Interesting Soccer Facts

Interesting Soccer Facts 

You can find many interesting soccer facts if you take a look at the game over the years.  Here are a few things you may not know about soccer:

1. Soccer players run an average of six miles during every game.

2. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world.

3. Over one billion fans watch World Cup Soccer on television.

4. Every year except for two (1930  and 1950) European Teams have reached every World Cup final.

5. India withdrew from the World  Cup in 1950 because they weren’t allowed to play barefoot.

6. Soccer facts reveal that only the United States and Canada actually call soccer “soccer.”

7. Over 40 million watched on television as the U.S. Women’s Team won the World Cup in 1999.

8. Also in 1999, Over 35,000 fans competed in the largest soccer tournament ever in Bangkok.

9. There are 1000 activity changes in every soccer match.

10. The first soccer games may have originated in China.

11. The first black soccer player was Arthur Wharton in the 1800s.

12. Historical Soccer facts indicate The World's First Football Club was the English Sheffield Football Club,   founded in 1857 by Colonel Nathaniel Cresswick and Major William Priest, two British Army officers.

13. Pele was the first to call soccer “the beautiful game.”

14. The Soccer World Cup is played every four years.

15. The fewest number of fans to watch a World Cup soccer game was the 300 in Uruguay in 1930.

16. The most soccer fans to watch  a World Cup soccer games were 119,850 in Brazil in 1950.

17. The very first game of basketball was played with a soccer ball.

18. The most World Cups have been won by Brazil--5.

19. U.S. teams participated in the 1904 olympics in St. Louis.

20. The U.S. Women’s team was inaugurated in 1985.

21. A player shall be penalized for deliberately handling, carrying, striking or propelling the ball with a hand or arm.
Exception: Goalkeeper within his/her penalty area