Random World Cup Facts

If France wins tomorrow:

They will move into 5th place all-time with 2 World Cups and 3 championship matches, still behind Argentina but ahead of Uruguay.

If Croatia wins:

They will be the 9th country to win a World Cup, and will be either 8th or 9th all time, depending on how one counts Spain's 4th place finish in 1950.

 

Belgium 2-0 England



Average age of England's starting lineup (25-174) is their youngest starting eleven in World Cup history.

Earliest Belgium goals scored in World Cup history:
4' Thomas Meunier (2018 v England)
5' Léopold Anoul (1954 v England)
6' Eden Hazard (2018 v Tunisia, penalty)
7' Luc Nilis (1998 v South Korea)
7' Johan Walem (2002 v Russia)
8' Georges Grün (1994 v Germany)

Earliest England goals conceded in World Cup history:
4' Thomas Meunier (2018 v Belgium)
5' Léopold Anoul (1954 v Belgium)
5' Carlos Borges (1954 v Uruguay)
6' Gabriel Batistuta (1998 v Argentina, penalty)
12' Helmut Haller (1966 v West Germany)
13' Nikita Simonyan (1958 v USSR)

Teams that won six matches at a World Cup but did not win the tournament:
Poland 1974 (6-0-1)
Italy 1990 (6-1-0) - finished unbeaten
Netherlands 2010 (6-0-1)
Belgium 2018 (6-0-1)

World Cup semi-finalists that lost three matches during the tournament including the thrd-place playoff:
Yugoslavia 1962 (3-0-3)
Uruguay 1970 (2-1-3)
Belgium 1986 (2-2-3)
Bulgaria 1994 (3-1-3)
England 2018 (3-1-3)

Teams that lost three matches at Russia 2018:
Egypt (0-0-3)
Panama (0-0-3)
England (3-1-3)

Players from the English league that scored against England in a World Cup:
Kevin Sheedy (1990, Everton / Republic of Ireland)
Viorel Moldovan (1998, Coventry City / Romania)
Dan Petrescu (1998, Chelsea / Romania)
Niclas Alexandersson (2002, Everton / Sweden)
Clint Dempsey (2010, Fulham / United States)
Luis Suárez (2014, Liverpool / Uruguay) - scored two goals
Eden Hazard (2018, Chelsea / Belgium)

 

1966 England
1970 Brazil
1974 West Germany
1978 Argentina
1982 Italy
Five consecutive World Cups with a different winner.
Current streak is also at five.
1998 France
2002 Brazil
2006 Italy
2010 Spain
2014 Germany
2018

 

Teams that played both finalists during the same World Cup.
* Sweden, 1950 (1-7 v Brazil, 2-3 v Uruguay)
* Spain, 1950 (2-2 v Uruguay, 1-6 v Brazil)
* Final group phase but final match of the group - Brazil v Uruguay - decided the destination of the trophy.
Wales, 1958 (0-0 v Sweden, 0-1 v Brazil)
USSR, 1958 (0-2 v Brazil, 0-2 v Sweden)
Spain, 1962 (0-1 v Czechoslovakia, 1-2 v Brazil)
Mexico, 1962 (0-2 v Brazil, 3-1 v Czechoslovakia)
Uruguay, 1966 (0-0 v England, 0-4 v West Germany)
Argentina, 1966 (0-0 v West Germany, 0-1 v England)
Uruguay, 1970 (0-0 v Italy, 1-3 v Brazil)
East Germany, 1974 (1-0 v West Germany, 0-2 v Netherlands)
Sweden, 1974 (0-0 v Netherlands, 2-4 v West Germany)
Italy, 1978 (1-0 v Argentina, 1-2 v Netherlands)
Peru, 1978 (0-0 v Netherlands, 0-6 v Argentina)
Uruguay, 1986 (1-1 v West Germany, 0-1 v Argentina)
Yugoslavia, 1990 (1-4 v West Germany, 0-0 a.e.t. 2-3 penalties v Argentina)
Denmark, 1998 (1-2 v France, 2-3 v Brazil)
Denmark, 2018 (0-0 v France, 1-1 a.e.t. 2-3 penalties v Croatia)
Argentina, 2018 (0-3 v Croatia, 3-4 v France)

Denmark 2018 is the only team that did not (officially) lose to the two finalists.

