Now You Know Big Book of Sports. Doug Lennox

7 wins in 13 appearances

      • Blackburn Rovers: 6 wins in 8 appearances

      • Newcastle United: 6 wins in 13 appearances

      • Everton: 5 wins in 12 appearances

      • The Wanderers: 5 wins in 5 appearance

      • West Bromwich Albion: 5 wins in 10 appearances

       What was the first non-English team in the FA Cup final?

      In 1884, Glasgow’s Queen’s Park FC became the first club from outside England to reach the FA Cup Final. They lost to Blackburn Rovers, 2–1. They did it again in 1885, and lost it again to Blackburn Rovers, 2–0.

       What was the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup?

      A forerunner to the UEFA Cup, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was an annual soccer competition held between 1955 and 1971. It was set up to promote international trade fairs in European cities and featured teams from those cities playing in matches timed to coincide with such fairs. The first Fairs Cup involved teams from Barcelona, Basle, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Lausanne, Leipzig, London, Milan, and Zagreb. Barcelona beat a London 8–2 on aggregate in a two-leg final.

       How was the UEFA Cup started?

      The UEFA Cup grew out of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup after the Union des Associations Européennes de Football took over the competition in 1971, at which time UEFA disassociated the cup from trade fairs. The competition was traditionally open to the runners-up of domestic leagues, but it was merged with UEFA’s previous second-tier European competition, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, in 1999. Since then, the winners of domestic cup competitions have also entered the UEFA Cup.

       Why was South Africa disqualified from the inaugural African Cup of Nations?

      The Confederation of African Football (CAF) was founded on February 8, 1957, in Khartoum, Sudan, by the Football Associations of Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Sudan.

      The same four nations were to compete in the CAF’s inaugural African Cup of Nations in Sudan later that month. But no sooner had South Africa signed on than they were disqualified, having failed to field a multiracial team due to their government’s policy of apartheid. Over two games, Egypt defeated both Sudan and Ethiopia to take the cup in what might be the shortest international cup competition on record.

       Who was Carlos Padrós?

      Carlos Padrós Rubio was a founding member of Real Madrid and later served as club president between 1904 and 1908. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Copa del Rey, which was first played in 1902 to celebrate the coronation of Alfonso XIII. Carlos Padrós refereed the first-ever Copa del Rey final, in which Club Vizcaya defeated FC Barcelona 2–1.

       What is a scudetto

      Scudetto in Itlalian means “little shield,” and in soccer it refers to a badge in the colours of the Italian flag, awarded annually to the championship club in the Lega Calcio Serie A, located at the top echelon of the

      Italian soccer league system. The winning team will wear the badge on their jersey in the following season. The first time scudetto were used was in 1924 when Genoa CFC won its eighth championship title. They have not won it since.

       Quickies

       Did you know …

      that Athletic Bilbao were declared winners of the 1904 Copa del Rey because their opponents in the final, Club Español de Madrid, showed up on the wrong date?

       What is the Trophée des Champions ?

      Le Trophée des Champions, or the Champions Trophy, is a cup organized by the French Football Federation, a match between the winners of the French Championship and the winners of the French Cup.

       What is the Triple Crown of Brazilian Football?

      The Triple Crown of Brazilian Football is an unofficial title given to the club that wins the three most important competitions in Brazilian soccer in the same year: the Brazilian Football State Championship, the Copa do Brasil, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (Brazilian Championship First Level). Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from the city of Belo Horizonte, is the only team to have done so (in 2003).

       Six French Teams With Multiple Trophée des Champions Wins

      • Olympique Lyonnais: 7 wins (1973, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)

      • Stade Reims: 5 wins (1949, 1955, 1958, 1960, 1966)

      • AS Saint-Étienne: 5 wins (1957, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1969)

      • AS Monaco FC: 4 wins (1961, 1985, 1997, 2000)

      • FC Nantes: 3 wins (1965, 1999, 2001)

      • FC Girondins de Bordeaux: 2 wins (1986, 2008)

      • Paris Saint-Germain FC: 2 wins (1995, 1998)

       Who was Lamar Hunt?

      The man who gives his name to North America’s Major League Soccer (MLS) championship — the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup — was a sportsman and essential promoter of soccer in the United States. He was one of the founders of MLS as well as its predecessor, the North American Soccer League (NASL). At his death in 2006 he owned two MLS teams, Columbus Crew and FC Dallas.

       What is the Voyageurs Cup?

      The Voyageurs Cup is the only trophy for top-level professional soccer in Canada. From 2002 to 2007, the cup was awarded annually to the Canadian United Soccer Leagues division team finishing with the best record from regular season matches against other Canadian teams in the USL. From 2008 until at least 2010, the trophy will be awarded to the winner of the Canadian Championship. Montreal Impact has won the cup every year so far.

       Has Canada ever won a major international tournament?

      Thrice, actually. The first time was at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games, in St. Louis. Canada sent Galt FC as their representative team and they defeated the only two other teams entered without being scored on. The second instance was more challenging as Canada competed in a field of nine national teams from the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football to win the 1985 CONCACAF Championship. Then in 2000 they emerged victorious from a field of eight teams to take the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

       Animalistic Player Nicknames

      • Lionel Andrés Messi — Atomic Flea

      • Iker Casillas — El Gato (The Cat)

      • Claudio Lopez — El Piojo (The Louse)

      • Gennaro Gattuso — The Pit Bull

      • Eusebio — The Black Panther

      • Kevin Keegan — Mighty Mouse

      • Jack Charlton — The Giraffe

      • Marco Van Basten — The Swan of Utrecht

      • Arthur Friedenreich — The Tiger

       Who was the “Little Bird”?

      When he was an infant, Brazilian player Manuel Francisco dos Santos suffered from severe physical disabilities: his spine was deformed, his right leg bent inwards, and his left leg was 2.4 inches (six centimetres) shorter and curved outwards. An