Will Jeanes

If Keir Starmer is replaced as prime minister there will have already been more UK PMs in the 2020s than there were in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s combined.

Cristiano Ronaldo is now 41, so here are 41 stats you (probably) don’t know about him Forty-one facts and pieces of trivia about the Portuguese forward's remarkable achievements

I've come up with 41 stats & facts about Cristiano Ronaldo to mark his birthday this week:

⚽️ More career goals than Henry, Del Piero & Rashford combined

🇵🇹 Played in 32% of games in Portugal's history

🌕 One team-mate born before humans walked on moon

www.nytimes.com/athletic/701...

Games between Real Madrid and Benfica in the European Cup/Champions League from 1955 to 2025: Three

Games between Real Madrid and Benfica in the European Cup/Champions League in the first two months of 2026: Three

On this day in 1986, England beat Egypt 4-0 in a friendly in Cairo — with the match the last time England played in the month of January.

The two captains — Ray Wilkins and Moustafa Abdou — held up a double portrait of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

#OTD

In the first 70 years of the European Cup/Champions League, just two players scored 20+ goals for two different clubs:

Neymar & Cristiano Ronaldo

In the last five months, three more players have joined this list:

Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski & Kylian Mbappé

Kylian Mbappé's 12 goals in the Champions League this season would already have been enough to be the top scorer in 62 of the previous 70 seasons of the European Cup/Champions League.

Who are Kairat, the Champions League newcomers making the 3,400-mile trip to face Arsenal? Kairat are bottom of the league phase but the Kazakhstani side have an intriguing backstory

Here's a look at Kairat — Arsenal's opponents in the Champions League tonight — and just how remarkable it is that they are even in the competition.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/699...

The picture is by H. F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

Dixie Dean, arguably the greatest goalscorer in the history of English football, was born #OTD in 1907.

He scored 310 times for Everton in the English top flight — a record for one club — and his 60 league goals in 1927-28 is 11 more than anyone else has netted in an English top-flight season.

Scoring 20+ goals for two clubs in the European Cup/Champions League:

Neymar:
22 for PSG & 21 for Barcelona

Cristiano Ronaldo:
105 for Real Madrid & 21 for Manchester United

Harry Kane:
26 for Bayern & 21 for Tottenham

Robert Lewandowski 🆕
69 for Bayern & 20 for Barcelona

Premier League games won in 2026 by the current top five: 3

Premier League games won in 2026 by the current bottom five: 4

Only Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are on longer unbeaten runs in the Premier League than Wolves.

CONFIRMED:

Manchester United will play just 40 games this season — their fewest in a campaign since 1914-15 (39 games).

(This excludes seasons impacted by war).

The Ashes in numbers: From Australia’s heroes to England’s winless run and two-day Tests Who is now the second-highest run-scorer in the Ashes? And how many players aged 35 or over have taken 30 wickets in a series? Answers below

Delighted to achieve a lifetime ambition and get Wally Hammond in The New York Times.

Here’s my look at the recent Ashes series and where some of the crazy numbers and statistics to emerge from it sit in an historical context 🏏:

www.nytimes.com/athletic/693...

Alex Carey in this Ashes became the first player in the history of Test cricket to score 300+ runs and take 25+ catches in a series.

🏏

Wolves are on track to get more Premier League points than Derby’s 11 in 2007-08.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be the first Manchester United manager to return for a second spell at the club since Matt Busby.

Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United tenure in numbers: Unwanted records and unwelcome firsts The Portuguese managed fewer wins than Moyes, despite being in charge for 12 more games, just one of the damning statistics from his reign

❌ Fewer wins than Moyes despite taking charge of 12 more games

🧮 Second-lowest win % by a #MUFC manager in last 50 years

0⃣ No back-to-back PL wins in 2024-25

Had a look at the numbers behind Ruben Amorim's time as Man Utd boss with @cweatherspoon.bsky.social:

www.nytimes.com/athletic/694...

Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United tenure in numbers: Unwanted records and unwelcome firsts The Portuguese managed fewer wins than Moyes, despite being in charge for 12 more games, just one of the damning statistics from his reign

Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United tenure in numbers: Unwanted records and unwelcome firsts

w/ @willjeanes.bsky.social for @theathleticfc.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/athletic/694...

514 different players scored in the Premier League between Harrison Reed's last two goals in the competition.

Cristian Stellini was a Premier League manager when Harrison Reed last scored a goal before today.

James Milner has now played in the Premier League in 25 calendar years — a quarter of a century's worth. The original Xbox was released in the last year he didn't feature in England's top flight (2001).

Wolves would be top of a Premier League table for 2026.

📈 Haaland's incredible strike rate
🇦🇺 Unwanted history for Postecoglou
📆 Milestones for Milner & Modric

@oilysailor.bsky.social & @willjeanes.bsky.social look back at football in 2025 through a statistical lens

🔗 www.nytimes.com/athletic/689...

Here is a look at each month in football in 2025 through numbers... some serious, some less so:

On this day in 1980 the World Champions' Gold Cup started. Held in Montevideo to mark 50 years since the first World Cup, the six previous world champions were invited to play — with the Netherlands replacing England (who decided not to compete). Uruguay beat Brazil in the final.

Sunderland have been enjoying life back in the Premier League.

They have 28 points from their 18 matches back in the top-flight so far, the same number of points Wolves have picked up from 37 games in 2025.

(Stat: @willjeanes.bsky.social)

Sunderland have no Premier League games left in 2025, Wolves have one left.

Newly-promoted Sunderland have now got the same number of Premier League points as Wolves in 2025… from 19 fewer games:

Sunderland in the PL in 2025:
28 points from 18 games

Wolves in the PL in 2025:
28 points from 37 games

Enjoyed contributing to @theathleticfc.bsky.social's Christmas quiz! See how you get on: