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Fun Facts About Football

FUN FACTS ABOUT FOOTBALL - HAVE A LOOK SEE WHAT YOU DID OR DIDNT KNOW!

·        Football originated generally in its present form in Britain.

·        The world's oldest club formed in 1857 is Sheffield FC (Metro FC was established in 1899, making it one of the oldest clubs in NZ) it was founded by Colonel Nathaniel Cresswick and Major William Priest, two British Army officers

·        Football is the most played and most watched sport on Earth

·        Football is called football in practically every country except America, who call 'Grid Iron' football and football soccer.

·        Famous Football rivalries include the Old Firm ( Scotland), Manchester derby, London derbies, Milan derby, Real vs Barcelona, and many more.

·        Some famous Football players: Pele, Maradonna, Charlton, Eusebio, Cruyff, Dalglish, Ronaldo, Beckham, Mattheus.

·        The sport of Association Football (often referred to as soccer or simply football) is the most popular team sport in the world, in both number of spectators and number of active participants.

·        The largest attendance for a Football match ever was 199,854 people - Brazil v. Uruguay in the World Cup at the Maracana Municipal Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, July 1950.

·        In the largest Football 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 Football match was 16 by 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.

·        The international governing body of Football is the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), based in Zurich, Switzerland.

·        Diego Maradona was only 16 when he made his debut for Argentina.

·        Football goalies didn't have to wear different coloured 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 Glasgow Rangers, from between November 26 1986 and January 31 1987.

·        Ryan Giggs' (of Manchester United) 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

  • Football players run an average of six miles during every game.
  • Football is the most popular sport in the world. Over one billion fans watch World Cup Football on television.
  • Every year except for two (1930 and 1950) European Teams have reached every World Cup final.
  • India withdrew from the World Cup in 1950 because they weren’t allowed to play barefoot.
  • Football facts reveal that only the United States and Canada actually call soccer “soccer.”
  • Over 40 million watched on television as the U.S. Women’s Team won the World Cup in 1999.
  • There are 1000 activity changes in every soccer match.
  • The World's First Football Club was the English Sheffield Football Club, founded in 1857 by Colonel Nathaniel Cresswick and Major William Priest, two British Army officers.
  • Pele was the first to call Football “the beautiful game.”
  • The Football World Cup is played every four years.
  • The fewest number of fans to watch a World Cup Football game was the 300 in Uruguay in 1930.  
  • The very first game of basketball was played with a soccer ball.
  • The most World Cups have been won by Brazil--5 with the last in 2002.

Courtesy of www.soccerholics.com

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