For the uninitiated, Football Manager is a cognitive, rather than physical, sports simulation game which, according to the developer, Sports Interactive, allows fans of the beautiful game to ‘experience the closest thing to being a real manager’ through the exploits of their own virtual team. The game began life as Championship Manager in 1992, but Sports Interactive split from its original publisher, Eidos Interactive, in 2003 and since 2006 has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sega. Sports Interactive did, however, retain the code and data from Champion Manager and released the inaugural version of a re-titled game, ‘Football Manager 5’, in November, 2004.
Anyway, according to Guinness World Records, the longest single game of Football Manager was played by Paweł Siciński who, in real life, possesses a Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) C Diploma, aimed at grassroots football coaches. Siciński embarked on his virtual management career, from his home in the city of Gliwice in southern Poland, on Football Manager 2018 on January 4, 2018 and continued until May 18, 2434 or, in other words, a total of 416 years and 134 days of in-game time. Remarkably, during his four-century odyssey, which equated to 7,603 hours, or 317 days, of real-world playing time, his teams played 22,300 matches, scored nearly 59,000 goals, won 341 league titles and 759 cups and were relegated just once.
Siciński enjoyed far and away his most successful spell with Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar, which is based in the town of Hafnarfjörður on the southwest of Iceland, approximately six miles south of the capital city, Reykjavík. In actuality, Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar has been a force majeure in Icelandic football since the turn of the twenty-first century but, with Siciński at the helm – as he was for the last 310 years of his game – the team won 301 national championships, 677 cups, including the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Club World Cup, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
The footballer who holds the record for the longest period between English Premier League appearances is five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, better known simply as Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar made his Premier League debut for Manchester United on August 16, 2003 when, as a 17-year-old, he replaced Nicky Butt after 61 minutes during a 4-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford. In his first stint with the Red Devils, Ronaldo made his final Premier League appearance in a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, again at Old Trafford, on May 16, 2009.
Thereafter, ‘El Bicho’, as Ronaldo would become known, joined Real Madrid for the then record transfer fee of £80 million. During the course of nine seasons at Santiago Bernabéu, he scored
451 goal in 438 competitive appearances for Los Galácticos, winning La Liga twice and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League four times, among numerous other honours. Nevertheless, a breakdown in his relationship with Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez
led to Ronaldo leaving the Spanish capital in July, 2018 when, at the age of 33, he moved to Juventus for £100 million.
On August 31, 2021, Ronaldo re-signed for Manchester United for £12.85 million and, on September 11, 12 years, 3 months and 16 days after his last Premier League appearance, made his second debut at Old Trafford. He made a bright start to his second stint at the club, scoring twice in a 4-1 victory over Newcastle United but, thereafter, Ronaldo and Manchester United struggled, finishing only sixth in the Premier League and finishing without a trophy for the fifth season in a row. Ronaldo repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the club, criticising the appointment of intermi manager Ralf Rangnick and saying in an interview that he had ‘no respect’ for his successor, Erik ten Hag. His United contract was terminated, by mutual consent, on November 22, 2022.
‘Bengala’ is the Spanish word for ‘flare’ and ‘El Bengalazo’ was the name given to a disgraceful incident that occurred at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 3, 1989, during South American qualifying for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. In their fourth, and final, Group 3 match, the hosts, Brazil, led Chile 1-0 thanks to goal by striker Antônio de Oliveira Filho, a.k.a. Careca, early in the second half. However, with 23 minutes of normal time remaining, Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas fell to the ground, bleeding from a head wound supposedly caused by a flare thrown from the crowd.
As Rojas was treated by the team doctor, Daniel Rodríguez, his incensed team-mates surrounded the referee and were subsequently led from the field by captain Fernando Astengo. On the instruction of Chilean coach Orlando Aravena, Rojas remained on the ground and was carried off on a stretcher. Despite the best efforts of Argentine referee Juan Carlos Loustau, the Chilean players refused to continue and the match was abandoned.
However, a review of television pictures and still photographs of the incident revealed that a flare was thrown on to the pitch, but missed Rojas by a yard or so and did not cause him injury of any kind. The South American Football Confederation launched an investigation and, under interrogation, Rojas confessed that his injury was self-inflicted, with a razor blade secreted in one of his goalkeeping gloves, in a vain attempt to have the match – which Chile needed to win – replayed at a neutral venue, or to have Brazil disqualified.
FIFA took a dim view of Rojas’ antics, banning him, Aravena and Rodriguez from professional football for life – although Rojas was granted an ‘amnesty’ in 2001 – and awarding the match to Brazil, by walkover, with an official scoreline of 2-0. For causing the abandonment of the match, Chile was banned from qualifying the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
The footballer who has made most appearances in the top flight of English football is former England international goalkeeper Peter Shilton. Shilton made his debut in the Football League First Division, which preceded the Premier League, for Leicester City, as a 16-year-old, on May 3, 1966. He made his final appearance in the top tier for Derby County, who were relegated that season, at the age of 41, on May 11, 1991. In between times, Shilton made 846 First Division appearances for Leicester City, Stoke City, Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Derby County, making a total of 848 altogether.
Shilton was relegated from the First Division three times, with Leicester City in 1969/70, Stoke City in 1976/77 and Derby County in 1990/91, but won the league title, at the first attempt, with the newly-promoted Nottingham Forest, managed by Brian Clough, in 1977/78. His transfer fee from Leicester City to Stoke City in November, 1974, £325,00, was a record for a goalkeeper.
Following his eventual departure from Derby in February, 1992, Shilton spent three tumultuous seasons as player-manager of Plymouth Argyle, in Football League Division Two, before joining Wimbledon, as an out-and-out goalkeeper, at the age of 45, in February, 1995. Thereafter, Shilton was signed on free transfers by Bolton Wanderers, Coventry, West Ham United and Leyton Orient but, between February, 1995 and November, 1996, when he joined the O’s in Football League Division Three, made just one first-team domestic league appearance. However, he would finish his career at Brisbane Road, officially retiring on July 1, 1997, aged 47, with a total of 1,005 league appearances to his name.
The first Premier League season officially kicked off on August 15, 1992 and, in a little over three decades, the team that has been relegated most often is Norwich City. The Canaries were one of the original 22 teams that broke away from the Football League and defied expectations by finishing third in the inaugural Premier League season, 1992/93, 12 points behind champions Manchester United.
However, after a calamitous second half to the 1994/95 season, in which they won just once after the turn of the year and lost seven of their last eight games, Norwich were relegated to Football League Division One for the first time. There they remained, for the next nine seasons, until promoted back to the Premier League, as champions, in 2003/04. They won just seven games, though, none of which were away from home, and were immediately relegated back to the second tier, by then known as the Championship.
Four seasons later, in 2008/09, the Yellows suffered the ignominy of being relegated to the third tier, League One, for the first time in 49 years. However, under new manager Paul Lambert, who replaced the previous incumbent, Bryan Gunn, on August 18, 2009, they bounced back in style, winning successive promtions to the top flight. Away form was, once again, the problem in the second half of the 2013/14 season, which saw Norwich relegated to the Championship after winning just one point away from home between New Year’s Day and the end of the season.
Norwich won the Championship play-offs in 2014/15, but were immediately relegated again in 2015/16 and have continued their ‘yo-yo’ existence in recent seasons. They were promoted, as champions, in both 2018/19 and 2020/21, only to be immediately relegated again on both occasions.