# Football (Soccer) question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484 "2002-07-17T21:49:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/1 "2002-07-17T21:49:38Z")
What was the most goals scored by an individual in a single game? For league play and international? ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/2 "2002-07-18T00:09:13Z")
tough question… i dunno the answer… but i do know where you might find the answer… [http://www.onefootball.com/index.phtml?page=mainasktheref](http://www.onefootball.com/index.phtml?page=mainasktheref) either ask the ref or post in the forums there… ---
**Author:** ![Barney111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Barney111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barney111)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/3 "2002-07-18T02:13:52Z")
The eight goals Pele scored in a game in 1964 is the most I am aware of: [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/pf/h/cp/bra/pele.html](http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/pf/h/cp/bra/pele.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Eaton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tom\_Eaton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Eaton)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/4 "2002-07-18T03:50:59Z")
There was a World Cup qualifying match played in the last year or two between Australia and American Samoa in which a basically unknown Australian player, Archie Thompson, scored 13 goals. I assume that’s the record for a FIFA-sanctioned international match. Australia won the match 31-0. Not only is American Samoa possibly the worst national team on the planet under normal circumstances, but most of their normal players were denied entry into Australia (some sort of passport irregularity, allegedly) and they played the match with a bunch of inexperienced teenage replacements. Australia was roundly criticized for beating up so badly on an obviously overmatched opponent (at first it was unclear whether the final was 31-0 or 32-0 because they were scoring so fast that the statisticians couldn’t keep everything straight). The reason, I assume, was the qualification rules. In the event that two teams had been tied for first place in the Oceania qualifying group, the group would be decided by goal differential. At the time, it was still possible (but pretty unlikely) that Australia and New Zealand would end up tied, and had that happened the team that ran up the scores the most on the no-hope teams would advance to the playoff against the last-qualifying South American team (it ended up being Uruguay) to determine who advanced to the World Cup finals. In the end, it didn’t matter. Australia won the group outright and advanced. They lost to Uruguay in the playoff and didn’t go to the World Cup. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/5 "2002-07-18T05:12:20Z")
This is the boxscore for the infamous Australia-American Samoa match. [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/t/q/mr/22243.html](http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/t/q/mr/22243.html) I counted 13 for Thompson, but I sort of lost track. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/6 "2002-07-18T07:33:18Z")
On the worst teams in the world: > [@](#): > > On June 30—the day of the {World Cup} tournament’s championship match—an intriguing ‘friendly’ will take place elsewhere in Asia. At Changlimithang Stadium in Montserrat the two worst teams in the world—Bhutan and Montserrat—will battle for the right to be considered the second-weakest football team on earth. Ranked #202 in FIFA’s Coca-Cola world ranking, Bhutan has to be considered the favorite, but Montserrat, ranked dead last at #203, will have the home field advantage. [FIFA’s official rankings](http://www.fifa.com/rank/index_E.html) - with American Samoa at #201 and France and Argentina ranked at joint #2 :eek: Grim ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/7 "2002-07-18T09:57:25Z")
The _Rothman’s Football Yearbook 2001-2002_ gives Archie Thompson’s aforementioned 13 goals as the record for an international match. For matches between British league teams it gives John Petrie, who also scored 13 goals, for Arbroath against Bon Accord in the first round of the 1885 Scottish Cup. It does not give statistics for non-British league teams so there is still room for an increase there. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/8 "2002-07-18T11:58:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tom Eaton \* > \*\*Australia was roundly criticized for beating up so badly on an obviously overmatched opponent \*\* I can also remember a number of UK club managers being distinctly unimpressed that their Austrailian players had been dragged off around the planet for over a week to play a such a team. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/9 "2002-07-18T12:43:04Z")
Thanks, you guys are great, always impressed with the speed and references. ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-question/119484/10 "2002-07-18T14:03:39Z")
[UglyAmerican] I’m still confused. Is this a football question or a soccer question? [/UglyAmerican]