Golaço Stories

Cabinda is an exclave province of the country of Angola, located just a few kilometers north of the rest of the country, separated by a small strip of land that gives the Democratic Republic of Congo access to sea.  How this geographical anomaly came to be has a complex history, but what is simple is that because it's part of a country that is fanatic about soccer it also has a club: Sporting Cabinda. Geography was, is, and probably always will be a problem in such a global sport. Sporting Cabinda has had issues with its' location since it was...

If you look at a map of the 2024/25 Cypriot First Division you'll see that only teams in the southern half of the island are featured. As a matter of fact you can get a map of any season and this will be the case. That is because Cyprus is an island divided in two. The history is complex and extensive but in a nutshell the southern half is culturally Greek and is a unanimously recognized country while the northern half is culturally Turkish and only recognized by Turkey. In between the two halves there's a UN buffer zone and...

Every league in the world has it's own history, traditions and particularities. One of the things that make Belgium unique is their club registration process. Since 1926, when the Belgian Federation was founded, clubs who affiliated themselves would receive a registration number which follows a sequential chronological order to this day. These registration numbers became a symbol of pride for these clubs, showcasing history and longevity. Royal Antwerp for example was the first club to register with the federation and was assigned the registration number "1". This is so important in Belgian soccer that the club included the number within...

Today the FIFA World Cup is an ultra organized, meticulous and error-free event. Practically everything is run with the precision of a Swiss watch, but it wasn't always like that. There was a time when the event didn't have the dimension it has today, or the amount of money involved, so it wasn't uncommon for organizational mistakes to happen that today are unimaginable. One particular mistake that used to give fans a quaint experience was national teams playing official World Cup matches with borrowed club kits. Believe it or not this happened four different times, in four different World Cups....

Almost always cups are where you'll find the biggest Cinderella stories in soccer, where the unexpected happens and David can beat Goliath. Each country's cup is unique, some don't like to give minnows too much room, like Italy's Coppa Italia for example. Others allow clubs from the very bottom of the pyramid to participate, such as the FA Cup, or even clubs from overseas territories, like the Coupe de France. In Japan, however, the Emperor's Cup takes it to the next level. Not only does the Emperor's Cup allow participants from semi-amateur national tiers and fully amateur regional leagues, but...