25 August 1928 - Football By Numbers

On 25 August 1928, Arsenal and Chelsea became the first teams in Europe to wear shirt numbers, though not against each other.

The two teams weren't even in the same division at the time, with Arsenal playing in the top flight and Chelsea in Division Two. But when they each opened their seasons, both had adopted the innovation of wearing shirt numbers to help identify the players.

The number were assigned by position used in the 2-3-5 formation prevalent at the time: goalkeeper (1), right full back (2), left full back (3), right center half (4), center half (5), left center half (6), outside right forward (7), inside right forward (8), center forward (9), inside left forward (10), and outside left forward (11) (though only Arsenal used all eleven, as Chelsea's keeper did not wear a number that day).

While both Arsenal and Chelsea may have been able to better identify their players, the day's results went in opposite directions, with Arsenal losing 3-2 to Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea beating Swansea 4-0.

Although this was the first use of shirt numbers in Europe, they were used in the US four years earlier by Vesper Buick, when they lost to Fall River in the US Open Cup Final (shown below).

24 August 2000 - Akers Away

On 24 August 2000, US midfielder/forward Michelle Akers, one of the earliest stars of women's football, announced her retirement.

She joined the US national team upon its formation in 1985 at the age of 19 and scored the team's very first goal in a 2-2 draw with Denmark that August. In 1991, her ten goals at the inaugural women's World Cup remain a tournament record and helped the US lift the trophy. After a disappointing third-place finish in the 1995 World Cup, she helped the team win the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, then claimed another World Cup trophy in 1999.

The US Soccer Federation has called Akers "the greatest women's soccer player in history." Her status was recognized commercially when she became the first female footballer to earn an endorsement from a shoe company.

Throughout her career, however, she battled injuries, including multiple knee surgeries, a shoulder injury, and a condition known as chronic fatigue syndrome. After the 1999 World Cup, at the age of 34, she decided that she could no longer continue and chose to retire from the game. At the time, she was the team's second-leading scorer, with 105 goals in 153 appearances (she is currently fourth behind Abby Wambach, Mia Hamm, and Kristine Lilly), and remains in the top ten for assists.

23 August 2008 - Argentina Finds A Way To Beat The Heat

On 23 August 2008, Argentina won their second straight Olympic gold, beating Nigeria 1-0 with a goal from Ángel di María.

The two teams met previously in the 1996 gold medal game, won by Nigeria 3-2 with a 90th-minute strike from Emmanuel Amuneke. Argentina failed to qualify for the tournament in 2000, but went on to win it in 2004 over CONMEBOL rivals Paraguay.

Defending their title in 2008, they got off to a perfect start by winning all three of their group stage matches, then advancing over the Netherlands and Brazil in the knockout rounds to reach the final. Nigeria, meanwhile, also topped their group and made it into the final with wins over Ivory Coast and Belgium.

They played the final at noon at the National Stadium in Beijing, where the temperatures reached 107° F/42° C. The heat was so oppressive that officials twice stopped the match so that the players could rehydrate. The Nigerians tightly marked strikers Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero, but that allowed enough space for di María to exploit for the go-ahead goal in the 58th minute—he chipped the Nigerian keeper after receiving the ball from Messi.

It was only his second goal of the tournament, but it was the only one of the match as Argentina won 1-0.

22 August 2006 - Technically, They're Not "Wins," But Try Telling Them That

On 22 August 2006, Bradford City lost to Carlisle in a penalty shootout, notable for the fact that it was their last such loss in seven years (and counting).

The game was in the first round of the League Cup. It ended 1-1 after extra time, forcing a penalty shootout that Carlisle won 4-3. Since then, however, Bradford have won an English-record nine straight shootouts. Although they were in League Two for all of them, their wins include a couple of upsets over Premier League teams Wigan and Arsenal.

• 2-2 (3-2) over Notts County in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on 6 October 2009;
• 2-2 (5-4) over Port Vale in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on 10 November 2009;
• 0-0 (3-1) over Sheffield Wednesday in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on 30 August 2011;
• 2-2 (4-3) over Huddersfield the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on 4 October 2011;
• 1-1 (6-5) over Sheffield United in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on 8 November 2011;
• 0-0 (3-2) over Hartlepool in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on 9 October 2012;
• 0-0 (4-2) over Wigan in the League Cup on 30 October 2012;
• 3-3 (4-2) over Northampton in the FA Cup on 13 November 2012; and
• 1-1 (3-2) over Arsenal in the League Cup on 11 December 2012.

Now in League One, Bradford hopes to continue the streak, which remains an active English record.

21 August 2004 - I Can Only Wonder What Happened At The Break

On 21 August 2004, Kaiserslautern striker Carsten Jancker set a German Cup record when he put six past Schönberg in the tournament's first round.

A star at Bayern Munich where he won four Bundesliga titles and a Champions League trophy between 1996 and 2002, Jancker had just returned to Germany after a two-year spell in Italy with Udinese. He quickly settled in with his performance against fourth-division Schönberg.

Playing at Schönberg's Jahnstadion, Kaiserslautern took the lead with a goal from Christian Nerlinger in the 20th minute, then extended it with a rapid brace from Ferydoon Zandi (41', 44'). Then, in the second half, Jancker took over, scoring his first goal in the 46th minute, followed by additional strikes (58', 61', 71', 77', 85'). His six goals remain a record for a single player in the German Cup.

In the meantime, Schönberg provided an own goal (53'), while Selim Teber (56', 82'), Kamil Kosowski (64'), Zandi (68'), and Marco Englehardt (88') scored for the visitors to set the final margin at 0-15.

Unfortunately for Kaiserslautern, the goals did not come as easily in the second round, where they fell to Schalke on penalties, 4-4 (4-3).

20 August 1960 - Pretty Much The Opposite Of His Last Name, Then

On 20 August 1960, John Trollope made the first of his league-record 770 appearances for Swindon Town in a 1-1 draw with Halifax Town.

Born in Wroughton, just over three miles away from Swindon's County Ground, Trollope spent his entire career with the club. A left back, he made his debut at the age of seventeen in their Division Three opener against Halifax and went on to appear in all but two of their league matches that season.

He continued to feature for them over the next twenty years, as they fluctuated between Divisions Two and Three. Between 1960 and 1978, he never made fewer than 35 league appearances and usually made more than 40 each season.

By the time he retired in 1981, his tally reached a total of 770, setting the current league record for the most appearances at a single club. After hanging up his boots, however, he didn't go far, taking over as the club's manager from 1981 to 1983.

19 August 2006 - Not The Housewarming Present They Would have Liked

On 19 August 2006, Arsenal played their first competitive game at the new Emirates Stadium, drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa.

Built over a three-year period with a construction cost of £390 million, the stadium replaced Arsenal's previous home, Highbury, and expanded the club's match-day capacity from 38,000 to over 60,300. A slightly less-than-capacity crowd of 60,023 turned up for the the first competitive game there on the Premier League's opening weekend, with Aston Villa as the guests of honor.

It was a close contest, remaining scoreless through the first half, but Villa managed to break the deadlock early in the second when captain Olof Mellberg headed home from a 53rd-minute corner kick.

Corner kicks became the theme of the day. Arsenal substitute Theo Walcott came on in the 73rd minute and, eleven minutes later, sent in a cross that dropped at the feet of midfielder Gilberto Silva, who prodded it home to earn a share of the points.