2014 Copa del Rey Final, Match, Summary
After 11 minutes Real Madrid went in front when Ángel Di María's low left footed shot from the left went through Jordi Alba's legs and in off goalkeeper José Manuel Pinto's left hand. Barcelona were level in the 68th minute when Marc Bartra headed into the far corner of the net after a Xavi corner from the left.


2014 Copa del Rey Final, Match, Summary
The winning goal came with five minutes to go when Gareth Bale picked the ball up just inside his own half on the left wing and went past Bartra at a blistering pace (at one point off the field before running back onto the field) leaving Bartra in his wake, before running into the penalty area, evading more challenges and then composedly slotting the ball left-footed low past the goalkeeper from six yards out. Some football pundits labelled his goal as a masterclass, whilst Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino admitted that it was "difficult to see a player sprint like that at that stage of the game".


2014 Copa del Rey Juvenil
The 2014 Copa del Rey Juvenil is the 64th staging of the Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol. The competition begins on May 18, 2014 and will end on June 29, 2014 with the final.


2014 Copa del Rey Juvenil, First round
The top two teams from each group and the two best third-placed teams are drawn into a two-game best aggregate score series. The first leg began the week of May 18 and the return leg the week of May 26.


2014 Copa del Rey Juvenil, Quarterfinal
The eight winners from the first round advance to quarterfinal for a two-game series best aggregate score with the first leg beginning the week of June 1 and returning the week of June 8.


2014 Copa del Rey Juvenil, Semifinals
The four winners play a two-game series best aggregate score beginning the week of June 15 and returning the week of June 22.


2014 Copa del Rey Juvenil, Final
The semifinal winners play a one-game final at a neutral site in Cartagena, Murcia on June 29.


2014 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto
The 2014 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto was the 78th edition of the Spanish King's Basketball Cup. It was managed by the ACB and was held in Málaga, in the Martín Carpena on February 6–9, 2014. Real Madrid won their 24th cup.


2014 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto, Qualified teams
The seven first qualified after the first half of the 2013–14 ACB regular season qualified to the tournament. As Unicaja, host team, finished between the seven first teams, the eighth qualified joined the Copa del Rey.


2014 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto, Draw
The 2014 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto was drawn on 27 January 2014 at approximately 12:00 CET and was broadcast live on YouTube and on TV in many countries. The seeded teams were paired in the quarterfinals with the non-seeded teams. There were not any restrictions for the draw of the semifinals. As in recent season, the first qualified team plays its quarterfinal game on Thursday.


2014 Copa del Sol
The 2014 Copa del Sol took place in La Manga and Pinatar (Region of Murcia, Spain) between 27 January and 6 February 2014.


2014 Copa do Brasil
The 2014 Copa do Brasil (officially the 2014 Copa Sadia do Brasil for sponsorship reasons) was the 26th edition of the Copa do Brasil football competition. The competition was contested by 87 teams, either qualified through participating their respective state championships (71), by the CBF Rankings (10) or those qualified for 2014 Copa Libertadores (6). Clubs that qualify for the 2014 Copa Libertadores enter the competition in the 4th stage. The best seven teams of the 2013 Brazilian Championship eliminated until the third round qualified for the 2014 Copa Sudamericana.


2014 Copa do Brasil, Format
The competition is a single elimination knockout tournament featuring two-legged ties. In the first two rounds, if the away team wins the first match by 2 or more goals, it progresses straight to the next round avoiding the second leg. The away goals rule is also used in the Copa do Brasil. The winner qualifies for the 2015 Copa Libertadores.


2014 Copa do Brasil, Qualified Teams
The teams (in bold) qualified for 2014 Copa Libertadores qualify directly for the Fourth Stage (Round of 16).


2014 Copa do Brasil, Qualified Teams
A. River Plate was originally qualified as runners-up of the 2013 Campeonato Sergipano. Because of their request to be absent for 2 two years of the Campeonato Sergiano due to financial problems, Lagarto earned their spot.


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
A draw by CBF held on January 10, 2014 set the matches for this round. The 81 qualified teams were divided in eight pots (A-H) with 10 teams each. They were divided based on the CBF Rankings and the matches were drawn from the respective confronts: A x E; B x F; C x G; D x H. The lower ranked teams of each match will host the first leg. Before the Round of 16 there will be another draw including the six teams that will play the 2014 Copa Libertadores.


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
Corinthians Vasco da Gama Fluminense Internacional São Paulo Santos Palmeiras Goiás Coritiba Vitória


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
Bahia Ponte Preta Portuguesa Atlético Goianiense Náutico Ceará Avaí Sport Figueirense Criciúma


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
Paraná América Mineiro ABC Guarani ASA Paysandu Grêmio Barueri Bragantino América de Natal Chapecoense


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
Joinville Santa Cruz Brasiliense CRB Duque de Caxias Sampaio Corrêa Treze Nacional Cuiabá Tupi


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
Horizonte Remo Mixto CSA Botafogo J. Malucelli CENE Vilhena Bahia de Feira Resende


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
Naviraiense Brasília Plácido de Castro Londrina Náutico Villa Nova Flamengo Potiguar Parnahyba Sergipe


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
Maranhão Paragominas Goianésia Lajeadense São Bernardo Santos Boavista Rio Branco /  Real Noroeste Desportiva Ferroviária Santa Rita


2014 Copa do Brasil, Draw
Juazeiro Barbalha Caldense Interporto Lagarto Novo Hamburgo Princesa do Solimões Rondonópolis São Luiz Tombense


2014 Copa do Brasil, Copa Sudamericana qualification
The best seven teams eliminated before the Round of 16 with the best 2013 Série A or 2013 Série B record (excluding those qualified for 2014 Copa Libertadores) qualify for 2014 Copa Sudamericana.


2014 Copa do Brasil, Copa Sudamericana qualification
1 Sport Recife is qualified as (Brazil 8) in the 2014 Copa Sudamericana, independently of qualifying position of the other seven teams.


2014 Copa do Brasil, Knockout stages
A draw by CBF was held on August 18 to set the matches for this round. The 16 qualified teams were divided in two pots. Teams from pot 1 are the ones who competed at the 2014 Copa Libertadores plus the two highest CBF ranked teams qualified via the Third Round. Pot 2 is composed of the other teams that qualified through the Third Round. Each pot was divided into 4 pairs according to the CBF ranking.


2014 Copa do Brasil, Knockout stages
That division makes sure that each team within a pair will not face each other before the finals as they will be placed in opposite sides of the bracket. There was a draw to decide the home team of the round of 16. The following stages will have other draws to determine the order of the matches as the tournament advances.


2014 Copa do Brasil, Top goalscorers
Players and teams in bold are still active in the competition.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round
The 2014 Copa do Brasil First Round was played from 12 March to 7 May 2014, to decide the 40 teams advancing to the Second Round.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 3
Ponte Preta advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 10
Tied 5–5 on aggregate, Princesa do Solimões won on away goals.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 12
Tied 2–2 on aggregate, Grêmio Barueri won on away goals.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 15
Avaí advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 16
ASA advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 18
Tupi advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 21
Corinthians advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 24
América Mineiro advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 35
Sport advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 37
Internacional advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil First Round, First round, Match 40
Chapecoense advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil Second Round
The 2014 Copa do Brasil Second Round will be played from 22 April to 24 July 2014, to decide the 20 teams advancing to the Third Round. This round took a break for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.


2014 Copa do Brasil Second Round, Second round, Match 49
Fluminense advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil Second Round, Second round, Match 51
Corinthians advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil Second Round, Second round, Match 57
Coritiba advanced directly due to winning by 2 or more goals difference.


2014 Copa do Brasil Third Round
The 2014 Copa do Brasil Third Round was played from 23 July to 14 August 2014 and decided the 10 teams advancing to the knockout rounds. Different than the first two rounds, in this round the away team that wins the first match by 2 or more goals do not progress straight to the next round avoiding the second leg. The order of the matches was determined by a random draw.


2014 Copa do Brasil Third Round, Third round, Match 62
Novo Hamburgo won 2–1 on aggregate but was disqualified by the STJD after being punished for fielding an ineligible player.


2014 Copa do Brasil Third Round, Third round, Match 65
Tied 5–5 on aggregate, América de Natal won on away goals.


2014 Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino
The 2014 Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino was the eighth staging of the competition. The competition started on January 29, 2014, and concluded on April 15, 2014. 32 clubs of all regions of Brazil participated of the cup, which was organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).


2014 Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino, Competition format
The competition was contested by 32 clubs in a knock-out format where all rounds were played over two legs and the away goals rule was used, but in the first two rounds, if the away team won the first leg with an advantage of at least three goals, the second leg was not played and the club automatically qualified to the next round.


2014 Copa do Brasil knockout stages
The knockout stages of the 2014 Copa do Brasil were played from August 27 to November 26, 2014. A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stages.


2014 Copa do Brasil knockout stages
A draw by CBF was held on August 18 to set the matches for this round. The 16 qualified teams were divided in two pots. Teams from pot 1 are the ones who competed at the 2014 Copa Libertadores plus the two highest CBF ranked teams qualified via the Third Round. Pot 2 is composed of the other teams that qualified through the Third Round. Each pot was divided into 4 pairs according to the CBF ranking.


2014 Copa do Brasil knockout stages
That division makes sure that each team within a pair will not face each other before the finals as they will be placed in opposite sides of the bracket. There was a draw to decide the home team of the round of 16. The following stages will have other draws to determine the order of the matches as the tournament advances.


