Interesting And Little Known Soccer Facts
How Many Do You Know?
TELSTAR WAS THE FIRST WHITE FOOTBALL EVER TO BE DECORATED WITH BLACK PENTAGONS. MEXICO 1970 WAS THE FIRST LIVE TELEVISED FIFA WORLD CUP, AND THE DESIGN OF TELSTAR MADE THE BALL FAR MORE VISIBLE ON BLACK AND WHITE TELEVISION. TODAY THE ADIDAS TELSTAR REMAINS THE ARCHETYPE OF ALL GENERIC FOOTBALLS.
20 red cards were shown during a 1993 game between Sportivo Ameliano and General Caballero in Paraguay.
ASEC Abidjan of Cote D'Ivoire went unbeaten for 108 games between 1989 and 1994.
Carlos Caszely of Chile was the first player red carded in a World Cup tournament on June 14, 1974.
European Teams have reached the final of every World Cup except in 1930 and 1950.
Goalkeeper Arthur Wharton was the first black professional soccer player. He was born in Ghana (then the Gold Coast) and played for English League team Rotherham United in 1889.
In 1950, India withdrew form the World Cup because FIFA refused to let their team play barefoot.
In 1954, Turkey knocked out Spain during a World Cup qualifier by drawing straws. Blindfolded Italian boy Luigi Franco Gemma picked the straws to decide the winner.
In 1957, with only 30 minutes remaining, Charlton Athletic came back from a 5-1 deficit to defeat Huddersfield Town 7-6.
In 1968, Penarol of Urugauy conceded only five goals in 18 games on the way to an unbeaten season.
In 1996, George Weah paid for his teammates' uniforms and expenses so that Liberia could enter the African Nations Cup.
In 1997, Nigerian international Celestine Babayaro broke his leg while celebrating a goal in his Chelsea debut during a preseason game.
In 1998, English referee Martin Sylvester sent himself off after punching a player during a game in the Andover and District Sunday League.
In 1999, Leganes coach Enrique Martin received a ten game ban for running down an opposition player who was clean through on goal.
In the 1938 World Cup semifinal, Guiseppe Meazza of Italy's shorts fell down as he was taking a penalty shot. He held his shorts up and calmly scored past Brazil's Valter.
In the 1970's, legendary coaches Jock Stein and Brian Clough both had 44 day stints at Leeds United.
Jean Langenus of Belgium wore a suit jacket, golfing fours, and a red striped tie when he refereed the 1930 World Cup final.
Luigi Riva once broke the arm of a spectator with one of his powerful shots.
Madagascan team Stade Olympique L'Emryne scored 149 own goals against champions AS Adema in 2002. They repeatedly scored own goals in protest of a refereeing decision in their previous game.
Michael Laudrup appeared for Real Madrid in a 5-0 win over Barcelona and also Barcelona when they beat Real Madrid 5-0.
Non-flying Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp's fear of flying caused him to miss many international and European games for Arsenal.
Sir Alex Ferguson was fired by St. Mirren in 1978 for swearing at a lady.
Sir Stanley Matthews never received a booking in his 33 year long career.
Under Herbert Chapman, The Arsenal changed their name to simply Arsenal in order to appear at the top of the alphabetical list of old Division One clubs.
The first televised game was an Arsenal practice match at the Highbury ground in 1937.
Players run as many as 6 or 7 miles during the course of a game.
Soccer is the world's MOST popular team sport
Pele, probably the greatest player to ever play soccer, called it "the beautiful game".
Soccer-like games were played in China as many as 2000 years ago.
The proper name of soccer is "association football".
The Romans played a game called "harpastum" which was probably the origin of modern soccer.
Rules require that soccer be played on a rectangular field between 100 and 130 yards long, and between 50 and 100 yards wide.
A soccer ball measures between 27 and 28 inches in circumference.
A soccer ball weighs between 14 and 16 ounces.
In Europe and South America, star soccer players are celebrities for life.
Major League Soccer set all-time attendance record for a United States-based professional soccer league game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on June 16, 1996. That day, 92,216 fans watched the Los Angeles Galaxy win a 3-2 shootout victory over the Tampa Bay Mutiny.
The largest attendance ever for a soccer match was 199,854 people - Brazil v. Uruguay in the World Cup at the Maracana Municipal Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, July 1950.
In the largest soccer tournament ever, no less than 5,098 teams competed in 1999 for the second Bangkok League Seven-a-Side Competition. Over 35,000 players involved!
The most goals scored by one player in a single soccer match was 16
- Stephan Stanis (France) playing for Racing Club de Lens in December 1942.
·Based on video evidence, one of the fastest ever scored was in 2.8 seconds by Ricardo Olivera (Uruguay) in December 1998.
Diego Maradona was only 16 when he made his soccer debut for Argentina.
Soccer goalies didn't have to wear different colored shirts from their teammates until 1913.
Eusebio scored 46 goals in the European Cup for Benfica.
Chris Woods once went 1196 minutes without conceding a goal while at Rangers, from between November 26 1986 and January 31 1987.
Ryan Giggs' dad was a professional Rugby League player.
In 1973, the entire Galilee team spent the night in jail for kicking their opponents during an Israeli League game.
West Germany (currently Germany) was the first team from Europe to win the FIFA World Cup (1954).
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, who is best known as "Pele", played in four FIFA World Cup competitions (Sweden-1958, Chile-1962, England-1966, and Mexico-1970), and scored over 1,200 goals in his career before finally retiring in 1977.
