60 Fun Facts About Leeds United

Leeds United were formed in 1919 at a meeting held where?

Salem Chapel. Supporters packed its hall within hours of Leeds City's break-up; the club they founded started out in the Midland League and was voted into the Football League in 1920.

Why did the Football League expel Leeds City, Leeds United's predecessor, in 1919?

Illegal wartime payments to players. The directors refused to hand over the documents the inquiry demanded, so the League threw the club out just eight games into the season.

Yorkshire Amateurs sold Elland Road to the new Leeds United for how much?

£250. Yorkshire Amateurs had moved in when Leeds City folded, then stepped aside for the new club and became its first-ever opponents, losing 5-2 on the same pitch in November 1919.

Which club's chairman, Hilton Crowther, tried to merge it with the new Leeds United and then bankrolled Leeds instead?

Huddersfield Town. Their supporters blocked the move to Elland Road, and the club Crowther left behind then won three straight league titles, the first two under Herbert Chapman, once Leeds City's manager.

John Charles left Leeds in 1957 for a fee of £65,000 to join which club?

Juventus. In Italy the Welsh forward became Il Gigante Buono, the Gentle Giant, a nickname earned by going his entire career without being booked or sent off.

Who became Leeds United's first black player in 1957, four years before Albert Johanneson arrived?

Gerry Francis. He gave up work in the shoe trade and travelled to England for a trial at Leeds, and he later played in Don Revie's first match as manager.

In 1961-62 Don Revie switched Leeds to an all-white strip in the style of which club?

Real Madrid. The switch is usually told as Revie's bid to make his Second Division strugglers believe they could match the all-conquering Spanish side, and Leeds have worn white ever since.

Which Spanish club knocked Revie's Leeds out of the 1965-66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-final?

Real Zaragoza. The tie finished 2-2 on aggregate and Leeds won the toss to host the play-off, but the Spaniards won it 3-1 at Elland Road.

Leeds lost the 1967 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final to which Croatian side?

Dinamo Zagreb. A fixture pile-up pushed the 1966-67 final into the start of the next season, when Leeds lost 2-0 in Yugoslavia and drew 0-0 at Elland Road.

Whose volley won Leeds the 1968 League Cup final, the club's first major trophy?

Terry Cooper. The left-back volleyed in a half-cleared corner, the losers protested that their goalkeeper had been impeded, and Leeds shut the game down.

Leeds' first Inter-Cities Fairs Cup win, in 1968, came over two legs against which Hungarian side?

Ferencváros. The second leg in Budapest was nearly called off after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, but Leeds travelled and held out for a goalless draw.

Leeds clinched the 1968-69 league title with a goalless draw at which ground?

Anfield. The Leeds players walked towards the Kop after the final whistle, and to their surprise the Liverpool crowd saluted the team that had just beaten their own to the title.

Which club sold Allan Clarke to Leeds for a British-record £165,000 in 1969-70?

Leicester City. Clarke was man of the match in the Foxes' 1969 FA Cup final defeat, and their relegation that spring let Revie swoop with a record bid.

In 1970 Leeds chased a treble and lost the FA Cup final after a replay to which club?

Chelsea. Leeds led twice at Wembley and again in the replay, but the Londoners levelled every time and only went ahead for the first time in extra time.

Which Fourth Division club famously knocked Leeds out of the FA Cup in 1971?

Colchester United. Veteran striker Ray Crawford scored twice as the minnows raced 3-0 up, and a two-goal Leeds fightback came too late.

Leeds' 1972 FA Cup final win, their first in the competition, came against which opponents?

Arsenal. Allan Clarke's header won the cup, but Leeds had to play at Wolves two days later needing a draw for the double and lost 2-1.

Whose famous double save denied Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final?

Jim Montgomery. He palmed away a diving header, then turned the close-range follow-up onto the underside of the bar to protect the only goal of the final.

Which Italian club beat Leeds in the 1973 Cup Winners' Cup final, whose referee UEFA later banned for life?

AC Milan. The Greek crowd jeered the winners and gave beaten Leeds the bigger ovation on a lap of honour, but UEFA refused a replay and the Italians kept the trophy.

Don Revie left Leeds in 1974 to take which job?

England manager. Three years later Revie walked out on the national side for a lucrative contract with the United Arab Emirates, having flown to Dubai to negotiate it in secret.

Which manager lasted just 44 days at Leeds in 1974 after succeeding Don Revie?

Brian Clough. He reportedly told the champions to throw their medals in the bin because they had won them by cheating, and the dressing room never forgave him.

