Biggest ever wins: The most one-sided scorelines in footballing history
In the wake of England women’s 8-0 mauling of Norway in the Euros, ever wondered about the most staggering scoreline in the history of football?
It’s a quirky story. And even if a 149-goal haul doesn’t knock you bandy, there’s plenty of other staggering mismatches to consider.
Mayhem in Madagascar
In 2002, Madagascan club side AS Adema contributed – sort of – to a world record of sorts, beating fellow East African club SO l’Emyrne by a score line of 149-0. That reads like a typo, so let’s spell it out – Adema finished the game with one hundred and forty-nine goals.
The match, which took place in October 2002, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records, but in all honesty it should have a pretty massive asterisk next to it. l’Emyrne deliberately lost the game, as a form of protest against refereeing decisions – and it was the losing team who scored every single goal, racking up that head-spinning total at a rate of 1.65 own goals a minute.
Why the match was allowed to play out once it became clear what was happening is a head-scratcher. Crazy, too, that Adema go down in history as the team responsible for winning a game 149-0 when they barely played any part in the match.
Nonetheless, the match is officially recognised as the highest scoring in the history of the competitive game, replacing Arbroath’s thrashing of Bon Accord in 1885, when Arbroath won 36-0. That game was undoubtedly a mismatch, but it still seems a worthier record holder than the fiasco in Madagascar.
Three Lions maul Luxembourg
No such outlandish score lines for England, but the Three Lions have racked up some decent scores over the years. Back in 1882, England beat Ireland 13-0 in a friendly. And in competitive qualifiers, England have twice bullied Luxembourg 9-0, beating the tiny nation in 1960 and 1982.
In the latter game, it wasn’t even an England player that opened the scoring. Instead, Luxembourg obliged with an own goal after 20 minutes without much incident. The likes of Glenn Hoddle, Steve Coppell and Phil Neal would all score in this match at Wembley, as Luther Blissett bagged a hat-trick.
Scotland beat Spain in their own backyard
Scotland’s greatest ever scoreline came against the Irish. Playing in Glasgow, the Scots won 11-0 in the 1901 British Home Championship; both Sandy ‘Duke’ McMahon and Robert Hamilton scored hat tricks for the home side.
There’s not much that comes close to that score line in recent years sadly. But Scotland have done their fair share of domineering in the past – and not just to the minnows. In 1969 they beat Cyprus 8-0 – while back in 1963, they beat Spain 6-2 in a friendly at the Bernabeu!
Y Viva Espana
The biggest ever win in Spain’s history came in 1933, during a friendly against Bulgaria. This exceptionally one-sided affair took place at Madrid’s Estadio Chamartin stadium, with the home nation sweeping to a 13-0 victory over the visitors. The striker Chacho scored six goals here, yet made only a total of three appearances for his nation, curiously.
Just like watching Brazil
Seems like Brazil have always been a bit good. Way back in 1949, while other less cultured footballing teams were attempting to kick lumps out of each other, Brazil were perfecting their samba standard in Sao Paulo. The hosts ran rings round a thoroughly outclassed Bolivia side to beat them 10-1 in the Copa America.
France make it perfect 10
France’s biggest ever victory came against a luckless Azerbaijan side in a Euro qualifier. Household names like Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly and Frank Laboeuf all got on the scoresheet in Auxerre. Three goals in, the Azeri coach substituted goalkeeper Elkhan Hasanov – only to see replacement Nazim Sadygov concede a further seven. Final score – 10-0 to those talented French lads.
Arriverderci, America
The Italians love playing the USA. Italy’s biggest ever victory came against the Yanks, with a 10-0 victory in a friendly in Rome in April 1975. Three decades earlier in 1948, the Italians had beaten the States 9-0, this time in the 1948 Olympics (held in London – the game was played at Griffin Park, home of Brentford FC).
And a decade before that, Italy earned their biggest ever World Cup score line with a 7-1 win over, you guessed it, the USA. Again, the game took place in Rome; following this victory, Italy would go on to win what was just the second ever World Cup.
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