25 Fun Facts about Soccer

1. Highest attendance for a soccer math was 119,854 in 1950 at the Maracana Municipal Stadium in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (Brazil vs. Uruguay).

2. The most goals scored by one player in a single soccer match was 15, Ronaldo (Brazil).

3. The fastest goal ever scored was in 2.8 seconds by Ricardo Olivera (Uruguay) in 1998.

4. In 2006 soccer helped secure a truce in Cote d'Ivoire's civil war.

5. FIFA is based in Zurich, Switzerland.

6. Diego Maradona was only 16 when he made his soccer debut for Argentina.

7. In 1973, the entire Galilee team spent the night in jail for kicking their opponents during an Israeli League game.

8. The youngest player to play in the World Cup Final is Pele (Brazil) who was 17 years and 249 days old.

9. The oldest player was Dino Zoff (Italy) who was 40 years and 131 days old.

10. Pele (Brazil) was the first person to call soccer "The Beautiful Game"

11. Ronaldo (Brazil) has the most overall goals in the World Cup tournaments with 15.

12. Just Fontaine (France) has the most goals in a single World Cup tournament with 13.

13. Since 1952 Hungary has won the most gold medals in the Olympics for soccer.

14. At least one European team has reached the final for the World Cup except for 1930 (Uruguay vs. Argentina) and 1950 (Uruguay vs. Brazil).

15. Goalies were allowed to wear the same colour jerseys as their teammates until 1913.

16. India withdrew for the 1950 World Cup because they weren't allowed to play barefoot.

17. Soccer players run, on average, 6 miles each game depending on their position.

18. 20 red cards were shown during a 1993 game between Sportivo Ameliano and General Caballero in Paraguay.

19. Arthur Wharton (Ghana) was the first black professional soccer player, playing in England in 1889.

20. Turkey knocked out Spain from World Cup qualifiers in 1954 by drawing straws.

21. Luigi Riva broke a spectator's arm with one of his shots.

22. The first televised game was an Arsenal practice match at the Highbury ground in 1937.

23. In 1986, Maradona (Argentina) scored one of the most controversial goals in World Cup history. It appeared that he "punched" the ball in. He later described it as being, "the Hand of God."

24. Carlos Caszely (Chile) is the first ever player to receive a red card in the World Cup tournament (1974).

25. The highest scoring game was 123-0, when a team from Madagascar scored own goals in a protest to the referee.

sources:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Soccer-Trivia-and-Facts&id=200678

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup_records

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/soccer-facts.html

     http://www.the-soccer-coach.com/soccer_facts/soccer_facts.html

     http://knowledgeoman.com/forums/showthread.php?8027-Interesting-Soccer-Facts

     http://sportales.com/soccer/interesting-and-fun-soccer-facts/