World Cup Competition – Did You Know…

As the world is tuned into the World Cup, cheering on and celebrating their home team, at Maven we have been diving into the history of this worldwide competition. Here are some interesting facts you may not know about the history of the World Cup.

• • The first World Cup was hosted by Uruguay in 1930 with 13 teams competing for the title of World Champions.

• • Today, there are 207 countries competing within 6 Different FIFA Confederations. Teams MUST qualify to compete as one of the 32 teams in the World Cup competition.

• • The last time Brazil hosted the World Cup was in 1950. They lost to Uruguay in the final (2-1) in front of more than 174,000 live spectators.

• • The only countries who have hosted the World Cup and WON are:
    • Uruguay
    • Italy
    • England
    • Germany
    • Argentina
    • France

• • Germany and Brazil hold the top spot for most appearances in the World Cup Competition. Both have qualified for the competition on 7 different occasions, but Brazil has fought and won 5 of their 7 appearances and is the record holder for the most World Cup titles.

• • The fastest goal in World Cup history was not Clint Dempsey from the United States, but rather Turkey’s Hakan Sukur. He scored his team’s first goal 11 seconds into the game against South Korea during the 2002 World Cup.

• • It is estimated that over 3 Billion people will watch the World Cup in 2014.  It is the second most watched sporting event in the world, second only to the Olympics.