1) The first World Cup was won by Uruguay.
2) The World Cup was not played in 1942 and 1946 because of the Second World War.
3) The first goal in the World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France on July 13, 1930.
4) The first hat-trick was scored by an American Bert Patenaude during the 1930 World Cup.
5) The first television coverage of World Cup happened in 1954.
6) The 19 world cups are divided within South America and European countries. No other continent has produced a world champion.
7) The 19 World Cup tournaments have been won by only eight different nations: Brazil, Italy, West Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, England, France and Spain.
8) Brazil holds the record for most World Cup titles, with five. Italy has won four. West Germany has won three. Argentina and Uruguay has won two titles each. England, France and Spain has won one each.
9) Brazil is the only country to have appeared in every World Cup tournament since 1930 until 2014.
10) Two World Cup finals have been decided on penalties. Brazil beat Italy in 1994, and Italy beat France in 2006.
11) Ernie Brandts of Netherlands scored for both teams in the same match ( Netherlands, vs Italy, 1978 – own goal in the 18th minute, goal in the 50th minute).
12) India withdrew from the 1950 World Cup. They did it because of FIFA regulations that players had to wear football boots and would not be allowed to play barefoot.
13) The Cricket legend, Sir Viv Richards is the only person to have played both World Cup Football and World Cup Cricket. He played football for Antigua in 1974 World cup qualifiers.
14) Brazilian superstar Pelé is the only player to have won three World Cup winners’ medals (1958, 1962, and 1970, although he did not play in the 1962 final due to injury). On 19 June 1958 Pelé became the youngest player to play in a World Cup final match at 17 years and 249 days. He scored two goals in the final as Brazil beat Sweden 5–2.
15) Argentina knocked England out of the 1986 World Cup with two famous goals in the same quarter-final match by captain Diego Maradona. One was the “Hand of God” and another was voted “Goal of the Century”. Later on Argentina also won the final beating West Germany 3-2.
16) In 1986, FIFA prohibited shirt swapping because they did not want players to “bare their chests” on the field.
17) Oliver Kahn of Germany is the only Goalkeeper in the history of FIFA to have won the Golden Ball (Best Player) trophy in 2002 World Cup.
18) The World Cup Trophy was stolen in 1966 prior to the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. The trophy was later found by a dog named ‘Pickles’. The trophy was once again stolen in 1983 and has not been recovered till date. The current trophy is a replica of the original one.
19) The 2014 World Cup has done some technological advancements.
Goal-Line Technology: If a goal is scored, the referee will feel a vibration through a special watch that he will be wearing and it will also display a message of ‘Goal’.
Vanishing Spray: Referee will be able to mark the spot from which a free kick is to be taken and also to draw a ‘ten yard line’ which is the closest that the defending team can get to the ball when they are defending against a free kick. The spray paint will last or just one minute before it disappears.
Cooling breaks: It’s not a technological advancement but an interesting fact. Referees will be able to stop play if the weather gets too hot. Referee may call a halt to play two to three times per match to allow the players time to re-hydrate. To assess the risk of playing, FIFA measures not only the air temperature but what is called the “Wet Bulb Globe Temperature”. At FIFA matches, additional cooling breaks are considered when WBGT is above 32°C. If WBGT reads over 89.6F (32C) , it is likely players will be allowed to take on fluids after both 30 and 75 minutes, but the match clock will not stop.
From: http://blog.chapagain.com.np/interesting-fun-facts-about-fifa-world-cup/
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_records
http://artois52.hubpages.com/hub/Interesting-facts-about-the-2014-Brazil-World-Cup
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