World Cup Trivia
• Pele is the only player to have won 3 World Cups
• Roberto Baggio is the only Italian to have scored in 3 World Cups
• Brazilian striker Ronaldo holds the record for most overall World Cup goals.
• Only 7 countries have won the World Cup - Brazil (5), Italy (3), Germany (3), Uruguay (2), Argentina (2), England (1), France (1)
• Of the 17 World Cups, the host nation has won 6
• No European team has won the World Cup when hosted outside of Europe.
• The most common score in a World Cup is 1-0
• Two players have scored in four successive finals tournaments? Both Pele of Brazil and Uwe Seeler of West Germany have scored in the finals of 1958, 1962, 1966 & 1970.
• Shirt swapping was banned in the 1986 World Cup as Fifa didn’t want bare chests on show.
• Viv Richards is the only player to have appeared at a World Cup in football (Antigua) and a Cricket World Cup (West Indies)
• No continent apart from Europe and South America have had nations whom have won the World Cup, European teams winning 8 times with South American teams winning 9.
• There were only 13 teams in the first World Cup in 1930 these included the hosts Uruguay as well as Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, France, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, the United States and Yugoslavia
• No country has lost its first match and won the World Cup
• The 1970 World Cup match between Honduras and El Salvador was so intense it led to a 3 day war between the countries.
• Brazil is the only country to have played in every World Cup finals.
• Brazil has the highest number of goals in World Cup finals history with 173.
• Africa’s first country to qualify was Egypt in 1934
• July 31 was declared a national holiday in Uruguay after they won the inaugural World Cup in 1930.
• Oldest player was Cameroon’s Roger Milla at 42 years, 39 days at the 1994 World Cup. He is also the oldest player to have scored a goal when he scored against Russia in 1994.
• Youngest player was Norman Whiteside of Northern Ireland aged just 17 years and 41 days he played against Yugoslavia in 1982.
• 6 players have represented 2 different countries in separate World Cups – Luis Monti represented Argentina in 1930 and late Italy in 1934. Ferenc Puskas played for Hungary in 1954 and Spain in 1962. Another player José Santamaria represented Uruguay in 1954 and Spain in 1962. Mazola played for Brazil in 1958 and then Italy 1962 under the name José Altafini]. Robert Prosinecki and Robert Jarni both played for Yugoslavia in 1990 and Croatia in 1998.
• The shortest playing time at a World Cup is held by 2 players; Tunisia’s Khemais Labidi played two minutes against Mexico in 1978 and Argentina’s Marcelo Trobbiani played the last two minutes of his country’s 3-2 final win against West Germany in 1986.
• Anatoli Pusatch of the Soviet Union wa sthe first substitue in World Cup history. In a match against Mexico in 1970. He replaced Viktor Serebrjanikov. Substitutes were never used until the 1970 World Cup.
• The first goalkeeper to be substituted was Steve Adamache of Romania against Brazil. He was replaced by Necula Raducanu.
• The fastest substitution came in 1998, when Italy’s Alessandro Nesta was replaced by Giuseppe Bergomi against Austria after 4 minutes. When Michael Owen was replaced by Peter Crouch against Sweden in 2006 the record was equalled.
• Frenchman Joël Quiniou has refereed the most World Cup games. He has been in charge of 8 matches between 1986-1994 with four of them coming in 1994 in the USA. Other referees who have taken charge of 4 games in a single tournament are Russian Nicolaj Latychev in 1962, Brazilian José Ramiz Wright in 1990) and Belgian Jan Langenus at the 1930 World Cup.
• The youngest referee in a World Cup game was Francisco Mateuccia of Uruguay. He was 27 years and 62 days old when he took charge of Yugoslavia vs Bolivia in 1930.
• The oldest referee in a World Cup game was George Reader of England, at 53 years and 236 days old when took charge of Brazil vs Uruguay in the World Cup final in 1950.
• The youngest coach for a World Cup team was Juan Jose Tramutola of Argentina, he was 27 years and 267 days old when Argentina opened their campaign against France in 1930.
• The oldest coach for a World Cup team was Gaston Barreau of France, 70 years and 194 days old when France played Mexico in 1954.
• Germanys Helmut Schon has coached the most matches in a World Cup who led his team 25 times between 1966-1978.
• The youngest starting line-up in a World Cup game was fielded by Yugoslavia against Brazil in 1930. The average age was only 21 years and 258 days.
• The oldest starting line-up in a World Cup game was fielded by Germany against Iran in 1998. The average age was 31 years and 345 days.
• Fastest goal in a World Cup match was scored by Turkey’s Hakan Sükür after only 11 seconds against South Korea in 2002.
• The latest goal n a World Cup game was scored by Alessandro Del Piero of Italy, during the semifinal match against Germany in 2006 after 121 minutes.
• The fastest hat-trick was scored by Hungary’s Laszlo Kiss against El Salvador in 1982. He scored after 70, 74 and 77 minutes. Laszlo Kiss is also the only substitute to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup.
• Pelé is the youngest scorer in a World Cup when he scored against Wales in 1958. He was then only 17 years and 239 days old.
• Only 2 players have scored in every match including the final; Jairzinho of Brazil, managed it in the 1970 World Cup (6 games) and Alcide Ghiggia of Uruguay in 1950 (4 games).
• The fastest goal by a substitute was made scored by Ebbe Sand of Denmark against Nigeria in the second round in 1998. He scored after 16 seconds of coming on in Denmarks 4-1 win.
