Random World Cup Facts

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For the last 10 world cups, a minimum of 3 goals have been scored in a 3rd place match.

 

2016 Olympic medal table among the 2018 World Cup teams.

Code:

                           Gold   Silver   Bronze   Total
1  England          UEFA     21       13       15      49
2  Russia           UEFA     19       17       20      56
3  Germany          UEFA     17       10       15      42
4  Japan             AFC     12        8       21      41
5  France           UEFA     10       18       14      42
6  South Korea       AFC      9        3        9      21
7  Australia         AFC      8       11       10      29
8  Brazil       CONMEBOL      7        6        6      19
9  Spain            UEFA      7        4        6      17
10 Croatia          UEFA      5        3        2      10
11 Colombia     CONMEBOL      3        2        3       8
12 Switzerland      UEFA      3        2        2       7
13 Iran              AFC      3        1        4       8
14 Argentina    CONMEBOL      3        1        0       4
15 Denmark          UEFA      2        6        7      15
16 Sweden           UEFA      2        6        3      11
17 Serbia           UEFA      2        4        2       8
18 Poland           UEFA      2        3        6      11
19 Belgium          UEFA      2        2        2       6
20 Mexico       CONCACAF      0        3        2       5
21 Egypt             CAF      0        0        3       3
21 Tunisia           CAF      0        0        3       3
23 Morocco           CAF      0        0        1       1
23 Nigeria           CAF      0        0        1       1
23 Portugal         UEFA      0        0        1       1
26 Costa Rica   CONCACAF      0        0        0       0
26 Iceland          UEFA      0        0        0       0
26 Panama       CONCACAF      0        0        0       0
26 Peru         CONMEBOL      0        0        0       0
26 Saudi Arabia      AFC      0        0        0       0
26 Senegal           CAF      0        0        0       0
26 Uruguay      CONMEBOL      0        0        0       0

 

GDP ranking among the 2018 World Cup teams.

Code:

1  Japan             AFC      4,936,543
2  Germany          UEFA      3,479,232
3  France           UEFA      2,466,472
4  England          UEFA      2,296,624
5  Brazil       CONMEBOL      1,798,622
6  South Korea       AFC      1,411,042
7  Russia           UEFA      1,283,162
8  Australia         AFC      1,261,645
9  Spain            UEFA      1,232,597
10 Mexico       CONCACAF      1,046,925
11 Switzerland      UEFA        669,038
12 Saudi Arabia      AFC        646,438
13 Argentina    CONMEBOL        545,124
14 Sweden           UEFA        511,397
15 Poland           UEFA        467,591
16 Belgium          UEFA        466,960
17 Nigeria           CAF        405,952
18 Iran              AFC        376,755
19 Egypt             CAF        332,349
20 Denmark          UEFA        306,730
21 Colombia     CONMEBOL        282,357
22 Portugal         UEFA        204,761
23 Peru         CONMEBOL        195,140
24 Morocco           CAF        103,615
25 Costa Rica   CONCACAF         58,109
26 Panama       CONCACAF         55,122
27 Uruguay      CONMEBOL         54,567
28 Croatia          UEFA         50,441
29 Tunisia           CAF         41,869
30 Serbia           UEFA         37,745
31 Iceland          UEFA         20,047
32 Senegal           CAF         14,785

 

you should divide the gdp by the no. of inhabitants, i think.

 

Well, if we did that, it would look like this:

From World Bank (2016):

1. Switzerland $62,800
2. Saudi Arabia $54,400
3. Iceland $51,300
4. Denmark $49,400
5. Sweden $49,100
6. Germany $48,700
7. Australia $46,700
8. Belgium $46,300
9. U.K. (England) $42,600
10. Japan $41,400
10. France $41,400

12. Spain $36,300
13. South Korea $35,700
14. Portugal $30,600
15. Poland $27,800
16. Croatia $23,500
17. Russia $23,100
18. Panama $23,000
19. Uruguay $21,600
20. Argentina $19,900

21. Mexico $18,900
22. Iran $18,000
23. Costa Rica $16,400
24. Brazil $15,200
25. Serbia $14,400
26. Colombia $14,100
27. Peru $12,900
28. Egypt $12, 500
29. Tunisia $11,600
30. Morocco $8,300
31. Nigeria $5,900
32. Senegal $2,500

The usual suspects at the top, although South Korea is farther down than I would have expected. On the other hand, Panama is (for me) surprisingly high, above all other Latin American countries. I always assumed stable, peaceful (no army) Costa Rica was the most prosperous country in Central America, but Panama's GDP is larger by almost $7,000 per person. Finally, the #32 team, Senegal, at $2,500 has left than half of the GDP per capita of any other country that will play in the World Cup.

 

I love all these curious WC-trivia coincidences!
I wonder how people find them ...
Since it's a tournament that happens only once every 4 years, there are plenty of them, but every 4 years some of them die ...

Regarding Italy, I hope they DON'T come back in 2030. Next title after 2100, when I won't be watching any longer. For soccer. Every Italy's WC title means a loss in world soccer quality of the game.
For Peru ... if 2030 is held in Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay they'd be a nice appearance. But the streak is done in Russia ...

 

The correct way to messure standard of living is by GDP (PPP) per capita as it takes into account the differences in prices in different places.

 

... and peru also played against the later world champ at each of its 4 appearances. (1930 v uruguay in a group match, 1970 v brazil in the quarter final, 1978 v argentina in a second stage group match, 1982 v italy in a group match).

they are trailed by turkey, the only other team that had more than 1 participation (1954, 2002). the one-timers are wales (1958), gdr (1974) and china (2002), if i recapture it correctly.

another good argument for every other team of this edition to end up in the same group with them.

 

Or just to hope they get through the group phase ... and get you in the playoffs if you can't end up in their group!
I think europeans underestimate them for passing the group phase although they're in pot 2 ... but the first playoff phase should be end of game.

 

Interesting stats here:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y...-of-2018-fifa-world-cuptm-squads-2921426.html

The thing I find the most interesting is that only 7 of the 32 teams fielded players who were not been born abroad.

 

Yikes. Germany the second youngest team. They may dominate for a long time.

 

Have two identical groups yet happened at the World Cups?

 

I could not see which seven teams landed in this category.

 

Does this count?

1966 - Group 1
Host country (England)
Uruguay
Mexico
France

2010 - Group A
Host country (South Africa)
Mexico
Uruguay
France

 

Not really but it's close...

maybe this world cup we will get:
Italy
Czech Republic
Ghana / Austria
USA

 

could be argentina, England, Sweden, nigeria as a carbon copy of 2002

close was also 94 group D and 2010 group b with argentina, greece, nigeria with bulgaria being replaced by south korea.

 

It would be interesting to look at what country has been grouped with the most countries. Would anybody like to split up the work with me of listing every World Cup group? That would answer the question. I use http://www.planetworldcup.com/

 

The official IFF page is very bland and controlled by people too old to set up a social media account to excite fans about the team.

There are many fanaccounts though that are probably not counted in the process.

 

Uruguay has more followers than Australia, Russia and South Korea.

 

My guess is Brazil with Sweden, or Argentina with Nigeria.