-green. With the advent of Mickey's color films, the shorts were always red. When Mickey is not wearing his red shorts, he is often still wearing red clothing such as a red bandmaster coat ("The Band Concert", "The Mickey Mouse Club"), red overalls ("Clock Cleaners", "Boat Builders"), a red cloak ("Fantasia", "Fun and Fancy Free"), a red coat ("Squatter's Rights", "Mickey's Christmas Carol"), or a red shirt ("Mickey Down Under", "The Simple Things").


title: Mickey Mouse

text: A large part of Mickey's screen persona is his famously shy, falsetto voice. From 1928 onward, Mickey was voiced by Walt Disney himself, a task in which Disney took great personal pride. Composer Carl W. Stalling was the first person to provide lines for Mickey in the 1929 shorts "The Karnival Kid" and "Wild Waves", and J. Donald Wilson and Joe Twerp provided the voice in some 1938 broadcasts of "The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air", although Disney remained Mickey's official voice during this period. However, by 1946, Disney was becoming too busy with running the studio to do regular voice work which meant he could not do Mickey's voice on a regular basis anymore. It is also speculated that his cigarette habit had damaged his voice over the years. After recording the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" section of "Fun and Fancy Free", Mickey's voice was handed over to veteran Disney musician and actor Jimmy MacDonald. Walt would reprise Mickey's voice occasionally until his passing in 1966, such as in the introductions to the original 1955–1959 run of "The Mickey Mouse Club" TV series, the "Fourth Anniversary Show" episode of the Walt Disney's Disneyland TV series that aired on September 11, 1957, and the "Disneyland USA at Radio City Music Hall" show from 1962.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: MacDonald voiced Mickey in most of the remaining theatrical shorts and for various television and publicity projects up until his retirement in 1976. However, other actors would occasionally play the role during this era. Clarence Nash, the voice of Donald Duck, provided the voice in three of Mickey's theatrical shorts, "The Dognapper", "R'coon Dawg", and "Pluto's Party". Stan Freberg voiced Mickey in the Freberg-produced record "Mickey Mouse's Birthday Party".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Alan Young voiced Mickey in the Disneyland record album "An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players" in 1974.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: The 1983 short film "Mickey's Christmas Carol" marked the theatrical debut of Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse, who was the official voice of Mickey from 1977 until his death in 2009, although MacDonald returned to voice Mickey for an appearance at the 50th Academy Awards in 1978. Allwine once recounted something MacDonald had told him about voicing Mickey: "The main piece of advice that Jim gave me about Mickey helped me keep things in perspective. He said, 'Just remember kid, you're only filling in for the boss.' And that's the way he treated doing Mickey for years and years. From Walt, and now from Jimmy." In 1991, Allwine married Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 until her death in 2019.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Les Perkins did the voice of Mickey in two TV specials, "Down and Out with Donald Duck" and "DTV Valentine", in the mid-1980s. Peter Renaday voiced Mickey in the 1980s Disney albums "Yankee Doodle Mickey" and "Mickey Mouse Splashdance". He also provided his voice for "The Talking Mickey Mouse" toy in 1986. Quinton Flynn briefly filled in for Allwine as the voice of Mickey in a few episodes of the first season of "Mickey Mouse Works" whenever Allwine was unavailable to record.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Bret Iwan, a former Hallmark greeting card artist, is one of the current voices of Mickey. Iwan was originally cast as an understudy for Allwine due to the latter's declining health, but Allwine died before Iwan could get a chance to meet him and Iwan became the new official voice of the character at the time. Iwan's early recordings in 2009 included work for the Disney Cruise Line, Mickey toys, the Disney theme parks and the Disney on Ice: Celebrations! ice show. He directly replaced Allwine as Mickey for the "Kingdom Hearts" video game series and the TV series "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". His first video game voice-over of Mickey Mouse can be heard in "". Iwan also became the first voice actor to portray Mickey during Disney's rebranding of the character, providing the vocal effects of Mickey in "Epic Mickey" as well as his voice in "" and the remake of "Castle of Illusion".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Chris Diamantopoulos is the first voice of Mickey Mouse to be nominated for two Emmy Awards and two Annie Awards, in the award-winning Mickey Mouse 2013 animated series developed by Paul Rudish, and the 2017 "DuckTales" reboot (in the form of a watermelon that Donald uses as a ventriloquist dummy), as the producers were looking for a voice closer to Walt Disney's portrayal of the character in order to match the vintage look of that series.