On 4 September 1867, the Wednesday Cricket Club decided to add football as a way to keep their players fit during the winter. The new sport's popularity grew quickly, however, and soon became the dominant activity of the club, now known as Sheffield Wednesday FC.
The club, which took its name from the fact that it played its matches on Wednesdays, met at Sheffield's Adelphi Hotel on 4 September (itself a Wednesday, of course) and "decided to form a football club in connection with the above influential cricket club, with the object of keeping together during the winter season the members of this cricket club." They played their first football match the following month and eventually joined the Football League in 1892.
They enjoyed a lot of early success, winning the FA Cup in 1896 then back-to-back league titles in 1903 and 1904. After a second FA Cup in 1907, they went into a brief decline, dropping down to Division 2 in 1920, but regained their winning ways in 1926 with a return to the top flight followed by two more league titles (1929, 1930) and another FA Cup (1935).
They have spent the majority of their existence in the top flight, and were founding members of the Premier League in 1992. But they have won only one major trophy--the 1991 League Cup--since World War II and are currently playing in the Championship, the second tier of the English football pyramid.
On 3 September 1989, a World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Chile was halted after Chile's goalkeeper, Roberto Rojas, appeared to be struck by a flare thrown from the stands and fell to the ground bleeding.
Playing at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro in their group's last qualification match, Chile and Brazil were even on points. Brazil had a better goal differential and could qualify with a draw, while Chile needed a win to advance to the World Cup in Italy. Their prospects took a hit, however, when Brazilian striker Careca scored in the 49th minute to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.
In the 70th minute, with the score still 1-0, a Brazilian supporter in the stands threw the flare in the direction of Rojas, who fell to the ground clutching his face. He was taken off the pitch on a stretcher, with blood running down his face. Citing fears for their safety, the Chilean team walked off the pitch and the match was abandoned.
Subsequent review of the video from the match revealed that the flare was thrown by a Brazilian supporter named Rosemary de Mello, but also showed that it never struck Rojas. Investigators determined that his injury was self-inflicted, using a razor concealed in one of his gloves. They also concluded that Chile's manager, Orlando Aravena, orchestrated the feigned injury with Rojas and team doctor Daniel Rodriguez in the hope that the officials would award the match to Chile or, alternatively, call for a replay.
Instead, the match went down as a 2-0 victory for Brazil, while Rojas, Aravena, and Rodriguez each received lifetime bans from FIFA. In addition, team captain Fernando Astengo received a five-year ban for taking the team off the pitch, while Chile were barred from participating in the 1994 World Cup. In 2001, FIFA lifted the ban on Rojas, who was working as a trainer in São Paulo at the time.
On 2 September 1920, Belgium took the gold medal at the Summer Olympics after their opponent in the final, Czechoslovakia, walked off the pitch in protest after only 40 minutes.
The Czechs had rolled through the preliminary rounds, racking up scores of 7-0 over Yugoslavia, 4-0 over Norway, and 4-1 over France. Belgium, as hosts, entered the tournament one round later and advanced with convincing wins over Spain (3-1) and the Netherlands (3-0). Their referee in the match against the Netherlands was 72-year old Englishman John Lewis, who drew high praise from the Belgian press for his officiating. L'Action Nationale, the Belgian national newspaper, said that Lewis "refereed the game magnificently" and called for him to take charge of the final. He did, along with two English linesmen.
The match was played before a crowd of 35,000 at the Olympic Stadium in Antwerp. Belgium took an early lead with a 6th-minute penalty from Robert Coppée, then doubled their lead in the 30th minute with a goal from Henri Larnoe. Things continued to get worse for Czechslovakia when Lewis ejected left back Karel Steiner in the 40th minute. That proved to be the final straw for the Czechs, who immediately walked off the pitch and did not return, so the result was awarded to Belgium.
Czechoslovakia filed a subsequent protest, complaining that both goals were the result of incorrect calls from Lewis and the linesmen, whom they claimed had been biased. Specifically, they complained that "The majority of the decisions of the referee Mr. Lewis were distorted and it was obvious that it gave the public the wrong impression in regard to our game. Also both Belgian goals were the result of incorrect decisions of the referee and we seek a rigorous investigation on that point."
Their complaint was dismissed, however, and Belgium retained the gold medal. It remains the only time in a major tournament that one of the finalists was disqualified.
On 1 September 2001, England beat Germany 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier, with all five of their goals coming from Liverpool players.
The two teams have a longstanding rivalry, highlighted by England's win over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final. Going into the qualifier, the overall record stood at ten wins for England, eleven for Germany (including two on penalty kicks), and three draws. Germany had gotten the better of England in their most recent matches, winning six of the last seven.
