Who are the greatest footballers never to make an appearance in England? | The Knowledge

“I’ve been wondering: who is the greatest footballer never to make an appearance in England**?”** muses Cameron Turner. “Did any of the game’s greats go their whole career without visiting the home of football? I think the best bet might be a South American from the 1970s-1990s, though Brazil and Argentina often played friendlies at Wembley.”

This question is difficult to answer categorically, mainly because the internet does not yet provide chapter and verse on every football match played by superstars of the black-and-white era. But it’s also far too interesting to leave on the cutting-room floor, so we’ve given it a go with the caveat that the answers are only 99% correct.

Arthur Friedenreich stood at just 5ft 7in, but was known for his speed, strength and dribbling ability. Photograph: Alamy

We checked with Cameron and those who played friendlies in England are ineligible. This rules out, among others, Marco van Basten, who never played a competitive game but did appear for Milan at Old Trafford in 1988 and at Wembley in the Makita Tournament of the same year.

It’s no surprise that the majority of the answers come from: a) the distant past and b) outside Europe. “My vote goes to Brazil’s first global superstar footballer, Arthur Friedenrich,” writes Alex Banks. “He starred in Brazil’s national team’s first ever match in 1914 – against Exeter City, weirdly enough – but it was held in Brazil. Only once did he visit Europe: in 1925 when his club Paulistano toured France, Switzerland and Portugal. The French press were so impressed by him that they called him the King of Football. Paulistano disbanded in 1929, so he and his teammates formed São Paulo de Floresta, better known today as the mighty São Paulo FC.”

Knowledge legend Dirk Maas nominates Clodoaldo, the hip-swinging midfielder who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1970. Clodoaldo was part of the Santos squad that played against Fulham and Plymouth during a European tour in 1973, but it looks like he didn’t appear in either of those games.

Dirk has also been through the Fifa 100 and every Ballon d’Or winner and thinks these players are all eligible:

• Just Fontaine (France, 1953-60)
• Roger Milla (Cameroon 1973-94)
• Hugo Sánchez (Mexico, 1977-98)
• Romerito (Paraguay, 1979-90)
• Abedi Pele (Ghana, 1982-98)
• Mia Hamm (USA, 1985-2000)
• Michelle Akers (USA, 1987-2004)
• Hong Myung-bo (South Korea, 1990-2002)

Milla was due to play for Cameroon in a friendly at Wembley in 1991 but pulled out when the FA declined to pay him a one-off match fee, reportedly £30,000. “Milla was listed among the original substitutes,” wrote David Lacey in the Guardian, “but spent the game on the bench in mufti.”

Roger Milla walks the Wembley turf but did not strap on his boots for Cameroon’s 1991 friendly against England. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Getty Images

We’d also like to nominate Obdulio Varela, the awesome captain of Uruguay’s 1950 World Cup winners, but we’re sure there are other greats we’ve missed. If you have any nominations, send them to knowledge@theguardian.com and we’ll try to put together a full XI.

Four keepers in one day

“Chris Pike, Gareth Bale’s uncle, scored a hat-trick against three different goalkeepers – John Keeley, Roy McDonough, and Nathan Munson – in a match for Hereford against Colchester United on 16 October 1993. Anyone for any more?” asks Rob Davies.

The Knowledge is a child of the 1980s, so our stream of consciousness instantly diverts to Alvin Martin’s famous hat-trick against Newcastle in 1985-86. It was unlikely enough for Martin, a defensive stalwart at West Ham, to score a hat-trick, never mind against three different goalkeepers. West Ham, who were coming to the end of their greatest-ever league campaign, pummelled Newcastle 8-1. Martin scored his goals past Martin Thomas, an actual goalkeeper, and two outfield players: Chris Hedworth and Peter Beardsley. You can read all about it in Simon Burnton’s excellent Forgotten Story.

Alvin Martin (centre-left) is presented with the match ball after scoring a hat-trick for West Ham. Photograph: Courtesy of theyflysohigh.co.uk

While we’re on the subject of multiple keepers, Conrad Teixeira wrote in with a tangential question and an unusual story from the Scottish Third Division:

double quotation markOn 10 May 2003, East Stirlingshire’s keeper Chris Todd was injured after seven minutes in a match against Albion Rovers. The sub goalkeeper Scott Findlay, was sent off for fouling an Albion player 40 yards from goal – then his replacement, left-back Graham McLaren, was also sent off after conceding a penalty. A second outfield player, Kevin McCann, went in goal and saved the penalty. Are there any other instances of four goalkeepers playing in goal in the same match? Has any match ever featured five goalkeepers or three outfield players in goal?

