Random World Cup Facts

The World Cup of 1958 was the last one where the hosts reached the final and didn't win as Sweden lost to Brazil with 2-5.

This was also the only time, a South American team won the World Cup on European ground.

On the other hand, no European team ever won if the World Cup wasn't held in Europe.

The only other time a host reached the final and didn't win was in 1950 in Brazil. This however wasn't a final as all the others before or afterwards as this was the only time a final round was installed with four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, Spain) playing each other. Uruguay eventually won with 2 wins and 1 draw.

Since 1954 when Germany liftet the World Cup for the first time, they've been among the last 8 nations every single time. No other team has been that consistent.

On 26 June 1954, the quarter-final match in Lausanne produced more goals than any match before or since, Austria beating Switzerland 7-5, despite the Swiss being 3:0 ahead at one stage.

The record win however dates from 1982 when Hungary beat El Salvador 10:1 (the only double figure win in World Cup history).

For the first World Cup in 1930 there were no qualification rounds. Participation was by invitation only.

The whole of this first World Cup took place in the single city of Montevideo.

A total that is not likely to be equalled ever again is the 174,000 crowd in the Maracana stadium in Rio in 1950 (unofficial sources quote the figure as over 200,000). Brazil lost to Uruguay 1-2.

Also in 1950, England made their first appearence at a World Cup beeing the huge favourite but then lost their second group game against the US 0-1. When the result was cabled to Britain, the English media thought there had been a mistake, since obviously it was impossible that England would lose to the US. They thought that the first fiugure was missing and the next day newspapers reported a 10-1 victory over the US. After another 1-0 loss against Spain, England made an early exit.

Mexico's goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal represented his country at five World Cups between 1950 and 1966. Eight players have made it four times, but Germany's Lothar Matthäus went one better at France 98 and equalled Carbajal's record. Matthäus has also played in a total of 25 World Cup final round matches - another record.

At the 1974 World Cup, Scotland was the only team to be undefeated.

The Jules Rimet Cup, named after the founder of the FIFA World Cup competition, became Brazilian property outright when the team's victory in Mexico in 1970 saw the cup pass into their hands for the third time in twelve years. That, however, was not the end of the saga of the "Golden Goddess". The trophy was stolen in Brazil and, unlike in England in 1966, was never seen again. The CBF was given a replica for their trophy cabinet.

1970 was the first year to see the use of yellow and red cards. The first player to be sent off with a red card was Carlos Caszely of Chile, who had this dubious honour in 1974.

A unique record is held by José Batista of Uruguay who was sent off within the first minute on 13 June 1986.

In 2002, Brazilian captain Cafu became the first man to play in three FIFA World Cup final matches.

The 2002 final had another first. Amazingly, the FIFA World Cup’s two most successful teams, Brazil and Germany, had never met each other at the tournament, not until their 87th and 85th matches respectively.

Also in 2002: The fastest goal ever to be scored at a world cup. Hakan Sukur’s goal for Turkey against Korea Republic came after just 11 seconds.

German striker Gerd Müller is the FIFA World Cup all-time leading scorer with 14 Goals in two World Cups (1970 & 1974)

Dino Zoff holds the record of being the oldes player to win the World Cup. He did so with Italy in 1982 at the age of 40.

In 1994 Cameroons Roger Milla became the oldest goalscorer at a FIFA World Cup, at the age of 42. He's also the first african to have played in three World Cups.

The only player ever to be part of three World Cup winning sides was Pele!

The honour of being the youngest scorer of all time is held by - again, who else? - the great Pele himself, just 17 years and 239 days old when he hit the winning goal for Brazil against Wales in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.

Pele scored at least once in each of his four World Cup appearances (1958-70), and has a total of 12 to his credit. Yet he has never been top scorer.

French player Just Fontaine holds the record for scoring the most goals at a single World Cup tournament (13) in 1958.

Only two men have been crowned world champion as both a player and a coach: Mario Zagallo who won the World Cup twice as a player (1958 & 1962), once as national manager (1970) and once as assistant manager (1994). Franz Beckenbauer won the trophy once as a player in 1974 and once as coach in 1990.

Brazil and Germany each have a record seven World Cup final appearences. Brazil did so in 1950, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 1998, 2002. Germany in 1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002.

This means that since WWII, there was only one World Cup final in which neither Germany nor Brazil participated. This was in Argentina 1978 where the hosts beat Holland 3-1 after extra time. Brazil finished third.

The great football nation of Spain never finished better than fourth at a World Cup (1950).

France won the World Cup 1998 on their 10th appearence when they were hosts for the second time after 1938.

India withdrew from the 1950 World Cup because they were not allowed to play barefoot.

So far three nations have hosted the World Cup twice: Italy (1934 & 1990), France (1938 & 1998) and Mexico (1970 & 1986). Germany who have already hosted the World Cup in 1974 will join the three next year.

Belgiums greates triumph was a fourth place in 1986 when thy lost the match for third place to france 2-4 after extra time.

Chile made their best performence in 1962 on home turf when they won the match for third place 1-0 against Yugoslavia.

The trophy for the best goalkeeper at the FIFA World Cup is named after Russian goalkeeping legend Lev Yashin.

Portugals biggest success was a third place in 1966, with their famous striker Eusebio "the black panther" who scored 9 times in that tournament, winning the golden boot. This was also Portugals first appearence at a World Cup.

The first match in a FIFA World Cup to end 0-0 was between England and Brazil in 1958.

At the first ever World Cup in 1930, the USA reached the semi finals where Argentina beat them 6-1. Never again have the USA reached a semi final.

At the opening day of the first World Cup in 1930 the weather was snowy.

Six times did the host nation win the World Cup: Uruguay 1930, Italy 1934, England 1966, Germany 1974, Argentina 1978 and France 1998.

France became the first host nation not to win the Title in 1938 when they lost in the quarter finals against the eventual winner Italy 1-3.

Costa Rica made a surprising debut in 1990 when they survived group phase behind Brazil and in front of Scotland and Sweden.

A curiosity of the 1966 World Cup: The Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen while on display in London. A dog with the name "Pickles" recovered it under a bush in a suburban front garden in south London a few days later.

German striker Karlheinz Rummenigge is the only player to captain the losing finalists in two consecutive FIFA World Cups (1982 & 1986).

German defender (and later team manager) Berti Vogts scored an own Goal on his last appearence for his country at the 1978 World Cup in a 3-2 loss against Austria in second round.

Scotland has qualified nine times for the World Cup but never survived the first round.

The first ever World Cup goal was scored by French player Lucien Laurent in a 4-1 win against Mexico at the opening game of the 1930 World Cup.

The World Cup tournaments have had seven winners so far:
Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002), Germany (1954, 1974, 1990), Italy (1934, 1938, 1982), Argentina (1978, 1986), Uruguay(1930, 1950), France (1998) and England(1966)

 

True, Ronaldo has already 12 Goals in three World Cups (although he didn't play a single game in 1994). However I wouldn't say that it has become that much more difficult to score as the game started to become very defensive in the 1960s.

 

Do you think FIFA will let India play barefoot this time?

 

He scored 4 in 1998. But thats still pretty good, concidering that he is now leveled with Pele

 

Scotland qualified in 1950, but had previously decided they would only participate if the came top of their group. England’s 1-0 victory over their northern neighbours led Scotland to withdraw their entry for the FIFA World Cup.

 

Well, what I wanted to say basically is that they never reached the second round. So just read it that way.

But then again Scotland did indeed qualify for the 1950 World Cup and they didn't make it past the first round. Which is no surprise if you withdraw but it's not a wrong statement. It leads to the wrong conclusion though, I admit that.