At Sportmonks, we have all kinds of data for over 1.300 Football Leagues Worldwide. Our Football API is trusted by 20.000+ customers already. Our coverage includes The Champions League, World Cup 2022, Premier League, La Liga and other big and smaller competitions. But, enough about Sportmonks, let’s talk about some Football Records!
Some records are broken very recently, while others might stay forever and will never be surpassed ever again.
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Scary and Dazzling Football Records
Transfer record: Let’s start with something dazzling. The transfer money clubs are spending nowadays is astonishing. The most expensive player transfer ever was Neymar, who left Barcelona in 2017 for a fee of €222.000.000 and went to PSG.
Salary: People are complaining about players’ wages and the transfer fees. However, coaches make a scary amount of money as well. Diego Simeone is the best-paid head coach in history. He earns $49.28 million a year and is by far the highest-paid head coach.
Most goals in a calendar year: Lionel Messi, arguably the best player in football history, has the record for most goals in one calendar year. He scored five goals in a Champions League match, which is another record he set that year. He scored 91 goals in 2012 for Barcelona (79) and Argentina (12).
Lewandowski (Lewangoalski): No keeper was safe; the defenders were shaking. Lewandowski scored the most consecutive games in the history of the Bundesliga. In 11 straight games, the Polish striker scored for FC Bayern Munich in 2019.
When James Milner scores the opponents see ghosts: When James Milner played for Leeds United, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Liverpool, he set a record. When he scored in the Premier League, his team didn’t lose any game. This streak happened 47 times in the period of 26 December 2002 to March 2017. Cesc Fabregas is the player closest to this record, scoring in 43 Premier League games for Arsenal and Chelsea without losing.
No Pelé? No (Halloween) Party: What is a list full of records without Pelé? Pelé scored 1.279 goals in 1.363 games. He scored the most goals ever! Besides that, he is the player with the most (3) World Cup medals.
“Football is War”
Wars are scary. However, on the 27th of February in 2011 Club Atletico Claypole and Victoriano Arenas made the Football Pitch a battlefield. This matchup resulted in a reported number of 36 red cards! The referee Damián Rubino was not afraid to pull the cards.
He scored a dazzling 16 goals in a single match! Defenders of SEK Ayios Athanasios FC might still be petrified for Stephan Stanis. He scored 16 goals in a single match for Racing Club de Lens in a wartime French Cup game (13 December 1942). The game ended in a 24-3 win in favor of Racing Club de Lens.
Scary football kids
Everyone knows a kid that he is scared of. Maybe because the kid is way bigger or more muscular, but in these cases it is because these kids are just that good.
Haaland: He will come back in lists like ours many times in the future if we have to guess. He is the youngest player to score 20 Champions League goals (20 years and 231 days), and he was the fastest player to do so. He only needed 14 games. To explain how amazing this is, the second-fastest player is Harry Kane. It took Kane 24 games (10 games more!) to get to 20 Champions League goals.
Mbappe: He is the youngest European player with 100 goals scored. He is the first player to be brought in as a substitute in the Champions League and score a perfect hattrick (one with his left foot, right foot, and head).
Fati: A well-known talent is the youngest player to score and make an assist in the same game of La Liga. He was 16 years and 318 days when he achieved this for FC Barcelona. Yes, we are talking about Ansu Fati. Fati managed to do this against Valencia CF on 14 September in 2019 and ended in a win for Barcelona (5-2).
Football Giants
Ronaldo: is the all-time top scorer for Real Madrid with 450 goals, the top goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League with 105 goals.
Messi: He won the ballon d’Or six(!) times. He is the all-time top scorer for Barcelona with 672 goals scored. Besides, he gave 305 assists.
Hattricks or treats
Tricky three: The fastest hattrick ever scored is on the name of the 20-year old sports Alex Torr. He made three goals in 70 seconds! He scored after 11 minutes, then 30 seconds later he smashed his second goal in the net. His third goal came straight after the kick-off. After 12 minutes and 10 seconds, the Sunday league player made his hattrick complete.
Consecutive hattricks: Stjepan Lucijnaic scored a hattrick in 5 consecutive games in 2016. He scored a total of 20 goals in these five games.
League statistics
What do you think of the record champions?
“Amazing streaks”
Goalless streak: Apparantly, FC Tom Tomsk’s attackers were very nervous. This team has the record for the longest goalless streak of 1.115 minutes. The Russians achieved this dubious honor in the Russian Premier League from 23 July to 20 November 2011.