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Diamantopoulos also speaks and sings for Mickey Mouse in the Walt Disney World attraction Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. Songs featuring Diamantopoulos as Mickey Mouse from that attraction, as well as soundtrack songs from the recent Disney+ series "The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse" streaming on various platforms.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Since his early years, Mickey Mouse has been licensed by Disney to appear on many different kinds of merchandise. Mickey was produced as plush toys and figurines, and Mickey's image has graced almost everything from T-shirts to lunchboxes. Largely responsible for early Disney merchandising was Kay Kamen, Disney's head of merchandise and licensing from 1932 until his death in 1949, who was called a "stickler for quality." Kamen was recognized by The Walt Disney Company as having a significant part in Mickey's rise to stardom and was named a Disney Legend in 1998. At the time of his 80th-anniversary celebration in 2008, "Time" declared Mickey Mouse one of the world's most recognized characters, even when compared against Santa Claus. Disney officials have stated that 98% of children aged 3–11 around the world are at least aware of the character.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: As the official Walt Disney mascot, Mickey has played a central role in the Disney parks since the opening of Disneyland in 1955. As with other characters, Mickey is often portrayed by a non-speaking costumed actor. In this form, he has participated in ceremonies and countless parades, and poses for photographs with guests. As of the presidency of Barack Obama (who jokingly referred to him as "a world leader who has bigger ears than me") Mickey has met every U.S. president since Harry Truman, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey also features in several specific attractions at the Disney parks. Mickey's Toontown (Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland) is a themed land which is a recreation of Mickey's neighborhood. Buildings are built in a cartoon style and guests can visit Mickey or Minnie's houses, Donald Duck's boat, or Goofy's garage. This is a common place to meet the characters.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey's PhilharMagic (Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland) is a 4D film which features Mickey in the familiar role of symphony conductor. At Main Street Cinema several of Mickey's short films are shown on a rotating basis; the sixth film is always "Steamboat Willie". Mickey plays a central role in "Fantasmic!" (Disneyland Resort, Disney's Hollywood Studios) a live nighttime show which famously features Mickey in his role as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Mickey was also a central character in the now-defunct Mickey Mouse Revue (Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland) which was an indoor show featuring animatronic characters. Mickey's face formerly graced the Mickey's Fun Wheel (now Pixar Pal-A-Round) at Disney California Adventure Park, where a figure of him also stands on top of Silly Symphony Swings.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway at Disney's Hollywood Studios is a trackless dark ride themed to Mickey Mouse.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In addition to Mickey's overt presence in the parks, numerous images of him are also subtly included in sometimes unexpected places. This phenomenon is known as "Hidden Mickeys", involving hidden images in Disney films, theme parks, and merchandise.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Like many popular characters, Mickey has starred in many video games, including "Mickey Mousecapade" on the Nintendo Entertainment System, "", "Mickey's Ultimate Challenge", and "Disney's Magical Quest" on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, "Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse" on the Mega Drive/Genesis, "" on the Game Boy, and many others. In the 2000s, the "Disney's Magical Quest" series were ported to the Game Boy Advance, while Mickey made his sixth generation era debut in "Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse", a Nintendo GameCube title aimed at younger audiences. Mickey plays a major role in the "Kingdom Hearts" series, as the king of Disney Castle and aided to the protagonist, Sora and his friends. King Mickey wields the Keyblade, a weapon in the form of a key that has the power to open any lock and combat darkness. "Epic Mickey", featuring a darker version of the Disney universe, was released in 2010 for the Wii. The game is part of an effort by The Walt Disney Company to re-brand the Mickey Mouse character by moving away from his current squeaky clean image and reintroducing the mischievous side of his personality.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey was most famously featured on wristwatches and alarm clocks, typically utilizing his hands as the actual hands on the face of the clock. The first Mickey Mouse watches were manufactured in 1933 by the Ingersoll Watch Company. The seconds were indicated by a turning disk below Mickey. The first Mickey watch was sold at the Century of Progress in Chicago, 1933 for $3.75 (). Mickey Mouse watches have been sold by other companies and designers throughout the years, including Timex, Elgin, Helbros, Bradley, Lorus, and Gérald Genta. The fictional character Robert Langdon from Dan Brown's novels was said to wear a Mickey Mouse watch as a reminder "to stay young at heart."


