Football Crazy: World Cup footie facts

Football Crazy

Get your World Cup footie facts here

It can’t have escaped your notice that we are in the midst of the World Cup Fever! So here are a few World Cup facts for footie novices and experts alike.

The first World Cup took place back in 1930. Jules Rimet, a French football administrator who was the third and longest serving President of FIFA, wanted to create an international competition between men’s football teams. The first World Cup tournament consisted of thirteen invited teams and took place in Uruguay, who won the competition.

The World Cup has been played every four years since this inaugural tournament except in 1942 and 1946 when it was suspended because of World War II. Hence it has been held 21 times; 2022 will coincidentally be the 22nd World cup.

In 2018 Russia automatically qualified as the host country, with the remaining 210 nations competing for the remaining 31 places during 872 matches. Following the international condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russians were banned from the 2022 World Cup. Their scheduled opponents in the playoffs at the time of the ban were Poland, who were given a bye through to the final — where they beat Sweden to book their ticket to Qatar 2022.

The Russian football authorities did appeal the decision, but their case was thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Brazil has won the most World Cups with five, while Italy and Germany are close behind with four each.

The World Cup is usually held in June and July but the host this year are Qatar. The subtropical desert climate there results in extremely hot summers, with highs averaging between 32-27°C. As the temperature often exceeds these averages, the authorities felt it would be too dangerous to play soccer. So as part of their winning bid for hosting the World Cup, Qatar agreed to stage the tournament in November and December, where typical temperatures are a more comfortable 2126°C. The winning team is awarded the World Cup Trophy. Although the team gets to enjoy celebrating and being photographed with the trophy after the final, they don’t get to take it away with them. They are sent home with a replica. The current Jules Rimet trophy has been presented to winning teams since 1970. It is made of 18-carat gold and weighs in at 13.5 pounds (just over 6kg). At the inception of the tournament in 1930 FIFA decided that if any nation won three finals, they would be given the trophy to keep. In 1970 Brazil achieved this feat when they defeated Italy in the final in Mexico, so the trophy was presented to the Brazilian Sports Confederation. It was placed on display on the third floor of the CBF offices in Rio. 13 years later on the night of 19th of December, the security guard was overpowered by a group of thieves and the trophy disappeared. It has never been found. Nicky Gray

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