Breaking Down the Most Iconic Football Facts and Moments of All Time

Football, the biggest and most watched sport in the world has given us an enormous amount of iconic moments to live for. From the era of Pele and Maradona to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and now Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, football stars have been able to create moments on and off the field which will stay with the fans for their lifetime. In our special football facts article, we look into some of those iconic football moments till now. 

Maradona's "Hand of God" 

If you talk about iconic football moments, this has to be one of the most iconic and controversial moments in football history. The Argentine maestro Diego Maradona used his hand to score a goal in the all-important quarter-final match against England in the 1986 FIFA World Cup at Estadio Azteca in Mexico. 

In the sixth minute of the game, a long ball by English midfielder Steve Hodge came towards the English goal and Maradona, the lone Argentine player inside the box jumped in the air to get the ball. While jumping in the air, Maradona had his left arm outstretched and the fist close to his head. English goalkeeper Peter Shilton also jumped in the air to get the ball. 

But the ball hit Maradona's fist and went straight into the goal to give Argentina the 1-0 and eventually won the match by 2-1. Scoring a goal with the hand is illegal but the referee did not have a clear view and after a discussion with the linesman, gave the goal to Argentina. 

Post the goal, when Maradona was asked if the goal was illegal, he said, "A little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God" and the goal was named "Hand of God" after that. However, later the late great footballer acknowledged the fact the goal was illegal. 

Argentina went on to win the FIFA World Cup that year and Mexican photographer Alejandro Ojeda Carbajal clicked the iconic moment for generation next to have a look at that iconic and controversial moment.

Read Also | 11 Iconic Football Celebrations and Reasons Behind Them 

The Miracle of Istanbul

The Miracle of Istanbul is one of the most iconic incidents in Liverpool FC's history and perhaps in modern football's history. In the 2005 UEFA Champions League final at Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Liverpool FC and AC Milan faced each other as Liverpool looked for their fifth European title and AC Milan looked for their seventh title.

Liverpool were appearing in a Champions League final first time since 1985 and Milan were playing their second final in three years. Obviously, Milan was touted to be the favourites and they proved everyone right with captain Paolo Maldini scoring within the first minute of the match. Hernan Crespo then scored in the 39th and 44th minute to give Milan a huge 3-0 in the first half.

Down and out Liverpool needed to do something 'miraculous' to make a comeback in the match and they did so. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard first scored for them in the 54th minute with a cracking header. Vladimir Smicer scored two minutes later with a long-range shot from outside the box. In the 60th minute, Xabi Alonso scored after his penalty was partially saved by goalkeeper Dida.

With the game being 3-3 after the full and extra time, the game went to penalties. Serginho missed the first penalty for Milan. Hamann scored for Liverpool to give them the lead. Andrea Pirlo then missed the second penalty for Milan and Djibril Cissé gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead. 

Tomasson then scored his penalty for Milan but John Arne Riise missed his one for Liverpool and Milan came back with Kaka scoring in the next shot. Vladimir Smicer then scored his penalty and Jerzy Dudek saved Andriy Shevchenko's penalty to hand Liverpool their fifth Champions League title. 

Zinedine Zidane's Headbutt

Another iconic moment in modern football history took place during the 2006 FIFA World Cup when France captain Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italian defender Marco Materazzi. The Les Blues captain received the red card which then became the last footballing action from the French legend. 

So what happened that day? The World Cup final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin went into extra time after Zidane himself gave France the lead in the seventh minute and Marco Materazzi equalising for Italy in the 19th minute of the game. Throughout the game, both Zidane and Marco Materazzi came close to each other. 

In the 110th minute of the match, after Materazzi touched Zidane during a ball play and Gennaro Gattuso cleared the ball, both players shared words between themselves. Everything looked part of the game but what came seconds later shocked the entire world.

The 1998 World Cup winner planted his golden boots firmly on the ground and lowered his head to headbutt the Italian defender, who was sent tumbling across the turf. With most of the players and the match referee Horacio Elizondo not witnessing the incident, the referee had to discuss everything with the assisting referee before showing a red card to the French captain.

Zidane without even a word to argue with the referee, left the field head bowed. Italy went on to win the match by 5-3 in the penalties. 

Later in 2020 in the Spanish publication AS, Materazzi revealed what he had said to Zidane which resulted in the headbutt. He said, “There had been a bit of contact between us in the area. He had scored France's goal in the first half and our coach (Marcello Lippi) told me to mark him. After that first brush between us, I apologised but he reacted badly.

“After the third clash, I frowned and he retorted: 'I'll give you my shirt later'. I replied that I'd rather have his sister than his shirt.

“My words were stupid but did not deserve that reaction. In any neighbourhood of Rome, Naples, Turin, Milan Paris, I hear much more serious things.

“I talked about his sister not his mother, like I have read in some newspapers. My mother died while I was a teenager, I would never insult his.”

Zidane never spilt a word about the incident until 2022 when he said Telefoot, “I’m not at all proud of what I did but it’s part of my past.”

