Which teams have won the national cup by playing every match on one field? | Football

“Renovations at Ibrox could see Rangers reach the League Cup final by playing every game at Hampden Park,” notes David Shannon. “Has any club ever won a national cup by playing all its matches on the same pitch?”

Dutchman Reuben reports: “The final of the KNVB Cup has been played in the Feyenoord Stadium (De Kuip) in Rotterdam for almost four decades. can reach the final by playing only home games – there are no neutral-ground matches, no two-legged ties and home teams are determined by drawing lots. In fact, the last two times Feyenoord won the KNVB Cup – 2018 and 2024, the latter under Arne Slot – they have not played a single match away from their home stadium.

“I don’t think it’s happened in any of the big five European countries; the Copa del Rey and Coppa Italia have two matches before the final, the FA Cup (Wembley) and Coupe de France (Stade de France) finals are not played at a club team’s home stadium. The German DFB-Pokal plays its final at Hertha BSC’s stadium (Olympiastadion), but Hertha has never won the trophy.”

Sorry to interrupt you, Ruben, but we need to catch up on the story of Hertha Berlin Amateure, Hertha’s reserve team that reached the 1993 DFB-Pokal final. Hertha II, as they are now called, did not leave Berlin during their run, but only played the semi-final and the final (which they lost 1-0 to Leverkusen) at the Olympiastadion.

“The DFB-Pokal final wasn’t always in Berlin,” Reuben continues. “In 1983, the final was held in Cologne between finalists FC Köln and Fortuna Köln. The winner was FC Köln, who only played home games on their way to the final. However, they didn’t play their first round match in their own stadium, but in a smaller stadium in Cologne.” So Cologne, but no cigar.

Across the Atlantic: “The home team in the US Open Cup is determined by draw for each round, including the final, meaning any team can win the trophy playing only at their home stadium. This has happened three times: Chicago Fire in 2006, Houston Dynamo in 2018 and Orlando City in 2022.” Plus: “Pohang Steelers won the Korean FA Cup in 2012, having home advantage in all five rounds, including the final. That’s a start,” Reuben concludes, rather modestly.

Sean DeLoughry continued: “Almost every Rock Cup in Gibraltar has had all its games played at Victoria Stadium. And in Ireland, Bohemians won the 1928 FAI Cup by beating Cobh Ramblers, St James’s Gate, Shelbourne and Drumcondra, with all six games played at their home ground, the national stadium, Dalymount Park. Also, for a while, the League Cup final in Ireland was played at the home of one of the finalists, chosen at random. In 2013, Shamrock Rovers won the League Cup without leaving Tallaght. In 2010, Sligo won the League Cup with a complete home run at the Showgrounds to lift the trophy. In 2006, Derry City beat each of Longford, Drogheda, Limerick and Shelbourne at home without conceding a goal.”

Bob Cheval joins the conversation with a Caledonian response: “Sadly, Rangers won’t even be the first Scottish team to achieve this feat. The very first Scottish Cup in 1873 saw Queen’s Park emerge victorious after playing every match at the original Hampden Park.”

Bob also adds, like Reuben: “This was also achieved several times in the early years of the Copa del Rey, as the format was a round-robin group with all matches played on the same pitch. Due to a dispute between groups of clubs, in 1910 there were two separate Copa del Rey competitions, both round-robin formats on one pitch. So two clubs – Athletic and Barcelona – managed to win the same domestic cup while playing on only one (albeit different) pitch in one season.”

Fluctuations and misses

“Sheffield Wednesday won their opening game 4-0, but lost their second game by the same score. What is the biggest turnaround between winning the opening game and losing the next league game?” asks Andrew Wilson.

Stephan Wijnen gives a recent answer: “In the Dutch First Division this season, Jong AZ won their first match 6-0 at home to Roda JC, but lost 6-0 away to Den Bosch four days later. Chris Lowe actually has a decent answer: “Aston Villa’s 1925 season started with a 10-0 win and then they followed it up with a 0-3 defeat for a 13-goal difference. There are two recent incidents from the Premier League, both in the same 2010 season where Blackpool started 4-0 (v Wigan), 0-6 (v Arsenal) and Aston Villa started 3-0 (v West Ham), 0-6 (v Newcastle).”

Colorful team selections

“Next month’s North London derby will likely be Ben White versus Archie Gray,” writes Rudy. “Which makes me wonder, which competition has had the most colored surnames on the team sheet?”

Rob Huggett said: “If we allow players on the bench, my team Leeds, during one of our many years of banter, had a multi-coloured bench of (Paul) Green, (Aidy) White, (Michael) Brown and (Andy) Gray for a 1-0 home defeat to Birmingham in October 2013. Manager Neil Warnock undoubtedly added a lot of colourful language.”

There’s bound to be more to come, right? Email us or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.

Knowledge archive

Mark Norman-Nicholls recently asked: “The Champions League qualifying match between Ludogorets and Qarabag went into extra time tied 4-4 on aggregate (2-3 that night), only for Qarabag to score four goals in the extra 30 minutes to go 8-4 up. It got me thinking about the biggest margins of victory in extra time.”

We first looked at this topic in 2005, following Asker’s 4-0 (aet) victory over Strømmen in the Norwegian Women’s Cup final. After 90 minutes, the score was still 0-0.

In Norway, Nils Ragnar Løvhaug continues to nominate the third round of the men’s cup match between Tromsø and Tromsdalen in 1996. “The score was 3-3 after 90 minutes, but Tromsø eventually won 8-3 after extra time, with Birmingham flop Sigurd Rushfeldt scoring five goals.” More information about the match can be found here.

Rugby Town suffered an even greater punishment in extra time with a cruel twist. In their 2004 Southern League Cup third round tie with Sutton Coldfield, Rugby were 2-0 up after 89 minutes; when the final whistle blew, it was 2-2. Rugby, fielding a large number of youth players and reserves, continued the capitulation by conceding another six goals in extra time to lose 8-2. “The heads dropped and the legs went in extra time,” Rugby boss Tony Dobson admitted afterwards. Has progress been made since then?

Can you help me?

“Preston North End sacked Ryan Lowe after just one league game this season,” writes Sam Coare. “His interim replacement Mike Marsh left after their second league game and was replaced by new boss Paul Heckingbottom. This means that three different men have been in charge of the team’s first three league games. Surely that must be a first?”

Luka Barisic asks: “Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric closed the previous Bundesliga edition with a hat-trick against Bayern and welcomed Holstein Kiel to the league with another treble. How many players have bridged two seasons in this way?”

Henry Manuel wants to know: “Chelsea currently own four of the top 10 most expensive transfers of all time – João Felix, Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo and Romelu Lukaku. Has any team ever owned more than this at the same time?”

“When Carlisle United beat Barrow 1-0 in their opening game at home on 17 August, it was their first home win on a Saturday for almost a year, the previous being a 2-0 victory over Shrewsbury on 2 September 2023,” notes Mike Kilner. “Which team last had a longer home win drought?