Interesting Facts About the FIFA World Cup

Interesting Facts About the FIFA World Cup

The most eagerly anticipated sporting event to date is the FIFA World Cup, which is held every 4 years and is being hosted this year by Qatar. Milestones are reached and records are broken each time.
Here are 9 interesting FIFA facts that everyone should be aware of, listed by Qatar Day.

Uruguay hosted the first World Cup in 1930

The first FIFA World Cup was unlike anything else. The sport's initial championship, which was played entirely in Montevideo, Uruguay, was filled with peculiarities that could puzzle current football fans. For example, four teams arrived on the same boat, the stadium wasn't ready, and the Final's goal scorer had one arm. 

Jules Rimet Trophy was the oroginal name of the World Cup trophy

The Jules Rimet Trophy served as the FIFA World Cup's first award. The World Cup, also known as Coupe du Monde, was first known as "Victory" before being renamed in 1946 to honor FIFA President Jules Rimet, who had voted to start the competition in 1929.

The 2002 World Cup, hosted by South Korea & Japan, was the first ever World Cup to be hosted by two different nations

South Korea and Japan co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup for the first time in Asia (the opening match was held in South Korea and the final was held in Japan). The two Asian nations were initially rivals in the bidding process. However, they decided to co-host the event with FIFA immediately before the vote. 

Pele is the youngest footballer to score a goal at the men's FIFA World Cup

At the men's FIFA World Cup in Sweden in 1958, Pele broke the record for being the youngest player to score, doing it at the age of just 17 years, 239 days. The Brazilian attacker also holds the record for the youngest World Cup hat trick scorer.

Brazil holds the most number of FIFA World Cup titles

Brazil is the most successful World Cup team with five championships, and is the only country to have competed in every World Cup finals match. Brazil also holds the record for the most victories in a single competition with 7 triumphs during the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. To put that in perspective, they won each and every game in the competition that year. 

World Cup trophy that had been stolen was found by a dog named Pickles

The World Cup trophy was stolen on March 20, 1966, while it was on display for the general public at the Methodist Central Hill in Westminster, London. Pickles, David Corbett's dog, later found it in a newspaper-wrapped package in a bush near his south London home seven days after it was stolen.

Hakan Sukur of Turkey scored the fastest goal in World Cup history in 2002

Hakan Sukur is the fastest goal scorer in FIFA World Cup history, according to the top 10 list. In the third-place match of the 2002 FIFA World Cup versus South Korea, the Turkish footballer scored in just 11 seconds to set a new record.

Qatar has hosted the most expensive World Cup so far

The $220 billion for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which officially began on November 20, makes it the most expensive World Cup ever. New stadiums were among the costs, but the majority of the money was spent on new hotels, airports, and a metro system.

Stadium 974 is the first ever Temporary World Cup Stadium

The name Stadium 974, which refers to both the number of modular parts used to create it, and Qatar's dialling code is located in the coastal neighbourhood of Ras Abu Aboud in Doha. After the World Cup, the stadium will then be completely disassembled and maybe transferred to nations in need of infrastructure.