2014 Copa do Brasil knockout stages, Round of 16
The first legs will be played on August 27–28 and the second legs will be played on September 3–4, 2014.


2014 Copa do Nordeste
The 2014 Copa do Nordeste was the 11th edition of the main football tournament featuring teams from the Brazilian Nordeste. The competition featured 16 clubs, with Bahia and Pernambuco having three seeds each, and Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe, Alagoas and Paraíba with two seeds each. The 2014 Copa do Nordeste did not feature teams from the states of Maranhão and Piauí, though they are slated to enter the tournament in its 2015 edition. The champions, Sport Recife, earned a berth in the 2014 Copa Sudamericana.


2014 Copa do Nordeste, Qualified teams
A. River Plate was originally qualified as runners-up of the 2013 Campeonato Sergipano. Because of their request to be absent for 2 two years of the Campeonato Sergiano due to financial problems, Confiança earned their spot.


2014 Coppa Italia Final
The 2014 Coppa Italia Final decided the winner of the 2013–14 Coppa Italia, the 67th season of Italy's main football cup. It was played on 3 May 2014 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, between Fiorentina and Napoli. Napoli won the game 3–1, with two early goals from Lorenzo Insigne and a late third by substitute Dries Mertens, although they had Gökhan Inler sent off in the second half. Juan Manuel Vargas scored Fiorentina's goal.


2014 Coppa Italia Final
As Napoli qualified for the UEFA Champions League by their league position, Fiorentina as runners-up qualified for the Group Stage of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. This was the last season in which cup runners-up could qualify for the Europa League if the winner had already qualified for the Champions League. Napoli went on to play in the 2014 Supercoppa Italiana against the 2013–14 Serie A champions Juventus, and won.


2014 Coppa Italia Final
The final was marred by pre-match violence, which delayed the scheduled kick-off time. Three Napoli fans were shot, one of whom died following a two-month coma. Club President Aurelio De Laurentiis dedicated Napoli's victory to the wounded fans.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Background
Fiorentina played their 10th Coppa Italia final, having won six, including their last in 2001. It was Napoli's ninth, and they had previously won four, including  their last final in 2012.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Background
During the league season, Fiorentina and Napoli had already played each other twice. The first fixture, on 30 October 2013 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, resulted in a 2–1 away win for Napoli which ended Fiorentina's unbeaten home record. All of the goals came in the first half—José Callejón opened the scoring, Giuseppe Rossi equalised with a penalty and Dries Mertens scored the winner in the 36th minute. In the closing stages of the game, Christian Maggio was sent off for the visitors, and Juan Cuadrado for the hosts.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Background
In the reverse fixture, at Napoli's Stadio San Paolo  on 23 March 2014, Fiorentina were victorious as Joaquín scored the only goal of the game with three minutes remaining; Faouzi Ghoulam had been sent off for the hosts in the first half for fouling Marko Bakić when the Fiorentina midfielder had an opportunity to score.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Background
Prior to the cup final, Napoli were in third place in Serie A and therefore in the last position to qualify for the Champions League, eight points ahead of Fiorentina with nine points left to play for. Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Montella said before the game that his priority was to finish fourth and win the Coppa Italia. His Napoli counterpart, Rafael Benítez, warned his players not to expect to win solely based on their league position.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Background
Players and staff of both clubs were invited to Vatican City the day before the final, where they listened to a speech by Pope Francis. Managers Montella and Benítez presented souvenirs of their clubs to the Pope.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Road to the final, Fiorentina
Fiorentina, of Serie A, entered the tournament in the Last 16 at home to Chievo, also of their league. They won 2–0 with first-half goals from Joaquín and Ante Rebić, despite the dismissal of Massimo Ambrosini. In the quarter-final on 23 January, again at home, they beat Serie B Siena 2–1 with Josip Iličić opening the scoring and Marvin Compper scoring the winner. Fiorentina's semi-final against Udinese began with a 2–1 away defeat on 4 February, but the second leg on 12 February was a 2–0 home victory with goals from Manuel Pasqual and Cuadrado.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Road to the final, Napoli
Napoli, also of Serie A, entered in the Last 16 on 15 January with a 3–1 home win over Atalanta, in which Callejón scored twice and Lorenzo Insigne the other goal. Their quarter-final on 29 January was a 1–0 victory at home over cup holders Lazio, with a late goal from Gonzalo Higuaín. Like Fiorentina, Napoli began their semi-final with an away defeat (3–2 against Roma), but secured their place in the final with a 3–0 victory at home on 12 February, with goals from Callejón, Higuaín and Jorginho.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Match, Team selection
Fiorentina were without record signing Mario Gómez, the German striker having suffered with injury all season. Their top scorer of the season, Giuseppe Rossi, had been injured since January but was included as a substitute. Montella opined that Rossi would be ready to represent Italy at the World Cup in June. Goalkeeper Neto and midfielder Borja Valero had been doubts due to recent finger and knee injuries respectively, but made the starting line-up. Midfielder  Cuadrado was suspended, having been given a yellow card towards the end of their semi-final victory over Udinese.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Match, Team selection
Napoli's top scorer of the season, Higuaín, started despite a bruise to his shin from his last match. Benítez said "Not everyone in the team is 100 per cent, but we are in good shape".


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Match, Pre-match violence
Three Napoli fans were shot outside the stadium before the match, two with arm injuries. Ciro Esposito, who was in a critical state after being shot in the chest, died in hospital on 25 June. Police, who found the gun, have stated that they do not believe that the shootings were related to other clashes by the two sets of fans: prior to the game, there were reports of firecrackers and other projectiles being thrown between them in the Tor di Quinto area of Rome.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Match, Pre-match violence
Kick-off was subsequently delayed as Napoli fans did not want the match to start without knowing the condition of the shot fans. When match organisers attempted to speak to the Napoli fans, accompanied by their midfielder Marek Hamšík, they were "pelted with flares and smoke bombs". Daniele De Santis, a Roma ultra was convicted of shooting Esposito and was sentenced to 26 years in prison on 24 May 2016; his sentenced was later reduced on appeals to 16 years on 26 September 2018.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Match, Summary
Napoli winger Insigne opened the scoring in the 11th minute by cutting in from the left and curling a shot past Fiorentina goalkeeper Neto. He doubled the lead six minutes later by connecting to Higuaín's cross and forcing a deflection off Nenad Tomović. With two goals in the final, he equalled the number of goals that he had scored in the entire Serie A season. Fiorentina responded in the 28th minute, when Josip Iličić chipped the defence and Juan Vargas volleyed the ball into the goal.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Match, Summary
Fiorentina had chances to equalise in the second half, with a long shot from substitute Matías Fernández tipped over the crossbar by Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina, and Iličić missing a one-on-one. Despite being reduced to ten men for the last ten minutes after a second booking for Gökhan Inler after he fouled Iličić, Napoli extended their lead in injury time when substitute Mertens scored a third after being set up by Callejón.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Post-match
Napoli supporters invaded the pitch to celebrate following their team's victory. However, they were brought under control in order to allow the trophy ceremony to take place.


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Post-match
Aurelio De Laurentiis, club president of Napoli, dedicated the cup win to the then unidentified fan who had been shot before the match and operated on. On the pre-match violence, Demetrio Albertini, vice president of the Italian Football Federation, said, "It certainly wasn't a great scene, what we displayed today alongside football, for a football lover like me, it was an ugly display."


2014 Coppa Italia Final, Post-match
As cup winners, Napoli qualified for the 2014 Supercoppa Italiana in which they would face Serie A champions Juventus. The match had traditionally taken place in August, but Napoli requested it be moved due to their Champions League play-off that month. The fixture was eventually played on 22 December during the league's winter break, at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. It finished 1–1 after 90 minutes, 2–2 after extra time, and Napoli won 6–5 in the penalty shootout.


2014 Cork City Council election
A Cork City Council election was held in Ireland on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's local elections. Thirty-one councillors were elected from a field of 65 candidates for a five-year term of office from six local electoral areas by proportional representation with a single transferable vote.


2014 Cork City Council election
Having lost several seats in the 2009 local elections within Cork City Fianna Fáil made 4 gains in these local elections. The party gained 1 seat in each of the 3 Cork South Central LEAs, the base of Micheál Martin, and 1 seat in the Cork City North Central LEA on the North Side. Sinn Féin emerged as the second largest party with 8 seats as they made 3 gains on both sides of the river Lee though effectively matched Fianna Fáil in terms of first preference vote share.


2014 Cork City Council election
Fine Gael lost 3 seats to be reduced to 5 seats while their coalition partner, the Labour Party, was obliterated losing all 7 seats. The Anti- Austerity Alliance made 2 gains to return 3 councillors to City Hall and Ted Tynan became the Workers' Party sole elected representative in the State. Independents secured the remaining 4 seats.


2014 Cork County Council election
A Cork County Council election was held in Ireland on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's local elections. Fifty-five councillors were elected from a field of 114 candidates for a five-year term of office from eight local electoral areas by proportional representation with a single transferable vote.


2014 Cork County Council election
Cork County Council was expanded by seven seats to a total of 55 members for the 2014 elections. Fianna Fáil emerged after the local elections as the largest party in Cork for the first time since 1991, having won 17 seats and 5 gains in total. The party won three seats in each of Ballincollig-Carrigaline, Fermoy and West Cork and took two seats in Bandon-Kinsale, Blarney-Macroom and Kanturk-Mallow. Fine Gael lost 6 seats in all to emerge with 16 seats.


