Football - World Cup Facts and Trivia

Posted in Sport

 

  • 1970 was the first year they used red and yellow cards. The first player to be sent off with a red card was Carols Caszely from Chile in 1974.
  • More than half a dozen players have seen a yellow card in the first five minutes of a game.
  • On 13 June 1986 Jose Batista of Uruguay was sent off in the first minute.
  • King Carol of Romania gave the players three months off to make the journey to Uruguay by ship in 1930.
  • In Spain in 1982 they used a staggering 14 cities and 17 stadiums to host the World Cup.
  • On 16 June 1938 Giuseppe Meazza had trouble making his penalty shot when the elastic on his shorts broke.
  • In Brazil in 1950 the Maracana stadium crowded in over 174,000 people.
  • Antonio Carbaja of Mexico broke the record of representing his country in five World Cup tournaments between 1950-1966. Eight players have made it to four tournaments and Lothar Mattaus of Germany also later made it to five.
  • On the 26 June 1954 the quarter-final match in Lausanne produced more goals than any match before or since.
  • The FIFA trophy for best goal keeper, introduced in 1994, is named in honour of Lev Yashin.
  • In took 15 seconds for Vaclav Masek to score for Czechoslovaka against Mexico in 1962.
  • The Brazilians took the trophy for the third time in 12 years in Mexico in 1970. On their return the trophy was stolen and never found.
  • Norman Whiteside of Northern Ireland made his World cup debut at the age of 17 years and 42 days.
  • The most goals were scored when Hungary beat El Salvador in 1982 with a score of 10:1.
  • Davor Suker from Croatia was the top scorer of the 1998 World cup in France with 6 goals.  

Most Goals in One Match

  • 12 Goals - Austria vs Switzerland - 7:5 (1954)
  • 11 Goals - Brazil vs Poland - 6:5 (1938)
  • 11 Goals - Hungary vs West Germany - 8:3 (1954)
  • 11 Goals - Hungary vs El Salvador - 10:1 (1982)
  • 10 Goals - France vs Paraguay (1958) 7-5 (1958)

 

 

Oldest Player to Win a World Cup

Dino Zoff of Italy.
Goalkeeper Zoff was 40 years old when he captained Italy to victory in 1982.

 

Only Man to Coach and Captain a World Cup Winning Team

Franz Beckenbauer.
Captain of Germany in 1974 and coach in 1990.

 

First Player to be Sent-Off in a World Cup Final Stage Match

Mario de Las Casas of Peru vs Romania in 1930.

 

First Goalkeeper to be Dismissed

Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy vs Norway in 1994.

 

First Player to Miss a Penalty

Valdemar de Brito of Brazil (1934).

 

The 1000th World Cup Final Stages Goal

Rob Rensenbrink of Holland scored the 1000th goal in World Cup final stage history.
Rensenbrink netted from the penalty spot as the Oranje boys slumped to 3-2 defeat against Scotland in 1978.

 

Germany won the World Cup in 54 and 74.
Multiply these two numbers together and you come up with 3996.
The last World Cup that Germany won was 1990.
Subtract 1990 from 3996 and you get 2006.

 

 

 

Largest and Smallest Attendance

A crowd of 199,850 watched Brazil play Uruguay during the 1950 World Cup - but in Uruguay in 1930, only 300 dedicated fans turned up to watch Romania play Peru.

 

Booted Out of Play

India refused to play in the 1950 World Cup because FIFA told the players they would have to play in soccer boots (cleats), rather than barefoot.

 

Boo The Winners

Brazil's 2002 World Cup victory celebrations turned sour when fans threw rocks at a bus carrying the victorious team.
Supporters reacted angrily when the players cut short a parade in Rio de Janeiro.

 

The Power of Soccer

During World Cup France 1998, impoverished districts of Bangladesh suffered four nights of blackouts due to a surge in power consumption, caused by soccer fans tuning in to live World Cup telecasts.

 

Crying Into Their Beer

After Scotland lost 3-0 to Morocco at Saint-Etienne during World Cup 1998, around 8000 Scottish fans drank approximately 125,000 liters of beer.
Bars ran dry, and fresh supplies had to be shipped in to quench the thirst of the disappointed Scots.

 

The 'Magic' of the Cup

Tzamarenda Naychapi- a priest who practices magic for healing, divination and controlling events is visiting all 12 World Cup venues in Germany to banish evil spirits before the tournament starts on June 9.
The shaman chased away evil spirits in the centre of the pitch at Leipzig's Zentralstadion on Monday by screaming loudly.
Ecuador play Poland on June 9 in Gelsenkirchen, Costa Rica on June 15 in Hamburg and Germany on June 20 in Berlin - but even with 'special' help are unlikely to progress from Group A.

 

Germany Expects

Germany expects that 4.2 million football fans and guests from around the world will visit the country during the year of World Cup 2006.
Approximately 3.2 million football fans will be present in the stadiums, and more than one million guests will visit as tourists.