Football is one of the most viewed and talked about sport. Football is a popular sport with a long history and lots of unknown and interesting facts.
Here is a list of facts that you must know about one of the most loved sports:
• Known as Cuju, the ancient Chinese ball game (now known as football) began from 3rd to 2nd century BC
• The first football game that was broadcasted on Television was a friendly match between Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves in 1937
• During the World War II, there were several football games which were given the name of 'The Death Match'. They were propagandist and were controlled by Germany
• Fernando Peyroteo, a Portugese striker from 1930s to 1950; had world's greatest goals-per-game ratio of 1.6. Compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi has a goals-per-game ratio of 0.82 and Cristiano Ronaldo is 0.69
• On May 24, 1964, a riot started after a referee's call which killed over 300 people
• In 1998, an entire team of 11 players was killed by lightning while the opponent team remained unharmed
• In a form of protest, SO l'Emyrne lost to AS Adema by 149-0 when they were robbed of the title because of the penalty in a previous match
• On an average, a football player runs over 9.3 miles in a single game, which is equivalent to 15 km
• Ballon d'Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo was the first player to score a goal in every minute of the game
• In 2002 World Cup, Oliver Kahn became the first and only goalkeeper to win the Golden Ball
• Lee Todd became the player to receive the fastest red card in history of football. He received the red card within two seconds
• Pele is the youngest player to win the Football World Cup at the age of 17 years and 249 days. While, Dino Zoff became the oldest player to win the World Cup at the age of 40 years and 133 days
• In 1969, El Salvador declared a war on Honduras after it lost a football match. The war was named as 'Football War', 'Soccer War' and '100 Hour War'