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Our list of curiosities and oddities from the world of football.
Please feel free to send in any ideas and strange quirky football facts to:
info@midfielddynamo.com
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| The European Championships |
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1984 - Two 'Perfect' Hat-tricks from Platini
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Michel Platini became the first, and still only, player to hit two
'perfect' hat-tricks
in the European Championships.
'Perfect' hat-tricks
consist of one goal from the right foot, one with the left, and one with head.
Platini achieved the feat in successive group games, the first in the 5:0 demolition
of Belgium, the second in 15 stunning minutes against Yugoslavia, which the French won 3:2.
For more details on this and the rest of Platini's heroics,
click here.
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2008 - A Not Very Optimistic Host Nation
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Going against the grain of normally optimistic hosts, the Austrians decided it was time for something
a bit different, and following a run of bad results in the lead up to the tournament a feeling
of impending doom and gloom swept the country. So convinced were the public that the national team
was going to flop big time and face possible humiliation at the hands of the big boys, that
Austrian psychologists offered courses for fans on 'despair management' before the tournament.
Claiming that the course could help turn defeat into joy, and that it would help to avoid the
gathering sense of catastrophe, the courses were said to be relatively popular having been publicised
heavily on the continent, to the particular delight of Austria's neighbours, Germany and Switzerland.
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General - Retaining the Trophy
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No country has ever successfully defended the trophy - the nearest anyone has come
was the USSR, who won it in 1960 and then lost in the 1964 final to Spain, and
West Germany, who went into the 1976 tournament as holders but lost the final on penalties
to Czechoslovakia.
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| The World Cup |
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 1950 - Scotland try not Qualify |
With the home nations refusing to participate in the pre-war World Cups, FIFA were desperate for participation from the home of football.
FIFA made the very generous offer that the winners of the Home International Championship of 1949-50 could play at the Brazil World Cup
of 1950. They also allowed the tournament to remain intact with no home and away qualifiers, unlike the rest of Europe.
Amazingly they also offered a place to the runners up! With the kind of foresight we're so accustomed to in our football administrators,
the secretary of the SFA, George Graham (no, not that one), declared that Scotland would only participate should they actually win the
Home International Championships! Going into the deciding match between Scotland and England at Hampden both sides had won their previous
two fixtures and thus a draw
would suffice. Scotland would be declared joint champions (goal difference was a mere glint in the milkman's eye in 1950),
pride would be intact and the SFA could start buying buckets and spades for the Copacabana. Unsurprisingly, Scottish hubris was
completely undone when Roy Bentley scored the only goal of the game in front of the obligatory 360,000 Hampden crowd to give England,
(who had no qualms about going as runners up) a 1-0 victory, and the title. Scotland captain George Young desperately tried to persuade
the SFA that they had made a monumental error, but to no avail. The committee were men of principle and their imbecilic decision stood.
Two points arise from this. Firstly, maybe Graham was a man of vision. England were humiliated by the USA and came home after the group
stage. Secondly, this was a splendid system of qualification and one that the home FA's should campaign FIFA to reinstate.
If it was good enough for 1950 (and 1954 as well, when Scotland did accept a place via the runners up spot), it must be good enough for
2010. Lord Triesman, contact Herr Blatter forthwith. It is surely inconceivable that some foreign desk Johnny could possibly refuse
this request from the motherland. And from a Lord to boot!
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 1950 - Not Quite the All-American Hero |
The man whose goal lead to one of the World Cup's greatest shocks, the USA's 1:0 victory over the then
mighty England, was in actual fact from Haiti. Joe Gaetjens, born in Haiti with a Haitian mother
and Belgian father, was only allowed to play for the Americans because he'd declared an intention
to become an American citizen. However, after the World Cup he moved to France and played for Troyes
before returning home to Haiti in 1954 without ever having gained U.S. citizenship. The story ends with a
terrible twist though - he was arrested by the country's secret police, the notorious Tontons Macoutes,
in 1964 and is presumed to have been killed by one of their death squads.
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 1962 - Chile's Special pre-Match Meals |
Back in 1962 the host nation came up with the strange idea of replacing their usual pre-match meal with something that
reflected their opposition. So before the opener against Switzerland they had cheese (presumably with holes in) and
before their next game against Italy they polished off some spaghetti (obviously). With the idea serving them well (they beat
the Swiss 2:1 and the Italians 2:0) they took it into the quarter final clash with the USSR. However, not fancying a big plate
of cabbage, they opted for a few swift vodkas, and it did them no harm whatsoever as they triumphed again, 2:1.