Consecutive losses: You need to score if you want to win a match. However, FC Tom Tomsk was not the club with the most consecutive losses. Woodford United FC is the club with this honor. They lost 65 matches in a row between the 12th of April 2012 and the 2nd of November 2013. They ended this losing streak after winning 2-1 against Blackstones F.C. Which team do you think was living in a bigger nightmare?
Consecutive wins: We think Woodford United FC would be very scared when visiting The New Saints Football Club. They have the record for most consecutive association football victories across all competitions. A total of 27 consecutive wins was achieved between the 14th of August and 30th of December 2016. They beat Ajax’s previous record of 26 straight victories which from 1972.
Goalkeepers and their records
Coming near Geraldo was a death sin: Presumably, the opponents of Geraldo Pereira de Matos Filho (Brazil) were terrified for this goalkeeper. Between 18 May 1977 and 7 September 1978, he was able to keep a clean sheet for Vasco de Gama for 1.816 minutes!
Well, this record is not scary: However, we as a Dutch company have a few Dutch employees who are waking up startled after the Final of 2010. One simple toe can change the whole history. The goalkeeper we are scared of is Iker Casillas. He has the most wins playing for his country (Spain). With 112 wins in 153 games between the 3rd of June 2000 and 5th of March 2014.
This man can do everything: Not sure if Rogério Ceni knew what his job was. Seemingly, he wore his keepers’ jersey to fool his opponents. Because besides doing his job in his own penalty area, he managed to score 129 goals playing for São Paulo Futebol Clube. He is the player with the longest career as a player and captain of the same football club!
Scary ball speed!
“All right, now it is our turn!” Who hasn’t heard this after conceding a goal? Peterborough United’s players couldn’t finish their sentence when their opponents, Wycombe Wanderers, scored two goals in nine seconds on the September 23 in 2000. Close to a nightmare when you are the one yelling these words.
Terminator Speed: In Japan, Castrol Ichi-Go created a machine that can kick a ball with 225 km/h (139.8 mph). This was measured the 19th of June in 2010. In comparison, the fastest football kick was 129 km/h (80.1 mph) by Francisco Javier Galan Màrin from Spain. He did this on the 29th of October 2001.
For speeding, most people get a ticket. But what is the fastest red card ever? In 2013 Serge Djieouha was sent straight back to the sideline after coming on the pitch. He was substituted in when his team was 3-1 down. Seven seconds later, he could take a shower because he got a red card. The best thing about this record is that he didn’t get mad, but he was flabbergasted and started laughing.
A scary story with a scary lord: Another substitute set a more positive record on his name. Lord Nicklas Bendtner. He scored within 10 seconds and got Arsenal the win against Tottenham in 2007.
To quick to capture? While talking about crazy speed, what about the fastest goal ever made? Many claims have been made, but Ricardo Olivera from Uruguay scored in 2.8 seconds on December 26 in 1998. This goal was captured on tape and is, therefore, officially the fastest goal ever made.
The longest football yard
Shoot from the extra yard: Asmir Begovich scored a goal when shooting 89,154 meters (97.5 yards) away from the opponent’s goal in 2013. The goalie has the record for longest goal ever scored. The longest header goal ever was scored by Jone Samuelsen. The header measUred a distance of 58+ meters (190 feet, 8.58 inches). You got the see this before you believe it.
Talking about long: The longest penalty shootout ended in 17-16 and lasted 48 kicks. This Namibian Cup game between KK Palace and Civics ended in a 2-2 draw.
Fear of heights, drowning or noisy, bussy and dark places?
Highest match ever played: The game played at the highest altitude took place at 5.714 meters in Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro. This match was played to challenge inequalities women face in football and sports overall. It took six days to climb to Stelle Point (5756 meters), and after the climb, they had to descend into the volcanic crater of the mountain to play the game. The result was a 0-0 draw. Both teams had chances to score even though the players faced shortness of breath and altitude sickness. Also, the temperature was very low.
Afraid of the sea? Ever dreamed about drowning? What about playing football below sea level? Women seem to like extremities when talking about high and low places. Equal Playing Field was able to organize the match at the highest altitude ever, and they set the record for the lowest played game as well. Back in 2018, they played a game 326 meters below sea level. This time the match ended 4-2.
People afraid of the dark will like the following record: The largest blind football lessoN had an attendance of 287 people. This lesson took place in Japan in 2018. During this lesson, all participants were blindfolded. Who thinks it is a good idea to have many people playing football without seeing a thing?
