Football GoldMine

Hosted by Sweden, the 1992 European Championship was the 9th edition of the competition and was won by Denmark.

Denmark had not originally qualified, having finished second below Yugoslavia in their qualification group.

But after Yugoslavia was disqaulified due to the breakup of the country and the unrest that followed, they were replaced by Denmark.

Following a 0-0 draw against England, a 1-0 loss to Sweden and a 2-1 win over France, Denmark finished second with 3 points in their group and progressed to the knockout stages.

In the semi-finals, they defeated Netherlands 5-4 on penalties after the game ended 2-2 aet.

They went on to defeat Germany 2-0 in the final, with John Jensen and Kim Vilfort both finding the back of the net.

Henrik Larsen, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Dennis Bergkamp and Tomas Brolin emerged the competition's joint top scorers with 3 goals each.

Chelsea welcomed Arsenal to Stamford Bridge for a Premier League game in October 1999.

Prior to that game, Chelsea had won six of their opening nine matches, including a 5-0 victory over Sir Alex Ferguson's treble winners, and were yet to concede a goal at home.

They looked likely to continue their home run without conceding, as they were leading 2-0 in over 70 minutes, with goals by Tore Andre Flo and Dan Petrescu.

However, Kanu Nwankwo scored a hattrick in the 75th, 83rd and 90th minute to secure an astonishing comeback win for the Gunners.

Marc Overmars provided assists for Kanu's first and second goal while the third goal was an incredible solo effort by the Nigerian, which resulted in the famous "Kan-U Believe It" commentary line by Martin Tyler.

Kanu was named African Footballer of the Year for the second time that year and scored 16 goals across all competitions that season.

The last Premier League game that was played without any substitutions being made by either side was Manchester United vs Fulham on 22 March 2003.

Manchester United won the game 3-0, with Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring a hattrick.

With France already leading 2-0 in the 1998 World Cup final, French defender Marcel Desailly was sent off after receiving a second yellow card in the 68th minute for his careless tackle on Brazilian defender Cafu. France went on to win the game 3-0.

This was the only time a team went on to win a World Cup final match despite having a player sent off.

The other five players who have been sent off in a world cup final all lost the match:

-Pedro Monzon (Argentina) vs West Germany in 1990.

-Gustavo Dezotti (Argentina) vs West Germany in 1990.

-Zinedine Zidane (France) vs Italy in 2006.

-John Heitinga (Netherlands) vs Spain in 2010.

-Enzo Fernández (Argentina) vs Spain in 2026.

Prior to USA '94, Bulgaria had appeared in five editions of the FIFA World Cup- 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974 and 1986, but had failed to record a single win.

In 1994, they were placed in Group D, alongside Nigeria, Argentina and Greece.

Despite losing their opening match 3-0 against Nigeria, they went on to beat Greece 4-0 and Argentina 2-0, to finish second in the group with six points.

In the round of 16, they defeated Mexico 3-1 on penalties after the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

They faced Germany in the quarter-finals, beating them 2-1 before losing 2-1 to Italy in the semi-finals.

They played against Sweden in the third-place playoff and lost 4-0. Despite finishing fourth, the Bulgarian players also received bronze medals.

Hristo Stoichkov emerged the competition's joint top scorer, alongside Russia's Oleg Salenko, with six goals. Stoichkov also won the Bronze Ball Award.

Hristo Stoichkov and Krasimir Balakov were both included in the 1994 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team.

Dimitar Penev was their manager at the time.

Bulgaria participated in the 1998 edition four years later, but have failed to qualify for the tournament ever since.

Born in France, Frederic Kanoute represented the French national team at youth level before switching to Mali at senior level.

He scored four goals at AFCON 2004 and was joint top scorer, alongside four other players.

He scored the second goal for Mali in their dramatic 4-4 comeback against Angola at AFCON 2010.

Altogether, he scored 23 goals in 38 appearances for Mali.

At club level, he began his career with Lyon in France before moving to West Ham, after which he joined London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

He moved to Sevilla in 2005, where he won two UEFA Cups, two Copa del Rey titles and the UEFA Super Cup. Till date, he is Sevilla's highest-scoring foreign player with 136 goals in 290 appearances.

In 2007, he became the first player born outside Africa to win the Africa Footballer of the Year award.

Kanoute last played for Chinese side Beijing Guoan before his retirement in 2013.