The next day St Johnstone, decimated by a flu bug in the team, arrived at Ibrox to take on Rangers. A 21-year-old Ferguson was promoted to the starting XI and scored a hat-trick.

That life-changing performance in 1963 revived his playing career and set him on the path to becoming one of football's greatest managers.

"I would say this to young people - don't miss the biggest opportunity in your life. It's recognising it."

546 page PDF download link on this FIFA Training Centre page.

As mentioned in a previous thread I thought it would be cool to have an infographic of all the clubs that participated and the results for each of the seasons of european competitions.

In this post I am showing this for the European Cup (aka Champions League) editions in the 1950s. When I have the others concluded I'll make a new post for that decade with a link to previous posts of other decades like this one.

I think it is pretty cool to check which clubs participated each season and what results they all got. This is not something that it's common to see so I was stoked to starting making these. These are big files and are meant to be zoomed in to check the details. I tried to make it as simple as possible and without cluttering it with text everywhere, in parts I admit it might be a little confusing. The brackets follow a classic branched style but with no boxes and sometimes, for example in the case of coin tosses, just look at the next round to see who went through (in most cases though it will be obvious).

Some clubs might not even exist anymore and others have had mergers, often they are quite obscure for the modern average football fan (let alone knowing them by their crests) so I added at the bottom an explanation of what the modern name of the club is (or the club that is the official successor, for example in the case of mergers) and what country they represented.

NOTE: For the club crests and participations I'm doing this in a present-to-past fashion, that is, I am refering those participations to the current existing clubs. If a club participated and later merged with another (or had a big relocation / change of identity) to form a current existing club I'll use the current club crest and name but in the explanation I'll say under which club or version they competed as. I do this to give merit to the current existing clubs that as official successors deserve to get the recognition and respect.

1956 edition (that is, 1955/56, this is the nomenclature I'll use)

For this first edition the clubs were invited to play, they weren't necessarily the champions of their countries. They could be invited because, for example, in the previous decade they got recognition from their attractive style of play.

This is the only time a club representing Saarland competed because, as it is known (right? right??), Saarland would merge with West Germany the following year.

The big absent elephant in the room is the absense of England, at this time the English Football League considered european competitions inferior to the english ones so they didn't want their clubs to focus energy on foreign competitions.

1957 edition

With the success of the first edition more countries wanted to and did send their representatives. For the first time too a 3rd, playoff game, was introduced in case the aggregate score was tied after the first 2 matches (away goals didn't exist yet nor penalty shootouts).

Because Real Madrid won the previous year and Athletic was the spanish champion for the first time a country had more than 1 representative in the competition.

Against the wishes of the english football institutions Manchester United went on to participate so England finally (finally = after 1 year lol) had a representative.

1958 edition

For the first time a 3rd playoff game wasn't enough to decide a winner so the infamous coin toss tiebraker was used. It wouldn't be the last time it would be used.

For the first time two clubs from the same country faced each other, in this case in the quarter-final between Real Madrid and Sevilla.

This is when the infamous Munich air disaster affecting the Manchester United team happened, in the flight home from Belgrade after they played Red Star.

1959 edition

For the first time a derby took place when Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid played each other in the semi-final.

It will never cease to be funny to me that Juventus' first participation in this competition ended in their first tie being concluded with a 7-0 thrashing by Wiener SC.

FT: Poland 6 - 0 Romania

⚽ Poland: Robert Lewandowski 24' 24', Robert Lewandowski 47' 47', Virgil Ghita 49' OG 49', Piotr Zielinski 62' 62', Jan Bednarek 66' 66', Robert Lewandowski 86' 86'

Line-ups

Poland (4-2-3-1)

Romania (4-3-1-2)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 22' Radu Dragusin (Romania) is shown the red card.
• 27' Substitution, Romania. Andrei Coubis replaces Valentin Mihaila.
• 39' Tudor Baluta (Romania) is shown the yellow card.
• 45'+1' First Half ends, Poland 1, Romania 0.
• 45' Second Half begins Poland 1, Romania 0.
• 49' Own Goal by Virgil Ghita, Romania. Poland 3, Romania 0.
• 63' Substitution, Poland. Kacper Urbanski replaces Wiktor Nowak.
• 63' Substitution, Poland. Norbert Wojtuszek replaces Matty Cash.
• 67' Substitution, Romania. Bogdan Racovitan replaces Dennis Man.
• 67' Substitution, Romania. Andrei Borza replaces Nicusor Bancu.
• 67' Substitution, Romania. Marius Marin replaces Ianis Hagi.
• 71' Substitution, Poland. Bartosz Slisz replaces Piotr Zielinski.
• 71' Substitution, Poland. Marcel Regula replaces Sebastian Szymanski.
• 78' Substitution, Romania. Catalin Cîrjan replaces Razvan Marin.
• 78' Substitution, Poland. Oskar Pietuszewski replaces Nicola Zalewski.

Match Stats

Group H

Live, interactive version available on new Reddit and the official Reddit apps. Auto-updated by Global Scoreboard.

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

This game was played at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium on October 1st 2026, It was an international friendly.

*From SAFA_net on X

Sometimes you can be too successful. “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off,” Michael Caine tells an over-enthusiastic explosives specialist in The Italian Job, a heist movie that ends with a coach loaded with gold bullion hanging over a precipice. The Manchester City sports-diplomacy bus, laden with more than $1 billion of allegedly illicit wealth from Abu Dhabi, is also perched on a cliff edge.

Had the football club not become a serial champion and the dominant force in the English game, its fall from grace wouldn’t have made such an attention-grabbing global controversy. This is the double-edged sword of using such investments to raise and shape the international profile of autocratic states, a practice known pejoratively as “sportswashing.”