Pele’s 1000th Goal

From the recent incidents of football let me now take you to a glorious past when a certain player named Pele scored the 1000th goal of his professional career and became the first and still the only footballer to achieve the feat.

Pele, the once-in-a-lifetime player from Brazil popularised football all over the world during and after his playing days. The three-time World Cup winner with Brazil holds an enormous number of records while playing for Santos and his national team.

Read Also | Highest goal scorer in international football history 

Due to the hazardous nature of the football schedule during his time, there was never an exact count of how many goals the Brazilian no. 10 scored. However, on November 19, 1969, during a game between Santos and Vasco da Gama fans of both teams gave him a standing ovation after he scored in the game. That goal was considered the 1000th goal of his professional career. 

At that time, Pele was not even 30, which proved at what rate the great man scored. Although there will be always a question mark on how many goals he actually scored since there is no official record to support that, Pele in 2015 claimed that he scored 1283 goals in his career. 

The Undefeated Invincibles

Now from a goal or moment, we will talk about a whole football season that has been etched in Premier League and football history for eternity. Arsene Wenger's Arsenal FC went unbeaten in the 2003/04 season to create history. In the 38 games in the league, they won 26, drawn 12 and lost none.

Read Also | The Invincibles: 8 times a football team won their league undefeated

After winning a domestic double in the 2002/03 season. manager Arsene Wenger told his team that they were capable of going unbeaten in the season. And, the players made that happen. However, that was not a smooth ride for the team as they came back from setbacks to win or draw games.

Theirry Henry was their strongest force at the front with the French striker scoring 30 goals in the season, while Robert Pires netted 14 times. However, it was players like captain Patrick Viera, Dennis Bergkamp, Gilberto Silva, Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure who carried the team on their backs. 

Arsenal 2003-04 Invincible squad

Leicester City’s Premier League Triumph

From the Invincible's story, we move to one of the greatest underdog stories in football history. Leicester City winning the Premier League title in the 2015-16 season is football's most inspiring story you will hear and tell in your life.

Before winning the Premier League, they were nearly relegated in season before and two seasons ago, they were playing in the Championship. Who on earth would have given the bets for the Foxes to win the league that season? Well, it was, the fearlessness and beliefs of Claudio Ranieri's boys that turned the grass into golds and underdogs into champions.

Ranieri created a solid 4-4-2 formation at the start of the season to form a team that can beat anyone in the counterattack and then defend with solid shape and discipline. They are still the team to win the Premier League with the lowest average possession figure of 42.43%. 

Jamie Verdy with 24 goals and 6 assists was the star for the Foxes alongside Riyad Mahrez, who scored 17 goals and assisted 11 times in that season. N'Golo Kante's stunning debut season saw making him 175 tackles and 156 interceptions, which were the most in the league that season.

Leicester City won 23 games. drawn 12 and lost only 3 games to earn a club record 81 points en route clinching their first and only Premier League title. 

Leicester City' squad in the 2015-16 Premier League

The Most Expensive Transfer in History

Football, the sport is what it is because of the amount of revenue it has been generating over the last few decades and professional players earning a hefty amount for showing their skills week in and week out. 

Footballers attracting "A huge amount of money" has been one of the reasons why players are now ready to leave their favourite clubs or leagues and play somewhere they can more money.

Neymar Jr, the Brazilian attracted people's eyes from his early days in Santos. He then was signed by FC Barcelona and played alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez to create one of the most fearsome trios in football history. However, after spending four seasons with the Catalonian club, Neymar made a move to the French club Paris St. Germain (PSG) where he earned a record transfer fee of €222 million in August 2017.

Neymar's move to PSG from Barcelona for €222 million is still the most expensive transfer in football history as of August 2024.

The Messi-Ronaldo Era

Well, if you are writing about major football facts and you do not mention Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, you should either end up in jail or accept some huge punishments from the football fans. 

I waited till the last to mention these two greats because if we mentioned their moments created with goals, trophies or seasons, the list would have ended up being 10000 words long. That's why and rightly so, we mentioned the whole Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo era as a significant football moment in the history of football.

Read Also | 10 players who have won the most trophies in football history 

Since 2006, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo won a total of 77 trophies (Messi 44, Ronaldo 33). They scored fifty-plus goals in a season a record 13 times in their career (Messi 6 times, Ronaldo 7 times). They are the only two players to score over 800 official goals each in their careers for club and country.

They both have scored more than 100 goals in their international careers. Moreover, they dominated the Ballon d'Or winners list by not letting anyone other than themselves win the award from 2008 to 2017. The record was finally broken by Luka Modric of Croatia when he won the 2018 Ballon d'Or to announce "the end of an era".

Read Also | Ballon d'Or 2024: Most Ballon d'Or wins by Clubs 

Both legends together won the European Golden Shoe award ten times (Messi 6 times, Ronaldo 4 times). Messi, the Barcelona legend is the top scorer in La Liga history while Ronaldo is the top scorer in UEFA Champions League history.

With both the players going beyond the prime, football is now back to normal where players scoring 30-40 goals are getting considered as the best in the world, again.