Event Type: 1001 GREATEST FOOTBALL MOMENTS - 2023

2023-02-06

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 398

‘MATCH OF THE DAY’ GOES ON AIR (1964)

The Liverpool versus Arsenal match on 22 August 1964 delivered the right result for the 40,000 fans packed into Anfield- 3-2 in favour of the home side. For 20,000 people in London, the outcome was not so welcome, but at least they had the satisfaction of being the first in the country to have watched their team on Match of the Day.
Football had been shown on television for a number of years on an on-and-off basis before legendary broadcaster Kenneth Wolstenholme stood at pitch side, fixed a camera with a steady gaze and said, «Welcome to Match of the Day, the first of a weekly series on BBC Two. This afternoon we are in Beatleville…»
The limited TV audience was due to the fact that BBC2 had recently been launched and was only available in London – perhaps one of the factors that persuaded the FA to allow the programme to go out at all considering its paranoia over TV stealing gate­takings. From this low-key start MOTD went on to take the sporting nation by storm.
In the background can be seen some of the specially constructed stands for television and newsreel cameramen.

 

 

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2023-02-03

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 397

SPAIN PROVE THEIR METTLE IN EUROPE (1964)

The 1964 European Nations’ Cup, the forerunner to the European Championships, saw politics mar proceedings with Greece refusing to play Albania, a country with which technically they were at war. It was a situation the host nation was only too familiar with. Four years earlier, General Franco had brought Cold War politics onto the pitch by barring the Soviet Union from entering the country to play the away half of a two-game play-off, thus forcing Spain to default from the competition. In 1964, however, politics didn’t get in the way when the Spaniards beat the Soviets 2-1 in the Madrid final.
Lev Yashin is powerless to stop Spain’s opener finding it’s way into the back of the Soviet Union net on their way to a 2-1 victory.

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2023-02-02

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 396

PELÉ’S 30 MINUTE MASTERCLASS (1964)

In his long build-up to the 1966 World Cup, England boss Alf Ramsey decided to use the Brazilian Football Association’s 50th anniversary Jubilee Tournament as a test of his side against South American opposition. During England’s 30 May match against Brazil in Rio’s giant Maracana Stadium he was shown the mountain his team had to climb. England played well enough to hold Brazil to one goal in the first half and equalized in the 48th minute, but ten minutes later Pelé stepped up a gear and conjured 30 minutes of football magic that saw the Brazilians put four goals into the England net and run out 5-1 winners.
Pelé’s performance was so complete that England were left in no doubt as to who would provide Brazil’s biggest threat at the World Cup.

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2023-02-01

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 395

INTER MILAN WIN EUROPEAN CUP (1964)

In May 1964 Inter Milan won their first European Cup with victory over Real Madrid in Vienna. Sandrino Mazzola, the son of the Italian captain Valentino Mazzola who died in the Torino air disaster of 1947, was the star of this side and appropriately gave Inter the lead two minutes before half-time. Auerlio Milani doubled it in the second half before Felo gave Madrid some hope by making the score 2-1 with 21 minutes remaining. Madrid’s aging superstars, Di Stefano and Puskas, failed to find away past Inter’s defensive system, famously known as Cantennaccio, and Mazzola put the game beyond doubt with his second of the game after 76 minutes.
Picchi looks to surge past Real Madrid’s Isidro as Inter Milan carve out their famous victory against Madrid’s original galacticos.

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2023-01-31

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 394

A BLACK DAY FOR FOOTBALL (1964)

Most reports of the National Stadium disaster in Lima during a Peru versus Argentina Olympic qualifying match on 24 May 1964 are brief – 318 people killed and more than 500 injured when outraged fans rioted after the referee disallowed a Peruvian goal two minutes from time. One eyewitness, though, said that while the decision was unpopular, fans didn’t riot. Instead the mayhem was caused when the crowd stampeded for exits to get away from teargas fued into the stands by panicky police. However, as it was a game everyone wanted to see guards had locked the gates and joined the crowds to watch, so the fleeing fans were tragically trapped.
Several Peruvian army soldiers stand guard outside the National Stadium in Lima, the scene of the 1964 tragedy.

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2023-01-30

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 393

MULLER’S SIGNING LIFTS BAYERN MUNICH (1964)

When Gerd Muller joined Bayern Munich from TSV 1861 Nördlingen in 1964, the Bavarians’ coach Zlatko Cajkovski was not terribly impressed. Pointing at Muller’s stocky build, he asked, «What am I supposed to do with a weightlifter?» But Muller scored twice on his Bayern debut and would prove to be one of football’s greatest ever strikers. Muller was incredibly prolific, scoring 401 goals in 459 appearances for Bayern, which helped them to four Bundesliga titles, four German Cups and three European Cups. As Franz Beckenbauer said, «Everything that Bayern has become is due to Gerd Muller.»
After Franz Beckenbauer, Bayern’s acquisition of Gerd Muller was hugely significant as the club began to assert itself as a European force.

