What is the 'Carra Challenge'? Liverpool legend's social lockdown game explained

Goal

•
What is the 'Carra Challenge'? Liverpool legend's social lockdown game explained image

Life in coronavirus lockdown has been tough for many, with most aspects of society slowing down and others, including football, coming to a complete halt.

Football fans pining the temporary loss of the beautiful game have filled the void with video games such as FIFA 20 or Football Manager, while classic matches also offer some football entertainment.

Puzzles are another way to pass the time, while also keeping the brain busy and a few have been doing the rounds on social media and in message groups.

One of the most popular is Jamie Carragher's challenge, but what is it all about? Goal brings you everything you need to know so you can take it on.

What is the #CarraChallenge?

The '#CarraChallenge' is the name of a series of squad-building tests set by former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher. Each challenge involves the selection of a team while adhering to a particular set of rules.

The initial challenge, from April, was to choose a World XI of players using the following criteria:

  • Choose only players who have played during your lifetime.
  • No two players from the same country.
  • No two players can have played for the same club.

While the it was not Carragher's idea, it became synonymous with the former England international due to his presence on television networks such as Sky Sports and, indeed, his social media platforms.

Carragher's own XI was: Neville Southall; Phillipp Lahm, Franco Baresi, Vincent Kompany, Roberto Carlos; Roy Keane, Steven Gerrard, Pavel Nedved; Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba, Kylian Mbappe.

Noting the popularity of the challenge, which had football fans across the world pondering how to build the best XI, Carragher threw down a new gauntlet to his followers at the beginning of May.

The second #CarraChallenge had a Champions League flavour to it, asking people to see if they could pick an XI plus one sub and a manager. The criteria are as follows:

  • Each individual must have a different nationality.
  • Each individual must represent a different Champions League winning team.
  • Each individual must have won the Champions League with the club they represent.
  • Individuals can have played for more than one winner.

Carragher's selection for this was: Petr Cech; Moreno Torricelli, Jurgen Kohler, Fernando Hierro, David Alaba; Didier Deschamps, Steven Gerrard, Clarence Seedorf, Kaka; Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o.

A third #CarraChallenge was spawned when Carragher responded to a suggestion from one of his followers for people to ask their significant others to create a team using footballers they know of.

More tongue-in-cheek in nature, the premise of this particular challenge is that many people's partners may not follow football and therefore could lack the knowledge to create a convincing team.

So defenders could end up as strikers and midfielder could find themselves lining up at full-back.

Carragher jokingly put this challenge to his wife, whose XI lacked the balance of the other teams, though still boasted star quality such as Virgil van Dijk, Messi and Gerrard.

Goal

Goal Photo

Goal.com is the premier destination for football fans across the globe, with all the best news, transfer updates, analysis and highlights.

Goal.com and The Sporting News are partnering to bring you insights into the game like never before.