Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (January 19th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, please post them in the comment area and share them with AFers!
On this day in 2004, Cech signed contract with Chelsea
On this day in 1878, Innovative Arsenal manager Chapman was born
In 1925, Arsenal lured Chapman away by doubling his salary to £2,000. Arsenal finished second that year, five points behind Huddersfield Town. In 1930, Chapman's Arsenal defeated Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup Final, claiming the Gunners' first major trophy. Additional successes soon followed, with league titles in 1930-31 and 1932-33.
He is credited with introducing several innovations to the game, including early adoption of the 3-2-2-3 "WM" formation, putting numbers on the players' shirts, and encouraging physical fitness through the use of strict training plans and physiotherapists. At Arsenal, he is perhaps best known for adding white sleeves to the Gunners' red shirts.
Chapman stayed with Arsenal until his death on 6 January 1934 from pneumonia.
On this day in 2017, Gabriel Jesus signed for Man City
A talented and versatile forward, Jesus is capable of playing in several attacking positions: he has been deployed as a centre forward, as an out-and-out striker, as a false 9, as an inside forward, as a winger or as an attacking midfielder, and is renowned for his pace, technical skills, dribbling ability, creativity, finishing, movement, and work ethic.
He joined Manchester City in January 2017 for a transfer fee of €32 million, and won the Premier League and EFL Cup in 2018.
On this day in 1986, Ex-Juventus star Marchisio was born
A product of the Juventus youth system, he spent a large portion of his career at his hometown club, winning seven consecutive Serie A titles between 2012 and 2018, and four consecutive Coppa Italia titles between 2015 and 2018. He was the club's second vice-captain, behind Giorgio Chiellini.
Marchisio has often been compared to former Juventus and Italian midfielder Marco Tardelli by the Italian press, due to his energy, tenacious style of play, and good reading of the game, as well as his ability to seamlessly switch between offence and defence.
On this day in 1993, Inter midfielder Mario was born
On 27 August 2016, João Mário signed with Inter Milan for €40 million plus €5 million in bonuses, under new manager Luciano Spalletti, João Mário grew increasingly frustrated about the lack of playing time. He made 14 competitive appearances during his half-season spell, scoring twice, and was praised for his work rate.
João Mário made his senior debut for Portugal in 2014. He was chosen for the 2018 World Cup and appeared at Euro 2016, winning the latter tournament.
On this day in 2008, Pizarro scored his last Chelsea goal
Pizarro did play an important role in Chelsea, by contributing to the goal which rebounded off QPR keeper Lee Camp and into the net. He then went on to score the only goal in a match against Birmingham. This meant that his only two Premier League goals in a Chelsea shirt both came in separate games against Birmingham City.
On this day in 2008, Donovan became USA's all-time leading scorer
The match against Sweden was a friendly, played at the Galaxy's Home Depot Center as both teams geared up for their World Cup 2010 qualifying campaigns. In the 48th minute, the referee awarded the US a penalty kick when Sweden's Mattias Bjarsmyr fouled US forward Jozy Altidore in the box. Donovan stepped up and converted the spot kick for his record 35th goal.
Donovan increased his record goal tally to 57 before his retirement in 2014.