2014 Cork County Council election
The party's best results were in Ballincollig-Carrigaline and Bandon-Kinsale where they won 3 seats and Blarney-Macroom, Cobh, East Cork and West Cork where they won 2 seats. Sinn Féin won 10 seats in total, including 9 gains, with the party's best results coming in Ballincollig-Carrigaline and Cobh where they won 2 seats each. Labour had a very bad election losing 5 seats and returning with just 2 seats. Independents gained 4 seats, bringing their total to 10 seats.


2014 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship
The 2014 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship was the 105th staging of the Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1909. The draw for the opening rounds took place on 14 December 2014. The championship began on 31 May 2014 and ended on 26 October 2014.


2014 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship
On 26 October 2014, Fermoy won the championship following a 2-14 to 1-16 defeat of Charleville in the final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. This was their first championship title in the grade. St. Catherine's returned to the junior grade for the first time in 31 years after suffering a two-point defeat by Dripsey in a relegation play-off.


2014 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship
Kildorrery's Peter O'Brien was the championship's top scorer with 1-47.


2014 Cork Junior A Hurling Championship
The 2014 Cork Junior A Hurling Championship was the 117th staging of the Cork Junior A Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1895. The championship began on 20 September 2014 and ended on 26 October 2014.


2014 Cork Junior A Hurling Championship
On 26 October 2014, Castlemartyr won the championship following an 0-18 to 0-10 defeat of Ballinhassig in the final. This was their third championship title in the grade and their first since 1964.


2014 Cork Junior A Hurling Championship
Castlemartyr's Barry Lawton was the championship's top scorer with 0-40.


2014 Cork Junior A Hurling Championship, External link
This Hurling competition-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .


2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Football Championship
The 2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Football Championship was the ninth staging of the Cork Premier Intermediate Football Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 2006. The championship began on 3 May 2014 and ended on 19 October 2014.


2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Football Championship
On 19 October 2014, Valley Rovers won the championship following a 0-12 to 0-08 defeat of Na Piarsaigh in the final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It was their second championship title overall and their first title since 2009.


2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship
The 2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship was the 11th staging of the Cork Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 2004. The draw for the opening round of the championship took place at the County Convention on 15 December 2013. The championship began on 24 May 2014 and ended on 12 October 2014.


2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship
On 16 August 2014, Kilbrittain were relegated from the championship following a 1-16 to 1-22 defeat by Watergrasshill.


2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship
On 12 October 2014, Ballyhea won the championship following a 1-17 to 0-16 defeat of Newcestown in the final. This remains their only championship title in the grade.


2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship
Kilworth's Adrian Mannix was the championship's top scorer with 0-43.


2014 Cork Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship, Teams
A total of 16 teams contested the Premier Intermediate Championship, including 14 teams from the 2013 premier intermediate championship, one relegated from the 2013 senior championship and one promoted from the 2013 intermediate championship.


2014 Cork Senior Football Championship
The 2014 Cork Senior Football Championship was the 116th staging of the Cork Senior Football Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1887. The draw for the opening round fixtures took place in December 2013. The championship began on 2 April 2014 and ended on 19 October 2014.


2014 Cork Senior Football Championship
Castlehaven were the defending champions, however, they were defeated by Carbery Rangers in a Round 4 replay.


2014 Cork Senior Football Championship
On 19 October 2014, Ballincollig won the championship following a 1-13 to 1-10 defeat of Carbery Rangers in the final. It remains their only championship title.


2014 Cork Senior Football Championship
John Hayes from the Carbery Rangers club was the championship's top scorer with 5-28.


2014 Cork Senior Hurling Championship
The 2014 Cork Senior Hurling Championship is the 126th staging of the Cork Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1887. The championship began on 20 April 2014 and ended on 12 October 2014.


2014 Cork Senior Hurling Championship
Midleton were the defending champions, however, they were beaten by Douglas in round four. Courcey Rovers were relegated from the championship after three seasons in the top tier. Sarsfield's won the title after a 2–18 to 0–8 defeat of Glen Rovers in the final.


2014 Cornell Big Red football team
The 2014 Cornell Big Red football team represented Cornell University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FCS football season as a member of the Ivy League. They were led by second-year head coach David Archer and played their home games at Schoellkopf Field. Cornell finished the season 1–9 overall and 1–6 in Ivy League play to place seventh.


2014 Corpus Christi Fury season
The 2014 Corpus Christi Fury season was the 12th season for the franchise, and their second as a member of the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL).


2014 Corpus Christi Fury season, Roster
Rookies in italicsRoster updated May 24, 20131 Active, 0 Inactive


2014 Corpus Christi mayoral election
The 2014 Corpus Christi mayoral election was held on November 4, 2014 to elect the mayor of Corpus Christi, Texas. It saw the reelection of Nelda Martinez.


2014 Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards (before 2006 known as the Whitbread Awards) are among the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary awards. They were launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience. This page gives details of the awards given in the year 2014.


2014 Costa Book Awards
The shortlist was announced 17 November 2014. The category winners were announced c. 5 January 2015. The Book of the Year was announced 27 January 2015.


2014 Costa Rican Cup
The 2014 Costa Rican Cup (known as Copa Popular for sponsorship reasons) is the 2nd staging of the Costa Rican Cup. The competition began on July 12 and finished on August 10 with the final at the Estadio Nacional.


2014 Costa Rican Cup
The Cup featured 16 teams, including 12 from the FPD (including the newly promoted team AS Puma Generaleña), and 4 from the Liga de Ascenso (not including the recently relegated team, Puntarenas).


2014 Costa Rican Cup
The tournament marked several differences compared to its predecessor. A Group Stage was added, with the first placed teams of each group qualifying to the Semi-Finals.


2014 Costa Rican Cup
The tournament saw Cartaginés defeating defending champions Saprissa in the final to achieve their first Costa Rican Cup.


2014 Costa Rican general election
General elections were held in Costa Rica on Sunday, 2 February 2014 to elect a new president, two vice presidents, and 57 Legislative Assembly lawmakers. In accordance with Article 132 of the constitution, incumbent President Laura Chinchilla Miranda was ineligible to run for a second consecutive term.


2014 Costa Rican general election
The ruling National Liberation Party put forward San José Mayor Johnny Araya Monge as its presidential candidate; the Libertarian Movement party nominated former legislator Otto Guevara Guth; the leftist Broad Front nominated José María Villalta Florez-Estrada; and the center-left Citizens' Action Party nominated  Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera.


2014 Costa Rican general election
Opinion polls in December 2013 showed Araya ahead with 37 percent, Villalta close behind at 32 percent, Guevara at 15 percent, and Solís trailing at eight percent, suggesting the likelihood of a run-off vote in February. Villalta's strong showing in the polls caused concern among Araya supporters and business leaders in Costa Rica. La Nacion, Costa Rica's most important newspaper and a historical ally of Liberacion Nacional, began a concerted series of attacks against Villalta, comparing him to Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. Political experts later concluded that this focus on Villalta helped Luis Guillermo Solis in the election.


2014 Costa Rican general election
In the presidential election, Solís and Araya came first and second, respectively, with neither candidate reaching 40 percent of the valid poll in the first round of voting, so a second round of voting was held from 6am to 6pm on 6 April, the first run-off election since 2002.


2014 Costa Rican general election
In a surprise move, Araya announced on 6 March that he would abandon his campaign for the run-off election. He stated that after weighing his chances it was only sensible to withdraw from the campaign. Recent polls had indicated that he was trailing badly behind Solís and he believed that spending money on campaigning was not prudent. Although Araya's action effectively handed the presidency to Solís, the run-off still had to take place since Costa Rican law does not allow for a candidate to withdraw from a run-off election. Ultimately, Solís won the second round with 78 percent of the vote, a historic high in Costa Rica. Unlike the first round, Solís won a majority in every province.


2014 Costa Rican general election, Opinion polls
If no candidate surmounts the 40% threshold, the two candidates who would qualify for the runoff are marked. No poll accurately predicted the first or second round voting results.


2014 Costa Rican general election, Results, President
The results of the first-round final count were declared on 17 February 2014, with the results of the second-round eighth count being declared on 7 April 2014:


2014 Costa Rican general election, Results, Legislative Assembly
Although Solís' PAC received the most votes in the presidential elections, the party did not won in the parliamentary voting making PLN the largest party in the Assembly with 18 deputies over PAC's 13.


2014 Costa Rican general election, Results, Legislative Assembly
Leftist party Broad Front surprised with its results, achieving 9 seats, first time ever that the Left achieves such a big number. Social Christian Unity Party recover part of its former influence turning into the fourth political party in legislative size even when its candidate Rodolfo Piza was the fifth in presidential vote. The opposite happened to Otto Guevara’s right-wing Libertarian Movement, fourth in presidential votes but fifth in legislative and reducing drastically it number of deputies from 9 to 4. Oscar Lopez’s PASE party also suffer a diminishment in deputies from 4 to 1 (Lopez himself).


2014 Costa Rican general election, Results, Legislative Assembly
Three Christian parties oriented toward the Protestant minority and very socially conservative also achieve deputies; Costa Rican Renewal Party 2, National Restoration 1 and Christian Democratic Alliance 1.


