ON THIS DAY

The FIFA corruption scandal hit a new low when the FIFA Ethics Committee banned FIFA president Sepp Blatter, UEFA president Michel Platini and FIFA's secretary general Jérôme Valcke from all football activity for 90 days. Platini had been the FA’s choice to succeed Blatter and was widely regarded as the favourite to take over at FIFA. But days later it got even worse when the Der Spiegel magazine claimed that bribes had been paid to help Germany win the right to stage the 2006 World Cup finals. The story would run....

The homecoming to Manchester of Real Madrid's David Beckham proved not to be a happy one. He was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the World Cup qualifier against Austria at Old Trafford and so became the first player to be sent off twice while playing for England. He wasn't too chuffed!

There was a time when bomb threats were a not uncommon part of football. At a Euro Under 21 qualifier at Wolves a Molineux steward noticed a suspicious-looking foil-wrapped package. The police got involved, then the Army but after a controlled explosion it was found to be ......a sandwich. The crowd had waited outside in the rain, the match kicked off at 10pm, England missed a penalty and drew 0-0 with Poland. Happy days!