On 7 October 1964, Hibernian hosted Real Madrid in a friendly, beating the Spanish champions 2-0.
Accepting an invitation from Hibs manager Jock Stein, Real Madrid arrived at Easter Road having won the last four La Liga titles and having finished as runners-up in the previous season's European Cup. Their line-up boasted a number of stars, none brighter than their prolific forward pairing of Ferenc Puskás and Francisco Gento. But they were up against a Hibs team that included six Scottish internationals, including forward Willie Hamilton.
But it was Hibs' unheralded 19-year old midfielder Peter Cormack who scored the opening goal to put the hosts up 1-0. They then got a second, though reports disagree as to who scored it; some say it was forward Jim Scott, while others claim it was an own goal from Real Madrid left half Ignacio Zoco. Either way, it cemented a 2-0 victory for Hibs that saw the home supporters invade the pitch in celebration.
Real Madrid went on to end the year with their fifth consecutive league title, while Hibs finished in their league's fourth-place spot.
On 6 October 1987, Roald Jensen, widely considered Norway's greatest player, died while training with his old club, SK Brann. He was 44 years old.
Nicknamed "Knicksen"( meaning "juggler") for his tremendous technical ability with the ball, Jensen joined Brann in 1956 as a youth player, then made his first-team debut in 1960 when he was 17 years old. He earned his first cap for the national team that same year.
In his first three seasons with Brann, they won the league twice (1962 and 1963), but his fourth season ended in relegation, prompting his move to Scotland, where he turned professional and became Heart of Midlothian's player from outside the UK.
He remained with Hearts for six seasons, then returned to Brann in 1971 and stayed until 1973, when a dispute with the team's manager led to Jensen's retirement in 1973 at the age of 30. He continued to be involved with the club, however, and was training with them when he collapsed and died.
Three years after his death, the Norwegian football association honored Jensen with the creation of the Knicksen Award, given annually to the best player in Norway's top flight. In 1995, Brann further celebrated him by putting a statue of him outside their stadium.
On 5 October 1973, striker Mario Kempes made his top-flight debut for Instituto de Córdoba in a 1-0 win over Newell's Old Boys. He went on to become one of Argentina's greatest players.
Nineteen years old at the time, Kempes had already spent three years with Instituto, helping them reach Argentina's Primera División for the 1973 season, the team's first time in the top flight. Kempes made thirteen appearances for them that season, scoring eleven goals, before moving in 1974 to Rosario Central, where he scored eighty-five goals in three seasons.
That performance earned him a move to Spain to play for Valencia. He was the league's leading scorer in 1977 and 1978 and won his first silverware there, winning the 1970 Copa del Rey, the 1980 Cup Winners' Cup (though he missed the first kick in the final's penalty shootout), and the 1980 UEFA Super Cup.
Despite those successes, Kempes is best known for leading Argentina to their first World Cup trophy in 1978. He was the tournament's top scorer with six goals, including two in Argentina's 3-1 win over the Netherlands in the final.
He continued to play for several teams in Argentina and Europe until he called time on his career in 1996, then spent five years in management before retiring in 2001.
On 4 October 1990, Peter Taylor, who won a league title and two European Cups as an assistant to Brian Clough, passed away while on holiday in Spain. He was 62.
Although best known for his abilities as a manager and scout, Taylor enjoyed a lengthy playing career with Coventry City (1950-55), Middlesbrough (1955-61), and Port Vale (1961-62). Then, in 1962, he took his first managerial job as player-manager for Burton Albion and spent two seasons there before leaving to join Hartlepool as an assistant to his former Middlesbrough teammate, Brian Clough.
Taylor and Clough spent ten of the next twelve seasons together, including six and a half years at Derby County where they won the league title in 1972. Their only time apart was from 1974 to 1976, when Taylor took charge of Brighton & Hove after Clough left for his ill-fated spell at Leeds United. They reunited in 1976, when Taylor joined Clough at Nottingham Forest and the pair proceeded to win two European Cups (1979, 1980).
