20 Fascinating Facts About Football

Are you a football/soccer fan? Are you merely curious about football? Come discover amazing facts which you may or may not have known about this sport.

1. 40% of the world's footballs are produced in the city of Sialkot, in Pakistan.

2. The largest football stadium ion the world is the Rungrado May Stadium found in Pyongyang, North Korea. It has a capacity of 114,000 spectators.

3. The highest number of goals scored by a single player in a football match is 16. Stefan Dembicki, a French footballer who played with RC Lens holds that record. He scored 16 goals in Renne's 32-0 win over Auby-Austrides for the first round of the 1942-1943 Coupe de France.

4. The youngest player to ever play professional football is Mauricio Baldivieso, born July 2, 1996. Baldivieso made his professional debut aged 12, against La Paz F.C. on July 19, 2009.

5. The oldest football player to have taken part in a FIFA World Cup is Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary. He played for Egypt against Saudi Arabia when he was 45 years and 161 days old.

6. Football/soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and it has an estimated 4.0 billion persons following. It is also the most watched and most played sport on Earth.

7. Some legendary football players include: Sir Robert Charlton, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney from England; Francesco Totti, Alessandro del Pierro and Roberto Baggio from Italy; Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry from France; Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo from Portugal; Johan Cruyff from the Netherlands; Raul and Fernando Torres from Spain; Michael Ballack from Germany; Pelé, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, and Kaka from Brazil; and Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi from Argentina.

David Beckham

The African football legends are: George Weah (Liberia), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast), Roger Milla (Cameroon), Rashidi Yekini (Nigeria), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Abedi Ayew (Ghanian Pele), and Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon).

Ronaldinho, Messi and Eto'o

8.  Brazil holds the record for winning the World Cup the most times - five times.

9. Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic holds the Guinness record for the longest goal scored in a football game. On attempting a clearance in a Premier League game on November 2nd, 2013, the windy conditions at the Britannia Stadium enabled the ball to bounce into the opposite keeper's net. That was Begovic's first career goal, but he wasn't really happy about it.  "It is a long ball that got caught in the wind and it took a wicked bounce. It's not nice to be on the receiving end of those things as a goalkeeper,” he said. His goal was a 91.9 meter strike.

11. Greenland cannot join FIFA because it cannot sustain a grass pitch, owing to the permafrost which envelops Greenland.

12. The maximum number of players in a soccer team allowed on the field is 11. The available positions are: goalkeeper, center-back, sweeper, fullback, wingback, center-midfielder, defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder, winger, forward, striker.

Van Dijk - Liverpool center-back

13. The official football rules are called the "Laws of the Game". FIFA  - the world football governing body - revises and publishes them annually. There are 17 elements that determine these rules. They are: field of play, the ball, number of players, player's equipment, referee, assistant referee, duration of match, start and restart of play, ball in and out of play, scoring, offsides, fouls and misconduct, free kicks, penalty kicks, throw in, goal kick and corner kick.

14. No player has been able to attain Pele's scoring ability. He has scored 8 goals in a game, 5 goals six times, 4 goals thirty-one times, and a hat-trick on 92 occasions.

15. Cameroon's Roger Milla is the oldest goalscorer in World Cup history. He created the record by scoring against Russia in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

 

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

17. In October 1998, the entire 11-man Bena Tshadi team was killed in a single stroke of lightning, mid-game. All members of Basanga, the visiting team were unhurt. This happened as Bena Tshadi drew 1-1 with Basanga.

18. Cristiano Ronaldo, the infamous CR7, was nicknamed 'cry-baby' during his childhood, due to the tantrums he threw when his team lost or if he didn't receive the ball, revealed his former teammate Ricardo Santos. Santos played alongside the five-time Ballon d'Or winner for amateur side CF Andorinha in Madeira.

19. Former Italian professional footballer Luigi Riva once broke the arm of a spectator with a particularly powerful shot.

20. Throughout Sir Stanley Mathews' 33 yearlong football career, he never received a yellow or red card. He played till he was 50 years and five days old.