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1989, Milton Bradley released the electronic talking game titled "Mickey Says", with three modes featuring Mickey Mouse as its host. Mickey also appeared in other toys and games, including the Worlds of Wonder released "The Talking Mickey Mouse".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Fisher-Price has produced a line of talking animatronic Mickey dolls including "Dance Star Mickey" (2010) and "Rock Star Mickey" (2011).


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In total, approximately 40% of Disney's revenues for consumer products are derived from Mickey Mouse merchandise, with revenues peaking in 1997.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In the United States, protest votes are often made in order to indicate dissatisfaction with the slate of candidates presented on a particular ballot or to highlight the inadequacies of a particular voting procedure. Since most states' electoral systems do not provide for blank balloting or a choice of "None of the Above", most protest votes take the form of a clearly non-serious candidate's name entered as a write-in vote. Mickey Mouse is often selected for this purpose. As an election supervisor in Georgia observed, "If Mickey Mouse doesn’t get votes in our election, it’s a bad election." The earliest known mention of Mickey Mouse as a write-in candidate dates back to the 1932 New York City mayoral elections.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey Mouse's name has also been known to appear fraudulently on voter registration lists, such as in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: "Mickey Mouse" is a slang expression meaning small-time, amateurish or trivial. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it also means poor quality or counterfeit. In Poland the phrase "mały Miki", which translates to "small Mickey", means something very simple and trivial - usually used in the comparison between two things. However, in parts of Australia it can mean excellent or very good (rhyming slang for "grouse"). Examples of the negative usages include the following:


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey Mouse's global fame has made him both a symbol of The Walt Disney Company and of the United States itself. For this reason, Mickey has been used frequently in anti-American satire, such as the infamous underground cartoon ""Mickey Mouse in Vietnam"" (1969). There have been numerous parodies of Mickey Mouse, such as the two-page parody ""Mickey Rodent"" by Will Elder (published in "Mad" #19, 1955) in which the mouse walks around unshaven and jails Donald Duck out of jealousy over the duck's larger popularity. The grotesque Rat Fink character was created by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth over his hatred of Mickey Mouse. In "The Simpsons Movie", Bart Simpson puts a black bra on his head to mimic Mickey Mouse and says: "I'm the mascot of an evil corporation!" "The Simpsons" would later become Disney property as its distributor Fox was acquired by Disney. On the Comedy Central series "South Park", Mickey is depicted as the sadistic, greedy, foul-mouthed boss of The Walt Disney Company, only interested in money. He also appears briefly with Donald Duck in the comic "Squeak the Mouse" by the Italian cartoonist Massimo Mattioli. Horst Rosenthal created a comic book, "Mickey au Camp de Gurs" ("Mickey Mouse in the Gurs Internment Camp") while detained in the Gurs internment camp during the Second World War; he added "Publié Sans Autorisation de Walt Disney" ("Published without Walt Disney's Permission") to the front cover.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In the fifth episode of the Japanese anime, "Pop Team Epic", Popuko, one of the main characters, attempts an impression of Mickey, but does so poorly.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Like all major Disney characters, Mickey Mouse is not only copyrighted but also trademarked, which lasts in perpetuity as long as it continues to be used commercially by its owner. So, whether or not a particular Disney cartoon goes into the public domain, the characters themselves may not be used as trademarks without authorization.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Because of the Copyright Term Extension Act of the United States (sometimes called the 'Mickey Mouse Protection Act' because of extensive lobbying by the Disney corporation) and similar legislation within the European Union and other jurisdictions where copyright terms have been extended, works such as the early Mickey Mouse cartoons will remain under copyright until at least 2024. However, some copyright scholars argue that Disney's copyright on the earliest version of the character may be invalid due to ambiguity in the copyright notice for "Steamboat Willie".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: The Walt Disney Company has become well known for protecting its trademark on the Mickey Mouse character—whose likeness is closely associated with the company—with particular zeal. In 1989, Disney threatened legal action against three daycare centers in the Orlando, Florida region (where Walt Disney World is a dominant employer) for having Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters painted on their walls. The characters were removed, and the newly opened rival Universal Studios Florida allowed the centers to use their own cartoon characters with their blessing, to build community goodwill.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1971, a group of underground cartoonists calling themselves the Air Pirates, after a group of villains from early Mickey Mouse films, produced a comic called "Air Pirates Funnies". In the first issue, cartoonist Dan O'Neill depicted Mickey and Minnie Mouse engaging in explicit sexual behavior and consuming drugs. As O'Neill explained, "The air pirates were...some sort of bizarre concept to steal the air, pirate the air, steal the media...Since we were cartoonists, the logical thing was Disney." Rather than change the appearance or name of the character, which O'Neill felt would dilute the parody, the mouse depicted in "Air Pirates Funnies" looks like and is named "Mickey Mouse". Disney sued for copyright infringement, and after a series of appeals, O'Neill eventually lost and was ordered to pay Disney $1.9 million. The outcome of the case remains controversial among free-speech advocates. New York Law School professor Edward Samuels said, "The Air Pirates set parody back twenty years."