In the 1974 Charity Shield, Billy Bremner was sent off for fighting which Liverpool player?

Kevin Keegan. Both men pulled off their shirts as they walked off, and the FA fined each of them £500 and banned them for eleven matches.

Leeds lost the 1975 European Cup final 2-0 to which club?

Bayern Munich. Leeds were refused a penalty when Franz Beckenbauer tripped Allan Clarke and then had a goal disallowed, before the Germans scored twice in the last 20 minutes.

Leeds played the 1975 European Cup final at which stadium?

Parc des Princes. Leeds fans rioted in the Paris ground after a goal was ruled out, and UEFA punished the club with a four-year ban from European competition.

Which manager lasted just 44 days at Leeds in 1978 before leaving to take charge of Scotland?

Jock Stein. Celtic had eased their European Cup-winning manager aside with the offer of a job in the club's pools company, and he chose Leeds rather than accept it.

Which Scottish midfielder did Howard Wilkinson sign from Manchester United in 1989 and make captain?

Gordon Strachan. Written off as a spent force, he dropped down a division, led Leeds to promotion and the league title, and was voted Footballer of the Year in 1991.

Which French striker did Leeds sign in January 1992, then sell to Manchester United that November?

Eric Cantona. The sale began when Leeds rang Manchester United to ask about buying Denis Irwin, and Alex Ferguson asked about the Frenchman instead.

Which club did Leeds beat 3-2 to secure the last First Division title in 1991-92?

Sheffield United. Each side scored an own goal in a chaotic derby, the Blades' centre-back heading the winner over his own goalkeeper, and Manchester United's defeat hours later made Leeds champions.

Leeds' 1992-93 Champions League exit came to which club in a tie dubbed the 'Battle of Britain'?

Rangers. Gary McAllister volleyed Leeds ahead in the first minute at Ibrox, but the Scottish champions came back to win 2-1 there and 2-1 again at Elland Road.

Wilkinson's Leeds lost the 1996 League Cup final to which club?

Aston Villa. Leeds were beaten 3-0 at Wembley and Wilkinson never recovered: he was sacked that September after a 4-0 home defeat by Manchester United.

George Graham left Leeds in October 1998 to manage which club, with assistant David O'Leary taking over?

Tottenham Hotspur. Graham walked out on bad terms to return to London, and within six months he had won the League Cup with his new club.

O'Leary's Leeds reached the 2001 Champions League semi-finals, where they were beaten by which club?

Valencia. After a goalless first leg, UEFA banned Lee Bowyer for treading on an opponent, and Leeds lost 3-0 in Spain without their midfield talisman.

Two Leeds fans were stabbed to death before a UEFA Cup semi-final in April 2000 in which city?

Istanbul. Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight were killed the night before the first leg against Galatasaray, and UEFA ruled that the match should still go ahead the next evening.

Which defender did debt-laden Leeds sell to Manchester United for around £30m in 2002?

Rio Ferdinand. Leeds had made him the world's most expensive defender at £18 million less than two years earlier, and the chairman had kept promising he would not be sold.

Who replaced David O'Leary as Leeds manager in the summer of 2002 and was himself dismissed by March 2003?

Terry Venables. The former England coach was promised Jonathan Woodgate would stay, saw him sold to Newcastle in January to ease the debts, and was sacked two months later.

Leeds overcame a 15-point deduction to reach the 2008 League One play-off final, where which club beat them?

Doncaster Rovers. A James Hayter header won the Wembley final 1-0, leaving Leeds stuck for two more seasons in a third tier they had never played in before 2007.

In their 2009-10 League One season, Leeds caused a huge FA Cup upset by winning at which ground?

Old Trafford. Jermaine Beckford scored after 19 minutes and third-tier Leeds held on to knock out the reigning Premier League champions, their fiercest rivals.

Which striker scored all four Leeds goals in a 4-3 Premier League win over Liverpool in November 2000?

Mark Viduka. Liverpool scored in the second minute and Leeds had to come from behind, but the Australian, in his first season at the club, answered with all four goals.

Which NFL franchise's business arm invested in Leeds United in 2018 and took it over in 2023?

San Francisco 49ers. Their investment arm steadily raised a minority stake to 44 per cent, then bought the rest in the weeks after Leeds were relegated from the Premier League.

Marcelo Bielsa's first season ended in play-off heartbreak against which club, who won 4-3 on aggregate?

Derby County. Leeds won the first leg away and went two goals up on aggregate at Elland Road, then conceded four to Frank Lampard's side.

Which club's defeat in July 2020 confirmed Leeds' promotion to the Premier League?

