“Which club has had the fewest sponsor logos adorn their shirts?” asks Bob Krag. “My guess is Arsenal, who have only had four (JVC, Dreamcast/Sega, O2 and Emirates). Even Barcelona, who eschewed shirt sponsorship for many years, have had more.”
Let’s start with a club who supplied Barcelona with the supernatural talents of Romário and Ronaldo in the 1990s. “PSV Eindhoven have had only three sponsors: Philips (from 1982, when shirt sponsorship was allowed in the Netherlands, to 2016), EnergieDirect (2016-2019) and Brainport Eindhoven (2019-),” writes Stephan Wijnen.
If you want to treat your eyes to some gorgeous PSV kits, particularly in the early 1990s, Stephen has kindly provided this link. “You could argue that Philips was the sponsor (although not on the shirt) from the very beginning of the club in 1913, since PSV (Philips Sport Vereniging) was founded as a club – with a lot more sports than just football – for the employees of the company. The current sponsor (Brainport Eindhoven) is not a company, but a collective name for eight companies – of which Philips is one – who are together PSV’s shirt sponsor.”
For those screaming Wolfsburg from the rooftops, Chris Greenhough replies: “Local firm Volkswagen has been on shirts since 1991 (35 years). For two years prior to that, there was a dalliance with Kelts (now-discontinued non-alcoholic Pilsner beer) and then before 1989 there was a revolving series of local, non-corporate branding.”
From Eindhoven and Lower Saxony to Dumfries and Galloway. “Look no further than the lower levels of Scottish football and Stranraer,” writes Chris Matterface. “They were sponsored by Burgess Motors from 1985–1988, Sealink from 1988–1996 and Stena Line ever since. Stena Line bought Sealink in 1991 (but didn’t rebrand it until 1996) so this is really just two sponsors in over 40 years.”
Two and a half sponsors in 44 years? That’s positively vulgar compared to the next example. “Japan’s J1 League has a number of long-running shirt sponsors, including at Sanfrecce Hiroshima, where Mazda has been on the front of shirts since the club’s inception in 1992,” adds the aforementioned Chris Greenhough. “So that’s one sponsor in 34 years – and still going. However, fellow mid-tablers Kawasaki Frontale can beat that by one year: Fujitsu has been the principal sponsor of the team since its days as the Fujitsu Soccer Club in 1991. One sponsor, 35 years, also still ongoing.”
Dirk Maas, has a few more suggestions from Japan. “Since 1992, Gamba Osaka’s founding year, Panasonic has been on the front of the shirts,” he writes. “Exactly the same goes for Yokohama F Marinos, who were founded in 1992 as well and they have been sponsored by Nissan since then. Kashiwa Reysol, founded in 1993, have been sponsored by Hitachi ever since.”
Dirk also flags that Celta Vigo have had just two sponsors: Citroën between 1985 and 2016 and Estrella Galicia since 2016. His best shout, though, may be from Chile. “Rangers de Talca from Chile had their first shirt sponsor in 1977. The name Productos Fernández has been on the shirt ever since.” With the current deal to expire in 2031, the partnership is on course to break the half-century mark.
The final word, although really it should be silence, goes to Callum McNie. “One potential winner is FC United of Manchester, who have never to this day had a front of shirt sponsor in accordance with their anti-commercial philosophy.”
Mind the gap
“Recently, Arsenal had a key game at home to already-relegated Burnley,” notes Daz Pearce. “Had Burnley recorded a surprise victory they would have overturned a matchday deficit of 58 points, so slightly more than a surprise then. What’s the highest such deficit ‘overturned’ by a team, presumably in a match very late in the season?”
Our mind went straight to a famous game at Highfield Road in May 1985, when Coventry avoided relegation by thumping Everton, the new champions, 4-1. But this was a season in which Norwich were relegated with 49 points, so the gap between top and bottom (OK, and with apologies to Stoke fans, top and second or third bottom) wasn’t quite so spectacular: Everton 90 – Coventry 47 = a 43-point gap.
