Referee (football)
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This article is about a football (soccer) referee. For an American football referee, see Official (American football).
A referee (right) making a decision during the match Israel-Andorra in the McDOS GoffertstadionA referee presides over a game of association football. The referee has "full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed" (Law 5), and the referee's decisions regarding facts connected with play are final, so far as the result of the game is concerned.
The referee is assisted by two assistant referees (formerly known as linesmen), and in some matches also by a fourth official. The match officials utilise a positioning system known as the diagonal system of control.
The vast majority of referees are amateur, though they are usually paid a small fee and/or expenses for their services. However, in some countries a limited number of referees - who mainly officiate in their country's top division - are employed full-time by their national associations and receive a retainer at the start of every season plus match fees.
Referees are licensed and trained by the same National organizations that are members of FIFA. Each National organization recommends its top officials to FIFA to have the additional honor of being named a FIFA official. International games between National teams require FIFA officials. Otherwise, the local National organization determines the manner of training, ranking and advancement of officials from the youngest youth games through professional matches.
Contents [hide]
1 Powers and duties
2 Whistle use
3 Uniform
4 See also
5 External links
6 References
[edit] Powers and duties
The referee now carries a yellow card and a red card, for cautioning and sending off players.
The referee's powers and duties are described by Law 5 of the Laws of the Game. [1] These include:
enforcing the Laws of the Game;
controlling the match in co-operation with the assistant referees and, where applicable, with the fourth official;
ensuring that any ball used meets the requirements of Law 2;
ensuring that the players' equipment meets the requirements of Law 4;
acting as timekeeper and keeping a record of the match;
stopping, suspending or terminating the match, at his discretion, for any infringements of the Laws;
stopping, suspending or terminating the match because of outside interference of any kind;
stopping the match if, in his opinion, a player is seriously injured and ensuring that he is removed from the field of play. An injured player may only return to the field of play after the match has restarted;
allowing play to continue until the ball is out of play if a player is, in his opinion, only slightly injured;
[edit] Whistle use
Referees use a whistle to indicate the commencement or restart of play, to stop or delay play due to an infringement or injury, or to indicate that time has expired in the half. The whistle is an important tool for the Referee along with verbal, body and eye communication. The use of whistles is not mandated by the Laws of the Game.
In fact, the whistle was not mentioned in the Laws of the Game (LOTG) until very recently. The main LOTG simply mentions the referee should signal certain events. Only in 2007, when the IFAB greatly expanded the LOTG Additional Instructions section, did they mention the whistle. In fact, they wrote up a full page of advice on how and when the whistle should be used as a communication and control mechanisms by the Referee.
Before the introduction of the whistle, referees indicated their decisions by waving a handkerchief. The whistles that were first adopted by referees were made by Joseph Hudson (inventor) at Mills Munitions in Birmingham, England. The ACME Whistle Company (based at Mills Munitions Factory) first began to mass produce pea whistles in the 1870s for the Metropolitan Police Service. It is frequently stated the referee's whistle was first used in a game between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Norfolk in 1878; however no such fixture is known to have taken place between the two clubs in that year.
[edit] Uniform
Modern day referees and their assistants wear a uniform comprised of a jersey, shorts and socks: until the 1950s it was more common for a referee to wear a blazer than a jersey. Traditionally that uniform was almost always all black, unless one of the teams was wearing a very dark jersey in which case the referee would wear another colour of jersey (usually red) to distinguish himself from both teams. At the 1994 World Cup finals, new jerseys were introduced that gave officials a choice of burgundy, yellow or white, and at the same time the creation of the FA Premier League in England saw referees wear green jerseys: both changes were motivated by television considerations. Since then, most referees have worn either yellow or black, but the colours and styles adopted by individual associations vary greatly. For international contests under the supervision of FIFA, Adidas uniforms are worn because Adidas is the current sponsor. FIFA allows referees to wear four colors, black, red, yellow and blue*.
Blue was only worn during the 2006 World Cup in Germany
Thursday, January 10, 2008
फूत्बल्ल history
Football is the name given to a number of different team sports. The most popular of these sports world-wide is association football, also known as soccer. The English language word "football" is also applied to gridiron football (which includes American football and Canadian football), Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby football (rugby league and rugby union), and related games. Each of these codes (specific sets of rules, or the games defined by them) is referred to as "football".
These games involve:
a large spherical or prolate spheroid ball, which is itself called a football.
a team scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line.
the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team.
players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying and/or passing the ball by hand.
goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.
In most codes, there are offside rules restricting the movement of players and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several codes include points are mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line and players receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.
Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in England.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.1.1 Ancient games
2.1.2 Medieval and early modern Europe
2.1.3 Calcio Fiorentino
2.1.4 Official disapproval and attempts to ban football
2.2 Establishment of modern codes
2.2.1 English public schools
2.2.2 The first clubs
2.2.3 Cambridge rules
2.2.4 The first modern balls
2.2.5 Sheffield rules
2.2.6 Australian rules
2.2.7 The Football Association
2.2.8 Rugby football
2.2.9 North American football codes
2.2.10 Gaelic football
2.2.11 The split in Rugby football
2.2.12 The globalisation of Association football
2.2.13 The reform of American football
2.2.14 Further divergence of the two rugby codes
3 Today
3.1 Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries
3.2 Present day codes and "families"
3.2.1 Association football and descendants
3.2.2 Rugby school football and descendants
3.2.3 Irish and Australian varieties
3.2.4 Surviving Mediæval ball games
3.2.4.1 British Shrove Tuesday games
3.2.4.2 Outside the UK
3.2.5 Surviving public school games
3.2.6 Recent inventions and hybrid games
3.2.7 Tabletop games and other recreations
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links
Etymology
Main article: Football (word)
While it is widely believed that the word "football" (or "foot ball") originated in reference to the action of a foot kicking a ball, there is a rival explanation, which has it that football originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot.[1] These games were usually played by peasants, as opposed to the horse-riding sports often played by aristocrats. While there is no conclusive evidence for this explanation, the word football has always implied a variety of games played on foot, not just those that involved kicking a ball. In some cases, the word football has even been applied to games which have specifically outlawed kicking the ball.
A 15th century woodcut depiction of cuju, from a Ming Dynasty edition of the Water Margin.
A revived version of Kemari being played at the Tanzan Shrine.
History
Early history
Ancient games
Documented evidence of what is possibly the oldest activity resembling football can be found in a Chinese military manual written during the Warring States Period in about the 476 BC-221 BC. It describes a practice known as cuju (蹴鞠, literally "kick ball"), which originally involved kicking a leather ball through a hole in a piece of silk cloth strung between two 30-foot poles. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), cuju games were standardized and rules were established. Variations of this game later spread to Japan and Korea, known as kemari and chuk-guk respectively. By the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907), the feather-stuffed ball was replaced by an air-filled ball and cuju games had become professionalized, with many players making a living playing cuju. Also, two different types of goal posts emerged: One was made by setting up posts with a net between them and the other consisted of just one goal post in the middle of the field. FIFA, the governing body of association football (soccer), has acknowledged that China was the birthplace of its game.[2]
The Japanese version of cuju is kemari (蹴鞠), and was adopted during the Asuka period from the Chinese. This is known to have been played within the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto from about 600 AD. In kemari several people stand in a circle and kick a ball to each other, trying not to let the ball drop to the ground (much like keepie uppie). The game appears to have died out sometime before the mid-19th century. It was revived in 1903 and is now played at a number of festivals.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman writer Cicero describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber's shop. The Roman game harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a team game known as "επισκυρος" (episkyros) or pheninda that is mentioned by Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388-311BC) and later referred to by Clement of Alexandria. These games appears to have resembled rugby.
An illustration from the 1850s of Australian Aboriginal hunter gatherers. Children in the background are playing a football game, possibly Marn Grook.[3]There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, and/or prehistoric ball games, played by indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world. For example, in 1586, men from a ship commanded by an English explorer named John Davis, went ashore to play a form of football with Inuit (Eskimo) people in Greenland.[4] There are later accounts of an Inuit game played on ice, called Aqsaqtuk. Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the ball through each other team's line and then at a goal. In 1610, William Strachey of the Jamestown settlement, Virginia recorded a game played by Native Americans, called Pahsaheman. In Victoria, Australia, indigenous people played a game called Marn Grook ("ball game"). An 1878 book by Robert Brough-Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, quotes a man called Richard Thomas as saying, in about 1841, that he had witnessed Aboriginal people playing the game: "Mr Thomas describes how the foremost player will drop kick a ball made from the skin of a possum and how other players leap into the air in order to catch it." It is widely believed that Marn Grook had an influence on the development of Australian rules football (see below).
Games played in Central America with rubber balls by indigenous peoples are also well-documented as existing since before this time, but these had more similarities to basketball or volleyball, and since their influence on modern football games is minimal, most do not class them as football.
These games and others may well go far back into antiquity and may have influenced later football games. However, the main sources of modern football codes appear to lie in western Europe, especially England.
Medieval and early modern Europe
Further information: Medieval football
The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. The game played in England at this time may have arrived with the Roman occupation, but there is little evidence to indicate this. Reports of a game played in Brittany, Normandy, and Picardy, known as La Soule or Choule, suggest that some of these football games could have arrived in England as a result of the Norman Conquest.
An illustration of so-called "mob football".These forms of football, sometimes referred to as "mob football", would be played between neighbouring towns and villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams, who would clash in a heaving mass of people, struggling to move an item such as an inflated pig's bladder, to particular geographical points, such as their opponents' church. Shrovetide games have survived into the modern era in a number of English towns (see below).
The first detailed description of football in England was given by William FitzStephen in about 1174-1183. He described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:
After lunch all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents.[5]
Most of the very early references to the game speak simply of "ball play" or "playing at ball". This reinforces the idea that the games played at the time did not necessarily involve a ball being kicked.
In 1314, Nicholas de Farndone, Lord Mayor of London issued a decree banning football in the French used by the English upper classes at the time. A translation reads: "[f]orasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large foot balls [rageries de grosses pelotes de pee] in the fields of the public from which many evils might arise which God forbid: we command and forbid on behalf of the king, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future." This is the earliest reference to football.
The earliest mention of a ball game that involves kicking was in 1321, in Shouldham, Norfolk: "[d]uring the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his... ran against him and wounded himself".[6]
In 1363, King Edward III of England issued a proclamation banning "...handball, football, or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other such idle games", showing that "football" — whatever its exact form in this case — was being differentiated from games involving other parts of the body, such as handball.
King Henry IV of England gives the earliest documented use of the English word "football", in 1409, when he issued a proclamation forbidding the levying of money for "foteball".[6][7]
There is also an account in Latin from the end of the 15th century of football being played at Cawston, Nottinghamshire. This is the first description of a "kicking game" and the first description of dribbling: "[t]he game at which they had met for common recreation is called by some the foot-ball game. It is one in which young men, in country sport, propel a huge ball not by throwing it into the air but by striking it and rolling it along the ground, and that not with their hands but with their feet... kicking in opposite directions" The chronicler gives the earliest reference to a football field, stating that: "[t]he boundaries have been marked and the game had started.[6]
Other firsts in the mediæval and early modern eras:
"a football", in the sense of a ball rather than a game, was first mentioned in 1486.[7] This reference is in Dame Juliana Berners' Book of St Albans. It states: "a certain rounde instrument to play with ...it is an instrument for the foote and then it is calde in Latyn 'pila pedalis', a fotebal."[6]
a pair of football boots was ordered by King Henry VIII of England in 1526.[8]
women playing a form of football was in 1580, when Sir Philip Sidney described it in one of his poems: "[a] tyme there is for all, my mother often sayes, When she, with skirts tuckt very hy, with girles at football playes."[9]
the first references to goals are in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In 1584 and 1602 respectively, John Norden and Richard Carew referred to "goals" in Cornish hurling. Carew described how goals were made: "they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foote asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelue [twelve] score off, other twayne in like distance, which they terme their Goales".[10] He is also the first to describe goalkeepers and passing of the ball between players.
the first direct reference to scoring a goal is in John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (performed circa 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely violent variety of football, which was popular in East Anglia). Similarly in a poem in 1613, Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe".
Calcio Fiorentino
An illustration of the Calcio Fiorentino field and starting positions, from a 1688 book by Pietro di Lorenzo Bini.Main article: Calcio Fiorentino
In the 16th century, the city of Florence celebrated the period between Epiphany and Lent by playing a game which today is known as "calcio storico" ("historic kickball") in the Piazza della Novere or the Piazza Santa Croce. The young aristocrats of the city would dress up in fine silk costumes and embroil themselves in a violent form of football. For example, calcio players could punch, shoulder charge, and kick opponents. Blows below the belt were allowed. The game is said to have originated as a military training exercise. In 1580, Count Giovanni de' Bardi di Vernio wrote Discorso sopra 'l giuoco del Calcio Fiorentino. This is sometimes said to be the earliest code of rules for any football game. The game was not played after January 1739 (until it was revived in May 1930).
Official disapproval and attempts to ban football
Main article: Attempts to ban football games
Numerous attempts have been made to ban football games, particularly the most rowdy and disruptive forms. This was especially the case in England and in other parts of Europe, during the Middle Ages and early modern period. Between 1324 and 1667, football was banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws. The need to repeatedly proclaim such laws demonstrated the difficulty in enforcing bans on popular games. King Edward II was so troubled by the unruliness of football in London that on April 13, 1314 he issued a proclamation banning it: "Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils may arise which God forbid; we command and forbid, on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future."
The reasons for the ban by Edward III, on June 12, 1349, were explicit: football and other recreations distracted the populace from practicing archery, which was necessary for war.
By 1608, the local authorities in Manchester were complaining that: "With the ffotebale...[there] hath beene greate disorder in our towne of Manchester we are told, and glasse windowes broken yearlye and spoyled by a companie of lewd and disordered persons ..."[11] That same year, the word "football" was used disapprovingly by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's play King Lear contains the line: "Nor tripped neither, you base football player" (Act I, Scene 4). Shakespeare also mentions the game in A Comedy of Errors (Act II, Scene 1):
Am I so round with you as you with me,
That like a football you do spurn me thus?
You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither:
If I last in this service, you must case me in leather.
"Spurn" literally means to kick away, thus implying that the game involved kicking a ball between players.
King James I of England's Book of Sports (1618) however, instructs Christians to play at football every Sunday afternoon after worship.[12] The book's aim appears to be an attempt to offset the strictness of the Puritans regarding the keeping of the Sabbath.[13]
Establishment of modern codes
English public schools
Main article: English public school football games
While football continued to be played in various forms throughout Britain, its public schools (known as private schools in other countries) are widely credited with four key achievements in the creation of modern football codes. First of all, the evidence suggests that they were important in taking football away from its "mob" form and turning it into an organised team sport. Second, many early descriptions of football and references to it were recorded by people who had studied at these schools. Third, it was teachers, students and former students from these schools who first codified football games, to enable matches to be played between schools. Finally, it was at English public schools that the division between "kicking" and "running" (or "carrying") games first became clear.
The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English public schools — mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes — comes from the Vulgaria by William Horman in 1519. Horman had been headmaster at Eton and Winchester colleges and his Latin textbook includes a translation exercise with the phrase "We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde".
Richard Mulcaster, a student at Eton College in the early 16th century and later headmaster at other English schools, has been described as “the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of football”.[14] Among his contributions are the earliest evidence of organised team football. Mulcaster's writings refer to teams ("sides" and "parties"), positions ("standings"), a referee ("judge over the parties") and a coach "(trayning maister)". Mulcaster's "footeball" had evolved from the disordered and violent forms of traditional football:
[s]ome smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or shuffing one an other so barbarously ... may use footeball for as much good to the body, by the chiefe use of the legges.
In 1633, David Wedderburn, a teacher from Aberdeen, mentioned elements of modern football games in a short Latin textbook called "Vocabula." Wedderburn refers to what has been translated into modern English as "keeping goal" and makes an allusion to passing the ball ("strike it here"). There is a reference to "get hold of the ball," suggesting that some handling was allowed. It is clear that the tackles allowed included the charging and holding of opposing players ("drive that man back").
A more detailed description of football is given in Francis Willughby's Book of Games, written in about 1660.[15] Willughby, who had studied at Sutton Coldfield School, is the first to describe goals and a distinct playing field: "a close that has a gate at either end. The gates are called Goals." His book includes a diagram illustrating a football field. He also mentions tactics ("leaving some of their best players to guard the goal"); scoring ("they that can strike the ball through their opponents' goal first win") and the way teams were selected ("the players being equally divided according to their strength and nimbleness"). He is the first to describe a "law" of football: "they must not strike [an opponent's leg] higher than the ball"
English public schools also devised the first offside rules, during the late 18th century.[16] In the earliest manifestations of these rules, players were "off their side" if they simply stood between the ball and the goal which was their objective. Players were not allowed to pass the ball forward, either by foot or by hand. They could only dribble with their feet, or advance the ball in a scrum or similar formation. However, offside laws began to diverge and develop differently at the each school, as is shown by the rules of football from Winchester, Rugby, Harrow and Cheltenham, during in the period of 1810-1850.[16]
By the early 19th century, (before the Factory Act of 1850), most working class people in Britain had to work six days a week, often for over twelve hours a day. They had neither the time nor the inclination to engage in sport for recreation and, at the time, many children were part of the labour force. Feast day football played on the streets was in decline. Public school boys, who enjoyed some freedom from work, became the inventors of organised football games with formal codes of rules.
Football was adopted by a number of public schools as a way of encouraging competitiveness and keeping youths fit. Each school drafted its own rules, which varied widely between different schools and were changed over time with each new intake of pupils. Two schools of thought developed regarding rules. Some schools favoured a game in which the ball could be carried (as at Rugby, Marlborough and Cheltenham), while others preferred a game where kicking and dribbling the ball was promoted (as at Eton, Harrow, Westminster and Charterhouse). The division into these two camps was partly the result of circumstances in which the games were played. For example, Charterhouse and Westminster at the time had restricted playing areas; the boys were confined to playing their ball game within the school cloisters, making it difficult for them to adopt rough and tumble running games.
Rugby SchoolWilliam Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School, is said to have "showed a fine disregard for the rules of football, as played in his time [emphasis added]" by picking up the ball and running to the opponents' goal in 1823. This act is usually said to be the beginning of Rugby football, but there is little evidence that it occurred, and most sports historians believe the story to be apocryphal. Handling the ball was allowed, or even compulsory,[17] in older forms of football.
The boom in rail transport in Britain during the 1840s meant that people were able to travel further and with less inconvenience than they ever had before. Inter-school sporting competitions became possible. However, it was difficult for schools to play each other at football, as each school played by its own rules.
Apart from Rugby football, the public school codes have barely been played beyond the confines of each school's playing fields. However, many of them are still played at the schools which created them (see Surviving public school games below).
The first clubs
Main article: Oldest football clubs
During this period, the Rugby school rules appear to have spread at least as far, perhaps further, than the other schools' codes. For example, two clubs which claim to be the world's first and/or oldest football club, in the sense of a club which is not part of a school or university, are strongholds of rugby football: the Barnes Club, said to have been founded in 1839, and Guy's Hospital Football Club, in 1843. Neither date nor the variety of football played is well-documented, but such claims nevertheless allude to the popularity of rugby before other modern codes emerged.
In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football.[18] This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game. For instance, Dublin University Football Club — founded at Trinity College, Dublin in 1854 and later famous as a bastion of the Rugby School game — is the world's oldest documented football club in any code.
Cambridge rules
Main article: Cambridge rules
In 1848, at Cambridge University, Mr. H. de Winton and Mr. J.C. Thring, who were both formerly at Shrewsbury School, called a meeting at Trinity College, Cambridge with 12 other representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury. An eight-hour meeting produced what amounted to the first set of modern rules, known as the Cambridge rules. No copy of these rules now exists, but a revised version from circa 1856 is held in the library of Shrewsbury School. The rules clearly favour the kicking game. Handling was only allowed for a player to take a clean catch entitling them to a free kick and there was a primitive offside rule, disallowing players from "loitering" around the opponents' goal. The Cambridge rules were not widely adopted outside English public schools and universities (but it was arguably the most significant influence on the Football Association committee members responsible for formulating the rules of Association football).
The first modern balls
Main article: football (ball)
Richard Lindon (seen in 1880) is believed to have invented the first footballs with rubber bladders.In Europe, early footballs were made out of animal bladders, more specifically pig's bladders, which were inflated. Later leather coverings were introduced to allow the ball to keep their shape.[19] However, in 1851, Richard Lindon and William Gilbert, both shoemakers from the town of Rugby (near the school), exhibited both round and oval-shaped balls at the Great Exhibition in London. Richard Lindon's wife is said to have died due to lung disease caused by blowing up pig's bladders.[20] Lindon also won medals for the invention of the "Rubber inflatable Bladder" and the "Brass Hand Pump".
In 1855, the U.S. inventor Charles Goodyear — who had patented vulcanized rubber — exhibited a spherical football, with an exterior of vulcanized rubber panels, at the Paris Exhibition Universelle. The ball was to prove popular in early forms of football in the U.S.A.[21]
Sheffield rules
Main article: Sheffield rules
By the late 1850s, many football clubs had been formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various codes of football.
Sheffield Football Club, founded in 1857 in the English city of Sheffield by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, was later recognised as the world's oldest club playing association football. However, the club initially played its own code of football: the Sheffield rules. There were some similarities to the Cambridge rules, but players were allowed to push or hit the ball with their hands, and there was no offside rule at all, so that players known as kick throughs could be permanently positioned near the opponents' goal. The code spread to a number of clubs in the area and was popular until the 1870s.
Australian rules
An Australian rules football match at the Richmond Paddock, Melbourne, in 1866. (A wood engraving by Robert Bruce.)Main article: Australian rules football
The invention of Australian rules football is usually attributed to Tom Wills, who published a letter in Bell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle, on July 10, 1858, calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter.[22] (Official sources which include Wills' cousin, H.C.A. Harrison, as a founder of the code are now generally believed to be incorrect.)
Wills had been educated in England, at Rugby School and had played cricket for Cambridge University. The extent to which he was influenced by the various British and Irish football games is a matter of controversy, but there were similarities between some of them and his game. Australian football also has some similarities to the Australian Aboriginal game of Marn Grook (see above), which he reportedly witnessed as a child in western Victoria.
On July 31, 1858, Wills and people responding to his letter met and experimented with various forms of football.[23] On August 7, Wills umpired a game between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College, which took place under modified Rugby School rules.[23]
Melbourne Football Club was also founded on August 7, and is the oldest surviving Australian football club, but the rules it used during its first season are unknown. On May 17, 1859, at the Parade Hotel, East Melbourne, members of the club drew up the first set of laws for Australian rules football. The drafters included Wills, W.J. Hammersley, J.B. Thompson and Thomas Smith. Although their code also had pronounced similarities to the Sheffield rules, most notably in the absence of an offside rule, it is not known if they were influenced by it. A free kick was awarded for a mark (clean catch). Running while holding the ball was allowed and although it was not specified in the rules, a rugby ball was used. The club shared many members with the Melbourne Cricket Club, which was based at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and cricket ovals — which vary in size and are much larger than the fields used in other forms of football — became the standard playing field for Australian rules. The 1859 rules did not include some elements which would soon become important to the game, such as the requirement to bounce the ball while running.
Australian rules is sometimes said to be the first form of football to be codified but, as was the case in all kinds of football at the time, there was no official body supporting the rules, and play varied from one club to another. By 1866, however, several other clubs in the Colony of Victoria had agreed to play an updated version of the Melbourne FC rules, which were later known as "Victorian Rules" and "Australasian Rules". The formal name of the code later became Australian rules football (and, more recently, Australian football). By the end of the 19th century, the code had spread to the other Australian colonies and other parts of the world. However, rugby football would remain more popular in New South Wales and Queensland.
The Football Association
The first football international, Scotland versus England. Once kept by the Rugby Football Union as an early example of rugby football.Main article: History of The Football Association
During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various public school games. In 1862, J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at Uppingham School and he issued his own rules of what he called "The Simplest Game" (these are also known as the Uppingham Rules). In early October 1863 another new revised version of the Cambridge Rules was drawn up by a seven member committee representing former pupils from Harrow, Shrewsbury, Eton, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster.
At the Freemason's Tavern, Great Queen Street, London on the evening of October 26, 1863, representatives of several football clubs in the London Metropolitan area met for the inaugural meeting of The Football Association (FA). The aim of the Association was to establish a single unifying code and regulate the playing of the game among its members. Following the first meeting, the public schools were invited were sent to join the association. All of them declined, except Charterhouse and Uppingham. In total, six meetings of the FA were held between October and December 1863. After the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published. However, at the beginning of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the recently-published Cambridge Rules of 1863. The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely running with (carrying) the ball and hacking (kicking opposing players in the shins). The two contentious FA rules were as follows:
IX. A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal if he makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the first bound; but in case of a fair catch, if he makes his mark [to take a free kick] he shall not run.
X. If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal, any player on the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack him, or to wrest the ball from him, but no player shall be held and hacked at the same time.
At the fifth meeting it was proposed that these two rules be removed. Most of the delegates supported this, but F. W. Campbell, the representative from Blackheath and the first FA treasurer, objected. He said: "hacking is the true football". However, the motion to ban hacking was carried and Blackheath withdrew from the FA. After the final meeting on 8 December, the FA published the "Laws of Football", the first comprehensive set of rules for the game later known as football (later known in some countries as soccer).
The first FA rules still contained elements that are no longer part of association football, but which are still recognisable in other games (most notably Australian football): for instance, a player could make a fair catch and claim a mark, which entitled him to a free kick, and; if a player touched the ball behind the opponents' goal line, his side was entitled to a free kick at goal, from 15 yards in front of the goal line.
