A stampede of soccer fans before a World Cup qualifying match in Guatemala City kills 84 people and seriously injures more than 100 on this day in 1996. The Guatemala national team was set to face off against Costa Rica on a Wednesday night in Guatemala City. Approximately 60,000 ...read more
A referee’s call in a soccer match between Peru and Argentina sparks a riot on this day in 1964. More than 300 fans were killed and another 500 people were injured in the violent melee that followed at National Stadium in Lima, Peru. The match was a qualifier for the 1964 ...read more
When it comes to the World Cup tournament, host nations have long used the event as a giant diversionary tool. Whether the economy is sagging (South Africa), corruption scandals are raging (Brazil) or world bodies have levied sanctions in response to illegal interventions ...read more
Global tournaments like the World Cup are never free of politics and that was especially true in 1938 during the run-up to World War II when the fascist leaders of Germany and Italy were eager to put their stamp on the final outcome. But the Germans may have made a miscalculation ...read more
Over the course of the month-long World Cup, fans will cheer for every “golazo” and groan over every near miss, or defensive miscue. One thing most people outside of the pitch won’t lose sleep over, however, is the sport’s most important object: the ball. This year’s ball, the ...read more
Every four years, patient soccer fans around the world can allow themselves to dream once again that their nation can—and will—claim FIFA World Cup glory. In the decades since Uruguay hosted and won the first World Cup in 1930—a much smaller-scale affair featuring 13 teams and ...read more
On March 20, 1966, a daring thief in London fulfilled the dreams of soccer players around the globe by putting his hands on the Jules Rimet Trophy. Four months before England was set to host the World Cup for the first time, panic and embarrassment swept the country when it was ...read more
As World War I raged and the men of England went off to the trenches, women took their place—both on the factory floor and on the soccer field. At the Dick, Kerr and Co. factory in the northwest English city of Preston, women kept the trolley cars, locomotives and munitions ...read more
1. Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh In the 19th century, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh turned the hunt for new dinosaur species into a cutthroat game of one-upmanship. The two scientists started out on friendly terms—each had once named new fossils ...read more
On May 7, 1921, representatives from eight of America’s premier soccer teams met late into the night at Manhattan’s Hotel Astor before embarking on a bold plan to launch a new professional soccer league. Although it had passionate supporters, soccer had not established the same ...read more
Its organizers hoped the 1950 edition of the Cup would mark a return to normalcy. First contested in 1930, the quadrennial event was being held for just the fourth time, after being cancelled from 1938 onwards due to World War II. With much of Europe still war torn, Brazil easily ...read more
Known to most of the rest of the world as football, or “fútbol,” the beautiful game is almost exclusively referred to as soccer in the United States, but many Americans may be surprised to learn that our outlier moniker actually originated across the pond. Games played by ...read more
On this day in 1950, an American team composed largely of amateurs defeated its more polished English opponents at the World Cup, held in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Dubbed the “Miracle on Green,” the game is considered one of the greatest soccer upsets of all time. The English team ...read more
Trophy’s Best Friend A few months before the 1966 World Cup, the Jules Rimet trophy, which is awarded to each tournament’s winner, went on display at a London stamp exhibition. Despite 24-hour surveillance, thieves managed to break into the trophy’s display case and make off with ...read more
It may have been the greatest soccer upset of all time, a World Cup match so astonishing it was retroactively dubbed the “Miracle on Green.” On June 25, 1950, a ragtag bunch of American amateurs defeated England in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a mining city surrounded by hills. ...read more
Brazilian soccer great Pele scores his 1,000th professional goal in a game, against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium. It was a major milestone in an illustrious career that included three World Cup championships. Pele, considered one of the greatest soccer ...read more
On this day in 1902, the Madrid Foot Ball Club is founded by a group of fans in Madrid, Spain. Later known as Real Madrid, the club would become the most successful European football (soccer) franchise of the 20th century. With its trademark blue-and-white uniforms (originally ...read more
On June 29, 1958, Brazil defeats host nation Sweden 5-2 to win its first World Cup. Brazil came into the tournament as a favorite, and did not disappoint, thrilling the world with their spectacular play, which was often referred to as the “beautiful game.” The star of the ...read more
On July 13, 1930, France defeats Mexico 4-1 and the United States defeats Belgium 3-0 in the first-ever World Cup football matches, played simultaneously in host city Montevideo, Uruguay. The World Cup has since become the world’s most watched sporting event. After football ...read more
On June 2, 1985, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) bans English football (soccer) clubs from competing in Europe. The ban followed the death of 39 Italian and Belgian football fans at Brussels’ Heysel Stadium in a riot caused by English football hooligans at that ...read more
On this day in 1992, President George H.W. Bush hosts a White House reception for the U.S. women’s soccer team in honor of their recent World Cup win. On this occasion, President George H.W. Bush displayed the wry, folksy sense of humor that endeared him to his supporters. He ...read more
On this day in 1958, a British European Airways flight crashes just after takeoff from the Munich Airport. Twenty-three people died in the crash, including eight players from the Manchester United soccer team, which had just qualified for the semifinals of the European Cup. The ...read more
On this day in 1988, a sudden hail storm prompts fans at a soccer match in Kathmandu, Nepal, to flee. The resulting stampede killed at least 70 people and injured hundreds more. Approximately 30,000 people were watching the game between the Nepalese home team, Janakpur, and ...read more
Fifty people die in a fire in the grandstand at a soccer stadium in Bradford, England, on this day in 1985. The wooden roof that burned was scheduled to be replaced by a steel roof later that same week. Bradford was playing Lincoln City on the afternoon of May 11. Many fans ...read more
