Hammered 149-nil

No… 149-nil is not a score-line in a game of snooker, cricket or rugby, not even in hockey, basketball, baseball or American NFL. In fact, it came in a football match, played on 31 October 2002 between AS Adema and SOE l'Emyrne in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

And it’s officially recognised as a Guinness World Record for the highest-ever victory.

The match itself was the last of a four-team round robin playoff in the national championship. Just prior to this fixture, Adema had been declared champions after SOE were held to a 2–2 draw by DSA Antananarivo in a tense game which saw the referee award a late and disputed penalty to deny SOE victory.

The draw meant that SOE could not win the title. Therefore, with the championship already decided, officials of the unhappy SOE club decided on a plan of action!

And in the next game the team deliberately scored 149 own goals! It was simple… at every restart, the ball was dribbled backwards before being kicked into his own net by a SOE player with opposition side totally bemused!

Following the match, the Malagasy Football Federation suspended the SOE coach, Zaka Be, for three years while four of the team's players, defender Mamisoa Razafindrakoto, captain Manitranirina Andrianiaina, forward Nicolas Rakotoarimanana and goalkeeper Dominique Rakotonandrasana, were suspended until the end of the season and banned from visiting stadia for the same period.

All the other SOE players, and indeed those of Adema, received official warnings and a threat of more serious action should they commit further offenses. The referee was not punished. Madagascar’s sports ministry proceeded to dissolve the FMF, which was later reconstituted.