Yes, at the end of WW2 there was a French occupation zone in Germany. But this has nothing to do with football.
Joe Gaetjens was presumed to have been killed by the Haitian secret police in 1964. He was the American player who scored the winning goal against England at the WC Finals in 1950. Of course, the cause of his death was unconfirmed. His body was never recovered. Someone must have been killed during the War. Fritz Walter escaped death and his story was well known. So there must be someone who was not as lucky. Austria, Germany, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Holland, etc all participated in the WC Finals before the WC Finals. I do not have the time to google every player from those teams. Matthias Sindelar committed suicide or killed by Gestapo, depending which versions of the story you believed in.
Correct me if I am wrong but I believe Russia will be the first European host with cities/stadiums located in different Time Zones.
Spain's Canary Islands are in a different time zone to the mainland. There weren't any games there in 82 but it's possible that there would be games at Las Palmas or Tenerife if they were to host again.
Should we count Caribbean islands like British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, or Sint Maarten as being part of Europe? What World Cups other than USA 1994 were in multiple time zones?
Personally, I would not, because they are not "Europe" from a geographic sense - but a political sense. Let's keep things simple in the name of simplicity. EDIT: Though all of Brazil's matches were played in the same time zone, have you looked up their times zones? It's a mess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Brazil
IT is a slippery slope. If Turkey were to host World Cup matches in the Future you would say those matches are being played in Asia? Would some of the matches of Euro 2020 not count as Europe in your mind since they will be played in Baku?
Turkey? No need to put in a hypothetical. Lets look at Russia. East of the Ural Mountains lies the continent of Asia. Technically speaking, if the WC were held in the cities of Novosibirsk or Omsk, they would be playing in Asia. Baku? Again, UEFA can lean toward the political rather than geographical. Look at Israel.
Many substitute goalkeepers I think, right off the top of my mind Hans-Jorg Butt was selected for world cups 2002 and 2010 by Germany and didn't play any game (would be 14 games total). Dunno about "field" players like Seric. EDIT: lol, I found they allowed him to play the 3rd place match in 2010. Nice gesture. Another example: Mariano Andujar of Argentina was selected for 2010 and 2014 and didn't play any minutes (12 games). Also seems on the way to be selected for the third time in 2018 if Argentina makes it.
The standings on the left column are unusual because Poland had played 2 games and Turkey had played 7 games. In qualifying for World Cup 2006, Kenya was suspended for the first 3 matchdays and then reinstated. I wonder what the biggest difference in games played for two teams at any point in the same World Cup qualifying group is.
i am pretty sure, this odd amount of matches (diff of 5) is unique. prior 1990 the groups were smaller then 5 teams and beginning with around 2002, the schedule was organized more centrally in typical matchdays, leading only to variances of 1 or 2 matches
San Marino has been playing competitive matches for 30 years and has one win to show for it in 146 tries, a 1-0 win over Liechtenstein in 2004. In terms of futility, no other country comes close. Even the Vatican has a team, which recently drew 0-0 against Monaco. I'm not sure if the Vatican's clergy play, or someone else.
I see the thread police have arrived. All threads must remain pure, even those that appear to be in a deep sleep.