 

Thanks for all the fascinating statistics and facts you post after each game. Not to nit pick, but on what you posted in the above quote, I would rephrase it as follows: Denmark 2018 is the only team that played both finalists but did not (officially) lose to the two finalists.

 

I don't understand the need.
What's another way you can interpret the sentence I posted?
Unless I missed one/some, the list includes every team that played both finalists in the given World Cup.

 

You are right. I just thought that the last sentence standing in its own didn't sound right.

 

Did we forget the obvious fact that Belgium has achieved 3rd place for the first time ever?

 

The last time France had three defenders score in a World Cup was when they won it in '98.

(Credit to Fox Sports for that bit of trivia.)

 

Every tournament has those unfortunate benchwarmers who never get to enter the field. Here is a list of those outfield players from this World Cup:

Group A

Uruguay: Gastón Silva & Maxi Pereira

Russia: Andrey Semyonov & Anton Miranchuk

Saudi Arabia: Mansoor Al-Harbi, Abdulmalek Al-Khaibri & Abdullah Al-Khaibari

Egypt: Ahmed Elmohamady, Mahmoud Hamdy, Ayman Ashraf, Saad Samir, Omar Gaber & Shikabala


Group B

Spain: Nacho Monreal, César Azpilicueta, Alvaro Odriozola & Saúl Niguez

Portugal: Mário Rui, Bruno Alves & Rúben Dias

Iran: Mohammad Khanzadeh, Pejman Montazeri, Mehdi Torabi, Ashkan Dejegah & Reza Ghoochannejhad

Morocco: Hamza Mendyl & Youssef Bennasser


Group C

France: Adil Rami (preliminary)

Denmark: Jannik Vestergaard

Peru: Aldo Corzo, Nilson Loyola, Miguel Araujo & Andy Polo

Australia: Milos Degenek, Matthew Jurman, James Meredith, Massimo Luongo, Jamie Maclaren & Dimitri Petratos


Group D

Croatia: -

Argentina: Cristian Ansaldi & Giovani Lo Celso

Nigeria: Elderson Echiéjilé, Chidozie Awaziem, Joel Obi, Ogenyi Onazi & John Ogu

Iceland: Hólmar Eyjólfsson, Samúel Friðjónsson & Ólafur Skúlason


Group E

Brazil: Pedro Geromel, Fred & Taison

Switzerland: Nico Elvedi, François Moubandje, Gelson Fernandes & Remo Freuler

Serbia: Milan Rodić, Uroš Spajić & Marko Grujić

Costa Rica: Kenner Gutiérrez


Group F

Sweden: Filip Helander & Marcus Rohdén

Mexico: Érick Gutiérrez & Javier Aquino

South Korea: Oh Ban-suk & Jung Seung-hyun

Germany: Matthias Ginter


Group G

Belgium: -

England: -

Tunisia: -

Panama: Valentin Pimentel


Group H

Colombia: Farid Díaz

Japan: Naomichi Ueda, Wataru Endo & Ryota Oshima

Senegal: Adama Mbengue, Kara Mbodji & Moussa Sow

Poland: Karol Linetty

 

and have a world cup record of 10 different scorers. Shared with france 1982 & Italy 2006

 

VAR was used for the first time in the Final in 2018 in the 35th minute.


Come to think of it France was involved in the first time it was ever used also in this tournament against Australia in the Group stage.

France was also involved in the first time goal line technology was used in 2014 against Honduras in the Group Stage.

Kind of crazy that France has benefited from new technology first on all three occasions.

 

Mario mandžukić has the fubious honor of being the first play ever to score an own goal in the World Cup Championship game Final.

 

France has won the World Cup for the first time outside of their Country's borders.

(Leaving England as the only winner not to do so.)

 

peru's talisman streak continues. for the 5th time in their 5th appearance, the played the later world champ during the tournament. 30 uruguay, 70 brazil, 78 argetina, 82 italy, 2018 france

 

france could finally end the somewhat curse of the runner-up of the euro the ran 2 years before a world cup.