Can you help? If so, drop us a line.

Continental drift

“Which club has the highest ratio of Champions League or European Cup titles compared to league titles?” asks David Sauter. “And which teams have won a major European trophy without ever winning their domestic league?”

Thanks to the tens of you who answered this question, all of you using the words ‘Nottingham’ and ‘Forest’. They have a 2:1 ratio of European Cups to domestic titles after Brian Clough spent 1977-80 walking on water; that puts them oceans ahead of the next best, Real Madrid. The Spanish side have 15 European Cups and 36 La Liga titles, a ratio of 0.42. Thanks to Robbie Dale for sending in a list of the clubs with the highest ratio in men’s football:

2.00 Nottingham Forest (2:1)
0.42 Real Madrid (15:36)
0.37 Milan (7:19)
0.33 Chelsea (2:6)
0.30 Liverpool (6:20)

Nottingham Forest’s John Robertson (left), Ian Bowyer (centre), and Kenny Burns carry the European Cup in triumph after their 1-0 win over Malmö in the 1979 final. Photograph: AP

As for the second part of David’s question, five teams have won a European competition but not their domestic league:

• Real Zaragoza Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1963-64; Cup Winners’ Cup 1994-95
  Highest league position: 2nd in 1974-75
• West Ham United Cup Winners’ Cup 1964-65; Conference League 2022-23
  Highest league position: 3rd in 1985-86
• Parma Cup Winners’ Cup 1992-93; Uefa Cup 1994-95, 1998-99
  Highest league position: 2nd in 1996-97
• Villarreal Europa League 2020-21
  Highest league position: 2nd in 2007-08
• Atalanta Europa League 2023-24
  Highest league position: 3rd on several occasions

Parma celebrate after beating Marseille 3-0 in the 1999 Uefa Cup final. Photograph: Misha Japaridze/AP

Dewi Howells adds that Leeds United (Fairs Cup 1967-68), Bayer Leverkusen (Uefa Cup 1987-88) and Sampdoria (Cup Winners’ Cup 1989-90) all won European competitions before winning their first league title.

The Women’s Champions League is yet to be won by a club without a domestic league title, but Duisburg offer the best ratio – the German side won the Uefa’s Women Cup (as it was then known) in 2009, having won their only Bundesliga crown in 2000. Die Löwinnen (yes, the Lionesses) became part of men’s club MSV Duisburg in 2014 and currently play in Germany’s regional leagues.

​1.00 Duisburg (1:1)
0.57 FFC/Eintracht Frankfurt (4:7)
0.44 Lyon (8:18)
0.33 Turbine Potsdam (2:6)
​0.30 Barcelona (3:10)

Knowledge archive

“Has there ever been the Saturday night score announcer’s all-time dream result: East Fife 4, Forfar 5? There’s AU$20 riding on it,” wrote Hugh McGinley in 2000.

Nearly but not quite. The Fifers visited Station Park during the 1963-4 campaign in the old Scottish Second Division and scored four. Sadly, their hosts still won, the final score being … Forfar 5, East Fife 4.

Can you help?

“I just got back from watching Luton Town win the Football League Trophy,” chirps AJ. “This was after they were knocked out by Swindon in the last 16, only to be reinstated because Swindon fielded two ineligible players. Have any other teams won a cup competition after being reinstated?” [NB: before you all type ‘DENMARK 92’, we’ve covered teams who won competitions for which they didn’t originally qualify.]

“Tomas Soucek recently scored in three penalty shootouts for club and country in the space of 11 days. Has anyone scored in so many shootouts in such a short timespan?” asks Brendan O’Mahony.

“Three former Everton managers will be in charge of teams at the World Cup: Carlo Ancelotti (Brazil), Roberto Martínez (Portugal) and Ronald Koeman (Netherlands). Is this is a record?” asks Mike Hulse.

“The Italian club Como, who are fifth in Serie A, have an almost entirely non-Italian squad. There have been only two substitute appearances by an Italian player – defender Edoardo Goldaniga – in the league this season. Has a club ever gone through an entire league season without a single domestic player making an appearance?” wonders Andy Brook.

“QPR recently scored six goals against Pompey with three players scoring a double each,” begins Dan Trelfer. “This threw up a few questions:

1. What’s the most number of goals a team has scored in a game without a player scoring a hat-trick?
2. What’s the most number of goals a team has scored without anyone scoring more than one goal?
3. Has a team ever scored eight with four players all scoring twice? Or ten with five doubles?”

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