International Football History and Statistics

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On this day in football history

1912 Charlie Buchan scored five goals in Sunderland's 7-2 win against Liverpool; a rare feat in those days. He was one of the all-time greats of the game and devoted his life to it. He began his professional career with Leyton in 1910 and was transferred to Sunderland in March 1911. His genius flourished at Roker Park and he won a Championship and a Cup runners-up medal in 1913 as well as the first of his six England caps (against Ireland). During the First War he served with the Guards and returned to Sunderland for the resumption of peacetime football in 1919. The inside-forward was top scorer for the club in each of the next five seasons his best tally being 30 in 1922-23. He gained his last cap against Scotland in 1924 and transferred to Arsenal in July 1925. He captained the Gunners in the 1927 Cup Final when they lost to Cardiff City and finally retired in May 1928 to become football correspondent to the Daily News. In all he played in 482 League matches and scored 258 goals. His Sunderland record was 209 goals in 380 matches. He became a frequent broadcaster on football matters and in September 1951 he launched his own monthly football magazine. He died in June 1960 at the age of 68.

1932 England beat Austria 4-3 at Stamford Bridge with goals from Hampson(2), Houghton and Crooks. Austria's goals came from Zischek(2) and Sindelar. Although England always led in this match the general opinion afterwards was that they were lucky to have won since the Austrians, making their first visit to England, played the better football.

1934 Ernie Hine, one of the most prolific inside-forwards of the inter-War era transferred from Manchester United to Barnsley; the club he originally joined in 1921. He had four seasons with the Yorkshire club initially and then transferred to Leicester City where he scored 142 goals before moving to Huddersfield Town in 1932. After only a few months at Leeds Road he went to Old Trafford. When he retired in 1938 he had joined the select band who had played in over 600 League matches (612) scoring 287 goals along the way. He won 6 England caps between 1930 and 1932.

1938 Scotland beat Hungary 3-1 at Hampden Park in the first meeting between the two countries. Walker, Black and Gillick scored their goals.

1986 Leicester City in the midst of a financial crisis are forced to put Alan Smith on the transfer list.

1997 Former Leeds United and Scotland Captain William John Bremner, known throghout his career as Billy dies. He was the core of the greatest Leeds sides. After being rejected Arsenal and Chelsea for being too small he joined Leeds in December 1959. He made his debut ironically against Chelsea on the 23rd October 1960 at Stamford Bridge in a 3-1 win. He won his first Scottish cap in May 1965 adding to schoolboy and under 23 honours. At Leeds he won two League Championships, an FA Cup, and two Inter Cities Fairs Cups. He also won the footballer of the year award in 1970. He played 586 league matches and scored 90 goals for the club before moving to Hull City in September 1976, and then to Doncaster in 1979 as player manager. He won promotion and returned to Leeds as manager in October 1985 succeeding his team-mate Eddie Gray into the hot seat. He reached the FA Cup semi-finals but lost in the promotion playoffs to Charlton. The next season did not start well and he was fired in late September 1988. He returned to Donacster in July 1989 but left football when he was axed in November 1991. He had played a total of 652 league matches and scored 96 goals for the three clubs he played for and had won 45 Scotland Caps when he finished playing

1999 England draw Germany in the World Cup qualifying draw made in Tokyo

2017 Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo wins his fifth Ballon d’Or with 946 votes; 276 ahead of second-placed Lionel Messi, who had also won the award five times.