Is 60+ a real possibility? Newcastle United star talks of record breaking season for club… | OneFootball

I was interested to read this from a Newcastle United star.

It was in an article on The Mag, this Wednesday morning.

Newcastle United star Anthony Elanga has been talking to the media in Sweden about joining United, this start to the season and what is set to potentially unfold.

Amongst the Elanga quotes was this; “We will have 60 games this year and the coach is smart and knows what he’s doing. The way we play takes a lot of strain on the body…it requires intensity. He (Eddie Howe) tries to keep everyone fresh and ready.”

That got me thinking.

Whether he really had thought about it, or whether it was just a figure plucked out of the air on the spur of the moment, I wondered exactly what 60 matches this season for Newcastle United would actually mean…

The last four Newcastle United seasons – Number of matches played in total, then broken down into the various competitions:

40 in 2021/22 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup)

46 in 2022/23 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 7 League Cup)

51 in 2023/24 (38 Premier League, 4 FA Cup, 3 League Cup, 6 Champions League)

48 in 2024/25 (38 Premier League, 3 FA Cup, 7 League Cup)

As you can see, quite a change from when Eddie Howe first arrived mid-season, going from 40 matches for NUFC in 2021/22, to across these last two seasons averaging a fraction under 50 per year.

This is the minimum number of matches that Newcastle United are currently guaranteed this season:

49(***) in 2025/26 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 8 Champions League)

Compare this to stand out years in the past – Newcastle United seasons and number of matches played:

59 in 1968/69 (42 Division One, 3 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 12 Fairs Cup)

51 in 1996/97 (38 Premier League, 3 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 8 UEFA Cup)

56 in 1997/98 (38 Premier League, 7 FA Cup, 3 League Cup, 8 Champions League)

53 in 2003/04 (38 Premier League, 5 FA Cup, 4 League Cup, 6 Intertoto)

54 in 2002/03 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, 14 Champions League)

55 in 2003/04 (38 Premier League, 2 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, 2 Champions League, 12 UEFA Cup)

57 in 2004/05 (38 Premier League, 5 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 12 UEFA Cup)

From everything I could see, it looks like that if Newcastle United did end up playing 60+ competitive matches, then it would be a new club record.

The 1968/69 Fairs Cup season had 59 NUFC matches in total.

The League Cup wasn’t introduced until the early 1960s, that 1968/69 season was the first for Newcastle in European competition.

The only season I could find with 60 or more ‘competitive’ matches in it, was the 1973/74 season.

Whether you would count this as a 60+ competitive match season, all depends on how you view the Texaco Cup. It was only in existence from 1970 to 1975 and was aimed at clubs from England, Scotland, and Ireland that hadn’t qualified for European competitions. To give them extra matches so they didn’t feel so left out compared to those competing in Europe. It then continued as the Anglo-Scottish Cup for a time, after the Irish clubs no longer took part from 1975 onwards.

If we are counting the Texaco Cup, then in 1973/74 Newcastle United had a remarkable 62 ‘competitive’ matches, with 42 Division One, 10 FA Cup, 3 League Cup, 7 Texaco Cup. That season Newcastle United reached the FA Cup final and needed replays against Hendon and Scunthorpe, plus three against Nottingham Forest!

Heading back to this current season and this is the minimum and maximum number of matches that Newcastle United could play:

49 in 2025/26 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 8 Champions League)

67 in 2025/26 (38 Premier League, 6 FA Cup, 6 League Cup, 17 Champions League)

For Newcastle United to achieve the magical 67 matches, they would need to reach the finals of both the FA Cup and League Cup, as well as the final of the Champions League (and have finished between 9th and 24th in the league stage and had to play a two-legged play-off to reach the last 16).

It is amazing how quickly you forget those miserable seasons of the past, some of them recent past…where as well as no European competition, Newcastle United would also swiftly exit both domestic cups and end up with the bare minimum, or very close to it. With 38 Premier Leagues and at times just one match in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup.

Can you imagine how the Manchester United fans will feel these days, having experienced the riches of not so long ago. They have no European competition this season, knocked out of the League Cup by Grimsby, thus facing a 40 match season if knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round!