Golaço Stories

The tragic occurrence in the Heysel Stadium in 1985 is very well known and often remembered. What is not often remembered is how the English soccer calendar was reorganized after the 5 year ban that was given to all clubs from European competitions. With many open slots available, 2 domestic cups were created. The first one was only held once in 1986 called the Football League Super Cup, where the teams who had qualified for the 1985/86 European competitions (Everton, Norwich, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Southampton) would play against each other. Liverpool lifted the trophy defeating city rivals Everton...

It is almost impossible to imagine that in a place that is home to some of the worlds most fanatic soccer fans today, the sport used to be banned all together. In the Ottoman Empire during the late 1800's the conservative Muslim regime saw the sport as foreign to the local culture and in order to maintain the empire's traditions and identity soccer was forbidden for the Turkish people. Even though the local population was not allowed to play the prohibition did not apply to the non-Muslim immigrant communities, making soccer extremely popular amongst the Brits, Jews, Greeks and Armenians. Despite the oppression,...

Imagine a club having a crest so divisive that it created controversy with fans, players and staff for over 80 years. This is what America de Cali has to constantly deal with, the Colombian clubs crest has always split opinions and will most likely continue to do so for generations to come. This story begins in the 1930's, when America was founded and began sporting their first crest on their jerseys. The crest was pretty standard, it featured the South American continent with the name of club written around it, all in red and white. In the early 1940's America made...

The collapse of the Soviet Union occurred in December 26th 1991, in the world of soccer however the date is January 23rd 2016. After the union between the Soviet states dissolved there was an attempt to continue the legacy with soccer. In 1993 the CIS Cup was inaugurated, the Commonwealth of Independent States Cup. The participants were the champions of all former Soviet republics plus Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The regional tournament, recognized by FIFA, drew significant interest by both the fans and the clubs, at least in the beginning. As the years went by the Russian and Ukrainian clubs,...

Aldosivi and Alvarado, despite being two clubs who dwell far from the spotlight, are the protagonists of one of the most fierce derbies in the world. The Argentinian clubs from the city of Mar del Plata play a "clasico" known as Clasico Marplatense, but in recent years it became known as the Clasico Prohibido (Forbidden Derby). The events behind this story, like every good story, mix a lot of fact with fiction so I'll try to keep those two separate. What is definitely a fact is that both clubs hate each other. Around 1988 the matches between Aldosivi and Alvarado started to...