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2023-01-27

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 392

THE FLA-FLU SETS AN ATTENDANCE RECORD (1963)

The derby between Rio de Janeiro teams Flamengo and Fluminense is one of the most hotly contested in world football and is eagerly anticipated by both sets of supporters. Flamengo’s official home ground is the Gavea Stadium whilst Fluminense play at the Estádio das Laranjeiras. But the Fla-Flu always takes place at the famous Maracana. In December 1963, 177,020 spectators crammed into the grand old stadium – though some put the figure nearer to 190,000. Ironically the record crowd had little to shout about as they witnessed a nil-nil draw. The outright attendance record is also held by the Maracana – the defeat of Brazil by Uruguay in 1950 was played out in front of 199,854 – mostly shocked – Brazihans.
Fluminense of Rio de Janeiro arrive at Luton airport ahead of a match against West Ham at Upton Park – a long way from the Maracana.

 

 

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2023-01-26

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 391

BUNDESLIGA FORMED (1963)

Seventy-five years after England founded a national professional league, West Germany finally followed suit in July 1962. The impetus for the Bundesliga had been West Germany’s embarrassment at their national team’s quarter-final exit to Yugoslavia at the World Cup in Chile. Until then football had been largely semi-professional and arranged as regional leagues. The inaugural Bundesliga season consisted of 16 teams chosen on the basis of recent success and an equal representation of the country from the five Oberligas in the North, South, West and Southwest of the country and the capital Berlin. At the end of the inaugural 1963-64 season FC Cologne were the first Bundesliga winners.
The Bundesliga, which took so long to come into existence, originally consisted of 16 teams. FC Cologne were the first Bundesliga champions.

 

 

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2023-01-25

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 390

DI STEFANO IS ‘KIDNAPPED’ (1963)

On 24 August 1963 members of the National Liberation Army Front kidnapped Alfredo di Stefano from a hotel in Caracas during Real Madrid’s pre­season tour of South America. «We wanted to do a propaganda operation so the world would hear our demands and to that end we used the most famous player in the world at that time,» said the Venezuelan revolutionary Paul del Rio. Di Stefano was held for three days before he was released unharmed and Del Rio revealed he even sent his kidnappers a letter thanking them for their hospitality.
Di Stefano was Argentinian by birth and a veteran of the Colombian league. A famous name not only in Latin America but across the world.

 

 

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2023-01-24

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 389

THE FA CELEBRATES ITS CENTENARY (1963)

To commemorate 100 years of the Football Association, the oldest domestic governing body in the world, an exhibition match was staged at Wembley between England and a FIFA World XI. The Rest of the World’s team sheet was a roll-call of some of the game’s greatest ever players, including Alfredo di Stefano, Denis Law, Raymond Kopa, Eusebio, Franscico Gento and Lev Yashin. Despite facing a team of superstars, England took the lead through Terry Paine in the second half. After 84 minutes Law equalized, but three minutes later Jimmy Greaves scored the winner to send the vast majority of the 100,000 crowd back down Wembley Way happy.
Di Stefano and Puskas head the FIFA XI whilst Jimmy Armfield and Bobby Moore are the first men out for England at Wembley.

 

 

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2023-01-23

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 388

BOBBY MOORE MADE ENGLAND CAPTAIN (1963)

On only his 12th appearance for his country Bobby Moore was handed the captain’s armband for England’s game against Czechoslovakia in Bratislava on 29 May 1963. The West Ham defender was deputizing for the injured Jimmy Armfield and then replaced him on a permanent basis the following summer. Moore would captain England a total of 90 times, a record he shares with Billy Wright, and then led the team to World Cup glory in 1966. He won 108 caps in all before he retired from international football in November 1973.
Moore was permanently appointed England skipper aged just 23 after a series of international friendlies in the summer of 1964.

 

 

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2023-01-20

By: GodMorgenFrode / Comments closed

Nr. 387

MILAN WIN THE EUROPEAN CUP (1963)

Benfica’s hopes of winning a hat-trick of European Cups were ended by AC Milan at Wembley in May 1963. The Portuguese champions took the lead after 18 minutes through Eusebio and went in at half-time 1-0 ahead. During the interval the Milan coach Nereo Rocco replaced Giovanni Trapattoni with the Peruvian Victor Benitez as Eusebio’s man-marker and immediately saw the benefits. With the Milan defence now more protected, the Italians ventured forward and turned the game around with two goals from the Brazilian striker Jose Altafini. Captain Cesare Maldini could now lift the European Cup.
Nereo Rocco’s arrival sparked a revival at the San Siro. He went on to guide the Rossoneri to another European Cup victory in 1969.

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