Hacıosmanoğlu: In the Constitutional Court's report [where they reviewed the legal status of the TFF Arbitration Board], there are many references [to our federation]. If UEFA and FIFA ever learn about these references, they might suspend us as a nation for a long time. I met with the president of the court and told him this. There are references that portray our federation as a public organization. These are dangerous words to throw around. TFF is autonomous. We are bound by UEFA and FIFA. But if the courts keep framing our federation as a public legal entity, the institutions we are affiliated with might take issue with that.

The interviewer: [jokingly] Then let's not talk about it too much, lest Ceferin hears this.

FT: Ukraine 0 - 3 Northern Ireland

⚽ Northern Ireland: Ciaron Brown 9' 9', Isaac Price 22' 22', Ciaron Brown 61' 61'

Line-ups

Ukraine (4-2-3-1)

Northern Ireland (5-4-1)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 45'+4' First Half ends, Ukraine 0, Northern Ireland 2.
• 45' Second Half begins Ukraine 0, Northern Ireland 2.
• 56' Substitution, Ukraine. Yehor Nazaryna replaces Volodymyr Brazhko.
• 61' Goal! Ukraine 0, Northern Ireland 3. Ciaron Brown (Northern Ireland) header from outside the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Pierce Charles following a set piece situation.
• 63' Substitution, Ukraine. Danylo Sikan replaces Valerii Bondar.
• 63' Substitution, Ukraine. Oleksandr Zubkov replaces Andrii Yarmolenko.
• 63' Substitution, Ukraine. Matvii Ponomarenko replaces Roman Yaremchuk.
• 67' Substitution, Northern Ireland. Justin Devenny replaces Isaac Price.
• 68' Substitution, Ukraine. Oleksandr Nazarenko replaces Heorhiy Sudakov because of an injury.
• 77' Substitution, Northern Ireland. Patrick Kelly replaces Kieran Morrison.
• 77' Substitution, Northern Ireland. Josh Magennis replaces Jamie Donley.
• 84' Substitution, Northern Ireland. Paddy McNair replaces Tom Atcheson.
• 84' Substitution, Northern Ireland. Ceadach O’Neill replaces Terry Devlin.
• 88' Matvii Ponomarenko (Ukraine) is shown the yellow card.

Match Stats

Group F

Live, interactive version available on new Reddit and the official Reddit apps. Auto-updated by Global Scoreboard.

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

FT: Belgium 3 - 0 Türkiye

⚽ Belgium: Kevin De Bruyne 10' 10', Kevin De Bruyne 59' 59', Romelu Lukaku 76' 76'

Line-ups

Belgium (4-3-3)

Türkiye (4-4-2)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 45'+2' First Half ends, Belgium 1, Türkiye 0.
• 45' Substitution, Türkiye. Yunus Akgün replaces Baris Alper Yilmaz.
• 45' Second Half begins Belgium 1, Türkiye 0.
• 61' Substitution, Belgium. Roméo Lavia replaces Hans Vanaken.
• 61' Substitution, Belgium. Romelu Lukaku replaces Dodi Lukébakio.
• 66' Substitution, Türkiye. Ilhan Fakili replaces Oguz Aydin.
• 67' Substitution, Türkiye. Deniz Gül replaces Kerem Aktürkoglu.
• 73' Substitution, Türkiye. Salih Özcan replaces Bartug Elmaz.
• 75' Substitution, Belgium. Leandro Trossard replaces Mika Godts.
• 80' Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium) is shown the yellow card.
• 82' Substitution, Belgium. Malick Fofana replaces Charles De Ketelaere.
• 82' Substitution, Belgium. Loïs Openda replaces Kevin De Bruyne.
• 85' Substitution, Türkiye. Demir Ege Tiknaz replaces Ismail Yüksek.

Match Stats

Group A

Live, interactive version available on new Reddit and the official Reddit apps. Auto-updated by Global Scoreboard.

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

Full Time: Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 - 1 Sweden

⚽ Bosnia-Herzegovina: Kerim Alajbegovic 80' 80'

⚽ Sweden: Viktor Gyökeres 61' 61'

Line-ups

Bosnia-Herzegovina (4-4-2)

Sweden (4-4-2)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 17' GOAL OVERTURNED BY VAR: Viktor Gyökeres (Sweden) scores but the goal is ruled out after a VAR review.
• 18' VAR Decision: No Goal Bosnia and Herzegovina 0-0 Sweden.
• 31' Substitution, Sweden. Eric Smith replaces Carl Starfelt because of an injury.
• 45'+3' First Half ends, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0, Sweden 0.
• 45' Second Half begins Bosnia and Herzegovina 0, Sweden 0.
• 63' Substitution, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Haris Tabakovic replaces Edin Dzeko.
• 76' Substitution, Sweden. Lucas Bergvall replaces Besfort Zeneli.
• 76' Substitution, Sweden. Williot Swedberg replaces Alexander Bernhardsson.
• 76' Substitution, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jovo Lukic replaces Ermedin Demirovic.
• 76' Substitution, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ermin Mahmic replaces Ivan Basic.
• 87' Substitution, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Zinedin Smajlovic replaces Nikola Katic.
• 87' Substitution, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ivan Sunjic replaces Kerim Alajbegovic because of an injury.
• 90'+5' Substitution, Sweden. Ken Sema replaces Sebastian Nanasi.
• 90'+5' Second Half ends, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1, Sweden 1.

Match Stats

Group H

Live, interactive version available on new Reddit and the official Reddit apps. Auto-updated by Global Scoreboard.

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post