In 1982, Taylor left Clough and returned to Derby County, managing them for two seasons before retiring in 1984. During that second spell at Derby, Taylor signed winger John Robertson from Derby without telling Clough in advance. The signing created a rift between the two men, who never spoke to one another afterward, a fact deeply regretted by Clough after Taylor's death.
In 2010, Derby County commemorated Taylor and Clough with a statue of the pair outside the ground.
On 3 October 1984, the Chicago Sting won the North American Soccer League title over the Toronto Blizzard in a match that turned out to be the league's last.
Established in 1968, the NASL grew to prominence in the 1970s due in large part to the signing of high-profile players like Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, and George Best and, by 1978, included a total of 24 teams across the United States and Canada.
But the anticipated crowds failed to materialize and the team owners suffered substantial financial losses, resulting in several clubs folding or moving to the lower-tier (and less costly) Major Indoor Soccer League. At the start of the 1984 season, the NASL had dropped to only nine teams, four in the Eastern Division and five in the Western.
Two teams from each division met in the playoffs, which consisted of a pair of semifinal matches, followed by a best-of-three final, with Chicago and Toronto advancing over their Western Division counterparts to set up an all-Eastern final. Chicago won the first leg in Toronto, 1-2, on 1 October, then won the second in Chicago two days later, 3-2, rendering the scheduled third match unnecessary. With the win, Chicago became only the second team (after the Cosmos) to win more than one NASL title.
After Chicago's victory, Blizzard supporters knocked over a police barricade and invaded the pitch, forcing officials to hold the trophy ceremony in Chicago's locker room.
The NASL intended to return for another season, but several more teams, including Chicago and New York, defected to the MISL. With only two clubs left, the NASL folded in early 1985.
On 2 October 2010, Dundee beat Greenock Morton 2-1 to start a club-record 23-game unbeaten streak. Which left them in the exact same spot in the table they were in when they started it.
It was the eighth matchday of the Scottish Division One season, which opened with Dundee in seventh place after an away loss to Cowdenbeath. They were hosting Morton at Dens Park, where a crowd of 4,068 turned up to see what turned out to be the start of a record run.
Dundee took the lead in the 25th minute after the referee called a handball on Morton and Matt Lockwood converted the ensuing penalty. They failed to hold it to the break, however, as Peter Weatherson drew the visitors level with a goal off a corner kick in the 41st minute. But Dundee pulled back ahead for good in the 57th minute with Colin McMenamin scoring the match winner.
They followed the result by going undefeated in their next 22 matches, with thirteen more wins and only nine draws. But remarkably, when that record string ended with a loss to Raith Rovers on 2 April 2011, Dundee were still in seventh place (and had even dropped down to 10th for a period of eight weeks in the middle of the streak). They finished the season in sixth.
On 1 October 1912, a group of friends in Ascunsión founded Cerro Porteño. With 31 league titles, they have become one of Paraguay's most successful clubs.
That first meeting was held at the home of Susana Nuñez, mother of one of the players. They chose the name "Cerro Porteño" after the nearby location of a famous battle where, in 1811, Paraguayan soldiers held off an invasion by Argentinian forces. As their colors, they chose red and blue, uniting the colors associated with the country's rival political parties. That choice led to Cerro Porteño becoming known as "the club of the people."
They won their first national title in 1913, quickly followed by additional ones in 1915, 1918, and 1919. The 1920s passed without silverware, but Cerro Porteño have claimed at least one league title in every decade since. Their most dominant period came in the 1970s, when they won five (1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1977). The club's current total of 31 is second only to Olimpia (40).
Their most recent trophy came in 2015, when they won the Apertura by five points over Guaraní.
On 7 October 1964, Hibernian hosted Real Madrid in a friendly, beating the Spanish champions 2-0.
