“When is the latest in a tournament a team has scored a goal and gone on to win it, or at least made the final?” asks John McDougall. “For example: qualifying for the knockouts with three 0-0 draws, then maybe winning on penalties after another 0-0 draw before finally in the quarter-final …”
We’ve been through every World Cup, European Championship, Copa América and Africa Cup of Nations where data is available, because what else is there to do in a heatwave. Alas there are no goalless runs to match John’s hypothetical scenario, but there are some decent tales nonetheless.
As we’re in European Championship season, let’s start there. Italy took 200 minutes to score their first goal at Euro 68, although there was an unusual context. It was a four-team tournament and Italy won their semi-final against the Soviet Union on a coin toss after a 0-0 draw (more of which at the bottom of this page). Angelo Domenghini finally scored after 80 minutes of the final, a crucial equaliser against Yugoslavia, and Italy went on to win the replay 2-0. No coin toss this time.
Denmark are the only European champions who failed to score in their first two matches – even though Italy’s drought was longer, because they played extra-time in that semi-final against the Soviet Union. Denmark’s fairytale victory at Euro 92 came despite a very slow start: a gruelling 0-0 draw with England and a 1-0 defeat to the hosts Sweden. Henrik Larsen belted them ahead after eight minutes of their final group match against France; the rest is folklore.
There are two other European champions who didn’t trouble the scorers in their first game. In 1988, the Netherlands strained for 134 minutes before Marco van Basten scored the first of his hat-trick against England. And in 2013, the Germany women’s team took until the 24th minute of their second game to get off the mark. After a 0-0 draw against the Netherlands, Lena Lotzen’s excellent goal set them on their way to a 3-0 win over Iceland. Germany qualified despite losing their last group game 1-0 to Norway, then won all three knockout games 1-0 – culminating in the final against, yep, Norway.
Incongruous as it sounds, there are at least two teams who have reached the final of a major tournament without scoring a goal, though context adds a sizeable asterisk to their ‘achievement’. Due to a series of walkovers, Ethiopia (men’s Afcon, 1957) and Cameroon (women’s Afcon, 1991) both reached the final without playing a single game.
Three teams, all men’s, have won the World Cup after drawing a blank first up: Spain took 107 minutes in 2010, Italy 108 minutes in 1982 and England 127 minutes before a screamer from Bobby Charlton put them ahead against Mexico in 1966.
Only one beaten finalist can top that. Italy began their melodramatic USA 94 campaign with a 1-0 defeat by the Republic of Ireland and a fraught 1-0 win over Norway, achieved with 10 men. Dino Baggio headed the only goal after 69 minutes of that game.
In the Women’s World Cup, only one eventual finalist has failed to score in their first game. In the first game of the inaugural World Cup in 1991, Norway were hammered 4-0 by the hosts China. An own-goal by New Zealand’s Terry McCahill after half an hour of their second group game got them up and running and they smashed 13 in four games to reach the final. They scored in that, too, but were beaten 2-1 by the USA.
This is the list of teams – winners or beaten finalists – who took at least 150 minutes to score their first goal at a World Cup, Euros, Copa América or Afcon. We’ve excluded added time as it hasn’t always been recorded.
156 mins Norway (Euro 2005, women’s)
159 Italy (USA 94, men’s), Egypt (Afcon 2021, men’s)
160 South Africa (Afcon 2012, women’s)
162 Uruguay (Copa America 1999, men’s)
163 Egypt (Afcon 1986, men’s)
169 Zambia (Afcon 1994, men’s)
179 Egypt (Afcon 2017, men’s)
180 Algeria (Afcon 1980, men’s)
188 Denmark (Euro 92, men’s)
200 Italy (Euro 68, men’s)
We suspect there are better examples from other continental competitions, so please send them in. The question was purely about international football, which is why we haven’t yet mentioned the extraordinary story of Alania Vladikavkaz in 2010-11 Russian Cup, as told by Graham Hales in an old Knowledge.
Finally, history suggests that, if you want to reach the Euros final, the best time to score your first goal is in the third quarter of your opening game. We can exclusively reveal that this year’s final will be between Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Second-tier stadiums at major tournaments
“By my count there are five grounds being used for Euro 2024 that will be home to second tier teams next season: Hertha Berlin, Schalke, Hamburg, Fortuna Düsseldorf, and Köln. This is half of the grounds being used. Has the European Championship, World Cup or any major tournament ever had a higher number or proportion of stadiums that are home to clubs outside of the top division?” wonders Jack Edwards.
Props to Jack Hayward, who has done the hard yards – all of the yards, if we’re honest – on this one. “The amount of stadiums at Euro 2024 outside the host country’s top flight is unprecedented in the competition’s history,” he writes. “Discounting grounds exclusively used by national teams, the previous record for non-top flight stadiums hosting a men’s European Championship was two, tied between three editions:
Euro 1984 Stade de Gerland (Lyon) and Stade Geoffroy-Guichard (Saint-Étienne)
Euro 1988 Parkstadion (Schalke 04) and Rheinstadion (Fortuna Dusseldorf)
Euro 2008 Tivoli-Neu (Wacker Innsbruck) and Stade de Genève (Servette)
“The highest proportion of European Championship venues to not be the home ground of a top-flight club is 100%, achieved at the inaugural tournament in 1960. France hosted through two venues: the Stade Vélodrome (Marseille were in Division 2 at the time) and the Parc des Princes (which would not host club football until Paris FC moved in in 1972).
