For those of you who like to be in the know, here’s some knowledge of the facts and figures of World Cup History, impress your mates with some of these facts.
The hosts have won the World Cup on 6 occasions, Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934, England in 1966, West Germany in 1974, Argentina in 1978 and France in 1998.
England’s Peter Shilton and France’s Fabien Barthez hold the record for most clean-sheets in the Finals with 10 shut-outs.
Germany and Italy will take their World Cup Finals appearances to 17 the most by any European country, England are only in sixth position with 13 appearances.
70-Year-old Frenchman Gaston Barreau is the oldest manager to appear at the Finals, Greece coach Otto Rehhagel will eclipse him in June.
Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole have made the most appearances at the Finals of the Current squad with 13 caps, had David Beckham been fit he would have the most with 19 appearances.
Pele is the youngest player to score at the Finals at 17 years and 239 days old, the goal coming in 1958 against Wales.
The fastest red-card of the Finals came in 1986, when Uruguay’s Sergio Batista was dismissed after just 56 seconds against Scotland.
Brazil’s Cafu has the most wins at the Finals with 16 between 1994 and 2006.
Two players have played in five different World Cups, Germany’s Lothar Matthaus from 1982-98 and Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal from 1950 to 1966.
The first player to miss a penalty at the Finals was Brazil’s Valdemar de Brito in 1934, who saw Spain keeper Ricardo Zamora save his penalty.
Germany’s Miroslav Klose needs 5 goals to equal Brazil’s Ronaldo record of 15 World Cup Finals goals.
The first Substitute to be used in World Cup History was Anatoli Pusatch of the Soviet Union in 1970, Mexico were the opponents.
Brazil have scored 11 goals in the World Cup Finals direct from free-kicks, next best is Spain and Italy with just 4 goals scored.
Cameroons Rigobert Song and France’s Zinedine Zidane are the only players to have been sent-off in two different World Cup Finals.
France in 1998, and Italy in 2006, only conceded two goals in the Finals on their way to winning the title. Italy only conceded a penalty and an own goal.
Cameroon’s Roger Milla is the oldest man to score a World Cup goal, he was 42 years old when scoring against Russia in 1994.
The largest crowd at a World Cup game was 199,850 who watched Brazil v Uruguay in the Maracana Stadium in 1950.
Brazil have won 69.56% of World Cup matches, scoring 201 goals in the process.
Ernst Willimowski is the only man to score 4 goals in a match and still lose, Poland were beaten 6-5 by Brazil in 1938.
Just two players have scored in every match of the Finals, Alcide Ghiggia of Uruguay in 1950 and Jairzinho of Brazil in 1970.
Brazil hold the record of most consecutive wins with 11, from a 2-1 victory against Turkey in 2002 to a 3-0 win over Ghana in 2006.
The first player to be sent-off in a World Cup Final was Pedro Monzon of Argentina against West Germany in 1990.
The first own goal in World Cup history was scored by Ernst Lotscher of Switzerland in a replay against Germany in 1938.
The dirtiest World Cup in history was arguably Italia ’90, when their was an average of 40 fouls per game.
Defence’s ruled Italia ’90, with only 2.21 goals scored per game.
England and Italy have lost the most Penalty shoot-outs at the Finals losing three each.
United States Bert Patenaude scored the first ever World Cup Finals hat-trick, when scoring against Paraguay in 1930.
Brazil will be the only country to have played at all 19 World Cup Finals.
Gary Lineker is England’s Leading World Cup Finals goalscorer with 10 goals scored, including 6 when winning the Golden Boot in 1986.
Robert Prosinecki is the only player to have scored for two different Countries, in 1990 he scored for Yugoslavia against the U.A.E and in 1998 he scored for Croatia against Jamaica.
The four men to have scored in two World Cup’s are Vava of Brazil (’58 and ’62), Pele of Brazil (’58 and ’70), Breitner of West Germany (’58 and ’70) and Zidane of France (’98 and 2006).
The first substitute to score in the Finals was Mexico’s Juan Basaguren when scoring against El Salvador in 1970.
The oldest starting line-up in a World Cup game was Germany when they played against Iran in 1998 the average age was 31 years and 345 days.
Turkey’s Hakan Suker scored the quickest World Cup Finals goal against South Korea in 2002, when he scored with only 11 seconds on the clock.
Dutchman Ernie Brandts is the only player to have scored for both sides in a World Cup match when Holland beat Italy 2-1 in 1978.
Brazil’s Mario Zagallo was the first man to win the World Cup as a player and then as a coach, as a player he won the ’58 and ’62 World Cups before winning as coach in ’70.
The oldest player to win a World Cup was Italy’s Dino Zoff who captained the side to victory in 1982 aged 40 years and 133 days.
The youngest Referee to take charge of a World Cup Finals match was Spaniard Juan Gardeazabal who was 24 years old and 193 days in the 1958 Finals.
Three England players have been sent-off at the Finals Ray Wilkins (1986), David Beckham (1998) and Wayne Rooney (2006).
Northern Ireland’s Norman Whiteside is the youngest player to have appeared at the Finals aged 17 years and 41 days old in 1982 against Yugoslavia.
The most cautions in the Finals came in 2006 when there were 345 yellow cards handed out in 64 games.
The smallest crowd to watch a World Cup game was the 300 who showed up to Romania v Peru in the 1930 Finals in Uruguay.
The latest goal scored in the Finals was scored in the 121st minute by Alexander del Piero of Italy against Germany in 2006.
Peter Shilton has made the most appearances for England at the Finals with 17.
The only man to captain and coach a World Cup winning team is Germany’s Franz Beckenbaur, as a player in 1974 and as coach in in 1990.
The fastest hat-trick at the Finals was scored by Hungary’s Laszlo Kiss against El Salvador in 1982, scoring in the 70, 74 and 77 minute in a 10-1 win.
Hope you enjoyed the post.
