| Pele, the king of football, is said to have stopped two | | | | an appearance in every single final! And it is also the |
| factions fighting a civil war in Nigeria during the year | | | | only country to have lifted the trophy five times. |
| 1967. Both sides actually held a 48 hour ceasefire to | | | | The fastest goal in a World Cup match was scored |
| watch Pele play in Lagos! That's the power of football | | | | by Czechoslovakian Vaclav Masek after just 16 |
| and Pele! | | | | seconds into the game against Mexico in 1962! |
| Gerd Muller managed to score 68 goals out of the 62 | | | | American Bert Patenaude was the first to score a hat |
| games he played for West Germany. | | | | trick in World Cup history while playing against |
| Tommy Docherty was sacked as Manchester | | | | Paraguay in 1930. |
| United's manager for sleeping with the physiotherapist's | | | | Sweden's Erik Nilsson and Switzerland's Alfred Bickel |
| wife! | | | | are the only players to have played in a World Cup |
| Before he joined Barcelona, Luis Figo had actually | | | | before and after World War II. They both wore their |
| signed illegal contracts with Parma and Juventus! | | | | national team's World Cup soccer jerseys in 1938 and |
| Brazil's striker Ronaldo was declared the Most | | | | 1950! |
| Valuable Player of the 1998 Cup, even though Brazil | | | | Germany lost two World Cup finals in 1982 and 1986, |
| lost the championship final to France. Ronaldo has also | | | | making soccer uniform number 11 Karl-Heinz |
| been named World Player of the Year thrice! | | | | Rummenigge the only captain to have lost two finals! |
| Lilian Thuram is France's most capped player with 137 | | | | The first own goal during a World Cup was scored by |
| caps and 2 goals. | | | | Paraguay's Ramon Gonzales in a first round match |
| Hungary has won the most gold medals in the | | | | against the United States in 1930. |
| Olympics for soccer since the year 1952! | | | | Soccer legend Eusebio scored as many as 46 goals in |
| Robbie Fowler signed for Manchester City from Leeds | | | | the European Cup for his team Benfica! |
| United with the understanding that his former team | | | | The fastest hat trick was made by Hungarian Laszlo |
| would continue to pay him a salary! | | | | Kiss during a match against El Salvador in 1982. He |
| During the largest soccer tournament ever held, as | | | | scored during the 70th, 74th and 77th minute of the |
| many as 5,098 teams and 35,000 players competed | | | | game, which also makes him the only substitute to |
| for the second Bangkok League Seven-a-Side | | | | have ever scored a hat trick! |
| Competition in 1999! | | | | The largest attendance for a soccer match saw a |
| Germany's Oliver Kahn is the first goalie to win the | | | | whopping 199,854 fans turn up for a match played by |
| Most Valuable Player of the World Cup in the year | | | | Brazil and Uruguay during the 1950 World Cup at the |
| 2002. | | | | Maracana Municipal Stadium at Rio de Janeiro! |
| Brazil happens to be the only country that has made | | | | |