DID YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT COST AC MILAN TO SIGN GIANLUIGI LENTINI FROM TORINO TO BECOME THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE FOOTBALLER?

In the 1992/1993 season, Gianluigi Lentini became the world's most expensive footballer, when he moved from Torino to AC Milan for £13 million. He played until 1996 when he was loaned to Atalanta for non-performance caused by a serious car crash whilst driving home from a pre-season tournament in Genoa. He fractured his skull and damaged his eye socket and he spent approximately 2 days in a light coma. However, he went on to make full recovery but not with the potential.

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER WHO MADE THE REMARK THAT ''FOOTBALL IS NOT FOR BALLERINAS'' AFTER MARKING OUT DIEGO MARADONA IN A ESPANA'82 FIFA WORLD CUP MATCH?

Gentile man marks Maradona

At the Espana 82 FIFA World Cup match between the Azzuris of Italy and the Albiceleste of Argentina, Claudio Gentile committed six fouls which was all on Diego Maradona. After the encounter, he famously quipped, "Football is not for ballerinas!"  Gentile was capped on 71 occasions by Italy between 1975 and 1984. He is now the current manager of the Libyan National Team.

DO YOU KNOW THE LAST MANAGER TO WIN THE EUROPEAN CUP BACK-TO-BACK?

Arrigo Sacchi

Arrigo Sacchi is the last manager to win the European Cup (now rechristened UEFA Champions League) back to back with AC Milan of Italy during the 1988/1989 and 1989/1990 seasons with outstanding players like Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Franco Baresi, Roberto Donaldoni, Paolo Maldini and a host of others. He was also the manager of Italy's Azzuri from 1991-1996.

DO YOU KNOW THE LAST TIME QUEEN ELIZABETH II ATTENDED A FOOTBALL MATCH?

During the final of UEFA Euro 96 tournament held in England, Queen Elizabeth II attended her first football match since England 1966 FIFA World Cup final match at Wembley Stadium where she handed Jurgen Klinsmann the captain of Germany, the Henri Delaunay Trophy after they defeated Czech Republic 2-1. Ever since, Her Majesty has not attended a football match.

DO YOU KNOW WHY IVAN ZAMORANO WORE THE 1+8 SHIRT NUMBER WHILE AT INTER MILAN?

1+8 shirt man

Chilean striker Iván Zamorano wore the number 9 jersey for Inter Milan of Italy until a sponsorship deal with Nike saw Ronaldo de Lima (who was originally assigned number 10) given the traditional strikers' number. When this happened, they gave him the number 18 jersey, but Zamorano added a plus (+) sign between the two numbers (actually, 1+8=9). He was nicknamed Bam Bams (for Bamm-Bamm, a character from The Flintstones), and Iván el Terrible ("Ivan the Terrible").

WHAT PROFESSION DID SERGIO GOYCOCHEA RETIRED TO PRACTICE AFTER HIS GOALKEEPING HEROICS?

Sergio Goycochea, the ever showman goalkeeper for the Albiceleste of Argentina to the Italia 90 FIFA World Cup is now a sports journalist after retiring from football in 1998 at his last club Newell Old Boys. Argentina's former No1 took a journalism course and became just another student. "It was a lifestyle decision," he explains. "I wanted to earn the respect of my colleagues and that's why I spent three years studying. It wasn't easy. I studied four days a week for three years, sitting alongside 18-year-old kids who knew who I was. But it was worth it in the end." Since completing the course he has presented Km por Hora, Abanderados and Resto del Mundo on Argentinian TV and has also teamed up with one-time team-mate Diego Maradona to co-host the famous La Noche del Diez.

DO YOU KNOW THE FIRST INDOOR STADIUM TO HOST A FIFA WORLD CUP MATCH?

Pontiac Silverdome

The United States vs Switzerland match on June 18, 1994, at the Pontiac Silverdome for USA 94 was the first to be played indoors in FIFA World Cup history. Grass was grown by Michigan State University and was the first time since 1965 (the failed attempt at Astrodome) that natural turf was used in an indoor stadium in the United States. To date, only Sapporo Dome in 2002 and Veltins Arena in 2006 later followed to host indoors game in FIFA World Cup history.

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER WHO SCORED THE WINNING GOAL THAT QUALIFIED GERMANY FOR THE ITALIA 90 FIFA WORLD CUP?