Rugby football
Main article: History of rugby union
A rugby scrum in 1871.In Britain, by 1870, there were about 75 clubs playing variations of the Rugby school game. There were also "rugby" clubs in Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. However, there was no generally accepted set of rules for rugby until 1871, when 21 clubs from London came together to form the Rugby Football Union (RFU). (Ironically, Blackheath now lobbied to ban hacking.) The first official RFU rules were adopted in June 1871. These rules allowed passing the ball. They also included the try, where touching the ball over the line allowed an attempt at goal, though drop-goals from marks and general play, and penalty conversions were still the main form of contest.
North American football codes
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Main articles: History of American football and History of Canadian football.
As was the case in Britain, by the early 19th century, North American schools and universities played their own local games, between sides made up of students. Students at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire played a game called Old division football, a variant of the association football codes, as early as the 1820s.
The "Tigers" of Hamilton, Ontario circa 1906. Founded 1869 as the Hamilton Foot Ball Club, they eventually merged with the Hamilton Flying Wildcats to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, a team still active in the Canadian Football League.[24]The first game of rugby in Canada is generally said to have taken place in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded football club in Canada.
In 1869, the first game played in the United States under rules based on the English FA (soccer) code occurred, between Princeton and Rutgers. This is also often considered to be the first US game of college football, in the sense of a game between colleges (although the eventual form of American football would come from rugby, not soccer).
Modern American football grew out of a match between McGill University of Montreal, and Harvard University in 1874. At the time, Harvard students are reported to have played the Boston Game — a running code — rather than the FA-based kicking games favored by US universities. This made it easy for Harvard to adapt to the rugby-based game played by McGill and the two teams alternated between their respective sets of rules. Within a few years, however, Harvard had both adopted McGill's rugby rules and had persuaded other US university teams to do the same. In 1876, at the Massasoit Convention, it was agreed by these universities to adopt most of the Rugby Football Union rules. However, a touch-down only counted toward the score if neither side kicked a field goal. The convention decided that, in the US game, four touchdowns would be worth one goal; in the event of a tied score, a goal converted from a touchdown would take precedence over four touch-downs.
Princeton, Rutgers and others continued to compete using soccer-based rules for a few years before switching to the rugby-based rules of Harvard and its competitors. US colleges did not generally return to soccer until the early twentieth century.
Rutgers College Football Team, 1882In 1880, Yale coach Walter Camp, devised a number of major changes to the American game, beginning with the reduction of teams from 15 to 11 players, followed by reduction of the field area by almost half, and; the introduction of the scrimmage, in which a player heeled the ball backwards, to begin a game. These were complemented in 1882 by another of Camp's innovations: a team had to surrender possession if they did not gain five yards after three downs (i.e. successful tackles).
Over the years Canadian football absorbed some developments in American football, but also retained many unique characteristics. One of these was that Canadian football, for many years, did not officially distinguish itself from rugby. For example, the Canadian Rugby Football Union, founded in 1884 was the forerunner of the Canadian Football League, rather than a rugby union body. (The Canadian Rugby Union was not formed until 1965.) American football was also frequently described as "rugby" in the 1880s.
Gaelic football
Main article: History of Gaelic football
In the mid-19th century, various traditional football games, referred to collectively as caid, remained popular in Ireland, especially in County Kerry. One observer, Father W. Ferris, described two main forms of caid during this period: the "field game" in which the object was to put the ball through arch-like goals, formed from the boughs of two trees, and; the epic "cross-country game" which took up most of the daylight hours of a Sunday on which it was played, and was won by one team taking the ball across a parish boundary. "Wrestling", "holding" opposing players, and carrying the ball were all allowed.
By the 1870s, Rugby and Association football had started to become popular in Ireland. Trinity College, Dublin was an early stronghold of Rugby (see the Developments in the 1850s section, above). The rules of the English FA were being distributed widely. Traditional forms of caid had begun to give way to a "rough-and-tumble game" which allowed tripping.
There was no serious attempt to unify and codify Irish varieties of football, until the establishment of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1884. The GAA sought to promote traditional Irish sports, such as hurling and to reject imported games like Rugby and Association football. The first Gaelic football rules were drawn up by Maurice Davin and published in the United Ireland magazine on February 7, 1887. Davin's rules showed the influence of games such as hurling and a desire to formalise a distinctly Irish code of football. The prime example of this differentiation was the lack of an offside rule (an attribute which, for many years, was shared only by other Irish games like hurling, and by Australian rules football).
The split in Rugby football
An English cartoon from the 1890s lampooning the divide in rugby football which led to the formation of rugby league. The caricatures are of Rev. Frank Marshall, an arch-opponent of player payments, and James Miller, a long-time opponent of Marshall. The caption reads:
Marshall: "Oh, fie, go away naughty boy, I don't play with boys who can’t afford to take a holiday for football any day they like!" Miller: "Yes, that’s just you to a T; you’d make it so that no lad whose father wasn’t a millionaire could play at all in a really good team. For my part I see no reason why the men who make the money shouldn’t have a share in the spending of it."Further information: History of rugby league
The International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) was founded in 1886, but rifts were beginning to emerge in the code. Professionalism was beginning to creep into the various codes of football.
In England , by the 1890s, a long-standing Rugby Football Union ban on professional players was causing regional tensions within rugby football, as many players in northern England were working class and could not afford to take time off to train, travel, play and recover from injuries. This was not very different from what had occurred ten years earlier in soccer in Northern England but the authorities reacted very differently in the RFU, attempting to alienate the working class support in Northern England. In 1895, following a dispute about a player being paid broken time payments, which replaced wages lost as a result of playing rugby, representatives of the northern clubs met in Huddersfield to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU). The new body initially permitted only various types of player wage replacements. However, within two years, NRFU players could be paid, but they were required to have a job outside sport.
The demands of a professional league dictated that rugby had to become a better "spectator" sport. Within a few years the NRFU rules had started to diverge from the RFU, most notably with the abolition of the line-out. This was followed by the replacement of the ruck with the "play-the-ball ruck", which allowed a two-player ruck contest between the tackler at marker and the player tackled. Mauls were stopped once the ball carrier was held, being replaced by a play-the ball-ruck. The separate Lancashire and Yorkshire competitions of the NRFU merged in 1901, forming the Northern Rugby League, the first time the name rugby league was used officially in England.
Over time, the RFU form of rugby, played by clubs which remained members of national federations affiliated to the IRFB, became known as rugby union.
The globalisation of Association football
Main article: History of FIFA
The need for a single body to oversee Association football had become apparent by the beginning of the 20th century, with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The English Football Association had chaired many discussions on setting up an international body, but was perceived as making no progress. It fell to associations from seven other European countries: France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, to form an international association. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris on May 21, 1904. Its first president was Robert Guérin. The French name and acronym has remained, even outside French-speaking countries.
The reform of American football
Both forms of rugby and American football were noted at the time for serious injuries, as well as the deaths of a significant number of players. By the early 20th century in the USA, this had resulted in national controversy and American football was banned by a number of colleges. Consequently, a series of meetings was held by 19 colleges in 1905–06. This occurred reputedly at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. He was considered a fancier of the game, but he threatened to ban it unless the rules were modified to reduce the numbers of deaths and disabilities. The meetings are now considered to be the origin of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
One proposed change was a widening of the playing field. However, Harvard University had just built a concrete stadium and therefore objected to widening, instead proposing legalisation of the forward pass. The report of the meetings introduced many restrictions on tackling and two more divergences from rugby: the forward pass and the banning of mass formation plays. The changes did not immediately have the desired effect, and 33 American football players were killed during 1908 alone. However, the number of deaths and injuries did gradually decline.
Further divergence of the two rugby codes
Rugby league rules diverged significantly from rugby union in 1906, with the reduction of the team from 15 to 13 players. In 1907, a New Zealand professional rugby team toured Australia and Britain, receiving an enthusiastic response, and professional rugby leagues were launched in Australia the following year. However, the rules of professional games varied from one country to another, and negotiations between various national bodies were required to fix the exact rules for each international match. This situation endured until 1948, when at the instigation of the French league, the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) was formed at a meeting in Bordeaux.
During the second half of 20th century, the rules changed further. In 1966, rugby league officials borrowed the American football concept of downs: a team could retain possession of the ball for no more than four tackles. The maximum number of tackles was later increased to six (in 1971), and in rugby league this became known as the six tackle rule.
With the advent of full-time professionals in the early 1990s, and the consequent speeding up of the game, the five metre off-side distance between the two teams became 10 metres, and the replacement rule was superseded by various interchange rules, among other changes.
The laws of rugby union also changed significantly during the 20th century. In particular, goals from marks were abolished, kicks directly into touch from outside the 22 metre line were penalised, new laws were put in place to determine who had possession following an inconclusive ruck or maul, and the lifting of players in line-outs was legalised.
In 1995, rugby union became an "open" game, that is one which allowed professional players. Although the original dispute between the two codes has now disappeared — and despite the fact that officials from both forms of rugby football have sometimes mentioned the possibility of re-unification — the rules of both codes and their culture have diverged to such an extent that such an event is unlikely in the foreseeable future.
Today
Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries
Further information: Football (word)
The word "football", when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world. Most often, the word "football" is used to refer to the code of football that is considered dominant within a particular region. So, effectively, what the word "football" means usually depends on where one says it.
The name "soccer" (or "soccer football") was originally a slang abbreviation of association football and is now the prevailing term in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand where other codes of football are dominant.
Of the 45 national FIFA affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, only three (Canada, Samoa and the United States) actually use "soccer" in their organizations' official names, while the rest use football (although the Samoan Federation actually uses both). However, in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, use of the word "football" by soccer bodies is a recent change and has been controversial. The governing body for Rugby Union in New Zealand changed its name from "New Zealand Rugby Football Union" to "New Zealand Rugby Union" in 2006.
Present day codes and "families"
Association football and descendants
An indoor soccer game at an open air venue in Mexico. The referee has just awarded the red team a free kick.Association football, also known as football, soccer, footy and footie
Indoor/basketball court varieties of Football:
Five-a-side football — played throughout the world under various rules including:
Futsal — the FIFA-approved five-a-side indoor game
Minivoetbal — the five-a-side indoor game played in East and West Flanders where it is hugely popular
Papi fut the five-a-side game played in outdoor basketball courts (built with goals) in Central America.
Indoor soccer — the six-a-side indoor game as played in North America. Known in Latin America, where it is often played in open air venues, as fútbol rápido ("fast soccer")
Paralympic football — modified Football for athletes with a disability. Includes:
Football 5-a-side — for visually impaired athletes
Football 7-a-side — for athletes with cerebral palsy
Electric wheelchair soccer
Beach soccer — football played on sand, also known as sand soccer
Street football — encompasses a number of informal varieties of football
Rush goalie — is a variation of football in which the role of the goalkeeper is more flexible than normal
Headers and volleys — where the aim is to score goals against a goalkeeper using only headers and volleys
Crab football — players stand on their hands and feet and move around on their backs whilst playing soccer as normal
Swamp soccer — the game is played on a swamp or bog field
Rugby school football and descendants
Rugby football
Rugby league — usually known simply as "football" or "footy" in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, and by some followers of the game in England. Also often referred to simply as "league"
Rugby league nines (or sevens)
Touch football (rugby league) — a non-contact version of rugby league. In South Africa it is known as six down
Oz Tag — a non-contact version of rugby league, in which a velcro tag is removed to indicate a tackle
Rugby union
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens; Fiji v Cook Islands at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in MelbourneTag rugby — a form of rugby union using the velcro tag
Beach rugby — rugby played on sand
Touch rugby — generic name for forms of rugby football which does not feature tackles
American football — called "football" in the United States and Canada, and "gridiron" in Australia and New Zealand. Sometimes called "tackle football" to distinguish it from the touch versions
Arena football — an indoor version of American football
Nine-man football, eight-man football, six-man football — versions of tackle football, played primarily by smaller high schools that lack enough players to field full 11-man teams
Touch football (American) — non-tackle American football
Flag football — non-tackle American football, like touch football, in which a flag that is held by velcro on a belt tied around the waist is pulled by defenders to indicate a tackle
Canadian football — called simply "football" in Canada; "football" in Canada can mean either Canadian or American football depending on context
Canadian flag football — non-tackle Canadian football
Nine-man football — similar to nine-man American football, but using Canadian rules; played by smaller schools in Saskatchewan that lack enough players to field full 12-man teams
See also: Comparison of American football and rugby league, Comparison of American football and rugby union, Comparison of Canadian and American football, Comparison of rugby league and rugby union.
Irish and Australian varieties
International rules football test match from the 2005 International Rules Series between Australia and Ireland at Telstra Dome, Melbourne, Australia.These codes have in common the absence of an offside rule, the requirement to bounce or solo (toe-kick) the ball while running, handpassing by punching or tapping the ball rather than throwing it, and other traditions.
Australian rules football — officially known as "Australian football", and informally as "Aussie rules" or "footy". In some areas (erroneously) referred to as "AFL", which is the name of the main organising body and competition
Auskick — a version of Australian rules designed by the AFL for young children
Metro footy (or Metro rules footy) — a modified version invented by the USAFL, for use on gridiron fields in North American cities (which often lack grounds large enough for conventional Australian rules matches)
Kick-to-kick
9-a-side footy — a more open, running variety of Australian rules, requiring 18 players in total and a proportionally smaller playing area (includes contact and non-contact varieties)
Rec footy — "Recreational Football", a modified non-contact touch variation of Australian rules, created by the AFL, which replaces tackles with tags
Touch Aussie Rules — a non-contact variation of Australian Rules played only in the United Kingdom
Samoa rules — localised version adapted to Samoan conditions, such as the use of rugby football fields
Masters Australian football (a.k.a. Superules) — reduced contact version introduced for competitions limited to players over 30 years of age
Women's Australian rules football — played with a smaller ball and (sometimes) reduced contact version introduced for women's competition
Gaelic football — Played predominantly in Ireland. Sometimes referred to as "football" or "gaah" (from the acronym for Gaelic Athletic Association)
Ladies Gaelic football
International rules football — a compromise code used for games between Gaelic and Australian Rules players
See also: Comparison of Australian rules football and Gaelic football
Surviving Mediæval ball games
The ball is hit into the air at the 2006 Royal Shrovetide Football match. (Photographer: Gary Austin.)
British Shrove Tuesday games
Alnwick in Northumberland
Ashbourne in Derbyshire (known as Royal Shrovetide Football)
Atherstone in Warwickshire
Corfe Castle in Dorset — The Shrove Tuesday Football Ceremony of the Purbeck Marblers.
Haxey in Lincolnshire (the Haxey Hood, actually played on Epiphany)
Hurling the Silver Ball takes place at St Columb Major in Cornwall
Sedgefield in County Durham
In Scotland the Ba game ("Ball Game") is still popular around Christmas and Hogmanay at:
Duns, Berwickshire
Scone, Perthshire
Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands
Outside the UK
Calcio Fiorentino — a modern revival of Renaissance football from 16th century Florence.
Surviving public school games
Harrow football players after a game at Harrow School.Eton field game
Eton wall game
Harrow football
Winchester College football
Recent inventions and hybrid games
Based on FA rules:
Cubbies
Three sided football
Triskelion
Keepie uppie — is the art of juggling with a football using feet, knees, chest, shoulders, and head.
Footbag — is a small bean bag or sand bag used as a ball in a number of keepie uppie variations, including hacky sack (which is a trade mark).
Freestyle football — a modern take on keepie uppie where freestylers are graded for their entertainment value and expression of skill.
Based on rugby:
Scuffleball
Force ’em backs a.k.a. forcing back, forcemanback et c.
Hybrid games
Austus — a compromise between Australian rules and American football, invented in Melbourne during World War II.
Bossaball — mixes Association football and volleyball and gymnastics; played on inflatables and trampolines.
Footvolley — mixes Association football and beach volleyball; played on sand
Kickball — a hybrid of soccer and baseball, invented in the United States in about 1942.
Speedball (American) — a combination of American football, soccer, and basketball, devised in the United States in 1912.
Universal football — A hybrid of Australian rules and rugby league, trialled in Sydney in 1933.[25]
Volata — a game resembling Association football and European handball, devised by Italian fascist leader, Augusto Turati, in the 1920s.
Wheelchair rugby — also known as Murderball, invented in Canada in 1977. Based on ice hockey and basketball rather than rugby.
Wheelchair power tag rugby
Wheelchair rugby league
Tabletop games and other recreations
Based on Football (soccer):
Subbuteo
Blow football
Table football — also known as foosball, table soccer, babyfoot, bar football or gettone)
Fantasy football (soccer)
Button football — also known as Futebol de Mesa, Jogo de Botões
Penny football
Based on rugby:
Penny rugby
Based on American football:
Paper football
Blood Bowl
Fantasy football (American)
Madden NFL
NFL
Based on Australian football:
List of Australian rules football computer games
AFL Premiership 2005
These games involve:
a large spherical or prolate spheroid ball, which is itself called a football.
a team scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line.
the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team.
players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying and/or passing the ball by hand.
goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.
In most codes, there are offside rules restricting the movement of players and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several codes include points are mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line and players receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.
Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in England.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.1.1 Ancient games
2.1.2 Medieval and early modern Europe
2.1.3 Calcio Fiorentino
2.1.4 Official disapproval and attempts to ban football
2.2 Establishment of modern codes
2.2.1 English public schools
2.2.2 The first clubs
2.2.3 Cambridge rules
2.2.4 The first modern balls
2.2.5 Sheffield rules
2.2.6 Australian rules
2.2.7 The Football Association
2.2.8 Rugby football
2.2.9 North American football codes
2.2.10 Gaelic football
2.2.11 The split in Rugby football
2.2.12 The globalisation of Association football
2.2.13 The reform of American football
2.2.14 Further divergence of the two rugby codes
3 Today
3.1 Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries
3.2 Present day codes and "families"
3.2.1 Association football and descendants
3.2.2 Rugby school football and descendants
3.2.3 Irish and Australian varieties
3.2.4 Surviving Mediæval ball games
3.2.4.1 British Shrove Tuesday games
3.2.4.2 Outside the UK
3.2.5 Surviving public school games
3.2.6 Recent inventions and hybrid games
3.2.7 Tabletop games and other recreations
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links
Etymology
Main article: Football (word)
While it is widely believed that the word "football" (or "foot ball") originated in reference to the action of a foot kicking a ball, there is a rival explanation, which has it that football originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot.[1] These games were usually played by peasants, as opposed to the horse-riding sports often played by aristocrats. While there is no conclusive evidence for this explanation, the word football has always implied a variety of games played on foot, not just those that involved kicking a ball. In some cases, the word football has even been applied to games which have specifically outlawed kicking the ball.
A 15th century woodcut depiction of cuju, from a Ming Dynasty edition of the Water Margin.
A revived version of Kemari being played at the Tanzan Shrine.
History
Early history
Ancient games
Documented evidence of what is possibly the oldest activity resembling football can be found in a Chinese military manual written during the Warring States Period in about the 476 BC-221 BC. It describes a practice known as cuju (蹴鞠, literally "kick ball"), which originally involved kicking a leather ball through a hole in a piece of silk cloth strung between two 30-foot poles. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), cuju games were standardized and rules were established. Variations of this game later spread to Japan and Korea, known as kemari and chuk-guk respectively. By the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907), the feather-stuffed ball was replaced by an air-filled ball and cuju games had become professionalized, with many players making a living playing cuju. Also, two different types of goal posts emerged: One was made by setting up posts with a net between them and the other consisted of just one goal post in the middle of the field. FIFA, the governing body of association football (soccer), has acknowledged that China was the birthplace of its game.[2]
The Japanese version of cuju is kemari (蹴鞠), and was adopted during the Asuka period from the Chinese. This is known to have been played within the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto from about 600 AD. In kemari several people stand in a circle and kick a ball to each other, trying not to let the ball drop to the ground (much like keepie uppie). The game appears to have died out sometime before the mid-19th century. It was revived in 1903 and is now played at a number of festivals.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman writer Cicero describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber's shop. The Roman game harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a team game known as "επισκυρος" (episkyros) or pheninda that is mentioned by Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388-311BC) and later referred to by Clement of Alexandria. These games appears to have resembled rugby.
An illustration from the 1850s of Australian Aboriginal hunter gatherers. Children in the background are playing a football game, possibly Marn Grook.[3]There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, and/or prehistoric ball games, played by indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world. For example, in 1586, men from a ship commanded by an English explorer named John Davis, went ashore to play a form of football with Inuit (Eskimo) people in Greenland.[4] There are later accounts of an Inuit game played on ice, called Aqsaqtuk. Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the ball through each other team's line and then at a goal. In 1610, William Strachey of the Jamestown settlement, Virginia recorded a game played by Native Americans, called Pahsaheman. In Victoria, Australia, indigenous people played a game called Marn Grook ("ball game"). An 1878 book by Robert Brough-Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, quotes a man called Richard Thomas as saying, in about 1841, that he had witnessed Aboriginal people playing the game: "Mr Thomas describes how the foremost player will drop kick a ball made from the skin of a possum and how other players leap into the air in order to catch it." It is widely believed that Marn Grook had an influence on the development of Australian rules football (see below).
Games played in Central America with rubber balls by indigenous peoples are also well-documented as existing since before this time, but these had more similarities to basketball or volleyball, and since their influence on modern football games is minimal, most do not class them as football.
These games and others may well go far back into antiquity and may have influenced later football games. However, the main sources of modern football codes appear to lie in western Europe, especially England.
Medieval and early modern Europe
Further information: Medieval football
The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. The game played in England at this time may have arrived with the Roman occupation, but there is little evidence to indicate this. Reports of a game played in Brittany, Normandy, and Picardy, known as La Soule or Choule, suggest that some of these football games could have arrived in England as a result of the Norman Conquest.
An illustration of so-called "mob football".These forms of football, sometimes referred to as "mob football", would be played between neighbouring towns and villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams, who would clash in a heaving mass of people, struggling to move an item such as an inflated pig's bladder, to particular geographical points, such as their opponents' church. Shrovetide games have survived into the modern era in a number of English towns (see below).
The first detailed description of football in England was given by William FitzStephen in about 1174-1183. He described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:
After lunch all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents.[5]
Most of the very early references to the game speak simply of "ball play" or "playing at ball". This reinforces the idea that the games played at the time did not necessarily involve a ball being kicked.
In 1314, Nicholas de Farndone, Lord Mayor of London issued a decree banning football in the French used by the English upper classes at the time. A translation reads: "[f]orasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large foot balls [rageries de grosses pelotes de pee] in the fields of the public from which many evils might arise which God forbid: we command and forbid on behalf of the king, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future." This is the earliest reference to football.
The earliest mention of a ball game that involves kicking was in 1321, in Shouldham, Norfolk: "[d]uring the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his... ran against him and wounded himself".[6]
In 1363, King Edward III of England issued a proclamation banning "...handball, football, or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other such idle games", showing that "football" — whatever its exact form in this case — was being differentiated from games involving other parts of the body, such as handball.
King Henry IV of England gives the earliest documented use of the English word "football", in 1409, when he issued a proclamation forbidding the levying of money for "foteball".[6][7]
There is also an account in Latin from the end of the 15th century of football being played at Cawston, Nottinghamshire. This is the first description of a "kicking game" and the first description of dribbling: "[t]he game at which they had met for common recreation is called by some the foot-ball game. It is one in which young men, in country sport, propel a huge ball not by throwing it into the air but by striking it and rolling it along the ground, and that not with their hands but with their feet... kicking in opposite directions" The chronicler gives the earliest reference to a football field, stating that: "[t]he boundaries have been marked and the game had started.[6]
Other firsts in the mediæval and early modern eras:
"a football", in the sense of a ball rather than a game, was first mentioned in 1486.[7] This reference is in Dame Juliana Berners' Book of St Albans. It states: "a certain rounde instrument to play with ...it is an instrument for the foote and then it is calde in Latyn 'pila pedalis', a fotebal."[6]
a pair of football boots was ordered by King Henry VIII of England in 1526.[8]
women playing a form of football was in 1580, when Sir Philip Sidney described it in one of his poems: "[a] tyme there is for all, my mother often sayes, When she, with skirts tuckt very hy, with girles at football playes."[9]
the first references to goals are in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In 1584 and 1602 respectively, John Norden and Richard Carew referred to "goals" in Cornish hurling. Carew described how goals were made: "they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foote asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelue [twelve] score off, other twayne in like distance, which they terme their Goales".[10] He is also the first to describe goalkeepers and passing of the ball between players.
the first direct reference to scoring a goal is in John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (performed circa 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely violent variety of football, which was popular in East Anglia). Similarly in a poem in 1613, Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe".
Calcio Fiorentino
An illustration of the Calcio Fiorentino field and starting positions, from a 1688 book by Pietro di Lorenzo Bini.Main article: Calcio Fiorentino
In the 16th century, the city of Florence celebrated the period between Epiphany and Lent by playing a game which today is known as "calcio storico" ("historic kickball") in the Piazza della Novere or the Piazza Santa Croce. The young aristocrats of the city would dress up in fine silk costumes and embroil themselves in a violent form of football. For example, calcio players could punch, shoulder charge, and kick opponents. Blows below the belt were allowed. The game is said to have originated as a military training exercise. In 1580, Count Giovanni de' Bardi di Vernio wrote Discorso sopra 'l giuoco del Calcio Fiorentino. This is sometimes said to be the earliest code of rules for any football game. The game was not played after January 1739 (until it was revived in May 1930).
