“Without points deductions, what is the largest points difference between two positions in a high-level European top flight?” tweeted Daniel Storey. “I ask because this As it stands, it ranks second to third in Turkey.”
Galatasaray now top the Super Lig, although Besiktas remain 24 points behind the second-placed team, now Fenerbahce on 64 points. As Eoghan Kelly notesThere was an even bigger difference between second and third place in the Premier League in the 2018/2019 season, when Liverpool finished second behind Manchester City with 97 points. Best of the rest was Chelsea, who finished 25 points behind Liverpool.
A year later, when the Premier League was previously on pause due to Covid, it was City who were 25 points behind champions-elect Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s team eased off a bit after winning the club’s first title since 1990, finishing the season 18 points ahead of City.
Chris Roe reminds us that poor Derby County finished bottom of the Premier League with 11 points in 2007-08, 24 behind Birmingham City in 19th. But as Chris points out, there was an even more isolated team in the old Division Three in 1984-85. Cambridge United, whose squad included David Moyes and a young Andy Sinton, finished bottom with 21 points from 46 games, 25 behind fellow relegated teams Preston, Orient and Burnley.
Given the Old Firm’s recent duopoly, it’s no big surprise that there are even better answers to be found north of the border. Derek Brosnan was the first to mention last season’s Scottish Premiership, specifically the gap between Rangers, who finished second with 92 points, and Aberdeen (57).
Dirk Maas has researched Europe’s five major leagues, as well as the Netherlands, Portugal and Scotland, and believes a 35-point lead is a record for the end-of-season rankings. It was not, as he notes, the first gap of more than 30 points in the Scottish Premier League.
2002-2003: 34 points Celtic (2nd, 97) Hearts (3rd, 63)
2004-05: 31 points Celtic (2nd, 93pt) Hibernian (3rd, 62)
2016-17: 30 points Celtic (1st, 106), Aberdeen (2nd, 76)
He also posted the largest gap in the other seven competitions for your perusal:
League 1
2015-16: 31 points PSG (1st, 96), Lyon (2nd, 65)
La Liga
2011-12: 30 points Barcelona (2nd, 91), Valencia (3rd, 61)
“Also worth mentioning,” adds Dirk, “is the 26-point difference between Merida and bottom team Sporting Gijon, which finished with just 13 points in 1997-1998.”
Premier League
2002-2003: 28 points Feyenoord (3rd, 80), NAC Breda (4th, 52)
Bundesliga
2012-2013: 25 points Bayern Munich (1st, 91), Borussia Dortmund (2nd, 66)
Premier League
2018-19: 25 points Liverpool (2nd, 97), Chelsea (3rd, 72)
Primeira Liga
2017-18: 24 points Braga (4th, 75), Rio Ave (5th, 51)
Series a
2006-07: 22 points Inter (1st, 97), Lazio (2nd, 75)
Muted international celebrations
“Nene Dorgeles refused to celebrate his goal for Mali in their dramatic Afcon loss to Ivory Coast, his parents’ native country,” notes Eddie Eyers. “Are there any other examples of the legendary muted celebration in international football?”
“How can you forget that Breel Embolo scored for Switzerland against Cameroon (his country of birth) in the 2022 World Cup?” says Charles Brukner, assuming we’ve forgotten instead of lazily cutting and pasting the question in the hope that someone would jog our memory for us.
Born in Yaoundé, Embolo grew up in Basel and only became Swiss national in 2014, scoring the only goal of the match. As Louise Taylor reported:
That explains why the Monaco striker refrained from celebrating one of the simplest, yet potentially most important, goals he will ever score. It was not Embolo’s fault that his six-yard finish drove an effort through the Cameroonians’ hearts, while the chances of their team progressing beyond the group stage for the first time since Italia 90 were considerably slimmer.
“Football writes these stories,” says Murat Yakin, the Swiss coach. “I said to Breel: ‘Cameroon are your friends, but also your opponents.’ I am happy with his performance.”
More short multi-league stadium spotting trips
A few weeks ago we took an underground dive into the fastest routes that visit at least one stadium in each of the top five divisions. But you can always go deeper…
“In Copenhagen we can bridge the shortest distance between stadiums in the top five divisions, both with and without land shares and excluding B teams,” Thomas Christiansen opens boldly. “The journey starts in Tingbjerg Idrætspark, home of Brønshøj in the Danmarksserien, the fifth level. The next stop is Gladsaxe Stadium, home of AB in the 2nd Division (third tier). From here the journey heads to Østerbro Stadium, home of B 93 in the 1st Division (second tier), and just next door is Parken, home of FC Copenhagen of the Superliga (first tier).
