On this day in football history - 26th January

Birthdays / Born on this day - 26th January

• 26th January 1919 - Valentino Mazzola. One of Italian football's great number 10s, he was the captain of the fabled "Grande Torino" team of the 1940s - winning five Serie A titles in 7 years. Tragically he died in the Superga air disaster in 1949, aged only 30.

• 26th January 1919 - Bill Nicholson. Tottenham Hotspur legend who had seventeen years with the club as a player and sixteen years as manager, including the double-winning season of 1960-61.

• 26th January 1922 - Gil Merrick. Birmingham City legend, he also played between the sticks for England 23 times between 1951-54.

• 26th January 1954 - Carlos Diarte - played as a striker up front with Mario Kempes and Johnny Rep at Valencia. Incredibly. Rep said it was the best partnership he'd played in, high praise considering he'd played alongside the likes of Johan Cruyff, Rob Rensenbrink and Piet Keizer. He was nicknames "Lobo", meaning Wolf.

• 26th January 1959 - Erwin Vandenbergh Fantastic Belgian striker from the 80s - Top scorer in Belgium six times in 10 years with Lierse, Anderlecht and Gent.

• 26th January 1962 - Oscar Ruggeri. Argentine defender who won just about every trophy with Boca Juniors, River Plate, San Lorenzo and Real Madrid. A World Cup winner too in 1986.

• 26th January 1963 - Jose Mourinho.

• 26th January 1973 - Brendan Rodgers.

• 26th January 1987 - Sebastian Giovinco,

Football Events - 26th January

• 1963 - The Pools Panel was formed and sat for the first time following a winter of postponed matches causing havoc for The Football Pools. The panel consisted of a chairman (Lord Brabazon) along with four former players (Ted Drake, Tom Finney, Tommy Lawton and George Young) and a former referee (Arthur Ellis). On the first Saturday they declared seven draws, 23 home wins and eight away wins. They would continue to decide the results of postponed matches for years to come.

• 1993 - The lowest Premier league crowd was recorded for the Tuesday night match between Wimbledon and Everton at Selhurst Park. Hats off to the 3039 who turned up.

• 2014 - Juan Mata joined Manchester United for £37.1m from Chelsea.

Football Photos - 26th January