9 July 1867 - The Oldest Firm In Scotland

On 9 July 1867, a group of unidentified men in Glasgow formed Scotland's first football club, Queen's Park FC. It was the first football club in the world outside of England and Wales.

Queen's first recorded match came more than a year later when, on 1 August 1968, they defeated Glasgow's now-defunct Thistle FC by the score of 2-0. Two years later, in 1870, Queen's joined the English Football Association and advanced to the final of the FA Cup in 1884 and 1885, losing to Blackburn Rovers both times.

Shortly after Queen's establishment, other clubs began to sprout up across Scotland and, in 1873, Queen's joined with eight other clubs to form the Scottish Football Association. They dominated the new league, not conceding a goal until 1875 and not losing a match until December 1876. They also won the first three Scottish Cups (1874-76). In all, they've won the Scottish Cup ten times, a number second only to Celtic and Rangers.

Queen's were so dominant in the early years, in fact, that when Scotland faced England on 30 November 1872, all eleven Scottish players were from Queen's. (The match was a scoreless draw.)

As the surrounding clubs turned professional at the turn of the century, Queen's remained staunchly committed to its principles as an amateur club. They joined the Scottish Football League First Division in 1889, but found it difficult to compete against the professional sides and were relegated to the Second Division in 1922. They last played in the top flight from 1956 to 1958 and have since bounced among the second, third, and fourth tiers.

Still playing as the Scottish Football League's only amateur side, they are currently in the fourth tier (known as League Two).

8 July 1941 - A Beacon Of Stability In An Otherwise Turbulent Profession

On 8 July 1941, Dario Gradi, future football manager and Member of the Order of the British Empire, was born in Milan.

Gradi's father died when he was very young and Gradi, along with his English mother, moved to London after the end World War II. He had an undistinguished spell as a professional footballer, playing for Sutton United and Tooting & Mitcham United before turning to a career in management. His first managerial position was as assistant coach at Chelsea in 1971.

From 1971 to 1983, he coached at several other clubs, including Sutton United, Derby County, and Wimbledon as an assistant coach, then as a full manager at Wimbledon and Crystal Palace.

In 1983, he moved to Crewe Alexandra, a club that had spent the previous two decades toiling in the Football League's bottom division. He led them to promotion in 1989. They were relegated two years later, but were promoted again in 1994 and then advanced to the second-tier Division One in 1997, where they remained until 2002.

Gradi retired from management on 1 July 2007 after 24 years and 1,244 matches in charge of Crewe Alexandra. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving manager in English football. In recognition of his contribution to the game, he was admitted in 2004 to the English Football Hall of Fame.

He is currently Crewe Alexandra's director of football.

7 July 1957 - And Sometimes A Bright Start Leads To A Bright Future

On 7 July 1957, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, made his national team debut for Brazil in a 2-1 loss to Argentina. The 16-year, 9-month old forward scored Brazil's only goal, becoming the youngest person to score in international competition at that time.

He had been a professional footballer for only one year, having signed with Santos FC in 1956 at the age of fifteen. He quickly established himself in the national team and was instrumental in Brazil's title-winning run in the 1958 World Cup. He scored six goals, including a hat-trick in Brazil's semi-final match against France and a brace against Sweden in the Final.

Pelé was a member of Brazil's squad for the 1962 World Cup, but was injured in the second game and missed the rest of the tournament, including the Final in which Brazil successfully defended their title. The 1966 World Cup was similarly frustrating for him, as Brazil's opponents resorted to violent tackles in order to stop him. He had to be carried off the pitch in the third match, a 3-1 defeat to Portugal, as Brazil were eliminated. After the tournament, he was so disheartened by the treatment he received that he said he would not play in any further World Cups.

He eventually reconsidered, however, and was persuaded to rejoin the national team for the 1970 World Cup, which was to be his last. Brazil was again triumphant, defeating Italy 4-1 in a memorable Final. With the win, Pelé became the only player in the history of football to win three World Cups.

He remains the Brazilian national team's top scorer, with 77 goals in 92 appearances.

6 July 2006 - Sometimes A Bright Start Is Just A Flash In The Pan

On 6 July 2006, Rangers beat defending Irish Premier League champions Linfield FC by the score of 2-0 in a preseason friendly at Linfield's home ground of Windsor Park in Belfast.

The match was Rangers' first under new manager Paul Le Guen. A former star defender at Stade Brest, Nantes Atlantique, and PSG, he had previously managed Stade Rennais from 1998 to 2001 and had most recently spent three years at Lyon, from 2002 to 2005, where he led them to the Ligue 1 title each season. He resigned from Lyon on 9 May 2005 and spent the 2005-06 season out of football, despite offers from Benfica and Lazio.

