Soccer Trivia and Facts

There's nothing like a little bit of trivia to test your· In the largest soccer tournament ever, no
knowledge of the sport of soccer. You may say thatless than 5,098 teams competed in 1999 for the
soccer is your favorite sport, but how much do yousecond Bangkok League Seven-a-Side Competition.
really know? Following are some facts and tidbits thatOver 35,000 players involved!
you may or may not know about soccer.· The most goals scored by one player in a
· Soccer originated generally in its presentsingle soccer match was 16
form in Britain.- Stephan Stanis (France) playing for Racing Club de
· The world's oldest club formed in 1857 isLens in December 1942.
Sheffield FC· Based on video evidence, one of the
· Soccer is the most played and mostfastest ever scored was in 2.8 seconds by Ricardo
watched sport on EarthOlivera (Uruguay) in December 1998.
· Soccer is called football in practically every· The international governing body of soccer
country except America, who call 'Grid Iron' footballis the Federation Internationale de Football
and football soccer.Association (FIFA), based in Zurich, Switzerland.
· Famous soccer rivalries include the Old Firm· Diego Maradona was only 16 when he
(Scotland), Manchester derby, London derbies, Milanmade his soccer debut for Argentina.
derby, Real vs Barcelona, and many more.· Soccer goalies didn't have to wear different
· Some famous soccer players: Pele,coloured shirts from their teammates until 1913.
Maradonna, Charlton, Eusebio, Cruyff, Dalglish,· Eusebio scored 46 goals in the European
Ronaldo, Beckham, Mattheus.Cup for Benfica.
Those are some basic bits of soccer trivia and facts.· Chris Woods once went 1196 minutes
How much did you know? Well, here are so morewithout conceding a goal while at Rangers, from
soccer facts to test your knowledge:between November 26 1986 and January 31 1987.
· The sport of Association Football (often· Ryan Giggs' dad was a professional Rugby
referred to as soccer or simply football) is the mostLeague player.
popular team sport in the world, in both number of· In 1973, the entire Galilee team spent the
spectators and number of active participants.night in jail for kicking their opponents during an Israeli
· The largest attendance for a soccer matchLeague game.
ever was 199,854 people - Brazil v. Uruguay in theHave you had enough soccer trivia and facts? These
World Cup at the Maracana Municipal Stadium, Rio deare only a few of the interesting soccer facts that
Janeiro, July 1950.are floating around out there.