Football is always a hot topic - after all, it's the most popular sport in the world! Football, like no other sport, is full of anecdotes, surprising facts and exciting stories. Learn 16 fun facts about football. We guarantee many surprises!

Soccer is a sport that everyone knows

Socceris played by over 280 million players and 5 million referees. These numbers speak for themselves - football is the queen of team sports. Therefore, in the history of this discipline you can findsurprising and amazing events and facts .

Not only we, sports fans, get excited watching our favorite footballers on the pitch, but also footballers still do not lose their commitment and passion for the sport. No wonder they are trying so hard to win theHenri Delaunay Cup(FrenchCoupe Henri Delaunay),which is the trophy of the European Championship. The first cup was made of silver in Paris in 1960 by the goldsmith Chobillon. Its weight was about 6 kilograms and its height was 42.5 centimeters.

We cordially invite you to a review of 16 (and even a few more) interesting facts about football!

1. Interesting fact about football: Poland, goal!

The adventure with the history of football should begin in our country.

For starters, a curiosity about the legend of Polish football:coach Kazimierz Górski never shaved on the match day,stubbornly repeating that it is not a superstition, but he does not, because with stubble on his face … he thinks better.

And now Polish football in numbers. The most Polish championships were won by Ruch Chorzów and Górnik Zabrze, which is a record number of 14 wins.The highest result in the history of football in our country was on August 10, 2014 in a Polish Cup match - it was 35: 0 for the KS Chełmek regional league team.Our team officially exists since 1921, while The Polish Football Association was founded on December 20, 1919.

What about the record number of goals in the national team?Robert Lewandowski scored the most goals for Poland in football - he scored 66 goalsand thus broke the record of 48 goals by Włodzimierz Lubański.

2. Interesting fact about football: stadiums

Football stadiums can make an impression, especially those with a large capacity or located in special places. A good example isthe highest located stadium in the world, which is located in La Paz, Bolivia at an altitude of 4100 m above sea level.In turn, the most modern Olympic stadium is located in Sydney, Australia, and designed and supervised its construction Polish engineer Edmund Obiała. The stadium, which was awardedthe title of the largest in history, is Stadion im. May 1 in Pyongyang, North Korea.It has a capacity of 150,000 seats!

3. Football fun fact: footballers who have gone down in history

Footballers create their legends not only through the perfect game of football. For example,Adrew Wats went down in history as the first professional black soccer player- he was a star especially during the Victorian Era in the 1880s.

The best goalscorer in the history of football wasBrazilian Arthur, who scored 1329 goals in 1920-1940!And Diego Maradona made his debut on the pitch at the age of 16, playing for Argentina national team - no one has ever broken this record. A similar situation happened only once again in 1958, when 17-year-old Pele won the World Cup against Sweden.

Read also: Football - history, rules, types of games, the best players

4. An interesting fact about football: football was born in … China!

Football is said to have its roots in ancient Asia. A game resembling today's soccer was playedin China around 2,300 years ago . On the other hand, the first written testimony of this popular game can be found in writings from around 476 B.C.E. The sports discipline as we know it today comes from Great Britain, and the oldest sports club in the world is FC Sheffield founded in 1857 by British officers.

5. Interesting fact about football: technology in football

Technology in football has undergone a real revolution! The 20th and 21st centuries brought many new solutions to this discipline. For example, theGLT - Goal Line Technology has been developed, which helps referees to judge whether a goal has been scored. the main judge by the judges serving the VAR. Some clubs also use an electronic athlete tracking and monitoring system called EPTS, which greatly helps referees in making decisions about changes to the pitch.

6. Interesting fact about football:world's first traffic jams

The first screw-in soccer cleats were designed byAdidas founder - Adolf "Adi" Dassler.Adidas cleats were comfortable not from the beginning! The first version, created in 1920, was extremely stiff and pinching, and the three straps - what we know today as the company's famous logo - served to hold the shoe structure from falling apart.

The first models were made of rubber,but in 1945 the German national football team won the world championship in screw-on plastic stoppers. When it rained, the Germans did not slide on the pitch like the other players, and they could move more confidently on the pitch.

Read also: The history of the sports shoe, or why we call each sports shoe adidas

7. Football fun fact: goals that have gone down in history

Stephan Staniow, who plays for Racing Club de Lens, scored 16 goals in one of his matches in 1942 ! Regarding historic shots, the first on-target pen alty was taken in March 1891.

