“What’s the shortest gap between two competitive fixtures?” tweets Martin Doyle. “Has a professional team in living memory had to play twice in a day?”
The short answer is yes, though some have involved wholly different sets of players. “If you go back a century or more, this wasn’t unusual, and arose from teams who were unable to play in midweek (no floodlights) and having to cram in postponed games before an end-of-season deadline,” writes Andrew Wright, citing several in Scotland including Celtic’s wins over Raith and Motherwell on 15 April 1916.
“Argentina and Uruguay have played each other twice on the same day three times,” Andrew continues. “In 1913, they played friendlies in Montevideo and Buenos Aires on 27 April. Given the distance between these cities is 280km, I doubt the same players were involved. Uruguay won 4-0 at home and drew 0-0 away. They repeated the exercise on 13 July, with Uruguay winning 5-4 at home and drawing 3-3 away. On 1 October 1916, they played for the Uruguayan Honour Cup in Montevideo, with Argentina winning 1-0, and the same day, in Avellaneda for the Lipton Cup, where Argentina again won, 7-2.” He also unearths a more recent example from an African football blog: Nairobi’s Gor Mahia played KTM Thika and Kericho Allstars on the same day in the 1980s.
Brazil have also crammed two fixtures into a day, adds Amadeu Faccini Avi, drawing 2-2 with the Soviet Union and beating Hungary 5-3 in 1965, one in Rio and one in São Paulo. Staying in Brazil, São Paulo beat Sporting Cristal 3-1 in the Conmebol Cup on the same day (16 November 1994) as a 3-1 triumph over Grêmio. Not to be outdone, Grêmio played three games on one day in 1994, against Aimoré, Santa Cruz and Brasil de Pelotas, all in their state cup. “Thirty-four players were involved and three of them played more than once,” Amadeu adds.
In England, Everton once played three matches in two days in 1888, writes Tim Lawrence – in the Lancashire Cup against Blackburn on Christmas morning followed by an annual exhibition against Ulster FC in the afternoon, winning both. The following day they wearily drew 0-0 with Bootle.
As we mentioned a few years ago, Hornchurch of the Ryman League had to play two games in a day at the end of the 2000-01 season and in Wales, Mark Barnes tweets us to tell of the youthful Wrexham side who took on Airbus in the Welsh Cup on 3 December 2011, kicking-off a mere half hour before a more experienced Red Dragons selection beat Brentford in the FA Cup.
Leagues containing teams from three countries or more
“Browsing through some old non-league tables, I stumbled upon the Northern Premier League Division 1, which, between Gretna’s admission in 1992 and Caernarfon Town’s withdrawal to join the new Welsh structure in 1995, contained teams from the territory of three active Fifa members,” writes Michael Peters. “Has this ever been matched/beaten?”
In the Caribbean it has, albeit briefly, explains Anthony Perkins. The Caribbean Professional Football League lasted only from 1992 to 1995, as clubs struggled with debts and dismal attendances. “In its third and ultimately final season, in 1994, the competition comprised eight teams from five associations: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. In what was to be its fourth season, the league was set to feature 12 dazzling teams from nine Fifa associations: Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Granada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. However, the competition folded before the first whistle.”
The US can claim three, Chris Page and Rhys Shakeshaft tell us. “The 2009 United Soccer League First Division, as well as containing several American teams, also contained Montreal Impact and the Puerto Rico Islanders. Although Puerto Rico is a United States territory, they are a separate Fifa member in their own right.”
As for exceeding three, Chris and Rhys locate an arguable case in Singapore’s S League, which has on several occasions since 2010 featured teams based in Singapore and two other countries, most recently between 2012 and 2015 with the inclusion of DPMM FC from Brunei and Harimau Muda of Malaysia. “We could argue a fourth country by also counting Albirex Niigata, who are from Japan. Their main team competes in the Japanese league but they also have a satellite team based in Singapore playing in the S League.”
Neil Connolly chips in with the example of the 1942 German championship, which featured Rapid Vienna (Austria), FC Mulhouse (France) and NSTG Prague (Czechoslovakia), along with Preussen Danzig (then not part of any Fifa member) and a host of German teams. The next year they added Polizei Lodz and LSV Boelcke Krakow from Poland, but Danzig dropped out.
Footballers who have written books
“After the excellent artistic footballers piece, were there any notable players with literary success or ambitions?” tweets Tony Crawford.
France World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit has recently co-written a crime novel named “Le dernier tacle” (The Last Tackle), notes Florian Labrouche. While other footballers to dabble in literature include Samuel Eto’o with Birth of a Champion, Theo Walcott’s TJ series, Frank Lampard with Frankie’s Magic Football and Steve Bruce’s Defender, which prompted this must-read review.
Knowledge archive
“While Michael Schjonberg was playing for German team Hannover, he scored the deciding goal to bring them the DFB Cup 1992,” wrote Dubravko Milicic in 2009. “In return he can drink as much beer as he wants in Hannover. Are there any similar instances when players have received unusual bonuses for scoring one goal?”
Beer (for some reason) does seem to be a popular incentive. “In 2008, an Austrian brewery took time out of its busy schedule to offer a lifetime’s supply of free beer to the first Austrian to score in Euro 2008,” wrote James Tyler. “Two days later, Ivica Vastic notched a 93rd-minute penalty to draw with Poland, their only goal. No word on whether he cashed in on the prize.”
Though it’s not a goal bonus, a similar offer encouraged players to raise their game in southern Africa. “The Cosafa Castle Cup is the regional competition for national teams and is sponsored by South African Brewery giant SAB through their brand Castle lager,” explained Tinashe Mutsungi Shoko. “Prize for man of the match? Beer for the whole year.”
• For thousands more questions and answers look through our archive.
Can you help?
Rob
(@RW_OD)Keith recently scored for Keith against Fort William, but has a William ever scored in this fixture for Fort William while Keith was also on the score sheet?
“Last Saturday, Sampdoria beat Milan 1-0 with a goal after 33 seconds,” mails Alasdair Brookman. “Is this the earliest ever game-winning goal?”
“Braintree were the first National League to be relegated last weekend despite not holding the bottom position in their league, writes Elliot Leaver. “How often has this happened?”
boulangerie
(@ahhwhatishappen)What’s the worst ever first touch in a football game (has anyone scored an own goal first touch or missed a penalty ect)?
Lucy Keating
(@ceefaxisbetter)Has a player ever won his league’s player of the season award when playing for a relegated club?
“I happened upon an entertaining 1991 Old firm derby (finishing with 10 men against eight) and noted Celtic played with no numbers on their shirts,” notes John McDougall. “Are there any more recent examples of teams playing without shirt numbers?”
Email your questions and answers to [email protected] or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.