Some World Cup Football Facts

FIFA World Cup is the most popular football tournament that is followed by billions of people around the world on their Television.
There are many facts about Football World Cup and we will try to list the more relevant Football World Cup facts. Below you can find some more interesting facts about soccer so feel free to click around and find more interesting Football information.

Soccer World Cup Facts

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

 The all-time leading scorer in the World Cup is Brazil’s Ronaldo, with 15 goals

 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.

 Football 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.

 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 then again won the title in 1990 as the Germany coach.

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

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

 Hungary holds the record for scoring most goals when they beat El Salvador 10:1 in 1982.

 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.

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

 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 :(

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

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

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

 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.

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

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

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

 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.


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

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

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

 World Cup is played every 4 years and that is a World Cup Fact

 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.

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

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

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

 South Africa was the first host nation to eliminate from group stage

 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.

 Uruguay was the first World Cup winner during 1930.

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

 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.

 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.

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

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

 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.

 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.


 Brazil has made the most consecutive World Cups, appearing in all 19 tournaments.

 Only seven nations have won the World Cup; Brazil, Italy, West Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, England and France.

 Brazil holds the record for most World Cup titles, with five. Runner-up Italy has won four.

 No country has won the World Cup three times consecutively; Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962) have both won back-to back championships.

 The highest scoring game in World Cup history was in 1954, when Austria defeated Switzerland 7-5.

 Russia’s Oleg Slanko holds the record for most individual goals in a single match, netting five goals against Cameroon in 1994.

 Brazil and Germany are tied for most World Cup games played, at 92 apiece.

 Out of the 208 FIFA member nations, 204 attempted to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

 The first World Cup in 1930 consisted of 18 matches. The 2010 tournament will feature 64 matches played over four weeks.

 Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history on July 13, 1930.

 The record for most individual goals in a tournament is held by France’s Just Fonatine, with 13. He played in just one World Cup (1958), but that single outing is good enough to place him third on the all-time career goals list.

 Brazilian superstar Pelé is the only player to have won three World Cup championships. His 1958 World Cup debut resulted in a number of long-standing records; youngest goal scorer, youngest player to score a hat trick and the youngest play to appear in a final, at the tender age of 17 years and 249 days.

 The 2006 final between Italy and France was watched by over 715.1 million viewers

 Although India qualified for the World Cup in 1950 in Brazil, the Indian chose to withdraw from the tournament due to the financial problem as India did not afford shoes for their players..

 World Cup 2014 will be the first world cup ever with Goal Line Technology

 Brazil is the 5th nation to host a World Cup for the second time

 World Cup 2014 will be the most expensive World Cup Ever

 'We are one' is the official World Cup Song for 2014 World Cup