25 UNBELIEVABLE football facts 1)Arsene Wenger has an asteroid named after him called 33179 Arsénewenger. 2) AC Milanwas actually founded as a cricket team. 3)The first black and white jersey that Juventus wore was a Notts County kit that was brought in by an importer. It has become a tradition since then. 4)Gary and Phil Neville’s father is called Neville Neville. 5)Between 2001 and 2003, Bundesligaclub Fortuna Düsseldorf were sponsored by Toten Hosen, one the biggest rock bands in Germany. 6)Maynor Figueroa has three toes on his left foot. He can still do this. 7) There are only two football teams in the Isles of Scilly – The Gunners and the Wanderers. They play each other every week in the league, the only break being when they meet in the Cup. Talk about boring! 8)Didier Drogba is not just a footballer in his home country, and helped stop a civil war in Ivory Coast after qualifying for the World Cup. 9) Fernando d’Ercoli, while playing for Pianta in 1989, got so mad after getting a red card that he snatched the card from the referee’s hand and ate it. Similarly, Mike Bagley took the referee’s notebook and ripped out the page with his name on after he had been booked, and ate it. 10)Brazilian striker Ronaldo got this ridiculous haircutat the 2002 World Cup so that his son would be able to distinguish him from the other bald Brazilian players on TV. 11) Zlatan Ibrahimovic used to be a bike thief when he was younger. 12) The Borussia in Borussia Dortmund comes from a brand of beer in Dortmund. 13) According to Mexico City police, crime rates in Mexico reduce when Javier Hernandez plays football. Additionally, and almost unbelievably, they suggest that more women go into labor than usual when the Manchester Unitedstriker plays. 14)Zinedine Zidane almost joined Blackburn Rovers. However, the club chose Tim Sherwood instead, with chairman Jack Walker saying:“Who needs Zinedine Zidane? We’ve got Tim Sherwood.” 15)Osama bin Laden was said to be a massive Arsenalfan. 16)Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes series, played keeper for Portsmouth under the name AC Smith. 17)Dennis Bergkamp would miss away matches because he had a fear of flying, which is why he was called the Non- Flying Dutchman. 18) When Harry Redknapp was assistant manager at West Ham, he heard a fan abusing striker Lee Chapman during a pre-season friendly against Oxford City. At half time, he asked the fan to get dressed in the kit and play for the team if he thought he could do better. The fan took up his challenge, played through the second half, and even scored a goal. 19) Garrincha was born with an illness that should have made it impossible for him to walk. Instead, he became incredibly flecible and agile, which helped him while playing football. 20)Santiago Cañizares once tore a tendon in his foot while trying to break the fall of a perfume bottle the way he would control a football. He had to miss the World Cup because of the freak injury. 21) Robert Lewandowski almost signed for Blackburn Rovers, but a giant ash cloud from Iceland grounded his plane and delayed his transfer. It didn’t happen thereafter. 22)Stuart Holden used to play competitive Counter- Strike. 23)Simon Mignolet started his career as a forward, and tried his hand at being a goalkeeper after he was dropped. On the other hand, Fernando Torres started his career as a goalkeeper, and later switched to become a striker. 24)Diego Maradona once played for Tottenham Hotspur. 25) Dimitar Berbatov’s childhood hero was Alan Shearer, and he used to sleep in a Newcastle shirt when he was young. Which of them was your favourite?
Posted on: Tue, 20 May 2014 11:45:10 +0000