“The success of Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour, Harry Kane and Eric Dier means that British players have won three of the ‘big five’ leagues this season. Has that happened before? And have any countries managed five out of five?” wonders Philipp Lohan.
To answer the first question, yes, it has happened before and not too long ago. Robbie Dale emailed in to highlight the 2020-21 season, when Kieran Trippier (Atlético), Ashley Young (Inter) and Phil Foden, John Stones and few others (Manchester City) also ticked three of the five boxes for British players. If we move on to nations who provided players who won all of the ‘big five’ leagues then we had better get busy making a list.
2000-01
France
Fabien Barthez and Mikaël Silvestre (Manchester United), Claude Makélélé (Real Madrid), Vincent Candela and Jonathan Zebina (Roma), Bixente Lizarazu and Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich) and French FC Nantes players. Email from Lowri Cusack
2003-04
Brazil
Edu and Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Ricardo Oliveira (Valencia), Dida, Cafú, Kaká and Serginho (Milan), Aílton (Werder Bremen), Claudio Caçapa, Edmilson, Juninho Pernambucano and Giovane Élber (Lyon). Email from Dirk Maas
2007-08
Argentina
Carlos Tévez (Manchester United), Gabriel Heinze, Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuaín and Javier Saviola (Real Madrid), Nicolás Burdisso, Walter Samuel, Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, Santiago Solari, Hernán Crespo and Julio Cruz (Inter), Martín Demichelis and José Sosa (Bayern München), César Delgado (Lyon). Email from Dirk Maas
2007-08 (again)
Brazil
Anderson (Manchester United), Marcelo, Júlio Baptista and Robinho (Real Madrid), Júlio César, Maicon, Maxwell and César (Inter), Lúcio and Zé Roberto (Bayern München), Anderson, Cris, Juninho Pernambucano and Fred (Lyon). Email from Dirk Maas
2009-10
France
Patrick Vieira (Inter), Thierry Henry and Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Steve Mandanda (Marseille). Email from Thomas Bickley
With so many players on a high, France must have been unbeatable at that summer’s World Cup, eh? Oh.
2016-17
Brazil
David Luiz and Willian (Chelsea), Danilo, Marcelo and Casemiro (Real Madrid) Alex Sandro and Dani Alves (Juventus), Rafinha and Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Jemerson, Boschilia and Fabinho (Monaco). Email from Dirk Maas
2021-22
Spain
Dani Carvajal, Marco Asensio, Isco and others (Real Madrid), Aymeric Laporte and Rodri (Manchester City), Brahim Díaz and Samu Castillejo (Milan), Marc Roca (Bayern Munich), Sergio Ramos, Juan Bernat and Ander Herrera (PSG). Emails from Seán Smith and Boris Cule
2023-24
Brazil
Éder Militão, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Ederson (Manchester City), Carlos Augusto (Inter), Arthur (Bayer Leverkusen, though he only played four times), Marquinhos and Lucas Beraldo (PSG). Emails from Seán Smith, Tim Dockery and Lloyd Jones
We also had word that Brazilian, French and German players won the ‘big five’ leagues in 2017-18, Brazilians and Germans in 2018-19 and Brazilians in 2019-20 but we’ve run out of air to take another deep dive down for details.
Late-career goalscoring centurions
“Brian Graham recently scored his 100th goal for Partick Thistle at the age of 37 having not joined the club until the age of 32. Has anyone ever reached a century after joining so late in their career?” writes Calum Stewart.
Let’s start with two of modern football’s deadliest netbusters. Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski joined Juventus and Barcelona respectively at the age of 33. Ronaldo scored 101 goals for Juve, Lewandowski is on the same total after hitting two against Athletic Bilbao in the last game of the season. Adam Webster points out that Ronaldo is one short of a century for Al-Nassr, the club he joined at the age of 37 – although he may have scored his last goal for the club.
A word too for another Real Madrid legend: Ferenc Puskas, who moved to Spain at 31 and scored a whopping 242 goals over the next eight seasons. “Romário returned to Vasco da Gama at the age of 33, after leaving at 22,” adds Ben. “He went on to score another 171 goals for them in two stints: 132 from 2000-2002 and 39 from 2005-2006.