Official disapproval and attempts to ban football
Main article: Attempts to ban football games
Numerous attempts have been made to ban football games, particularly the most rowdy and disruptive forms. This was especially the case in England and in other parts of Europe, during the Middle Ages and early modern period. Between 1324 and 1667, football was banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws. The need to repeatedly proclaim such laws demonstrated the difficulty in enforcing bans on popular games. King Edward II was so troubled by the unruliness of football in London that on April 13, 1314 he issued a proclamation banning it: "Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils may arise which God forbid; we command and forbid, on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future."
The reasons for the ban by Edward III, on June 12, 1349, were explicit: football and other recreations distracted the populace from practicing archery, which was necessary for war.
By 1608, the local authorities in Manchester were complaining that: "With the ffotebale...[there] hath beene greate disorder in our towne of Manchester we are told, and glasse windowes broken yearlye and spoyled by a companie of lewd and disordered persons ..."[11] That same year, the word "football" was used disapprovingly by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's play King Lear contains the line: "Nor tripped neither, you base football player" (Act I, Scene 4). Shakespeare also mentions the game in A Comedy of Errors (Act II, Scene 1):
Am I so round with you as you with me,
That like a football you do spurn me thus?
You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither:
If I last in this service, you must case me in leather.
"Spurn" literally means to kick away, thus implying that the game involved kicking a ball between players.
King James I of England's Book of Sports (1618) however, instructs Christians to play at football every Sunday afternoon after worship.[12] The book's aim appears to be an attempt to offset the strictness of the Puritans regarding the keeping of the Sabbath.[13]
Establishment of modern codes
English public schools
Main article: English public school football games
While football continued to be played in various forms throughout Britain, its public schools (known as private schools in other countries) are widely credited with four key achievements in the creation of modern football codes. First of all, the evidence suggests that they were important in taking football away from its "mob" form and turning it into an organised team sport. Second, many early descriptions of football and references to it were recorded by people who had studied at these schools. Third, it was teachers, students and former students from these schools who first codified football games, to enable matches to be played between schools. Finally, it was at English public schools that the division between "kicking" and "running" (or "carrying") games first became clear.
The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English public schools — mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes — comes from the Vulgaria by William Horman in 1519. Horman had been headmaster at Eton and Winchester colleges and his Latin textbook includes a translation exercise with the phrase "We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde".
Richard Mulcaster, a student at Eton College in the early 16th century and later headmaster at other English schools, has been described as “the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of football”.[14] Among his contributions are the earliest evidence of organised team football. Mulcaster's writings refer to teams ("sides" and "parties"), positions ("standings"), a referee ("judge over the parties") and a coach "(trayning maister)". Mulcaster's "footeball" had evolved from the disordered and violent forms of traditional football:
[s]ome smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or shuffing one an other so barbarously ... may use footeball for as much good to the body, by the chiefe use of the legges.
In 1633, David Wedderburn, a teacher from Aberdeen, mentioned elements of modern football games in a short Latin textbook called "Vocabula." Wedderburn refers to what has been translated into modern English as "keeping goal" and makes an allusion to passing the ball ("strike it here"). There is a reference to "get hold of the ball," suggesting that some handling was allowed. It is clear that the tackles allowed included the charging and holding of opposing players ("drive that man back").
A more detailed description of football is given in Francis Willughby's Book of Games, written in about 1660.[15] Willughby, who had studied at Sutton Coldfield School, is the first to describe goals and a distinct playing field: "a close that has a gate at either end. The gates are called Goals." His book includes a diagram illustrating a football field. He also mentions tactics ("leaving some of their best players to guard the goal"); scoring ("they that can strike the ball through their opponents' goal first win") and the way teams were selected ("the players being equally divided according to their strength and nimbleness"). He is the first to describe a "law" of football: "they must not strike [an opponent's leg] higher than the ball"
English public schools also devised the first offside rules, during the late 18th century.[16] In the earliest manifestations of these rules, players were "off their side" if they simply stood between the ball and the goal which was their objective. Players were not allowed to pass the ball forward, either by foot or by hand. They could only dribble with their feet, or advance the ball in a scrum or similar formation. However, offside laws began to diverge and develop differently at the each school, as is shown by the rules of football from Winchester, Rugby, Harrow and Cheltenham, during in the period of 1810-1850.[16]
By the early 19th century, (before the Factory Act of 1850), most working class people in Britain had to work six days a week, often for over twelve hours a day. They had neither the time nor the inclination to engage in sport for recreation and, at the time, many children were part of the labour force. Feast day football played on the streets was in decline. Public school boys, who enjoyed some freedom from work, became the inventors of organised football games with formal codes of rules.
Football was adopted by a number of public schools as a way of encouraging competitiveness and keeping youths fit. Each school drafted its own rules, which varied widely between different schools and were changed over time with each new intake of pupils. Two schools of thought developed regarding rules. Some schools favoured a game in which the ball could be carried (as at Rugby, Marlborough and Cheltenham), while others preferred a game where kicking and dribbling the ball was promoted (as at Eton, Harrow, Westminster and Charterhouse). The division into these two camps was partly the result of circumstances in which the games were played. For example, Charterhouse and Westminster at the time had restricted playing areas; the boys were confined to playing their ball game within the school cloisters, making it difficult for them to adopt rough and tumble running games.
Rugby SchoolWilliam Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School, is said to have "showed a fine disregard for the rules of football, as played in his time [emphasis added]" by picking up the ball and running to the opponents' goal in 1823. This act is usually said to be the beginning of Rugby football, but there is little evidence that it occurred, and most sports historians believe the story to be apocryphal. Handling the ball was allowed, or even compulsory,[17] in older forms of football.
The boom in rail transport in Britain during the 1840s meant that people were able to travel further and with less inconvenience than they ever had before. Inter-school sporting competitions became possible. However, it was difficult for schools to play each other at football, as each school played by its own rules.
Apart from Rugby football, the public school codes have barely been played beyond the confines of each school's playing fields. However, many of them are still played at the schools which created them (see Surviving public school games below).
The first clubs
Main article: Oldest football clubs
During this period, the Rugby school rules appear to have spread at least as far, perhaps further, than the other schools' codes. For example, two clubs which claim to be the world's first and/or oldest football club, in the sense of a club which is not part of a school or university, are strongholds of rugby football: the Barnes Club, said to have been founded in 1839, and Guy's Hospital Football Club, in 1843. Neither date nor the variety of football played is well-documented, but such claims nevertheless allude to the popularity of rugby before other modern codes emerged.
In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football.[18] This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game. For instance, Dublin University Football Club — founded at Trinity College, Dublin in 1854 and later famous as a bastion of the Rugby School game — is the world's oldest documented football club in any code.
Cambridge rules
Main article: Cambridge rules
In 1848, at Cambridge University, Mr. H. de Winton and Mr. J.C. Thring, who were both formerly at Shrewsbury School, called a meeting at Trinity College, Cambridge with 12 other representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury. An eight-hour meeting produced what amounted to the first set of modern rules, known as the Cambridge rules. No copy of these rules now exists, but a revised version from circa 1856 is held in the library of Shrewsbury School. The rules clearly favour the kicking game. Handling was only allowed for a player to take a clean catch entitling them to a free kick and there was a primitive offside rule, disallowing players from "loitering" around the opponents' goal. The Cambridge rules were not widely adopted outside English public schools and universities (but it was arguably the most significant influence on the Football Association committee members responsible for formulating the rules of Association football).
The first modern balls
Main article: football (ball)
Richard Lindon (seen in 1880) is believed to have invented the first footballs with rubber bladders.In Europe, early footballs were made out of animal bladders, more specifically pig's bladders, which were inflated. Later leather coverings were introduced to allow the ball to keep their shape.[19] However, in 1851, Richard Lindon and William Gilbert, both shoemakers from the town of Rugby (near the school), exhibited both round and oval-shaped balls at the Great Exhibition in London. Richard Lindon's wife is said to have died due to lung disease caused by blowing up pig's bladders.[20] Lindon also won medals for the invention of the "Rubber inflatable Bladder" and the "Brass Hand Pump".
In 1855, the U.S. inventor Charles Goodyear — who had patented vulcanized rubber — exhibited a spherical football, with an exterior of vulcanized rubber panels, at the Paris Exhibition Universelle. The ball was to prove popular in early forms of football in the U.S.A.[21]
Sheffield rules
Main article: Sheffield rules
By the late 1850s, many football clubs had been formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various codes of football.
Sheffield Football Club, founded in 1857 in the English city of Sheffield by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, was later recognised as the world's oldest club playing association football. However, the club initially played its own code of football: the Sheffield rules. There were some similarities to the Cambridge rules, but players were allowed to push or hit the ball with their hands, and there was no offside rule at all, so that players known as kick throughs could be permanently positioned near the opponents' goal. The code spread to a number of clubs in the area and was popular until the 1870s.
Australian rules
An Australian rules football match at the Richmond Paddock, Melbourne, in 1866. (A wood engraving by Robert Bruce.)Main article: Australian rules football
The invention of Australian rules football is usually attributed to Tom Wills, who published a letter in Bell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle, on July 10, 1858, calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter.[22] (Official sources which include Wills' cousin, H.C.A. Harrison, as a founder of the code are now generally believed to be incorrect.)
Wills had been educated in England, at Rugby School and had played cricket for Cambridge University. The extent to which he was influenced by the various British and Irish football games is a matter of controversy, but there were similarities between some of them and his game. Australian football also has some similarities to the Australian Aboriginal game of Marn Grook (see above), which he reportedly witnessed as a child in western Victoria.
On July 31, 1858, Wills and people responding to his letter met and experimented with various forms of football.[23] On August 7, Wills umpired a game between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College, which took place under modified Rugby School rules.[23]
Melbourne Football Club was also founded on August 7, and is the oldest surviving Australian football club, but the rules it used during its first season are unknown. On May 17, 1859, at the Parade Hotel, East Melbourne, members of the club drew up the first set of laws for Australian rules football. The drafters included Wills, W.J. Hammersley, J.B. Thompson and Thomas Smith. Although their code also had pronounced similarities to the Sheffield rules, most notably in the absence of an offside rule, it is not known if they were influenced by it. A free kick was awarded for a mark (clean catch). Running while holding the ball was allowed and although it was not specified in the rules, a rugby ball was used. The club shared many members with the Melbourne Cricket Club, which was based at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and cricket ovals — which vary in size and are much larger than the fields used in other forms of football — became the standard playing field for Australian rules. The 1859 rules did not include some elements which would soon become important to the game, such as the requirement to bounce the ball while running.
Australian rules is sometimes said to be the first form of football to be codified but, as was the case in all kinds of football at the time, there was no official body supporting the rules, and play varied from one club to another. By 1866, however, several other clubs in the Colony of Victoria had agreed to play an updated version of the Melbourne FC rules, which were later known as "Victorian Rules" and "Australasian Rules". The formal name of the code later became Australian rules football (and, more recently, Australian football). By the end of the 19th century, the code had spread to the other Australian colonies and other parts of the world. However, rugby football would remain more popular in New South Wales and Queensland.
The Football Association
The first football international, Scotland versus England. Once kept by the Rugby Football Union as an early example of rugby football.Main article: History of The Football Association
During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various public school games. In 1862, J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at Uppingham School and he issued his own rules of what he called "The Simplest Game" (these are also known as the Uppingham Rules). In early October 1863 another new revised version of the Cambridge Rules was drawn up by a seven member committee representing former pupils from Harrow, Shrewsbury, Eton, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster.
At the Freemason's Tavern, Great Queen Street, London on the evening of October 26, 1863, representatives of several football clubs in the London Metropolitan area met for the inaugural meeting of The Football Association (FA). The aim of the Association was to establish a single unifying code and regulate the playing of the game among its members. Following the first meeting, the public schools were invited were sent to join the association. All of them declined, except Charterhouse and Uppingham. In total, six meetings of the FA were held between October and December 1863. After the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published. However, at the beginning of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the recently-published Cambridge Rules of 1863. The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely running with (carrying) the ball and hacking (kicking opposing players in the shins). The two contentious FA rules were as follows:
IX. A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal if he makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the first bound; but in case of a fair catch, if he makes his mark [to take a free kick] he shall not run.
X. If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal, any player on the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack him, or to wrest the ball from him, but no player shall be held and hacked at the same time.
At the fifth meeting it was proposed that these two rules be removed. Most of the delegates supported this, but F. W. Campbell, the representative from Blackheath and the first FA treasurer, objected. He said: "hacking is the true football". However, the motion to ban hacking was carried and Blackheath withdrew from the FA. After the final meeting on 8 December, the FA published the "Laws of Football", the first comprehensive set of rules for the game later known as football (later known in some countries as soccer).
The first FA rules still contained elements that are no longer part of association football, but which are still recognisable in other games (most notably Australian football): for instance, a player could make a fair catch and claim a mark, which entitled him to a free kick, and; if a player touched the ball behind the opponents' goal line, his side was entitled to a free kick at goal, from 15 yards in front of the goal line.
Rugby football
Main article: History of rugby union
A rugby scrum in 1871.In Britain, by 1870, there were about 75 clubs playing variations of the Rugby school game. There were also "rugby" clubs in Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. However, there was no generally accepted set of rules for rugby until 1871, when 21 clubs from London came together to form the Rugby Football Union (RFU). (Ironically, Blackheath now lobbied to ban hacking.) The first official RFU rules were adopted in June 1871. These rules allowed passing the ball. They also included the try, where touching the ball over the line allowed an attempt at goal, though drop-goals from marks and general play, and penalty conversions were still the main form of contest.
North American football codes
This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes.
Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (December 2007)
Main articles: History of American football and History of Canadian football.
As was the case in Britain, by the early 19th century, North American schools and universities played their own local games, between sides made up of students. Students at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire played a game called Old division football, a variant of the association football codes, as early as the 1820s.
The "Tigers" of Hamilton, Ontario circa 1906. Founded 1869 as the Hamilton Foot Ball Club, they eventually merged with the Hamilton Flying Wildcats to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, a team still active in the Canadian Football League.[24]The first game of rugby in Canada is generally said to have taken place in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded football club in Canada.
In 1869, the first game played in the United States under rules based on the English FA (soccer) code occurred, between Princeton and Rutgers. This is also often considered to be the first US game of college football, in the sense of a game between colleges (although the eventual form of American football would come from rugby, not soccer).
Modern American football grew out of a match between McGill University of Montreal, and Harvard University in 1874. At the time, Harvard students are reported to have played the Boston Game — a running code — rather than the FA-based kicking games favored by US universities. This made it easy for Harvard to adapt to the rugby-based game played by McGill and the two teams alternated between their respective sets of rules. Within a few years, however, Harvard had both adopted McGill's rugby rules and had persuaded other US university teams to do the same. In 1876, at the Massasoit Convention, it was agreed by these universities to adopt most of the Rugby Football Union rules. However, a touch-down only counted toward the score if neither side kicked a field goal. The convention decided that, in the US game, four touchdowns would be worth one goal; in the event of a tied score, a goal converted from a touchdown would take precedence over four touch-downs.
Princeton, Rutgers and others continued to compete using soccer-based rules for a few years before switching to the rugby-based rules of Harvard and its competitors. US colleges did not generally return to soccer until the early twentieth century.
Rutgers College Football Team, 1882In 1880, Yale coach Walter Camp, devised a number of major changes to the American game, beginning with the reduction of teams from 15 to 11 players, followed by reduction of the field area by almost half, and; the introduction of the scrimmage, in which a player heeled the ball backwards, to begin a game. These were complemented in 1882 by another of Camp's innovations: a team had to surrender possession if they did not gain five yards after three downs (i.e. successful tackles).
Over the years Canadian football absorbed some developments in American football, but also retained many unique characteristics. One of these was that Canadian football, for many years, did not officially distinguish itself from rugby. For example, the Canadian Rugby Football Union, founded in 1884 was the forerunner of the Canadian Football League, rather than a rugby union body. (The Canadian Rugby Union was not formed until 1965.) American football was also frequently described as "rugby" in the 1880s.
Gaelic football
Main article: History of Gaelic football
In the mid-19th century, various traditional football games, referred to collectively as caid, remained popular in Ireland, especially in County Kerry. One observer, Father W. Ferris, described two main forms of caid during this period: the "field game" in which the object was to put the ball through arch-like goals, formed from the boughs of two trees, and; the epic "cross-country game" which took up most of the daylight hours of a Sunday on which it was played, and was won by one team taking the ball across a parish boundary. "Wrestling", "holding" opposing players, and carrying the ball were all allowed.
By the 1870s, Rugby and Association football had started to become popular in Ireland. Trinity College, Dublin was an early stronghold of Rugby (see the Developments in the 1850s section, above). The rules of the English FA were being distributed widely. Traditional forms of caid had begun to give way to a "rough-and-tumble game" which allowed tripping.
There was no serious attempt to unify and codify Irish varieties of football, until the establishment of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1884. The GAA sought to promote traditional Irish sports, such as hurling and to reject imported games like Rugby and Association football. The first Gaelic football rules were drawn up by Maurice Davin and published in the United Ireland magazine on February 7, 1887. Davin's rules showed the influence of games such as hurling and a desire to formalise a distinctly Irish code of football. The prime example of this differentiation was the lack of an offside rule (an attribute which, for many years, was shared only by other Irish games like hurling, and by Australian rules football).
The split in Rugby football
An English cartoon from the 1890s lampooning the divide in rugby football which led to the formation of rugby league. The caricatures are of Rev. Frank Marshall, an arch-opponent of player payments, and James Miller, a long-time opponent of Marshall. The caption reads:
Marshall: "Oh, fie, go away naughty boy, I don't play with boys who can’t afford to take a holiday for football any day they like!" Miller: "Yes, that’s just you to a T; you’d make it so that no lad whose father wasn’t a millionaire could play at all in a really good team. For my part I see no reason why the men who make the money shouldn’t have a share in the spending of it."Further information: History of rugby league
The International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) was founded in 1886, but rifts were beginning to emerge in the code. Professionalism was beginning to creep into the various codes of football.
In England , by the 1890s, a long-standing Rugby Football Union ban on professional players was causing regional tensions within rugby football, as many players in northern England were working class and could not afford to take time off to train, travel, play and recover from injuries. This was not very different from what had occurred ten years earlier in soccer in Northern England but the authorities reacted very differently in the RFU, attempting to alienate the working class support in Northern England. In 1895, following a dispute about a player being paid broken time payments, which replaced wages lost as a result of playing rugby, representatives of the northern clubs met in Huddersfield to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU). The new body initially permitted only various types of player wage replacements. However, within two years, NRFU players could be paid, but they were required to have a job outside sport.
The demands of a professional league dictated that rugby had to become a better "spectator" sport. Within a few years the NRFU rules had started to diverge from the RFU, most notably with the abolition of the line-out. This was followed by the replacement of the ruck with the "play-the-ball ruck", which allowed a two-player ruck contest between the tackler at marker and the player tackled. Mauls were stopped once the ball carrier was held, being replaced by a play-the ball-ruck. The separate Lancashire and Yorkshire competitions of the NRFU merged in 1901, forming the Northern Rugby League, the first time the name rugby league was used officially in England.
Over time, the RFU form of rugby, played by clubs which remained members of national federations affiliated to the IRFB, became known as rugby union.
The globalisation of Association football
Main article: History of FIFA
The need for a single body to oversee Association football had become apparent by the beginning of the 20th century, with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The English Football Association had chaired many discussions on setting up an international body, but was perceived as making no progress. It fell to associations from seven other European countries: France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, to form an international association. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris on May 21, 1904. Its first president was Robert Guérin. The French name and acronym has remained, even outside French-speaking countries.
The reform of American football
Both forms of rugby and American football were noted at the time for serious injuries, as well as the deaths of a significant number of players. By the early 20th century in the USA, this had resulted in national controversy and American football was banned by a number of colleges. Consequently, a series of meetings was held by 19 colleges in 1905–06. This occurred reputedly at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. He was considered a fancier of the game, but he threatened to ban it unless the rules were modified to reduce the numbers of deaths and disabilities. The meetings are now considered to be the origin of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
One proposed change was a widening of the playing field. However, Harvard University had just built a concrete stadium and therefore objected to widening, instead proposing legalisation of the forward pass. The report of the meetings introduced many restrictions on tackling and two more divergences from rugby: the forward pass and the banning of mass formation plays. The changes did not immediately have the desired effect, and 33 American football players were killed during 1908 alone. However, the number of deaths and injuries did gradually decline.
Further divergence of the two rugby codes
Rugby league rules diverged significantly from rugby union in 1906, with the reduction of the team from 15 to 13 players. In 1907, a New Zealand professional rugby team toured Australia and Britain, receiving an enthusiastic response, and professional rugby leagues were launched in Australia the following year. However, the rules of professional games varied from one country to another, and negotiations between various national bodies were required to fix the exact rules for each international match. This situation endured until 1948, when at the instigation of the French league, the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) was formed at a meeting in Bordeaux.
During the second half of 20th century, the rules changed further. In 1966, rugby league officials borrowed the American football concept of downs: a team could retain possession of the ball for no more than four tackles. The maximum number of tackles was later increased to six (in 1971), and in rugby league this became known as the six tackle rule.
With the advent of full-time professionals in the early 1990s, and the consequent speeding up of the game, the five metre off-side distance between the two teams became 10 metres, and the replacement rule was superseded by various interchange rules, among other changes.
The laws of rugby union also changed significantly during the 20th century. In particular, goals from marks were abolished, kicks directly into touch from outside the 22 metre line were penalised, new laws were put in place to determine who had possession following an inconclusive ruck or maul, and the lifting of players in line-outs was legalised.
In 1995, rugby union became an "open" game, that is one which allowed professional players. Although the original dispute between the two codes has now disappeared — and despite the fact that officials from both forms of rugby football have sometimes mentioned the possibility of re-unification — the rules of both codes and their culture have diverged to such an extent that such an event is unlikely in the foreseeable future.
Today
Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries
Further information: Football (word)
The word "football", when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world. Most often, the word "football" is used to refer to the code of football that is considered dominant within a particular region. So, effectively, what the word "football" means usually depends on where one says it.
The name "soccer" (or "soccer football") was originally a slang abbreviation of association football and is now the prevailing term in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand where other codes of football are dominant.
Of the 45 national FIFA affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, only three (Canada, Samoa and the United States) actually use "soccer" in their organizations' official names, while the rest use football (although the Samoan Federation actually uses both). However, in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, use of the word "football" by soccer bodies is a recent change and has been controversial. The governing body for Rugby Union in New Zealand changed its name from "New Zealand Rugby Football Union" to "New Zealand Rugby Union" in 2006.
Present day codes and "families"
Association football and descendants
An indoor soccer game at an open air venue in Mexico. The referee has just awarded the red team a free kick.Association football, also known as football, soccer, footy and footie
Indoor/basketball court varieties of Football:
Five-a-side football — played throughout the world under various rules including:
Futsal — the FIFA-approved five-a-side indoor game
Minivoetbal — the five-a-side indoor game played in East and West Flanders where it is hugely popular
Papi fut the five-a-side game played in outdoor basketball courts (built with goals) in Central America.
Indoor soccer — the six-a-side indoor game as played in North America. Known in Latin America, where it is often played in open air venues, as fútbol rápido ("fast soccer")
Paralympic football — modified Football for athletes with a disability. Includes:
Football 5-a-side — for visually impaired athletes
Football 7-a-side — for athletes with cerebral palsy
Electric wheelchair soccer
Beach soccer — football played on sand, also known as sand soccer
Street football — encompasses a number of informal varieties of football
Rush goalie — is a variation of football in which the role of the goalkeeper is more flexible than normal
Headers and volleys — where the aim is to score goals against a goalkeeper using only headers and volleys
Crab football — players stand on their hands and feet and move around on their backs whilst playing soccer as normal
Swamp soccer — the game is played on a swamp or bog field
Rugby school football and descendants
Rugby football
Rugby league — usually known simply as "football" or "footy" in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, and by some followers of the game in England. Also often referred to simply as "league"
Rugby league nines (or sevens)
Touch football (rugby league) — a non-contact version of rugby league. In South Africa it is known as six down
Oz Tag — a non-contact version of rugby league, in which a velcro tag is removed to indicate a tackle
Rugby union
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens; Fiji v Cook Islands at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in MelbourneTag rugby — a form of rugby union using the velcro tag
Beach rugby — rugby played on sand
Touch rugby — generic name for forms of rugby football which does not feature tackles
American football — called "football" in the United States and Canada, and "gridiron" in Australia and New Zealand. Sometimes called "tackle football" to distinguish it from the touch versions
Arena football — an indoor version of American football
Nine-man football, eight-man football, six-man football — versions of tackle football, played primarily by smaller high schools that lack enough players to field full 11-man teams
Touch football (American) — non-tackle American football
Flag football — non-tackle American football, like touch football, in which a flag that is held by velcro on a belt tied around the waist is pulled by defenders to indicate a tackle
Canadian football — called simply "football" in Canada; "football" in Canada can mean either Canadian or American football depending on context
Canadian flag football — non-tackle Canadian football
Nine-man football — similar to nine-man American football, but using Canadian rules; played by smaller schools in Saskatchewan that lack enough players to field full 12-man teams
See also: Comparison of American football and rugby league, Comparison of American football and rugby union, Comparison of Canadian and American football, Comparison of rugby league and rugby union.
Irish and Australian varieties
International rules football test match from the 2005 International Rules Series between Australia and Ireland at Telstra Dome, Melbourne, Australia.These codes have in common the absence of an offside rule, the requirement to bounce or solo (toe-kick) the ball while running, handpassing by punching or tapping the ball rather than throwing it, and other traditions.