Regular Knowledge readers won’t be surprised to hear Chris Roe has a much better example. “This was a topic we covered in the English Football Record group,” writes Chris. “On 19 March 2002, Kevin Keegan’s Manchester City (top of the second tier with 83 points) made the short trip to the bottom club Stockport County (17). This was the league table before the game. Stockport’s shock 2-1 win didn’t impact either club’s end-of-season position, but it did set a record for the highest absolute points difference between two teams in a match where the lower-placed team won (66).
“This is one better than a more recent example, also in the second tier, when Sunderland (34 points) won 3-0 against the champions Wolves (99) on the last day of the 2017-18 season.
“If we adjust all matches to three points for a win, there is a bigger points difference. On 24 April 1920, in the old Division Two, Grimsby Town beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0. The actual gap between the teams was 46 points. Had there been three points for a win, they would have had 29 and 98 points respectively – a difference of 69.”
At the wheel
“Celtic’s dramatic final-day win over Hearts means that Wilfried Nancy played his part in a title-winning campaign despite a record of two wins from six league games,” writes Niall McVeigh. “Excluding caretakers, who are the worst-performing managers to help a team win the championship?”
We know all about the link between Martin O’Neill and Brian Clough. For this question, Nigel is a more relevant reference. “The one that sprang to mind here was when Roy McFarland took over at Burton Albion in 2008-09 after Nigel Clough left for Derby,” writes Daz Pearce. “Burton were miles clear in the Conference and continued with that momentum for a few weeks before losing eight out of their last 13 matches, including five of the last six. Had Histon and Cambridge not choked to some extent, or the season gone on a bit longer, Burton would surely have been caught.”
McFarland was replaced by Paul Peschisolido at the end of the season. The contrast between his record and Clough’s in the league that season was acute
Knowledge archive
“A lot of questions go unanswered,” began Eugene Francis in 2022. “I feel this will be one: has a goalkeeper ever taken a corner?”
Step forward Javi Yegros of CD Pedrusco de Garbayuela in Spain, who not only took a corner but only went and scored from it as well. “I imagine many goalkeepers have taken corners, but Yegros stands out,” writes Tim Dockery. “He had trained as an outfield player until an injury made him switch to exclusively playing in goal. With his team (in Extremadura’s local second division) down 1-0 and time running out, he went upfield to take his side’s free-kicks and eventually a couple of corners. On the last play of the game, he mis-hit his corner and a strong wind carried it directly into the goal to tie the game. It’s the only instance I know of where a goalie scored an Olympic goal.”
Can you help?
“Salford won the most games in their division this season (25), yet didn’t get promoted,” writes Nick Orton. “Who has won the most league games in a season without achieving promotion?”
“Is Max Dowman the youngest player to win the English title and who are the youngest winners across other major leagues?” asks Liam McKnight. “Let’s limit it to players who started at least one game.”
“Jadon Sancho played in the finals of all three European competitions in the last three years,” notes Glenn Coburn. “Has anyone done this, or were they other close calls like Emerson Palmieri (2019, 2021, 2023)?”
“If Crystal Palace win their Conference League final it will result in Rochdale, York City, Tranmere Rovers and Crawley Town needing to play a preliminary round in the League Cup,” begins Tom Reed, helpfully adding this link by way of explanation. “Has there ever been a bigger gulf in levels between how the results of one team could impact the fixtures of another?”
“Atert Bissen won the league in their first ever season in Luxembourg’s top flight after managing back-to-back promotions from the third tier of Luxembourgish football,” writes Martin Davies. “Is this a unique achievement? The town/village of Bissen has a population of only 3,500 people. Is it the smallest community to have a team in Europe?”
“Celtic have 56 league titles to Rangers’ 55, having been 12 behind at the end of the 2010-11 season. Has any other team come from so far behind to lead the roll of honour for a competition?” asks Brendan O’Mahony.