Afraid of losing your hearing? Some people found the World Cup in South Africa amazing, and some were annoyed with the Vuvuzela. Well, for everyone hating the Vuvuzela, we have an excellent record. In 2009 12.511 people were blowing the Vuvuzela at the same time.
Penalty Nightmare
Copa America can be a scary place: And you have to have nerves of steel. However, We think Martín Palermo still has nightmares about the night he missed a total of three penalties in one International game at the Copa America. The Argentinian lost this game against Colombia in the Copa America of 1999 in Paraguay.
Afraid of footballs?
Don’t scream when you read these football records.
The largest collection of balls: The largest football collection consists of 1.230 balls! Rodrigo Rafael Romero Silídivar from Mexico set this record in May 2020. The collection is still growing! He is collecting balls from the Champions League World Cup and many more.
Biggest ball: Doha Bank created the biggest football ever. A ball of 12.188 meters (39 ft 11.8 in) in diameter. With a circumference of 38.30 (125 ft 8 in) and a weight of 960 kg, this is the largest ball ever.
Skeletons playing football
With all the respect for older adults, according to Guinness World Records, the oldesT player playing a match for his country is MacDonald Taylor SR, who played for the US Virgin Islands at 46 years (and 217 days). He played in a World Cup Qualifier against ST Kitts and Neves in March 2004.
In addition to this, we have something even more remarkable. That is not a record, but it is definitely worth a mention. Ronnie Brunswijk played 54 minutes for Moengotapoe where he is the owner and chair. He is the Vice President of Suriname as well. He played against CD Olimpia from Honduras and lost with 0-6. The record for the oldest player (or goalkeeper in this case) is Goalie Isaak Hayik. He became the oldest active footballer on April 5 2019, when he played a full match for Maccabi Ironi Or Yehuda when he was 73 years and 95 days.
Venue and attendance records
Highest Capacity: Since March 2014, the largest Football Venue based on capacity is the Rungnado May Day Stadium (meaning the 1st of May Stadium). This stadium is placed in Pyongyang, North Korea, with a capacity of 150.000. It opened in 1989.
Ghost Game: For a Premier League match, the attendance of 3.039 is almost like an abandoned ghost town. This happened in a match between Wimbledon 1 – 3 Everton in January 1993.
Bussy place: Well, if you don’t think that is scary, we will look at the highest attendance. Maybe you are afraid of busy places? The highest attendance for a single match happened in 1950 in the Maracana Stadium. 199.854 people were present in the World Cup Final match between Brazil and Uruguay.
Crazy ball control
Hellish walk: Some people might find walking 21.2 kilometers a hell of a walk. Arash Ahmadi Tifakani from Iran was able to walk this distance. Yeah, that Is not a special football record. No, but he did it while juggling a football! He has another record with a football as well. This man balanced a ball on his head for 8 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds on the 27th of January 2017.
High five: The record for juggling the most balls at the same time is on the name of Victor Rubilar. This Argentinian managed to juggle five soccer balls (using his hands) at the same time. Dutchman Marko Vermeer matched this amount 8 years later and 7 years later, Isidro Silveira from Spain joined the party.
Gamers who started to see ghosts
We are pretty sure these gamers started to see scary things after all this gaming!
Michael Hambrusch, Mirza Jahic and Phillip Oppeneiger played Pro Evolution Soccer for 40 hours from 19 to 21 June in 2015. Pro Evolution Soccer is not the only game that was played for over 40 hours straight. The longest Fifa marathon lasted 48 hours, 49 minutes and 41 seconds. Christopher Cook played Fifa 15 from 5 to 7 November in 2014. This was not (only) because he enjoyed the game so much. It was actually for a good cause. He raised funds for the charity ‘Special Effect.’
The last video game we will talk about is Football Manager. Sepp Hedel from Germany started his career at FC United from Manchester. In real life, this game took him 81 days and 20 hours (a total of 1.940 hours). The FM game sees this game as a career of 333 years. He played 15.678 games, and his win/draw/loss record is as follows. 11.217, 1.997, 2.464. His teams scored 42.672 goals, conceded 15.563 with a goal difference of +27.109. He won 71% of his matches, with 729 cup wins, 258 league wins. Also, as a manager, he won 1.028 individual awards.
Have a scary Halloween!
After seeing all these records? Who do you think is the scariest player, and what is the scariest record?
If you think we are missing some of the craziest and scariest records in football history, don’t be afraid to contact us. We don’t bite, or do we?
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