“In 1999, to celebrate their centenary, Barcelona drew 2-2 with Brazil at Camp Nou. What other teams have played against nations and when was the first recorded club v country clash?” asks Masai Graham.
When The Knowledge was growing up, the phrase “club v country” usually referred to Ryan Giggs pulling out of another Wales friendly, so we were pleasantly surprised by the volume of answers to this question.
Let’s start with a bit more on that game between Barcelona and Brazil, taken from an old Joy of Six on club v country friendlies.
Who could possibly be miserable when both Barcelona and Brazil are present? Not when Barcelona were lining up with Figo, Patrick Kluivert and Pep Guardiola – the future manager was replaced by a 19-year-old Xavi Hernández at half time – and Brazil turned up with former Barça alumni Ronaldo and Romario in their attack.
The match finished 2-2, with goals from Ronaldo, Luis Enrique, Rivaldo and Phillip Cocu. Barcelona and Brazil were carrying on a tradition that started a whopping 119 years earlier.
Dutch International XI 2-3 Southend United (January 1937) If you were at this game, please write in as we need to know more.
Iran Under-23 0-2 Manchester United (October 1977) United played a mid-season exhibition match in Tehran, reportedly as a quid-pro-quo after the British government helped lift a ban on European games at Old Trafford. All travelling players needed cholera vaccinations: a number had bad reactions and either missed or struggled through successive 4-0 defeats to Porto (in the Cup Winners’ Cup) and West Brom.
For one season only, as Hungary transitioned from two to three points for a win, drawn games were settled by a penalty competition. Teams earned three points for a win in the match itself, two for a win on penalties, one for a defeat on penalties and diddly squat if you lost in 90 minutes.
Videoton, who Manchester United fans of a certain age may be surprised to read were not very good at penalties, finished fourth in the table. They would have been champions in both 1987-88 (2pts for a win, 1pt for draw) and 1989-90 (3pts win, 1pt draw). Instead, Videoton (now known as Fehérvár FC) had to wait until 2010-11 to become champions of Hungary for the first time.
Liga I 2024-25: “May I humbly propose the current Romanian league standings for your collection of tip-top tables?” asked Jim Hearson last week. At that stage, with four league games to play, there was only one point separating the top five teams (see below).
It has changed since then, with Dinamo Bucharest losing at the weekend, but it’s still a thing of beauty. With three matches remaining there are only two points between the top four. Oh, and the teams currently in first and second, FCSB and Universitatea Craiova, play each other in the last game of the season.
Knowledge archive
“German football magazine 11Freunde asked for ‘two further football players beside the ever-present George Best’ to find on the cover of Oasis’s Definitely Maybe. I’m only able to spot Rodney Marsh – is there another?” asked Ulrich Stolze in 2018.
This is the problem with MP3s: you can’t consult them when you need to answer obscure questions for weekly internet-based football columns. We did find the front cover, but despite studying it so hard that our visual acuity went down by 22.24%, we could only find the aforementioned Best and Marsh.
Thankfully, Graham Randall prefers the tangible to the digital. “On the inside cover of the vinyl version, Liam is reading a newspaper,” says Graham. “On the back page is Leicester’s Steve Walsh celebrating his winner in the 1994 play-off final against Derby.”
Read the full story here, and enjoy more football-themed record covers here.
The Knowledge archive
Can you help?
“Watching Lazio draw with Napoli wearing their unadorned white shirt, I noted the similarity between their club crest and the logo of the shirt sponsor, Mizuno. Are there any other notable examples of this in world football?” wonders Eddie Eyers.
“It’s 88 matches and 23 months since Carlisle United won consecutive league games. Is this an unwanted record?” asks Brendan Jackson.
“Exeter v Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup,” begins Pete Cordwell. “Only three of Exeter’s outfield players started and finished the game: there were five subs, a concussion sub and a sending-off. Is this a record?”
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