“I recently noticed that in the 1970 season in Norway [really? - Knowledge Ed], Rosenborg must have been a pain to watch,” begins Guffen Helleve. “In their 18 games, a total of only 20 goals were scored; their goal difference was 15-5. Still, they finished second in the league. All their results and the final league table can be found here. So a couple of questions spring to mind: Is this the lowest number of goals a team has conceded during a season? And has any team seen fewer goals scored during their matches in an entire season?”
The first port of call for feats of non-scoring tends, of course, to be Serie A circa most of the 20th century. But even at the height of catennacio we’ve been unable to find a team who can eclipse Rosenborg’s brilliantly boring 1.111 goals per game. Pisa’s 38-game Serie B season in 1979-80 saw just 49 goals (or 1.289 per game), while in 1968-69 Milan finished third in Serie A after 43 goals in their 30 games (1.433). That was bettered by Torino during what must have been a interminably dull 1979-80 season, but the 41 goals seen by any il Toro fans who went to all 30 games still works out as 1.366 per fixture.
But it is instructive that both Milan and Torino finished third in those seasons. A look at some of the lowest-scoring champions – courtesy of the ever-excellent rsssf.com – proved a rich seam. Trabzonspor were the Turkish champions in – you guessed it –1979-80 despite their 30 matches featuring just 36 goals (1.2 per game), narrowly eclipsing Fenerbahce’s 37 in 30 games nine years earlier.
In a Knowledge column in 2013 we looked at the two teams – AIK in Sweden in 1998 and Aduana Stars in Ghana in 2009-10 – who had won titles despite scoring fewer goals than any of their opponents and the Stars seemed set to provide another answer here. Their almost binary season saw 19 goals scored in 30 games – just 0.633 per game.
But the Ghanaian side’s non-scoring efforts failed to match those from another part of west Africa in 2000-01. Here are Senegalese side Richard Toll CSS’s results from that campaign:
CSS 1-0 Douanes; Casa Sport 1-1 CSS; CSS 0-0 SONACOS; CSS 1-0 Port; Jeanne d’Arc 0-0 CSS; CSS 1-0 Stade Mbour; CSS 0-0 Niayes; ASFA 2-0 CSS; CSS 0-0 Diaraf; Gorée 0-0 CSS; CSS 0-0 Rail; Ndiambour 0-0 CSS; DUC 0-0 CSS; Douanes 0-0 CSS; CSS 0-0 Casa Sports; SONACOS 0-2 CSS; Port 0-0 CSS; CSS 0-0 Jeanne d’Arc; Mbour 2-1 CSS; Niayes 1-0 CSS; CSS 0-0 ASFA; Diaraf 2-0 CSS; CSS 0-1 Gorée; Rail 0-0 CSS; CSS 0-1 Ndiambour; CSS 2-0 DUC.
In all: 26 matches and 19 goals (0.730 goals per game). Season ticket holders at the Stade Municipal de Richard Toll who attended all 13 home games saw their team score three times in their first 12 home games before they went goal-crazy on the final day of the season and hammering DUC 2-0.
As for the teams with the best defensive record over the course of a season, that Fenerbahce side of 1969-70 conceded just six goals in their 30 games. In the biggest four leagues Cagliari’s 11 goals conceded in 30 games in, again, 1969-70 is the best effort. More tales of defensive solidity can be found here.
THE PLAY-OFF LOTTERY … OR NOT
“With Norwich beating Ipswich on Saturday, all promotion play-off finals from the Championship all the way down to the Conference National will be contested by the two teams that finished just below the automatic promotion places in their respective leagues,” writes Lauri Korpio. “This has no doubt happened before, but I’m too lazy to do any research of my own, so when did the play-off favourites last hold their nerve to such an extent, and has this feat been bettered before to include more than levels 2-5 of the English football pyramid?”
It’s happened in the Football League only twice before. In 1997-98 (Sunderland and Charlton in the second tier, Grimsby Town and Northampton in the third and Colchester and Torquay in the fourth) and in 1999‑2000 (Ipswich and Barnsley in the second tier, Gillingham and Wigan in the third and Darlington and Peterborough in the fourth). Anyone looking for portents for this season might like to know that the higher placed side ended up winning through in four of the six finals, with only Charlton in 1998 and Peterborough in 2000 bucking the trend.
Conference play-offs were not introduced until 2002-03, so this is a unique season play-off-wise. In those 12 years of Conference play-offs, this season is just the third time that the top two qualifiers met in the final, after AFC Wimbledon v Luton in 2010-11 and Cambridge United v Gateshead in 2013-14.
STEVEN CAULKER: RECORD BREAKER?