Against Wales in a decisive last match at the Mungersdorfer Stadium in Cologne on November 15, 1989 to qualify for the Italia 90 FIFA World Cup, dimunitive midfielder, Thomas Hassler of Germany powered home an unstoppable volley to send the home crowd wild which was the little FC Cologne midfielder's first goal for his country that made it 2-1 which ensured qualification. 

DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ALLY McCOIST TO BECOME THE GLASGOW RANGERS FC ALL-TIME TOP SCORER?

Ally McCoist

Ally McCoist became Glasgow Rangers FC's record goalscorer, netting 355 goals in 10 years from 1983 to 1993. He banged in 251 goals in the Scottish League, 54 goals in the Scottish League Cup and 21 goals in all European competitions he played in. He played under John Greig, Graeme Souness and Walter Smith. 

DO YOU KNOW THE ALL-TIME TOP SCORER FOR THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL TEAM BEFORE THE SOVIET ERA?

For the Russia national team, Vladimir Beschastnykh has scored 26 goals in 71 caps, his first coming in 1992. The 26 make him a national leader, if Soviet-era goals are not accounted (Oleg Blokhin had 42 for the USSR National Team). One of these goals came in the Korea/Japan 2002 FIFA World Cup against Belgium; Beschastnykh also played in the USA'94 FIFA World Cup tournament, as well as in UEFA Euro 96. 

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER THAT WON THE BALLON D'OR AWARD FOR EUROPEAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR IN 1996?

One of the finest sweeper the game of football has ever produced, Matthias Sammer was voted the Ballon D'Or winner for the European Footballer of the Year in 1996 by France Football with his great efforts that helped Germany to victory in the UEFA Euro 96 in England. He was also instrumental in that same year to the exploits of his club Borussia Dortmond to win the German Bundesliga in the 1997/1996 season which culminated in them winning the UEFA Champions League in 1997.  

DO YOU KNOW THE FIRST FOREIGN MANAGER OUTSIDE BRITAIN AND IRELAND TO MANAGE A TOP-FLIGHT CLUB IN ENGLAND?

Jozef Venglos the pathfinder

Slovakian Jozef Vengloš is the first manager not from Britain or Ireland to take charge of a top-flight club in England. He was appointed manager of Aston Villa for the 1990/1991 season after he remarkably led Czechoslovakia to the quarter-finals of the Italia'90 FIFA World Cup. He left Aston Villa after one season when they finished just two places above the English First Division relegation zone.

DO YOU KNOW THE THE FIRST PLAYER TO WIN THE ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP WITH TWO CLUBS AS CAPTAIN?

Gareth Southgate holds the record of been the first player to captain two winning sides in the English League Cup (now the Carling Cup) with both Aston Villa under manager Brian Little in 1996 and with Middlesbrough in 2004 under Steve McClaren. Southgate played in every English Premier League (EPL) game during the 1998/1999 season for Aston Villa.

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER NICKNAMED ''CASQUE D'OR'' FOR HIS PENCHANT FOR SCORING LAST MINUTE HEADERS?

Antoine Kombouaré earned the nickname of "Casque d'Or", which means "Golden Helmet" in French because of his penchant for netting tie-deciding headers. He displayed this in in the 1992/1993 season for Paris Saint-Germain FC's UEFA Cup campaign against Real Madrid CF of Spain in the quarter final where he headed a dying seconds goal to secure a 4-1 victory. Kombouaré had already scored a decisive goal in similar circumstances against RSC Anderlecht in the previous round.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HEAD COACHES JOSEPH YOBO HAS PLAYED UNDER SINCE HE MADE HIS DEBUT FOR THE SUPER EAGLES OF NIGERIA?

Joseph Yobo doing his thing for the  Super Eagles

Joseph Yobo made his debut for the Super Eagles of Nigeria against the Chipolopolo of Zambia on March 24th, 2001 in a Mali 2002 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier. He has earned over 86 caps for his country which makes him the most capped. He equalled the 86 caps barrier held by Muda Lawal and Nwankwo Kanu against the same Chipolopolo of Zambia on November 15th, 2011 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna in an international friendly. 

So far, he has played under 10 managers with seven of them Nigerians and the remaining three foreigners. These are the following managers Yobo has played under:

Jo Bonfrere (1999–2001)

Shaibu Amodu (2001–2002)

Adegboyega Onigbinde (2002)

Christian Chukwu (2002–2005)

Augustine Eguavoen (2005–2007)

Berti Vogts (2007–2008)

James Peters (2008)

Shaibu Amodu (2008–2010)

Lars Lagerbäck (2010)

Augustine Eguavoen (2010)

Samson Siasia (2010–2011)

Stephen Keshi (2011–)

DO YOU KNOW THE FIRST RECIPIENT OF THE LEV YASHIN AWARD FOR BEST GOALKEEPER IN A FIFA WORLD CUP?