Australian rules football — officially known as "Australian football", and informally as "Aussie rules" or "footy". In some areas (erroneously) referred to as "AFL", which is the name of the main organising body and competition
Auskick — a version of Australian rules designed by the AFL for young children
Metro footy (or Metro rules footy) — a modified version invented by the USAFL, for use on gridiron fields in North American cities (which often lack grounds large enough for conventional Australian rules matches)
Kick-to-kick
9-a-side footy — a more open, running variety of Australian rules, requiring 18 players in total and a proportionally smaller playing area (includes contact and non-contact varieties)
Rec footy — "Recreational Football", a modified non-contact touch variation of Australian rules, created by the AFL, which replaces tackles with tags
Touch Aussie Rules — a non-contact variation of Australian Rules played only in the United Kingdom
Samoa rules — localised version adapted to Samoan conditions, such as the use of rugby football fields
Masters Australian football (a.k.a. Superules) — reduced contact version introduced for competitions limited to players over 30 years of age
Women's Australian rules football — played with a smaller ball and (sometimes) reduced contact version introduced for women's competition
Gaelic football — Played predominantly in Ireland. Sometimes referred to as "football" or "gaah" (from the acronym for Gaelic Athletic Association)
Ladies Gaelic football
International rules football — a compromise code used for games between Gaelic and Australian Rules players
See also: Comparison of Australian rules football and Gaelic football
Surviving Mediæval ball games
The ball is hit into the air at the 2006 Royal Shrovetide Football match. (Photographer: Gary Austin.)
British Shrove Tuesday games
Alnwick in Northumberland
Ashbourne in Derbyshire (known as Royal Shrovetide Football)
Atherstone in Warwickshire
Corfe Castle in Dorset — The Shrove Tuesday Football Ceremony of the Purbeck Marblers.
Haxey in Lincolnshire (the Haxey Hood, actually played on Epiphany)
Hurling the Silver Ball takes place at St Columb Major in Cornwall
Sedgefield in County Durham
In Scotland the Ba game ("Ball Game") is still popular around Christmas and Hogmanay at:
Duns, Berwickshire
Scone, Perthshire
Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands
Outside the UK
Calcio Fiorentino — a modern revival of Renaissance football from 16th century Florence.
Surviving public school games
Harrow football players after a game at Harrow School.Eton field game
Eton wall game
Harrow football
Winchester College football
Recent inventions and hybrid games
Based on FA rules:
Cubbies
Three sided football
Triskelion
Keepie uppie — is the art of juggling with a football using feet, knees, chest, shoulders, and head.
Footbag — is a small bean bag or sand bag used as a ball in a number of keepie uppie variations, including hacky sack (which is a trade mark).
Freestyle football — a modern take on keepie uppie where freestylers are graded for their entertainment value and expression of skill.
Based on rugby:
Scuffleball
Force ’em backs a.k.a. forcing back, forcemanback et c.
Hybrid games
Austus — a compromise between Australian rules and American football, invented in Melbourne during World War II.
Bossaball — mixes Association football and volleyball and gymnastics; played on inflatables and trampolines.
Footvolley — mixes Association football and beach volleyball; played on sand
Kickball — a hybrid of soccer and baseball, invented in the United States in about 1942.
Speedball (American) — a combination of American football, soccer, and basketball, devised in the United States in 1912.
Universal football — A hybrid of Australian rules and rugby league, trialled in Sydney in 1933.[25]
Volata — a game resembling Association football and European handball, devised by Italian fascist leader, Augusto Turati, in the 1920s.
Wheelchair rugby — also known as Murderball, invented in Canada in 1977. Based on ice hockey and basketball rather than rugby.
Wheelchair power tag rugby
Wheelchair rugby league
Tabletop games and other recreations
Based on Football (soccer):
Subbuteo
Blow football
Table football — also known as foosball, table soccer, babyfoot, bar football or gettone)
Fantasy football (soccer)
Button football — also known as Futebol de Mesa, Jogo de Botões
Penny football
Based on rugby:
Penny rugby
Based on American football:
Paper football
Blood Bowl
Fantasy football (American)
Madden NFL
NFL
Based on Australian football:
List of Australian rules football computer games
AFL Premiership 2005
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
fifa world cup records
Overall
Most World Cup appearances
18, Brazil (only country to appear in every World Cup)
For a detailed list, see National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup
Most championships
5, Brazil
Most appearances in a World Cup final
7, Brazil and Germany
Most third-place winner
3, Germany (1934, 1970 & 2006)
Most appearances in semifinal/last four
11, Germany
For a detailed list of top four appearances, see FIFA World Cup#Successful national teams
Most matches played
92, Germany
Fewest matches played
1, Indonesia (as Dutch East Indies)
Most wins
65, Brazil
Most losses
22, Mexico
Most draws
19, Germany and Italy
Most matches played without a win or a draw
6, El Salvador
Most matches played without a win
6, Bolivia and El Salvador
Most goals scored
202, Germany
Most goals conceded
112, Germany
Fewest goals scored
0, Canada, China PR, Indonesia (as Dutch East Indies), Greece, Trinidad and Tobago, and Congo DR (as Zaire).
Fewest goals conceded
2, Angola
Most matches played without scoring a goal
3, Canada, China PR, Greece, Trinidad and Tobago, and Congo DR (as Zaire).
Highest average of goals scored per match
2.72, Hungary
Lowest average of goals conceded per match
0.67, Angola (2 goals in 3 matches)[1]
Most meetings between two teams
7 times, Brazil vs Sweden (1938, 1950, 1958, 1978, 1990 and twice in 1994)
Most meetings between two teams, Final match
2 times, Brazil vs Italy (1970 FIFA World Cup & 1994 FIFA World Cup) & Argentina vs Germany (1986 FIFA World Cup & 1990 FIFA World Cup)
Most appearances, always advancing from first round
3,[2] Denmark and Republic of Ireland
Most appearances, never advancing from first round
8, Scotland
[edit] In one tournament
Most wins
[3] 7, Brazil, 2002
Most goals scored
27, Hungary, 1954
Fewest goals conceded
0, Switzerland, 2006
Most goals conceded
16, Korea Republic, 1954
Highest goal difference
+17, Hungary, 1954
Lowest goal difference
-16, Korea Republic, 1954
Highest average of goals scored per match
5.40, Hungary, 1954
Most goals scored, champions
25, Germany, 1954
Fewest goals scored, champions
11, Italy, 1938, England, 1966, and Brazil, 1994
Fewest goals conceded, champions
2, France, 1998, and Italy, 2006
Most goals conceded, champions
14, Germany, 1954
Worst performance by a defending champion
1 draw and 2 losses, France, 2002[4]
[edit] Streaks
Most consecutive championships
2, Italy (1934-1938), and Brazil (1958-1962).
Most consecutive final matches
3, Germany (1982-1990), and Brazil (1994-2002).
Most consecutive runners-up
2, Netherlands (1974-1978) and Germany (1982-1986).
Most consecutive first-round eliminations
8, Scotland (1954-1958, 1974-1990, 1998).
Most consecutive finals tournaments
18, Brazil (1930-2006).
Most consecutive successful qualification attempts[5]
6, Italy (1962-1982); Spain (1986-2006).
Most consecutive failed qualification attempts
17, Luxembourg (1934-2006).
Most consecutive wins
11, Brazil, from 2-1 Turkey (2002) to 3-0 Ghana (2006).
Most consecutive matches without a loss
13, Brazil, from 3-0 Austria (1958) to 2-0 Bulgaria (1966).
Most consecutive losses
9, Mexico, from 1-4 France (1930) to 0-3 Sweden (1958).
Most consecutive matches without a win
17, Bulgaria, from 0-1 Argentina (1962) to 0-3 Nigeria (1994).
Most consecutive draws
5, Belgium, from 0-0 Netherlands (1998) to 1-1 Tunisia (2002).
Most consecutive matches without a draw
16, Portugal, from 3-1 Hungary (1966) to 1-0 Netherlands (2006).
Most consecutive matches scoring at least one goal
18, Brazil (1930-1958) and Germany (1934-1958).
Most consecutive matches scoring at least two goals
11, Uruguay (1930-1954)
Most consecutive matches scoring at least three / four goals
4, Uruguay (1930-1950) and Hungary (1954) (four goals); also Portugal (1966), Germany (1970), Brazil (1970),
Most consecutive matches scoring at least six / eight goals
2, Hungary (1954) (eight goals); also Brazil (1950) (six goals)
Most consecutive matches without scoring a goal
5, Bolivia (1930-1994).
Most consecutive matches without conceding a goal
5, Italy (1990).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least one goal
22, Switzerland (1934-1994).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least two goals
9, Mexico (1930-1958).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least three goals
5, Mexico (1930-1950).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least four goals
3, Bolivia (1930-1950), Mexico (1930-1950).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least five / six / seven goals
2, Korea Republic (1954) (seven goals); also USA (1930-1934) (six goals); also Austria (1954) (five goals).
[edit] Individual
For records regarding goalscoring, see Goalscoring; for records regarding goalkeeping, see Goalkeeping
Most tournaments played
5, Antonio Carbajal ( Mexico, 1950-1966) and Lothar Matthäus ( Germany, 1982-1998).
See below for a list of players with four or more tournament appearances
Most championships
3, Pelé ( Brazil, 1958, 1962 and 1970).
See here for a list of players who have won multiple FIFA World Cups
Most matches played
25, Lothar Matthäus ( Germany, 1982-1998).
Most minutes played
2,217 minutes, Paolo Maldini ( Italy, 1990-2002).
Most matches won
16, Cafu ( Brazil, 1994-2006).
Most appearances in a World Cup final
3, Cafu ( Brazil, 1994-2002).
Most appearances as captain
16, Diego Maradona ( Argentina, 1986-1994).
Most appearances as substitute
11, Denílson ( Brazil, 1998-2002).
Youngest player
17 years and 42 days, Norman Whiteside ( Northern Ireland, vs Yugoslavia, 1982).
Youngest player, final
17 years and 249 days, Pelé ( Brazil, vs Sweden, 1958).
Youngest player, qualifying match
13 years and 310 days, Souleymane Mamam ( Togo, vs Zambia, May 6, 2001, 2002 CAF Group 1).[6]
Youngest captain
21 years and 316 days, Tony Meola, ( USA, vs Czechoslovakia, June 10, 1990, 1990).[7]
Oldest player
42 years and 39 days, Roger Milla ( Cameroon, vs Russia, 1994).
Oldest player, final
40 years and 133 days, Dino Zoff ( Italy, vs Germany, 1982).
Oldest player, qualifying match
46 years and 180 days, MacDonald Taylor ( U.S. Virgin Islands, vs St. Kitts and Nevis, February 18, 2004, 2006 CONCACAF Prelim Group 4).[8]
Oldest captain
40 years and 292 days, Peter Shilton ( England, vs Italy, July 7, 1990, 1990).
Largest age difference on the same team
23 years and 358 days, 1994, Cameroon (Rigobert Song: 18 years and 10 days; Roger Milla: 42 years and 1 day).
Largest age difference on a champion team
21 years and 297 days, 1982, Italy (Dino Zoff: 40 years and 133 days; Giuseppe Bergomi: 18 years and 201 days).
Longest period between World Cup finals appearances as a player
12 years and 13 days, Alfred Bickel ( Switzerland, 1938-1950).
Longest period between World Cup finals appearances, overall
44 years, Tim ( Brazil, 1938, as a player; and Peru, 1982, as coach).
[edit] Most tournaments appeared (players)
Player Appearances
Antonio Carbajal 5 (1950, 54, 58, 62, 66)
Lothar Matthäus 5 (1982, 86, 90, 94, 98)
Carlos José Castilho 4 (1950*, 54, 58*, 62*)
Nílton Santos 4 (1950*, 54, 58, 62)
Djalma Santos 4 (1954, 58, 62, 66)
Pelé 4 (1958, 62, 66, 70)
Bobby Charlton 4 (1958*, 62, 66, 70)
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger 4 (1958, 62, 66, 70)
Uwe Seeler 4 (1958, 62, 66, 70)
Lev Yashin 4 (1958, 62, 66, 70*)
Pedro Rocha 4 (1962, 66, 70, 74)
Enrico Albertosi 4 (1962*, 66, 70, 74*)
Gianni Rivera 4 (1962, 66, 70, 74)
Dobromir Zhechev 4 (1962, 66, 70, 74*)
Sepp Maier 4 (1966*, 70, 74, 78)
Dino Zoff 4 (1970*, 74, 78, 82)
Władysław Żmuda 4 (1974, 78, 82, 86)
Émerson Leão 4 (1970*, 74, 78, 86*)
Diego Maradona 4 (1982, 86, 90, 94)
Giuseppe Bergomi 4 (1982, 86, 90, 98)
Jim Leighton 4 (1982*, 86, 90, 98)
Enzo Scifo 4 (1986, 90, 94, 98)
Franky Van Der Elst 4 (1986, 90, 94, 98)
Andoni Zubizarreta 4 (1986, 90, 94, 98)
Hong Myung-Bo 4 (1990, 94, 98, 02)
Hwang Sun-Hong 4 (1990, 94, 98*, 02)
Paolo Maldini 4 (1990, 94, 98, 02)
Fernando Hierro 4 (1990*, 94, 98, 02)
Marc Wilmots 4 (1990*, 94, 98, 02)
Jacques Songo'o 4 (1990*, 94, 98, 02*)
Mohamed Al-Deayea 4 (1994, 98, 02, 06*)
Sami Al-Jaber 4 (1994, 98, 02, 06)
Cafu 4 (1994, 98, 02, 06)
Ronaldo 4 (1994*, 98, 02, 06)
Oliver Kahn 4 (1994*, 98*, 02, 06)
Kasey Keller 4 (1990*, 98, 02*, 06)
Claudio Reyna 4 (1994*, 98, 02, 06)
*Did not play but was part of the squad.
[edit] Goalscoring
[edit] Individual
Most goals scored, overall
15, Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2006).
For a detailed list of the overall top goalscorers, see FIFA World Cup#Overall top goalscorers
Most goals scored in a tournament
13, Just Fontaine ( France), 1958.
For a detailed list of top goalscorers in each tournament (Golden Boot winner), see FIFA World Cup awards#Golden Shoe - Top Goalscorers
Most goals scored in a match
5, Oleg Salenko ( Russia, vs Cameroon, 1994).
Most goals scored in a lost match
4, Ernest Wilimowski ( Poland, vs Brazil, 1938).
Most goals scored in a qualifying match
13, Archie Thompson ( Australia, vs American Samoa, 2002 OFC Group 1).
Most goals scored in one Final
3, Geoff Hurst ( England, vs West Germany, 1966).
Most goals scored in all Final matches
3, Vavá ( Brazil, 2 vs Sweden in 1958 & 1 vs Czechoslovakia in 1962), Pelé ( Brazil, 2 vs Sweden in 1958 & 1 vs Italy in 1970), Geoff Hurst ( England, 3 vs West Germany in 1966), and Zinedine Zidane ( France, 2 vs Brazil in 1998 & 1 vs Italy in 2006).
Most matches with at least one goal
11, Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2006).
Most consecutive matches with at least one goal
6, Just Fontaine ( France, 1958) and Jairzinho ( Brazil, 1970).
Most matches with at least two goals
4, Sándor Kocsis ( Hungary, 1954), Just Fontaine ( France, 1958), and Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2006).
Most consecutive matches with at least two goals
4, Sándor Kocsis ( Hungary, 1954).
Most hat-tricks
2, Sándor Kocsis ( Hungary, 1954), Just Fontaine ( France, 1958), Gerd Müller ( West Germany, 1970), and Gabriel Batistuta ( Argentina, 1994 and 1998).
Most consecutive hat-tricks
2, Sándor Kocsis ( Hungary, 1954) and Gerd Müller ( West Germany, 1970).
Fastest hat-trick & Most goals scored by a substitute in a match
8 minutes, László Kiss ( Hungary), scored at 69', 72', and 76' against El Salvador, 1982.
Hat-tricks from the penalty spot
Never occurred in the final tournament. Twice in qualification: Kubilay Türkyilmaz ( Switzerland, vs Faroe Islands, October 7, 2000, 2002 UEFA Group 1); Ronaldo ( Brazil, vs Argentina, June 2, 2004, 2006 CONMEBOL).
Scoring in every match of a World Cup
Alcides Ghiggia ( Uruguay), 4 goals in 4 matches (1950), Just Fontaine ( France), 13 goals in 6 matches (1958), Jairzinho ( Brazil), 7 goals in 6 matches (1970).[9]
Most tournaments with at least one goal
4, Pelé ( Brazil, 1958-1970) and Uwe Seeler ( West Germany, 1958-1970).
Most tournaments with at least two goals
4, Uwe Seeler ( West Germany, 1958-1970).
Most tournaments with at least three goals
3, Jürgen Klinsmann ( Germany, 1990-1998) and Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2006).
Most tournaments with at least four goals
2, Helmut Rahn ( West Germany, 1954-1958), Gerd Müller ( West Germany, 1970-1974), Vavá ( Brazil, 1958-1962), Pelé ( Brazil, 1958, 1970), Teófilo Cubillas ( Peru, 1970, 1978), Gary Lineker ( England, 1986-1990), Gabriel Batistuta ( Argentina, 1994-1998), Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2002), Christian Vieri ( Italy, 1998-2002), and Miroslav Klose ( Germany, 2002-2006).
Most tournaments with at least five goals
2, Teófilo Cubillas ( Peru 1970, 1978) and Miroslav Klose ( Germany, 2002-2006).
Longest period between a player's first and last goals
12 years, Pelé ( Brazil, 1958-1970), Uwe Seeler ( West Germany, 1958-1970), Diego Maradona ( Argentina, 1982-1994), Michael Laudrup ( Denmark, 1986-1998), Henrik Larsson ( Sweden, 1994-2006), and Sami Al-Jaber ( Saudi Arabia, 1994-2006).
Youngest goalscorer
17 years and 239 days, Pelé ( Brazil, vs Wales, 1958).
Youngest hat-trick scorer
17 years and 244 days, Pelé ( Brazil, vs France, 1958).
Youngest goalscorer, final
17 years and 249 days, Pelé ( Brazil, vs Sweden, 1958).
Oldest goalscorer
42 years and 39 days, Roger Milla ( Cameroon, vs Russia, 1994).
Oldest hat-trick scorer
33 years and 159 days, Tore Keller ( Sweden, vs Cuba, 1938).[10]
Oldest goalscorer, final
35 years, 263 days, Nils Liedholm ( Sweden, vs Brazil, 1958).
Most penalties scored (excluding during shootouts)
4, Eusébio ( Portugal, 4 in 1966), Rob Rensenbrink ( Netherlands, 4 in 1978) - both records for one tournament - and Gabriel Batistuta ( Argentina, 2 each in 1994 and 1998).
Fastest goal from kickoff
11 seconds, Hakan Şükür ( Turkey, vs Korea Republic, June 29, 2002, 2002).
For a detailed list of the fastest goals from kickoff, see below
Fastest goal by a substitute
16 seconds, Ebbe Sand ( Denmark, vs Nigeria, June 28, 1998, 1998).
Fastest goal in a final
90 seconds, Johan Neeskens ( Netherlands, vs West Germany, July 7, 1974, 1974).
Fastest goal in a qualifying match
8 seconds, Davide Gualtieri ( San Marino, vs England, November 17, 1993, 1994 UEFA Group 2).
Latest goal from kickoff
121st minute, Alessandro Del Piero ( Italy vs Germany, July 4, 2006, 2006).
Latest goal from kickoff in a final
120th minute, Geoff Hurst ( England) vs West Germany 1966 (see "they think it's all over").
[edit] List of overall top goalscorers
15 goals
Ronaldo
14 goals
Gerd Müller
13 goals
Just Fontaine
12 goals
Pelé
11 goals
Jürgen Klinsmann
Sándor Kocsis
10 goals
Gabriel Batistuta
Gary Lineker
Miroslav Klose
Helmut Rahn
Teófilo Cubillas
Grzegorz Lato
9 goals
Ademir[11]
Jairzinho
Vavá
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Uwe Seeler
Roberto Baggio
Paolo Rossi
Christian Vieri
Eusébio
8 goals
Diego Maradona
Guillermo Stábile
Leônidas[12]
Rivaldo
Rudi Völler
Oscar Míguez
7 goals
Careca
Oldřich Nejedlý[13]
Hans Schäfer
Lajos Tichy
Johnny Rep
Andrzej Szarmach
6 goals
Mario Kempes
Erich Probst
Bebeto
Rivelino
Hristo Stoichkov
Davor Šuker
Thierry Henry
Helmut Haller
Lothar Matthäus
Max Morlock
György Sárosi
Gyula Zsengellér
Salvatore Schillaci
Dennis Bergkamp
Rob Rensenbrink
Zbigniew Boniek
Oleg Salenko
Josef Hügi
5 goals
Hans Krankl
Marc Wilmots
Garrincha
Romário
Zico
Roger Milla
Tomáš Skuhravý
Geoff Hurst
Michel Platini
Zinedine Zidane
Alessandro Altobelli
Silvio Piola
Franz Beckenbauer
Johan Neeskens
Peter McParland
Estanislao Basora
Emilio Butragueño
Fernando Hierro
Fernando Morientes
Raúl
Kennet Andersson
Henrik Larsson
Pedro Cea
Juan Alberto Schiaffino
[edit] Fastest goals
Time
(seconds) Player Team Opponent World Cup
11 Hakan Şükür Turkey Korea Republic 2002 Korea/Japan
15 Václav Mašek Czechoslovakia Mexico 1962 Chile
23 Pak Seung-Zin Korea DPR Portugal 1966 England
24 Ernst Lehner Germany Austria 1934 Italy
27 Bryan Robson England France 1982 Spain
37 Bernard Lacombe France Italy 1978 Argentina
[edit] Team
Biggest margin of victory
9, Hungary (9) vs Korea Republic (0), 1954; Yugoslavia (9) vs Zaire (0), 1974; Hungary (10) vs El Salvador (1), 1982.
Biggest margin of victory, qualifying match
31, Australia (31) vs American Samoa (0), April 11, 2001, 2002 OFC Group 1.
Most goals scored in one match, one team
10, Hungary, vs El Salvador, 1982.
Most goals scored in one match, both teams
12, Austria (7) vs Switzerland (5), 1954.
Highest scoring draw
4-4, England vs Belgium (AET), 1954, and USSR vs Colombia, 1962.
Largest deficit overcome in a win
3 goals, Austria, 1954 (coming from 0-3 down to win 7-5 vs Switzerland) and Portugal, 1966 (coming from 0-3 down to win 5-3 vs Korea DPR).
Most goals scored in extra time, both teams
5, Italy (3) vs West Germany (2), 1970.
Most goals scored in a final, one team
5, Brazil, 1958.
Most goals scored in a final, both teams
7, Brazil (5) vs. Sweden (2), 1958.
Fewest goals scored in a final, both teams
0, Brazil (0) vs. Italy (0), 1994.
Most individual goalscorers for one team, one match
7, Yugoslavia, vs Zaire, 1974 (Dušan Bajević, Dragan Džajić, Ivica Šurjak, Josip Katalinski, Vladislav Bogićević, Branko Oblak, Ilija Petković).
Most individual goalscorers for one team, one tournament
10, France, 1982 (Gérard Soler, Bernard Genghini, Michel Platini, Didier Six, Maxime Bossis, Alain Giresse, Dominique Rocheteau, Marius Trésor, René Girard, Alain Couriol) and Italy, 2006 (Alessandro Del Piero, Alberto Gilardino, Fabio Grosso, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Filippo Inzaghi, Marco Materazzi, Andrea Pirlo, Luca Toni, Francesco Totti, Gianluca Zambrotta).
Largest goal difference improvement in consecutive matches[14]
+10: Turkey (1954) — lost 1-4 to West Germany, then won 7-0 over Korea Republic; and West Germany (1954) — lost 3-8 to Hungary, then won 7-2 over Turkey.
Largest goal difference disimprovement in consecutive matches
-12: Sweden (1938) — won 8-0 over Cuba, then lost 1-5 to Hungary ; Turkey (1954) — won 7-0 over Korea Republic, then lost 2-7 to West Germany; Hungary (1982) — won 10-1 over El Salvador, then lost 1-4 to Argentina.
[edit] Tournament
Most goals scored in a tournament
171 goals, 1998.
Fewest goals scored in a tournament
70 goals 1930 and 1934.
Most goals per match in a tournament
5.38 goals per match, 1954.
Fewest goals per match in a tournament
2.21 goals per match, 1990.
Most own goals in a tournament
4 goals, 1954, 1998 & 2006.
[edit] Own goals
Most own goals in a match
2, USA vs Portugal, 2002 (Jorge Costa of Portugal and Jeff Agoos of USA).
Scoring for both teams in the same match
Ernie Brandts ( Netherlands, vs Italy, 1978 - own goal in the 18th minute, goal in the 50th minute).
[edit] Goalkeeping
Most clean sheets (matches without conceding)
10, Peter Shilton ( England, 1982-1990) and Fabien Barthez ( France, 1998-2006)
Most consecutive minutes without conceding
517 mins, Walter Zenga ( Italy, 1990)
Most goals conceded
25, Antonio Carbajal ( Mexico) and Mohamed Al-Deayea ( Saudi Arabia)
Most goals conceded, one tournament
16, Hong Duk-Yung ( Korea Republic), 1954
Most goals conceded, one match
10, Luis Guevara Mora ( El Salvador), 1982 (vs Hungary)
Fewest goals conceded, one tournament, champions
2, Fabien Barthez ( France), 1998 and Gianluigi Buffon ( Italy, 2006)
Fewest goals conceded, one tournament
0, Pascal Zuberbühler ( Switzerland), 2006[15]
Most penalties saved, one tournament (excluding during shootouts)
2, Jan Tomaszewski ( Poland), 1974 and Brad Friedel ( USA), 2002
[edit] Coaching
Most matches coached
25, Helmut Schön ( West Germany, 1966-1978).