“The last stop is Vanløse Idrætspark, home of Vanløse IF in the 3rd division (fourth tier). The entire journey is 18 km or 11.2 miles, and can be done in 46 minutes by car or an hour and two minutes by bike… If ground sharing is allowed, the first stage may be dropped as BK Skjold in Danmarksserien also plays in the Østerbro Stadium. This reduces the journey to 15.9 km or 9.9 miles.”
Biggest Defeats of Tournament Hosts: Asterisk Edition
In last week’s Knowledge, inspired by Ivory Coast’s ultimately pointless 4-0 surrender to Equatorial Guinea, we looked at the hosts taking a good beating. The list of defeats was 7-1, or better said the 7-1, a 9-0 and a 14-0. But Kári Tulinius may have prevailed.
“The first international competitions are shrouded in mist and myth, and few are as thorough as the final of the 1896 Olympic Games in Greece,” writes Kári. “For various reasons, the organizers of the modern Olympic Games decided not to include the sport, but since a number of Danish footballers had turned up, a match was scheduled for April 12 between Denmark and Greece, led by the scrupulously impartial George, Prince of Denmark. and Greece. All reports agree that the Danes defeated the Greeks, but the score is given as 0-9 or 0-15. So it is possible that Greece has suffered the worst ever loss at the hands of a host country, but that is essentially unknowable. The Greeks received this abuse in good spirits and awarded the Danes Olympic bronze medals, even though it was an unofficial event.
The brilliant rsssf.com has posited the following about the historical fog surrounding the match: “The reason why there is different information about the result of the football match and why it was more or less ignored is a recommendation from Crown Prince Constantine, who publicly said that sports, such as football, that were not part of the official Olympic program should not be mentioned.”
Knowledge archive
“On April 21, it was possible that both sides could come into kick-off with a mathematical chance of survival in the Sunderland vs. Burton match, but could face relegation at full-time. Have there been any examples of two non-relegated teams playing each other and both going down at full-time? posed Mark Stephenson in 2018.
Christopher Vaughan got the ball rolling with an example from when Manchester City were a comical mess instead of the current Pep-powered turbo-elite Premier League champions [if only everything in this column aged so well – Knowledge Ed]. “On the last day of the 1997-98 season, Manchester City defeated Stoke City 5-2 and condemned them to the third flight. However, results elsewhere meant that a win was not enough for the Laser Blues (as they were known at the time, to promote their kit deal with Kappa) and they joined the Potters in what was then Division Two. The away fans serenaded the Stoke faithful with: “Going down, going down, going down… that’s us, that’s us, that’s how weeee-eeee!”
And Ben Lander took us to Madejski Stadium on April 28, 2013, when two teams, both needing to win to stay alive, did absolutely nothing to help their cause. “Reading and QPR went into their Premier League match knowing they were mathematically capable of surviving. Both needed a win, a draw would send both down. It ended 0-0.”
Can you help?
“Conor Gallagher has scored more goals against Crystal Palace than any other opponent. He has also scored more goals for Palace then for one of his other clubs. How many players does this apply to? asks Jesse Pajwani.
Has a manager ever won an international trophy (or even a major trophy) within five games of his managerial career, as Emerse Faé did with Ivory Coast at the recent AFCON?
— Ralph Neville (@RNevofficial) February 13, 2024
‘All four goals in Liverpool against Burnley were headers’ tweets Alan Whitehill. “I can’t remember a game with so many goals where they were all headers. Can anyone improve this?” Except Eddie Reynolds…
“It is possible that the three clubs that were relegated from the Premier League last year (Leicester, Leeds and Southampton) will swap with the promoted teams (Burnley, Sheffied United and Luton). Has this ever happened before?” Mike Carter wonders.
“Today I read about Horst Blankenburg, who won the European Cup three times with Ajax, but never played for his country, West Germany. Are there any other uncapped players who have won as many (or more) European Cup/Champions League medals?” asks Robbie Paterson.
@TheKnowledge_GU
It’s not uncommon to see a manager watching from the stands after receiving a touchline ban, but who was the first manager, coach or non-playing member of staff to be sent off?— Nathan Eaton (@nate_1983) February 13, 2024
The four clubs currently in the relegation places at the bottom of the Spanish second division all start with the letter A-Alcorcon, Albacete, Andorra and Amorebieta.
If all four clubs are relegated, would this be the first time that four teams sharing a first letter have gone down?— james mcarthur (@jamesmcarthur15) February 11, 2024