2014 Costa Rican general election, Results, Legislative Assembly, Candidates elected
Fifty-seven legislators were elected and took office on 1 May 2014, eleven of whom had been members of the Legislative Assembly in the past. Five were from the National Liberation Party: Antonio Álvarez Desanti, Juan Luis Jiménez, Olivier Jiménez, Rolando González, and Sandra Piszk. Two were from the Citizen Action Party: Epsy Campbell and Ottón Solís. Mario Redondo of the Christian Democratic Alliance served previously with the Social Christian Unity Party. The others were Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement Party, Oscar López of Accessibility Without Exclusion, and Jorge Rodríguez of the Social Christian Unity Party. The full list is as follows:


2014 Cottbus World Cup
The 2014 Cottbus World Challenger Cup was a competition held in Cottbus, Germany from March 13–16 in Lausitz Arena. It was a part of the 2014 FIG World Cup Series.


2014 Cotton Bowl Classic
The 2014 Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game between the #9 Missouri Tigers of the Southeastern Conference and the #13 Oklahoma State Cowboys of the Big 12 Conference. The 78th edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic took place on January 3, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. EST and aired on FOX. It was one of the 2013–14 bowl games that concluded the 2013 FBS football season. AT&T Stadium, formerly known as Cowboys Stadium and located in Arlington, Texas, hosted the game for the sixth straight year. The game was sponsored by telecommunications company AT&T, and was officially known as the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic.


2014 Cotton Bowl Classic
The Tigers beat the Cowboys by a score of 41–31 to claim the school’s second-ever Cotton Bowl Classic championship and set a new AT&T Stadium record with 24 points in the fourth quarter.


2014 Cotton Bowl Classic, Teams
This was Missouri's third appearance in the Cotton Bowl Classic (their first as a member of the SEC) and Oklahoma State's fourth appearance. Missouri and Oklahoma State were previously conference rivals in the Big 12. In addition, the two teams shared a conference from 1925–28 (when the conference was called the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association and would become the Missouri Valley Conference after that year) and again from 1958–2012 (still under the MVIAA name until 1964, then under the name Big Eight Conference from 1964–96).


2014 Cotton Bowl Classic, Teams, Missouri
The Missouri Tigers were coached by Gary Pinkel. Missouri won the SEC Eastern Division but lost to Auburn in the 2013 SEC Championship Game 59–42. Auburn and Alabama took the conference's two BCS bids over Missouri.


2014 Cotton Bowl Classic, Teams, Oklahoma State
The Oklahoma State Cowboys were coached by Mike Gundy. Oklahoma State led the Big 12 Conference going into the final week of the season, but lost to Oklahoma 33–24 on December 7. Baylor won later that day to clinch the conference's BCS bid.


2014 Country Music Association Awards
The 2014 Country Music Association Awards, and 48th Annual Ceremony, was held on November 5, 2014 from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The show was hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood for the seventh time. Miranda Lambert made CMA history when she won her eleventh award of the evening, making her the most awarded female artist in CMA history.


2014 County Championship
The 2014 County Championship season, known as the LV= County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 115th cricket County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in their division both home and away.


2014 County Championship, Standings
Teams receive 16 points for a win, 8 for a tie and 5 for a draw. Bonus points (a maximum of 5 batting points and 3 bowling points) may be scored during the first 110 overs of each team's first innings.


2014 County Championship Plate
The 2014 County Championship Plate, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division 2, was the 13th version of the annual English rugby union, County Championship organized by the RFU for the tier 2 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system (typically National League 1, National League 2 South or National League 2 North).


2014 County Championship Plate
The counties were divided into two regional pools (north/south) with three teams in the north division and three in the south, with the winners of each pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New teams to the division included Durham County and Kent who were relegated from the 2013 Bill Beaumont Cup.


2014 County Championship Plate
By the end of the group stage, both Durham County and Kent,  relegated the previous season, made an instant return to the first division by winning their respective groups with relative ease. At the final at Twickenham, Kent were comfortable winners, defeating Durham County 31-23 to claim their first title at Twickenham for 28 years.


2014 County Championship Plate, Competition format
The competition format involved six teams divided into two regional group stages of three teams each, divided into north and south, with each team playing each other once. The top side in each group went through to the final held at Twickenham Stadium on 1 June 2014.


2014 County Championship Shield
The 2014 County Championship Shield was the 10th version of the annual English rugby union County Championship, organized by the RFU for the tier 3 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the fifth tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into three pools of four teams each, based roughly on regional lines, with the winner of each group plus the best runner-up going through to the semi-finals, with the winners of those games meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium.


2014 County Championship Shield
Typically there is no promotion or relegation out of or into the County Championship Shield, although Surrey's dominance over the past couple of competitions meant that they had a chance of being invited to take part in tier 2 the following season. The competition would also welcome Staffordshire, who did not play in the county championship last year, replacing Sussex. Surrey were the reigning champions.


2014 County Championship Shield
After winning their respective groups and semi final games, Surrey faced Leicestershire in the final at Twickenham, in what would be Surrey's third consecutive Shield final. Having won the previous two finals, Surrey made it a hat trick (and fourth Shield title overall) as they defeated Leicestershire 39–16. This would also be Surrey's last season in the third tier as their performances would see them promoted to the 2015 County Championship Plate.


2014 County Championship Shield, Competition format
The competition format consisted of four pools (one of four teams, the others with three), based roughly on regional lines where possible, with each team playing each other once. The top side of each group qualified for the semi-finals, with the winners of the semi-finals playing in the final held at Twickenham Stadium on 1 June 2014. As the lowest tier in the county championship there is no relegation while promotion is not given every season, although outstanding county performances (such as Surrey's) can lead to counties moving up to tier 2.


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale
The 2014 Coupe Banque Nationale was a tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts. It was the 22nd edition of the Tournoi de Québec and the first with National Bank of Canada as the main sponsor, and was part of the WTA International tournaments of the 2014 WTA Tour. It took place at the PEPS de l'Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, from September 8 through September 14, 2014.


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following player entered the singles main draw with a protected ranking:


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale, Champions, Doubles
Lucie Hradecká /  Mirjana Lučić-Baroni def. Julia Görges /  Andrea Hlaváčková, 6–3, 7–6(10–8)


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale – Doubles
Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova were the defending champions, but decided not to participate this year.


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale – Doubles
Lucie Hradecká and Mirjana Lučić-Baroni won the title, defeating Julia Görges and Andrea Hlaváčková 6–3, 7–6(10–8) in the final.


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale – Singles
Lucie Šafářová was the defending champion, but decided not to participate this year.


2014 Coupe Banque Nationale – Singles
Mirjana Lučić-Baroni won her first WTA singles title since 1998, defeating Venus Williams 6–4, 6–3 in the final.


2014 Coupe de France Final
The 2014 Coupe de France Final decided the winner of the 2013–14 Coupe de France, the 97th season of France's premier football cup. It was played on 3 May at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris.


2014 Coupe de France Final
In the final, Guingamp beat Rennes 2–0 in a Derby Breton to win their second Coupe de France title. By winning, they  qualified for the Group Stage of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, and  the 2014 Trophée des Champions against the 2013–14 Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain.


2014 Coupe de France Final, Background
The match was Rennes' sixth final, of which they had won two (1965 and 1971). Their most recent final was in 2009, which they lost 2-1 to Guingamp. That was Guingamp's second appearance in the final after their unsuccessful attempt in 1997 when they lost on penalties to Nice.


2014 Coupe de France Final, Route to the final, Rennes
Rennes, of Ligue 1, began their campaign in the Round of 64 on 4 January at home to fellow top-flight team Valenciennes, winning 8-7 on penalties. In the next round, they won 2-0 at third-tier Boulogne, with goals from Anders Konradsen and Silvio Romero. In the Round of 16, away to Ligue 2 Auxerre, they won via a first-half Foued Kadir goal. Rennes then beat Lille 2-0 at home, with goals from Kamil Grosicki and Romain Alessandrini. In their semi-final on 15 April, Rennes beat second-tier Angers 3-2 at home, with Ola Toivonen, Grosicki and Jean Makoun scoring.


2014 Coupe de France Final, Route to the final, Guingamp
Guingamp, also of Ligue 1, entered into the Round of 64, where they played away to third-tier Bourg-Péronnas on 5 January and won via first-half goals from Claudio Beauvue and Mustapha Yatabaré. They went away again in the Round of 32, to fifth-tier Concarneau, and won 3-2 in extra-time after a 1-1 regulation-time draw, Yatabaré (2) and Beauvue again the scorers. In the Round of 16 Guingamp travelled to Corsica to play another fifth-tier club, Île-Rousse, who had reached that stage by defeating holders Bordeaux.


2014 Coupe de France Final, Route to the final, Guingamp
Goals from Grégory Cerdan and Mustapha Diallo sent Guingamp into the quarter-finals, where they played AS Cannes and won 2-0 away again, through another Yatabaré brace. In the semi-final on 16 April 2014, Guingamp played at home against their first top-flight opponents, Monaco. Yatabaré scored early on, but Dimitar Berbatov equalised before half-time. The scores remained level into the second half of extra time, in which Guingamp scored twice, through Yatabaré and Fatih Atık.