Most matches won
16, Helmut Schön ( West Germany, 1966-1978).
Most championships
2, Vittorio Pozzo ( Italy, 1934-1938).
Most tournaments
5, Bora Milutinović (1986-2002) and Carlos Alberto Parreira (1982, 1990-1998, 2006).
Most nations coached
5, Bora Milutinović ( Mexico, 1986; Costa Rica, 1990; USA, 1994; Nigeria, 1998; China PR, 2002).
Most consecutive wins
11, Luiz Felipe Scolari ( Brazil, 2002, 7 wins; Portugal, 2006, 4 wins - Portugal "won" its next match, the quarterfinal against England, by penalty kicks, which technically counts as a draw).
Most consecutive matches without a loss
12, Luiz Felipe Scolari ( Brazil, 2002, 7 matches; Portugal, 2006, 5 matches).
Youngest coach
27 years and 267 days, Juan José Tramutola ( Argentina, 1930)
Oldest coach
70 years and 131 days, Cesare Maldini ( Paraguay, 2002)
Quickest substitution made
4th minute, Cesare Maldini, Giuseppe Bergomi for Alessandro Nesta ( Italy, vs Austria, 1998); Sven-Göran Eriksson, Peter Crouch for Michael Owen ( England, vs Sweden, 2006).
Most championship wins as player and head coach
3, Mário Zagallo, Brazil (1958 & 1962 as player, 1970 as coach)[16]
[edit] Refereeing
Most tournaments
3, Jean Langenus (Belgium, 1930-1938), Ivan Eklind (Sweden, 1934-1950), Benjamin Griffiths (Wales, 1950-1958), Arthur Ellis (England, 1950-1958), Juan Gardeazábal (Spain, 1958-1966), Jamal Al Sharif (Syria, 1986-1994), Joël Quiniou (France, 1986-1994), Ali Mohamed Bujsaim (UAE, 1994-2002)
Most matches refeered, overall
8, Joël Quiniou (France), 1986-1994
Most matches refeered, one tournament
6, Benito Archundia (Mexico), 2006, and Horacio Elizondo (Argentina), 2006
Youngest referee
24 years and 193 days, Juan Gardeazábal (Spain, 1958)
Oldest referee
56 years and 236 days, George Reader (England, 1950)
[edit] Discipline
Note: There are no official records for cautions issued in tournaments before the introduction of yellow cards in 1970.[17]
Fastest caution
first minute, Giampiero Marini ( Italy), vs Poland, 1982; Sergei Gorlukovich ( Russia), vs Sweden, 1994.
Fastest sending off
56 seconds, José Batista ( Uruguay), vs Scotland, 1986.
Latest caution
during penalty shootout: Edinho ( Brazil) v France 1986; Carlos Roa ( Argentina), vs England, 1998.
Latest sending off
121 minutes Leandro Cufre ( Argentina), vs Germany, 2006.
Most cards (all-time, player)
6, Zinedine Zidane ( France, 1998-2006) and Cafu ( Brazil, 1994-2006).
Most cautions (all-time, player)
6, Cafu ( Brazil, 1994-2006).
Most sendings off (all-time, player)
2, Rigobert Song ( Cameroon, 1994 and 1998) and Zinedine Zidane ( France, 1998 and 2006).
Most sendings off (tournament)
28 (in 64 games), 2006.
Most sendings off (all-time, team)
10, Argentina (in 64 games)
Most sendings off (match, both teams)
4 (2 each) in Portugal vs Netherlands , 2006. (referee: Valentin Ivanov)
Most sendings off (final match)
2, 1990: both Argentina (v West Germany): Pedro Monzón & Gustavo Dezotti
Most cautions (tournament)
345 in 64 matches, 2006.
Most cautions (all-time, team)
88, Argentina (in 64 games)
Most cautions (match, one team)
9, Portugal, vs Netherlands, 2006
Most cautions (match, both teams)
16 - Portugal vs Netherlands, 2006;[18] and Cameroon v Germany, June 11 2002[19]
Most cautions (match, player)
3 (61', 90', 93') Josip Šimunić ( Croatia), vs Australia, 2006 (referee: Graham Poll)[20]
Most suspensions (tournament, player)
2, André Kana-Biyik ( Cameroon 1990)[21]
Longest suspension (player, doping)
15 months, Diego Maradona ( Argentina vs Nigeria, 1994)[22]
Longest suspension (player, misconduct)
8 matches, Mauro Tassotti ( Italy vs Spain, 1994) for elbowing Luis Enrique.
[edit] Attendance
Highest match attendance in a World Cup final tournament
199,854, Uruguay vs Brazil, 16 July 1950, Maracanã Stadium, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, World Cup 1950.
Lowest match attendance in a World Cup tournament
300, Romania vs Peru, 14 July 1930, Estadio Pocitos, Montevideo, Uruguay, World Cup 1930.
Highest match attendance in a World Cup qualifying match
162,764, Brazil vs Colombia, 9 March 1977, Maracanã Stadium, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 1978 CONMEBOL Group 1.
Lowest match attendance in a World Cup qualifying match
0, Costa Rica vs Panama, 26 March 2005, Saprissa Stadium, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica, 2006 CONCACAF Final Group.[23][24]
Highest average of attendance per match
68,991, 1994.
Lowest average of attendance per match
23,235, 1934.
[edit] Penalty shootouts
Most shootouts, team, all-time
4, Argentina, France, Germany and Italy
Most shootouts, team, tournament
2, Argentina 1990 and Spain 2002
Most shootouts, all teams, tournament
4, 1990, 2006
Most wins, team, all-time
4, Germany
Most wins, team, tournament
2, Argentina 1990
Most losses, team, all-time
3, Italy and England
Most shootouts, kicker, all-time & Most losses, kicker, all-time
3, Roberto Baggio, Italy (1990 semi-final, 1994 final, 1998 quarter final)
Most goals, shootout, one team
5, (shared by 5 teams)
Most goals, shootout, both teams
9, (in 4 matches)
Most kicks taken, shootout, both teams
12, West Germany vs France 1982 and Sweden vs Romania 1994
Fewest goals, shootout, one team
0, Switzerland 2006 vs Ukraine
Most saves, all-time
4, Sergio Goycochea Argentina and Harald Schumacher Germany
Most saves, tournament
4, Sergio Goycochea Argentina, 1990.
Most saves, shootout
3, Ricardo Portugal, vs England, 2006.
[edit] Top scoring teams by tournament
Note, totals do not include penalty shoot-outs. Teams in bold also won the tournament.
1930 - Argentina (18)
1934 - Italy (12)
1938 - Hungary (15)
1950 - Brazil (22)
1954 - Hungary (27) Highest in World Cup history.
1958 - France (23)
1962 - Brazil (14)
1966 - Portugal (17)
1970 - Brazil (19)
1974 - Poland (16)
1978 - Argentina, Netherlands (15)
1982 - France (16)
1986 - Argentina (14)
1990 - West Germany (15)
1994 - Sweden (15)
1998 - France (15)
2002 - Brazil (18)
2006 - Germany (14)
[edit] References and footnotes
^ Other low averages, in ascending order of games played: 0.77 (from 11 games) Republic of Ireland; 0.85 (from 55) England; 0.89 (from 77) Italy; 0.91 (from 92) Republic of Ireland
^ Germany has never failed to advance from 14 first-round group phases, but lost its first-round knockout match in 1938
^ France in 1998 had 6 match wins; the Italy match is regarded as drawn although France progressed via penalties.
^ 1930 champions Uruguay refused to enter the 1934 tournament, while three defending champions were eliminated in the first round: Italy in 1950, Brazil in 1966, and France in 2002, with the first two teams both managing a win.
^ Excluding automatic qualification as host, as reigning champion, or by invitation.
^ FIFA official records claimed he was born in 1987, but some sources claimed he was born in 1985, which would mean he was 15 years and 310 days old when he played the match.
^ According to RSSSF's 1994 World Cup page, Fuad Amin of Saudi Arabia would have been the youngest captain, at 21-250 in the 1994, but the source does not specify the match in which he was captain. It is listed that the starting captain was substituted in both the match against the Netherlands and the one against Sweden, in which Amin may have been given the armband on the captains' substitutions, but this information has not been verified. In any case, Meola still is the youngest starting captain, and players who received the captain's armband during the course of the match are generally not regarded as official captains.
^ According to "FIFA World Cup Superlatives: Players". A FIFA report, however, indicates that Taylor participated in another match after that date, again versus St. Kitts and Nevis, on March 31, 2004, breaking his own record. If the age listed in the "Superlatives" (PDF) file corresponds to the February match, then in accordance with the match report from March the actual record would be 40 years and 222 days.
^ Defined as a player who played all matches for a team that reached the final or the third-place match, meaning their team played the maximum number of matches. Because two opponents of Uruguay withdrew in 1950, Uruguay only played 4 matches instead of 6.
^ Some sources such as RSSSF indicated that it was Harry Andersson but not Tore Keller who scored a hat-trick in that match. (link)
^ There was a controversy regarding the number of goals scored by the Ademir in 1950 because of incomplete data from the final group round game against Spain, that ended in a 6-1 victory for Brazil. The first goal had been credited to Spanish defender Parra as an own goal, and the fifth Brazilian goal was credited to Jair. However, recently FIFA credited Ademir with both these goals, thus making him the 1950 World Cup top scorer, with nine goals.
^ FIFA initially credited Leônidas with eight goals in 1938. However, FIFA changed it to seven goals in November 2006, meaning he scored a total of eight goals overall (he scored one goal in 1938). In some sources. Leônidas was credited with nine goals in the 1938 tournament, mis-crediting one Brazilian goal in the first-round match against Poland.
^ FIFA initially credited Nejedlý with only four goals in 1934. However, FIFA changed it to five goals in November 2006, meaning he scored a total of seven goals overall (he scored two goals in 1938). [1]
^ Matches within one tournament. Otherwise, Hungary had a +11 swing between 2-4 v Italy in 1938 and 9-0 v Korea Republic in 1954; and again between 1-3 v France in 1978 and 10-1 v El Salvador in 1982; and likewise Germany between 0-3 v Croatia in 1998 and 8-0 v Saudi Arabia in 2002.
^ Zuberbühler kept goal throughout every minute of Switzerland's 4 matches. Other keepers have kept clean sheets only playing part of their team's matches: Velloso (Brazil, 1930, 1 match of 2); Pedro Benítez (Paraguay, 1930, 1 of 2); József Háda (Hungary, 1938, 1 of 4); Giuseppe Moro (Italy, 1950, 1 of 2); István Ilku (Hungary, 1958, 1 of 4); Lorenzo Buffon (Italy, 1962, 2 of 3); Rogelio Domínguez (Argentina, 1962, 1 of 3); Adán Godoy (Chile, 1962, 1 of 6); Antonio Carbajal (Mexico, 1966, 1 of 3); Horst Wolter (West Germany, 1970, 1 of 6); József Szendrei (Hungary, 1986, 1 of 3); Viktor Chanov (USSR, 1986, 1 of 4); Manuel Bento (Portugal, 1986, 1 of 3); Plamen Nikolov (Bulgaria, 1994, 45 mins of 7); Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria, 2002, 1 of 3); Rami Shaaban (Sweden, 2006, 1 of 4); Santiago Cañizares (Spain, 2006, 1 of 4);
^ Zagallo was also an assistant coach when Brazil won in 1994.
^ Chris Goodwin & Peter Young. England's World Cup Final Tournament Player Disciplinary Records. Retrieved on 2006-11-03. “records of player discipline prior to the advent of yellow and red cards may not be complete.”
^ 2006 Portugal - Netherlands match report
^ 2002 Cameroon - Germany FIFA match report
^ Šimunić was given three yellow cards in the match: the referee failed to send him off the pitch after the second yellow, and was only red carded after the third yellow. The original FIFA match report listed all three cautions, however was revised shortly after, with the second caution (90') not being recorded; it is unknown whether this was for consistency in the reports, or whether the caution was retrospectively overturned.
^ Biyik missed the team's second game after receiving a red card in the first; and then missed their fifth game after yellow cards in the third and fourth. Others, including Zinedine Zidane in 2006, have earned a second suspension in their team's final match of the tournament, not servable during the tournament.
^ Kerr, John H. (1997). Motivation and Emotion in Sport: reversal theory. Psychology Press, 2. ISBN 0863775004.
^ Reuters. Costa Rica fans banned after violence. ESPN Soccernet. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
^ It has not been verified whether this is a unique occurrence, or if other World Cup qualification matches throughout history have had an attendance of 0.
Most World Cup appearances
18, Brazil (only country to appear in every World Cup)
For a detailed list, see National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup
Most championships
5, Brazil
Most appearances in a World Cup final
7, Brazil and Germany
Most third-place winner
3, Germany (1934, 1970 & 2006)
Most appearances in semifinal/last four
11, Germany
For a detailed list of top four appearances, see FIFA World Cup#Successful national teams
Most matches played
92, Germany
Fewest matches played
1, Indonesia (as Dutch East Indies)
Most wins
65, Brazil
Most losses
22, Mexico
Most draws
19, Germany and Italy
Most matches played without a win or a draw
6, El Salvador
Most matches played without a win
6, Bolivia and El Salvador
Most goals scored
202, Germany
Most goals conceded
112, Germany
Fewest goals scored
0, Canada, China PR, Indonesia (as Dutch East Indies), Greece, Trinidad and Tobago, and Congo DR (as Zaire).
Fewest goals conceded
2, Angola
Most matches played without scoring a goal
3, Canada, China PR, Greece, Trinidad and Tobago, and Congo DR (as Zaire).
Highest average of goals scored per match
2.72, Hungary
Lowest average of goals conceded per match
0.67, Angola (2 goals in 3 matches)[1]
Most meetings between two teams
7 times, Brazil vs Sweden (1938, 1950, 1958, 1978, 1990 and twice in 1994)
Most meetings between two teams, Final match
2 times, Brazil vs Italy (1970 FIFA World Cup & 1994 FIFA World Cup) & Argentina vs Germany (1986 FIFA World Cup & 1990 FIFA World Cup)
Most appearances, always advancing from first round
3,[2] Denmark and Republic of Ireland
Most appearances, never advancing from first round
8, Scotland
[edit] In one tournament
Most wins
[3] 7, Brazil, 2002
Most goals scored
27, Hungary, 1954
Fewest goals conceded
0, Switzerland, 2006
Most goals conceded
16, Korea Republic, 1954
Highest goal difference
+17, Hungary, 1954
Lowest goal difference
-16, Korea Republic, 1954
Highest average of goals scored per match
5.40, Hungary, 1954
Most goals scored, champions
25, Germany, 1954
Fewest goals scored, champions
11, Italy, 1938, England, 1966, and Brazil, 1994
Fewest goals conceded, champions
2, France, 1998, and Italy, 2006
Most goals conceded, champions
14, Germany, 1954
Worst performance by a defending champion
1 draw and 2 losses, France, 2002[4]
[edit] Streaks
Most consecutive championships
2, Italy (1934-1938), and Brazil (1958-1962).
Most consecutive final matches
3, Germany (1982-1990), and Brazil (1994-2002).
Most consecutive runners-up
2, Netherlands (1974-1978) and Germany (1982-1986).
Most consecutive first-round eliminations
8, Scotland (1954-1958, 1974-1990, 1998).
Most consecutive finals tournaments
18, Brazil (1930-2006).
Most consecutive successful qualification attempts[5]
6, Italy (1962-1982); Spain (1986-2006).
Most consecutive failed qualification attempts
17, Luxembourg (1934-2006).
Most consecutive wins
11, Brazil, from 2-1 Turkey (2002) to 3-0 Ghana (2006).
Most consecutive matches without a loss
13, Brazil, from 3-0 Austria (1958) to 2-0 Bulgaria (1966).
Most consecutive losses
9, Mexico, from 1-4 France (1930) to 0-3 Sweden (1958).
Most consecutive matches without a win
17, Bulgaria, from 0-1 Argentina (1962) to 0-3 Nigeria (1994).
Most consecutive draws
5, Belgium, from 0-0 Netherlands (1998) to 1-1 Tunisia (2002).
Most consecutive matches without a draw
16, Portugal, from 3-1 Hungary (1966) to 1-0 Netherlands (2006).
Most consecutive matches scoring at least one goal
18, Brazil (1930-1958) and Germany (1934-1958).
Most consecutive matches scoring at least two goals
11, Uruguay (1930-1954)
Most consecutive matches scoring at least three / four goals
4, Uruguay (1930-1950) and Hungary (1954) (four goals); also Portugal (1966), Germany (1970), Brazil (1970),
Most consecutive matches scoring at least six / eight goals
2, Hungary (1954) (eight goals); also Brazil (1950) (six goals)
Most consecutive matches without scoring a goal
5, Bolivia (1930-1994).
Most consecutive matches without conceding a goal
5, Italy (1990).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least one goal
22, Switzerland (1934-1994).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least two goals
9, Mexico (1930-1958).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least three goals
5, Mexico (1930-1950).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least four goals
3, Bolivia (1930-1950), Mexico (1930-1950).
Most consecutive matches conceding at least five / six / seven goals
2, Korea Republic (1954) (seven goals); also USA (1930-1934) (six goals); also Austria (1954) (five goals).
[edit] Individual
For records regarding goalscoring, see Goalscoring; for records regarding goalkeeping, see Goalkeeping
Most tournaments played
5, Antonio Carbajal ( Mexico, 1950-1966) and Lothar Matthäus ( Germany, 1982-1998).
See below for a list of players with four or more tournament appearances
Most championships
3, Pelé ( Brazil, 1958, 1962 and 1970).
See here for a list of players who have won multiple FIFA World Cups
Most matches played
25, Lothar Matthäus ( Germany, 1982-1998).
Most minutes played
2,217 minutes, Paolo Maldini ( Italy, 1990-2002).
Most matches won
16, Cafu ( Brazil, 1994-2006).
Most appearances in a World Cup final
3, Cafu ( Brazil, 1994-2002).
Most appearances as captain
16, Diego Maradona ( Argentina, 1986-1994).
Most appearances as substitute
11, Denílson ( Brazil, 1998-2002).
Youngest player
17 years and 42 days, Norman Whiteside ( Northern Ireland, vs Yugoslavia, 1982).
Youngest player, final
17 years and 249 days, Pelé ( Brazil, vs Sweden, 1958).
Youngest player, qualifying match
13 years and 310 days, Souleymane Mamam ( Togo, vs Zambia, May 6, 2001, 2002 CAF Group 1).[6]
Youngest captain
21 years and 316 days, Tony Meola, ( USA, vs Czechoslovakia, June 10, 1990, 1990).[7]
Oldest player
42 years and 39 days, Roger Milla ( Cameroon, vs Russia, 1994).
Oldest player, final
40 years and 133 days, Dino Zoff ( Italy, vs Germany, 1982).
Oldest player, qualifying match
46 years and 180 days, MacDonald Taylor ( U.S. Virgin Islands, vs St. Kitts and Nevis, February 18, 2004, 2006 CONCACAF Prelim Group 4).[8]
Oldest captain
40 years and 292 days, Peter Shilton ( England, vs Italy, July 7, 1990, 1990).
Largest age difference on the same team
23 years and 358 days, 1994, Cameroon (Rigobert Song: 18 years and 10 days; Roger Milla: 42 years and 1 day).
Largest age difference on a champion team
21 years and 297 days, 1982, Italy (Dino Zoff: 40 years and 133 days; Giuseppe Bergomi: 18 years and 201 days).
Longest period between World Cup finals appearances as a player
12 years and 13 days, Alfred Bickel ( Switzerland, 1938-1950).
Longest period between World Cup finals appearances, overall
44 years, Tim ( Brazil, 1938, as a player; and Peru, 1982, as coach).
[edit] Most tournaments appeared (players)
Player Appearances
Antonio Carbajal 5 (1950, 54, 58, 62, 66)
Lothar Matthäus 5 (1982, 86, 90, 94, 98)
Carlos José Castilho 4 (1950*, 54, 58*, 62*)
Nílton Santos 4 (1950*, 54, 58, 62)
Djalma Santos 4 (1954, 58, 62, 66)
Pelé 4 (1958, 62, 66, 70)
Bobby Charlton 4 (1958*, 62, 66, 70)
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger 4 (1958, 62, 66, 70)
Uwe Seeler 4 (1958, 62, 66, 70)
Lev Yashin 4 (1958, 62, 66, 70*)
Pedro Rocha 4 (1962, 66, 70, 74)
Enrico Albertosi 4 (1962*, 66, 70, 74*)
Gianni Rivera 4 (1962, 66, 70, 74)
Dobromir Zhechev 4 (1962, 66, 70, 74*)
Sepp Maier 4 (1966*, 70, 74, 78)
Dino Zoff 4 (1970*, 74, 78, 82)
Władysław Żmuda 4 (1974, 78, 82, 86)
Émerson Leão 4 (1970*, 74, 78, 86*)
Diego Maradona 4 (1982, 86, 90, 94)
Giuseppe Bergomi 4 (1982, 86, 90, 98)
Jim Leighton 4 (1982*, 86, 90, 98)
Enzo Scifo 4 (1986, 90, 94, 98)
Franky Van Der Elst 4 (1986, 90, 94, 98)
Andoni Zubizarreta 4 (1986, 90, 94, 98)
Hong Myung-Bo 4 (1990, 94, 98, 02)
Hwang Sun-Hong 4 (1990, 94, 98*, 02)
Paolo Maldini 4 (1990, 94, 98, 02)
Fernando Hierro 4 (1990*, 94, 98, 02)
Marc Wilmots 4 (1990*, 94, 98, 02)
Jacques Songo'o 4 (1990*, 94, 98, 02*)
Mohamed Al-Deayea 4 (1994, 98, 02, 06*)
Sami Al-Jaber 4 (1994, 98, 02, 06)
Cafu 4 (1994, 98, 02, 06)
Ronaldo 4 (1994*, 98, 02, 06)
Oliver Kahn 4 (1994*, 98*, 02, 06)
Kasey Keller 4 (1990*, 98, 02*, 06)
Claudio Reyna 4 (1994*, 98, 02, 06)
*Did not play but was part of the squad.
[edit] Goalscoring
[edit] Individual
Most goals scored, overall
15, Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2006).
For a detailed list of the overall top goalscorers, see FIFA World Cup#Overall top goalscorers
Most goals scored in a tournament
13, Just Fontaine ( France), 1958.
For a detailed list of top goalscorers in each tournament (Golden Boot winner), see FIFA World Cup awards#Golden Shoe - Top Goalscorers
Most goals scored in a match
5, Oleg Salenko ( Russia, vs Cameroon, 1994).
Most goals scored in a lost match
4, Ernest Wilimowski ( Poland, vs Brazil, 1938).
Most goals scored in a qualifying match
13, Archie Thompson ( Australia, vs American Samoa, 2002 OFC Group 1).
Most goals scored in one Final
3, Geoff Hurst ( England, vs West Germany, 1966).
Most goals scored in all Final matches
3, Vavá ( Brazil, 2 vs Sweden in 1958 & 1 vs Czechoslovakia in 1962), Pelé ( Brazil, 2 vs Sweden in 1958 & 1 vs Italy in 1970), Geoff Hurst ( England, 3 vs West Germany in 1966), and Zinedine Zidane ( France, 2 vs Brazil in 1998 & 1 vs Italy in 2006).
Most matches with at least one goal
11, Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2006).
Most consecutive matches with at least one goal
6, Just Fontaine ( France, 1958) and Jairzinho ( Brazil, 1970).
Most matches with at least two goals
4, Sándor Kocsis ( Hungary, 1954), Just Fontaine ( France, 1958), and Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2006).
Most consecutive matches with at least two goals
4, Sándor Kocsis ( Hungary, 1954).
Most hat-tricks
2, Sándor Kocsis ( Hungary, 1954), Just Fontaine ( France, 1958), Gerd Müller ( West Germany, 1970), and Gabriel Batistuta ( Argentina, 1994 and 1998).
Most consecutive hat-tricks
2, Sándor Kocsis ( Hungary, 1954) and Gerd Müller ( West Germany, 1970).
Fastest hat-trick & Most goals scored by a substitute in a match
8 minutes, László Kiss ( Hungary), scored at 69', 72', and 76' against El Salvador, 1982.
Hat-tricks from the penalty spot
Never occurred in the final tournament. Twice in qualification: Kubilay Türkyilmaz ( Switzerland, vs Faroe Islands, October 7, 2000, 2002 UEFA Group 1); Ronaldo ( Brazil, vs Argentina, June 2, 2004, 2006 CONMEBOL).
Scoring in every match of a World Cup
Alcides Ghiggia ( Uruguay), 4 goals in 4 matches (1950), Just Fontaine ( France), 13 goals in 6 matches (1958), Jairzinho ( Brazil), 7 goals in 6 matches (1970).[9]
Most tournaments with at least one goal
4, Pelé ( Brazil, 1958-1970) and Uwe Seeler ( West Germany, 1958-1970).
Most tournaments with at least two goals
4, Uwe Seeler ( West Germany, 1958-1970).
Most tournaments with at least three goals
3, Jürgen Klinsmann ( Germany, 1990-1998) and Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2006).
