Golaço Stories

France has the exact same rule as Italy, 1 star for every 10 national titles. However, the application of this rule isn't as black and white as the rule itself. Saint-Etienne was the first French club to reach 10 national titles in 1981, an achievement that is celebrated with a big star on their crest with French flag colors. Olympique Marseille is the only other French club with a star on it's crest but it is not for 10 national titles (they have 9), but for their 1993 UCL championship. To this day OM is the only team from France...

The scenario is as follows: It is the 1994 CONCACAF Caribbean Cup qualification round, Barbados and Grenada face each other on the last match of their group. Grenada is first in the group and Barbados needs to win by a goal difference of 2 to qualify.  The match was progressing in a routinely fashion, Barbados scored the two goal it needed but at the 83rd minute Grenada got one back and that's where things got weird. The rules of this qualifying tournament stated that tied games went to overtime, and goals in overtime were worth double. This created a circumstance...

Similarly to Brazil, Liga MX also doesn't have set rules for championship stars on clubs crests, however, it's not as random as the Brasileirão.  Clubs like Cruz Azul, Santos Laguna, Leon, Xolos, Necaxa, and others, have a star for every league title they've won. Pachuca has it's stars separated in two section. The blue stars above the crest are the national Mexican titles it won, while the gold stars underneath are international titles. Interestingly, 4 of those are CONCACAF titles but 1 is the CONMEBOL Copa Sudamericana, a South American tournament were Mexican clubs were periodically invited. To this day...

Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central have one of the most fierce rivalries on the planet. Aside from the heated derbies on and off the pitch, this Argentinian rivalry has also provided the two clubs with curious nicknames. Newell's Old Boys are known as the "Leprosos" (Lepers, meaning someone with Leprosy) and Rosario Central are known as the "Canallas" (Bastards).  The origin of these nickname doesn't actually have an official story, but there is one that is widely accepted and repeated. Legend has it that in the 1920's a local hospital who specifically took care of people suffering from leprosy wanted to...

Paradoxically, the years that preceded the 1994 World Cup in the United States were some of the hosts country's least stable. It had been years since the USA didn't have a top division, the ASL folded in 1983, the NASL folded in 1985 and even the Major Indoor Soccer League folded in 1992. Even though the MLS was founded in 1993, the inaugural season only took place in 1996.  With this context, the US Soccer Federation did something extremely rare in the history of the sport. Without a proper national league the only option American players had was to play aboard...