Once every four years, all the people of the world think about the victory of their country’s national team in the World Cup, and these matches become the most watched football event in the world. Of course, despite the incredible popularity of this sporting event, there are facts about it that few people know. Maybe knowing these facts will make you enjoy the competitions of this course more. Stay with us.

Facts about the countries qualified for the World Cup

Did you know that so far, only countries from Europe and South America have been able to win the World Cup? Amazingly, out of 20 World Cup events, Europeans have been finalists 18 times.

• Iceland has the minor population ever participating in the World Cup.
• So far, only eight countries have won the World Cup championship.
• The record for the most games played in the World Cup (106 times), the most appearances in the final (8 times), the semi-final (13 times), and the quarter-final (16 times), as well as the most goals (224 goals), belongs to Germany.
• In 2002, the World Cup was held in South Korea and Japan.
• Uruguay is the only team that won the World Cup without winning the final match!
• In 1930, Yugoslavia entered the World Cup with the youngest starting lineup. The average age of the players was 21 years and 258 days.
• In 1998, Germany faced Iran with the oldest starting lineup. The average age of the players was 31 years and 345 days.
• Despite participating in the 1950 World Cup, the Indian national team withdrew. Because Indian players only played football with bare feet!
• Brazil has participated in all World Cup finals so far.

Facts about the host country

• The last host country to win the World Cup was France in 1998.
• During the 20 World Cup tournaments, the host country has won the championship title only six times.
• Southeast Asia and the Pacific region have never hosted this tournament.
• For the first time, Qatar will hold the 2022 World Cup in the winter season (calendar).
• The 2022 World Cup is the most expensive in history, costing 200 billion dollars in construction projects.
• Qatar will hold matches in air-conditioned stadiums for the first time.

Interesting facts about the World Cup

• In 1942 and 1946, the World Cup was not held because of World War II.
• The main trophy of the World Cup is named after the FIFA president who first organized the event, Jules Rimet.
• The Women’s World Cup officially started in 1991; all its matches were 80 minutes long. So far, these competitions have been held eight times.
• The FIFA executive committee chooses the host country of the World Cup.
• In addition to the tournament final prize, six other rewards are awarded to the players; The best player of the tournament receives the Golden Ball. Silver and bronze balls are also awarded to the second and third-place players. The tournament’s best scorer gets gold shoes, and the others get silver and bronze shoes. The golden glove award will be given to the best goalkeeper and the best young player award to the best footballer under 21 years old.

World Cup records

• Just Fontane has the record for most goals in the World Cup, with 13 goals in the 1958 tournament.
• Roger Milla of Cameroon is the oldest player in the World Cup.
• The youngest player to play in the World Cup is Norman Whiteside of Northern Ireland, who was only 17 years old at the 1982 games.
• Luis Monti was the first player to represent two countries (Argentina and Italy) in the history of the World Cup.
• The record for the fastest dismissal belongs to Jose Batista, who entered the field against Scotland in 1986 and received a red card in 56 seconds.
• French and Brazilian legends Zinedine Zidane and Cafu hold the record for the most yellow cards.
• Jurgen Klinsmann was the first player to score three goals in 3 consecutive World Cups.

Facts about goalkeepers

• Bodo Illgner from West Germany was the first goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in the 1990 World Cup final.
• Walter Zenga holds the record for the longest shutout. In the 1990 tournament, this player’s goal remained closed for 517 minutes!
• Dino Zoff, captain of the Italian national team in 1982, was the oldest player to win the World Cup at 40 years, four months, and 13 days.

Facts about the head coach of the teams

• The youngest head coach during the World Cup was 27-year-old Juan Jose Tramutola.
• The oldest head coach during the World Cup was Gaston Barreau, 70 years old.
• Helmut Schön, having coached Germany 25 times in the World Cup, holds the record for the most appearances in this tournament.
• So far, no country has won the World Cup with a foreign coach.
• French Didier Deschamps, Brazilian Mario Zagallo, and German Franz Beckenbauer have won the World Cup as both players and coaches.

The firsts of the World Cup

• The first World Cup match was held in 1930. France played Mexico in Uruguay and won the game 4-1.
• Lucien Laurent scored the first goal of the World Cup from outside the penalty area.
• In the history of the World Cup, no host country except Qatar has lost the opening match.
• In the 1930 World Cup, Placido Galindo was the first player to be expelled from the World Cup.
• Manuel Rosas has scored the first penalty kick of the World Cup.
• The first live telecast of the World Cup took place in 1954.
• The yellow card and players’ positions were defined in the 1970 World Cup.
• The first yellow card of the World Cup games in 1970 was awarded to Kakhi Asatiani.
• The first penalty shootout of the World Cup took place in 1982 between France and Germany.
• Gianluca Pagliuca, the goalkeeper of Italy, was the first to be sent off in the World Cup.

Facts about the World Cup Awards

• The winning team of the 2022 World Cup final will receive a prize of 42 million dollars. The award for the 2018 champion was 38 million dollars.
• The prize for the second team is equivalent to 30 million dollars.
• The total prize money for the 2018 World Cup was $791 million, an increase of $215 million compared to the previous World Cup in Russia.
• In the 2022 tournament, each team that makes it to the World Cup will receive $2 million to cover expenses, and each team that passes the group stage will receive $10 million in prize money. The final prize for the winning team will be 54 million dollars.

The cost of holding the World Cup

Qatar will host the most extensive and expensive World Cup in 2022. The cost of holding this World Cup is 15 times more than the previous one in Russia. In the following, we take a look at the expense of having these competitions in the last eight periods:

• Qatar World Cup (2022): $220 billion
• Russia World Cup (2018): $14.2 billion
• Brazil World Cup (2014): $11.6 billion
• FIFA World Cup South Africa (2010): $3.6 billion
• World Cup Germany (2006): $4.3 billion
• South Korea and Japan World Cup (2006): 7 billion dollars
• France World Cup (1998): $2.3 billion
• World Cup (1994): $0.5 billion

The highest and lowest number of spectators

• The highest number of spectators in World Cup matches is related to the game between Brazil and Uruguay in 1950. About 200,000 people gathered in the stadium to watch this game.
• In 1930, the match between Romania and Peru was held in Positos Stadium, Uruguay, with 300 people.

Facts about match refereeing

• Throughout World Cup games, Joel Quiniou has the history of the most referees.
• Francisco Mateuccia (Francisco Mateuccia) was the youngest referee in the World Cup match when he blew the whistle between Yugoslavia and Bolivia in 1930 when he was only 24 years old.
• George Reader (George Reader) was the oldest football World Cup referee who was 53 years old when he refereed the 1950 World Cup final between Brazil and Uruguay.
• In 2006, an English referee named Graham Poll fined Josip Simunic 3 times!
• In 2022, female referees will be allowed to enter the World Cup for the first time in history.

last word

All the numbers in this article are before the end of the 2022 World Cup and may change after the end of this period.

What other facts do you know about the World Cup? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section.