Golaço Stories

Alianza Lima undoubtedly has one of the most unique jersey traditions on the planet. Every month of October the Peruvian club substitutes its tradition blue and white vertically stripped jersey for the a purple one in homage to the Lord of Miracles, the club's patron. The gesture is simple, but the story behind how the tradition began makes it even more interesting. There are conflicting stories, but the most widely accepted version states that in October of 1971 the equipment manager Jose Carrion, who was a devout catholic, ordered purple jerseys to honor the Lord of Miracles without letting anyone know. When...

India historically underperforms in World Cup Qualifiers. Not only has the country of 1.4 billion people never played in a World Cup but it usually never comes close, many times falling behind real minnows.  Despite never participating in a World Cup, India did actually qualify to the 1950 edition in Brazil. India was drawn in a qualifying group with Myanmar, Indonesia and Philippines. All 3 of India's opponents withdrew from the matches and India was left alone as the qualified team from the Asian region. In a decision that would be unimaginable today, India at the end declined its participation...

Some of soccer's most inspiring stories stem from clubs standing for something greater than the sport. Usually this involves standing up for a cause, or representing a specific region or ethnicity. This can be manifested in many ways, today we're going to talk about the clubs who self-impose restrictions on their own rosters in order to maintain an identity. The most famous by far is Athletic Club from Bilbao. The club from the Basque region of Spain maintains an extremely strong bond with the proud area, so much so that it has never fielded a non-Basque player in its 125+...

To end this series we're going to quickly go through some honorable mentions that don't have a deeper story but are worth knowing. Netherlands, Portugal and Greece all adopted the Italian created system of a gold star for every 10 championships. Israel, Turkey and Russia have the same system but for every 5 championships. It is also important to note that as of 2013 Russia has recognized and unified the titles from the USSR era. Fenerbahce, on the other hand, is fighting with the Turkish federation for recognition of titles they won before 1959 when the Turkish Super League as...

Stars are not always placed above the crest, some clubs decided to go in a less traditional route and placed the stars within their crests. Some are symbolic, some are commemorative, but some become a problem. Aston Villa is a good opportunity to touch upon England, a country where clubs don't have the culture of placing commemorative stars over their crest. Nottingham Forest does have 2 stars for their UCL titles, and Aston Villa placed a discrete star within in crest to also represent its continental title. Chapecoense from Brazil also has a discrete star within its crest, place right...