Belgian goalkeeper, Michel Preud'homme is the the first winner of the Lev Yashin Award as the best goalkeeper at the USA'94 FIFA World Cup while in his last days with KV Mechelen. The award was introduced to honor the memory of the late goalkeeper Lev Yashin (USSR) and is presented to the top goalie of any given FIFA World Cup tournament. The FIFA Technical Study Group decides on the finest goalkeeper while taking into consideration the performance of the player during the course of the tournament. FIFA renamed it the Golden Glove Award for the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup.

DO YOU KNOW THE CLUB THAT WENT UNDEFEATED ALL SEASON IN THE ITALIAN SERIE A, BUT STILL FINISHED SECOND?



Perugia in 1979

 Perugia went undefeated all season in 1978-1979 and still finished second in Italian Serie A to AC Milan. They won 11 games but drew a massive 19 games out of 30 matches they played that season. Perugia's defense ended up conceeding only 16 goals, led by Antonio Ceccarini and it was Perugia's best ever finish in the Italian Serie A history.

DO YOU KNOW THE YOUNGEST PLAYER TO RETIRE FROM INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL?

Bernd Schuster

After appearing 21 times for West Germany and scoring 4 goals, attacking midfield wizard, Bernd Schuster became the youngest player to retire from international football at the age of 24 years in 1984 while still playing for FC Barcelona of Spain. According to Schuster himself, his premature retirement from the West German National Team was due to a major disagreement with the managements of both FC Barcelona and the German National Team on either side of a friendly match against Brazil in May 1981.

DO YOU KNOW THE ONLY PLAYER TO BE SUBSTITUTED IN AN INTERNATIONAL MATCH AT WEMBLEY STADIUM TO BE REPLACED BY HIS OWN BROTHER?

David O' Leary

David O' Leary is the only player to be substituted in an international match at Wembley Stadium to be replaced by his brother who is Pierce O' Leary who was playing for Shamrock Rovers. This happened  when the Republic of Ireland lost 0-2 to England on February 6, 1980 in a Euro 1980 qualification match. 

DO YOU KNOW THE FIRST PLAYER TO CAPTAIN THE WINNING CLUB IN BOTH THE SCOTTISH CUP AND THE ENGLISH FA CUP?

Elegant and cultured defender, Martin Buchan is the first and only player to captain the winning team in both the Scottish Cup and the English FA Cup finals. At the age of 20, Buchan was handed the captain’s armband of Aberdeen, his boyhood club and he enjoyed early success, leading the Dons to victory in the Scottish Cup Final of 1970 – the youngest player ever to do so. He also captained Manchester United to win the 1977 English FA Cup final against Liverpool, which they won 2–1 at Wembley Stadium.

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER THAT SCORED A HAT-TRICK IN ALL LEAGUE DIVISIONS AND COMPETITIONS IN BRITAIN HE PLAYED FOR INCLUDING HIS COUNTRY?

Robert Earnshaw is the only player to score a hat-trick in the English Premier League, English Championship, English League 1, English League 2, (or the divisions under their previous names), the English League Cup, the English FA Cup and for Wales, his country.




English Premier League - West Brom v Charlton, March 2005
English Championship - Cardiff v Gillingham, September 2002
English League 1 - Cardiff v Tranmere, March 2002
English League 2 - Cardiff v Torquay, December 2000
English FA Cup - Cardiff v Bristol Rovers, November 2000
English League Cup - Cardiff v Boston United, September 2002
Country - Wales v Scotland, February 2004

DO YOU KNOW THE FOOTBALLER THAT ONCE REPLACED HIS DAD IN AN INTERNATIONAL MATCH AS HIS DEBUT?

On April 24, 1996, Eidur Guðjohnsen and his father Arnór Guðjohnsen entered football history when playing in an international friendly for Iceland against Estonia in Tallinn. Arnór started the match, and Eidur came on in the second half as a substitute for his father to make his debut for Iceland. All very nice, but not quite what Arnor had asked for, because they didn’t get to play together, though they did make history as the only father and son combination to appear in the same international fixture. And then Eidur broke his ankle in a youth tournament. It took him two years to start playing again, by which time Arnor had retired, though he’s still involved in Eidur’s career as his agent.

