On 4 August 1995, 18-year old Michael Ballack made his professional debut for 2.Bundesliga side Chemnitzer FC. He would go on the become a three-time German Footballer of the Year, winning four Bundesliga titles and one Premier League title.
Chemnitzer lost Ballack's first match, 2-1 against VfB Leipzig, and were relegated at the end of the season. Ballack remained with them for one season in the third division, then moved to the top flight in 1997 with Kaiserslautern. He spent two seasons with Kaiserslautern, winning his first Bundesliga title in 1998, then played three seasons for Bayer Leverkusen (1999-2002) before moving to Bayern Munich. He enjoyed his greatest success at Bayern, winning league and German Cup doubles in 2003, 2005, and 2006.
In 2006, Ballack moved again, this time to Chelsea FC, helping the Blues to the FA Cup in his first season. Another FA Cup followed in 2008, the same year Chelsea advanced to the Champions League Final, then he won the fourth double of his career with the 2010 FA Cup and Premier League title.
Ballack returned to Bayer Leverkusen in 2010 and retired two years later.
On 3 August 1903, members of the Società Ginnastica Pro Vercelli, formed in 1892, established a separate football division, playing their first match that day against a team from Novara. Pro Vercelli went on to become one of Italy's most successful clubs before fading into obscurity.
The result of that first match is not recorded, but Pro Vercelli quickly rose to prominence, winning their first Italian Football Championship titles in 1908 and 1909. After losing the 1910 Final to Inter after a scheduling conflict forced them to field a junior side, Pro Vercelli proceeded to win the next three titles (1911, 1912, 1913). Along the way, they contributed several players to the newly-formed Italian national team.
After World War I, Pro Vercelli remained near the top of Italian football, but did not win their next title until 1921. They promptly followed it up with their seventh title in 1922, then fell into an inexplicable decline. Despite the presence of players such as Silvio Piola, one of the co-inventors of the bicycle kick, the club started a slow descent through the Italian football pyramid. They were relegated to Serie B in 1935, then to Serie C five years later.
Pro Vercelli returned to Serie B in 2014 and will play there this season.
On 2 August 1948, Italy and the United States met in the first round of the Olympics, resulting in a record-setting 9-0 victory for the Azzurri. It was the third time that the two countries met in a major international competition, with Italy winning on each occasion.
The 1948 tournament was the first since 1936, with the 1940 and 1944 Olympiads suspended due to World War II. Italy and the US had met in the first round of the 1936 Games, with the Italians eliminating the Americans with a 1-0 victory. Two years earlier, Italy had knocked the US out of the World Cup with a 7-1 win in the first round.
The rematch in 1948 was not as close. Italy jumped to an early lead with a goal from Francesco Pernigo (pictured) in the second minute, but the US defense played well to keep the score to a modestly respectable 2-0 deficit at the break, with the second goal coming from the penalty spot. In the second half, however, the Italians again scored quickly with a goal from Angelo Turconi in the 46th minute and the rout was on. Pernigo scored again in the 57th minute, on his way to a second-half hat-trick that included goals in the 88th and 90th minutes, to cap the 9-0 win.
The match was the first of only two national team appearances for Pernigo, who scored one goal in Italy's 5-3 loss to Denmark in the quarterfinals.
On 1 August 1976, future Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu was born in the city of Owerri. He would go on to become one of the most decorated African footballers in history.
Kanu made his professional debut in 1991 at the age of 16 for Nigerian First Division club Federation Works, scoring 20 goals in 35 appearances before moving to fellow Nigerian club Iwaunyanwu Nationale, now known as Heartland FC, in 2002. He won the Nigerian Premier League title in 1993, his first silverware.
He rose to international prominence in 1993, when he signed with Dutch side Ajax. There, he won three consecutive Eredivisie titles (1994, 1995, 1996) and the UEFA Champions League (1995). He left Ajax for Inter in the summer of 1996, after captaining Nigeria to the Olympic gold medal - a feat that earned him the 1996 African Footballer of the Year award. But a defective aortic valve limited his playing time with Inter and he moved to Arsenal in February 1999.