Now to some lesser known hitmen, whose stories are in some ways more interesting. “One answer is Gary Abbott at Aldershot Town,” writes Chris Heath. “He joined the Shots, newly promoted to the Isthmian Premier League (then the sixth tier of English football) in the summer of 1998, making his debut three months shy of his 34th birthday. Over the next three seasons he scored 120 goals in 156 games, including 10 hat-tricks.”
If Ronaldo does leave Al-Nassr at the age of 40, he’ll have the chance to surpass the feat of Aleksandar Duric. “He joined Singapore Armed Forces FC in 2004, aged 34, and scored his 100th goal for them sometime in 2008,” writes Thanos Michail. “He then moved to Tampines Rovers in 2010, aged 39, and reached a century of goals shortly after his 43rd birthday.”
Mind the (league title) gap
“Royale Union Saint-Gilloise have just won the title in Belgium – 90 years after their last championship in 1935. Are there any longer gaps between two national titles for any team?” asks Holger Seiffert.
“To beat that you’ll need to travel to another multilingual European country,” writes Ben. “In Switzerland, St Gallen were champions in 1903-04, and weren’t league champions again until 96 years later, in 1999-2000. In all the seasons in between, they weren’t even runners-up, their best being third in 1917-18 and in 1982-83.”
Knowledge archive
“I remember reading about a football pitch in South America which had a large tree in an awkward position near the centre of the pitch,” wrote John Malcolm in September 2007. “Local bureaucrats refused permission to uproot said tree due to political/environmental reasons stemming from the deforestation of South American rainforests, so the local side just played there anyway! Was this true? Does the tree still stand? And are there any other examples of such environmentally friendly football pitches?”
Unfortunately we haven’t been able to track down John’s tree thus far, but a couple of St Albans City fans did email in to give us details of the large oak tree that once dominated the main terrace at their Clarence Park ground. Due to its age, the tree was legally protected, and couldn’t be taken down as long as it was healthy.
“It used to get a huge cheer if any opposing player managed to hit it with a wayward strike,” recalls Fraser Mann, but supporters were less enthused when it prevented the club from getting promoted in 1992-93. According to the club’s website: “During a second spell in charge, John Mitchell took the Saints to the (Isthmian League) Premier Division runners up position in 1992-93 only to be denied promotion to the Conference at that time due to a 140-year old oak tree standing within the terrace behind one of the goals. In 1998 the diseased tree was felled.”
Can you help?
“This season, Fenerbahçe finished the season runners-up again, fourth season in a row and 26th time in the Turkish top flight (since 1959),” weeps Emre Öztürk. “Which teams have been runners-up most times? Is my team second in that list, too?”
“Truro City will have a few long trips next season in the National League,” begins Mel Slattery. “The distance from their stadium to Gateshead’s is 457 miles according to Google Maps. Have two clubs in England ever met who are based further apart? Competitively or otherwise.”
“The Charlie Kelman offside goal mentioned in the last couple of weeks was the opening goal in the Leyton Orient v Stockport County playoff semi-final first leg. It was part of a (continuing) run of Stockport conceding first in their last seven games but not losing any (W4, D3). What is the longest such run of conceding first but not losing in consecutive games?” asks Ian Waterhouse.
“Édouard Mendy and Riyad Mahrez have won continental championships – for club or country – in three different confederations: the Africa Cup of Nations (Senegal and Algeria respectively), the Uefa Champions League (Chelsea/Manchester City) and now the AFC Champions League Elite (Al-Ahli). Has any other player in history achieved a similar ‘triple crown’?” wonders Ben.
“At each major Wembley final this year (League Cup, FA Cup, Women’s FA Cup, Championship, League One and League Two playoff finals, FA Trophy final and National League playoff final), the fans of the winning team were allocated the same (western) half of the stadium,” notes Tom Davies. “Has this happened before?”
“PSV scored 103 goals in the 2024-25 Eredivisie,” fact-states Dirk Maas. “Their best goal scorer was Luuk de Jong, netting 14 times. This gives a percentage of 13.59%. Has there ever been a player with a lower percentage in a team that scored 100+ goals in a professional football league season?”
“Has any team done a full Beautiful South during European competition?” asks Sean Boiling. “That means playing in ‘Rotterdam, or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome’ in that order (ignoring the ‘or’)?”
• Mail us with your questions and answers
