“What are the ‘biggest’ (competitive) international and club matches that have never taken place, i.e. the teams that have never played against each other competitively?” asks David Mills.
Pete Tomlin kicks things off for us with the kind of researched answer that could put us out of a job. “I looked at international matches and used the current FIFA rankings to decide which are the biggest matches that haven’t happened yet, depending on the current placement of the teams,” he begins. “It also depends on what you consider competitive – there are tournaments such as the Confederations Cup, Umbro Cup, etc. that may be seen as competitive by some but officially are not.
“Taking all this into account, I have calculated that the biggest men’s international match that (surprisingly) did not take place is Argentina (No. 1) vs. Portugal (No. 6): overall ranking = 7. The teams have met each other since 1928 met eight times. but all matches are classified as friendly matches. They played against each other in 1964 in something called The Taça das Nações (Little World Cup), which was played in Brazil to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Brazilian Football Federation. They also met in 1972 in a friendly match called the Brazil Independence Cup.
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“For men’s teams that have literally only played friendly matches against each other, the biggest international that has never happened is France (No. 2) vs. USA (No. 11): overall ranking = 13. They’ve only played each other four times , France won three of them. For teams that have never met, the biggest match would be Argentina (No. 1) vs. Senegal (No. 20): overall ranking = 21. This is matched by Croatia (No. 10) vs. USA (No. 11) : overall ranking = 21. The only time the two teams met was in Croatia’s first ever international match, a friendly in October 1990, in which Croatia won 2–1. However, FIFA does not recognize this match as an official international match.
“The highest ranked team that the English men have never played against is Bolivia (No. 85). Wales’ highest missing opponent is Morocco (No. 13), for Northern Ireland it is Japan (No. 18) and for Scotland it is Senegal (No. 20).
Lino Di Lorenzo also has an international offer: “Look no further than current European champions Italy (No. 9) and Colombia (No. 17). On the men’s side, they have never met each other, including friendly matches. And in September 2013 they were ranked fifth and fourth in the world. Even that wasn’t enough, it looks like they want to share a pitch.”
Stephen Pollack Toal takes us back to men’s club football: “If we go by the yardstick of European Cup wins, look no further than Nottingham Forest against Real Madrid, who, despite having won sixteen European Cups between them, strangely rival each other have never met in a competitive match.”
Dirk Maas has a few other European toppers to add: “When you look at renowned teams with more than 40 years of European Cup football experience, it is a surprise that these teams have never met competitively: Milan v Valencia, Liverpool v Feyenoord, Atlético Madrid against Rangers, Valencia against Benfica, Juventus against PSV and PSV against Celtic.”
ABCD subchain
“We all know situations where subs are eliminated (player A is replaced by player B, who is later replaced by player C), but are there examples of longer chains where player C is then replaced by player D, player D is replaced by player E, and player E is replaced by player F?” tweets (that’s what we still call it) Doremus Schafer.
“The NY Red Bulls created an ABCD subset in this year’s Open Cup loss to Cincinnati,” writes Dan Ryazansky. “In the 69th minute, Cory Burke replaced Dru Yearwood. After Dante Vanzeir leveled the match in the second minute of extra time, Burke suffered a concussion in the 100th minute – in extra time – so he was replaced by Matt Nocita, making his first-team debut. That concussion earned NY an extra substitution, its seventh of the game (the sixth was added before overtime). With the match heading to penalties, manager Troy Lesesne decided that usual starting goalkeeper Carlos Coronel would be a better penalty taker than the lanky Nocita, so Coronel came on with seconds remaining. Coronel would get the sixth, but Cincinnati committed the first five penalties, so they never happened. So Yearwood (A) > Burke (B) > Nocita (C) > Coronel (D).”
White Heartache
“Spurs suffered two injuries in the second half time goals in their last two games. Has this ever happened before?” asks Jeremy Cartwright.
Huw Richards explains why we don’t have to look far to find another team that has suffered the same heartbreak. “On the other side of White Hart Lane you will find Haringey Borough. They led 1–0 after 90 minutes in their Isthmian Premier matches at Hastings on 9 September and at home to Hornchurch on 23 September, but lost both 2–1. They did play an FA Cup match in between, but these were consecutive league matches and that partly explains why they are firmly stuck in the relegation places.”
Note the (GD) gap
“After fifteen games, Hornchurch were top of the Isthmian League Premier Division with a goal difference of +34. The second place team, Enfield, was +11. Has there ever been a bigger difference at this stage of the season?” asks Jack Hart.
“The answer is ‘Yes’ when it comes to the top four English divisions,” writes Chris Roe. “But we have to go back a long way to the very first season in 1888-89, when after fifteen games the goal difference between Preston in first place (+43) and Aston Villa in second place was 24 (+19). The only three cases where there were more than 20 were all very long ago. However, a good recent example is that in the 2000-2001 season, Manchester United had a goal difference (+29) that was 19 more than Arsenal (+10) after 15 games.”
Knowledge archive
“The recent Nike TV ads feature one player crouching down while the other uses his back to jump off for a header,” wrote Chris Liptrot in May 2002. “Should this actually be allowed on the playing field?”
You wouldn’t think so, but strangely enough there were no laws against it in the official rules of the game. However, a referee may decide to blow due to a foul.
“Such a scenario is not specifically mentioned in the Laws of the Game, so there is no hard and fast rule for it,” a surprised FIFA spokesperson Andreas Herron told Knowledge. But after consulting his colleagues – and letting us listen to five minutes of FIFA’s turgid anthem – he added: “While there is nothing against it, it would be up to the referee who could use his discretion and decide it was dangerous play.” Of course, as Andreas pointed out, would a player really bother jumping on someone’s back if he could go for the ball himself?
Can you help?
“What’s the first time an airplane has flown a banner over a football field?” muses Alan Sheppard. “Does anything predate the ‘staying down forever’ banner hoisted over Burnley’s ground by a group of Blackburn fans in 1991? This will be briefly referenced.”
In Gone Girl, Red Sox fan Ben Affleck refused to wear a NY Yankees baseball cap. In The Departed, Yankees fan Jack Nicholson refused to wear a Boston Red Sox baseball cap.
Are there any actors who have refused to wear the clothing of a rival football team for a role?— Derek Brosnan (@DerekBrosnan) November 28, 2023
“Brazil’s defeat by Argentina in a World Cup qualifier last week set two records: the first time Brazil had lost three consecutive qualifiers, plus the first time Brazil had ever lost its own World Cup qualifier. Are there other countries/clubs with similar/more impressive records?” Ant Gee wonders.
@TheKnowledge_GU After the sad news about Terry Venables, I thought back to his difficult time at LUFC, then with more pleasure to his time as national coach. Leeds have had four managers who have managed the England national team at some point in their careers. Is this a record?
— First Touch Phil (@phi1888) November 26, 2023
“On Sunday, a Tottenham draw against Aston Villa would have left the top five Premier League teams on 30-29-28-27-26 points,” notes Christopher Zorn. “What are the longest and highest such ‘runs’ of points that have occurred?”
Nantwich Town’s Ahmed Ali has scored the winning shootout penalty in three successive rounds of the FA Trophy, most recently against Chester. Has any player ever done this before, or even had a longer run?
— Liam Price (@Liam_Price1) November 28, 2023