title: Mickey Mouse

text: There have been multiple attempts to argue that certain versions of Mickey Mouse are in fact in the public domain. In the 1980s, archivist George S. Brown attempted to recreate and sell cels from the 1933 short "The Mad Doctor", on the theory that they were in the public domain because Disney had failed to renew the copyright as required by current law. However, Disney successfully sued Brown to prevent such sale, arguing that the lapse in copyright for "The Mad Doctor" did not put Mickey Mouse in the public domain because of the copyright in the earlier films. Brown attempted to appeal, noting imperfections in the earlier copyright claims, but the court dismissed his argument as untimely.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1999, Lauren Vanpelt, a law student at Arizona State University, wrote a paper making a similar argument. Vanpelt points out that copyright law at the time required a copyright notice specify the year of the copyright and the copyright owner's name. The title cards to early Mickey Mouse films "Steamboat Willie", "Plane Crazy", and "Gallopin' Gaucho" do not clearly identify the copyright owner, and also misidentify the copyright year. However, Vanpelt notes that copyright cards in other early films may have been done correctly, which could make Mickey Mouse "protected as a component part of the larger copyrighted films".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: A 2003 article by Douglas A. Hedenkamp in the "Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal" analyzed Vanpelt's arguments, and concluded that she is likely correct. Hedenkamp provided additional arguments, and identified some errors in Vanpelt's paper, but still found that due to imperfections in the copyright notice on the title cards, Walt Disney forfeited his copyright in Mickey Mouse. He concluded: "The forfeiture occurred at the moment of publication, and the law of that time was clear: publication without proper notice irrevocably forfeited copyright protection."


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Disney threatened to sue Hedenkamp for slander of title, but did not follow through. The claims in Vanpelt and Hedenkamp's articles have not been tested in court.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1930, the German Board of Film Censors prohibited any presentations of the 1929 Mickey Mouse cartoon "The Barnyard Battle". The animated short, which features the mouse as a kepi-wearing soldier fighting cat enemies in German-style helmets, was viewed by censors as a negative portrayal of Germany. It was claimed by the board that the film would "reawaken the latest anti-German feeling existing abroad since the War". The "Barnyard Battle" incident did not incite wider anti-Mickey sentiment in Germany in 1930; however, after Adolf Hitler came to power several years later, the Nazi regime unambiguously propagandized against Disney. A mid-1930s German newspaper article read:


title: Mickey Mouse

text: American cartoonist and writer Art Spiegelman would later use this quote on the opening page of the second volume of his graphic novel "Maus".


