What have been the closest TV score abbreviations for two football teams?

@TheKnowledge_GU Just watching the Chelsea FA Cup game and noticed that the two team abbreviations differ by only one alphabetical place. Surely this won’t happen very often? It can’t be beaten, but any others the same or close? pic.twitter.com/VArccT5cax

When Chelsea met Chesterfield in the FA Cup third round, the preferred hashtag was #CHECHF rather than the more accurate and frankly soul-stirring #CHECHE. But this act of cultural vandalism did at least facilitate a decent question, and give our readers the opportunity to burst with trivia.

“When Colchester United knocked Crystal Palace out of the League Cup two years ago I thought it was just your everyday shock,” writes Neil O’Sullivan. “However, the full significance is apparent as the abbreviations for the two teams differ by just one place alphabetically: CPL v COL.”

John McDougall has an example from international football. “If Australia played Austria it would be AUS v AUT,” offers John. “Not sure we have played them.” Not in the men’s game, as far as we can tell, but it has happened in the women’s game. In April 2015, AUT beat AUS 2-1 in a friendly.

Here are a few more, via SCL MDA DSG Twitter.

In international football there are a few potential fixtures - AUS v AUT, CAM v CAN, COL v COM, MAC v MAD, SOL v SOM. Only the first (Australia v Austria) has actually happened competitively, though

Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday are only one away ..SHU and SHW.

In terms of live televised games, probably not many, but Bath City and Basingstoke have played each other fairly regularly over the past 15 years #BASBAT

You’d think Bournemouth v Boreham Wood in the next round of the FA Cup would probably be BOU v BOR which is only a couple of letters out.

Clydebank