Novice seeking help, Max Aggregate not returning expected results - sql

Question

I'm still very new to MS-SQL. I have a simple table and query that that is getting the best of me. I know it will something fundamental I'm overlooking.
I've changed the field names but the idea is the same.
So the idea is that every time someone signs up they get a RegID, Name, and Team. The names are unique, so for below yes John changed teams. And that's my trouble.
Football Table
+------------+----------+---------+
| Max_RegID | Name | Team |
+------------+----------+---------+
| 100 | John | Red |
| 101 | Bill | Blue |
| 102 | Tom | Green |
| 103 | John | Green |
+------------+----------+---------+
With the query at the bottom using the Max_RegID, I was expecting to get back only one record.
+------------+----------+---------+
| Max_RegID | Name | Team |
+------------+----------+---------+
| 103 | John | Green |
+------------+----------+---------+
Instead I get back below, Which seems to include Max_RegID but also for each team. What am I doing wrong?
+------------+----------+---------+
| Max_RegID | Name | Team |
+------------+----------+---------+
| 100 | John | Red |
| 103 | John | Green |
+------------+----------+---------+
My Query
SELECT
Max(Football.RegID) AS Max_RegID,
Football.Name,
Football.Team
FROM
Football
GROUP BY
Football.RegID,
Football.Name,
Football.Team
EDIT* Removed the WHERE statement

Answer 1

The reason you're getting the results that you are is because of the way you have your GROUP BY clause structured.
When you're using any aggregate function, MAX(X), SUM(X), COUNT(X), or what have you, you're telling the SQL engine that you want the aggregate value of column X for each unique combination of the columns listed in the GROUP BY clause.
In your query as written, you're grouping by all three of the columns in the table, telling the SQL engine that each tuple is unique. Therefore the query is returning ALL of the values, and you aren't actually getting the MAX of anything at all.
What you actually want in your results is the maximum RegID for each distinct value in the Name column and also the Team that goes along with that (RegID,Name) combination.
To accomplish that you need to find the MAX(ID) for each Name in an initial data set, and then use that list of RegIDs to add the values for Name and Team in a secondary data set.
Caveat (per comments from #HABO): This is premised on the assumption that RegID is a unique number (an IDENTITY column, value from a SEQUENCE, or something of that sort). If there are duplicate values, this will fail.
The most straight forward way to accomplish that is with a sub-query. The sub-query below gets your unique RegIDs, then joins to the original table to add the other values.
SELECT
f.RegID
,f.Name
,f.Team
FROM
Football AS f
JOIN
(--The sub-query, sq, gets the list of IDs
SELECT
MAX(f2.RegID) AS Max_RegID
FROM
Football AS f2
GROUP BY
f2.Name
) AS sq
ON
sq.Max_RegID = f.RegID;
EDIT: Sorry. I just re-read the question. To get just the single record for the MAX(RegID), just take the GROUP BY out of the sub-query, and you'll just get the current maximum value, which you can use to find the values in the rest of the columns.
SELECT
f.RegID
,f.Name
,f.Team
FROM
Football AS f
JOIN
(--The sub-query, sq, now gets the MAX ID
SELECT
MAX(f2.RegID) AS Max_RegID
FROM
Football AS f2
) AS sq
ON
sq.Max_RegID = f.RegID;

Answer 2

Use row_number()
select * from
(SELECT
Football.RegID AS Max_RegID,
Football.Name,
Football.Team, row_number() over(partition by name order by Football.RegID desc) as rn
FROM
Football
WHERE
Football.Name = 'John')a
where rn=1

Answer 3

simply you can edit your query below way
SELECT *
FROM
Football f
WHERE
f.Name = 'John' and
Max_RegID = (SELECT Max(Football.Max_RegID) where Football.Name = 'John'
)
or
if sql server simply use this
select top 1 * from Football f
where f.Name = 'John'
order by Max_RegID desc
or
if mysql then
select * from Football f
where f.Name = 'John'
order by Max_RegID desc
Limit 1

Answer 4

You need self join :
select f1.*
from Football f inner join
Football f1
on f1.name = f.name
where f.Max_RegID = 103;
After re-visit question, the sample data suggests me subquery :
select f.*
from Football f
where name = (select top (1) f1.name
from Football f1
order by f1.Max_RegID desc
);