World Cup Soccer Facts

FIFA World Cup is the most popular soccer tournament that is followed by billions of people around the world on their Television so I wanted to take some time and make this web page dedicated to World Cup Soccer Facts only.

There are many facts about soccer World Cup and I will try to list the more relevant soccer World Cup facts.

Soccer World Cup Facts

1. The first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay back in 1930 and 13 countries participated in the very first World Cup tournament.

2. Brazilian Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima holds the record for most World Cup goals scored. He scored 15 goals making him top World Cup goalscorer and earning him a spot in World Cup soccer facts. And now Klose from Germany just joint the club.

3. The oldest player to lead a Country to the World Cup title was the Italian goalkeeper and captain Dino Zoff, who at the age of 40 captained Italy to their 1982 FIFA World Cup title.

4. Soccer World Cup facts continue with the oldest player to participate in the World Cup tournament and also score a goal. Roger Milla from Cameroon was 42 years old when he played in 1994 FIFA World Cup.

5. World Cup facts continue with German National Franz Beckenbauer who is the only player in the history of World Cup that won the title as a player and coach for Germany. He led Germany to their title in 1974 as a player and than again won the title in 1990 as the Germany coach.

6. First player to miss a penalty kick in World Cup competition was Valdemar de Brito of Brazil back in 1930.

7. After winning their 2nd World Cup title in 1938, Italy went on a 44 year drought before winning their third title in 1982.

8. World Cup soccer facts continue with Hungary holding the record for scoring most goals when they beat El Salvador 10:1 in 1982.

9. Germany and Brazil hold the top spot for most appearances in the World Cup final. Both countries made it to the finals on 7 different occasions.

10. Germany has also made the semi finals the most times. Germany has advanced to the final four teams in 11 different World Cups.

11. Scotland made the World Cup qualifications 8 different times and is the only country that was actually eliminated from the tournament during the first round on 8 different occasions.

This makes Scotland the most heartbreaking of all nations, making the world cup 8 times and being eliminated in the first round 8 times :(

12. Brazilian striker Ronaldo was named MVP at the 1998 World Cup final against France even though French came out of this game winners and 1998 World Cup champions.

13. First goalkeeper to win the Most Valuable Player award was the German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn during the 2002 Fifa World Cup.

14. Frenchman Just Fontaine holds the record for most World Cup goals scored when he netted 13 goals in 1958 World Cup.

15. Italy's Vittorio Pozzo is the only head coach to lead the nation to two consecutive World Cup titles as the head coach in 1934 and 1938.

16. Germany has played 99 World Cup matches as of 2012, making them a Nation to have played the most World Cup matches.

17. Brazil has scored 210 goals in all World Cups making them a record holder for most goals scored in World Cup tournament.

18. Record number for most World Cup appearances is held by German soccer player Lothar Matthaus with 25 appearances.

19. Fastest goal in World Cup history was scored by Turkey's Hakan Sukur, 11 seconds into the game against South Korea during the 2002 World Cup.

20. One funny World Cup soccer fact is that India withdrew from the competition in 1950 when they warent allowed to play barefoot in the tournament.

21. I found this World Cup soccer fact surprising. Mexico holds the record for most defeats in World Cup history, loosing 22 matches.

22. Very first hat trick was scored by an American Bert Patenaude during the 1930 World Cup.

23. Another funny World Cup soccer fact is that FIFA prohibited players from swapping shirts after the game in 1986 because they didn't want players to "bare their chests" on the field lol.

24. Sir Viv Richards is the only person to have played both World Cup Football and World Cup Cricket.

25. World Cup is played every 4 years and that is a World Cup Fact :)

26. World Cup soccer facts continue with highest attendance at the World Cup game during the 1950 World Cup final between Brazil and Uruguay. It is reported that 199,854 people attended this final match played at the famous Marakana stadium in Rio de Janerio.

27. Record for most World Cup titles won goes to Brazil who had won the tournament 5 different times.

28. Interesting World Cup fact is that out of 19 World Cups so far, 6 tournaments were won by the host Country.

29. Brazil is the only Country to have appeared in every World Cup tournament since 1930 until 2010.

30. No host Country had ever been eliminated during the first round, until South Africa in 2010.

31. World Cup soccer facts continue by mentioning that World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with over one billion people watching this competition every four years.

32. First ever World Cup was won by Uruguay in 1930.

33. The World Cup was not played in 1942 and 1946 because of World War.

34. Very interesting soccer World Cup fact is that Jules Rimet Trophy for the Champion is made out of solid 18 karat gold and weights more than 6 kilograms / 13 pounds.

35. Netherlands, Czechoslovakia and Hungary are the most successful teams to have never won the tournament. They all made two finals but never won the World Cup.

36. Pele is the most successful World Cup player, winning the title 3 different times with Brazil.

37. Argentina knocked England out of the 1986 World Cup, courtesy of the goal scored by Diego Maradonna… off of his hand. This goal is known as the Hand of God.

38. Two World Cup finals have been decided on penalties. Brazil beat Italy in 1994, and Italy beat France in 2006.

39. Zinedine Zidane, one of the greatest soccer players ever, is remembered for his last ever act on a soccer field during 2006 World Cup when he head butted Marco Materazzi in the chest which led to a red card as well as a farewell to professional soccer.

40. The fastest red card in the World Cup history was Uruguay’s Jose Baptista who lasted a full 56 seconds in 1986 against Scotland before being sent off.

source: soccermaniak.com/