06 Dec 1977: at Anfield, European champions Liverpool thrash Hamburger SV 6–0 to win the European Super Cup – on the night Kevin Keegan returns in HSV colors. We set the scene: Keegan’s move from Paisley’s Reds to rising HSV, the 1–1 first leg in Hamburg, then walk through Terry McDermott’s hat-trick, Dalglish’s goal and Liverpool’s statement win. From there we zoom out to HSV’s late-70s rise and what Keegan’s move said about English stars going abroad.

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05 Dec 1976: at Atotxa in San Sebastián, Real Sociedad and Athletic Club players walk out side by side carrying a huge, still-illegal Basque flag – the ikurriña – before a Basque derby in Spain’s fragile Transition. We tell the story of how the flag was smuggled in, why captains Kortabarria and Iribar took the risk, how authorities reacted, and what it meant for Basque football identity. Then we zoom out to Catalonia and other places where regional flags, national tensions and football have collided.

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04 Dec 1997: in Marseille, FIFA stages an all-star FIFA XI vs Europe XI game, then draws the groups for France ’98 in front of a global TV audience. We use that night as a lens to trace the history of World Cup draws – from low-key admin in the 1930s and 1950s to televised theatre in London 1966, Vegas glitz for USA ’94, Leipzig and Cape Town, Kremlin and Doha. Along the way we hit quirks, controversies and “groups of death” – and tee up the Kennedy Center draw for the 2026 World Cup.

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03 Dec 1972: Juventus beat Fiorentina 2–1 in Turin – and the last goal Dino Zoff concedes in Serie A for more than 900 minutes slips past him before half time. From that point, he strings together 903 league minutes without conceding, right in the middle of a world-record 1,142-minute shut-out run for Italy. We walk through Juve’s opponents, the Azzurri’s fixtures and zoom out to ask how often a goalkeeper dominates both club and country like this, from Buffon to Van der Sar and beyond.

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02 Dec 1967: in a top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash, 1. FC Nürnberg destroy Bayern München 7–3 at a packed Städtisches Stadion. We set the scene: Der Club as pre-war Rekordmeister, Max Merkel’s intense title-chasers, and Bayern’s young axis of Maier–Beckenbauer–Müller, recently crowned Cup Winners’ Cup holders. Then we walk through the “Jahrhundertspiel” itself and zoom out to what followed: Nürnberg’s 1968 championship and shock relegation in 1969, versus Bayern’s first title in 1969 and the golden 1970s that made them Rekordmeister for good.

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01 Dec 1959: Liverpool, stuck in Division Two, appoint Huddersfield’s Bill Shankly as manager – and football history tilts. We trace Shankly’s journey from Glenbuck to Anfield, Liverpool’s 1950s decline, and the 15-year transformation that follows: promotions, league titles, FA Cups, a UEFA Cup and the Boot Room, all-red kit, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and the Kop. Then we follow his shock 1974 resignation, Paisley’s dynasty, and why this appointment reshaped the global game.

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30 Nov 1872: at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Scotland and England draw 0-0 in what FIFA recognizes as the first official international match. We set the scene – FA rules, Queen’s Park’s passing “combination game” and the five unofficial London meetings – then walk through the 0-0 itself and the founding of the Scottish FA. From there we zoom out to Wales and Ireland, early Olympics, FIFA and the World Cup, and the long rise of modern international powers from Italy and Brazil to France, Spain and the Netherlands.

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29 Nov 1961: Coventry City unveil Jimmy Hill as manager days after an FA Cup humiliation – and trigger the “Sky Blue Revolution.” We track how a maximum-wage agitator from Fulham becomes the architect of a new club identity: sky-blue kit, terrace anthem, electronic scoreboard, CCTV match beaming and, crucially, promotion from Division Three to Division One. Then we zoom out to other “club revolutionaries” – from Brian Clough to Phil Parkinson and Telê Santana.

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28 Nov 1964: at Victoria Park in Dingwall, 18-year-old Tommy Ross scores seven goals in Ross County’s 8–1 win over Nairn County – including a world record hat-trick in just 90 seconds. We walk through the Highland League setting, the match and Ross’s career, then trace how Guinness only recognized his feat in 2004. From Lee Wai Tong and Willie Hall to Jimmy O’Connor, Eduardo Maglioni, and James Hayter, we zoom out to football’s fastest hat-tricks and what they say about how the game remembers its records.

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27 Nov 1916: a German Zeppelin raid over the North-East drops bombs across West Hartlepool. One destroys the stand at Clarence Road, future home of Hartlepools United. We trace why L-34 was over Hartlepool, how a stand ended up in the blast pattern, and how pilot Ian Pyott brought the airship down in flames offshore. Then we zoom out to other football grounds hit in wartime – Old Trafford, Upton Park, The Den and modern Ukraine – and follow Hartlepool’s long rebuild and failed bid for reparations.

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