Copa Libertadores - C.A. Penarol

Club Atletico Penarol play at Estadio Centenario in Montivideo, Uruguay. The Centenario played host to the very first World Cup final in 1930, which was played between two fine A-frames.




Today, the A-frames are long gone but the spirit of 1930 lives on at the Centenario, courtesy of the stanchions which support the box-nets.

A-list A-frames - Cardiff City

Congratulations to the Bluebirds on their promotion to the Premier League. When Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and the like come calling next season to Cardiff City Stadium, they'll be greeted by the sight of familiar looking box-nets.

When Real Madrid visited the old Ninian Park in 1971they were greeted by - and sent packing via - a classic set of A-frames.

Copa Libertadores - CS Emelec

A glance at this season's Copa Libertadores affords as good an idea of what's trending in South American goal nets design as any hashtag #whatswiththeboxnets.

Though there are a half dozen other clubs in the tournament who've retained their L-supports, Ecuador's CS Emelec are alone in not morphing their L into supporting box nets.

Argentina - Boca Juniors

Back when el Pibe D'Oro was their el Diez, the nets were suspended at La Bombonera by big sloping A-frames.


More recently Boca are one of a number of Argentine clubs to embrace the global box net, albeit with a twist. Not for them the cable ties and stanchions of your usual box net set-up.

Instead, the nets hang from an elongated L-support as below.


So, are they box nets or L-supports?

You choose.

UEFA Europa League - FC Basel

There may not be an archive of clips of FC Basel but their old stadium - the St Jakob - was a regular venue for UEFA Cup Winners Cup finals and even hosted matches during the 1954 World Cup.





1984 - Juventus beat Porto 2-1 in the Cup Winners Cup final. The St Jakob goal nets were hung as skinny Continental D's complete with ground supports (check out York City for similar).



1979 - Barcelona edge out Fortuna Dusseldorf by the odd goal in 7, all scored into a rather more traditional set of Continental D's.



1975 - Dynamo Kyiv rattle three past Ferencvaros into St Jakob's sturdy A-frames.



1969 - the sides are Slovan Bratislava and Barcelona, but the A-frames are the same.



FC Basel hosted 6 matches during the 1954 World Cup. They've got sloping A-frames like Tottenham Hotspur. One of the 6 games is a group game that foreshadowed the eventual final - though not that final's result - Hungary beat West Germany 8-3.



Bonus feature - want to see the nets at the 1954 World Cup final? Check out those ground supports!