A CHRISTMAS BUNDLE ON THE 26-27th DECEMBER

26 December 1860: Sheffield FC 

won the first match played between two different clubs, beating Hallam FC 0-2. Formed in 1857, as a way to keep cricketers fit in the winter, Sheffield became the world's first football club. For their first three years, they had no opponents, so were limited to playing intra-club games. That changed in 1860 with the establishment of a second Sheffield club, Hallam FC.

Hallam hosted that first game at Sandygate Road, though the teams used Sheffield FC's set of rules, leading to the rivalry taking the name "the Rules Derby". Hallam also had a extra player, fielding fourteen men against Sheffield's thirteen. But the man advantage gave way to experience as the visitors ended up 0-2 winners.

Although the two teams currently compete in different levels of the English football pyramid, they keep the rivalry alive with friendlies, including a recent friendly in July 2013 that Sheffield won 4-2.

and on December 27th 1946: Joe Kinnear was born - former Newcastle, Wimbledon and Luton manager. AND OTHER ANNIVERSARIES on this day:

1949: A record 1,269,934 were in attendance for the Football League programme - an average of 28,862 spectators at each game. The previous record had stood for only 24 hours, 1,226,098 having turned up for the Boxing Day fixtures.

1966: Ballon d'Or: Manchester United midfielder Bobby Charlton wins award for best European football player; wins by a single point ahead of  Portuguese and Benfica striker Eusébio. Remember him in "our" World Cup 1966?

1971: Duncan Ferguson born this day- former Dundee United, Rangers, Everton, Newcastle and Scotland striker, now part of Everton's coaching team.  Here he is celebrating with his chum, Martin Keown.

1977: Ballon d'Or awarded to Dane, Allan Simonsen of Borussia Monchengladbach, best in Europe, that season ahead of Michel Platini (Nancy FC) and Kevin Keegan (Hamburg).

1980: Birmingham goalkeeper, Tony Coton, saved a penalty 90 seconds into his debut, in a 3-2 win over Sunderland at home. The 19-year-old was only told he would be replacing regular keeper, Jeff Wealands, 30 minutes before the kick-off. Not giving Coton much time to think about the enormity of what was about to happen might have helped him, but if he wanted a gentle introduction he was out of luck. Sunderland attacked from the start and when Joe Gallagher conceded a penalty, John Hawley had the chance to give the visitors an early lead from the spot. Coton had not even touched the match ball before he was faced with the very real prospect of picking it out of the net. Coton saved Hawley’s attempt, 54 seconds into his career. Birmingham won 3-2 in a match which Coton still views as his favourite game in league football.

2014: Neil Warnock was sacked as Crystal Palace manager. 

2017: Liverpool announced they had agreed a deal to sign Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton. The deal was understood to be worth £75million, a world-record fee for a defender.