West Bromwich Albion. Their Friday-night defeat ended Leeds' 16-year exile before Bielsa's side had kicked a ball that weekend, and another rival's slip a day later made them champions.

Leeds lost the 2024 Championship play-off final to which club before winning the title the following year?

Southampton. Adam Armstrong's first-half goal won the Wembley final 1-0, so Leeds stayed down despite finishing above the Saints with 90 points.

Which old Leeds nickname came from a pub that still stands opposite Elland Road?

The Peacocks. Bentley's Brewery named its field the Old Peacock Ground after the pub across the road, and the nickname passed from Leeds City to United.

Which Leeds midfielder did fans nickname 'the Yorkshire Pirlo' during Marcelo Bielsa's reign?

Kalvin Phillips. Bielsa retrained the hometown academy graduate as a deep-lying playmaker in 2018, and within three years he was starting a European Championship final for England.

Don Revie thought birds brought bad luck, so which one did he have removed from the Leeds badge?

An owl. The same superstitious streak had Revie bring in a gypsy to lift a curse he believed hung over Elland Road.

Which player holds Leeds United's appearance record with 773 first-team games between 1952 and 1973?

The East Stand, once the largest cantilever stand in the world, is now named after him.

Leeds' all-time record goalscorer, with 238 goals over two spells, is who?

Peter Lorimer. He came back from North America aged 37, older than his manager Eddie Gray, and passed John Charles's club record for league goals in that second spell.

Former Leeds captain Lucas Radebe also captained which country?

South Africa. Radebe joined Leeds from Kaizer Chiefs in 1994, and the Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs later took their name from his old club.

Which song did the Leeds squad record as the B-side of their 1972 FA Cup final single?

Marching On Together. The A-side, simply called 'Leeds United', took the single to number 10, but it was the flip side by the same songwriters that became the anthem played before every home game.

Which north-east club drew Elland Road's record crowd of 57,892 for an FA Cup replay in 1967?

Sunderland. The record crowd saw only a 1-1 draw, and Leeds needed a third meeting five days later to settle the tie 2-1.

What was Elland Road's Kop called before being renamed the Don Revie Stand in 1994?

The Gelderd End. After the Hillsborough disaster the Taylor Report called for all-seater grounds, so the Kop's terracing was replaced with seats and the stand reopened under Revie's name.

Elland Road's South Stand was renamed in April 2020 after which Revie-era defender, who had just died?

Norman Hunter. His nickname 'Bites Yer Legs' came from a fans' banner that television kept showing at the 1972 FA Cup final, and the club renamed the stand within a week of his death.

Elland Road stood in for the old Wembley Stadium in which Oscar-winning British film?

The King's Speech. Colin Firth spent a freezing day and a half on the fog-shrouded terraces filming the future king's stammering 1925 address, watched by 250 extras in period costume.

Elland Road was one of eight host venues for which international tournament?

Euro 96. Elland Road had gone all-seater only two years earlier, with a new 17,000-seat East Stand and a seated Kop, and that rebuild earned it a place among the hosts.

Which Leeds striker hit famous long-range goals against Liverpool and Wimbledon early in the 1995-96 season?

Tony Yeboah. Leeds broke their transfer record to sign the Bundesliga's former top scorer in 1995, and his twelve league goals that spring carried them into the UEFA Cup.

Which centre-forward did Leeds sign for a club-record £100,000 in 1967?

Mick Jones. In the 1972 FA Cup final he crossed for the winning goal, then dislocated his elbow in the last minute and had to be helped up the Wembley steps to meet the Queen.

Who bought Leeds United in January 2005?

Ken Bates. He stepped in days before Leeds were due to go into administration, yet two years later the club collapsed into it anyway and fell into the third tier.

Which Italian businessman completed a 100% buyout of Leeds in May 2017?

Andrea Radrizzani. Within weeks his own company bought Elland Road back from its landlord, something owners since the 2004 sale had talked about and none had done.

Which manager's Leeds side equalled a club record with nine straight league wins in early 2024?

Daniel Farke. His team won every league game from New Year's Day to late February, then drew the next one when a tenth win would have set a new record outright.

Who replaced Marcelo Bielsa as Leeds head coach in February 2022?

Jesse Marsch. The American kept Leeds in the Premier League with a final-day win at Brentford, then was sacked less than a year after taking the job.

Which name is used by the hooligan firm long linked to Leeds United?

Service Crew. Formed in 1974, the firm took its name from the ordinary service trains its members used for away games to avoid the heavily policed football specials.