2014 Coupe de France Final, Match, Summary
Jonathan Martins Pereira scored the first goal for Guingamp with a  volley from the edge of the area in the 37th minute, and Mustapha Yatabaré got the second in the 46th minute with a powerful downward header from Steeven Langil's left-wing cross.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final
The 2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final was the 20th final of France's football league cup competition, the Coupe de la Ligue, a competition for the 42 teams that the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) manages. The final took place on 19 April 2014 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis and was contested between Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. PSG won 2–1 and became the first club to win the competition four times, ahead of Bordeaux and Marseille.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final
The winner of the final should have been guaranteed a UEFA Europa League place for the 2014–15 season, but PSG had already qualified for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League via its league position.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Build-up, Team backgrounds
Lyon appeared in its fifth final of the Coupe de la Ligue. The Rhône-Alpes-based club won its only league cup title in 2001 defeating Monaco 2–1 after extra time. In Lyon's three other finals appearances, the club finished runner-up in 1996, 2007 and 2012 to Metz, Bordeaux and Marseille respectively.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Build-up, Team backgrounds
In their four previous finals, Paris Saint-Germain had won three: the inaugural final in 1995 against Bastia, in 1998 against Bordeaux in a penalty shootout, and a 2-1 win over Lens in 2008. Their one defeat in a final had been in 2000, losing to second-tier Gueugnon. PSG manager Laurent Blanc had won the 2009 final with Bordeaux.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Build-up, Team backgrounds
The two teams met in the league six days before the final, Lyon winning 1–0 at home through Jordan Ferri to inflict only PSG's second league defeat of the season and prevent them from possibly winning the title on that day. However, Lyon manager Rémi Garde, said "The two matches shouldn't be compared. We were at home and on Saturday we're away from home. We're closer to Paris than Lyon. They are two competitions with different ingredients. I'm not worried that we'll relax after our win. We'll start from scratch."


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Build-up, Team backgrounds
PSG were disadvantaged by the loss through injury of Ligue 1 top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimović, who was injured in their Champions League victory over Chelsea on 2 April. As a result, Edinson Cavani moved to centre-forward. First-choice goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu was rested for PSG, with Nicolas Douchez starting instead. A BBC preview to the match said, "Champions League heartbreak, losing your best player through injury and then being beaten by tonight's opponents in your last game. It's fair enough to say Paris St-Germain's build-up to the French League Cup final hasn't been ideal."


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Build-up, Ticketing
The Coupe de la Ligue final has been played every year at the Stade de France since 1998, following the stadium's completion. The stadium has a capacity of 81,338 spectators. Both clubs will receive the same quota of tickets, which are distributed to season ticket holders and through each club's ticket sales at a later date. Ticketing information was released on 12 February 2014.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Road to the Final, Lyon
As a Ligue 1 club involved in a European campaign, Lyon entered in the Round of 16 on 18 December 2013 and defeated Reims 3–2 at home, with all goals in the second half, Lyon's through Bafétimbi Gomis, Alexandre Lacazette and Yoann Gourcuff. In the quarter-finals on 15 January 2014, again at home, they beat Marseille 2–1 through Gourcuff and Gomis. Lyon's semi-final was at home against Ligue 2 club Troyes on 5 February, and they won 2–1 after Lacazette and Gomis scored in the first half hour of play.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Road to the Final, Paris Saint-Germain
Due to the same circumstances, PSG also entered the tournament at the same stage on the same day, and played holders Saint-Étienne at home in their first match. Edinson Cavani put the home team ahead in the first half, before Mevlüt Erdinç equalised late on. Cavani then scored the winner within the last five minutes of extra time. In the quarter-finals on 14 January, PSG travelled to the Stade Chaban-Delmas to play against Bordeaux. Javier Pastore scored the first goal at the end of the first half, with André Biyogo Poko equalising soon after play resumed. With two goals in the last five minutes of the match, Adrien Rabiot and Blaise Matuidi put PSG into the semi-finals. At the Stade de la Beaujoire, PSG gained the lead early on through Zlatan Ibrahimović, and the last ten minutes saw Olivier Veigneau equalise and Ibrahimović score the winner.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Match, Summary
After 178 seconds of play, Edinson Cavani opened the scoring for PSG by tapping in a cross from left-back Maxwell which beat Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes. Cavani gained advantage by playing in a preferred centre-forward position due to the injury to Zlatan Ibrahimović, and soon after scoring forced a save by a volley. PSG defender Alex had a goal ruled out for offside, and Cavani converted a penalty won when Lopes fouled Lucas.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Match, Summary
A chance for a first-half hat-trick was denied when Cavani missed a one-on-one from eight yards out, and in the first ten minutes of the second half, Alexandre Lacazette scored for Lyon by running from the halfway line and then shooting from 20 yards. Despite then dominating possession, Lyon had few subsequent chances to equalise.


2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final, Match, Details
Assistant referees:Mickaël AnnonierFrédéric CanoFourth official:Eric DansaultAdditional assistant referees:Nicolas RainvilleBartolomeu Varela


2014 Coventry City Council election
The 2014 Coventry City Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Coventry City Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections.


2014 Cowdenbeath by-election
The Cowdenbeath by-election, 2014 was a by-election held for the Scottish Parliament constituency of Cowdenbeath on 23 January 2014.


2014 Cowdenbeath by-election, Background
The by-election was held following the death of the constituency's MSP, Helen Eadie, who had been diagnosed with cancer the previous year.


2014 Cowdenbeath by-election, Background
Eadie had represented Cowdenbeath since the first election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, making her one of the few MSPs to have served in the Scottish Parliament continuously since its inception. Prior to the 2011 election the seat was known as Dunfermline East. In the 2011 election Eadie held the seat with 46.5% of the vote and a majority of 1,247 votes (4.9%) over the second placed Scottish National Party candidate.


2014 Cowdenbeath by-election, Result
In the by-election, the seat was held by Labour candidate Alex Rowley, increasing Labour's vote share to 55.8% and majority to 27.4% over SNP candidate Natalie McGarry, with an 11.25% swing.


2014 Cowdenbeath by-election, 2016 Scottish Parliament election
Despite Labour's by-election success, in the subsequent 2016 Scottish Parliament election Annabelle Ewing gained the constituency for the SNP, although Rowley was re-elected to the Scottish parliament as an additional member for the Mid Scotland Fife region.


2014 Craven District Council election
The 2014 Craven District Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Craven District Council in North Yorkshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.


2014 Craven District Council election
After the election, the composition of the council was as follows:


2014 Craven District Council election, Background
After the last election in 2012 the Conservatives had a 2-seat majority with 16 councillors, compared to 10 independents and 4 Liberal Democrats. The Conservative majority was increased in 2013 when the independent councillor for Hellifield and Long Preston Chris Moorby joined the Conservatives. By the time of the 2014 election a further seat was vacant after the death of Liberal Democrat councillor Polly English, meaning that before the election the council had 17 Conservative, 9 independent and 3 Liberal Democrat councillors.


2014 Craven District Council election, Background
9 seats were contested in 2014 with no candidates from the Liberal Democrats standing, even in Aire Valley with Lothersdale where the Liberal Democrat councillor for the previous 12 years, Mark Wheeler stood down at the election. However Labour for the first time in many years put up candidates for all 9 seats contested, despite not holding any seats on the council before the election. The Conservatives stood in 8 seats, just not standing in Sutton-in-Craven against independent councillor, Stephen Place, who was allied with the Conservatives. Other candidates included a further two independents, including sitting councillor Philip Barrett, and one candidate from the UK Independence Party.


2014 Craven District Council election, Election result
Only one seat changed hands at the election with the Conservatives gaining a seat from the Liberal Democrats to have 18 councillors. The Conservative gain came in Aire Valley with Lothersdale where Patrick Mulligan picked up the seat vacated by Liberal Democrat Mark Wheeler to become the only new councillor after the election. This reduced the Liberal Democrats to 2 seats on the council, while there remained 9 independents and 1 seat was vacant in Skipton West.


2014 Craven District Council election, By-elections between 2014 and 2015
A by-election was held in Skipton West on 2 July 2014 after the death of Liberal Democrat councillor Polly English. The seat was gained for Labour by Peter Madeley with a majority of 42 votes over Liberal Democrat Edward Walker. The victory meant Peter Madeley became the first Labour councillor on Craven council since 1999.


2014 Crawley Borough Council election
The 2014 Crawley Borough Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Crawley Borough Council in West Sussex, England. This was on the same day as other local elections.


2014 Crawley Borough Council election
One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party gained control of the council.


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier
The 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier  was a cricket tournament that formed the final part of the Cricket World Cup qualification process for the 2015 World Cup. The top two teams qualified for the World Cup, joining Ireland and for the first time Afghanistan, both of whom already qualified through the 2011–13 ICC World Cricket League Championship and maintained their ODI status. The World Cup Qualifier was the final event of the 2009–14 World Cricket League. It was staged in New Zealand, from 13 January to 1 February 2014 after Scotland relinquished the right to host it. Scotland was originally scheduled to host the tournament in July and August 2013.


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier
The tournament saw Scotland, who won the final against the UAE, qualifying for their 3rd World Cup and retaining their ODI status, and runners up the UAE qualifying for their second world cup and gaining ODI status. Despite not qualifying for the World Cup, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea gained ODI status for the first time by finishing the tournament in 3rd and 4th places respectively.


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier
The tournament also saw leading associate countries Kenya, the Netherlands and Canada fail to qualify for the World Cup and lose their ODI status till 2018, although the Netherlands did qualify for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 instead of Scotland.


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, Format
According to ICC "the 10 teams were to be equally divided into two groups with the top three sides from each group progressing to the Super Six stage. The top two sides from the Super Six stage would not only reach the final but would also qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to complete the 14-team tally. Top 4 team would get ODI status where as 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th placed teams would remain or be relegated to Division 2"


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, Teams
The tournament followed the conclusion of the 2011–13 ICC World Cricket League Championship. The top two teams from this tournament, Ireland and Afghanistan, qualified for the 2015 World Cup, with the remaining six teams entering the World Cup Qualifier. They were joined by the third and fourth-placed teams from 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Two and the top two teams from 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three.