1960 - yugoslavia lost in QF 1962
1964 - sovjet union lost in SF 1966
1968 - yugoslavia not qualified in 1970
1972 - sovjet union not qualified in 1974
1976 - germany out in 2nd group stage in 1978
1980 - belgium out in 2nd group stage in 1982
1984 - spain lost in QF in 1986
1988 - sovjet union out in group stage 1990
1992 - germany lost in QF in 1994
1996 - czechia not qualified for 1998
2000 - italy lost in Rof16 in 2002
2004 - portugal lost in SF 2006
2008 - germany lost in SF 2010
2012 - italy out in group phase 2014
2016 - france becomes world champ

 

France 4-2 Croatia



Average age, World Cup experience (matches played) ... international appearances/goals of starting lineups.
FRA : 26-090 , 93 ... 518 / 87
CRO : 29-190 , 81 ... 671 / 94

Largest difference in average age of World Cup finalists:
3-187 : 1958 Sweden v Brazil
3-099 : 2018 Croatia v France

Youngest players to play in a World Cup Final:
17-249 Pelé (1958, Brazil v Sweden)
18-201 Giuseppe Bergomi (1982, Italy v West Germany)
19-207 Kylian Mbappé (2018, France v Croatia)
19-344 Rubén Morán (1950, Uruguay v Brazil)

Clubs with most players represented in World Cup Finals:
31 Bayern Munich
27 Juventus, Inter Milan

Clubs represented for the first time in a World Cup final (2018):
Atlético Madrid (Lucas Hernández, Antoine Griezmann and Sime Vrsaljko)
Besiktas (Domagoj Vida)

Teams that scored the first goal in the World Cup Final have won 13 of 21 times.
Lost in 1934, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974 and 2006.

Penalty kicks awarded in a World Cup Final:
1974 Netherlands v West Germany (1', converted by Johan Neeskens)
1974 West Germany v Netherlands (24', converted by Paul Breitner)
1982 Italy v West Germany (24', wide right post by Antonio Cabrini)
1990 West Germany v Argentina (85', converted by Andreas Brehme)
2006 France v Italy (6', converted by Zinedine Zidane)
2018 France v Croatia (35', converted by Antoine Griezmann)

Players that scored from outside of the penalty area in a World Cup Final:
Santos Iriarte (1930 Uruguay v Argentina, 68')
Roberto Boninsegna (1970 Italy v Brazil, 37')
Gérson (1970 Brazil v Italy, 66')
Marco Tardelli (1982 Italy v West Germany, 69')
Paul Pogba (2018 France v Croatia, 59')
Kylian Mbappé (2018 France v Croatia, 65')

Youngest goal scorers in a World Cup Final:
17-249 Pelé, 1958 Brazil v Sweden
19-207 Kylian Mbappé, 2018 France v Croatia
21-320 Carlos Peucelle, 1930 Argentina v Uruguay
21-323 Amarildo, 1962 Brazil v Czechoslovakia

Players to score a goal and an own goal in the same World Cup match:
Ernie Brandts, 1978 Netherlands v Italy
Mario Mandzukic, 2018 Croatia v France

Clubs whose players have scored the most goals in World Cup Finals:
8 Internazionale - Boninsegna (1970), Altobelli (1982), Rummenigge (1986), Brehme (1990), Ronaldo (two, 2002), Materazzi (2006), Perisic (2018).
6 Juventus
5 Santos
4 West Ham United, Bayern Munich

Players that have WON the UEFA European Cup/Champions League and the World Cup in the same season:
Sepp Maier (1974 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Paul Breitner (1974 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck (1974 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Franz Beckenbauer (1974 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Gerd Müller (1974 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Uli Hoeness (1974 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Jupp Kapellmann (1974 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Christian Karembeu (1998 Real Madrid / France)
Roberto Carlos (2002 Real Madrid / Brazil)
Sami Khedira (2014 Real Madrid / Germany)
Raphaël Varane (2018 Real Madrid / France)

Players that have LOST the UEFA European Cup/Champions League and the World Cup in the same season:
Nils Liedholm (1958 AC Milan / Sweden)
Paul Breitner (1982 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Wolfgang Dremmler (1982 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1982 Bayern Munich / West Germany)
Michael Ballack (2002 Bayer Leverkusen / Germany)
Hans-Jörg Butt (2002 Bayer Leverkusen / Germany)
Oliver Neuville (2002 Bayer Leverkusen / Germany)
Carsten Ramelow (2002 Bayer Leverkusen / Germany)
Bernd Schneider (2002 Bayer Leverkusen / Germany)
Arjen Robben (2010 Bayern Munich / Netherlands)
Mark van Bommel (2010 Bayern Munich / Netherlands)
Dejan Lovren (2018 Liverpool / Croatia)

