“A few weeks ago, Sandra Jessen started for FC Köln against Essen,” notes James Vortkamp-Tong. “Is this the first time a player has contained the opposing side’s name in their own?”
It’s not actually the first time Sandra Jessen has played against Essen, as Alicia Butteriss points out. “From what I can tell she first started against Essen, for Bayer Leverkusen, on the last day of the 2018-19 Frauen Bundesliga,” writes Alicia. “It would be remiss of me not to add that she scored both of Köln’s goals when they beat Essen 2-1 near the start of this season.”
No goals for Charlton Athletic’s Conor Coventry against Namesake FC this season, but he did play in both matches against the Championship leaders. His first game against Coventry was when he came on as a substitute for Peterborough United in 2021. Coventry won 3-0 that night, with a little-known striker called Viktor Gyökeres scoring twice.
The next example involves a team coming back from 3-0 down in a game that everybody knows. “Liverpool’s Milan Baros did it in the 2005 Champions League final against, well, Milan,” writes Sean DeLoughry. “Numerous other Milans have played against Milan, including Pjanic, Skriniar and Badelj. “Like Milan, some Italian club names lend themselves to this task. Roma have recently faced Alessandro Romagnoli (Lazio) and Filippo Romagna (Sassuolo and Cagliari). Paolo Barison of Milan faced Bari and Aron Winter played against Inter while at Lazio.
“Some notable examples in England include Alan Sunderland, Matt Derbyshire (against Derby) and Jack Charlton. Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia faced Valencia in the Champions League. The wonderfully named Russian journeyman Spartak Gogniev played for numerous clubs against Spartak Moscow. Nilton Santos and Djalma Santos played against Pelé’s Santos.
At international level, Mike England played for and managed Wales v England, Mousa Dembélé played for Belgium against USA and multiple Francescos have played against France, including Totti and Graziani.” If we allow Mousa Dembélé then we can probably include Alessia Russo against the US, though it would be more precise if they were called Mousmnta Dembélé and Alessia Ruswntso.
Roy Hodson has more on one of the examples mentioned by Sean. “Wouldn’t be able to prove this,” he begins, “but I’m sure that many years ago Alan Sunderland played against Sunderland on the same day Ricky Villa appeared against Aston Villa.” We’d have to check to be sure, but we think you mean Saturday 18 October 1980 in the old Division One, when Arsenal drew 2-2 at home to Sunderland and Ricky Villa’s Spurs were plugged 3-0 by that season’s eventual champions.
A nice coincidence, but not as good as this sent in by Gregor Lawson. “When Arbroath played Hamilton Academical in February 2022,” he writes, “they fielded three players called Hamilton: Chris, Colin and Jack. Hamilton also had one of their own, Jamie. Surely a record!”
When Leyton Orient beat Barnet 4-2 in the old Division Two in September 1993, a man called Barnett scored for both teams: Gary for Orient, Dave for Barnet. Thanks to Gareth M for that nugget, and to Tom Reed for informing us that Countdown star Clarke Carlisle scored an injury-time winner on his home debut for Blackpool in 1997. You can guess the opposition.
Our own Jonathan Liew, a Countdown octochamp, has auditioned for Richard Osman’s House of Games by pointing out that Lautaro Martínez has played several games against Roma. Have you got it yet? We had a gazillion answers to this question – thanks one and all – so we can’t list them all. Let’s finish with the earliest cases of nominative opposition. Joe Stynes begins with Luigi Milan, who played for various clubs against Milan in the 1960s.
“Geoff Barrowcliffe played right-back for Derby County at Barrow on 17 March 1956 in the Third Division (North),” adds Mark Baker. “The Rams won 2-1.”
Tom Reed reminds us that Bobby Charlton, aged 18, scored twice against Charlton Athletic on his debut for Manchester United in 1956. But the earliest example, also sent in by Joe Stynes, is another Manchester United player: John Aston Sr – whose son John Aston Jr was a teammate of Charlton’s at Old Trafford – played against Aston Villa for the first time on 8 March 1947.
Four goals but no player-of-the-match award
“Before giving his player-of-the-match award to Pedro Neto at Friday’s FA Cup game at Hull, Alan Shearer commented that no one could possibly not get the award after scoring a hat-trick,” notes Geraint Lewis. “Has this ever happened, and what were the circumstances?”