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, Match officials
Officiating the tournament were three match referees and in all during the tournament, there were 14 umpires who would officiate, including Marais Erasmus of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires while the remaining 13 representatives were from the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires and the ICC Associates and Affiliates Umpires' Panel.


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, Warm-up matches
10 non ODI warmup games were played before the tournament started.


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, Super Six, Points table
Results of matches between qualified teams were carried over from the group stage.


2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier warm-up matches
10 non ODI warmup games for the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier were played before the tournament started.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections took place in the Republic of Crimea on 14 September 2014. These were the first elections since Crimea's annexation into the Russian Federation earlier that year. The outcome was an overwhelming victory for President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Background
After the 2014 Crimean crisis, following the passage of a secession referendum, which international community widely saw as illegal (See:International reactions to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation),  the declaration of independence of the Republic of Crimea from Ukraine and the process of accession to Russia that followed it, on 11 April the State Council of Crimea approved a joint appeal from Crimea and Sevastopol's Legislative Assembly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him to bring forward parliamentary elections from 2015 to September 2014 "to accelerate the integration of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol into the system of government of the Russian Federation".


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Background
On 17 April Putin submitted a draft law on parliamentary elections in Crimea and Sevastopol to the State Duma, setting 14 September 2014 as the election date. On this day also election were held in 30 Russian regions and 14 regional (Russian) legislatures.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Electoral system
According to Crimean State Council Chairman Vladimir Konstantinov, the elections will be conducted according to a mixed system. Fifty deputies will be elected on Party-list proportional representation and 25 in majority constituencies.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Electoral system
Russian Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov said that the commission  filed a request for funding with the government for 400 million roubles to conduct the election.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Electoral system
On 9 September 2014 Head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov announced that Crimean residents "who did not manage to obtain a passport of the Russian Federation" would be able to participate in the elections using their "Ukrainian local registration".


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Issues
The local Crimean Tatars had called for a boycott of the elections.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Issues
Opposition figures in Crimea complained that they were deprived of a chance to win seats because of "Administrative resource-tactics" that made sure unapproved challengers would have no chance of gaining traction.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Results
Only two parties overcame the election threshold: United Russia won 70 mandates of the Crimean Republic's State Council 75 seats because its candidates won in all 25 single-member constituencies and it won 71.06% of the party-list vote; the other 5 mandates went to the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia who won 8.14% of the party-list vote. The voter turnout was 53.61%.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Results
803 candidates had tried to win seats; 108 candidates in one of the single-member constituencies and the rest as candidates as member of 12 political parties.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Opinion polls
According to a poll by August/September 2014 poll by the Crimean Academy of Sciences the United Russia party would receive 95% of the votes in the 25 in majority constituencies and about 67% of the votes on the all-Crimean party lists.


2014 Crimean parliamentary election, Opinion polls
10% of the other votes on the party list were predicted to go to the LDPR (most of these voters were believed to live in south Crimea), 8% to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (pollsters noted that their popularity (compared with three month earlier) was diminishing), 4.5% to Rodina and A Just Russia, 2,5% to Patriots of Russia and about 3% to other parties. The Crimean Academy of Sciences predicted a turnout of 80%.


2014 Crimean status referendum
The Crimean status referendum of 2014 was referendum concerning the status of Crimea, held on March 16 2014 in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the local government of Sevastopol (both subdivisions of Ukraine). The referendum asked local populations whether they wanted to join Russia as a federal subject, or if they wanted to restore the 1992 Crimean constitution and Crimea's status as a part of Ukraine.


2014 Crimean status referendum
The official result from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was a 97 percent vote for integration of the region into the Russian Federation with an 83 percent voter turnout, and within the local government of Sevastopol there was also a 97 percent vote for integration of the region into the Russian Federation with an 89 percent voter turnout.


2014 Crimean status referendum
After the events of Euromaidan, the referendum was held during and after Russia's implementation of a military presence in Crimea. The referendum is not internationally recognized by most countries.


2014 Crimean status referendum
In referendums in 1991 and 1994 proposals for greater Crimean autonomy within Ukraine were approved by voters. Most recently, members of the Supreme Council of Crimea claimed the ousting of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution was a "coup" and the new interim government in Kyiv was illegitimate and stated that the referendum was a response to these developments.


2014 Crimean status referendum
The March 16 referendum's available choices did not include keeping the status quo of Crimea and Sevastopol as they were at the moment the referendum was held. The 1992 constitution accords greater powers to the Crimean parliament, including full sovereign powers to establish relations with other states; therefore, many Western and Ukrainian commentators argued that both provided referendum choices would result in de facto separation from Ukraine. The final date and ballot choices were set only ten days before the plebiscite was held. Before, during and after the plebiscite was proclaimed, the Crimean peninsula was host to Russian soldiers who managed to oversee public buildings and Ukrainian military installations.


2014 Crimean status referendum
Following the referendum, the Supreme Council of Crimea and Sevastopol City Council declared the independence of the Republic of Crimea from Ukraine and requested to join the Russian Federation. On the same day, Russia recognized the Republic of Crimea as a sovereign state.


2014 Crimean status referendum
The referendum was regarded as illegitimate by most members of the European Union mainly due to the presence of Russian forces. Thirteen members of the United Nations Security Council voted in favor of a resolution declaring the referendum invalid, but Russia vetoed it and China abstained. A United Nations General Assembly resolution was later adopted, by a vote of 100 in favor vs. 11 against with 58 abstentions, which declared the referendum invalid and affirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity. As the plebiscite was proclaimed, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People had called for a boycott of the referendum. The Mejlis Deputy Chairman, Akhtem Chiygoz, felt that the actual turnout could not have exceeded 30–40 percent, arguing that to be the normal turnout for votes in the region.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background
According to the 2001 Ukrainian population census, 58.3% of the population of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are ethnic Russians, 24.3% are ethnic Ukrainians and 12% are Crimean Tatars. In Sevastopol, 71.6% are ethnic Russians and 22.4% are ethnic Ukrainians. 77% of Crimea's and 94% of Sevastopol's population are native speakers of Russian.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background
Crimea and Sevastopol are neighboring subdivisions of Ukraine located in the Crimean peninsula, a region with a long and complex history. Demographically, the region is currently populated by Russian-speaking majorities but with such demographics undergoing dramatic changes for the past 200 years, due in part to the deportation of the Crimean Tatars 70 years ago. Following the Tatar deportation, large numbers of ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians settled in the region.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, History
During the period of the Soviet Union, the Crimean Oblast was a subdivision of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic until the 1954 transfer of Crimea into the Ukrainian SSR. Crimea became part of independent Ukraine after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, shortly after Crimea had re-gained its autonomy following a 1991 referendum. The Ukrainian parliament abolished the 1992 Crimean Constitution and the office of President of Crimea in 1995. In 1998, Crimea gained a new constitution, which granted it less autonomy; notably, any legislation passed by the Crimean parliament could be vetoed by the Ukrainian parliament.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
Polling in 2008 by the Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies, also called the Razumkov Centre, found that 63.8% of Crimeans (76% of ethnic Russians, 55% of ethnic Ukrainians, and 14% of ethnic Crimean Tatars, respectively) would like Crimea to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, and that 53.8% of Crimeans would like to preserve its current status but with expanded powers and rights. Razumkov characterized Crimeans' views as controversial and unsteady, and therefore vulnerable to internal and external influences.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
The United Nations Development Programme conducted a series of polls in Crimea between 2009 and 2011 about the question of leaving Ukraine and joining Russia with a sample size of 1,200:


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
A poll by the International Republican Institute in May 2013 found that 53% wanted "Autonomy in Ukraine (as today)", 12% were for "Crimean Tatar autonomy within Ukraine", 2% for "Common oblast of Ukraine" and 23% voted for "Crimea should be separated and given to Russia".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
A poll conducted in Crimea in 2013 and then repeated February 8 – 18, 2014 (just days before the ousting of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych), by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found 35.9% and then 41% support for unification of all Ukraine with Russia.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
The Crimean Institute of Political and Social Research conducted a survey from March 8–10, 2014, and found that 77% of respondents planned to vote for "reunification with Russia", while 97% of polled Crimeans assessed the current situation in Ukraine as negative.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
From March 12 – 14, 2014, Germany's largest pollster, the GfK Group, conducted a survey with 600 respondents and found that 70.6% of Crimeans intended to vote for joining Russia, 10.8% for restoring the 1992 constitution, and 5.6% did not intend to take part in the referendum. The poll also showed that if Crimeans had more choices, 53.8% of them would choose joining Russia, 5.2% restoration of 1992 constitution, 18.6% a fully independent Crimean state and 12.6% would choose to keep the previous status of Crimea.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
Gallup conducted an immediate post-referendum survey of Ukraine and Crimea and published their results in April 2014. Gallup reported that, among the population of Crimea, 93.6% of ethnic Russians and 68.4% of ethnic Ukrainians believed the referendum result accurately represents the will of the Crimean people. Only 1.7% of ethnic Russians and 14.5% of ethnic Ukrainians living in Crimea thought that the referendum results didn't accurately reflect the views of the Crimean people.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
In May 2014, Washington, D.C., pollster Pew Research published results of a survey that encompassed Crimea, Ukraine, and Russia, in which it was reported that 88% of Crimeans believed the government of Kyiv should officially recognize the result of Crimea's referendum.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
Between December 12 and 25, 2014, Levada-Center carried out a survey of Crimea that was commissioned by John O'Loughlin, College Professor of Distinction and Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and Gerard Toal (Gearóid Ó Tuathail), Professor of Government and International Affairs at Virginia Tech's National Capital Region campus.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
The results of that survey were published by Open Democracy in March, 2015, and reported that, overall, 84% of Crimeans felt the choice to secede from Ukraine and accede to Russia was "Absolutely the right decision", with the next-largest segment of respondents saying the decision to return to Russia was the "Generally right decision".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
The survey commissioners, John O'Loughlin and Gerard Toal, wrote in their Open Democracy article that, while they felt that the referendum was "an illegal act under international law", their survey shows "It is also an act that enjoys the widespread support of the peninsula's inhabitants, with the important exception of its Crimean Tatar population" with "widespread support for Crimea's decision to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation one year ago". Their survey also reported that a majority of Crimean Tatars viewed Crimea's return to Russia as either the "Absolutely right decision" or the "Generally right decision".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
From January 16 – 22, 2015, Germany's GfK Group, with support from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, followed-up their pre-referendum survey of Crimeans' voting intention with a post-referendum survey about how satisfied Crimeans are with the outcome of their referendum. GfK's post-referendum survey found that 82% of Crimeans "Fully endorse" Crimea's referendum and return to Russia, while another 11% "Mostly endorse" it.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
From February 9 – 18, 2015, Russian public opinion research centre, VTsIOM, carried out a door-to-door survey of 1,600 Crimean respondents. The VTsIOM survey asked how people would vote if the same referendum on Crimea's identity that was held in March 2014 were held again at the present time (February 2015).


