Amazing football fact you need to know!!!

. The Korean soccer player, Ahn Jung-hwan, who scored and knocked Italy out of the 2002 World Cup, immediately lost his contract with his Italian club Perugia for ‘ruining Italian soccer.’ –Source2. German soccer player Mesut Ozil donated his €300,000 World Cup victory bonus to pay for surgeries for 23 children in Brazil. –Source3. The word “soccer” was first used in England before the USA adopted it. –Source4. The fastest red card in football/soccer history was 2 seconds. Lee Todd was sent off for foul language after he exclaimed “Fuck me that was loud” after the starting whistle. –Source5. The North Korean World Cup soccer fans are actually hand-picked by the North Korean government. The fans are also made up of Chinese volunteers since North Koreans are not allowed to travel. –Source6. A Greek soccer player, Giorgos Katidis, was given a life ban for giving the Nazi salute after his winning goal during a league game. –Source7. Hitler grew to hate soccer because it couldn’t be fixed to ensure German victory over non-Germans. –Source8. In 1967, the two factions involved in the Nigerian Civil War agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play anexhibition game in Lagos.-Source9. Greenland can’t join FIFA because not enough grass grows there for a soccer field. –Source10. In 1998, during a soccer match in Congo, a lightning bolt struck the pitch and killed all 11 members of one team. Theother team was left unscathedn 1985, English soccer hooligans killed39 people and caused 600 injuries, causing all English teams to be banned from international competition for 5 years. –Source12. FC Barcelona, one of the biggest soccer teams in the world, has a “reverse sponsorship” agreement with UNICEF. Theteam wears the organization’s logo on their shirt while donating 1.5 million euros ($1.8 million) each year. –Source13. Norway is the only national football team in the world that has never lost to Brazil. (2 wins and 2 draws). –Source14. Football evolved out of mob football, a game played between whole villages, with the goal being to get the ball into the center of the other village. Any means could be used to move the ball, as long as it did not lead to manslaughter or murder. –Source15. Harald Bohr (brother of Niels Bohr) wasa mathematician and a football player. His popularity as a footballer was such that when he defended his doctoral thesis the audience was reported as having more football fans than mathematicians.Drogheda United FC, a small Irish football team, has a logo based on, and in gratitude to, the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans secretly smuggled food into Drogheda during the Great Famine –Source17. Colombian football player, Andres Escobar, who scored an ‘own goal’ in a 1994 World Cup match against USA was subsequently murdered as the scapegoat for the team’s upset. One of the gunmen shouted “goal!” every time he fired a shot. –Source18. Hosting the 2006 World Cup caused Germany to experience baby boom. Nine months after the football competition, birthrate in Germany was up to 30% higher compared to the same period in the year before that. –Source19. During Christmas of 1914 (during WW1), a truce was held between Germany and UK. They decorated their shelters, exchanged gifts across no man’s land and played a game of football between themselves. –Source20. At the age of 4, American world cup soccer star Abby Wambach, during her first youth soccer league was transferred from the girls’ team to the boys’ team after she scored 27 seven goals in just three games. –Source. During an association football match played on 31 October 2002 between two teams in Antananarivo, Madagascar, one team scored 149 own goals protesting a controversial referee decision in previous game. –Source22. Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho first gained media attention when he was just 13 after his team won a game 23-0. He scored every single goal in the game. –Source23. The Barclay’s Premier league is actually part of the English Football system of about 5000 teams all of which, theoretically through promotion and relegation, could ascend to the top of the football pyramid. –Source24. Eternal flame at Arc de Triomphe in Paris has only been extinguished once. This was done by drunken Mexican football fans, who urinated in it after the final of 1998 World Cup, when France defeated Brazil. –Source25. All “football” sports are so called not because the players have to kick the ball, but because they were played on foot by the peasantry, rather than on horseback, like all “proper” aristocrat sports.1.Football originated in China around 476 B.C. 2.Football is the most played and most watched sport on earth.3.Football is the most popular sport in the world. Over one billion fans watch World Cup Football on television.4.The largest Football tournament saw no less than 5,098 teams. They competed in 1999 for the second Bangkok League Seven-a-Side Competition. Over 35,000 players participated.5.The maximum number of goals scored by one player in a single Football match was 16. It was scored by Stephan Stanis (France) playing for Racing Club de Lens in December 1942.6.Based on video evidence, one of the fastest ever scored was in 2.8 seconds by Ricardo Olivera (Uruguay) in December 1998.7.Football goalies didn't have to wear different coloured shirts from their teammates until 1913.8.Football players run an average of 9.65 kms during every game.9.The very first game of basketball was played with a soccer ball.10.The World's First Football Club was the English Sheffield Football Club. It was founded in 1857 by Colonel Nathaniel Cresswick and Major William Priest, two British Army officers.11.European Teams have reached every World Cup final, except for the finals of 1930 and 1950. 12.The highest scoring game was clocked 149-0. Stade Olympique de L’emyrne, a team from Madagascar scored their own goals. They did it as a form of protest for the unfair decision by referee in the previous game.13.Ronaldinho came into limelight when scored 23 goals in a 23-0 game when he was only14.Celestine Babayaro, Nigerian born Chelsea player injured his legs while celebrating his debut goal in a pre-season match, while Luigi Riva broke a spectator’s arm with his powerful shot.15.The first black football player was Arthur Wharton in the 1800s.16.Pele was the first to call football “the beautiful game”.17.Only Americans and Canadians call football “soccer”.18.England came up with the word “soccer”. It’s a shortened version of “Association Football” that was changed to “Assoc Football”. This was changed to “Soccer”. In 19th century England, it was popular to add the “-er” sound to shortened words.19.In 1964, a referee’s call during a football match in Peru caused a riot that killed over 300 people.20. In 1998, lightening killed an entire football team. The catastropheoccurred in Congo during a match between the villages of Bena Tshadi and nearby Basangana. 21.ASEC Abidjan of Cote d’Ivoire was unbeaten for 108 games between 1989 and 1994.22.The Portuguese boast of scoring the world's greatest goals to game ratio of 1.77. The team has found thenet an incredible 331 times in just 187 games for Sporting Lisbon between 1937 and 1949 (compared to Messi's 0.82 for Barcelona).23.Worldwide, there are 27 professional football clubs that take a Beatles song as their nickname - Villarreal in Spain being the most famous (the Yellow Submarines).24.Neil Armstrong originally wanted to take a football to the moon - but NASA deemed it to be un-American.25.The ball used in professional football has remained exactly the same size and shape for 120 years - 28inches in circumference.26.More than 80% of the world’s footballs are manufactured in Pakistan.27.The first live coverage of a football match was shown on television in 1937. It was a practice match Arsenal played at Highbury stadium.28.A total of 20 red cards were shown in a match played between Sportivo Ameliano and General Caballero in Paraguay.29.In 1978, Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson was fired for swearing at a lady.30.Ryan Giggs' (of Manchester United) dad was a professional Rugby League player.