31 December 1939 - Spain's Mighty Sansón

On 31 December 1939, Celta de Vigo defender Sansón became the youngest player in Spanish league history when he debuted against Sevilla.

Francisco Baos Rodríguez, nicknamed "Sansón" because of his strength, was in his first season with Celta and was 15 years, 8 months, and 11 days old when manager Ricardo Comesaña gave him his first call-up to the first team for their away match at Sevilla to close out the year. It was a good start for Sansón, as Celta won 4-1, but he was unable to make it last, with only five other league appearances before leaving the team in 1941.

Sansón later made a greater impact with Oviedo, with 115 appearances between 1945 and 1950, then returned to Celta, where he played in another 40 league matches in four seasons. He spent his last season with Xerez, then retired in 1956.

30 December 1995 - He Could Dish It Out, But Couldn't Take It

On 30 December 1995, Paul Gascoigne pretended to book the referee and got a real booking in return.

The former Newcastle and Tottenham star was in his first season with Rangers and had helped them to the top of the Scottish table by the end of September. They were still there two months later when they hosted third-place Hibernian at Ibrox.

Although the teams had split their two meetings earlier in the season, anyone expecting a close game was disappointed. Up 2-0 at the break, Rangers romped to a 7-0 victory with goals from Charlie Miller, Gascoigne, Oleg Salenko, and four from Gordon Durie.

Despite the scoreline, one of the most memorable moments came when Gascoigne got a ridiculous booking. Noticing that referee Dougie Smith had dropped his yellow card, the midfielder went to return it to him and, in doing so, pretended to book him first. Although Gascoigne clearly intended the gesture as a mild joke, Smith failed to see the humor and immediately flashed the card back at Gascoigne.

The caution was Gascoigne's fifth of the season, forcing him to miss Rangers' next two games against Celtic and Falkirk. But while they played to a scoreless draw with Celtic, they went on to win the title by four points over their rivals.

29 December 2007 - It's A Distinction They Could Do Without

On 29 December 2007, Reading played in the second of the Premier League's two highest-scoring games, losing both.

The first was a 7-4 defeat to Portsmouth on 29 September that beat the previous record of nine goals set by Southampton's 4-5 win over Norwich in April 1994. The loss dropped the Royals into seventeenth place in the Premier League table, but they fought their way back into twelfth before traveling to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham two months later.

There, they conceded an early goal to Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov (pictured) in the seventh minute, but equalized nine minutes later through midfielder Kalifa Cissé. In the second half, Reading pulled ahead with a 53rd-minute goal from Ívar Ingimarsson, but Berbatov scored again ten minutes later to make it 2-2.

Berbatov scored a third (73') in between a brace from Reading's Dave Kitson (69', 74') and Reading led 3-4. But a late onslaught from Spurs saw goals from Steed Malbranque (76'), Jermain Defoe (79'), and a fourth from Berbatov (83') as the hosts won 6-4 to hit the second-highest scoring mark since the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The overall English record, however, was set at 17 when Tranmere Rovers beat Oldham Athletic 13-4 in the Third Division South in 1935.

Although Reading dropped only one spot in the table after the loss to Spurs, it was the first of eight consecutive league losses, a run that pushed them down to 18th by the end of February, which is where they ended up in the final table. Although level on points with Fulham, Reading were the ones relegated, separated from safety by a goal differential of -25 to Fulham's -22.

28 December 1911 - The Beautiful Game Goes To College

On 28 December 1911, the NCAA officially recognized association football as an approved college sport in the United States.

Established in 1906, the National Collegiate Athletic Association organizes and enforces the rules and regulations of its member schools. While there are currently over 1,000 such members, there were 92 in December 1911, when the organization's Rules Committee met at the Hotel Astor in New York City to consider making changes to the rules for gridiron football.

