“Without points deductions, what is the biggest points gap between two positions in a high-ish level European top flight?” tweets Daniel Storey. “I ask because this is second to third in Turkey, as it stands.”
Galatasaray are now top of the Super Lig, though Besiktas remain 24 points behind the team in second, now Fenerbahce with 64 points. As Eoghan Kelly points out, there was an even bigger gap between second and third in the Premier League in 2018-19, when Liverpool were runners-up to Manchester City, with 97 points. The best of the rest were Chelsea, who finished 25 points behind Liverpool.
A year later, with the Premier League on hiatus before of Covid, it was City who were 25 points behind champions-elect Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp’s team eased up slightly after winning the club’s first title since 1990 and finished the season 18 points ahead of City.
Chris Roe reminds us that poor Derby County finished bottom of the Premier League with 11 points in 2007-08, 24 behind Birmingham City in 19th. But, as Chris points out, there was an even more isolated team in the old Division Three in 1984-85. Cambridge United, whose squad included David Moyes and a young Andy Sinton, finished bottom with 21 points from 46 games, 25 behind the other relegated teams Preston, Orient and Burnley.
It’s no great surprise, given the Old Firm’s recent duopoly, that some even better answers can be found north of the border. Derek Brosnan was first to mention last season’s Scottish Premiership, specifically the chasm between Rangers, who finished second with 92 points, and Aberdeen (57).
Dirk Maas has researched Europe’s five big leagues, as well as Netherlands, Portugal and Scotland, and thinks that a 35-point gap is a record for an end-of-season table. It wasn’t, as he points out, the first 30-plus point gap in the Scottish Premiership.
2002-03: 34 points Celtic (2nd, 97) Hearts (3rd, 63)
2004-05: 31 points Celtic (2nd, 93pt) Hibernian (3rd, 62)
2016-17: 30 points Celtic (1st, 106), Aberdeen (2nd, 76)
He has also sent in the biggest gap in the other seven leagues for our perusal:
Ligue 1
2015-16: 31 points PSG (1st, 96), Lyon (2nd, 65)
La Liga
2011-12: 30 points Barcelona (2nd, 91), Valencia (3rd, 61)
“Also worth mentioning,” adds Dirk, “is the 26-point gap between Mérida and the bottom team Sporting Gijón, who finished with only 13 points, in 1997-98.”
Eredivisie
2002-03: 28 points Feyenoord (3rd, 80), NAC Breda (4th, 52)
Bundesliga
2012-13: 25 points Bayern Munich (1st, 91), Borussia Dortmund (2nd, 66)
Premier League
2018-19: 25 points Liverpool (2nd, 97), Chelsea (3rd, 72)
Primeira Liga
2017-18: 24 points Braga (4th, 75), Rio Ave (5th, 51)
Serie A
2006-07: 22 points Inter (1st, 97), Lazio (2nd, 75)
Muted international celebrations
“Nene Dorgeles declined to celebrate his goal for Mali in their dramatic Afcon loss to Ivory Coast, the birth country of his parents,” notes Eddie Eyers. “Are there other examples of the fabled muted celebration in the international game?”
“How could you forget Breel Embolo scoring for Switzerland against Cameroon (the country of his birth) at the 2022 World Cup?” declares Charles Brukner, assuming we forgot rather than just lazily cut and pasted the question in the hope somebody would jog our memory for us.
Embolo, who was born in Yaoundé, grew up in Basel and only received Swiss citizenship in 2014, scored the only goal of the game. As Louise Taylor reported:
That explains why the Monaco forward refrained from celebrating one of the simplest, yet potentially most significant, goals he will ever score. It was not Embolo’s fault his six-yard finish drove a stake through Cameroonian hearts as the chances of their team progressing beyond the group stage for the first time since Italia 90 receded appreciably.
“Football writes these stories,” said Murat Yakin, the Swiss coach. “I told Breel: ‘Cameroon are your friends but they are your opponents too.’ I’m happy with his performance.”
More short multi-divisional stadium-spotting trips
A couple of weeks ago we had a subterranean dive into the quickest routes that take in at least one stadium in each of the top five divisions. But you can always go lower deeper …
“In Copenhagen we can beat the shortest distance between stadiums in the top five divisions, both with and without groundshares and excluding B-teams,” opens Thomas Christiansen boldly. “The trip starts at Tingbjerg Idrætspark, home to Brønshøj in the Danmarksserien, which is the fifth tier. Next stop is Gladsaxe Stadion, home to AB in the 2nd Division (third tier). From here the trip goes to Østerbro Stadion, home to B 93 in the 1st Division (second tier), and just next door is Parken, home of FC Copenhagen of the Superliga (first tier).
“The final stop is Vanløse Idrætspark, home to Vanløse IF in the 3rd Division (fourth tier). The entire trip is 18km or 11.2 miles, and doable in 46 minutes by car or one hour and two minutes by bike … If ground-sharing is allowed, the first leg can be ditched as BK Skjold in Danmarksserien also play at Østerbro Stadion. This reduces the trip to 15.9km or 9.9 miles.”