• Only 4 players have scored in 2 World Cup finals. These are Vava of Brazil in 1958 and 1962, Pelé of Brazil 1958 and 1970, Paul Breitner of West Germany in 1974 and 1982 and Zinedine Zidane of France in 1998 and 2006.
• The first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match was United States’s Bert Patenaude who scored against Paraguay in the first round of the 1930 World Cup.
• Polands Ernst Willimowski is the only player to score four goals in one match and still end up on the losing team against Brazil in 1938.
• Only one player has scored for two countries. Robert Prosinecki represented Yugoslavia in 1990 scoring against the United Arab Emirates and Croatia in 1998 scoring against Jamaica.
• The first own-goal in World Cup history was scored by Ernst Lötscher of Switzerland against Germany in a first round replay game in 1938.
• Ernie Brandts of Holland was the only player to have scored a goal plus an own-goal in the same during a second phase match against Italy in 1978when the Dutch team won 2-1.
• Juan Basaguren was the first substitute to score a goal when he netted the last goal against El Salvador in Mexico’s 4-0 win in 1970.
• The fastest red card was given to the Uruguayan player Sergio Batista after just 56 seconds in their first round match against Scotland in 1986.
• The fastest yellow card was given to Sergei Gorlukovic of Russia within the first minute against Sweden in 1994.
• 142 red cards (this includes expulsions before red cards were introduced in 1970) have been handed out in World Cup history. Only 2 players have ben sent off more than once; Rigobert Song of Cameroon against Brazil in 1994 and Chile in 1998 and Zinedine Zidane against Saudi Arabia in 1998 and against Italy in 2006.
• Peru’ Mario de Las Casas was the first player ever to be sent off in a World Cup against Romania in 1930.
• The first goalkeeper ever to be sent off was Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy against Norway in 1994.
• Argentinian Pedro Monzon was the first player to be sent off in a World Cup final was against West Germany in 1990. Fellow Argentinian Gustavo Dezotti also received a red card later in that match. Marcel Desailly of France is the only other player to have been sent off in a final when he was sent off against Brazil in 1998.
• Mexican referee Arturo Brizio Carter has handed out the most red cards. He sent off 7 players in the 6 games he was in charge of between 1994-1998.
• In penalty shoot-outs the team shooting first has won 11 of the 20 shoot-outs whch works out to 55%.
• Only two of twenty shoot-outs in World Cups have needed extra penalties after the original five attempts each. This occurred during The West Germany vs France match in 1982 needed one extra round of penalties and Sweden vs Romania in 1994 also required an extra round.
• Sergio Goycoechea of Argentina is the most successful penalty saving goalkeeper. He. He saved three against Yugoslavia in the quarterfinal in 1990 and two more in the semifinal against Italy, making a total of five.
• Thirteen players have scored in two penalty shootouts, no one has scored in three. These players are:
Pierre Littbarski of West Germany vs France in 82 and Mexico in 86.
Manuel Amoros of France vs West Germany in 82 and Brazil in 86.
Andreas Brehme of West Germany vs Mexico in 86 and England in 90.
Lothar Matthäus of West Germany vs Mexico in 86 and England in 90.
Gheorghe Hagi of Romania vs Ireland in 90 and Sweden in 94.
Ion Lupescu of Romania vs Ireland in 90 and Sweden in 94.
José Serrizuela of Argentina vs Yugoslavia in 90 and Italy in 90.
Jorge Burruchaga of Argentina vs Yugoslavia in 90 and Italy in 90.
Dunga of Brazil vs Italy in 94 and Holland in 98.
Branco of Brazil vs France in 86 and Italy in 94.
Roberto Baggio of Italy vs Argentina in 90 and France in 98.
Fernando Hierro of Spain vs Ireland in 2002 and South Korea in 2002.
Ruben Baraja of Spain vs Ireland in 2002 and South Korea in 2002.
• The oldest player to have won the World Cup is Goalkeeper Dino Zoff of Italy. At the age of 40 he captained Italy to victory in 1982.
• The youngest player to have won the World Cup is Pelé. At 17 he won with Brazil won in Sweden in 1958.
• Only one coach has managed 5 countries in World Cups. Yugoslavian Bora Milutinovic coached Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, hosts United States in 1994, Nigeria at France 1998 and China in 2002. Milutinovic took all his first four teams past the first round group stage, but failed to take China beyond the group stage.
• Only one man ahs coached and captained a World Cup winning team.Franz Beckenbauer for Germany; as captain in 1974 and coach in 1990.
• The first player to win the World Cup as a player and coach was Brazillian Mario Zagallo, who first won as a player in 1958 and 1962 and then as a coach in 1970.
• The only coach to win the World Cup twice was Vittorio Pozzo of Italy who guided the Italians to the World Cup triumph in 1934 and 1938.
• The first goal scored from a penalty was scored by Manuel Rosas of Mexico against Argentina in 1930.
• The first player to ever miss a penalty was Valdemar de Brito of Brazil against Spain in 1934. Ricardo Zamora saved the kick.
• Walter Zenga of Italy holds the record for clean sheets, managing not to conceed for almost six full games, 517 minutes This was until Claudio Caniggia scored for Argentina in the semifinal in 1990.
• The highest attendance recorded for one match at a World Cup is from the 1950 final. The official attendance was 199,854 in the final between Brazil and Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro at the Maracana Stadium.
• The lowest attendance recorded for one match was at the first ever World Cup in Uruguay in 1930 with an attendance of 300 people to see the first round match between Romania and Peru, which Romania won 3-1.