Interesting Facts

The World Cup will soon be over, and Chinese doctors are probably relieved. (During the World Cup they spotted a new ailment striking people across the country. World Cup syndrome.  Symptoms were listlessness, tiredness and insomnia, thought to have been induced by the times that football games were broadcast from Brazil.  In Chengdu city authorities opened a World Cup syndrome clinic, and doctors were on standby 24 hours a day for the duration of the World Cup. One poor guy was knocked for six when Suarez did his thing, and had to limit himself to one match every two days. I don't blame him, the late nights were getting to me too, so I simply recorded the matches I wanted to watch, and played them on fast forward at a reasonable hour.)

Allegedly Mick Jagger has a reputation for jinxing every football team he supports. (He is now being blamed for Brazil's devastating 7:1 defeat to Germany in the semi-finals of the World Cup, and has been dubbed in Brazil "Pe Frio", which translates literally as Cold Feet, a Brazilian term for a jinx. I think Brazil would be better served to look at how their team actually played.)

Just in case you hadn't noticed, the World Cup is on, but what is it?  It is is a gold trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup association football tournament. (The trophy is 36.8 cm high and weighs 6.175 kg.   1.8 kg of which is 18k gold.  It's not the original trophy, as that one was stolen .)

The top teams at the World Cup are Brazil, Germany and Italy. (To date, the points they have are as follows:- Brazil - 20 tournaments / 101 games / 224 points Germany - 18 tournaments / 103 games / 209 points Italy - 18 tournaments / 83 games / 156 points Poor Italy are already out, which opens up the 3rd place, and maybe we will see a Brazil vs Germany final.  What do you think?)

For me the real star of the World cup was a cephalopod called Paul. (Paul, an octopus in Germany, correctly predicted the winner of Germany's seven matches at the 2010 World Cup, as well as the final. He had a 1:2 chance of predicting a single result and a 1:256 chance of predicting all eight results. He did a lot better than I did.)

Brazil have won the World Cup a record five times. (They are also the only team to have played in every World Cup tournament. That's quite a record to uphold. God help the team that fluffs it!)

Germany have played the most World Cup matches, with 99 games played. (I wonder if that's what inspired that little "ear worm" 99 red balloons.)

The first World Cup Match to include British participants was held in Brazil in 1950. (Seemingly we hadn't wanted to play football against countries we'd been fighting just five years earlier. Personally I say "Play football, not war.")

In the first "official" world cup held in Uraguay, only 13 nations took part. (7 from South America, 4 from Europe and 2 from North America. Times have changed though. 200 teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds; 198 attempted to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while a record 204 countries entered qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.)

The trophy, now known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed by the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. (It is 36 cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18 carat (75%) gold and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb). The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. Not surprisingly, given the fate of the original trophy, the new trophy is not awarded to any winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy until the next tournament and are then awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original.)

The original World Cup was called the Jules Rimet Trophy. (It was originally known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president who set up the first tournament, Jules Rimet. In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, it was stolen in 1983, and has never been recovered, apparently melted down by the thieves.  Do you think they posted it in an envelope to Cash My Gold?)

The least number of goals scored in a World Cup was 70. (This happened in both 1930 and 1934, but of course there weren't as many matches in those days.)

The most number of goals scored in the World Cup tournament was in 1998 when a total of 171 goals were scored. (Note - That record still stands as only 145 goals were scored in the 2010 World Cup.)

According to FIFA, the first FIFA World Cup, held in Uruguay in 1930 featured just 18 matches. (In 2010 a total of 64 will be played: 48 matches in group play, which produces 16 teams to play further. Then there are 8 matches of the first round of the knock-out stage, which will produce 8 winners. The 8 winners will produce 4 quarter-final matches. From there you have 2 semifinal matches. There is a third and fourth place play off match. Then, 1 championship match!)

The first FIFA World Cup™ was held in Uruguay in 1930. (They ran from 13th to 30th July. Uruguay won, thus establishing the "home advantage".)

Top "partners" of the world cup now pay £75m to be associated with just one World Cup tournament. (The top "partners" aka advertisers:- * Adidas * Coca-Cola * Emirates airline * Hyundai cars * Sony * Visa Underneath these six firms are the second tier of firms, called "sponsors" aka advertisers as opposed to "partners" aka advertisers, paying about £20m per tournament. These are:- * Budweiser * Castrol * Continental * McDonald's * MTN * Mahindra Satyam * Seara * Yingli Solar Nice to see Sony can afford so much, if only they could fix my laptop.)

The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as $420 million (including payments of $40m to domestic clubs), a 60 percent increase on the 2006 tournament. Before the tournament, each of the 32 entrants receive $1 million for preparation costs. (Once at the tournament, the prize money will be distributed as follows: * $8 million – To each team exiting after the group stage (16 teams) * $9 million – To each team exiting after the round of 16 (8 teams) * $14 million – To each team exiting after the quarter-finals (4 teams) * $18 million – Fourth placed team * $20 million – Third placed team * $24 million – Runner up * $30 million – Winner )