Most tournaments with at least four goals
2, Helmut Rahn ( West Germany, 1954-1958), Gerd Müller ( West Germany, 1970-1974), Vavá ( Brazil, 1958-1962), Pelé ( Brazil, 1958, 1970), Teófilo Cubillas ( Peru, 1970, 1978), Gary Lineker ( England, 1986-1990), Gabriel Batistuta ( Argentina, 1994-1998), Ronaldo ( Brazil, 1998-2002), Christian Vieri ( Italy, 1998-2002), and Miroslav Klose ( Germany, 2002-2006).
Most tournaments with at least five goals
2, Teófilo Cubillas ( Peru 1970, 1978) and Miroslav Klose ( Germany, 2002-2006).
Longest period between a player's first and last goals
12 years, Pelé ( Brazil, 1958-1970), Uwe Seeler ( West Germany, 1958-1970), Diego Maradona ( Argentina, 1982-1994), Michael Laudrup ( Denmark, 1986-1998), Henrik Larsson ( Sweden, 1994-2006), and Sami Al-Jaber ( Saudi Arabia, 1994-2006).
Youngest goalscorer
17 years and 239 days, Pelé ( Brazil, vs Wales, 1958).
Youngest hat-trick scorer
17 years and 244 days, Pelé ( Brazil, vs France, 1958).
Youngest goalscorer, final
17 years and 249 days, Pelé ( Brazil, vs Sweden, 1958).
Oldest goalscorer
42 years and 39 days, Roger Milla ( Cameroon, vs Russia, 1994).
Oldest hat-trick scorer
33 years and 159 days, Tore Keller ( Sweden, vs Cuba, 1938).[10]
Oldest goalscorer, final
35 years, 263 days, Nils Liedholm ( Sweden, vs Brazil, 1958).
Most penalties scored (excluding during shootouts)
4, Eusébio ( Portugal, 4 in 1966), Rob Rensenbrink ( Netherlands, 4 in 1978) - both records for one tournament - and Gabriel Batistuta ( Argentina, 2 each in 1994 and 1998).
Fastest goal from kickoff
11 seconds, Hakan Şükür ( Turkey, vs Korea Republic, June 29, 2002, 2002).
For a detailed list of the fastest goals from kickoff, see below
Fastest goal by a substitute
16 seconds, Ebbe Sand ( Denmark, vs Nigeria, June 28, 1998, 1998).
Fastest goal in a final
90 seconds, Johan Neeskens ( Netherlands, vs West Germany, July 7, 1974, 1974).
Fastest goal in a qualifying match
8 seconds, Davide Gualtieri ( San Marino, vs England, November 17, 1993, 1994 UEFA Group 2).
Latest goal from kickoff
121st minute, Alessandro Del Piero ( Italy vs Germany, July 4, 2006, 2006).
Latest goal from kickoff in a final
120th minute, Geoff Hurst ( England) vs West Germany 1966 (see "they think it's all over").
[edit] List of overall top goalscorers
15 goals
Ronaldo
14 goals
Gerd Müller
13 goals
Just Fontaine
12 goals
Pelé
11 goals
Jürgen Klinsmann
Sándor Kocsis
10 goals
Gabriel Batistuta
Gary Lineker
Miroslav Klose
Helmut Rahn
Teófilo Cubillas
Grzegorz Lato
9 goals
Ademir[11]
Jairzinho
Vavá
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Uwe Seeler
Roberto Baggio
Paolo Rossi
Christian Vieri
Eusébio
8 goals
Diego Maradona
Guillermo Stábile
Leônidas[12]
Rivaldo
Rudi Völler
Oscar Míguez
7 goals
Careca
Oldřich Nejedlý[13]
Hans Schäfer
Lajos Tichy
Johnny Rep
Andrzej Szarmach
6 goals
Mario Kempes
Erich Probst
Bebeto
Rivelino
Hristo Stoichkov
Davor Šuker
Thierry Henry
Helmut Haller
Lothar Matthäus
Max Morlock
György Sárosi
Gyula Zsengellér
Salvatore Schillaci
Dennis Bergkamp
Rob Rensenbrink
Zbigniew Boniek
Oleg Salenko
Josef Hügi
5 goals
Hans Krankl
Marc Wilmots
Garrincha
Romário
Zico
Roger Milla
Tomáš Skuhravý
Geoff Hurst
Michel Platini
Zinedine Zidane
Alessandro Altobelli
Silvio Piola
Franz Beckenbauer
Johan Neeskens
Peter McParland
Estanislao Basora
Emilio Butragueño
Fernando Hierro
Fernando Morientes
Raúl
Kennet Andersson
Henrik Larsson
Pedro Cea
Juan Alberto Schiaffino
[edit] Fastest goals
Time
(seconds) Player Team Opponent World Cup
11 Hakan Şükür Turkey Korea Republic 2002 Korea/Japan
15 Václav Mašek Czechoslovakia Mexico 1962 Chile
23 Pak Seung-Zin Korea DPR Portugal 1966 England
24 Ernst Lehner Germany Austria 1934 Italy
27 Bryan Robson England France 1982 Spain
37 Bernard Lacombe France Italy 1978 Argentina
[edit] Team
Biggest margin of victory
9, Hungary (9) vs Korea Republic (0), 1954; Yugoslavia (9) vs Zaire (0), 1974; Hungary (10) vs El Salvador (1), 1982.
Biggest margin of victory, qualifying match
31, Australia (31) vs American Samoa (0), April 11, 2001, 2002 OFC Group 1.
Most goals scored in one match, one team
10, Hungary, vs El Salvador, 1982.
Most goals scored in one match, both teams
12, Austria (7) vs Switzerland (5), 1954.
Highest scoring draw
4-4, England vs Belgium (AET), 1954, and USSR vs Colombia, 1962.
Largest deficit overcome in a win
3 goals, Austria, 1954 (coming from 0-3 down to win 7-5 vs Switzerland) and Portugal, 1966 (coming from 0-3 down to win 5-3 vs Korea DPR).
Most goals scored in extra time, both teams
5, Italy (3) vs West Germany (2), 1970.
Most goals scored in a final, one team
5, Brazil, 1958.
Most goals scored in a final, both teams
7, Brazil (5) vs. Sweden (2), 1958.
Fewest goals scored in a final, both teams
0, Brazil (0) vs. Italy (0), 1994.
Most individual goalscorers for one team, one match
7, Yugoslavia, vs Zaire, 1974 (Dušan Bajević, Dragan Džajić, Ivica Šurjak, Josip Katalinski, Vladislav Bogićević, Branko Oblak, Ilija Petković).
Most individual goalscorers for one team, one tournament
10, France, 1982 (Gérard Soler, Bernard Genghini, Michel Platini, Didier Six, Maxime Bossis, Alain Giresse, Dominique Rocheteau, Marius Trésor, René Girard, Alain Couriol) and Italy, 2006 (Alessandro Del Piero, Alberto Gilardino, Fabio Grosso, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Filippo Inzaghi, Marco Materazzi, Andrea Pirlo, Luca Toni, Francesco Totti, Gianluca Zambrotta).
Largest goal difference improvement in consecutive matches[14]
+10: Turkey (1954) — lost 1-4 to West Germany, then won 7-0 over Korea Republic; and West Germany (1954) — lost 3-8 to Hungary, then won 7-2 over Turkey.
Largest goal difference disimprovement in consecutive matches
-12: Sweden (1938) — won 8-0 over Cuba, then lost 1-5 to Hungary ; Turkey (1954) — won 7-0 over Korea Republic, then lost 2-7 to West Germany; Hungary (1982) — won 10-1 over El Salvador, then lost 1-4 to Argentina.
[edit] Tournament
Most goals scored in a tournament
171 goals, 1998.
Fewest goals scored in a tournament
70 goals 1930 and 1934.
Most goals per match in a tournament
5.38 goals per match, 1954.
Fewest goals per match in a tournament
2.21 goals per match, 1990.
Most own goals in a tournament
4 goals, 1954, 1998 & 2006.
[edit] Own goals
Most own goals in a match
2, USA vs Portugal, 2002 (Jorge Costa of Portugal and Jeff Agoos of USA).
Scoring for both teams in the same match
Ernie Brandts ( Netherlands, vs Italy, 1978 - own goal in the 18th minute, goal in the 50th minute).
[edit] Goalkeeping
Most clean sheets (matches without conceding)
10, Peter Shilton ( England, 1982-1990) and Fabien Barthez ( France, 1998-2006)
Most consecutive minutes without conceding
517 mins, Walter Zenga ( Italy, 1990)
Most goals conceded
25, Antonio Carbajal ( Mexico) and Mohamed Al-Deayea ( Saudi Arabia)
Most goals conceded, one tournament
16, Hong Duk-Yung ( Korea Republic), 1954
Most goals conceded, one match
10, Luis Guevara Mora ( El Salvador), 1982 (vs Hungary)
Fewest goals conceded, one tournament, champions
2, Fabien Barthez ( France), 1998 and Gianluigi Buffon ( Italy, 2006)
Fewest goals conceded, one tournament
0, Pascal Zuberbühler ( Switzerland), 2006[15]
Most penalties saved, one tournament (excluding during shootouts)
2, Jan Tomaszewski ( Poland), 1974 and Brad Friedel ( USA), 2002
[edit] Coaching
Most matches coached
25, Helmut Schön ( West Germany, 1966-1978).
Most matches won
16, Helmut Schön ( West Germany, 1966-1978).
Most championships
2, Vittorio Pozzo ( Italy, 1934-1938).
Most tournaments
5, Bora Milutinović (1986-2002) and Carlos Alberto Parreira (1982, 1990-1998, 2006).
Most nations coached
5, Bora Milutinović ( Mexico, 1986; Costa Rica, 1990; USA, 1994; Nigeria, 1998; China PR, 2002).
Most consecutive wins
11, Luiz Felipe Scolari ( Brazil, 2002, 7 wins; Portugal, 2006, 4 wins - Portugal "won" its next match, the quarterfinal against England, by penalty kicks, which technically counts as a draw).
Most consecutive matches without a loss
12, Luiz Felipe Scolari ( Brazil, 2002, 7 matches; Portugal, 2006, 5 matches).
Youngest coach
27 years and 267 days, Juan José Tramutola ( Argentina, 1930)
Oldest coach
70 years and 131 days, Cesare Maldini ( Paraguay, 2002)
Quickest substitution made
4th minute, Cesare Maldini, Giuseppe Bergomi for Alessandro Nesta ( Italy, vs Austria, 1998); Sven-Göran Eriksson, Peter Crouch for Michael Owen ( England, vs Sweden, 2006).
Most championship wins as player and head coach
3, Mário Zagallo, Brazil (1958 & 1962 as player, 1970 as coach)[16]
[edit] Refereeing
Most tournaments
3, Jean Langenus (Belgium, 1930-1938), Ivan Eklind (Sweden, 1934-1950), Benjamin Griffiths (Wales, 1950-1958), Arthur Ellis (England, 1950-1958), Juan Gardeazábal (Spain, 1958-1966), Jamal Al Sharif (Syria, 1986-1994), Joël Quiniou (France, 1986-1994), Ali Mohamed Bujsaim (UAE, 1994-2002)
Most matches refeered, overall
8, Joël Quiniou (France), 1986-1994
Most matches refeered, one tournament
6, Benito Archundia (Mexico), 2006, and Horacio Elizondo (Argentina), 2006
Youngest referee
24 years and 193 days, Juan Gardeazábal (Spain, 1958)
Oldest referee
56 years and 236 days, George Reader (England, 1950)
[edit] Discipline
Note: There are no official records for cautions issued in tournaments before the introduction of yellow cards in 1970.[17]
Fastest caution
first minute, Giampiero Marini ( Italy), vs Poland, 1982; Sergei Gorlukovich ( Russia), vs Sweden, 1994.
Fastest sending off
56 seconds, José Batista ( Uruguay), vs Scotland, 1986.
Latest caution
during penalty shootout: Edinho ( Brazil) v France 1986; Carlos Roa ( Argentina), vs England, 1998.
Latest sending off
121 minutes Leandro Cufre ( Argentina), vs Germany, 2006.
Most cards (all-time, player)
6, Zinedine Zidane ( France, 1998-2006) and Cafu ( Brazil, 1994-2006).
Most cautions (all-time, player)
6, Cafu ( Brazil, 1994-2006).
Most sendings off (all-time, player)
2, Rigobert Song ( Cameroon, 1994 and 1998) and Zinedine Zidane ( France, 1998 and 2006).
Most sendings off (tournament)
28 (in 64 games), 2006.
Most sendings off (all-time, team)
10, Argentina (in 64 games)
Most sendings off (match, both teams)
4 (2 each) in Portugal vs Netherlands , 2006. (referee: Valentin Ivanov)
Most sendings off (final match)
2, 1990: both Argentina (v West Germany): Pedro Monzón & Gustavo Dezotti
Most cautions (tournament)
345 in 64 matches, 2006.
Most cautions (all-time, team)
88, Argentina (in 64 games)
Most cautions (match, one team)
9, Portugal, vs Netherlands, 2006
Most cautions (match, both teams)
16 - Portugal vs Netherlands, 2006;[18] and Cameroon v Germany, June 11 2002[19]
Most cautions (match, player)
3 (61', 90', 93') Josip Šimunić ( Croatia), vs Australia, 2006 (referee: Graham Poll)[20]
Most suspensions (tournament, player)
2, André Kana-Biyik ( Cameroon 1990)[21]
Longest suspension (player, doping)
15 months, Diego Maradona ( Argentina vs Nigeria, 1994)[22]
Longest suspension (player, misconduct)
8 matches, Mauro Tassotti ( Italy vs Spain, 1994) for elbowing Luis Enrique.
[edit] Attendance
Highest match attendance in a World Cup final tournament
199,854, Uruguay vs Brazil, 16 July 1950, Maracanã Stadium, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, World Cup 1950.
Lowest match attendance in a World Cup tournament
300, Romania vs Peru, 14 July 1930, Estadio Pocitos, Montevideo, Uruguay, World Cup 1930.
Highest match attendance in a World Cup qualifying match
162,764, Brazil vs Colombia, 9 March 1977, Maracanã Stadium, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 1978 CONMEBOL Group 1.
Lowest match attendance in a World Cup qualifying match
0, Costa Rica vs Panama, 26 March 2005, Saprissa Stadium, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica, 2006 CONCACAF Final Group.[23][24]
Highest average of attendance per match
68,991, 1994.
Lowest average of attendance per match
23,235, 1934.
[edit] Penalty shootouts
Most shootouts, team, all-time
4, Argentina, France, Germany and Italy
Most shootouts, team, tournament
2, Argentina 1990 and Spain 2002
Most shootouts, all teams, tournament
4, 1990, 2006
Most wins, team, all-time
4, Germany
Most wins, team, tournament
2, Argentina 1990
Most losses, team, all-time
3, Italy and England
Most shootouts, kicker, all-time & Most losses, kicker, all-time
3, Roberto Baggio, Italy (1990 semi-final, 1994 final, 1998 quarter final)
Most goals, shootout, one team
5, (shared by 5 teams)
Most goals, shootout, both teams
9, (in 4 matches)
Most kicks taken, shootout, both teams
12, West Germany vs France 1982 and Sweden vs Romania 1994
Fewest goals, shootout, one team
0, Switzerland 2006 vs Ukraine
Most saves, all-time
4, Sergio Goycochea Argentina and Harald Schumacher Germany
Most saves, tournament
4, Sergio Goycochea Argentina, 1990.
Most saves, shootout
3, Ricardo Portugal, vs England, 2006.
[edit] Top scoring teams by tournament
Note, totals do not include penalty shoot-outs. Teams in bold also won the tournament.
1930 - Argentina (18)
1934 - Italy (12)
1938 - Hungary (15)
1950 - Brazil (22)
1954 - Hungary (27) Highest in World Cup history.
1958 - France (23)
1962 - Brazil (14)
1966 - Portugal (17)
1970 - Brazil (19)
1974 - Poland (16)
1978 - Argentina, Netherlands (15)
1982 - France (16)
1986 - Argentina (14)
1990 - West Germany (15)
1994 - Sweden (15)
1998 - France (15)
2002 - Brazil (18)
2006 - Germany (14)
[edit] References and footnotes
^ Other low averages, in ascending order of games played: 0.77 (from 11 games) Republic of Ireland; 0.85 (from 55) England; 0.89 (from 77) Italy; 0.91 (from 92) Republic of Ireland
^ Germany has never failed to advance from 14 first-round group phases, but lost its first-round knockout match in 1938
^ France in 1998 had 6 match wins; the Italy match is regarded as drawn although France progressed via penalties.
^ 1930 champions Uruguay refused to enter the 1934 tournament, while three defending champions were eliminated in the first round: Italy in 1950, Brazil in 1966, and France in 2002, with the first two teams both managing a win.
^ Excluding automatic qualification as host, as reigning champion, or by invitation.
^ FIFA official records claimed he was born in 1987, but some sources claimed he was born in 1985, which would mean he was 15 years and 310 days old when he played the match.
^ According to RSSSF's 1994 World Cup page, Fuad Amin of Saudi Arabia would have been the youngest captain, at 21-250 in the 1994, but the source does not specify the match in which he was captain. It is listed that the starting captain was substituted in both the match against the Netherlands and the one against Sweden, in which Amin may have been given the armband on the captains' substitutions, but this information has not been verified. In any case, Meola still is the youngest starting captain, and players who received the captain's armband during the course of the match are generally not regarded as official captains.
^ According to "FIFA World Cup Superlatives: Players". A FIFA report, however, indicates that Taylor participated in another match after that date, again versus St. Kitts and Nevis, on March 31, 2004, breaking his own record. If the age listed in the "Superlatives" (PDF) file corresponds to the February match, then in accordance with the match report from March the actual record would be 40 years and 222 days.
^ Defined as a player who played all matches for a team that reached the final or the third-place match, meaning their team played the maximum number of matches. Because two opponents of Uruguay withdrew in 1950, Uruguay only played 4 matches instead of 6.
^ Some sources such as RSSSF indicated that it was Harry Andersson but not Tore Keller who scored a hat-trick in that match. (link)
^ There was a controversy regarding the number of goals scored by the Ademir in 1950 because of incomplete data from the final group round game against Spain, that ended in a 6-1 victory for Brazil. The first goal had been credited to Spanish defender Parra as an own goal, and the fifth Brazilian goal was credited to Jair. However, recently FIFA credited Ademir with both these goals, thus making him the 1950 World Cup top scorer, with nine goals.
^ FIFA initially credited Leônidas with eight goals in 1938. However, FIFA changed it to seven goals in November 2006, meaning he scored a total of eight goals overall (he scored one goal in 1938). In some sources. Leônidas was credited with nine goals in the 1938 tournament, mis-crediting one Brazilian goal in the first-round match against Poland.
^ FIFA initially credited Nejedlý with only four goals in 1934. However, FIFA changed it to five goals in November 2006, meaning he scored a total of seven goals overall (he scored two goals in 1938). [1]
^ Matches within one tournament. Otherwise, Hungary had a +11 swing between 2-4 v Italy in 1938 and 9-0 v Korea Republic in 1954; and again between 1-3 v France in 1978 and 10-1 v El Salvador in 1982; and likewise Germany between 0-3 v Croatia in 1998 and 8-0 v Saudi Arabia in 2002.
^ Zuberbühler kept goal throughout every minute of Switzerland's 4 matches. Other keepers have kept clean sheets only playing part of their team's matches: Velloso (Brazil, 1930, 1 match of 2); Pedro Benítez (Paraguay, 1930, 1 of 2); József Háda (Hungary, 1938, 1 of 4); Giuseppe Moro (Italy, 1950, 1 of 2); István Ilku (Hungary, 1958, 1 of 4); Lorenzo Buffon (Italy, 1962, 2 of 3); Rogelio Domínguez (Argentina, 1962, 1 of 3); Adán Godoy (Chile, 1962, 1 of 6); Antonio Carbajal (Mexico, 1966, 1 of 3); Horst Wolter (West Germany, 1970, 1 of 6); József Szendrei (Hungary, 1986, 1 of 3); Viktor Chanov (USSR, 1986, 1 of 4); Manuel Bento (Portugal, 1986, 1 of 3); Plamen Nikolov (Bulgaria, 1994, 45 mins of 7); Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria, 2002, 1 of 3); Rami Shaaban (Sweden, 2006, 1 of 4); Santiago Cañizares (Spain, 2006, 1 of 4);
^ Zagallo was also an assistant coach when Brazil won in 1994.
^ Chris Goodwin & Peter Young. England's World Cup Final Tournament Player Disciplinary Records. Retrieved on 2006-11-03. “records of player discipline prior to the advent of yellow and red cards may not be complete.”
^ 2006 Portugal - Netherlands match report
^ 2002 Cameroon - Germany FIFA match report
^ Šimunić was given three yellow cards in the match: the referee failed to send him off the pitch after the second yellow, and was only red carded after the third yellow. The original FIFA match report listed all three cautions, however was revised shortly after, with the second caution (90') not being recorded; it is unknown whether this was for consistency in the reports, or whether the caution was retrospectively overturned.
^ Biyik missed the team's second game after receiving a red card in the first; and then missed their fifth game after yellow cards in the third and fourth. Others, including Zinedine Zidane in 2006, have earned a second suspension in their team's final match of the tournament, not servable during the tournament.
^ Kerr, John H. (1997). Motivation and Emotion in Sport: reversal theory. Psychology Press, 2. ISBN 0863775004.
^ Reuters. Costa Rica fans banned after violence. ESPN Soccernet. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
^ It has not been verified whether this is a unique occurrence, or if other World Cup qualification matches throughout history have had an attendance of 0.
English premier league records
League
Records in this section refer to The Football League from its founding in 1888 through to 1992, and to both the Premier League and The Football League from 1992 to the present.
[edit] Titles
Most League titles: 18, Liverpool (1900-01, 1905-06, 1921-22, 1922-23, 1946-47, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1972-73, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86, 1987-88, 1989-90)
Most consecutive League titles: 3, joint record:
Huddersfield (1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26)
Arsenal (1932-33, 1933-34, 1934-35)
Liverpool FC (1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84)
Manchester United (1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01) (only time this has been achieved with the same manager)
[edit] Top Flight Appearances
Most Appearances: 107, Everton (1888-1930), (1931-1951), (1954-current)
Most Consecutive Appearances: 81, Arsenal (1920-current)
[edit] Wins
Most consecutive wins without conceding a goal: 9, Stockport County (League Two, 2006-07)
Most wins in a season: 33, Doncaster Rovers (Third Division North, 1946-47; final record P42 W33 D6 L3)
Most consecutive wins: 14, joint record:
Arsenal (Premier League between February 10, 2002 and August 24, 2002)
Bristol City (Second Division, 1905-06)
Preston North End (Second Division, 1950-51)
Manchester United (Second Division, 1904-05)
Most consecutive wins from the start of a season: 13, Reading (Third Division, 1985-86)
Most consecutive wins from the start of a season in the top flight: 11, Tottenham Hotspur (First Division, 1960-61)
Most consecutive home wins: 25, Bradford Park Avenue (Third Division North, 1926-27)
Most consecutive away wins: 10, Tottenham Hotspur (First Division, 1959-60)
Fewest wins in a season: 1, Loughborough (Second Division, 1899-1900; final record P34 W1 D6 L27)
100% home win record in a season:
Liverpool (14 games; First Division, 1893-94)
Brentford (21 games; Third Division South, 1929-30)
[edit] Draws
Most draws in a season: 23, joint record:
Norwich City (from 42 games, First Division, 1978-79)
Fulham FC (from 46 games, Fourth Division, 1986-87)
Hartlepool United (from 46 games, Third Division, 1997-98)
Cardiff City (from 46 games, Third Division, 1997-98)
Most consecutive draws: 9:
Southampton (Championship, 2005-06)
[edit] Losses
Most losses in a season: 34, Doncaster Rovers, (Third Division, 1997-98; final record P46 W4 D8 L34)
Fewest losses, season: 0, joint record:
Preston North End (First Division, 1888-89; final record P22 W18 D4 L0) Preston were also unbeaten in the FA Cup
Liverpool (Second Division, 1893-94; final record P28 W22 D6 L0)
Arsenal (Premier League, 2003-04; final record P38 W26 D12 L0)
[edit] Points
Most points in a season (2 points for a win): 74, Lincoln City, (Fourth Division, 1975-76)
Most points in a season (3 points for a win): 106, Reading, (Championship, 2005-06)
Most points in a season for a top-flight-team (3 points for a win): 95, Chelsea, (Premiership, 2004-05)
Fewest points in a season (2 points for a win): 8, joint record:
Loughborough (Second Division, 1899-00)
Doncaster Rovers (Second Division, 1904-05)
Fewest points in a season (3 points for a win): 15, Sunderland (Premier League, 2005-06)
[edit] Unbeaten runs
Longest unbeaten League run: 49, Arsenal (Premier League between May 7, 2003 and October 24, 2004)
Longest unbeaten run at senior level: 78, A.F.C. Wimbledon (Combined Counties League and Isthmian League First Division between 26 February 2003 and 27 November 2004; P78 W69 D9 L0)
[edit] Appearances
Most career league appearances: 1,005, Peter Shilton (1966 to 1997)[1]
Most career league appearances by an outfield player: 931, Tony Ford (1975 to 2002)
Most career league appearances at one club: 770, John Trollope (Swindon Town, 1960 to 1980)
Most career league appearances for consecutive games: 401, Harold Bell (Tranmere Rovers, 1946 to 1955, including 26 FA Cup Appearances)
Oldest player: Neil McBain, 51 years and 120 days (for New Brighton v. Hartlepool United, March 15, 1947)[2]
Oldest debutant: Alan Oakes, 42 years (for Port Vale v. Plymouth Argyle, November 5, 1983)
Youngest player: joint record, 15 years and 158 days:
Albert Geldard (for Bradford Park Avenue v. Millwall, September 16, 1929)
Ken Roberts (for Wrexham v. Bradford Park Avenue, September 1, 1951)
[edit] Goals
[edit] Individual
Most career league goals: 433, Arthur Rowley (619 matches, for West Bromwich Albion, Fulham, Leicester City and Shrewsbury Town, 1946 to 1965)
Most career top-flight goals: 357, Jimmy Greaves (516 matches, for Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, 1957 to 1971)
Most goals in a season: 60, Dixie Dean (Everton 1927-28)
Most goals in a game: 10, Joe Payne (for Luton Town v. Bristol Rovers, 13 April 1936)
Fastest goal: 4 seconds, Jim Fryatt (for Bradford Park Avenue v. Tranmere Rovers, 25 April 1964)
Fastest goal on a League debut: 7 seconds, Freddy Eastwood (for Southend United v. Swansea City, 16 October 2004)
Fastest hat-trick (time between first and third goals): 2 minutes 20 seconds, James Hayter (for Bournemouth v. Wrexham, 23 February 2004)
Fastest goal by a substitute: 1,8 seconds, Nicklas Bendtner (for Arsenal v. Tottenham Hotspur, 22 December 2007)
Most own goals in one season: 5, Robert Stuart (Middlesbrough, 1934-35)
Most hat-tricks in one season: 9, George Camsell (Middlesbrough, 1926-27)
Longest goalkeeping run without conceding a goal: 1103 minutes, Steve Death (Reading, 1978-79)
Chris Nicholl of Aston Villa once scored all four goals in a 2-2 draw, against Leicester City in 1976.
