Golaço Stories

         The year is 2002 and the local league in Madagascar is coming to an end. In the second to last matchday SO l'Emyrne tied 2-2 with a very dubious last-minute penalty awarded to the opposing team, the draw meant l'Emyrne had no more shot at the title. In the last match, with the champion already crowned, SO l'Emyrne decided to do the unthinkable as a sign of protest: the players began scoring against their own net. Not once, or twice, or ten times, but 149 times nonstop. The final result was 149-0, and the opposing team...

       What if I told you there's a soccer stadium out there that's nearly three times the size of Wembley, Maracanã, Camp Nou or the Azteca? The real soccer nerds out there might already be thinking of the 1st of May Stadium, where the North Korean National Team plays, which seats about 114,000 people, but there's another on out there with twice the capacity.  I introduce to you the Great Strahov Stadium, in Prague, Czech Republic. This stadium has a capacity for 250,000 fans (56,000 seated), fits within it 9 full size fields and has a total size of...

       It is very common for ex-colonies around the world, when talking about soccer, to take inspiration from their European ex-colonizers. For example, there are many clubs named "United" or "City" in ex-English colonies, plenty of "Real" in the Spanish speaking world, and "Stade" in those with French influence. Among ex-Portuguese colonies, the inspiration usually comes from Portugal's Big 3. Benfica Macau from Macau, Sporting Cabinda from Angola or Porto Caruaru from Brazil, are just some of the many examples. In Cape Verde however, it is a different Portuguese club that gave inspiration to the local league: Academica...

       In the mid 2000s in the small Brazilian city of Sorocaba something odd was happening. A mysterious North Korean figure appeared, known as Reverend Moon, to spread the word of his church, the Unification Church. In order to get more visibility he decided to back one of the local teams in the city, Atletico Sorocaba, who with his investments gained some national recognition. Simultaneously, the North Korean National Team had qualified for the 2010 World Cup and was struggling to find strong opponents to play friendly matches in preparation for the tournament. Turns out that Reverend Moon...

       In the 2000 Copa Libertadores, current champions Palmeiras were playing at home against Bolivian side The Strongest. In that cold winter night the Brazilians had no problems opening a big lead, and towards the end of the match, with favorable score of 4-0, Palmeiras's massage therapist asked the goalkeeper Marcos if he wanted some water. "Actually, bring me some coffee", he replayed. A few moments later goalkeeper Marcos was sipping some hot coffee mid Copa Libertadores match. Obviously this was was seen as wildly disrespectful by all of Bolivia, however in Brazil the episode was toned down...