DID YOU KNOW THE SECOND GOALKEEPER TO WIN THE AFRICAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR AWARD?

Badou Ezzaki (nicknamed "Zaki") of Morocco was named by France Football magazine as African Footballer of the Year for 1986 while he was playing for RCD Mallorca in the Spanish Primera Liga. Zaki is the second goalkeeper to win the award after Thomas Nkono of Cameroon won it twice in 1979 while playing with Canon Yaounde and in 1982 for RCD Espanyol in Spain.

DO YOU KNOW THE FOOTBALL CLUB THAT HAS A GROUND SITUATED IN TWO COUNTRIES?



Deva Stadium

 Chester FC home ground, Deva Stadium also known as the Exacta Stadium for sponsorship purposes (which has 6000 capacity), which crosses the England and Wales border, is the only club stadium that is situated in two countries. The pitch and stands are geographically inside Wales with just the club offices situated in England. The name Deva comes from the original Roman name for the fort Deva Victrix, which became the city of Chester, in North West England. The Deva Stadium replaced Sealand Road.

DO YOU KNOW WHO SCORED FOUR GOALS THE LAST TIME ENGLAND DEFEATED SPAIN IN THEIR OWN GROUND IN A COMPETITIVE MATCH?

The last time the Three Lions of England defeated the La Furia Roja of Spain in an international match was in February 1987 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. FC Barcelona's Gary Linekar scored four goals in the space of 33 minutes as England stunned Spain in an international friendly match 4-2 which saw Spain's Emilio Butragueño opening scoring in that historic match. Linekar's four goals took his England tally to 18 in 21 matches, a rate matched only by Jimmy Greaves and Nat Lofthouse.

DID YOU KNOW THE THIRD HIGHEST INTERNATIONAL GOALSCORER FOR THE THREE LIONS OF ENGLAND?

Jimmy Greaves who won his first England cap on May 17, 1959 against Peru, scoring England's only goal in a 4-1 defeat. He went on to win 57 caps and became the third highest international goalscorer with 44 goals, which also makes him have the best goals to games ratio for the Three Lions, which is an average of one goal in every 1.3 games.  He is also the highest goalscorer in the history of Tottenham Hotspur and the highest goalscorer in the history of English top flight football with 357 goals for Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.

DID YOU KNOW THE CLUB THAT WON THE 27TH EDITION OF THE CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IN 1992?

Wydad Athletic Club (WAC) popularly called Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in 1992 won the 27th edition of the African Cup of Champions Clubs now known as the CAF Champions League defeating Al-Hilal of Sudan 2-0 over two legs that had great players like Noureddine Naybet, Rachid Daoudi and Senegalese Moussa Ndaw. The club was founded on May 8th 1937.

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER WHO IS THE SPECIALIST OF TAKING "KNUCKLE-BALLING" FREE-KICKS?



Juninho Pernambucano

 Juninho Pernambucano who had a glowing career with Olympique Lyon of France is a renowned free-kick specialist and the method he uses for long-range free kicks is frequently "Knuckle Balling," where the ball has almost no spinning motion during flight. A successful knuckle ball will "move" or "wobble" in the air unpredictably, making it difficult for the goal keeper to save.

DID YOU KNOW THE ONLY GOALKEEPER TO HAVE WON THE BALLON D'OR FOR EUROPEAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR?

Dynamo Moscow and Russia's shot stopper, Lev Yashin is the first and only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d'Or Award in 1963 beating the likes of Gianni Rivera of AC Milan and Italy and Jimmy Greaves of Tottenham Hotspur and England to the prestigious statuette. He was nicknamed as "The Black Spider" because he famously wore a distinctive all-black outfit and it seemed as though he had eight arms to save almost everything.

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER THAT SCORED AN OWN-GOAL THAT CONDEMNED MANCHESTER CITY INTO THEIR FIRST EVER SEASON IN THE ENGLISH THIRD-TIER DIVISION?

Jamie Pollock scored a spectacular, but funny own-goal that condemned Manchester City to relegation to the third tier for the first time in 1998, whilst keeping Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in the division. As a result, a group of QPR fans thanked him by voting him the "most influential man of the past 2,000 years" in an internet poll, where "Jesus'' came second, apparently. Pollock remarked afterwards: "It was cruel of QPR fans to vote for me because that own goal was the lowest point of my career, but I certainly had a laugh when I heard about the poll."

DO YOU KNOW THE GOALKEEPER THAT SAVED RUUD VAN NISTELROOY'S FIRST PENALTY KICK MISS IN THE EPL?

