Plus: players who have lost European Cup and World Cup finals in the same year; knocking out continents; and huge friendly attendances. Mail us or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

Who has won the World Cup and European Cup in the same year?

“Raphaël Varane has just completed the big-time double of winning the European Cup and World Cup in the same year. Which other players have achieved this?” asks Jim George.

Well, having done some digging around, we came up with a list and Varane making an illustrious XI. Mind you, Luka Modric would also have completed a team of big-time double winners had Croatia won. Here is the XI:

• Uli Hoeness (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1974)

• Gerd Müller (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1974)

• Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1974)

• Paul Breitner (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974)

• Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974)

• Sepp Maier (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974)

• Jupp Kapellmann (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974)

• Christian Karembeu (Real Madrid and France 1998 )

• Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid and Brazil 2002)

• Sami Khedira (Real Madrid and Germany 2014)

• Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid and France 2018)

And it occurred to us that there must also be a group of players who have lost the two finals in the same year. Step forward Dejan Lovren to join this tear-stained list:

• Nils Liedholm (Milan and Sweden 1958)

• Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1982)

• Paul Breitner (Bayern Munich and West Germany 1982)

• Carsten Ramelow (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany 2002)

• Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany 2002)

• Oliver Neuville (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany 2002)

• Thierry Henry (Arsenal and France 2006)

• Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich and Netherlands 2010)

• Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich and Netherlands 2010)

• Dejan Lovren (Liverpool and Croatia 2018)

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dejan Lovren is consoled only 50 days after Liverpool’s European Cup final defeat. Photograph: Valery Sharifulin/Tass

You will notice that Michael Ballack is not on the list of 10. He was suspended for the World Cup final in 2002. In the women’s game we have also found two unlucky losers. Guardian columnist Marta and her Brazil teammate Elaine lost the Uefa Women’s Cup final in April 2007, playing for Swedish side Umea, and then tasted defeat in the World Cup final that September, being beaten 2-0 by Germany in Shanghai.

Have we missed anybody? Let us know at knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.

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Knocking out whole continents

“So, Uruguay fell foul to France,” begins Shane Finan. “That means the French team knocked out three of five South American teams at this World Cup (Peru, Argentina and Uruguay). Has any team knocked out an entire continent at a World Cup?”

The answer is yes, Shane. And it’s happened loads of times. Alasdair Brooks trawled through the archives to provide a comprehensive answer. Here we have presented his fine work in a more slimmed-down format:

1934 Hungary eliminated Africa by defeating Egypt in the first round, and Italy eliminated North America by beating USA 7-1.



1938 Hungary eliminated Asia by defeating the Dutch East Indies in the first round; Sweden eliminated North America by defeating Cuba in the second round; and Italy eliminated South America by defeating Brazil in the semi-final.

1954: Hungary eliminated South America by knocking out Brazil in the quarters and Uruguay in the semis. Elsewhere, the odd non-round robin group first-round format makes it a little tricky to decide who knocked out whom, but France appear to have eliminated North America by defeating Mexico in their final first round match. Turkey knocked out Asia by defeating South Korea.

1958: Hungary eliminated North America by defeating Mexico in the final group stage match.

1962: This time around, it was Spain’s turn to eliminate North America by defeating Mexico.

1966: North America and Mexico are eliminated after only two matches – and it’s England who experience what it is like to knock out an entire continent. More famously, Portugal eliminated Asia in the quarters by defeating North Korea 5-3 after going 3-0 down.

Eusebio scores one of his four goals in the stunning comeback defeat of North Korea. Photograph: AP

1970: Italy knock out Asia via a 0-0 final group stage draw with Israel (who were yet to switch to Uefa), while Peru eliminated Africa by defeating Morocco 3-0 in the second group stage match.

1974: Oceania, in their only pre-expansion appearance, were eliminated by Chile via a 0-0 draw with Australia. Africa are eliminated in the second group-stage match by Yugoslavia, who crush Zaire 9-0. North America are eliminated in the second group-stage match by Poland, who crush Haiti 7-0.



1978: West Germany eliminated two continents; North America in the second group-stage match by beating Mexico, and then Africa via a 0-0 draw with Tunisia in the final group-stage match. Peru knock out Asia by defeating Iran.



“Finally,” writes Alasdair, “despite beating both Mexico in the final first round match and the United States in the semi-final, Argentina didn’t eliminate North America in 1930; Chile’s victory over France earlier the same day meant that Mexico had already been mathematically eliminated before they took the field against Argentina (in the same stadium as the earlier match).”



Knowledge archive

“What is the current record crowd for a friendly in Britain?” asked Kris Scrimgeour in August 2009.

The record for an international friendly is 125,683 – achieved at Hampden Park for a game between Scotland and France, which the home side won 2-0, all the way back on 27 April 1949. That answer was provided by Sean DeLoughry, and so was the record for a friendly between two club sides - 104,493 for Rangers 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, also at Hampden Park, in October 1961. An honourable mention goes to Chelsea 3-3 Dynamo Moscow in 1945. While the official attendance for that match was listed as 85,000, many witnesses estimated the true figure at close to 100,000, and according to Damon Maddison: “The crowd were spilling out of the terraces and on to the dog track, while some people even climbed on to the roof of the stands to watch.” The highest official gate for that tour was actually at Ibrox, however, where 92,000 saw Dynamo draw with Rangers.

• For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the archive.



Can you help?

“Real Madrid made an £8m profit on Cristiano Ronaldo when they sold him to Juventus for £88m. He’s 33! What’s the biggest profit made by a club on a player in their 30s?” wonders George Jones.

“Birkir Már Sævarsson started for his club Valur in the Icelandic top division on 1 July, a mere five days after starting for Iceland against Croatia at the World Cup,” writes Kári Tulinius. “As the match started at five o’clock local time, only three quarter-finals had been played. Has any World Cup-participating player appeared earlier in a competitive match while the tournament is still being played?”

“Perusing the Europa League first qualifying round score (as you do), I noticed the attendance at the Anorthosis Famagusta v Laci game was given as being just 2,” reports David Pope. And yep, that looks right to us. Anyone care to enlighten us further? “Surely, ignoring games behind closed doors, this has to be the lowest European competition attendance in history?”

Daryl Bolger (@darylkb1) 16 year old Gavin Bazunu started in goal for Shamrock Rovers in their Europa League tie last week, has there been a younger keeper start in a club European game?

• Email your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.