Oh it has you know, and here’s Adam Pinder with the details. “This happened in August 2002 in the second match and first Edinburgh derby of the 2002-03 SPL season,” he writes. “Dutch striker Mark de Vries made his first start and home debut for Hearts and scored not three but four goals in a 5-1 thumping of Hibs. As the man himself explains here, French winger Jean-Louis Valois was announced as the TV man-of-the match in the 89th minute, before De Vries scored his third and fourth goals. In fairness, Valois’s assist for De Vries’s first goal was a thing of beauty. See about 40 seconds in here.”
A top and tail across four divisions
“Following on from the section about alphabetical champions and last place, it’s probably also worth pointing out that in 2003-04, when Arsenal won the Premier League title, York City (alphabetically the last team in the Football League) finished bottom of League Two,” writes Vasco Wackrill.
Knowledge archive
“Flamengo sacked Filipe Luís after an 8-0 win over Madureira,” writes Jim Hearson. “Is this the largest victory a manager has enjoyed before being handed their P45?”
We had a similar question back in 2009, when Norwich sacked Bryan Gunn after a 4-0 win over Yeovil.
Some of you have played fast and loose with the terms of the question at hand — Antony Last suggests Mike Walker, who left Norwich by “mutual consent” in 1998 after back-to-back 5-0 home wins, while Will Morrison points out Kevin Keegan’s resignation (Mk I) at Newcastle in 1997 came after a 7-1 win over Spurs in his final league game (his last match in all competitions was a 1-1 FA Cup draw at Charlton).
England’s beloved Graham Taylor also resigned after a 7-1 win – in his case away to San Marino in 1993.
Finally, a manager who was sacked after winning his last seven games in charge. “Former Manchester United manager Dave Sexton was famously sacked from the club in April 1981 despite winning his last seven games in charge,” writes Phil Kayes. “He was blamed for failing to progress from the previous season when the club had finished runners-up behind Liverpool in the league, as well as not winning any trophies in his four-year reign.”
Can you help?
“Are Bodø/Glimt the only professional football team with a forward slash in their name?” muses Anthony Porthouse. “And what is that all about in the first place?”
“By the end of March, Manchester United will have played 11 of their 31 Premier League fixtures on weekdays,” notes Tom Solan. “Which team has played the most league fixtures in a season on a weekday?”
“If Wrexham get promoted from the Championship this season that will make four consecutive promotions,” writes Ant Gee. “Has any other team achieved that or more?”
“The Real Madrid-Benfica games got me thinking about the career arc of José Mourinho and, if you’ll forgive the pretension because I have read the book, the gravity’s rainbow of it: from Benfica to Chelsea to the apex of the arc with Real Madrid back to Chelsea and ultimately back to Benfica,” mails Tom Whiteley. “Obviously the actual arc was much messier than I’ve described it and took a great deal longer on the way down than up. Are there any managers or players with a more perfectly symmetrical arc? So hometown club – success at mid-ranked club – winning everything at the top of the game – back to mid-ranked club – back to hometown club? Without such tortured spells as Manchester United and Spurs?”
“Oldham Athletic famously sunk from ‘Premier League to National League’, but their Wembley 1994 nemesis Mark Hughes surpasses that in his managerial career. He started at international level with Wales, went via the Premier League and League Two, and is currently the Carlisle boss. Has any other manager gone from ‘national team to National League’, or its equivalent?” asks Matt Kenny.
“I was unfortunate enough to be in the home stands for Gillingham’s 3-0 capitulation to Oldham last week,” sighs Jimmy Woolley. “The referee was none other than James Oldham. Is this the only instance of referee/club name match-up? And has the family name always emerged victorious?”
“Viktoria Plzen got knocked out of the Europa League despite not losing a game in the tournament,” reports Dean Whearty. “Has this happened before in European competition?”
“Liam Rosenior has lost each of three matches (two EFL Cup games plus the Premier League defeat) to Arsenal in his first seven weeks and five days as Chelsea boss,” writes Craig Reeves. “Has a newly appointed top-tier manager ever lost three consecutive games against the same team more quickly?”
“Real Zaragoza, currently in bottom place in the Segunda, have given Rubén Sellés his third dismissal in less than 10 months. Has any manager been sacked more times in a shorter period?” enquires Darren White.
“With an overload of data for analysis … is there a MPG table?” enquires David Armitage. “M = Miles. P = Per. G = Goals. Might be interesting to see which teams are most efficient.”
