Article: 20 Amazing Football Facts to Impress Football Fans

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By Jonathan Lewis | 20th FEB 2020

Football facts from the most popular sport in the world to share while enjoying the beautiful game. Amaze your fellow fans with these 20 interesting football facts from MyFootballFacts, one of the Top 75 Football News Websites.

The last time both European Cup / Champions League finalists had no foreign players in their starting XIs was in 1966-67 Final between Celtic (Scotland) and Inter Milan (Italy).
The first British football club to reach a European Champions Cup Semi Final was Hibernian of Scotland in season 1955-56.
Harry Redknapp is the only manager to win the Premier League Manager of the Month Award for four different clubs: West Ham (November 1998), Portsmouth (April & Oct 2004), Southampton (March 2005) & Tottenham Hotspur (August 2009).
The Soviet Union (USSR) won the first European Football Championships in 1960.
The first non-United Kingdom football team to beat England on English soil was the Republic of Ireland beating England 2-0 at Goodison Park on 21st September 1949. Hungary were the first foreign team to win at Wembley Stadium.
Manchester United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson was the Premier League Manager of the year 11 times including 2002-03 season. Interestingly, Sir Alex Ferguson partly owned a race horse called Rock of Gibraltor, being named European Horse of the Year in 2002. Get Tips on the Grand National.
The first time player\s shirt numbers were used was on 25th August 1928 when Sheffield Wednesday beat Arsenal 3-2. Wednesday wore numbers 1 to 11 while Arsenal wore numbers 12 to 22.
The first British player to be transferred for £110,000 was Denis Law from Manchester City to Torino (Italy) in June 1961. Jimmy Greaves went from AC Milan to Tottenham Hotspur a few weeks earlier for £99,999 as Bill Nicholson didn’t want Greaves to be the first hundred thousand pounds footballer.
Steve Archibald in 1982 appeared twice on the same episode of “Top of the Pops” with two different groups, firstly singing “We Have a Dream” with the Scotland World Cup squad starring B.A. Robertson and then alongside his Tottenham Hotspur team mates and Chas & Dave singing “Tottenham, Tottenham”
The eight countries wholly or partly located in Asia that play their football in Europe are Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Cyprus, Israel and Russia.
Coventry City, Newcastle United and Oldham Athletic. were originally called Singers FC, Stanley AFC and Pine Villa FC.
The only FIFA World Cup tournament not to have a Final match was in Brazil 1950. The top four teams (Brazil, Spain, Sweden & Uruguay) played in a mini-league against each other. Uruguay finished champions.
The first club to win the European – South American Intercontinental Cup in 1960 was Real Madrid of Spain when they beat Peñarol of Uruguay over two legs. The competition ran until 2004, when it was replaced with FIFA’s Club World Cup.
England’s National Team first opponents at Wembley were Scotland in 1924, followed by Argentina in May 1951, Wales in 1952 and Northern Ireland in 1955.
The four players who scored England’s 11 goals during the 1966 FIFA World Cup Finals tournament were Geoff Hurst (West Ham) 4 goals, Roger Hunt (Liverpool) & Bobby Charlton (Manchester Utd) 3 goals each and Martin Peters (West Ham) 1 goal.
The 17 countries competed in the first UEFA European Championships in 1960 were USSR (winners), Yugoslavia (finalists), Czechoslovakia, France (semi-finalists), Austria, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Norway, Bulgaria, East Germany, Poland, Denmark, (qualification groups) & Ireland (preliminary round).
The only manager to win the FIFA World Cup twice (till 2018) was Vittorio Pozzo of Italy in 1934 & 1938.
The only three managers to have won three UEFA European Cup / Champions League Finals (till 2018-19 season) were Bob Paisley in 1977, 1978 & 1981 all with Liverpool. Carlo Ancelotti in 2002-03, 2006-07 with Milan and 2013-14 with Real Madrid and Zinedine Zidane in 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 with Madrid.
The first two brothers who played against each other in a FIFA World Cup Finals tournament was during the 2010 Finals in South Africa when Jerome Boateng’s Germany beat Kevin-Prince Boateng’s Ghana 1-0.
The two Nations that won the most Olympic Games Men’s Football gold medals (till 2016) at 3 each are Hungary in 1952, 1964 & 1968 and Great Britain in 1900, 1908 & 1912.

Article: 20 Amazing Football Facts to Impress Football Fans

Home ⇒ Articles

Football facts from the most popular sport in the world to share while enjoying the beautiful game. Amaze your fellow fans with these 20 interesting football facts from MyFootballFacts, one of the Top 75 Football News Websites.

The last time both European Cup / Champions League finalists had no foreign players in their starting XIs was in 1966-67 Final between Celtic (Scotland) and Inter Milan (Italy).

The first British football club to reach a European Champions Cup Semi Final was Hibernian of Scotland in season 1955-56.

Harry Redknapp is the only manager to win the Premier League Manager of the Month Award for four different clubs: West Ham (November 1998), Portsmouth (April & Oct 2004), Southampton (March 2005) & Tottenham Hotspur (August 2009).

The Soviet Union (USSR) won the first European Football Championships in 1960.

The first non-United Kingdom football team to beat England on English soil was the Republic of Ireland beating England 2-0 at Goodison Park on 21st September 1949. Hungary were the first foreign team to win at Wembley Stadium.

Manchester United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson was the Premier League Manager of the year 11 times including 2002-03 season. Interestingly, Sir Alex Ferguson partly owned a race horse called Rock of Gibraltor, being named European Horse of the Year in 2002. Get Tips on the Grand National.

The first time player\s shirt numbers were used was on 25th August 1928 when Sheffield Wednesday beat Arsenal 3-2. Wednesday wore numbers 1 to 11 while Arsenal wore numbers 12 to 22.

The eight countries wholly or partly located in Asia that play their football in Europe are Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Cyprus, Israel and Russia.

Coventry City, Newcastle United and Oldham Athletic. were originally called Singers FC, Stanley AFC and Pine Villa FC.

The only FIFA World Cup tournament not to have a Final match was in Brazil 1950. The top four teams (Brazil, Spain, Sweden & Uruguay) played in a mini-league against each other. Uruguay finished champions.

The first club to win the European – South American Intercontinental Cup in 1960 was Real Madrid of Spain when they beat Peñarol of Uruguay over two legs. The competition ran until 2004, when it was replaced with FIFA’s Club World Cup.

England’s National Team first opponents at Wembley were Scotland in 1924, followed by Argentina in May 1951, Wales in 1952 and Northern Ireland in 1955.

The four players who scored England’s 11 goals during the 1966 FIFA World Cup Finals tournament were Geoff Hurst (West Ham) 4 goals, Roger Hunt (Liverpool) & Bobby Charlton (Manchester Utd) 3 goals each and Martin Peters (West Ham) 1 goal.

The only manager to win the FIFA World Cup twice (till 2018) was Vittorio Pozzo of Italy in 1934 & 1938.

The first two brothers who played against each other in a FIFA World Cup Finals tournament was during the 2010 Finals in South Africa when Jerome Boateng’s Germany beat Kevin-Prince Boateng’s Ghana 1-0.

The two Nations that won the most Olympic Games Men’s Football gold medals (till 2016) at 3 each are Hungary in 1952, 1964 & 1968 and Great Britain in 1900, 1908 & 1912.

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