Messi Barcelona debut, 16 October 2004: a 17-year-old came on for the last minutes of a derby Barcelona won 1-0 at Espanyol, and almost nobody noticed.
Northampton Town Sixfields opened on 15 October 1994 with a 1-1 draw against Barnet, two years after supporters rescued the club from near-liquidation.
The first floodlit football match lit Bramall Lane, Sheffield on 14 October 1878, as arc lamps of 8,000 candlepower drew a crowd of nearly 20,000 people.
The first Merseyside derby in the Football League fell on 13 October 1894, when Everton beat newly promoted Liverpool 3-0 at Goodison Park before 44,000.
Austria 5-0 Hungary, Vienna, 12 October 1902: the first international match played on the European continent, billed as a city match, watched by just 500.
Tottenham 10-4 Everton, Saturday 11 October 1958: Bill Nicholson was given the manager's job that morning and watched fourteen goals at White Hart Lane.
Ecuador 1-3 Argentina, 10 October 2017: Lionel Messi's hat-trick in Quito sent Argentina to the 2018 World Cup on the night the entire group was settled.
Barrow 7-0 Gillingham, 9 October 1961: the Gills missed a train, chartered a plane, arrived late, and the referee abandoned it for bad light on 76 minutes.
South Africa Sierra Leone finished 0-0 in Nelspruit on 8 October 2011. Bafana Bafana danced in celebration, but CAF Article 14.1 had sent Niger through.