While they ultimately decided against any changes for that sport, several representatives took the opportunity to advocate for association football, including Dr. James Babbitt of Haverford College (pictured), who "told about the great popularity of the game around Philadelphia" and "praised the game highly, saying that it was a sport in which boys and men take a great delight because they all could play it without having any special athletic talent."

Upon the urging of Dr. Babbitt and several others, the NCAA appointed a new committee "to take up the game and advocate its institution at all schools and colleges." In addition to Dr. Babbitt, the committee included William Garcelon of Harvard, Dr. Page of Andover, H.E. Ford of Washington and Jefferson, and James Naismith of Kansas, the inventor of basketball.

The game eventually took root at the collegiate level and in 1959 the NCAA started a national championship tournament.

27 December 1966 - The Death Of Guillermo Stábile

On 27 December 1966, Argentina star player and manager Guillermo Stábile died at the age of 61.

A center forward, he joined Huracán as a youth player in 1920, then played there professionally from 1924 to 1930. In that time, he scored 102 goals in 119 appearances, winning the Primera División title in 1925 and 1928.

In the summer of 1930, he participated in the inaugural World Cup, getting his first cap against Mexico in Argentina's second match of the tournament. He scored a hat-trick en route to a 6-3 victory, followed by a brace in the next game against Chile as Argentina topped their group. He scored two more against the United States in the semifinals, then netted in the final against Uruguay. Although Argentina lost that match 4-2, Stábile's eight goals made him the tournament's top scorer.

His performance attracted the attention of Genoa, where he played from 1930-34 before moving to Napoli for the 1934-35 season. he returned to Genoa briefly in 1935, then closed out his playing career with Red Star Paris, serving as player-manager from 1937 to 1939 when he left to manage Argentina.

As manager, he guided the national team to six South American Championships between 1941 and 1957 and the Panamerican Championship in 1960. While in charge there, he also took the reins of several different clubs, including San Lorenzo (1939-40), Estudiantes de la Plata (1940-41), Hurancán (1940-49), and finally Racing Club (1949-60), whom he led to three league titles.

In 1960, he stepped down to become the director of Argentina's national school of football, holding that post until his death in 1966.

26 December 1860 - The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

On 26 December 1860, Sheffield FC won the first match played between two different clubs, beating Hallam FC 0-2.

Formed in 1857 as a way to keep cricketers fit in the winter, Sheffield became the world's first football club. For their first three years, they had no opponents, so were limited to playing intrasquad games. That changed in 1860 with the establishment of a second Sheffield club, Hallam FC.

Hallam hosted that first game at Sandygate Road, though the teams used Sheffield FC's set of rules, leading to the rivalry taking the name the Rules derby. Hallam also had a extra player, fielding fourteen men against Sheffield's thirteen. But the man advantage gave way to experience as the visitors ended up 0-2 winners.

Although the two teams currently compete in different levels of the English football pyramid, they keep the rivalry alive with friendlies, including a recent friendly in July 2013 that Sheffield won 4-2.

25 December 1918 - Bertie Is Born

On 25 December 1918, Arsenal's Double-winning manager Bertie Mee was born in Nottinghamshire.

In the 1930s, he played for Derby County and Mansfield Town, but his career was ended by injury. He then turned to physiotherapy while serving as a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps. It was in that role that he first joined Arsenal, signing up with the club in 1960.

When the Gunners sacked manager Billy Wright in the summer of 1966, they promoted Mee to the position. Reportedly, he was unsure about the move and asked for a clause allowing him to return to his physio post after a year if the new appointment did not go well. But the team finished seventh in that first season, encouraging him to stick with it.

In 1970, he guided the club to the Fairs Cup Final, where they beat Anderlecht 4-3 on aggregate. The next year, they won their first league title since 1953 and also won the FA Cup to complete the club's first Double.

The results faltered over the next few years and Mee was replaced in 1976 by Terry Neill. In 1978, he joined Watford as a scout and in 1984 he was honored as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to football. He died in 2001 at the age of 82.