Chelsea's 2009-10 squad featured multiple international captains

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Plus: more speedy marathons by footballers, headed goals of the season and chairs acting as managers Mail us with all of your questions and answers “Which club team has had the most international captains playing together at one time?” asks MH Zahid. “Conversely, which international team has had the most club captains in its starting lineup at one time?” A quick web search finds a fuss being made in various corners of the internet of Chelsea’s 2009-10 squad because it contained six national team captains in Michael Ballack (Germany), Petr Cech (Czech Republic), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Branislav Ivanovic (Serbia), Mikel John Obi (Nigeria) and John Terry (England). These are, indeed, six people who captained their countries, playing together at one time, but crucially they were not all international captains at that time, which because we like to have our hands bound as tight as possible – no questions please – mean they are disqualified from this particular tournament. Ivanovic, you see, was not named Serbia captain until 2012 and Mikel, who was but a whippersnapper at 22 when the 2009-10 season started, was still seven years from getting his hands on the Nigeria armband. Continue reading...