“I also researched the women’s Euros, with the caveat that women’s club football being hosted at stadiums typically used for major international tournaments is a recent development. Euro 2009 in Finland is the most recent of several editions in which no women’s club football was played at any of the host venues that season.”
Last, and arguably least, this bit of unapologetic pedantry from Neil Connolly. “All the stadiums used at USA 94 hosted NFL or college American football teams,” writes Neil. “So none hosted top division ‘soccer’ teams at all.”
An even younger Euro star
“Lamine Yamal became the first 16-year-old to play at the men’s European Championship when Spain beat Croatia,” notes Peter Hemmings. “Who is the youngest player to appear at the women’s Euros?”
This one’s easy: on 23 August 2009, in Turku, Finland, Oksana Yakovyshyn played for Ukraine against the Netherlands at the age of 16 years 156 days. That makes her 182 days younger than Yamal was when he played against Croatia. Yakovyshyn is still playing – she’s only 31 after all – but we can’t find any reliable data on how many caps she has for Ukraine.
Knowledge archive
“David Healy and Eduardo da Silva were the two highest scorers in qualifying, but neither made it to Euro 2008,” wrote Adam Mills in 2008. “Has this ever happened before?”
More often than you’d think, Adam. In fact, in the last six tournaments it has happened four times. In 2004 Slovenia’s Ermin Siljak banged in nine goals in qualifying — more than any other player — but the Slovenians lost out to Croatia in the play-offs.
In 1992, Darko Pancev scored 10 times as Yugoslavia romped through Group Four. His country, though, were booted out of the finals because of UN sanctions and the onrushing war in the Balkans. In 1988 the Spurs striker Nico Claesen topped the scoring charts with seven goals for Belgium, but they finished behind the Republic of Ireland (and Bulgaria) in their qualifying group.
A respectful nod should also go to Toni Polster, who scored 11 times as Austria failed to qualify for Euro 96. Davor Suker top-scored with 12.
And to Israel’s Eran Zahavi, who scored 11 during qualification for Euro 2020. That’s only one behind the leading scorer Harry Kane. Israel finished fifth in their group and lost to Scotland in the playoffs.
Can you help?
“It’s incredible how many times England fail to hold on to leads at major tournaments: including games that went to penalties, it has happened 20 times since the beginning of Italia 90. Can any other team match our penchant for choking at major tournaments?” pleads Aron Royle.
RCD Espanyol have been relegated 6 times, and immediately bounced back every time, meaning that they've spent 6 seasons in the Segunda División with no consecutive appearances.
— Ben (@BenJaneson) June 25, 2024
Which other teams have 4+ appearances in a division without ever playing there in back-to-back seasons?
“Italy (in)famously won their Euro 68 semi-final versus the Soviet Union by coin toss, after a 0-0 draw, then went on to win the tournament. If things were right and proper in the world, the lucky coin would be in a footballing museum in Rome, but what did in fact happen to it?” wonders Kelvin Green.
“Scotland’s game v Hungary had a false start, with the kick off being taken too quickly,” notes DW. “I hadn’t seen this before so wondered how common an occurrence it is and whether any funny stories have come from it (goal being disallowed, etc)?”
In 2005, 2006 and 2007, Arsenal had players sent off in the FA Cup, Champions League and League Cup finals. Has any team ever had players sent off in finals in consecutive years? Has any other team ever had this happen in three different competition's finals in consecutive years?
— Chad Hammer (@KlyntarCzar) June 25, 2024
“On 13 June it was sadly reported that former England international Tommy Banks had passed away at the age of 94. He was believed to be England’s oldest living former international. Can anyone tell me who is now the oldest living former England international? Also, who is the oldest living former international footballer, regardless of country?” asks Pete Tomlin.
“The Wales men’s team’s highest Fifa ranking of No 8 (October 2015), occurred only four years after their lowest of 117 (August 2011). Is this the biggest disparity between a team’s lowest and highest ranking? Also, is this the shortest amount of time between the two?” asks Will.
“I remember reading somewhere, possibly in Brian Glanville’s World Cup book, about an Italian striker who scored a spectacular goal in the early 1990s. He was later asked to recreate it for an ad but couldn’t do it. Does anyone know who it was?” wonders Triple Onuigbo.
“Austria’s penalty against Poland ended a run of 16 consecutive games at Euro 2024 without a spot-kick being awarded. Is that a record for a major tournament?” wonders Crispin Leyser.
“Next season West Ham aren’t due to play outside London until November, when they visit Nottingham Forest in their 10th league game. What’s the longest run of games or wait by date from the start of a campaign that a club has had to play outside the town or city where they are based?” asks Stuart Goodwin.
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