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1935 Romanian authorities also banned Mickey Mouse films from cinemas, purportedly fearing that children would be "scared to see a ten-foot mouse in the movie theatre". In 1938, based on the Ministry of Popular Culture's recommendation that a reform was necessary "to raise children in the firm and imperialist spirit of the Fascist revolution", the Italian Government banned foreign children's literature except Mickey; Disney characters were exempted from the decree for the "acknowledged artistic merit" of Disney's work. Actually, Mussolini's children were fond of Mickey Mouse, so they managed to delay his ban as long as possible. In 1942, after Italy declared war on the United States, fascism immediately forced Italian publishers to stop printing any Disney stories. Mickey's stories were replaced by the adventures of "Tuffolino", a new human character that looked like Mickey, created by Federico Pedrocchi (script) and Pier Lorenzo De Vita (art). After the downfall of Italy's fascist government in 1945, the ban was removed.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey Mouse has received ten nominations for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. These are "Mickey's Orphans" (1931), "Building a Building" (1933), "Brave Little Tailor" (1938), "The Pointer" (1939), "Lend a Paw" (1941), "Squatter's Rights" (1946), "Mickey and the Seal" (1948), "Mickey's Christmas Carol" (1983), "Runaway Brain" (1995), and "Get a Horse!" (2013). Among these, "Lend a Paw" was the only film to actually win the award. Additionally, in 1932 Walt Disney received an honorary Academy Award in recognition of Mickey's creation and popularity.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: In 1994, four of Mickey's cartoons were included in the book "The 50 Greatest Cartoons" which listed the greatest cartoons of all time as voted by members of the animation field. The films were "The Band Concert" (#3), "Steamboat Willie" (#13), "Brave Little Tailor" (#26), and "Clock Cleaners" (#27).


title: Mickey Mouse

text: On November 18, 1978, in honor of his 50th anniversary, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located on 6925 Hollywood Blvd.


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Melbourne (Australia) runs the annual Moomba festival street procession and appointed Mickey Mouse as their "King of Moomba" (1977). Although immensely popular with children, there was controversy with the appointment: some Melburnians wanted a 'home-grown' choice, e.g. Blinky Bill; when it was revealed that Patricia O'Carroll (from Disneyland's Disney on Parade show) was performing the mouse, Australian newspapers reported "Mickey Mouse is really a girl!"


title: Mickey Mouse

text: Mickey was the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day 2005. He was the first cartoon character to receive the honor and only the second fictional character after Kermit the Frog in 1996.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The Netherlands national football team ( or simply "Het Nederlands elftal") has represented the Netherlands in international men's football matches since 1905. The men's national team is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), the governing body for football in the Netherlands, which is a part of UEFA, under the jurisdiction of FIFA. They are widely considered one of the best national teams in world football and widely regarded as one of the greatest national teams of all time. Most of the Netherlands' home matches are played at the Johan Cruyff Arena, De Kuip, Philips Stadion and De Grolsch Veste.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The team is colloquially referred to as "Het Nederlands Elftal" (The Dutch Eleven) or "Oranje", after the House of Orange-Nassau and their distinctive orange jerseys. Informally the team, like the country itself, was referred to as Holland. The fan club is known as "Het Oranje Legioen" (The Orange Legion).


