Biggest win in football history - AS Adema’s 149-0 victory holds untouchable status

22 January, 2022

The Australia women’s football team registered their biggest win in football history as they ran out 18-0 winners in their AFC Women’s Asian Cup match against Indonesia Women on Friday, January 21.

Led by Chelsea star Sam Kerr, the Matildas were 9-0 at half-time against their 94th-ranked opponents. Kerr’s five goals saw her go past Tim Cahill as Australia’s all-time leading goalscorer as her side opened their Asian Cup account in style.

Speaking of the biggest win in football history, the record lies with Madagascar club AS Adema who registered an unprecedented 149-0 win against Stade Olympique L’Emyrne in a 2002 Madagascar National Football Championship match.

As a matter of fact, all goals in the 149-0 win were deliberate own goals by SOE players as part of a predetermined protest over refereeing decisions that cost them the national championship.

At the end of the fixture, the SO L’Emyrne coach Zaka Be, along with four of the team’s players, were suspended. While the coach got a three-year suspension, the players were banned until the end of the season.

Australia hold the record for the biggest win in international football history, as they humbled American Samoa 31-0 in an Oceanian qualifying match for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Australia's Archie Thompson found the net 13 times and thus registered the most goals scored by a player in an international match.

In women's football, the honour for the biggest win in football history goes to Canada Women. Taking on Puerto Rico in the 1998 CONCACAF Women’s Championship, Canada registered a 21-0 win with forward Silvana Burtini scoring eight goals in the fixture.

Coming to the biggest win in Premier League history, the record is shared between two teams - Manchester United (1995, 2021) and Leicester City (2019). The first was achieved by Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils in the 1994–95 Premier League season, as they beat second-from-bottom Ipswich Town by 9-0 with striker Andy Cole becoming the first in Premier League history to score five goals in one game.

Leicester City matched the record as they plundered nine goals past Southampton in their 2019 league meeting. Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez scored hat-tricks in the goal fest game as they matched the feat of a team having two hat-trick scorers in the same match (Robert Pires and Jermaine Pennant, Arsenal 6-1 Southampton, May 2003).

Southampton, unfortunately had to relive the heart-quenching once again as they were at the mercy of Manchester United in their 2021 showdown at Old Trafford. Just one minute and 22 seconds into the match, the Saints were reduced to 10 men after Alexandre Jankewitz’s tackle on Scott McTominay.

Seven players - including a brace from Anthony Martial - saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United match their biggest win in Premier League history.

Lastly, the biggest win in football history by an Indian team came about in 2015, when FC Goa thumped Mumbai City FC by 7-0 in their Indian Super League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa.

Forwards Semboi Haokip and Dudu netted hat-tricks as the Gaurs exacted revenge for the 0-2 loss in the reverse fixture earlier in the campaign. The result continues to remain the biggest winning margin in the ISL.

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Featured photo: AFP / LAURENCE GRIFFITHS