The semi-final against Brazil was a pre-match binge too far though, with the mighty Brazilians winning 4:2, the strong coffee
proving to be a weak substitute for footballing excellence.
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 1974 - Cruyff's Adidas Dilemma |
Anyone watching a re-run of the 1974 World Cup might be forgiven for thinking that the sight of Johann Cruyff sporting
an Adidas top with only two stripes was down to the grainy quality of 1970's videos. It wasn't. Cruyff had a lucrative
deal with Puma and insisted that he wouldn't play in a shirt advertising their big rivals famous three-stripe markings,
so the Dutch FA had a special shirt made with only two stripes on it. Everyone was happy again. Except Adidas.
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| 1978 - The 1000th Goal |
The World Cup's 1000th goal was scored during the 1978 tournament when under-rated Dutchman
Robbie Rensenbrink
opened the scoring after 34 minutes with a penalty in the epic game against Scotland in Mendoza.
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| 1978 - More Oranje Controversy |
Looking back on some of the controversial incidents that surrounded the Dutch team of 1978 it's pretty impressive that
they managed to eventually get it together and nearly win the thing...
1. After helping the national team qualify for the 1978 finals in Argentina Cruyff then promptly announced
that he wouldn't be attending the finals. Amongst the various theories for his absence were that he refused to play
in a country that was now under the rule of a military dictatorship, that his wife had banned him from travelling
to the tournament, and that he'd had enough of the financial and tactical disagreements that had come commonplace with
the Dutch FA.
2. Whilst the loss of one of their top players may be considered unlucky, to lose two was downright careless. So when
creative midfielder Wim van Hanegem legged it out of the pre-tournament training camp the Oranje fans back home
wondered what on earth was going on. Another calssic dispute between a player and the Dutch FA saw the latter claiming
that van Hanegem was tired from a tremendous season with AZ67, whilst the player claimed that it was over disagreements
regarding money. Whatever the reason. the Dutch had just lost another creative force.
3. After Cruyff had pulled the old "I'm not wearing 3 stripes" trick back in 1974, you'd have thought both the
Dutch FA and Adidas would have wised up to it. They hadn't. This time not one, but two players refused to wear
the trademark Adidas stripes, and so two special shirts were made for the Van de Kerkhof brothers. Cruyff may not have
been there in person but it seemed he was still there in spirit.
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 1982 - One Rule for Diego... |
As they'd done in previous World Cups, the Argentinian FA handed out shirts alphabetically to squad members, so Ossie Ardiles
was handed number 1 despite being a midfielder, and defender Jose Van Tuyne was given number 22. However, under that system
21 year old prodigy Diego Maradona would have worn no. 12, so to keep him sweet he swapped with Estudiantes defender Patricio
Hernandez so that he could appear in his favoured number 10.
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 1982 - West Germany 1:0 Austria - "de Nichtangriffspakt von Gijon" |
Translating as the "non-aggression pact of Gijon", this was the name given to the dubious final group match between the
neighbouring countries, the result of which allowed both teams to go through on goal difference ahead of Algeria.
Horst Hrubesch put the West Germans one up after ten minutes, followed by a scandalous 80 minutes of non-football. The situation
arose as Algeria and Chile had played their final game the day previous, allowing the Germans and Austria to work out
exactly what situation was required for both to progress.
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| 1986 - One Rule for Diego... and Daniel. And Jorge. |
When the Argentinian FA announced in 1986 that they would be doing a repeat of 1982 and ordering the shirt numbers alphabetically,
apart from Diego Maradona who would swap again to number 10, Real Madrid striker Valdano and captain Daniel Passarella pulled
rank and insisted on keeping their own numbers too, so Passarella kept his favoured number
6 and Valdano wore 11, rather than the number 21 that he was originally pencilled in for.
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| 1994 - Everyone's Happy, at last. |
With the threat of multiple dummy's being thrown out of multiple prams, the Argentinian FA at last reverted to a 'sort it out
yourself' squad numbering system, and, depsite their being a number of players who hankered after the number 10 it's safe to
say that none of them suggested having a game of scissors-paper-stone with Mr Maradona for it.
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Article Keywords: Strange football facts - Odd soccer stories
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Football Curiosities 