50 unbelievable football facts: Part 1
Courtesy: futbolita.com
1) Alex Song has 27 siblings – 17 sisters and 10 brothers.
2) Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet speaks 5 languages and has a degree in politics.
3) Dundee United have played and beaten Barcelona 4 times in professional fixtures, giving them a 100% win record.
4) Former Manchester United player Alan Smith scored vs Sheffield United in a League One fixture in April 2012. His previous goal in all competitions was against AS Roma in the Champions League in a 7-1 win for Manchester United.
5) There is only one team out of the 4 divisions in England and the 4 divisions in Scotland that have a ‘j’ in their name. It’s Saint Johnstone.
6) Ronaldo (the Brazilian) has never won the Champions League despite playing for 5 teams that did. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has also never won the Champions League.
7) Manuel Neuer stars in the German version of the 2013 Disney/Pixar film’ Monsters University’. He provides the voice for the character Frank McCay.
8) Former Liverpool man Charlie Adam is younger than Cristiano Ronaldo.
9) The first English team to win a European trophy is West Auckland Town FC. They won the Sir Thomas Lipton trophy, one of football’s first European competitions, twice in 1909 and 1911.
10) Only one country has had two cities with two teams reach the semi finals of the European Cup/Champions League.
Scotland – Dundee (with Dundee in 1963 and Dundee United in 1984) and Glasgow (with Celtic in 1967, 1970, 1972 & 1974 and Rangers in 1960).
11) Kuba Blaszczykowski watched his father stab his mother to death when he was 10 years old.
12) Gary Lineker pooped his pants whilst playing against Ireland at the 1990 World Cup (Video).
13) Real Madrid Luka Modric and Mark Viduka are cousins.
14) There is only one case of Balotelli missing a penalty on camera – and it’s in training (Video).
15) Rio Mavuba was born in international waters. His birth certificate does not have a nation listed, it just says “Born at sea”.
16) The younger brother of Joey Barton, Michael, is a convicted murderer. He murdered his victim with an ice axe.
17) Steve Finnan (former Liverpool right back) played in the Conference, Division 3 (won the league), Division 2 (won the league), Division 1 (won the league), the Premiership, the World Cup, the Champions League Final, the UEFA Cup Final, the FA Cup Final, the League Cup Final, the Club World Cup Final, the Super Cup and the Intertoto during his career.
18) Xabi Alonso enjoys Gaelic Football.
19) Javier Zanetti didn’t get a red card in Serie A til his 548th match. Ryan Giggs has never received a red card in the EPL.
20) Former Tottenham Hotspur player David Ginola has an unfortunate tale to tell. His name is an anagram for Vagina Dildo.
21) Ronaldinho first gained media attention when his youth team won a game 23-0. He scored every single goal.
22) Eden Hazard has a son named Leo. Garry Cahill has a son named Leo. Fernando Torres has a son named Leo. There is a lion in the Chelsea FC crest. Leo is the Latin word for lion.
23) Mark Hughes once played two games in a single day; In the morning he played for Wales against Czechoslovakia in Prague, drove across the border, and then turned out for Bayern Munich in the afternoon.
24) Former Tottenham Hotspur captain Ledley King holds the record for the quickest Premier League goal. He scored 10 seconds after kick-off in a match against Bradford in the 2000/01 season (Video).
25) England came up with the word soccer. It’s a shortened version of “Association Football” which got changed to “Assoc Football” which then got changed to “Soccer”. In 19th century England, it was popular to add the “-er” sound to shortened words.
Part 2 can be found here.
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