“In his short top-flight career, the QPR defender Steven Caulker has played for four different clubs in four different seasons: Swansea (2011-12), Tottenham (2012‑13), Cardiff (2013-14) and now the Hoops, with whom he has just been relegated,” wrote Sam Carney last week. “Should Rangers decide to cash in on their more lucrative talents, and if Caulker were to join another Premier League club, that would make it five clubs in five seasons for the centre-back. Surely, this has never been done before?”
Chris Fowler writes to point us towards the itinerant career of Italy striker Christian Vieiri. He spent 1991-92 with Torino, 1992-93 with Pisa, 1993-94 with Ravenna, 1994-95 with Venezia, 1995-96 with Atalanta, 1996-97 with Juventus, 1997-98 with Atlético Madrid, 1998-99 with Lazio and 1999-2000 with Internazionale – nine seasons, nine clubs.
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
“I recently discovered that the Czech Republic team Bohemians 1905 have a kangaroo in their logo,” noted Tim Paine back in 2010. “Any ideas why?”
It seems that back in the 1920s the Australian Football Association was keen for a great European side to tour the country in order to inspire the populace. The problem, though, was persuading someone to take the lengthy sea journey Down Under – various reports suggest the idea being turned down by half of Europe’s clubs, including those from England. Eventually the invite appears to have extended to Czechoslovakia, and after being turned down by the national side and Sparta Prague, Australia was in 1927 delighted to welcome Prague’s AFK Vrsovice, who were renamed Bohemians (Bohemia being part of western Czechoslovakia) for the tour.
The tour seems to have been hugely successful, with the Czech visitors winning 15, drawing two and losing three matches over four months. On their departure they were presented with two live kangaroos, which must have made the journey home interesting. A squad member named Havlín, though, is believed to have taken responsibility for the marsupials, and they were safely delivered to Prague zoo.
Such was the success of the entire episode, Vrsovice were permitted to keep the name Bohemians and the side became known as the Klokani, Czech for Kangaroos. The nickname stuck and the animals soon hopped on to the club crest.
For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive.
CAN YOU HELP?
“We all marvelled at Sadio Mané’s record-busting hat-trick versus Aston Villa at the weekend which was completed in an efficient two minutes and 56 seconds,” begins Sam Holden. “Being someone unaccustomed to accomplishing tasks so rapidly, I couldn’t help but wonder what the slowest hat-trick of all time was? I would guess it would be in a cup match, perhaps with a first minute goal, and the third goal coming in the last minute of extra time. Could anybody help?”
“With Sebastian Bassong being on loan with Watford earlier in the season and now part of Norwich’s play-off push, he may well have played for two promoted teams from the same league in the same season,” notes Phil Walker. “Has this been done before, or better still has anyone played for all three promoted teams in a single season?”
“On Sunday Scott Brown, Celtic midfielder and Scotland captain, scored against Scott Brown, Aberdeen goalkeeper,” writes Paul Reilly. “Are there any other instances of a player scoring past his namesake?”
“In a none too rare time-wasting journey on Wikipedia, I noticed that Liverpool have been in the Champion’s League nine times, without winning the Premier League. Is this a record?” writes Andrew Tomlinson. “How many teams perform better in Europe than they do domestically? I remember Leverkusen getting to the final, having never won their domestic league.”
“André Schürrle has picked up a Premier League winners’ medal despite leaving Chelsea in January,” writes Chris. “It got me thinking, if Wolfsburg had kicked on and won the league from Bayern – unlikely but follow my thinking – he would have two winners’ medals for two different leagues in the same season. Has this ever happened before?”
“It was just announced that the new bridge connecting Detroit, USA, to Windsor, Canada, will be called the Gordie Howe International Bridge after Mr Hockey himself, the former Detroit Red Wing,” begins T Weir in Detroit. “The bridge has a projected cost of $1bn‑2.2bn. What – excluding stadiums – is the most expensive thing that has been named after a footballer?”
“In the 1991-92 season Howard Wilkinson led Leeds United to the top-flight league title in England,” writes Chai S. “As of 2014-15, no other English manager has achieved this feat. Considering the teams currently managed by Englishmen, this statistic may not change any time soon. Is 23 years a record for a Fifa association country’s top flight title not to be won by a manager from the same country?”
“Through a recent trawl of French League records I noticed that Laurent Blanc, of centre-back fame, is the record goalscorer for Montpellier on 84 goals, a full 14 clear of his nearest rival,” writes Oliver de Hoest. “Is there any other side who can boast having a centre-back as their leading scorer?”
“On Saturday, we saw an in-form Aston Villa totally capitulate against Southampton, getting demolished 6-1,” writes Simon. “And yet, because of Hull’s loss at Tottenham, Villa are now guaranteed Premier League status at least for another year. This got me thinking: has any team ever secured league status after enduring a heavier loss than Villa’s at the weekend? Is it some kind of weird record?”
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