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
VTsIOM reported that 97% of ethnic Russians, 91% of ethnic Ukrainians, 49% of ethnic Tatars, and 92% of all other ethnic groups would vote for Crimea to join Russia, while 1% of ethnic Russians, 4% of ethnic Ukrainians, 26% of ethnic Tatars, and 2% of all other ethnic groups would vote to remain an autonomous region of Ukraine.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
In November 2017, German pollster ZOiS published the results of a survey which reported that 85.3% of Crimeans excluding Tatars, and 61.8% of Crimean Tatars excluding other Crimean demographics thought that Crimeans would either vote the same or that the majority would vote the same as they did in 2014 if the same referendum were held at the present time (November 2017). 3.8% of Crimeans excluding Tatars, and 16.2% of Crimean Tatars responded that most Crimeans would vote differently if the same referendum were held again at that time in 2017.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
The ZOiS survey also reported that, among the Crimean population apart from Tatars, when asked what was the reason Crimea became a part of Russia in 2014, 32.9% of respondents said that Crimea became a part of Russia as a result of Kyiv's neglect of the region over many years, 25% of respondents said it happened because of the mobilization of the Crimean population, 24% respondents said it happened as a result of the Euromaidan, and 17.4% said it happened as a result of Russia's action.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
When the same question was asked of Crimean Tatars, excluding all other demographics in Crimea, 36.3% of respondents said that Crimea became a part of Russia as a result of the Euromaidan, 32.9% said it happened as a result of Kyiv's neglect of the region over many years, 24% of respondents said it happened as a result of Russia's action, and 7.8% said it happened because of the mobilization of the Crimean population.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
In March 2019, Russian public opinion research centre, VTsIOM, published the results of a new survey of Crimea in which 89% of respondents said they would vote to "reunify" with Russia if a referendum on the matter were held next week. The same survey reported 93% of Crimeans viewed Crimea's "reunification" with Russia in a positive light, while 3% viewed it in a negative light. 86% of respondents said they believed that Crimea is developing more successfully as under Russian control, while 72% said that the "reunification" had a positive effect on their lives and that of their families. 59% of respondents said they had "noticed positive changes on the peninsula in the last year".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Polling
In December 2019, Levada-Center was again commissioned by John O'Loughlin, College Professor of Distinction and Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and Gerard Toal (Gearóid Ó Tuathail), Professor of Government and International Affairs at Virginia Tech's National Capital Region campus, to carry-out a survey of Crimea's attitudes towards their referendum and living as a part of Russia. The survey aimed to repeat the questions of their 2014 survey. The 2019 survey found that 82% of Crimea's population supported Crimea's accession to Russia, as opposed to 86% in 2014. The survey also found that 58% of Crimean Tatars now supported Crimea's accession to Russia, as opposed to 39% in 2014.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Pre-referendum
Amidst tensions in the region during the Ukrainian revolution, On February 27, Russian forces cutoff Crimean Peninsula from the mainland Ukraine and took over Supreme Council of Crimea. Under armed occupation, the Crimean regional government was dissolved and reformed, and voted to hold a referendum on the status of Crimea on May 25. Olha Sulnikova, head of information and analysis department of parliament, reported on the phone from inside the parliamentary building that 61 of the registered 64 deputies had voted for the referendum resolution and 55 for the resolution to dismiss the government.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Pre-referendum
Interfax-Ukraine reported that, "it is impossible to find out whether all the 64 members of the 100-member legislature who were registered as present, when the two decisions were voted on or whether someone else used the plastic voting cards of some of them" because due to the armed occupation of parliament it was unclear how many members of parliament were present. Enver Abduraimov, member of the parliament presidium, said that he did not go inside when he saw that armed guards who secured the building were confiscating all communications devices from deputies. Andriy Krysko, head of the Crimean branch of the Voters Committee of Ukraine, announced that no one from the parliament secretariat was in the building when voting took place.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Pre-referendum
Originally the referendum was to be about the status of Crimea within Ukraine and was initially set for May 25, but later, on  March 1, it was pushed back to March 30. The referendum was approved by the Supreme Council of Crimea in February but the Central Election Commission of Ukraine denounced it by stating that the Crimean authorities do not possess the legal jurisdiction to conduct it. Regarding the referendum's initial purpose,  The Daily Telegraph reported on February 27, that it, "appears to be for greater autonomy within Ukraine rather than for full independence."


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Pre-referendum
On March 4, the district administration court of Kyiv nullified the no confidence vote in the Council of Ministers of Crimea and the appointment of Sergey Aksyonov as Prime Minister of Crimea and declared the organization and conduct of the referendum as illegal. On March 6, the Supreme Council changed the date of the referendum from March 30 to 16 and changed the choice for the referendum from greater autonomy to accession to the Russian Federation. This decision was made with 78 votes in favor and 8 abstentions.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Pre-referendum
Concerns were raised about the presence of armed forces outside the parliament and reports of lawmakers being denied access to the vote. Later that day, acting President Turchynov announced "In accordance with power I am conferred on, I have stopped the decision of the Crimean parliament. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will initiate dissolution of the parliament of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. We will defend the inviolability of the Ukrainian territory." On 14 March, the referendum was deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and a day later, the Verkhovna Rada formally dissolved the Crimean parliament.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Background, Pre-referendum
The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People had called for a boycott of the referendum. Several hundred residents of Crimea, mainly Crimean Tatars, left Crimea for security reasons according to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration
The referendum was announced to be held on March 16 2014. The referendum was announced to be held on March 16 2014 in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. The procedure for holding the referendum was established by the temporary referendum regulations adopted by the Supreme Council of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration, Choices
There were two choices to choose from on the ballot. Voters were able to choose only one of these. The choices reflected the following stances:


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration, Choices
The referendum's available choices did not include keeping the status quo of retaining arrangements enacted by the 1998 Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Additionally, the second choice, is unclear because there were two revisions of the Crimean constitution in 1992. The original 1992 constitution was adopted together with a declaration of independence, but parliament then amended the constitution one day later to affirm that Crimea "was a part of Ukraine".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration, Choices
Many commentators, including The New York Times, Kyiv Post, and Fox News argued that both choices would result in de facto independence.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration, Choices
The ballot was printed in three languages: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar (in the Cyrillic script).


