Anniversary celebrations
The Football League is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2013.Here is a look back the the league through statistics since its inception in 1888.
125 Years in Numbers
Matches:
• There have been 177,164 matches played in The Football League
• The most played Football League fixtures are between:
- Aston Villa and Everton (154 times)
- Arsenal and Manchester United (146 times)
- Everton and Liverpool (146 times)
• The most played match amongst current members of The Football League is between Hartlepool United and Rochdale (136 times)
Results:
• 52% of games have been home wins (91,223 games)
• 23% have been away wins (41,470 games)
• 25% have been draws (44,471 games)
• The most common result has been 1-0 with 28,169 occurrences (16% of matches) - NB: this includes games finishing 1-0 and 0-1
• Other regular scores are:
- 2-1 (25,653 - 14%)
- 1-1 (20,415 - 12%)
- 2-0 (20, 407 - 12%)
- 0-0 (12,550) - 7%)
Goals:
• 514,333 goals have been scored
• The home club has scored 317,260 goals (62%), with 197,073 (38%) scored by the away club
Players:
• In total, 39,532 players have appeared in Football League matches
• 508 were called Smith, 384 Jones, 298 Brown, 266 Williams and 228 Taylor
• 3,316 players appeared only once (2,868 of which were 'starts' and 448 substitutes)
Grounds:
• League games have been played on 220 different grounds
• Most matches have been played at Preston North End's Deepdale (2,336), Burnley's Turf Moor (2,304) and Bury's Gigg Lane (2,281)
• There are three stadiums still in use today that were used in the first season. They are Deepdale, Turf Moor and Anfield (which was used by Everton)
Fans:
• The total number of spectators through Football League turnstiles is just under 2.2 billion (2,192,000,000)
Clubs:
• There have been 136 clubs that have played in The Football League. Although there are numerous examples of defunct clubs reforming under new names. In such cases it is often a moot point as to whether these are a continuation of the same club or constitute an entirely separate entity.
Global Leagues:
Following the formation of The Football League in 1888, the popularity of league football spread around the world with domestic leagues being formed in the following years:
1888: England
1890: Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands
1891: Argentina
1895: Belgium
1897: Switzerland
1900: Uruguay
1901: Hungary
1906: Paraguay
1909: Romania
1911: Austria
1912: Peru
1921: USA, Ireland, Tunisia, Venezuela
1924: Sweden, Bulgaria
1925: Czechoslovakia (then 1993: Czech Republic & Slovakia)
1927: Greece
1929: Spain, Italy, Denmark
1932: France
1933: Chile
1936: USSR
1937: Norway, Haiti
1938: Portugal
1943: Mexico
1948: Colombia
1956: Ghana
1957: Ecuador
1959: Brazil, Turkey
1960: Ivory Coast
1962: Algeria, Zambia
1963: Germany
1965: Japan
1966: Mali, Nigeria
1977: Australia, Bolivia
1983: South Korea
1988: Panama
1992: Croatia, Ukraine
2000: Bosnia
2001: Russia
2006: Montenegro, Serbia
To find out more about the 125th anniversary of The Football League visit FL125.co.uk for feature articles, stats and photo galleries, or search for #FL125 on Twitter.