Rangers tapped Le Guen in March 2006 to replace manager Alex McLeish for the 2006-07 season. Despite the win over Linfield and unabashed optimism from club chairman David Murray, who claimed Le Guen would bring a "massive moonbeam of success" to the Glasgow club, Le Guen's tenure was troubled from the beginning. Rangers earned only 15 points from their first 10 matches, including a home loss to Inverness CT, making it the worst debut for an Old Firm manager in almost 30 years.

Le Guen's situation worsened in November, when Rangers were eliminated from the Scottish Cup by First Division side St. Johnstone. It was the first time Rangers had been knocked out of a league tournament at home by a lower division side.

On 4 January 2007, with Rangers second in the table, but 17 points behind rivals Celtic, the club announced that Le Guen had resigned. He remains Rangers' shortest-serving manager and the only one to leave the club before completing a full season at the helm.

5 July 1934 - The Black Panthers Of Calcutta

On 5 July 1934, Mohammedan Sporting Club clinched the Calcutta Football League title, the first of five consecutive titles for the club.

The club, nicknamed the Black Panthers, was established in 1891 as Jubilee Club, and was known briefly as Crescent Club and Hamidia Club before settling on the name Mohammedan Sporting. They played in the CFL lower divisions until they were promoted to the premier division for the 1934 season. That year, Mohammedan Sporting edged Dalhousie Club by three points to become the first Indian club to win the premier division of the CFL.

Currently, the CFL is run by the Indian Football Association and consists of 157 teams in seven divisions. The league is based primarily in the city of Kolkata and is separate from the nationwide I-League, whch is run by the All India Football Federation. Teams can compete in both leagues, with Mohammedan Sporting playing at present in the premier division of the CFL and in the Second Division of the I-League (having been relegated from the First Division at the end of the 2008-09 season).

Mohammedan Sporting won their last CFL title--their 11th--in 1981. Since then, the title has gone to either the Mohun Bagan (29 titles) or current holders East Bengal Club (35 titles).

4 July 2004 - Third Time's The Charm

On 4 July 2004, Greece won its first (and to date, only) major tournament, defeating Portugal 1-0 in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final before a crowd of 62,685 at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon.

Going into the tournament, the Greeks were significant underdogs, with most oddsmakers placing them somewhere between 80-1 and 150-1 to win.

They started off in good form, however, beating hosts Portugal 2-1 in the tournament's opening match. Portugal won their next two matches to top the group, while Greece finished in the group's second position after drawing 1-1 with Spain and losing to Russia, 2-1.

In the knockout stages, Greece regained its winning form, first upsetting Euro 2000 winners France by the score of 1-0, then beating the Czech Republic 1-0 with a goal in the dying seconds of the first extra time period. Portugal, meanwhile, advanced to the Final with a win over England on penalties, 2-2 (6-5), and a 2-0 defeat of the Netherlands.

In the Final, Portugal had the majority of possession and had four times as many shots as the Greeks, but were unable to penetrate the defense. Midfielder Angelos Charisteas scored the only goal of the match in the 57th minute, with a header against the run of play, sealing Greece's first major honors.

At the time, the Greeks had qualified for only two other major tournaments, Euro 1980 and the 1994 World Cup, but failed to advance out of the group stage in either tournament. Since then, however, they qualified for the 2014 World Cup, where they reached the Round of 16. 

3 July 1992 - Welcome Bafana Bafana!

On 3 July 1992, FIFA welcomed South Africa back into the international football fold after a ban of almost 31 years.

The Football Association of South Africa was founded in 1892, but was limited to whites only, due to the country's policy of racial segregation known as apartheid. In 1957, South Africa was invited to join the Confederation of African Football, along with Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan, but was expelled in 1958 over the other countries' objections to apartheid. 

Also in 1958, South Africa was admitted to FIFA, but was suspended on 26 September 1961, again due to apartheid. Shortly afterward, FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous argued for South Africa's readmission, claiming that the suspension would irrevocably harm the development of South African football and that FIFA had no business in political matters.

FIFA lifted the suspension in January 1963, but reimposed it in October 1964. They formally expelled South Africa in 1976 after the Soweto uprising, in which South African police killed 23 protesters.

In 1991, as racial barriers in South Africa began to fall, the FASA was replaced by the integrated South African Football Association. The new association was admitted to FIFA on 3 July 1992 and, on 7 July 1992, the unified South African national team, nicknamed the Bafana Bafana (Zulu for "the Boys"), played their first match, defeating Cameroon 1-0.