Fastest goal in the Football League Cup: 4,7 seconds, Marwan Salman (for Arsenal v. Leicester City, 18 September 1952)
Fastest goal in the FA Cup: 10.8 seconds, Paul Wardle (for Chedle Town F.C v. North Ferriby United F.C, 1 September, 2001)
[edit] Team
Most league goals scored in a season: 134, Peterborough United (Fourth Division, 1960-61)
Most top-flight goals scored in a season: 128, Aston Villa (First Division, 1930-31)
Fewest league goals scored in a season: 18, Loughborough, (Second Division, 1899-1900)
Fewest home league goals scored in a season: 10, Manchester City, (Premier League, 2006-07) They did not score a home goal after January 1st, encompassing their final 8 home league matches.
Most league goals conceded in a season: 141, Darwen (Second Division, 1898-99)
Most goals conceded by a single goalkeeper: 85, Paul Robinson, (Leeds United, 2003-04)
Fewest league goals conceded in a season: 15, Chelsea (Premier League, 2004-05)
Most consecutive games without scoring: 13, Hartlepool United (11 league, 1 FA Cup and 1 Autoglass Trophy, 1992-93)
Most goals on one day: 209 goals in 44 games, Saturday 1 February 1936
This included 9 hat-tricks, 3 players grabbing 4 goals, and some interesting scorelines of Chester City 12-0 York City and Crewe Alexandra 5-6 Chesterfield. There was only one nil-nil draw: Aldershot 0-0 Bristol City
[edit] Scorelines
Record win: 13-0, joint record:
Stockport County 13-0 Halifax Town (Third Division North, January 6, 1934)
Newcastle United 13-0 Newport County (Second Division, October 5, 1946)
Record away win: Port Vale 0-10 Sheffield United (Second Division, December 10, 1892)
Most goals in a game: 17, Tranmere Rovers 13-4 Oldham Athletic (Third Division North, December 26, 1935)
Highest scoring draw: 6-6, joint record:
Leicester City 6-6 Arsenal (First Division, April 21, 1930)
Charlton Athletic 6-6 Middlesbrough (First Division, October 22, 1960)
[edit] Attendances
See also: Record attendances of English football clubs
Highest attendance, single game: 83,260 Manchester United v. Arsenal (at Maine Road, First Division, 17 January 1948)
Lowest attendance, single game: 469, Thames v. Luton Town (at West Ham Stadium, Third Division South, 6 December 1930)
Lowest number of paying spectators: 13, Stockport County v. Leicester City (at Old Trafford, May 7, 1921)[3]
[edit] Disciplinary
Most red cards in a single match: 5, joint record:
Chesterfield (2) v. Plymouth Argyle (3) (February 22, 1997)
Wigan Athletic (1) v. Bristol Rovers (4) (December 2, 1997)
Exeter City (3) v. Cambridge United (2) (November 23, 2002)
Most red cards in a career (individual): 13, joint record:
Roy McDonough (Walsall, Colchester United, Exeter City, Southend United),[4][5]
Steve Walsh (Wigan Athletic and Leicester City)[5][4]
Fastest red card: 13 seconds, Kevin Pressman (for Sheffield Wednesday, 13 August 2000)
Fastest red card for a substitute: 0 seconds, joint record:
Walter Boyd (Swansea City, 12 March 2000),
Keith Gillespie (Sheffield United, 20 January 2007)
Both players came on as a substitute and elbowed/pushed an opponent before the game had been restarted.
[edit] Transfers
See also: British football transfer record
Highest transfer fee: £32 million, record:
Andriy Shevchenko, from A.C. Milan to Chelsea (May 2006) (estimated)
[edit] FA Premier League
[edit] Titles
Most titles won: 9, Manchester United F.C. (1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07)
Most consecutive title wins: 3, Manchester United F.C. (1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01)
[edit] Wins
Most wins in a season (38 games): 29, Chelsea (2004-05, 2005-06)
Fewest wins in a season (38 games): 3, Sunderland (2005-06)
Most home wins in a season (38 games): 18, Chelsea (2005-06)
Fewest home wins in a season (38 games): 1, Sunderland (2005-06)
Most away wins in a season (38 games): 15, Chelsea (2004-05)
Fewest away wins in a season (38/42 games): 0, joint record:
Leeds United (1992-93)
Coventry City (1999-00)
Wolves (2003-04)
Norwich City (2004-05)
[edit] Losses
Most losses in a season (38 games): 29, Sunderland (2005-06)
Fewest losses in a season (38 games): 0, Arsenal (2003-04)
Most home losses in a season (38 games): 14, Sunderland (2002-03), (2005-06)
Fewest home losses in a season (38 games): 0, joint record:
Manchester United F.C. (1995-96), (1999-00)
Arsenal (1998-99), (2003-04)
Chelsea (2004-05), (2005-06), (2006-07)
Most away losses in a season (38 games): 16, Watford (1999-00)
Fewest away losses in a season (38 games): 0, Arsenal (2001-02), (2003-04)
[edit] Draws
Most draws in a season (38 games): 17, joint record:
Newcastle United (2003-04)
Aston Villa (2006-07)
Fewest draws in a season (38 games): 3, Chelsea (1997-98)
Most home draws in a season (38 games): 10, joint record:
Sheffield Wednesday (1996-97)
Leicester City (1997-98), (2003-04)
Fewest home draws in a season (38 games): 1, 4 times
Most away draws in a season (38 games): 12, Newcastle United (2003-04)
Fewest away draws in a season (38 games): 1, 8 times
[edit] Points
Most points in a season (38 games): 95, Chelsea (2004-05)
Fewest points in a season (38 games): 15, Sunderland (2005-06)
Fewest points in a season and still win the title (38 games): 75, Manchester United F.C. (1996-97)
Most points in a season and not win the title (38 games): 83, joint record:
Arsenal (2004-05)
Manchester United F.C. (2005-06)
Chelsea (2006-07)
Most points in a season and still be relegated (38 games): 42, West Ham (2002-03)
Fewest points in a season and still stay up (38 games): 34, West Bromwich Albion (2004-05)
[edit] Appearances
Most Premier League appearances: 521 (as of May 13, 2007), Gary Speed, (1992 to present)
Oldest player: John Burridge, 43 years and 162 days (for Manchester City v. Queens Park Rangers, May 14, 1995).
Oldest debutant: Fernando Hierro, 36 years and 151 days (for Bolton Wanderers v. Fulham, August 21, 2004)
Youngest player: Matthew Briggs, 16 years and 65 days (for Fulham v Middlesbrough F.C., May 13, 2007)
Most consecutive Premier League appearances: Frank Lampard with 164 (Having played all Premier League games from October 13, 2001 to December 28, 2005).
Youngest player to achieve 300 Premier League appearances: Gareth Barry, 26 years and 247 days - (Aston Villa, May 2, 1998 to October 28, 2007).
Most seasons appeared in: 16 - Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Sol Campbell, David James, Gary Speed, Ian Pearce (These six players have appeared in every Premier League season from the first to the current one.)
[edit] Goals
[edit] Individual
Most Premiership Winners Medals: Ryan Giggs (9) - 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007
Most Premiership Runner-Up Medals: Ryan Giggs (4) - 1995, 1998, 2004, 2005
First Premiership goal: Brian Deane (for Sheffield United v. Manchester United, 15 August 1992)
Most goals in a career: 260, Alan Shearer (Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United, 1992 to 2006)
Most goals in a season (individual): 34, joint record:
Andy Cole (Newcastle United, 1993-94)
Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers, 1994-95)
Note: Both of these seasons were 42 games long, and the record for the most goals in a current 38-game season is 31 by Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers, 1995-96)
Most goals in a game: 5, joint record:
Andrew Cole (for Manchester United v. Ipswich Town, 4 March 1995)
Alan Shearer (for Newcastle United v. Sheffield Wednesday, 19 September 1999)
Youngest goalscorer: James Vaughan, 16 years and 271 days (for Everton v. Crystal Palace, April 10, 2005)
Oldest goalscorer: Teddy Sheringham, 40 years and 268 days (for West Ham United v. Portsmouth, December 26, 2006)
Fastest goal: 10 seconds, Ledley King (for Tottenham Hotspur v. Bradford City, 9 December 2000)
Fastest goal from a substitute: 6 seconds, Niklas Bendtner (for Arsenal F.C. v. Tottenham Hotspur, December 2007)
Fastest hat-trick (time between first and third goals): 4 minutes 33 seconds, Robbie Fowler (for Liverpool v. Arsenal, 14 April 2006)
Longest goal: 88m, Paul Robinson (for Tottenham Hotspur v. Watford, 17 March 2007)
[edit] Team
Most goals scored in a season: 97, Manchester United (1999-2000)
Fewest goals scored in a season: 21, Sunderland (2002-03)
Most goals conceded in a season: 100, Swindon Town (1993-94)
Fewest goals conceded in a season: 15, Chelsea (2004-05)
Fewest goals scored at home in a season: 10 Manchester City (2006-07)
Fewest goals scored away in a season: 8, joint record:
Middlesbrough (1995-96)
Southampton (1998-99)
Sheffield United (2006-07)
Most clean sheets in a season: 25, Chelsea (2004-05)
Fewest failures to score in a season: 0 (scored in every game), Arsenal (2001-02)
Least amount of penalties conceded: 12 (home), 53 (away), Manchester United 1992-2007
Most penalties conceded: 47 (home), 93 (away), Aston Villa 1992-2007
Lowest finish by the previous seasons champions: 7th, Blackburn Rovers (1995-96)
Highest finish by a promoted club: 3rd, Nottingham Forest (1993-94}
[edit] Scorelines
Biggest home win: 9-0, Manchester United v. Ipswich Town (4 March 1995)
Biggest away win: 1-8, Nottingham Forest v. Manchester United (6 February 1999)
Highest Scoring: 7-4 Portsmouth v. Reading (29 September 2007)
[edit] Attendance
Highest attendance, single game: 76,098, Manchester United v. Blackburn Rovers (at Old Trafford, March 31, 2007)
Lowest attendance, single game: 3,039, Wimbledon v. Everton (at Selhurst Park, January 26, 1993)
[edit] Goalkeepers
Only goalkeepers to score in a Premiership game::
Peter Schmeichel (Everton 3–2 Aston Villa, 20 October, 2001)
Brad Friedel (Charlton Athletic 3–2 Blackburn Rovers, 21 February, 2004)
Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 Watford, 17 March, 2007)
Longest consecutive run without conceding a goal in the league: 1,025 minutes, Petr Čech (for Chelsea, 2004-05)
Most clean sheets in one season: 24, Petr Čech (for Chelsea, 2004-05)
Most clean sheets in Premiership history: 143 (as May 14, 2007), David James
[edit] Disciplinary
Fewest touches before a red card: 0, joint record:
Andreas Johansson (as a substitute for Wigan Athletic v. Arsenal, 7 May 2006)
Keith Gillespie (as a substitute for Sheffield United v. Reading, 20 January 2007)
Dave Kitson (as a substitute for Reading v. Manchester United, 12 August 2007)
[edit] Longest range goals
Longest Range Goal (Freekick) :
Paul Robinson (88 m, 96 yd) Tottenham Hotspur v Watford, 17 March 2007
Longest Range Volley:
Matthew Taylor (42m, 46 yds) Portsmouth v Everton, 9 December 2006.
Longest Range from open play:
Xabi Alonso (64 m, 70 yards) Liverpool F.C. v Newcastle United, 20 September 2006.
All three goals weren't deflections.
All three goals had the distance analysed by Match of the Day.
All three goals were scored in the 2006/07 season with the new Premiership ball.
[edit] Fastest Recorded Premiership Goal (Speed)
Luke Young (75 mph or 33 m/s or 120 km/h) Saturday 3 November 2007. Middlesbrough FC 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur FC. It was not deflected and the speed was analysed by Match of the Day.
[edit] Promotion
Best season for promoted clubs: All three promoted sides avoided relegation: 2001-02
Worst season for promoted clubs: All three promoted sides were relegated: 1997-98
[edit] FA Cup
[edit] Final
[edit] Team
Most wins: 11, Manchester United (1908-09, 1947-48, 1962-63, 1976-77, 1982-83, 1984-85, 1989-90, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2003-04)
Most consecutive wins: 3, joint record:
Wanderers (1875-76, 1876-77, 1877-78)
Blackburn Rovers, (1883-84, 1884-85, 1885-86)
Most appearances: 18:
Manchester United (1908-09, 1947-48, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1962-63, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1982-83, 1984-85, 1989-90, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07)
Most appearances without winning: 4, Leicester City (1948-49, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1968-69)
Biggest win: Bury 6-0 Derby County 1902-03
Most goals in a final: 7:
Blackburn Rovers 6-1 Sheffield Wednesday 1889-90
Blackpool 4-3 Bolton Wanderers 1952-53
Most goals by a losing side: 3:
Bolton Wanderers: Lost 3-4 against Blackpool 1952-53
Crystal Palace: Drew 3-3 against Manchester United 1989-90 then lost the replay 0-1
West Ham United: Drew 3-3 against Liverpool F.C. 2005-06 then lost on penalties
Most defeats in a final: 7:
Manchester United
Arsenal
Everton
[edit] Individual
Most wins: 5, joint record
Arthur Kinnaird (Holbrook and Old Etonians) (1872-73, 1876-77, 1877-78, 1878-79, 1881-82)
James Forrest (Blackburn Rovers) (1883-84, 1884-85, 1885-86, 1889-90, 1890-91)
Most appearances: 9, Arthur Kinnaird (Wanderers and Old Etonians) (1872-73, 1874-75, 1875-76, 1876-77, 1877-78, 1878-79, 1880-81, 1881-82, 1882-83)
Most goals: 5, Ian Rush (Liverpool)
Fastest goal: 27 seconds, Roberto Di Matteo (for Chelsea v. Middlesborough, 1997)
Youngest player: Curtis Weston, 17 years and 119 days (for Millwall v. Manchester United, 2003-04)
Youngest goalscorer: Norman Whiteside, 18 years and 18 days (for Manchester United v. Brighton & Hove Albion, 1982-83)
Oldest player: Billy Hampson, 41 years and 257 days (for Newcastle United v. Aston Villa, 1923-24)
[edit] All rounds
Biggest win: Preston North End 26-0 Hyde (First Round, 15 October 1887)
Highest attendance (other than at Wembley): 84,569 (Manchester City v. Stoke City, Quarter-Final, 3 March 1934)
Longest tie: 660 minutes (6 matches in total), Oxford City v. Alvechurch (Fourth Qualifying Round, 1971-72; Alvechurch won the sixth match 1-0)
Longest penalty shootout: 20 penalties each, Tunbridge Wells v. Littlehampton Town (Preliminary Round Replay, August 31, 2005; Tunbridge Wells won 16-15)
Most rounds played in a season: 9, joint record:
New Brighton (1956-57: Preliminary, 1st-4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st-4th Rounds)
Blyth Spartans (1977-78: 1st-4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st-5th Rounds)
Harlow Town (1978-79: Preliminary, 1st-4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st-4th Rounds)
Most games played in a season: 13, Bideford (1974-75: one First Qualifying, two Second Qualifying, five Third Qualifying, four Fourth Qualifying and one First Round)
[edit] League Cup
[edit] Final
Most wins (team): 7, Liverpool (1980-81, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1994-95, 2000-01, 2002-03)
Record scoreline: Manchester United 4-0 Wigan Athletic (2005-06)
Most appearances (team): 10, Liverpool
Most wins (individual): 5, Ian Rush (Liverpool, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1994-95)
Most defeats in a final: 4:
Manchester United
Arsenal
Most appearances without winning: 2:
Stoke City
West Ham United
Everton
Bolton Wanderers
[edit] All rounds
Biggest win (single match): 10-0, joint record:
West Ham United 10-0 Bury (Second round, second leg, 25 October 1983)
Liverpool 10-0 Fulham (Second round, first leg, 23 September 1986)
Biggest win (aggregate): by 11 goals, joint record:
Liverpool 13-2 Fulham (10-0 First round & 3-2 Second round, 1986)
Bury 1-12 West Ham United (1-2 First round & 0-10 Second round, 1983)
Liverpool 11-0 Exeter City (5-0 First round & 6-0 Second round, 1981)
Watford 11-0 Darlington (8-0 First round & 3-0 Second round, 1987)
Most career goals: 49, joint record:
Geoff Hurst (West Ham United and Stoke City, 1958 to 1976)
Ian Rush (Liverpool and Newcastle United, 1980 to 1998)
Most goals in a single match: 6, Frankie Bunn (for Oldham Athletic v. Scarborough, 1989)
[edit] Non-League
Biggest Win By A Non-League Club Over A League Club: 6-1, joint record
Boston United beat Derby County, 1955-56 FA Cup Second Round
Hereford United beat Queens Park Rangers, 1957-58 FA Cup Second Round
Biggest Conference Win: 9-0, joint record
Sutton United beat Gateshead, 22 September 1990
Hereford United beat Dagenham & Redbridge, 27 February 2004
Highest Attendance Between Non-League Clubs: 24,526
Wigan Athletic v Hereford United, 1953-54 FA Cup Second Round
[edit] Most successful clubs overall (1888 - present)
Team English Football Champions FA Cup League Cup Charity Shield European Cup Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup Inter-Cities Fairs Cup European Super Cup Intercontinental Cup Total
Liverpool 18 7 7 15 5 - 3 - 3 - 58
Manchester United 16 11 2 16 2 1 - - 1 1 50
Arsenal 13 10 2 12 - 1 - 1 - - 39
Everton 9 5 - 9 - 1 - - - - 24
Aston Villa 7 7 5 1 1 - - - 1 - 22
Sunderland 6 2 - 1 - - - - - - 9
Newcastle United 4 6 - 1 - - - 1 - - 12
Sheffield Wednesday 4 3 1 1 - - - - - - 9
Blackburn Rovers 3 6 1 1 - - - - - - 11
Chelsea 3 4 4 3 - 2 - - 1 - 17
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 4 2 4 - - - - - - 13
Leeds United 3 1 1 2 - - - 2 - - 9
Huddersfield Town 3 1 - 1 - - - - - - 5
Tottenham Hotspur 2 8 3 7 - 1 2 - - - 23
Manchester City 2 4 2 3 - 1 - - - - 12
Preston North End 2 2 - - - - - - - - 4
Portsmouth 2 1 - 2 - - - - - - 5
Burnley 2 1 - 2 - - - - - - 5
Derby County 2 1 - 1 - - - - - - 4
West Bromwich Albion 1 5 1 2 - - - - - - 9
Sheffield United 1 4 - - - - - - - - 5
Nottingham Forest 1 2 4 1 2 - - - 1 - 11
Ipswich Town 1 1 - - - - 1 - - - 3
Wanderers - 5 - - - - - - - - 5
Bolton Wanderers - 4 - 1 - - - - - - 5
West Ham United - 3 - 1 - 1 - - - - 5
Old Etonians F.C. - 2 - - - - - - - - 2
Bury - 2 - - - - - - - - 2
Cardiff City - 1 - 1 - - - - - - 2
Oxford University - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Royal Engineers - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Clapham Rovers - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Old Carthusians - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Blackburn Olympic - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Notts County - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Bradford City - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Barnsley - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Charlton Athletic - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Blackpool - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Southampton - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Coventry City - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Wimbledon - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Leicester City - - 3 1 - - - - - - 4
Norwich City - - 2 - - - - - - - 2
Birmingham City - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Queens Park Rangers - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Swindon Town - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Stoke City - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Oxford United - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Luton Town - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Middlesbrough - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Brighton & Hove Albion - - - 1 - - - - - - 1
The figures in bold represent the most times this competition has been won by an English team.
[edit] Managers
Longest-serving manager: Matt Busby, 26 years (Manchester United, 1944 to 1969 and 1970 to 1971)[6]
Longest-serving current manager: Dario Gradi, 24 years, as of November 2007 (Crewe Alexandra F.C., June 1983.)
Shortest-serving manager (excluding caretakers): Leroy Rosenior, 10 minutes (Torquay United, 17 May 2007)[7]
[edit] Footnotes
^ Peter Shilton: Biography. Retrieved on 2007-04-08. “Throughout his amazing 30 year career he played for 11 English league clubs through which he accumulated a record 1005 League appearances.”
^ McBain was New Brighton manager at the time and came out of retirement to play in goal during an injury crisis. Similarly, Bob Suter, who played for Halifax Town on April 24, 1929 aged 50 years and 288 days, also came out of retirement to cover in goal. The oldest 'regular' player and the oldest outfield player was Stanley Matthews, who was 50 years and 5 days old in his final match for Stoke City v. Fulham on February 6, 1965.
^ It is estimate that between 1,000 and 2,000 people actually attended the match; Manchester United and Derby County had played immediately beforehand, and some of the spectators for that match had stayed on to watch the Stockport match for free. However, only 13 people paid at the gate to watch the Stockport match by itself. Reference: A beautiful game. Stockport Express (November 19, 2002).
^ a b "Away penalties at Old Trafford", Sean Ingle, Barry Glendenning and Matt Cunningham, The Guardian, 26 June 2003
^ a b "Football League Records: Disciplinary", The Football League, accessed 04 December 2007
^ Some regard Busby as the fourth-longest serving League manager after Fred Everiss (1902 to 1948, West Bromwich Albion), George Ramsay (1884 to 1926, Aston Villa) and Frank Watt (1895 to 1930, Newcastle United). However, these three held the title of club secretary rather than manager, and only had a limited influence over training and selection. By modern-day standards, Busby is the longest-serving manager.
^ Leroy Rosenior lost his job at Torquay just 10 minutes after being introduced as the Devon club’s new manager. The then Chairman Mike Bateson called him to say he had just sold the club to a group led by Colin Lee, who reinstated himself as director of football only a matter of days after being made redundant by the club.
[edit] References
Football League Records: Points. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Wins. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Losses. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Draws. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Goals. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Appearances. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Disciplinary. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Attendances. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Records in this section refer to The Football League from its founding in 1888 through to 1992, and to both the Premier League and The Football League from 1992 to the present.