Peru have participated in five World Cups. On each occasion they played against the team that would go on to win that tournament.
1930: Uruguay won 1-0
1970: Brazil won 4-2
1978: Argentina won 6-0
1982: Italy drew 1-1
2018: France won 1-0

 

World Cup winners
5 Brazil
4 Italy, Germany
2 Uruguay, Argentina, France
1 England, Spain

World Cup winners as a player / as a coach:
Mário Zagallo : 1958, 1962 / 1970
Franz Beckenbauer : 1974 / 1990
Didier Deschamps : 1998 / 2018

Clubs whose players have scored the most goals in World Cup history.
76 Bayern Munich (0 in 2018)
74 Real Madrid (10)
73 Barcelona (11)
71 Internazionale (3)
56 Juventus (4)
39 Peñarol (0)
39 Atlético (8)
38 Manchester United (8)

Youngest squads to have won the World Cup:
25-070 : Brazil 1970
25-224 : Uruguay 1950
25-308 : Brazil 1958
26-011 : France 2018
26-068 : Germany 2014

2.548 goals scored in 21 editions of the World Cup:
1930 - 70
1934 - 70
1938 - 84
1950 - 88
1954 - 140
1958 - 126
1962 - 89
1966 - 89
1970 - 95
1974 - 97
1978 - 102
1982 - 146
1986 - 132
1990 - 115
1994 - 141
1998 - 171
2002 - 161
2006 - 147
2010 - 145
2014 - 171
2018 - 169

 

Croatia's loss today means that England remains the only team to have won the World Cup that has not also ever won its applicable continental championship.

Of the 13 teams to have reached a World Cup final, only 4 - England, Croatia, Hungary, and Sweden have not won their applicable continental championship (or made the final, for that matter). Croatia is the only one among them to have not even made the semifinals of their applicable continental championship.

Croatia is the first losing finalist since West Germany in 1986 to score two goals in the WC final. In fact, since 1986, only one other losing finalist - France in 2006 - has managed to score in the final.

France is the first team to score 4 goals in a WC final since Brazil in 1970. The last time six goals were scored in a WC final was in 1966 (England 4-2 Germany, a.e.t.). Some other WC finals to end 4-2 are Uruguay v Argentina, 1930, and Italy v Hungary, 1938. The only final to produce more goals was Brazil 5-2 Sweden, 1958.

 

5 european teams have won the world cup while 5 other european teams have reached finals without ever winning a world cup.

However, 3 conmebol teams won with no other conmebol team ever reaching a final.

 

Paul Pogba is the first Manchester United player to score in a World Cup final.

 

Number of top 8 finishes.

18 Brazil (1930, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

17 Germany (1934, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)

11 England (1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2006, 2018)

10 Italy (1934, 1938, 1950, 1970, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006)
10 Argentina (1930, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2014)

9 France (1930, 1938, 1958, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018)

7 Uruguay (1930, 1950, 1954, 1966, 1970, 2010, 2018)
7 Yugoslavia (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1990)
7 Sweden (1934, 1938, 1950, 1958, 1974, 1994, 2018)

6 Netherlands (1974, 1978, 1994, 1998, 2010, 2014)
6 Spain (1934, 1950, 1986, 1994, 2002, 2010)
6 USSR/Russia (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 2018)

5 Hungary (1934, 1938, 1954, 1962, 1966)

4 Switzerland (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954)
4 Austria (1934, 1954, 1978, 1982)
4 Czechoslovakia (1934, 1938, 1962, 1990)

3 Poland (1974, 1978, 1982)
3 Belgium (1986, 2014, 2018)

2 Chile (1930, 1962)
2 Peru (1970, 1978)
2 Mexico (1970, 1986)
2 Romania (1930, 1994)
2 Croatia (1998, 2018)
2 United States (1930, 2002)
2 Portugal (1966, 2006)

1 East Germany (1974)
1 Cuba (1938)
1 Wales (1958)
1 Northern Ireland (1958)
1 North Korea (1966)
1 Cameroon (1990)
1 Ireland (1990)
1 Bulgaria (1994)
1 Denmark (1998)
1 Turkey (2002)
1 South Korea (2002)
1 Senegal (2002)
1 Ukraine (2006)
1 Ghana (2010)
1 Paraguay (2010)
1 Colombia (2014)
1 Costa Rica (2014)

 

No hat-tricks in the knockout stage again. The last time it happened was in 1990.