Geneva Around this time, the House of Savoy came to at least nominally dominate the city. In the 15th century, an oligarchic republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In the first half of the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation reached the city, causing religious strife, during which Savoy rule was thrown off and Geneva allied itself with the Swiss Confederacy. In 1541, with Protestantism on the rise, John Calvin, the founder of Calvinism, became the spiritual leader of the city and established the Republic of Geneva. By the 18th century, Geneva had come under the influence of
Manchester City F.C. in European football the number of places per country is based upon performances in European competition over the previous five years, England had a reduced allocation until 1995. By the 2002–03 season, Manchester City were back in the Premier League. An unusual route into European competition for the 2003–04 season was provided by the UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking, which provided extra UEFA Cup qualifying round places for the leagues with the best records for discipline and positive play. This marked Manchester City's first European participation for 24 years. In the qualifying round City played Welsh club Total Network Solutions. The first leg