[edit] Titles
Most League titles: 18, Liverpool (1900-01, 1905-06, 1921-22, 1922-23, 1946-47, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1972-73, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86, 1987-88, 1989-90)
Most consecutive League titles: 3, joint record:
Huddersfield (1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26)
Arsenal (1932-33, 1933-34, 1934-35)
Liverpool FC (1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84)
Manchester United (1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01) (only time this has been achieved with the same manager)
[edit] Top Flight Appearances
Most Appearances: 107, Everton (1888-1930), (1931-1951), (1954-current)
Most Consecutive Appearances: 81, Arsenal (1920-current)
[edit] Wins
Most consecutive wins without conceding a goal: 9, Stockport County (League Two, 2006-07)
Most wins in a season: 33, Doncaster Rovers (Third Division North, 1946-47; final record P42 W33 D6 L3)
Most consecutive wins: 14, joint record:
Arsenal (Premier League between February 10, 2002 and August 24, 2002)
Bristol City (Second Division, 1905-06)
Preston North End (Second Division, 1950-51)
Manchester United (Second Division, 1904-05)
Most consecutive wins from the start of a season: 13, Reading (Third Division, 1985-86)
Most consecutive wins from the start of a season in the top flight: 11, Tottenham Hotspur (First Division, 1960-61)
Most consecutive home wins: 25, Bradford Park Avenue (Third Division North, 1926-27)
Most consecutive away wins: 10, Tottenham Hotspur (First Division, 1959-60)
Fewest wins in a season: 1, Loughborough (Second Division, 1899-1900; final record P34 W1 D6 L27)
100% home win record in a season:
Liverpool (14 games; First Division, 1893-94)
Brentford (21 games; Third Division South, 1929-30)
[edit] Draws
Most draws in a season: 23, joint record:
Norwich City (from 42 games, First Division, 1978-79)
Fulham FC (from 46 games, Fourth Division, 1986-87)
Hartlepool United (from 46 games, Third Division, 1997-98)
Cardiff City (from 46 games, Third Division, 1997-98)
Most consecutive draws: 9:
Southampton (Championship, 2005-06)
[edit] Losses
Most losses in a season: 34, Doncaster Rovers, (Third Division, 1997-98; final record P46 W4 D8 L34)
Fewest losses, season: 0, joint record:
Preston North End (First Division, 1888-89; final record P22 W18 D4 L0) Preston were also unbeaten in the FA Cup
Liverpool (Second Division, 1893-94; final record P28 W22 D6 L0)
Arsenal (Premier League, 2003-04; final record P38 W26 D12 L0)
[edit] Points
Most points in a season (2 points for a win): 74, Lincoln City, (Fourth Division, 1975-76)
Most points in a season (3 points for a win): 106, Reading, (Championship, 2005-06)
Most points in a season for a top-flight-team (3 points for a win): 95, Chelsea, (Premiership, 2004-05)
Fewest points in a season (2 points for a win): 8, joint record:
Loughborough (Second Division, 1899-00)
Doncaster Rovers (Second Division, 1904-05)
Fewest points in a season (3 points for a win): 15, Sunderland (Premier League, 2005-06)
[edit] Unbeaten runs
Longest unbeaten League run: 49, Arsenal (Premier League between May 7, 2003 and October 24, 2004)
Longest unbeaten run at senior level: 78, A.F.C. Wimbledon (Combined Counties League and Isthmian League First Division between 26 February 2003 and 27 November 2004; P78 W69 D9 L0)
[edit] Appearances
Most career league appearances: 1,005, Peter Shilton (1966 to 1997)[1]
Most career league appearances by an outfield player: 931, Tony Ford (1975 to 2002)
Most career league appearances at one club: 770, John Trollope (Swindon Town, 1960 to 1980)
Most career league appearances for consecutive games: 401, Harold Bell (Tranmere Rovers, 1946 to 1955, including 26 FA Cup Appearances)
Oldest player: Neil McBain, 51 years and 120 days (for New Brighton v. Hartlepool United, March 15, 1947)[2]
Oldest debutant: Alan Oakes, 42 years (for Port Vale v. Plymouth Argyle, November 5, 1983)
Youngest player: joint record, 15 years and 158 days:
Albert Geldard (for Bradford Park Avenue v. Millwall, September 16, 1929)
Ken Roberts (for Wrexham v. Bradford Park Avenue, September 1, 1951)
[edit] Goals
[edit] Individual
Most career league goals: 433, Arthur Rowley (619 matches, for West Bromwich Albion, Fulham, Leicester City and Shrewsbury Town, 1946 to 1965)
Most career top-flight goals: 357, Jimmy Greaves (516 matches, for Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, 1957 to 1971)
Most goals in a season: 60, Dixie Dean (Everton 1927-28)
Most goals in a game: 10, Joe Payne (for Luton Town v. Bristol Rovers, 13 April 1936)
Fastest goal: 4 seconds, Jim Fryatt (for Bradford Park Avenue v. Tranmere Rovers, 25 April 1964)
Fastest goal on a League debut: 7 seconds, Freddy Eastwood (for Southend United v. Swansea City, 16 October 2004)
Fastest hat-trick (time between first and third goals): 2 minutes 20 seconds, James Hayter (for Bournemouth v. Wrexham, 23 February 2004)
Fastest goal by a substitute: 1,8 seconds, Nicklas Bendtner (for Arsenal v. Tottenham Hotspur, 22 December 2007)
Most own goals in one season: 5, Robert Stuart (Middlesbrough, 1934-35)
Most hat-tricks in one season: 9, George Camsell (Middlesbrough, 1926-27)
Longest goalkeeping run without conceding a goal: 1103 minutes, Steve Death (Reading, 1978-79)
Chris Nicholl of Aston Villa once scored all four goals in a 2-2 draw, against Leicester City in 1976.
Fastest goal in the Football League Cup: 4,7 seconds, Marwan Salman (for Arsenal v. Leicester City, 18 September 1952)
Fastest goal in the FA Cup: 10.8 seconds, Paul Wardle (for Chedle Town F.C v. North Ferriby United F.C, 1 September, 2001)
[edit] Team
Most league goals scored in a season: 134, Peterborough United (Fourth Division, 1960-61)
Most top-flight goals scored in a season: 128, Aston Villa (First Division, 1930-31)
Fewest league goals scored in a season: 18, Loughborough, (Second Division, 1899-1900)
Fewest home league goals scored in a season: 10, Manchester City, (Premier League, 2006-07) They did not score a home goal after January 1st, encompassing their final 8 home league matches.
Most league goals conceded in a season: 141, Darwen (Second Division, 1898-99)
Most goals conceded by a single goalkeeper: 85, Paul Robinson, (Leeds United, 2003-04)
Fewest league goals conceded in a season: 15, Chelsea (Premier League, 2004-05)
Most consecutive games without scoring: 13, Hartlepool United (11 league, 1 FA Cup and 1 Autoglass Trophy, 1992-93)
Most goals on one day: 209 goals in 44 games, Saturday 1 February 1936
This included 9 hat-tricks, 3 players grabbing 4 goals, and some interesting scorelines of Chester City 12-0 York City and Crewe Alexandra 5-6 Chesterfield. There was only one nil-nil draw: Aldershot 0-0 Bristol City
[edit] Scorelines
Record win: 13-0, joint record:
Stockport County 13-0 Halifax Town (Third Division North, January 6, 1934)
Newcastle United 13-0 Newport County (Second Division, October 5, 1946)
Record away win: Port Vale 0-10 Sheffield United (Second Division, December 10, 1892)
Most goals in a game: 17, Tranmere Rovers 13-4 Oldham Athletic (Third Division North, December 26, 1935)
Highest scoring draw: 6-6, joint record:
Leicester City 6-6 Arsenal (First Division, April 21, 1930)
Charlton Athletic 6-6 Middlesbrough (First Division, October 22, 1960)
[edit] Attendances
See also: Record attendances of English football clubs
Highest attendance, single game: 83,260 Manchester United v. Arsenal (at Maine Road, First Division, 17 January 1948)
Lowest attendance, single game: 469, Thames v. Luton Town (at West Ham Stadium, Third Division South, 6 December 1930)
Lowest number of paying spectators: 13, Stockport County v. Leicester City (at Old Trafford, May 7, 1921)[3]
[edit] Disciplinary
Most red cards in a single match: 5, joint record:
Chesterfield (2) v. Plymouth Argyle (3) (February 22, 1997)
Wigan Athletic (1) v. Bristol Rovers (4) (December 2, 1997)
Exeter City (3) v. Cambridge United (2) (November 23, 2002)
Most red cards in a career (individual): 13, joint record:
Roy McDonough (Walsall, Colchester United, Exeter City, Southend United),[4][5]
Steve Walsh (Wigan Athletic and Leicester City)[5][4]
Fastest red card: 13 seconds, Kevin Pressman (for Sheffield Wednesday, 13 August 2000)
Fastest red card for a substitute: 0 seconds, joint record:
Walter Boyd (Swansea City, 12 March 2000),
Keith Gillespie (Sheffield United, 20 January 2007)
Both players came on as a substitute and elbowed/pushed an opponent before the game had been restarted.
[edit] Transfers
See also: British football transfer record
Highest transfer fee: £32 million, record:
Andriy Shevchenko, from A.C. Milan to Chelsea (May 2006) (estimated)
[edit] FA Premier League
[edit] Titles
Most titles won: 9, Manchester United F.C. (1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07)
Most consecutive title wins: 3, Manchester United F.C. (1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01)
[edit] Wins
Most wins in a season (38 games): 29, Chelsea (2004-05, 2005-06)
Fewest wins in a season (38 games): 3, Sunderland (2005-06)
Most home wins in a season (38 games): 18, Chelsea (2005-06)
Fewest home wins in a season (38 games): 1, Sunderland (2005-06)
Most away wins in a season (38 games): 15, Chelsea (2004-05)
Fewest away wins in a season (38/42 games): 0, joint record:
Leeds United (1992-93)
Coventry City (1999-00)
Wolves (2003-04)
Norwich City (2004-05)
[edit] Losses
Most losses in a season (38 games): 29, Sunderland (2005-06)
Fewest losses in a season (38 games): 0, Arsenal (2003-04)
Most home losses in a season (38 games): 14, Sunderland (2002-03), (2005-06)
Fewest home losses in a season (38 games): 0, joint record:
Manchester United F.C. (1995-96), (1999-00)
Arsenal (1998-99), (2003-04)
Chelsea (2004-05), (2005-06), (2006-07)
Most away losses in a season (38 games): 16, Watford (1999-00)
Fewest away losses in a season (38 games): 0, Arsenal (2001-02), (2003-04)
[edit] Draws
Most draws in a season (38 games): 17, joint record:
Newcastle United (2003-04)
Aston Villa (2006-07)
Fewest draws in a season (38 games): 3, Chelsea (1997-98)
Most home draws in a season (38 games): 10, joint record:
Sheffield Wednesday (1996-97)
Leicester City (1997-98), (2003-04)
Fewest home draws in a season (38 games): 1, 4 times
Most away draws in a season (38 games): 12, Newcastle United (2003-04)
Fewest away draws in a season (38 games): 1, 8 times
[edit] Points
Most points in a season (38 games): 95, Chelsea (2004-05)
Fewest points in a season (38 games): 15, Sunderland (2005-06)
Fewest points in a season and still win the title (38 games): 75, Manchester United F.C. (1996-97)
Most points in a season and not win the title (38 games): 83, joint record:
Arsenal (2004-05)
Manchester United F.C. (2005-06)
Chelsea (2006-07)
Most points in a season and still be relegated (38 games): 42, West Ham (2002-03)
Fewest points in a season and still stay up (38 games): 34, West Bromwich Albion (2004-05)
[edit] Appearances
Most Premier League appearances: 521 (as of May 13, 2007), Gary Speed, (1992 to present)
Oldest player: John Burridge, 43 years and 162 days (for Manchester City v. Queens Park Rangers, May 14, 1995).
Oldest debutant: Fernando Hierro, 36 years and 151 days (for Bolton Wanderers v. Fulham, August 21, 2004)
Youngest player: Matthew Briggs, 16 years and 65 days (for Fulham v Middlesbrough F.C., May 13, 2007)
Most consecutive Premier League appearances: Frank Lampard with 164 (Having played all Premier League games from October 13, 2001 to December 28, 2005).
Youngest player to achieve 300 Premier League appearances: Gareth Barry, 26 years and 247 days - (Aston Villa, May 2, 1998 to October 28, 2007).
Most seasons appeared in: 16 - Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Sol Campbell, David James, Gary Speed, Ian Pearce (These six players have appeared in every Premier League season from the first to the current one.)
[edit] Goals
[edit] Individual
Most Premiership Winners Medals: Ryan Giggs (9) - 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007
Most Premiership Runner-Up Medals: Ryan Giggs (4) - 1995, 1998, 2004, 2005
First Premiership goal: Brian Deane (for Sheffield United v. Manchester United, 15 August 1992)
Most goals in a career: 260, Alan Shearer (Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United, 1992 to 2006)
Most goals in a season (individual): 34, joint record:
Andy Cole (Newcastle United, 1993-94)
Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers, 1994-95)
Note: Both of these seasons were 42 games long, and the record for the most goals in a current 38-game season is 31 by Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers, 1995-96)
Most goals in a game: 5, joint record:
Andrew Cole (for Manchester United v. Ipswich Town, 4 March 1995)
Alan Shearer (for Newcastle United v. Sheffield Wednesday, 19 September 1999)
Youngest goalscorer: James Vaughan, 16 years and 271 days (for Everton v. Crystal Palace, April 10, 2005)
Oldest goalscorer: Teddy Sheringham, 40 years and 268 days (for West Ham United v. Portsmouth, December 26, 2006)
Fastest goal: 10 seconds, Ledley King (for Tottenham Hotspur v. Bradford City, 9 December 2000)
Fastest goal from a substitute: 6 seconds, Niklas Bendtner (for Arsenal F.C. v. Tottenham Hotspur, December 2007)
Fastest hat-trick (time between first and third goals): 4 minutes 33 seconds, Robbie Fowler (for Liverpool v. Arsenal, 14 April 2006)
Longest goal: 88m, Paul Robinson (for Tottenham Hotspur v. Watford, 17 March 2007)
[edit] Team
Most goals scored in a season: 97, Manchester United (1999-2000)
Fewest goals scored in a season: 21, Sunderland (2002-03)
Most goals conceded in a season: 100, Swindon Town (1993-94)
Fewest goals conceded in a season: 15, Chelsea (2004-05)
Fewest goals scored at home in a season: 10 Manchester City (2006-07)
Fewest goals scored away in a season: 8, joint record:
Middlesbrough (1995-96)
Southampton (1998-99)
Sheffield United (2006-07)
Most clean sheets in a season: 25, Chelsea (2004-05)
Fewest failures to score in a season: 0 (scored in every game), Arsenal (2001-02)
Least amount of penalties conceded: 12 (home), 53 (away), Manchester United 1992-2007
Most penalties conceded: 47 (home), 93 (away), Aston Villa 1992-2007
Lowest finish by the previous seasons champions: 7th, Blackburn Rovers (1995-96)
Highest finish by a promoted club: 3rd, Nottingham Forest (1993-94}
[edit] Scorelines
Biggest home win: 9-0, Manchester United v. Ipswich Town (4 March 1995)
Biggest away win: 1-8, Nottingham Forest v. Manchester United (6 February 1999)
Highest Scoring: 7-4 Portsmouth v. Reading (29 September 2007)
[edit] Attendance
Highest attendance, single game: 76,098, Manchester United v. Blackburn Rovers (at Old Trafford, March 31, 2007)
Lowest attendance, single game: 3,039, Wimbledon v. Everton (at Selhurst Park, January 26, 1993)
[edit] Goalkeepers
Only goalkeepers to score in a Premiership game::
Peter Schmeichel (Everton 3–2 Aston Villa, 20 October, 2001)
Brad Friedel (Charlton Athletic 3–2 Blackburn Rovers, 21 February, 2004)
Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 Watford, 17 March, 2007)
Longest consecutive run without conceding a goal in the league: 1,025 minutes, Petr Čech (for Chelsea, 2004-05)
Most clean sheets in one season: 24, Petr Čech (for Chelsea, 2004-05)
Most clean sheets in Premiership history: 143 (as May 14, 2007), David James
[edit] Disciplinary
Fewest touches before a red card: 0, joint record:
Andreas Johansson (as a substitute for Wigan Athletic v. Arsenal, 7 May 2006)
Keith Gillespie (as a substitute for Sheffield United v. Reading, 20 January 2007)
Dave Kitson (as a substitute for Reading v. Manchester United, 12 August 2007)
[edit] Longest range goals
Longest Range Goal (Freekick) :
Paul Robinson (88 m, 96 yd) Tottenham Hotspur v Watford, 17 March 2007
Longest Range Volley:
Matthew Taylor (42m, 46 yds) Portsmouth v Everton, 9 December 2006.
Longest Range from open play:
Xabi Alonso (64 m, 70 yards) Liverpool F.C. v Newcastle United, 20 September 2006.
All three goals weren't deflections.
All three goals had the distance analysed by Match of the Day.
All three goals were scored in the 2006/07 season with the new Premiership ball.
[edit] Fastest Recorded Premiership Goal (Speed)
Luke Young (75 mph or 33 m/s or 120 km/h) Saturday 3 November 2007. Middlesbrough FC 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur FC. It was not deflected and the speed was analysed by Match of the Day.
[edit] Promotion
Best season for promoted clubs: All three promoted sides avoided relegation: 2001-02
Worst season for promoted clubs: All three promoted sides were relegated: 1997-98
[edit] FA Cup
[edit] Final
[edit] Team
Most wins: 11, Manchester United (1908-09, 1947-48, 1962-63, 1976-77, 1982-83, 1984-85, 1989-90, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2003-04)
Most consecutive wins: 3, joint record:
Wanderers (1875-76, 1876-77, 1877-78)
Blackburn Rovers, (1883-84, 1884-85, 1885-86)
Most appearances: 18:
Manchester United (1908-09, 1947-48, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1962-63, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1982-83, 1984-85, 1989-90, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07)
Most appearances without winning: 4, Leicester City (1948-49, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1968-69)
Biggest win: Bury 6-0 Derby County 1902-03
Most goals in a final: 7:
Blackburn Rovers 6-1 Sheffield Wednesday 1889-90
Blackpool 4-3 Bolton Wanderers 1952-53
Most goals by a losing side: 3:
Bolton Wanderers: Lost 3-4 against Blackpool 1952-53
Crystal Palace: Drew 3-3 against Manchester United 1989-90 then lost the replay 0-1
West Ham United: Drew 3-3 against Liverpool F.C. 2005-06 then lost on penalties
Most defeats in a final: 7:
Manchester United
Arsenal
Everton
[edit] Individual
Most wins: 5, joint record
Arthur Kinnaird (Holbrook and Old Etonians) (1872-73, 1876-77, 1877-78, 1878-79, 1881-82)
James Forrest (Blackburn Rovers) (1883-84, 1884-85, 1885-86, 1889-90, 1890-91)
Most appearances: 9, Arthur Kinnaird (Wanderers and Old Etonians) (1872-73, 1874-75, 1875-76, 1876-77, 1877-78, 1878-79, 1880-81, 1881-82, 1882-83)
Most goals: 5, Ian Rush (Liverpool)
Fastest goal: 27 seconds, Roberto Di Matteo (for Chelsea v. Middlesborough, 1997)
Youngest player: Curtis Weston, 17 years and 119 days (for Millwall v. Manchester United, 2003-04)
Youngest goalscorer: Norman Whiteside, 18 years and 18 days (for Manchester United v. Brighton & Hove Albion, 1982-83)
Oldest player: Billy Hampson, 41 years and 257 days (for Newcastle United v. Aston Villa, 1923-24)
[edit] All rounds
Biggest win: Preston North End 26-0 Hyde (First Round, 15 October 1887)
Highest attendance (other than at Wembley): 84,569 (Manchester City v. Stoke City, Quarter-Final, 3 March 1934)
Longest tie: 660 minutes (6 matches in total), Oxford City v. Alvechurch (Fourth Qualifying Round, 1971-72; Alvechurch won the sixth match 1-0)
Longest penalty shootout: 20 penalties each, Tunbridge Wells v. Littlehampton Town (Preliminary Round Replay, August 31, 2005; Tunbridge Wells won 16-15)
Most rounds played in a season: 9, joint record:
New Brighton (1956-57: Preliminary, 1st-4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st-4th Rounds)
Blyth Spartans (1977-78: 1st-4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st-5th Rounds)
Harlow Town (1978-79: Preliminary, 1st-4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st-4th Rounds)
Most games played in a season: 13, Bideford (1974-75: one First Qualifying, two Second Qualifying, five Third Qualifying, four Fourth Qualifying and one First Round)
[edit] League Cup
[edit] Final
Most wins (team): 7, Liverpool (1980-81, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1994-95, 2000-01, 2002-03)
Record scoreline: Manchester United 4-0 Wigan Athletic (2005-06)
Most appearances (team): 10, Liverpool
Most wins (individual): 5, Ian Rush (Liverpool, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1994-95)
Most defeats in a final: 4:
Manchester United
Arsenal
Most appearances without winning: 2:
Stoke City
West Ham United
Everton
Bolton Wanderers
[edit] All rounds
Biggest win (single match): 10-0, joint record:
West Ham United 10-0 Bury (Second round, second leg, 25 October 1983)
Liverpool 10-0 Fulham (Second round, first leg, 23 September 1986)
Biggest win (aggregate): by 11 goals, joint record:
Liverpool 13-2 Fulham (10-0 First round & 3-2 Second round, 1986)
Bury 1-12 West Ham United (1-2 First round & 0-10 Second round, 1983)
Liverpool 11-0 Exeter City (5-0 First round & 6-0 Second round, 1981)
Watford 11-0 Darlington (8-0 First round & 3-0 Second round, 1987)
Most career goals: 49, joint record:
Geoff Hurst (West Ham United and Stoke City, 1958 to 1976)
Ian Rush (Liverpool and Newcastle United, 1980 to 1998)
Most goals in a single match: 6, Frankie Bunn (for Oldham Athletic v. Scarborough, 1989)
[edit] Non-League
Biggest Win By A Non-League Club Over A League Club: 6-1, joint record
Boston United beat Derby County, 1955-56 FA Cup Second Round
Hereford United beat Queens Park Rangers, 1957-58 FA Cup Second Round
Biggest Conference Win: 9-0, joint record
Sutton United beat Gateshead, 22 September 1990
Hereford United beat Dagenham & Redbridge, 27 February 2004
Highest Attendance Between Non-League Clubs: 24,526
Wigan Athletic v Hereford United, 1953-54 FA Cup Second Round
[edit] Most successful clubs overall (1888 - present)
Team English Football Champions FA Cup League Cup Charity Shield European Cup Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup Inter-Cities Fairs Cup European Super Cup Intercontinental Cup Total
Liverpool 18 7 7 15 5 - 3 - 3 - 58
Manchester United 16 11 2 16 2 1 - - 1 1 50
Arsenal 13 10 2 12 - 1 - 1 - - 39
Everton 9 5 - 9 - 1 - - - - 24
Aston Villa 7 7 5 1 1 - - - 1 - 22
Sunderland 6 2 - 1 - - - - - - 9
Newcastle United 4 6 - 1 - - - 1 - - 12
Sheffield Wednesday 4 3 1 1 - - - - - - 9
Blackburn Rovers 3 6 1 1 - - - - - - 11
Chelsea 3 4 4 3 - 2 - - 1 - 17
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 4 2 4 - - - - - - 13
Leeds United 3 1 1 2 - - - 2 - - 9
Huddersfield Town 3 1 - 1 - - - - - - 5
Tottenham Hotspur 2 8 3 7 - 1 2 - - - 23
Manchester City 2 4 2 3 - 1 - - - - 12
Preston North End 2 2 - - - - - - - - 4
Portsmouth 2 1 - 2 - - - - - - 5
Burnley 2 1 - 2 - - - - - - 5
Derby County 2 1 - 1 - - - - - - 4
West Bromwich Albion 1 5 1 2 - - - - - - 9
Sheffield United 1 4 - - - - - - - - 5
Nottingham Forest 1 2 4 1 2 - - - 1 - 11
Ipswich Town 1 1 - - - - 1 - - - 3
Wanderers - 5 - - - - - - - - 5
Bolton Wanderers - 4 - 1 - - - - - - 5
West Ham United - 3 - 1 - 1 - - - - 5
Old Etonians F.C. - 2 - - - - - - - - 2
Bury - 2 - - - - - - - - 2
Cardiff City - 1 - 1 - - - - - - 2
Oxford University - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Royal Engineers - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Clapham Rovers - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Old Carthusians - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Blackburn Olympic - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Notts County - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Bradford City - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Barnsley - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Charlton Athletic - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Blackpool - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Southampton - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Coventry City - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Wimbledon - 1 - - - - - - - - 1
Leicester City - - 3 1 - - - - - - 4
Norwich City - - 2 - - - - - - - 2
Birmingham City - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Queens Park Rangers - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Swindon Town - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Stoke City - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Oxford United - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Luton Town - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Middlesbrough - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
Brighton & Hove Albion - - - 1 - - - - - - 1
The figures in bold represent the most times this competition has been won by an English team.
[edit] Managers
Longest-serving manager: Matt Busby, 26 years (Manchester United, 1944 to 1969 and 1970 to 1971)[6]
Longest-serving current manager: Dario Gradi, 24 years, as of November 2007 (Crewe Alexandra F.C., June 1983.)
Shortest-serving manager (excluding caretakers): Leroy Rosenior, 10 minutes (Torquay United, 17 May 2007)[7]
[edit] Footnotes
^ Peter Shilton: Biography. Retrieved on 2007-04-08. “Throughout his amazing 30 year career he played for 11 English league clubs through which he accumulated a record 1005 League appearances.”
^ McBain was New Brighton manager at the time and came out of retirement to play in goal during an injury crisis. Similarly, Bob Suter, who played for Halifax Town on April 24, 1929 aged 50 years and 288 days, also came out of retirement to cover in goal. The oldest 'regular' player and the oldest outfield player was Stanley Matthews, who was 50 years and 5 days old in his final match for Stoke City v. Fulham on February 6, 1965.
^ It is estimate that between 1,000 and 2,000 people actually attended the match; Manchester United and Derby County had played immediately beforehand, and some of the spectators for that match had stayed on to watch the Stockport match for free. However, only 13 people paid at the gate to watch the Stockport match by itself. Reference: A beautiful game. Stockport Express (November 19, 2002).
^ a b "Away penalties at Old Trafford", Sean Ingle, Barry Glendenning and Matt Cunningham, The Guardian, 26 June 2003
^ a b "Football League Records: Disciplinary", The Football League, accessed 04 December 2007
^ Some regard Busby as the fourth-longest serving League manager after Fred Everiss (1902 to 1948, West Bromwich Albion), George Ramsay (1884 to 1926, Aston Villa) and Frank Watt (1895 to 1930, Newcastle United). However, these three held the title of club secretary rather than manager, and only had a limited influence over training and selection. By modern-day standards, Busby is the longest-serving manager.
^ Leroy Rosenior lost his job at Torquay just 10 minutes after being introduced as the Devon club’s new manager. The then Chairman Mike Bateson called him to say he had just sold the club to a group led by Colin Lee, who reinstated himself as director of football only a matter of days after being made redundant by the club.
[edit] References
Football League Records: Points. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Wins. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Losses. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Draws. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Goals. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Appearances. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Disciplinary. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
Football League Records: Attendances. The Football League website. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
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