Biggest tournament host defeats: asterisk edition
In last week’s Knowledge, inspired by Ivory Coast’s ultimately meaningless 4-0 surrender to Equatorial Guinea, we looked at hosts who took one hell of a beating. The list of defeats included a 7-1, or rather the 7-1, a 9-0 and a 14-0. But Kári Tulinius may have topped the lot.
“The earliest international matches are shrouded in fog and myth, and few as thoroughly as the final of the 1896 Olympic-adjacent tournament in Greece,” writes Kári. “For various reasons, the inaugural modern Olympics organisers decided not to include the sport, but since a bunch of Danish footballers had turned up, a game was scheduled between Denmark and Greece on 12 April, refereed by the studiously impartial George, Prince of Denmark and Greece. All reports agree that the Danes trounced the Greeks, but the score is either given as 0-9 or 0-15. So it is possible that Greece suffered the worst ever loss by a host nation, but it’s essentially unknowable. The Greeks took this battering in good cheer and presented the Danes with Olympic bronze medals, even though it was an unofficial event.”
The brilliant rsssf.com has posited on the historical mist surrounding the game: “The reason why there is different information about the result of the football match and why it was more or less ignored, is a recommendation from Crown Prince Constantine, who publicly said that sports, such as football, which were not part of the official Olympic programme, should not be mentioned.”
Knowledge archive
“On 21 April, it was possible that, at the Sunderland v Burton match, both sides could kick off with a mathematical chance of survival but, by full-time, each could be relegated. Have there been any examples of two un-relegated teams playing each other and both going down at full-time?” posed Mark Stephenson in 2018.
Christopher Vaughan got the ball rolling with an example from back when Manchester City were a comedic shambles instead of today’s Pep-fuelled turbo-elite Premier League champions [if only everything in this column aged so well – Knowledge Ed]. “On the last day of the 1997-98 season, Manchester City beat Stoke City 5-2 to condemn them to the third flight. Results elsewhere, however, meant a win was not enough for the Laser Blues (as they were known at the time, to promote their kit deal with Kappa) and they joined the Potters in what was then Division Two. The away fans serenaded the Stoke faithful with: “Going down, going down, going down … so are we, so are we, so are weeee-eeee!”
And Ben Lander took us to the Madejski Stadium on 28 April 2013 when two teams, who both needed to win to stay up, set about doing absolutely nothing to help their cause. “Reading and QPR started their Premier League fixture knowing mathematically they were able to survive. Both needed a win, a draw would send both down. It finished 0-0.”
Can you help?
“Conor Gallagher has scored more goals against Crystal Palace than any other opponent. He has also scored more goals for Palace than for any of his other clubs. For how many players is this true?” asks Jesse Pajwani.
Has a manager ever won an international trophy (or even major trophy?) sooner than five games into their management career as Emerse Faé did with the Ivory Coast at the recent AFCON?
— Ralph Neville (@RNevofficial) February 13, 2024
@TheKnowledge_GU
— Jaimejoalon 🍏⚡ (@Jaimejoalon) February 13, 2024
No away goals in the Spanish second tier this week. Has it ever happened before? pic.twitter.com/TCaY7K1krK
“All four goals in Liverpool v Burnley were headers,” tweets Alan Whitehill. “I can’t recall a game with as many goals when they were all headers. Can anyone better this?” Aside from Eddie Reynolds …
@TheKnowledge_GU
— Dan Almond (@ferrararabbi) February 8, 2024
What’s the biggest amount (not sell on fee) ever paid out between clubs as a result of a contractual clause being met after a transfer? https://t.co/TrIESH5img
“It’s possible that the three clubs relegated from the Premier League last year (Leicester, Leeds and Southampton) will swap with the teams who were promoted (Burnley, Sheffied United and Luton). Has this ever happened before?” wonders Mike Carter.
Is the #AsianCupFinal the first international final to have 3 regular time penalties? @TheKnowledge_GU
— Alexandre Queirós (@alexqueiros) February 10, 2024
“I read today of Horst Blankenburg, who won the European Cup three times with Ajax, but never played for his country, West Germany. Have any other uncapped players won as many (or more) European Cup/Champions League medals?” asks Robbie Paterson.
@TheKnowledge_GU
— Nathan Eaton (@nate_1983) February 13, 2024
It’s not uncommon to see a manager watching from the stands after receiving a touchline ban, but who was the first manager, coach or non-playing member of staff to be sent off?
The four clubs currently in the relegation places at the bottom of the Spanish second division all begin with the letter A-Alcorcon,Albacete,Andorra and Amorebieta.
— james mcarthur (@jamesmcarthur15) February 11, 2024
If all four clubs are relegated would it be the first time four teams sharing a first letter have gone down?
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