No other sport captures the world’s imagination like football and of course the ongoing FIFA World Cup which is its global showcase.
- Brazil has won the most – five times; followed by Italy – four times. Brazil is also the only team to have played in every World Cup.
- The inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930 was won by Uruguay, the host nation. So far, six of the eight champions have won at least one of their titles while playing in their homeland, except Brazil which lost the last time it hosted the games.
- The 1942 and 1946 events were cancelled due to the World War II.
- In the initial few World Cups, very few teams participated as it took long to travel by sea – European teams would be reluctant if a South American country hosted the event and vice versa.
- An estimated 715 million people watched the 2006 World Cup final match.
- Fuleco, the Brazilian three-banded armadillo is the mascot for this year’s event. Fuleco is a portmanteau of the words ‘Futebol’ (football) and ‘Ecologia’ (ecology).
- This year’s official song is ‘We Are One’ (Ole Ola) by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte. The song ‘Dare’ (La La La) by Shakira will be used as secondary theme song.
Record Makers
BRAZIL’S RONALDO is the top goal scorer with 15 goals while Gerd Muller and Miroslav Klose (both Germans) come a close second with 14 goals each. While Germany has played the most matches (99), the honour for scoring the most goals (210) goes to Brazil. Legendary footballer Pele from Brazil is the only footballer who was part of the winning team three times – 1958, 1962 and 1970.