Some of the most bizarre fixtures as Ronaldinho set for Sunderland appearance | OneFootball

Sunderland’s first season back in the Premier League, in which they look certain to stay up, will come to an end on May 24. The day after, Ronaldinho will play at the Stadium of Light.

In a sentence that seems barely believable, the Brazilian great will be taking to the Sunderland pitch as part of a friendly match against a team led by Jermain Defoe and it’s not the first time a strange match has been placed on the football schedules.

Here are some other notable ticket stubs from over the years.

Qatar v Northern Ireland – Gresty Road, England

At least with most of the fixtures on this list, you can find a reason, no matter how tenuous, it came about, but we are genuinely at a loss as to why Crewe played host to Northern Ireland v Qatar in 2015.

It was ahead of Michael O’Neill’s side’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania. But why Crewe?

Fair enough, a lot of Northern Ireland players were in the English Football League at the time, but they were making the trip across the sea anyway.

As for why Qatar, that also remains a mystery, but the ‘home’ fans certainly made the most of it – wafting £10 notes in the air and chanting about bribery.

Aylesbury United v England – Buckingham Road, England

How do you prepare for a major international tournament? Well, in Bobby Robson’s eyes it included a trip to non-league side Aylesbury United.

As to how the match came about, Aylesbury chairman Charlie Doherty asked local resident and football journalist Frank McGhee if he knew Bobby Robson. When McGhee replied yes, Doherty asked what chance there was that England might play them in a friendly.

McGhee replied, ‘what chances? Two chances – a dog’s chance and no chance,’ but did ask the England manager who surprisingly said yes.

So England turned up to Buckingham Road stadium for the unlikely friendly in which they won 7-0.

It proved not to be the best preparation, as England crashed out of the Euro 88 group stage, losing every game.

Plymouth Argyle v Real Madrid – Franz Fekete Stadium, Austria

The prospect of current League One side Plymouth Argyle playing 15-time European Champions Real Madrid is strange enough, but the reasoning as to why this fixture came about is even more unusual.

It was ahead of the 2006-07 season in which Argyle were preparing for their championship campaign. Manager Tony Pulis was a big fan of the Schloss Pichlarn Hotel in Irdning and so arranged a pre-season training camp there.

However, that hotel was also the preferred destination of Real Madrid, who were a bit dismayed to find it had already been booked by the Pilgrims. To convince Argyle to give up the booking, Madrid offered to pay for their entire trip to Austria but also play a pre-season friendly, an offer the Devon side gladly took up.

By the time of the actual fixture, Pulis had left for Stoke, so it was Ian Holloway who shook hands with Fabio Capello before the game at the Franz Fekete Stadium in Kapfenberg.

To their credit, Argyle only lost 1-0 even if the Madrid side was missing a number of their World Cup players.

Madrid won their 30th La Liga title that year. Argyle finished 11th.

Fluminense U23s vs Exeter – Estadio das Laranjeiras, Brazil

Plymouth aren’t the only Devon side to get involved with the strange fixtures as local rivals Exeter also dabbled with it.

In 2014, the Grecians headed for the Estadio das Laranjeiras in Brazil for a commemorative match of a game that took place 100 years previously.

That was when Exeter played Brazil in what was the latter’s first ever match. It came as part of Exeter’s tour of South America (fair play to whoever booked that).

Over 100 years later, Exeter fans are still proud of that achievement with the Brazil flag hung up at their home ground. As for the 2014 fixture, it ended goalless.

Notts County v Juventus – Turin Stadium, Italy

On the face of it, there is no obvious reason why one of the biggest clubs in the world would play a side currently in League Two, but it actually comes down to football kits.

Juventus started life with a pink and black kit, but after they failed to win any trophies, the colours were changed. In stepped Nottingham-born Turin resident Tom Savage, who gave the Italian club a load of Notts County kits.

Juventus liked the colours so much they kept them. When it came to choosing an opponent for the unusual match at their new stadium, Notts County were naturally given the honour.