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration, Procedure
There were two simultaneous referendums, one organised by the city council of Sevastopol and another organised by a special committee set up by the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration, Procedure
Only Crimean residents with Ukrainian passports were allowed to vote.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration, Procedure
The voting boxes were transparent and the ballots were not placed in envelopes in such a way as to make the marked ballots visible through the box walls.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Administration, Procedure
The referendum was to be decided by a simple majority with the choice with the most votes declared winner. The referendum rules did not state if there was a threshold number of votes needed for the result to be enacted.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
Organizing and holding the referendum on Crimea's accession to Russia was illegal under the Constitution of Ukraine. According to article 73 of the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine and article 3 of the 2012 Ukrainian law "On all-Ukrainian referendum", territorial changes can only be approved via a referendum where all the citizens of Ukraine are allowed to vote, including those that do not reside in Crimea. The Central Election Commission of Ukraine also stated that there are no judicial possibilities, according to the legislation of Ukraine, to initiate such changes.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
The reactions of many nations to the referendum—particularly of Western-nations—were addressing the matter of Crimean secession from Ukraine, whereas the Crimean referendum itself was not about secession from Ukraine, but took Crimea's secession from Ukraine to already be de facto following its government's declaration. Crimea's March 16 referendum occurred following the March 11 declaration of Crimea's independence from Ukraine made by Crimea's parliament, which was made following a controversial parliamentary vote of 78 in favour of, and 22 against Crimea's secession from Ukraine. Both of the ballot options for the March 16, 2014 Crimean referendum acknowledged that Crimea was already an independent state at that time, despite the declaration of independence occurring without a national vote in Ukraine, as the constitutions required.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
The interim Ukrainian government, European Union, and several other bodies stated that any referendum held by the local government of Crimea without the express authority of Ukraine is unconstitutional and illegitimate. The interim government in Kyiv and the pro-Russian Crimean faction do not recognize each other as legitimate. Additionally, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People—the unofficial political association of the Crimean Tatars—called for a boycott of the referendum.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
Russia and the Crimean parliament argue that the referendum is legal, citing the UN recognized right of self-determination and the advisory opinion on Kosovo in which the International Court of Justice declared that international law contains no prohibition against declarations of independence. Legal scholars have disputed the validity of the Kosovo analogy.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
The Venice Commission declared that the referendum was illegal under both Ukrainian and Crimean Constitutions, and violated international standards and norms. The Venice Commission stressed that self-determination was to be understood primarily as internal self-determination within the framework of the existing borders and not as external self-determination through secession. Moreover, the Venice Commission opined, any referendum on the status of a territory should have been preceded by serious negotiations among all stakeholders, and that such negotiations did not take place.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
Many scholars and politicians (Neil Melvin, Robert McCorquodale, John Kerry, John B. Bellinger III, Marc Weller among others) have stated that the referendum was conducted under the cover of assault rifles and, thus, the result was obtained through violence.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
However, according to Russia Today and ITAR-TASS those claims are not substantiated by the international observers of the pro-Kremlin European Center of Geopolitical Analysis, Polish Eurasian Mateusz Piskorski (leader of the European observers' mission according to the Kremlin media outlet Russia Today), the FPÖ's Ewald Stadler and Johannes Hübner, Pavel Chernev, Aymeric Chauprade, Tatjana Ždanoka, Srđa Trifković, who said they saw no signs of pressure or military presence during the referendum, and that the Crimean people were genuinely eager to have their say in the vote.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
Party of Regions MP Yuriy Miroshnychenko claimed on March 11 that "the Crimean referendum is illegitimate, and its holding must be immediately stopped". Another Party of Regions MP, Hanna Herman, commented the same day about Yanukovych's press conference, "He needs to ... prevent the illegal referendum".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Legal aspects
President of Russia Vladimir Putin during his conversation with Mustafa Dzhemilev, a  former Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, stated that Ukrainian Independence from the Soviet Union was not obtained legitimately, while maintaining that the Crimean referendum followed all international-law, the UN charter, and the convention established by Kosovo's NATO-prodded annexation from Serbia.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Campaign
According to BBC News the campaign leading up to the referendum was "almost entirely pro-Russian". Pro -Russia election posters often featured crossed-out swastikas in an alleged attempt to be saying "No" to the Ukrainian government, who they alleged to be neo-Nazis. Shortly after the referendum was called, Ukrainian TV channels were made unavailable for Crimean viewers, some of them were replaced with Russian stations. BBC News also stated it had received reports of violence against pro-Ukrainian activists.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Campaign
Unsigned billboards and leaflets campaigning for the referendum, describing new Ukraine government as fascists and showing economic reasons to join Russia, appeared throughout Crimea.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, OSCE and UN absence
On March 10, 2014 the de facto Prime Minister of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, made an unofficial verbal invitation to OSCE to monitor the plebiscite. However, later in the day, an OSCE spokeswoman said that Crimea did not have the authority to invite the organization into the region as it is not a fully-fledged state and, therefore, incapable of requesting services provided exclusively to OSCE members. On March 11, the OSCE chair, Switzerland's Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, declared the referendum as unconstitutional and therefore the OSCE would not send observers. OSCE military observers attempted to enter the region four times but were turned away, sometimes after warning shots were fired, which was another reason given for not dispatching referendum observers.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, OSCE and UN absence
OSCE also published a report about their observations which "produced significant evidence of equipment consistent with the presence of Russian Federation military personnel in the vicinity of the various roadblocks encountered".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, OSCE and UN absence
The UN Human Rights Envoy Ivan Šimonović had to cancel his trip to Crimea as the current situation did not permit his travel. He intended to observe the human rights situation which was Russia's explanation for its engagement in Crimea.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Non-OSCE observers
Russian-controlled media and referendum organizers said that from nearly 70 to 135 international observers monitored the referendum without reporting any violations, but the objectivity of these has been questioned, because many of them had ties to far-right extremist groups.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Non-OSCE observers
According to reports by the state media, observers to the 2014 Crimean referendum included members of the European Union's parliament, as well as MPs from various European nations, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia and Poland, and that observers quoted regarding the conditions of the referendum corroborated claims of the referendum having adhered to international standards, with no irregularities or breaches of democracy.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Non-OSCE observers
According to Yale historian Timothy Snyder, the Russian government invited individuals belonging to European far-right, anti-semitic and neo-Nazi parties to serve as observers. At least some of the international observers were managed and financed by the Eurasian Observatory for Democracy & Elections (EODE), a far-right, NGO international election-monitoring organization.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Non-OSCE observers
Shaun Walker from The Guardian reported that during a press conference on the eve of the referendum, some of the aforementioned observers "went on political rants against U.S. hegemony in the world", describing the press conference as "rather bizarre".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Non-OSCE observers
Exit-polls were allowed only for the Republican Institute of Sociological Research since, according to Russia-24, no other organizations have applied for accreditation for exit polls.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Allegations of fraud
A Russian journalist claimed that she was allowed to vote even after admitting she was a Russian citizen with only a temporary one-year permit to live in Crimea. "According to all the laws, this is illegal," she said in one interview. "I am a foreign citizen. How can I decide the destiny of the Crimean Autonomous Republic of Ukraine?"


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Allegations of fraud
The chairman of the electoral campaign of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People claimed officials did not check carefully whether voters' names were on the electoral register and that some voters were bussed in to Bakhchysarai to increase participation rates in the city. Mejlis also stated that only 34.2% of Crimea residents participated in the referendum.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Allegations of fraud
There were a few reports of people confiscating identification documents before the voting day. Simferopol city administration confirmed these claims and declared these actions unlawful.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Allegations of fraud
A senior US official claimed there was "concrete evidence" of some ballots having been pre-marked.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Observers, Allegations of fraud
According to three Czech observers funded by the pro-Russian far-right non-governmental organization Eurasian Observatory for Democracy & Elections, deputy Stanislav Berkovec reported that the voting was free and the foreign deputies could move freely. According to his discussions with people, even the Tatars inclined towards Russia. Another deputy Milan Šarapatka reported that the referendum was formally regular and that there was no evidence of pressure on voters. According to Miloslav Soušek (the Vysoké Mýto mayor), the course of the referendum was comparable to the elections in the Czech Republic, he saw no soldiers in the town.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Official results
According to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine on February 28, 2014 there were 1,534,815 registered voters in the autonomous republic of Crimea and 309,774 in the city of Sevastopol, which totals to 1,844,589 voters in the both Ukrainian regions.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Official results
According to organizers of the referendum, 1,274,096 people voted in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, giving the plebiscite an 83.1% turnout in that region.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Alternative estimates of results
In the evening of 16 March 2014, Mikhail Malyshev, the Crimean election Spokesman, reported that as of 20:00, 1,250,427 people or 81.36% voted in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and 274,136 or 89.50% voted in Sevastopol for a total of 1,524,563 or 82.71% of the electorate. ITAR-TASS initially reported this as 1,724,563 voters in total, but corrected it later. The discrepancy led to some reports of a 123% turnout in Sevastopol.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Alternative estimates of results
On 5 May, the Russian President's Human Rights Council posted a report to their site about human rights in Crimea based on interviews with roughly 20 local human rights activists conducted over the course of two and a half days. One member of the council, Yevgeny Bobrov, reported the opinion that the "vast majority of the citizens of Sevastopol voted in favor of unification with Russia in the referendum (50–80%)" and that "in Crimea, various data show that 50–60% voted for unification with Russia, with a turnout of 30–50%". On 7 May the Council stated that the report was not an official position of the Council.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Alternative estimates of results
Mustafa Dzhemilev, a recent Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, reports that according to his sources the actual turn-up was only 32.4%, however he did not provide any evidence to support this claim. Mejlis Deputy Chairman Akhtem Chiygoz  argued that voter turnout in the referendum among Crimeans did not exceeded 30–40 percent, but he did not provide any evidence either.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Alternative estimates of results
Andrey Illarionov, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former Russian government adviser, cited results of previous polls over past three years showing the Crimean support for joining Russia between 23 and 41 percent to conclude that the actual support for the reunification of Crimea with Russia was about 34 percent and that at least two thirds of Crimea did not vote for it. He called the referendum a "grossly rigged falsification" and the outcome "cynically distorted".


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Post-referendum polls
The results of the survey by the US government Broadcasting Board of Governors, conducted April 21–29, 2014, showed that 83% of Crimeans felt that the results of the March 16 referendum on Crimea's status likely reflected the views of most people there. Whereas, this view is shared only by 30% in the rest of Ukraine.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Post-referendum polls
According to the Gallup's survey performed on April 21–27, 82.8% of Crimean people consider the referendum results reflecting most Crimeans' views, and 73.9% of Crimeans say Crimea's becoming part of Russia will make life better for themselves and their families, while 5.5% disagree.


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Post-referendum polls
According to survey carried out by Pew Research Center in April 2014, majority of Crimean residents say the referendum was free and fair (91%) and that the government in Kyiv ought to recognize the results of the vote (88%).


2014 Crimean status referendum, Results, Post-referendum polls
A poll of the Crimean public was taken by the Ukrainian branch of Germany's biggest market research organization, GfK, on January 16–22, 2015. According to its results: "Eighty-two percent of those polled said they fully supported Crimea's inclusion in Russia, and another 11 percent expressed partial support. Only 4 percent spoke out against it. ... Fifty-one percent reported their well-being had improved in the past year."