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The Netherlands has competed in eleven FIFA World Cups, appearing in the final three times (in 1974, 1978 and 2010). They finished runners-up on all three occasions. They have also appeared in ten UEFA European Championships, winning the 1988 tournament in West Germany. Additionally, the team won a bronze medal at the Olympic football tournament in 1908, 1912 and 1920. The Netherlands has long-standing football rivalries with neighbours Belgium and Germany.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The Netherlands played their first international match in Antwerp against Belgium on 30 April 1905, with the players selected by a five-member commission from the Dutch Football Association. After 90 minutes, the score was 1–1. As the match was for the Coupe van den Abeele, it went into extra-time, during which Eddy de Neve scored three times, making the score 4–1 for the Netherlands. Some historians attribute one of the goals scored to Willem Hesselink.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: In 1908, the Netherlands competed in their first official tournament appearance at the Summer Olympic in London. They received a bronze medal after losing to Great Britain in the semi-finals, before defeating Sweden in the bronze medal match 2–0. At the Olympic Games in 1912 and 1920, the Netherlands finished with the bronze medal as they lost to Denmark and Belgium in the respective tournament.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The Netherlands reached the semi-finals at the 1924 Summer Olympic in Paris after winning against Romania and Ireland. In the semi-finals, they gave up a one-goal lead, scored by Kees Pijl, to lose 2–1 versus Uruguay and were relegated to the third place playoff for the fourth time, losing to Sweden in a replay.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: After being eliminated in the first round at the 1928 Summer Olympic on home turf, they skipped the first World Cup in 1930 due to the cost of travel from Europe to South America. The team made their first appearance at a FIFA World Cup in 1934 where they took on Switzerland. Kick Smit was the first goalscorer for the Netherlands in a World Cup. The team was eliminated in the opening round by Switzerland 3–2. A second appearance at the 1938 World Cup resulted in a first-round elimination against Czechoslovakia.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: After the Second World War, the Netherlands qualified for only two international tournament before the 1970s: the 1948 Summer Olympic in Great Britain and the 1952 Summer Olympic in Finland. They suffered early elimination, losing to the hosts in 1948 and Brazil in 1952.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: During the 1970s, total football () was invented, pioneered by Ajax and led by playmaker Johan Cruyff and national team head coach Rinus Michels. The Netherlands made significant strides, qualifying for two World Cup finals in the decade. Carlos Alberto, captain of the Brazilian team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup said, "The only team I've seen that did things differently was Holland at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Since then everything looks more or less the same to me ... Their 'carousel' style of play was amazing to watch and marvelous for the game."