Finland and Bolton Wanderers shot stopper Jussi Jääskeläinen, was the goalkeeper to save the first penalty off Ruud van Nistelrooy's boots in open play during the opening English Premier League (EPL) match of the 2003/2004 season between Manchester United and his club on August 16, 2003.

DO YOU KNOW THE OLDEST PLAYER TO DEBUT IN A FIFA WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT?

David James consoling John Terry

At the age of 39 years and 321 days, David James became the oldest player to debut in a FIFA World Cup match. He achieved this at South Africa 2010 in the match between England against Algeria on June 18, 2010.

DO YOU KNOW THE COUNTRY THAT GOT KNOCKED OUT OF THE WEST GERMANY 1974 FIFA WORLD CUP WITHOUT LOSING A MATCH?

Scotland in the West Germany 1974 FIFA World Cup were knocked out of the first round without losing a match and were also the only team not to lose a match in the tournament. The actual winners, West Germany lost a match in the first round, whilst Scotland went out on goal difference.

DO YOU KNOW THE EIGHT CITIES IN ENGLAND THAT HAVE DERBY MATCHES AT CLUB LEVEL?

London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester and Stoke are the eight cities in England that can have derby matches at clubside level.

DO YOU KNOW THE TOP-SCORER IN THE UEFA EURO 96 TOURNAMENT IN ENGLAND?

In the UEFA Euro 96 competition held in England, Alan Shearer emerged the Top Goalscorer with 5 goals in a tournament England were knocked out in the Semi-Final by Germany at Wembley Stadium.

DO YOU KNOW THE LAST MONTPELLIER HERAULT SC PLAYER TO REPRESENT THE LES BLEUS OF FRANCE?

Bruno Martini

With Oliver Giroud nearing a call-up, the last Montpellier Hérault SC player to play for the Les Bleus of France was goalkeeper Bruno Martini who had 31 caps when he made his first cap on August 12, 1987 against Germany and had his last match 29th May, 1996 against Finland.

DO YOU KNOW THE FIRST COLOMBIAN TO PLAY IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE?

 Since the advent of the English Premier League (EPL) in the 1991/1992 season, only five Colombians have played in this most followed football league in the world. The first was Faustino Asprilla who played for Newcastle United from 1995–98, followed by Hamilton Ricard played for Middlesbrough from 1998–2002. The third man is Juan Pablo Ángel played for Aston Villa from 2000–20007, the penultimate Colombian is Jhon Viáfara who played for Portsmouth from 2005–2006 while the last man who is still playing is Hugo Rodallega who joined Wigan Athletic in 2008.                                           

                            

DID YOU KNOW THE M.V.P. FOR THE JAPAN 1979 FIFA WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP?

Diego Armando Maradona was announced the Most Valuable Player (MVP) at the 2nd Japan 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship after impressing with his goalscoring abilities (second best marksman in the tournament with six goals), a free-kick specialist, deft passer, Maradona had it all. He was a fine crosser of a ball too, with a change of pace that would leave the best defenders bewildered.

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER NICKNAMED ''THE MARADONA OF THE CARPATHIANS'' FOR HIS WIZARDRY LEFT LEG SKILLS ON THE BALL?

The Romanian football legend, Gheorghe Hagi fondly called "The Maradona of the Carpathians", retired from international football in the year 2000 as an attacking midfielder with 125 caps and scored 35 goals, is the country's national team all-time Top Scorer. Interestingly, Adrian Mutu who is still playing has scored 34 goals from 72 caps. 

DO YOU KNOW THE PLAYER DIEGO FORLAN PIPPED TO WIN THE TWO PICHICHI TROPHY AWARDS FOR THE TOP SCORER WHILE HE WAS IN THE SPANISH PRIMERA LIGA?

Diego Forlan is a two-time winner of the Pichichi Trophy for the top-scorer in the Spanish Primera Liga with two different clubsides. His first Pichichi Trophy was with Villarreal CF 2004–05 season when he scored 25 goals in 38 appearances (averaging a goal every 1.5 games) and helped Villarreal CF to their first ever UEFA Champions League spot. He also jointly won the European Soccer Magazine (ESM) Golden Boot award with Thierry Henry (then of Arsenal FC). Forlan's second Pichichi Trophy came in the 2008-2009 season while at Atletico Madrid and he notched up an impressive 32 goals in 33 matches (essentially a goal per game). Interestingly on both occasion, he came from behind to pip Samuel Eto'o then with FC Barcelona to the prize.