In the qualifier, played at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany looked likely to continue their winning ways when forward Carsten Jancker opened the scoring in just the 6th minute. But striker Michael Owen (pictured), coming off a treble-winning season with Liverpool, equalized six minutes later. The teams remained evenly matched through the remainder of the first half, but Owen's Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard blasted the ball into the German net from distance to put the visitors ahead.
The second half belonged to England, as Owen notched his second goal in the 48th minute, then completed his hat-trick in the 66th-minute after latching on to a precision pass from Gerrard and blasting the ball over keeper Oliver Kahn.
The day's last goal came from yet another Liverpool player, forward Emile Heskey, who completed the rout in the 74th minute.The four-goal margin of victory was the highest in the rivalry's history, beating the previous record of three set by England in 1935, 1938, and 1985.
England went on to win the qualification group and Germany finished second. But the Germans got the last laugh in the tournament proper, finishing as losing finalists while England fell in the quarterfinals (both teams were eliminated by Brazil).
On 31 August 1994, Vélez Sársfield won the Copa Libertadores, defeating two-time defending champions São Paulo in a penalty shootout.
Embodying the joga bonita philosophy of their manager, Tele Santana, São Paulo were in the midst of a tremendous five-year run of success that included one league title (1991), two Campeonato Paulistas (1991, 1992), two Intercontinental Cups (1992, 1993), as well as the 1992 and 1993 Copa Libertadores. They were heavily favored over Vélez Sársfield, who by that point had won a handful of amateur trophies and two league titles (1968, 1993).
But it was Vélez who took the advantage in the Copa final, winning the first leg 1-0. In the second leg, played on 31 August in São Paulo, the hosts evened the aggregate score with a 33rd minute penalty from striker Luís Antônio Corréa da Costa, better known by his nickname, Müller.
Still level at the end of regulation, the match went to a penalty shootout. After Vélez defender Roberto Trotta scored with the first kick, keeper José Luis Chilavert guessed correctly, diving to his left to parry the attempt from Sao Paulo's Palhinha. Immediately afterward, Chilavert stepped up to the spot and converted his own attempt as Vélez claimed the trophy by a 3-5 margin in the shootout.
On 30 August 1994, Barcelona won their fourth Supercopa de España, beating Real Zaragoza 6-5 over two legs.
Barça won the first leg at Zaragoza by the comfortable margin of 0-2. The second leg, though, was a much tighter affair. Playing before a crowd of 70,000 at Camp Nou, Zaragoza took an early lead with a 10th-minute goal from defender Alberto Belsué, who blasted the ball right over Barcelona keeper Carles Busquets (father of current Barcelona player Sergio Busquets). Neither keeper looked very impressive, as Zaragoza's Andoni Cedrún misplayed a ball three minutes later to concede a goal from Barcelona winger Txiki Begiristain.
Things got worse for Busquets as Zaragoza evened the aggregate score at 3-3 before the break with goals from striker Juan Esnáider (32') and Francisco Higuera (33'). But Barcelona pulled ahead in the second half with a brace from striker Hristo Stoichkov (pictured) (50', 69').
Higuera scored again in the 77th minute after Busquets misplayed another ball and left him with an open goal, but Cedrún committed a similar error at the other end, allowig Txiki an uncontested strike in the 87th minute. Higuera completed his hat-trick two minutes later to win the second leg 4-5, but it was small consolation as Barça took the trophy.
It was the eleventh trophy for Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff, a record haul that was surpassed only recently by Pep Guardiola, who appeared as a substitute in that match. Guardiola's twelfth trophy came in August 2011 when Barça beat Porto in the UEFA Super Cup.
On 29 August 1987, somebody scored the English Football League's 400,000th goal. But nobody knows who it was.
Established in 1888, the Football League governed the top four tiers of English football until 1992, when the uppermost division broke away to form the Premier League. Due to imprecise starting times and match reports, there have been many contenders for the league's first goal, including Aston Villa full back Gershom Cox's own goal against Wolves and Preston North End's Fred Dewhurst against Burnley. Recent evidence, however, suggests it was scored by Bolton's Kenny Davenport against Derby County.
Similarly, lack of details in match timing makes it impossible to say who scored the 400,000th goal. The records only make clear that it came on 29 August 1987. The day's 43 matches provided a total of 110 goals, with only four scoreless draws among them.
The day's highest score came from Division Three's Gillingham, who beat Southend United 8-1, while the highest tally in the top flight was Arsenal's 6-0 victory over Portsmouth. Darlington came close to that in Division Four, beating Hartlepool United 2-5. Sheffield United delivered the top score of the Second Division with a relatively modest 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.
It took almost nine years for the league to reach 500,000 goals, with Huddersfield's Gary Taylor-Fletcher collecting the honor with a strike against Rotherham United.
On 4 September 1867, the Wednesday Cricket Club decided to add football as a way to keep their players fit during the winter. The new sport's popularity grew quickly, however, and soon became the dominant activity of the club, now known as Sheffield Wednesday FC. 
