Do you remember the Battle of Old Trafford? Shearer's dream debut hat trick? Or how many goals Haaland scored in his first Premier League season? Hope, heartbreak and victory, over the past 60 years Match of the Day has shown it all.
From bombastic debuts in August to May’s nail-biting end-of-season title races, the football calendar is filled with legendary moments. Packed full of stories from 60 years of football history, The official Match of the Day Football Almanac is your ultimate guide to the highs and lows of the football season.
With a foreword from Gary Lineker and featuring the most legendary footballing stories from the last 60 years of Match of the Day, this month-by-month guide includes giant-killing FA Cup battles, the birth of the Premier League and the dawn of VAR, all culminating in legendary World Cup and Euros tournaments – with stats and insights from the experts at Match of the Day along the way. This is the perfect gift for any football fan, and a fitting tribute to our favourite football programme.
Review: In August 1964, the first transmission of a football highlights programme “Match of the Day” was broadcast on BBC2. Since then, the programme has become a Saturday night institution in England and Wales. This book, published in 2024, celebrates 60 years of this iconic programme.
Initially available only to a limited audience in the London area who had access to BBC2, the programme featured highlights of a single match in the English Football League First Division. It then moved to BBC1 and gradually expanded. In 1992, the breakaway Premier League was formed and nowadays the programme will feature extended highlights of one main match, followed by briefer highlights of all that other day’s fixtures in the Premier League. The book is divided into 12 chapters, each focussing on one month, beginning with the season’s opening fixtures in August. Hence, the chapters cover: dream or nightmare debuts as the season kicks off in August; managers’ fears of the sack (not from Santa) in December; giant killing acts as the FA Cup 3rd round pits lower league clubs against the top league clubs in January; and possible title deciders in May. The chapters relating to June and July cover the performance of England men’s and women’s teams in international tournaments (spoiler alert - the chapter on the Lionesses’ achievements is now out of date).
As an interesting review of the history of “Match of the Day”, including its presenters, commentators and pundits, over its first 60 years, I found this to be highly informative. It should appeal to all football aficionados.
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