1Soccer Match Sparked 100-Hour War
A football match between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969, which El Salvador won to secure a World Cup spot, started a war between these countries that lasted 100 hours, with more than 2000 people losing their lives.
2. The Death Match was the nickname given to a historic World War II football match between the occupying German forces, Falkelf, and a team of Ukrainian locals. The aim was to demonstrate the dominance of German sportsmanship. However, they lost 5-3, not realizing that the opposing team was made up of former Dynamo Kiev players.
3. Heavy fog in 1937 forced the cancellation of a football match in the UK shortly after it started. While everyone else departed, goalkeeper Sam Bartram, unaware of the referee's decision, silently guarded his goal for 15 minutes until a policeman informed him of the cancellation.
4. In a 1972 World Cup qualifier, an error by the U.S. Soccer Federation left the U.S. team shorthanded, necessitating the inclusion of a fan from the stands to start the game.
5. Drug lords Pablo Escobar and El Mexicano once wagered $2 million on a soccer match. Each handpicked a dream team of professional soccer players and flew them to Escobar's residence to compete on his private field.
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6WWII Foggy Fabricated Football
During World War II, there was an Edinburgh derby football match that was shrouded in such dense fog that neither the commentator nor the spectators could discern the action. The commentator refrained from mentioning the fog to prevent potential eavesdropping by Germans. Instead, he fabricated details of a fictional match, which purportedly ended 6-5.
7. The Battle of Santiago was a football match during the 1962 FIFA World Cup that was played between the hosts Chile and Italy. It stands out as one of the most violent soccer matches ever, prompting the referee to introduce the red and yellow cards, which are still used today.
8. In 1989, 96 people were tragically crushed to death at a soccer game held at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. The match was an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. This tragic incident led to significant changes in stadium safety regulations and crowd management practices.
9. The highest score in a football match occurred during a Madagascar championship match in 2002, resulting in a lopsided 149-0 scoreline, with 148 of those goals being own goals. This unprecedented outcome stemmed from a pre-planned protest over refereeing decisions that had gone against the team during a previous four-team playoff tournament, marking a unique and controversial event in sporting history.
10. In a 2018 English women's football (soccer) match, the referee, lacking a coin for the pregame coin toss, resorted to having the team captains play rock paper scissors to determine the team to kick-off. The FA subsequently suspended the referee for three weeks.
11WWI Truce: No Man's Land Match
The World War I Christmas Truce of 1914 saw French, German, and British soldiers unexpectedly convene in no man's land to exchange gifts, food, and conversation. Amidst the ongoing fighting elsewhere in the trenches, a soccer game spontaneously broke out.
12. In the first-ever international football match in 1872, England deployed a 1-1-8 formation, while Scotland opted for a 2-2-6 formation. Despite the abundance of forwards, the match ended in a scoreless draw.
13. The Burnden Park Disaster marked a tragic crowd crush at a football match in Bolton, England, in 1946, resulting in the loss of 33 lives. Remarkably, despite the harrowing scene of the deceased laying at the side of the pitch, the game resumed just 30 minutes after the crush occurred.
14. In a 2010 soccer friendly, Bahrain defeated Togo 3-0, yet curiously, no one in Togo was aware of the game's occurrence. Suspicions arose of a match-fixing syndicate orchestrating the event and sending an entirely fictitious team to participate.
15. During a soccer match between Iran and Denmark, an Iranian player mistakenly believed a whistle from the crowd signaled halftime and handled the ball in the penalty area. Danish player Morten Wieghorst intentionally missed the resulting penalty, leading to Denmark's 1-0 defeat.
16Two-Second Red Card: Lee Todd's Outburst
Lee Todd received the fastest red card in a football match in just two seconds for yelling, "Fu*k me, that was loud," when the referee blew the whistle to begin the game.
17. A Colombian football player who scored an 'own goal' in a 1994 World Cup match against the US was tragically murdered afterward, becoming a scapegoat for the team's upset loss. Unbelievably, one of the attackers yelled "goal!" with every shot.
18. In 1985, during the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, 39 fans tragically lost their lives due to rioting by Liverpool fans and a subsequent stadium collapse. Despite the adversity, the football match resumed after a delay of 90 minutes.
19. Following Zaire's (now known as DR Congo) disappointing performance in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, players were prohibited from leaving their home country to prevent them from accepting offers to play for European clubs that came in after the tournament.
20. During the 1978 FIFA World Cup, the Peruvian team was threatened into playing poorly in a crucial match against Argentina by Peruvian President Francisco Morales-Bermúdez, Argentine President Jorge Rafael Videla, and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Argentina's 6-0 victory secured their advancement to the second round.
211950 FIFA World Cup Fan Suicides
In the 1950 FIFA World Cup final, where Uruguay triumphed over Brazil with Alcides Ghiggia's winning goal just 11 minutes before the end of the match, some distraught fans were so devastated that they committed suicide in the stadium stands.
22. During the 1960s, Estudiantes de La Plata, an Argentinean football club, enlisted a fan named Quiricocho, perceived as a bearer of bad luck, to greet opposing teams before matches. When security measures prevented this, players would collectively yell "Quiricocho!" before their opponents' penalty attempts.
23. In 2009, Créteil Bébel, a French football team comprised entirely of practicing Muslims, declined to play against Paris Foot Gay, a club formed to combat homophobia, citing religious grounds. Consequently, Bébel faced permanent expulsion from the local football association.
24. Australia achieved a world record for the largest victory in an international football match, triumphing 31-0 against American Samoa in April 2001.
25. During a 2002 football match between Mali and Cameroon, riot police arrested the Cameroonian head coach and goalkeeping coach for allegedly placing a charm on the pitch. A spokesman asserted, "We are no more willing to see witch doctors on the pitch than cannibals at the concession stands."