And who is the fastest goal in the world, which was scored in 2.8 seconds of the match? It was theUruguayan Ricardo Olivier in 1998.And the fastest goal in terms of speed was Roberto Carlos, a former Real Madrid player and Brazilian international - the ball was racing at 170 km / h! Ronaldo, the star of the current century, is no worse - the balls he sends reach speeds of 130 km / h.

8. Interesting fact about football: a ball to play in … a ball

The soccer ball has undergone quite a transformation.The first balls were made of eighteen oblong pieces of skin- laced to prevent access to the bladder with air inside. Subsequently, a pattern consisting of 32 patches was produced that has remained to this day. The ball was created in the 1950s.

The initial pattern - alternating black and white patches, was supposed to be clearly visible on black and white televisions. Later this pattern evolved and, for example, theAdidas company designed theTango ball in 1978, the styling of which lasted until 2002.

Some of the ball patterns were designed specifically for a specific position on the pitch. For example, the Nike Total 90 Aerow ball has rings that help the goalkeeper to read the correct spin of the ball. Theofficial Champions League ball is Adidas' Final - this ball is decorated with painted stars . Interestingly, the older balls were single-colored, namely brown, then white, and now… they don'tno limits to applause!

Read: Types of balls - do you know them all

9. Interesting fact about football: referee who gave himself a red card

Sounds funny, but it's not a joke.This situation happened in 1998.Referee Martin Sylvester left the field himself. What was the reason for this? Well serious - the referee punished himself for raising his hand to one of the players during a match in the Andover & District Sunday League. Well, well, the handles are with you!

10. Interesting fact about football: Match Manchester United - Oldham 2: 2, where one player …

… scored all goals! How did this happen?It was a game played in 1923 . Sammy Wayne scored twice in his own goal! But you can forgive him, he finally got his revenge and scored two goals against his opponents. Or maybe he got his revenge on himself? It's hard to say.

With a grain of s alt

Football can also pride itself on many illogical and difficult to understand facts. Some of them can really surprise you!

For example, in 1950, the Indian team was withdrawn from the World Cup because the national team went onto the field… barefoot. In 1982, FIFA received a motion to ban kissing on the pitch, and until 1913 goalkeepers were allowed to wear shirts of the same color as the rest of the team.

11. Football fun fact: the heaviest footballer in the world

What position can the heaviest footballer in the world be in? Sure, at the goal!William Foulke, of the "subtle" nickname "Fat Man", weighed 165 kilograms and 1.90 meters tall.He was an English goalkeeper and won the national championship with Sheffield United in 1898. He even defended at Chelsea and Bradford City.

There are a lot of anecdotes about "Fat Man". One of them is that once the match was interrupted because the goalkeeper broke the goal bar because he hung on it.He also happened to … sit on rivals and water them in a puddle.The fans adored him for that. Ah, the charms of English football!

12. Interesting fact about football: a footballer who only has 7 percent. fat

I guess it won't be a big surprise …of course it's Cristiano Ronaldo . The average result of a footballer in terms of the percentage of body fat is 10%, but his record is the already mentioned 7%! That's less than professional models have…

13. Football fun fact: the smallest league in the world

How many teams can the smallest league in the world count? It turns out that the proverbial two teams actually make the match take place.The two-team league comes from Europe and includes WoolpackWanderers and Garrison Gunners . The teams play their games on the Isles of Scilly off the coast of England.Team fans get there by boats,to be able to cheer on their idols.

14. Interesting fact about football: oldest footballer to play a league match

This is New Brigthon's Neil Mc Bain.The Scottish footballer played hislast game at the age of 51!Before he died in 1974 (78), he made history as the oldest footballer in the world.

15. Fun fact about football: how many missed pen alties can there be in one match?

It turns out three! It is not known what is more surprising that it was one player, or that he was allowed to take further kicks after failures.This happened in Argentina in 1999 against Colombia during the Copa America. The player who made history thanks to this is Martin Palermo.

16. Football fun fact: the highest score in the history of football

And finally, an interesting fact about football, which is truly amazing: if we were to guess, we wouldn't bet on such numbers.What is the record result in the match in the history of the ball? 149: 0!The result was Madagascar in 2002. Then AS Adema's team defeated the Stade Olympiique l'Emyrne. How did it happen that the result was so high? Well, the Stade Olympique l'Emyrne team scored their own goal as a sign of protest during the match. The reason for the protest was unfair refereeing.

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