In Portugal the Carlsberg League Cup has an unusual format whereby in the 2nd phase, there are six groups of three teams, who play each other once.
Group A with Portimonense, Academica and Beira-Mar tied with two points each, all matches ending in a 0-0 draw.
As the three teams could not be decided by goal difference, Portimonense progressed as their team’s average age was the lowest.
The Algarveans final match, against Academica, was abandoned in the 51st minute due to a power failure.
The remaining 39 minutes were played the following evening! Aware of the prospect of the age difference rule Portimonense used two young substitutes to bring their average age down.
But after checking the ages they realised they needed to further reduce the average age. In the final minute of the match Portimonense substituted their 35 year old goalkeeper with the 19 year-old Sapateiro, bringing their average age to 24.566 years as against Academica’s 24.682 and Beira-Mar’s 25.474.Strange but true
In Portugal the Carlsberg League Cup has an unusual format whereby in the 2nd phase, there are six groups of three teams, who play each other once.
Group A with Portimonense, Academica and Beira-Mar tied with two points each, all matches ending in a 0-0 draw.
As the three teams could not be decided by goal difference, Portimonense progressed as their team’s average age was the lowest.
The Algarveans final match, against Academica, was abandoned in the 51st minute due to a power failure.
The remaining 39 minutes were played the following evening! Aware of the prospect of the age difference rule Portimonense used two young substitutes to bring their average age down.
But after checking the ages they realised they needed to further reduce the average age. In the final minute of the match Portimonense substituted their 35 year old goalkeeper with the 19 year-old Sapateiro, bringing their average age to 24.566 years as against Academica’s 24.682 and Beira-Mar’s 25.474.