title: Netherlands national football team

text: In 1974, the Netherlands beat both Brazil and Argentina in the second group stage, reaching the finals for the first time in their history. However, they lost to West Germany in the finals in Munich, despite having gone up 1–0 through Johan Neeskens' early penalty kick before a German had even touched the ball. However, a converted penalty by Paul Breitner and the winner from Gerd Müller, led to a victory for the German.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The 1976 European Championship saw the Netherlands make their first European Championship. Czechoslovakia kept Cruyff and Van Hanegem within arms-length and defeated the Netherlands in extra time. The Netherlands finished in third place after defeating the hosts (Yugoslavia) in extra time.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: In 1978, the Netherlands qualified for the World Cup in Argentina. The team was missing Johan Cruyff due to a kidnapping attempt, and Willem van Hanegem. But the squad still had players like Jan Jongbloed, Wim Suurbier and Ruud Krol from the previous World Cup. After finishing runners-up in Group 4 behind Peru, they recorded wins against Austria and Italy to set up a finals with Argentina. After a controversial start, with Argentina questioning the plaster cast on René van de Kerkhof's wrist, the match headed to extra time where the Netherlands lost 3–1 after two extra time goals from Mario Kempes and Daniel Bertoni.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Euro '80 was the last tournament for which the Total Football team qualified. Despite the tournament format being expanded that year they did not advance past the group stage as they finished behind Czechoslovakia by goal difference.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Veterans such as Krol and Rensenbrink retired soon afterwards and the Netherlands hit a low point in their history: they missed the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Euro 1984 in France, and the 1986 World Cup in Mexico; they missed the French tournament by virtue of goals scored when Spain scored twelve in the final game against Malta. While both teams had the same goal difference (+16), Spain qualified having scored two more goals than the Netherlands. During the qualification stage for the 1986 World Cup the Netherlands finished in second place and advanced to the playoffs against neighbours Belgium. After losing the first leg 1–0 in Brussels, they held a 2–0 lead at Rotterdam with a few minutes remaining. Georges Grün's header in the 84th minute resulted in the Netherlands' elimination as Belgium advanced to the World Cup on away goals.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Rinus Michels returned, with his technical assistant Nol de Ruiter, to coach the team for Euro 1988 in West Germany. After losing the first group match against the Soviet Union 1–0, the Netherlands qualified for the semi-finals by defeating England 3–1 (with a hat-trick by Marco van Basten), and the Republic of Ireland 1–0. Van Basten scored against the hosts in the 89th minute to sink the German side, revenge for the 1974 World Cup. The Netherlands won the finals with a victory over the USSR with a header by Ruud Gullit and a volley by Van Basten. This was the national team's first major tournament win.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The Netherlands was one of the favourites for the 1990 World Cup tournament in Italy, but they scored only two goals in the group stage which featured England, Egypt and the Republic of Ireland. After finishing the group stage with identical records, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland drew lots to determine which team would finish second. The Netherlands had the tougher draw against West Germany, while the Republic of Ireland faced Romania. The match against West Germany is mostly remembered for the spitting incident involving Frank Rijkaard and Rudi Völler as the Netherlands were defeated 2–1.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The team reached the semi-finals in the Euro 1992 in Sweden, known for the emergence of Dennis Bergkamp. They were eliminated by eventual champions Denmark when Peter Schmeichel saved Van Basten's kick in the penalty shootout. This was Van Basten's last major tournament as he suffered a serious ankle injury shortly after, and eventually retired at age 30 in 1995. It was also the last hurrah for Rinus Michels, who returned for one finals spell in charge of the team before retiring for good after the tournament ended.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Dick Advocaat took over from Michels on the understanding that he would be replaced by Johan Cruyff the following year. But after talks between Cruyff and the KNVB broke down, Advocaat remained in charge of the national team for the World Cup. In the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Van Basten and striker Ruud Gullit were injured; Dennis Bergkamp led the team with three goals and the Netherlands advanced to the quarter-finals, where they lost 3–2 to eventual champions Brazil.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: After finishing second in their Euro 1996 group, they played France in the quarter-finals. With the score nil all, the match went to penalties. Clarence Seedorf's shot in the fourth round was stopped by French goalkeeper Bernard Lama, but the goal by Laurent Blanc eliminated the Netherlands. After they finished top of the qualifying group, they were drawn in Group E of the 1998 World Cup. With the Netherlands team featuring Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Phillip Cocu, Edgar Davids, Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer and Patrick Kluivert, they reached the semi-finals where they again lost on penalties, this time to Brazil. They then lost the third place playoff to Croatia. Soon afterwards, manager Guus Hiddink resigned to be replaced by Frank Rijkaard. The Netherlands co-hosted Euro 2000 with Belgium and won all three games in the group stage and then defeated FR Yugoslavia 6–1 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Italian goalkeeper Francesco Toldo made two penalty shootout saves to eliminate the Netherlands. The team failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup after crucial losses to Portugal and the Republic of Ireland, prompting manager Louis van Gaal to resign.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Dick Advocaat became the national coach of the Netherlands for the second time in January 2002. His first match was a 1–1 draw against England in Rotterdam. The national team finished second place in their qualifying group for the 2004 Euro. Having to play in the playoffs after losing to the Czech Republic, they knocked out Scotland with a 6–0 win in the second leg to qualify for the 2004 tournament. The tournament saw the Netherlands make it to the semi-finals where they lost to the hosts in Portugal. Heavy criticism of his handling of the national team lead Advocaat to quit.