Football’s Most Bizarre Stats, Records and Stories

Want to show off at your next pub quiz? Check out our list of some of the weirdest, wackiest, and outright worst stats in footballing history.

Stats they’d rather forget…

• The longest goalless streak in history lasted over 1000 minutes – FC Tom Tomsk went 1166 minutes without a goal back in 2011. That’s over 12 matches or almost 20 hours without a single goal.

• Inter were eliminated on away goals during a Champions League tie in 2003, despite playing both fixtures at home – This one is only technically true, as Inter were knocked out by AC Milan, who they share the San Siro with. The away goals rule has since of course been scrapped.

• Chris Nicholl scored all four goals in a 2-2 draw in 1976 between Aston Villa and Leicester – four goals in a single game is good going, but not if two go in your own net. Nicholl bagged a brace of goals and own goals back in 1976.

• No English manager has ever won the Premier League – seems impossible but no Englishman has ever conquered the top tier of English football since the rebrand in 1992. Who will be the first to break the streak?

• Jamie Carragher scored more own goals than goals in his career – Carragher’s reputation for having a nose for the wrong goal isn’t without reason. The Liverpool defender scored four times in his career, but put seven in the back of his own net.
  

Card Counting

• The most red cards ever seen in a single match came in Argentina’s Primera D back in 2011 - 36 in total were handed out. An on-field brawl saw all 22 starters and several subs and staff members dismissed, in what must have been a tiring day for the referee’s arm.

• Gary Lineker went his whole career without ever receiving a yellow or red card – the English striker stayed squeaky-clean for 654 games.

• Philipp Lahm was also never sent off, and had almost as many trophies as bookings in his career – despite playing primarily as a defender, Lahm never saw red, and was only booked 26 times. The German won 22 trophies during his illustrious career, so not a bad ratio.

• A player was once sent off for tackling a pitch invader – Ashley Vickers received a second yellow after flinging a pitch invader to the ground while playing for Dorchester.

• Lionel Messi was sent off in his first-ever game for Argentina – his debut was probably the worst match of his Argentina career, with an 18-year-old Messi being dismissed within a minute of making his first appearance. Safe to say he bounced back over the next two decades.
  

Goals Galore

• Rogerio Ceni scored 131 goals as a goalkeeper – the Brazilian keeper took penalties and free-kicks throughout his club career, helping him claim the record for the most goalkeeper goals.

• Mario Balotelli only assisted one goal in his Premier League career – and it was “that” goal against QPR on final day back in 2012.

• Jone Samuelson holds the record for the longest headed goal – he scored against Tromsø in 2011 from inside his own half with his head. The ball travelled 58.13 meters before rolling into Tromsø’s net.

• Olivier Giroud scorpion kick won the Puskas award, but not the Premier League’s goal of the month – the Frenchman’s famous goal for Arsenal was crowned as the goal of the year by FIFA, but the Premier League judged an Andy Carroll bicycle kick to have been even better. 

• Alvin Martin scored a hat-trick against three different goalkeepers in a match in 1986 – Newcastle had to replace their goalkeeper with an outfield player, who was then in need of replacement himself after breaking his collarbone. Martin took full advantage, scoring against all three of them.

World Cup Weirdness

• New Zealand went unbeaten at the 2010 World Cup – but they didn’t even get out of the groups. Three draws saw the All Whites go unbeaten at the tournament, something which even winners Spain could not boast.

• Switzerland didn’t concede a single goal at the 2006 World Cup – but got knocked out in the round of 16. They lost on penalties to Ukraine, meaning they went the whole tournament without conceding.

• Netherlands are technically unbeaten at the World Cup since the 2010 final – the Dutch lost on penalties (which goes down as a draw officially) in 2014, 2022 and 2026, and failed to qualify in 2018.

• Lionel Messi has the most penalty misses in World Cup history (excluding shoot-outs) – perhaps the only blot on Messi’s copybook is his record on spot kicks. He’s only converted half of his attempts at the World Cup, not something you’d expect from a player of his calibre.

• Harry Maguire has as many World Cup knockout goals as Cristiano Ronaldo – they both have one. Incredibly, Ronaldo hadn’t scored a single time in the knockout stage of a World Cup finals before the 2026 edition, when he finally broke the streak against Croatia.
  

International oddities

• Javier Mascherano was called up for international duty before he ever played for his club – the Argentine was so highly rated that he played for Argentina before making his senior debut for club side River Plate.

• Denmark won Euro 1992, despite never qualifying for the tournament – Yugoslavia dropped out of the tournament, making way for the Danes who would then go on to win it all despite never officially qualifying.

• Norway has never lost to Brazil – Norway had a famous victory against Brazil at the 2026 World Cup, but that was business as usual for the Vikings. They’ve drawn twice and won three times against the five-time world champions.

• The first ever match involving the Brazilian national team was against Exeter City – Exeter’s tour of South America back in 1914 saw them take on Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, in what was Brazil’s first ever match. The hosts won 2-0.

• Eidur Gudjohnsen replaced his own father for Iceland in 1994 – 17-year-old Eidur came for on for his own dad Arnor during a friendly against Estonia. Talk about passing the torch.
  

You couldn’t make this up…

• Motherwell once won the Copa Del Rey – the Scottish side were invited to take on Real Madrid in an unofficial version of the tournament back in 1927, and beat the Galacticos 3-1 to be crowned champions. Swansea City also played in the tournament.

• David Beckham was born in “Whipps Cross” hospital – he really was born to kick a ball.

• Mark Hughes once played two matches in one day – Hughes played in a European qualifier for Wales before boarding a plane and playing for Bayern Munich on the same day. Good job there weren’t any delays.

• David Beckham and Harry Kane went to the same secondary school – they went on to become the two most recent men to captain England to quarter-final (or better) appearances at the World Cup.

• Juventus’ iconic black and white strip was based on Notts County’s kit – their initial pink strip would run in the rain, so they asked for a rain-proof sample from an English manufacturer. The manufacturer sent a Notts County kit, and Juventus loved it so much they kept it forever.
  

Deals, drama and divine intervention

• Ian Wright was transferred in exchange for training ground weights – Crystal Palace supposedly bought the future England star from Greenwich Borough for a few training weights. Not a bad deal.

• Divine intervention stopped Robert Lewandowski from signing for Blackburn – he was all set for Ewood Park, but the Icelandic volcano’s eruption meant he couldn’t travel to England to complete the medical and sign the contract.

• Messi signed his first Barcelona contract on a napkin – quite a famous one. Barca were so keen to bag the Argentine talent they had him sign on the first piece of paper available; a napkin.

• Sunderland put a clause in the contract of Stefan Schwartz stating that he wasn’t allowed to go to space – Schwartz had expressed a desire to travel to space, but Sunderland wouldn’t let him take the risk. 

• Karen Brady sold her husband to Stoke – most people would say their spouse was priceless, but Brady cashed in Paul Peschisolido for £400,000 back when she was part of the Birmingham ownership. The two got married a year later.