“Bobby Wales recently played for Scotland Under-19s against Ireland,” tweeted Adam Harcus. “Are there any other examples of a player playing for a country with the name of a different country on the back of his or her shirt?”
There were plenty of answers to this one, although some technically pre-date the era of player names on shirts. “Mike England was the brilliant Spurs centre half who played for Wales in the FA Cup winning side against Chelsea. As an aside I’ve supported them (through thick and largely thin) ever since,” writes Matthew Davis.
There was also Sam English (close but no cigar), who was capped for the Republic of Ireland scoring his only international goal against Wales while playing for a Scottish club (Rangers), points out Stephen Toal – “completing the Home Nations quintet.”
Roger Kay has more suggestions: “Joe Jordan (Scotland), Alan Brazil (Scotland). Giovanni Tedesco didn’t play international football, but his name in Italian means ‘German’. And if Alessia Russo gets herself a transfer to Italy, her name means ‘Russian’ there…”
“Alfonso Portugal (1958) and Miguel España (1986) were both in a World Cup squad for Mexico,” Stijn points out, before adding one more to the pre-shirt-name-era list. “Luís Gervasoni, nicknamed ‘Itália’, represented Brazil at the first World Cup in 1930.”
Speaking of Mexico, Dom Miller begins his extensive list with Mexico Leututu, who played for American Samoa in their infamous 31-0 loss to Australia in 2001. Dom also suggests José Luis González China, a Mexican international who earned 14 caps between 1980 and 1991, and George Poland, who played for Wales twice in 1939.
Moving on to more recent players who (most likely) did have their surname on the back of their shirt, Graeme Stockton reminds us of Jason Scotland, who played for Trinidad & Tobago in the 2006 World Cup – including against England.
“It gave the Scottish fans a reason (as if they needed one) to cheer on a team playing England. There was even a single released at the time which I have in my collection,” he adds. Going back four years, Dom Miller suggests Matt Holland who played for the Republic of Ireland at the 2002 World Cup. The Guardian style guide doesn’t like it, Dom, but we do.
Dom also suggests Martinique international Gael Germany (although Martinique is not a Fifa member), Daniel Montenegro who picked up three caps for Argentina, and Ken Oman , who played for the Republic of Ireland’s Under-21 team four times in 2002-03.
Back to Stijn, who suggests Françoaldo Sena de Souza (França) – “he won eight caps for Brazil from 2000 to 2002, and possibly wore a shirt with his nickname on it.” Finally, another Wales in Scotland: Gary Wales didn’t get a full cap for his native country but did twice represent the Scottish under 21’s in 2000.
Giresse the false goalkeeper
“Piggybacking off the recent question about both teams’ goalkeepers being sent off in the same match, has a team ever chosen to play without a goalkeeper?” wonders Tom Leonard. “Has a player ever put on the keeper’s jersey to fulfil a league’s requirement but essentially carried on playing as an outfielder?”
Here’s Kári Tulinius with quite the tale from Ligue 1. “In 1982, Bordeaux’s goalkeeper, Dragan Pantelic, was suspended for a year for kicking out at an assistant referee. For the final match of the season, the club owner, Claude Bez, forced the coach, Aimé Jacquet, to play midfield maestro Alain Giresse in goal against Nantes on the last day of the season as a protest against the French FA’s decision.
“Giresse didn’t bother much with staying between the sticks, playing in his usual midfield position while wearing the goalkeeper’s kit, except when the opponents had a corner or a free-kick. Meanwhile, another legend of the French game, Marius Trésor, stayed on the line trying to parry shots away without using his hands.
“Watching footage from the match feels like peering into someone else’s stress dream.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bordeaux lost the game 6-0.
Not him again!
“Graham Kavanagh scored against Leeds for Middlesbrough (1995-96), Stoke (1997-98), Cardiff (2001-02), Sunderland (2006-07) and Carlisle (2009-10),” begins Stephen Deacon. “He also scored a winning penalty in a FA Cup shootout against them for Wigan in 2006. Can any other player beat scoring against one club for more than five teams?”
Chris Parsons can match Kavanagh’s tally: “James Milner has scored against Sunderland for Leeds (2002-03), Newcastle 2007-08), Aston Villa (2008-09), Manchester City (2012-13) and Liverpool (2016-17).”
Tom Biltcliffe can go one better, though. “Marcus Bent scored against Bolton on six occasions for six different clubs. They were: Crystal Palace (1997-98), Sheffield United (1999-2000), Blackburn (2000-01), Leicester (2003-04), Everton (2005-06) and Charlton (2006-07).”
Knowledge archive
“In Stoke City’s 2–2 draw with Leicester in November, Stoke’s two goals were scored by Xherdan Shaqiri and Peter Crouch,” wrote Robin Wiles in 2017. “Has there ever been a greater disparity in the heights of players scoring goals for the same team in the same match?”
As well as not being the biggest height difference ever, it wasn’t even the greatest at Stoke that season, as Chai points out: “Peter Crouch’s height is 2.01m (6ft 7in) and Xherdan Shaqiri is 1.69m (5ft 6in), a difference of 32cm. When Stoke won 4-0 against Rochdale in the Carabao Cup on 24 August this season, the height difference between two scorers was a whopping 33cm. Peter Crouch (again) towered over Stoke’s captain for the day, the 1.68m (5ft 5in) Joe Allen.” A reminder that every centimetre counts.
Chai has some other examples featuring Crouchy. “When Crouch and the 1.65m (5ft 4in) Aaron Lennon scored for Tottenham in the 9-1 demolition of Wigan in 2009, the height difference was 36cm.” Crouch matched the 36cm-mark playing alongside Shaun Wright-Phillips for England, as Navin Patel points out. The duo found the scoresheet together on two separate occasions: firstly against Belarus in 2009 and then in a friendly with Egypt a year later.
Still, there is an even better big-man-little-man partnership out there: at Jef United in Japan. Norway’s Tor Hogne Aarøy, who is 2.04m (6ft 8in) tall, scored alongside Makai Fukai, who stands at just 1.61m (5ft 3in), in two second-division games back in 2011.
Can you help?
“The Spin claims that Mohammed Nabi has played against 43 international teams. There are a lot more international football teams than cricket teams but who has played against the most?” asks Mark Jones.
“Everton’s last five league wins have all been against teams beginning with the letter B (Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth last season; Brentford and Bournemouth this season),” notes Jonathan Tasker. “What’s the longest sequence of winning matches any team has against opponents all starting with the same letter?”
“In Walsall’s recent 3-3 draw at Newport, Freddie Draper scored a hat-trick in which all three goals were equalisers,” notes Graham Doe. “Are there previous examples of this happening?”
“This weekend, Bologna defender Lorenzo De Silvestri scored a header from outside the 18-yard box,” writes Bogdan Kotarlic. “What is the longest-range header on record?”
“In his ninth match in all competitions this season, Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy has scored 15 goals. Has any player, who at least reached double figures, improved on their best scoring season in as few games?” asks Kári Tulinius.
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