The Did you know thread. Uselss, but fascinating trivia, facts and stories

The same thread worked well in the history forum, but when I started this thread here many years ago, it went nowhere. Let's try it again.

Ferenc Puskas' real name was Ferenc Purczeld. I believed he was ethnic German. He was ten years old when his father, Ferenc Sr., changed the family name to Puskás.

Pele lost his virginity to a hooker. He said it in his autobiography.

Jay Heaps is the first "basketball" player in Duke basketball history who turned pro before his senior year. Of course, he did not turn into a professional basketball player.

Iran was the only Muslim country that was willing to play Israel when Israel was part of AFC.

Coloured boots are nothing new. Herbert Chapman was wearing yellow boots in the 1900s.

until 1958 brazil wears white.

marcelinho carioca, a brazilian player had their contract broked with an arab team after offer his victory goal to Jesus.

one "hinchada" argentina called himselves as "pele's brothers", after a win of Santos over their team they chant "pele's is a Only Child"

Thanks for starting the thread. Great idea.

One correction

According to Elo, Israel (as a member of AFC) played Turkey twice in 1962 (they also played before and after Israel was a member of AFC), Indonesia in 1972 and Malaysia in 1973 and 1974.

thanks for this post

Regarding Pele, is it true he claimed it was a male hooker or was that just a rumor?

Garrincha lost his virginity to a goat.

Christian Panucci was supposed to be on the fatal TWA plane crash but missed the flight.

Former Juventus defender Moreno Torricelli was working in a factory and played on an amateur team and faced Juventus in a pre-season friendly. He impressed Giovanni Trapattoni so much that he was signed the next day!

Arrigo Sacchi was a shoemaker before becoming a legendary manager.

My mistake, but Iran was the only Middle Eastern AFC country that did not boycott Isreal. Of course, it was before the 1979.

Before playing footy Julio Cruz worked as a gardener cutting the field grass and taking care of the pitch for Argentine club Banfield. One day the team was missing a player for practice and they asked him if he wanted to fill in. They were so impressed that they signed him on the spot.

That's how he got the nickname "El Jardinero" which translates to the gardener in English.

Nottingham Forest are the only team to have won the European Cup more times than their domestic title.

Some fans were surprised when they first saw Asamoah lined up for Germany. However, he was not the first Black player capped by Germany. He was, I think, the third. In fact, Germany capped their first ever Black player before than England capped their first with Viv Anderson in 1978. Andrew Watson of Scotland in 1881 and Ted Parris of Wales in 1931 broke the racial barrier long before England did. Even, Austria got their first Black player in 1960 with a player named Koglberger.

In February 2004 Stelios Giannakopoulos was subbed off for Ibrahim Ba, and Stelios had the longest last name in the EPL, while Ba had the shortest last name in the EPL.

India withdrawal from the 1950 finals as they were not allowed to play in bare feet. They have not had the chance to compete again since.

Yugoslavia started the 1950 finals match against Brazil with only 10 players as giant Yugoslavian player Rajko Mitic was knocked by an iron girder as he was leaving the dressing room, leaving a gash in his forehead. The referee refused to delay the game, and when the heavily-bandaged Mitic joined his teammates, his team were already one goal down.

Spain were a seeded team for the 1954 finals but did not play in that finals. They were eliminated by Turkey during the WCQ. Reason? FIFA awarded the seedings before the end of WCQ. Turkey took the WC seeding from Spain.

The WC 1966 opening match between England and Uruguay was delayed because seven English players left their ID at their hotel.

Gabriel Batistuta scored two hattricks in the WC Finals -- the first one on 21st of June, 1994 and the second one again on 21st of June, 1998.

Santos official mascot is a Whale, but the supporters call him "Fish".

Erwin Kostedde was the first black player called up by Germany (in 1975). One of his games for Germany was actually played in Wembley against England and the locals were a bit surprised to see a colored player in the German team. Kostedde was the son of a G.I. and a German woman. The second colored German international was William "Jimi" Hartwig, who played twice for Germany in 1979.

Christian Vieri is one of the few players to have played for all big 3 teams in Italy- Juventus, Milan, and Inter.

Paul Stewart, the only player to have played in the three most famous derby matches in England.

North London derby (for Tottenham)
Merseyside derby (for Liverpool)
Manchester derby (for Man. City)

He was also at Sundeland so he could have played in another famous one, the Northeast derby, but I am not sure if he ever played vs. Newcastle while at Sunderland.

When Stig Tofting the hard-hitting Danish midfielder better known for his association with Hells' Angles and tattoos was 13, he came home and discovered that his father murdered his wife before committing suicide himself.

Juventus used to play in pink shirts, but received a shipment of shirts meant for Notts County. Now they play in Notts County's colours, with a pink strip as their away strip.

Apologies, this story is hackneyed.

How about interesting sports injuries? Didn't a Liverpool keeper injure himself trapping a falling mayonnaise jar/unfolding an ironing board, or something equally ridiculous?

Borislav Mikhailov, the Bulgarian goalkeeper for the WC 1994, was known for his bald head before the World Cup. When he showed up in the US, he got hair!!!! He got a sponsorship from a hair loss company or something liked that. He got a hair transplant or wore a wig. In that WC Finals, another bald guy from Bulgaria, Yordan Letchkov, became the hero by heading a goal against Germany with his bald head.

Anfilogino Guarisi became the first Brazilian-born player to win the World Cup. The son of an Italian mother became a naturalized Italian citizen when he transfered to Lazio and went to the World Cup 1934 with Italy.

I'm not sure about a Liverpool keeper, but Santiago Canizares did injure himself in a similar incident with a bottle of aftershave, which shattered and injured his tendons.

I think Rio Ferdinand also once injured himself when he tried to stand up after watching four hours of television.

Arsenal wore red becasue the original team borrowed a set of red shirts from Nottingham Forrest. The red color became their club's color.

These are some almost-happenings

In the early 90s Juventus midfielder Dino Baggio refused a transfer to Parma. Juventus were going to send a young Alessandro Del Piero there instead. At the last minute Baggio changed his mind and Del Piero got to stay at Juve, where he became a legend.

Luis Figo, before joining Barcelona, signed a contract with Juventus but also signed a contract with Parma. This led to a dispute between Juve and Parma, and FIFA banned Figo from moving to Italy for 2 years. He moved to Barca where he became a star.

In 2001 Fiorentina had already agreed fees with Parma for the transfer of star players Francesco Toldo and Manuel Rui Costa. However, both refused the transfer and were then sold to Inter and Milan respectively.

Also in 2001, Milan bought right back Cristiano Zenoni, who had an impressive year at Atalanta. However, within a day he was sold to Juventus in exchange for Filippo Inzaghi. Milan got the better of the deal, as SuperPippo became a Milan legend and Zenoni turned out to be just an average player.

Didn't Inzaghi have some issues with Del Piero?

there were rumors of that but Juventus also had just bought Trezeguet.