Sunday hello —
The weekly round-up from OTD: Your Daily Dose of Soccer History — for those of you who’d rather catch up once a week than read every day.
A big week. We crossed 200 episodes, founded FIFA, watched Marseille win and disgrace itself in the same fortnight, and ran a three-day European-finals cluster across three different eras. Here’s the week:
Monday — 18 May 1931: Argentina Turns Professional. Eighteen clubs broke away to found the professional Argentine league. The amateur fiction had collapsed — players were being paid, crowds were enormous. Boca won the first title. From that day grew the Big Five, La Máquina, Maradona and Messi.
Tuesday — 19 May 1968: Iran Beats Israel and Claims Asia. OTD Episode 200. Iran won their first Asian Cup in Tehran, one year after the Six-Day War. The start of Iran’s golden decade — and the beginning of Israel’s long exit from Asian football.
Wednesday — 20 May 1993: The VA-OM Affair. Marseille beat Valenciennes to clinch the French title. Then police entered the dressing room. Six days later they won the Champions League. The first French European champion was also its most tainted.
Thursday — 21 May 1904: The Founding of FIFA. Seven founding members met in a Paris office. England — the inventors of the game — wrote to apologize for not attending. From that small meeting came the World Cup and the entire global football map.
Friday — 22 May 1963: Catenaccio Conquers Europe. AC Milan beat Benfica at Wembley for Italy’s first European Cup. The attacking age of Madrid and Benfica was over. The age of the system — the door-bolt — had begun.
Saturday — 23 May 1992: Hannover’s Impossible Cup. A second-division club won the German Cup, beating five Bundesliga sides along the way. It had never happened before. It has never happened since.
Sunday (today) — 24 May 1972: Rangers Win the Cup Winners’ Cup. Rangers became European champions in the strangest way — without having won the cup that took them there. A glorious run, a chaotic final at Camp Nou, and a trophy received indoors.
---
Tomorrow’s episode (25 May): the Miracle of Istanbul — when Liverpool came back from the dead, won the Champions League, and got to keep the trophy.
If you’ve enjoyed any of these, the most generous thing you can do is forward this email to one friend who’d like it. And please rate the show on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon Music — all three move the needle.
Got an episode idea? Hit reply or send to otd@17lawsguy.com.
Thanks for being here.
— 17 Laws Guy