World Cup Football

Soccer World Cup Trivia

see also the past winners list, top goal scorers, list of firsts, history, and trivia about each past host country and participating countries.
The first world cup soccer match kicked off on July 13th, 1930 with France beating Mexico 4 to 1 (more on Uruguay 1930)

There were a total of 13 teams in the first World Cup. Besides the host Uruguay, there were Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, France, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, the United States and Yugoslavia.
Did you know that South American & European countries have won the World Cup 9 times and 8 times respectively. There has been no other continent which has produced a World Cup Champion.

Who says there is no such thing as home advantage? Out of the 17 World Cups so far, 6 have been won by the host country.
No European team has won a World Cup played outside of Europe.
Five teams have been unbeaten but not the champions in the same finals. Those unbeaten teams are: Scotland in 1974 (1 win, 2 draws), Brazil in 1978 (4 wins, 3 draws), England in 1982 (3 wins, 2 draws), Cameroon in 1982 (3 draws), Belgium in 1998 (3 draws).

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.
The only person to have played both World Cup Football and World Cup cricket is Viv Richards - Antigua at football and West Indies at cricket.
Shirt swapping was once officially prohibited in 1986 because FIFA did not want players to 'bare their chests' on the field.
The most common surname of World Cup players is Gonzalez or Gonzales.
The most common score in a World Cup finals match is 1-0.