If you are a football lover, then you'll agree that the game is 90-minutes of excitement, suspense, and is packed with tons of unbelievable goals/feats. There's always the chance of seeing a golden hat trick, a haul, or a flying scissors kick. More so, fantastic players have been setting records all through football history. While some records remain unsurpassed, we have witnessed the smashing of others by some impressive footballers.
With that said, let's look at the top five football's greatest records breakers.
- Fastest title win
The deadly viral pandemic might have postponed Liverpool's celebrations, but it didn't stop them from snagging the trophy later that year. Let's put their accomplishment in the right perspective. Liverpool didn't just clinch the 2019 league title, but they did it with seven matches to spare. It's incredible to win the famous title, no doubt; however, doing it with over 20 points ahead of the first runner up on the league-table is even more impressive.
Manchester City (2017-2018), Everton (1984-1985), and Manchester United (1907-1908, 2000-2001), were the previous record holders with five matches to spare before Liverpool claimed their bragging rights. It was a cash-out year for sports betting fans as Liverpool went on a defeating rampage to show their superiority, whether they were betting at the bookies or online with sites like Infogol.
- Most expensive player transfer
While this record might not be a direct achievement on the field of play, you can't help but recognize Neymar's astonishing prowess which facilitated his move from his former club, Barcelona, to the French side, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
In case you missed the football headlines back in 2017, PSG splashed a staggering €222 million to have Neymar on their side. He broke the previous record of Paul Pogba by a whopping €117 million difference who joined the Red Devils in 2016 with a transfer fee of €105 million.
No player has come close ever since. Perhaps, Messi would have broken the record if he left Barcelona after their humiliating 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich at the 2020 champions league tournament.
- Highest goals in one year
Messi, one of the greatest football players in modern times, did what he knows how to do best in 2012. He scored a whopping 91 goals in just one calendar year. Gerd Müller formerly held that record since 1972, where he scored a total of 85 goals within 365 days. This achievement covered both club (79 goals) and country (12 goals) appearances between 2011 and 2012.
- Fastest hat trick
In case you are new to sports, a hat trick is when a player scores three goals in a match. Now, scoring 3 goals in one half is a fantastic performance, but when Alex Torr did it in a record time of 70 seconds, that was admittedly an astonishing feat. The spectacular performance occurred between the 11th and 13th minutes of the game.
Torr's record smashed every other fast hat-trick in football history, such as Tommy Ross (1 minute & 29 seconds), James Hayter (2 minutes & 20 seconds), Jimmy Scarth's (2 minutes & 20 seconds), and Geoff Hurst (1 minute & 57secs.)
- Most goals by a player in the World Cup
This record goes way back to the 1958 World Cup. Just Fontaine went on to score an impressive 13 goals in his six appearances of the tournament. He broke the record, and no has ever come close except Muller, who finished with 10 goals at the 1970 World Cup.