He resumed his successful streak at Arsenal, winning two Premier League titles (2002 and 2004) and two FA Cups (2002, 2003). But the emergence of Thierry Henry pushed Kanu to the bench and, dissatisfied with his reduced playing time, he moved to West Bromwich Albion in 2004. He spent two seasons with West Brom, then moved to Portsmouth, where he again raised the FA Cup in 2008.
On 31 July 2009, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed an appeal filed by former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu, thus requiring him to pay €17,173,990 to the Blues in compensation for breach of contract.
The dispute between club and player arose in September 2004, when Mutu, starting his second season with Chelsea, tested positive for cocaine use. The club sacked him the next month. He moved to Juventus the following January, but around the same time, Chelsea sued him for damages related to the costs spent to acquire him from Parma, the cost to replace him, and other expenses.
In May 2008, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber ordered Mutu to pay Chelsea €17,173,990, including €16,500,000 for the unamortized portion of the transfer fee Chelsea paid to Parma. At the time, it was the highest fine ever levied by FIFA. Mutu appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport - his second appeal to the CAS during the lengthy proceedings. The CAS dismissed the appeal on 31 July 2009 and also ordered Mutu to pay the arbitration expenses for Chelsea in the amount of 50,000 Swiss francs.
Mutu appealed a third time, but that appeal was dismissed in June 2010.
On 30 July 1981, Paramount Pictures released Victory, a film about a group of football-playing Allied prisoners of war in a German prison camp during WWII. Known as Escape to Victory outside of North America, the movie starred Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone alongside a group of real-life footballers including Pelé and Bobby Moore.
Based loosely on the 1941 "match of death" between Soviet prisoners and a German Army team, the film follows a group of POWs who agree to play an exhibition match against their captors and assemble a side led by Englishman Captain John Colby (played by Michael Caine). Pelé's character, Corporal Luis Fernandez, is from Trinidad and Tobago, while Stallone plays the team's inexperienced goalkeeper, American Captain Robert Hatch.
Hatch organizes a plan for several of the POWs to escape at halftime, but, despite being down at the break due in part to biased officiating, they are convinced to stay in attempt to win the match. Near the end, with the sides even at 4-4, Fernandez scores the potential match-winning goal, but is incorrectly ruled offside. Shortly afterward, as time is about to expire, the referee awards the Germans a penalty kick, but it is saved by Hatch, causing a celebration in the stands. Using the celebration as cover, the POWs then escape.
In addition to Pelé and Moore, the cast included Tottenham Hotspur star midfielder Osvaldo Ardiles, Manchester City midfielder Kazimierz Deyna, and several players from Ipswich Town.
On 29 July 2001, hosts Colombia won their first Copa América title, beating invitees Mexico 1-0 in a Final that saw the visitors finish with nine men and no manager on the touchline.
The competition almost didn't happen, as drug-fueled political violence in the country forced CONMEBOL to cancel it. But promises of increased security by the organizers allowed it to go forward, albeit without CONMEBOL member Argentina and invitee Canada, both of whom withdrew amid concerns over the safety of their players.
Both Colombia and Mexico provided stout defenses throughout the tournament, with Mexico conceding only two goals, while Colombia had not allowed a single one. The Final proved to be much of the same, as the two teams battled through a scoreless first half notable mostly for the touchline ban issued against Mexican manager Javier Aguirre for his repeated excursions outside the bounds of the technical area. Colombia suffered a loss as well, losing the tournament's leading scorer, Victor Aristizabal to injury in the 25th minute.
Colombia eventually got the edge in the second half with a 65th-minute header from defender and captain Iván Córdoba - his only goal of the tournament. The frustrated Mexicans began lashing out, earning two late red cards for Juan Rodriguez and Gerardo Torres, as Colombia earned their sixth consecutive clean sheet of the competition and raised the cup.