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The Netherlands qualified for the 2006 World Cup under new manager Marco van Basten. They were eliminated in the second round after losing 1–0 to Portugal. The match produced 16 yellow cards, matching the World Cup record for most cautions in one game set in 2002, and set a new World Cup record of four red cards, two per side; it was nicknamed "the Battle of Nuremberg" by the press. Despite criticism surrounding his selection policy and the lack of attacking football from his team, Van Basten was offered a two-year extension to his contract by the KNVB. This allowed him to serve as national coach during Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. The Netherlands qualified for Euro 2008, where they were drawn in the "Group of Death", together with France, Italy and Romania. They began with a 3–0 win over world champions Italy in Bern, their first victory over the Italians since 1978. They then beat France by 4–1 to qualify for the second round, and went on winning the group on nine points after beating Romania 2–0 with (mainly) their reserve players. However, they then lost in the quarter-finals to Guus Hiddink's Russia 3–1, with Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring an 86th-minute equaliser to force extra time, where the Russian scored twice. Following the tournament, Van Basten resigned having accepted the role at Ajax.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Under new coach Bert van Marwijk, the Netherlands went on to secure a 100% record in their World Cup 2010 qualification campaign, winning all their eight games to qualify for the World Cup. After they had comfortably qualified with maximum points in Group E and Slovakia in the round of 16, they took on Brazil in the quarter-finals. After trailing 1–0 at half-time, Wesley Sneijder scored two goals in the second half to advance the team to the semis where they beat Uruguay 3–2. They advanced to their first World Cup finals since 1978 but fell to Spain 1–0 after midfielder Andrés Iniesta scored in extra time. From August to September 2011, the team was ranked number one in the FIFA World Ranking, becoming the second national football team, after Spain, to top the ranking without previously winning a World Cup.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: For Euro 2012, the Netherlands were placed in Group B with Germany, Portugal and Denmark, dubbed the tournament "Group of Death". The Netherlands lost all three of their group matches in a tournament for the first time in their history. Netherlands football legend Johan Cruyff criticised the team's star players for poor build up play and sloppy execution of the easy passes. Manager Bert van Marwijk resigned after the disappointment.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Louis van Gaal became the manager for the second time. In the 2014 World Cup UEFA qualifying round, the Netherlands won nine games and drew one, topping the group and earning automatic qualification. They were drawn into Group B, alongside Spain, Chile and Australia. The team avenged their 2010 defeat by defeating title holders Spain 5–1 in their opening match, with Robin van Persie scoring an impressive header to equalize in the 44th minute. Van Persie scored another, Arjen Robben scored a brace and Stefan de Vrij scored one.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: After finishing top of Group B, the Netherlands defeated Mexico 2–1 in the round of 16, with Wesley Sneijder equalising late in the match and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scoring a controversial penalty after a foul on Arjen Robben in stoppage time. In the quarter-finals, where they faced Costa Rica, the Netherlands had many shots on goal but could not score; the match finished in a 0–0 draw after extra time. The Netherlands won the ensuing penalty shootout 4–3. This was due in large part to backup goalkeeper Tim Krul who was brought on just before the end of extra time and made two saves. This marked the first time in World Cup history a goalkeeper was brought onto the field solely to participate in a shootout.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The semi-finals against Argentina saw the Netherlands having a decent chance to score from Arjen Robben while containing Lionel Messi as it remained scoreless after extra time. However, in penalty kicks, the Netherlands were eliminated 4–2, with Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder having their spot kicks saved by Sergio Romero. The Netherlands won the third place match against hosts Brazil. Van Gaal, who successfully motivated the team after their semi-finals elimination, received praise for getting more out of the young and inexperienced Netherlands squad than many expected.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Guus Hiddink followed Van Gaal as manager for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. On 29 June 2015, Hiddink resigned and was succeeded by assistant Danny Blind. The Netherlands finished fourth in their group failing to qualify for the European Championship for the first time since 1984, and missing a major tournament for the first time since the 2002 World Cup. The team's poor form continued into the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, eventually resulting in Blind being dismissed after a 2–0 defeat to Bulgaria in March 2017. After the return of Dick Advocaat as coach, the Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, finishing third in Group A behind France and Sweden.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: In February 2018, Advocaat was replaced by Ronald Koeman, on a contract until the summer of 2022. The Netherlands qualified for League A in the UEFA Nations League which they would win to qualify for the final four after drawing with Germany on the last match day, beating France on the head-to-head record. The Netherlands beat England in the semi-finals of the Nations League, but lost 1–0 in the final against Portugal.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: The Netherlands qualified for the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship on 16 November 2019 after drawing with Northern Ireland, marking their tenth participation in the UEFA Euro championship. Following the qualification, Ronald Koeman resigned from the team to coach FC Barcelona, eventually to be succeeded by Frank de Boer.


title: Netherlands national football team

text: Without Ronald Koeman in charge, the Netherlands struggled in the new Nations League season, where they joined Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy. The Netherlands won 1–0 at home by courtesy of Steven Bergwijn after a difficult game where Poland played very defensive against the Netherlands. However, also at the home ground, the Netherlands fell by the same score to Italy and lost their leading position to the Italians as well. Eventually, the Netherlands improved, and obtained important wins over Bosnia at home and Poland away, but a disappointing away draw to Bosnia proved crucial. Despite a strong display in their last group match against Italy, the match in Bergamo resulted in yet another draw. The Netherlands came within a point of progressing but eventually failed to acquire the ticket for the 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals.