Crazy, Funny Football (Soccer) Facts You Won't Believe

Aside from the superb goals, breathtaking saves, hard tackles, and razzmatazz, football is also about humor and occasional madness.

Any football-loving fan will tell you that there’s nothing like seeing your team score a last-gasp winner in the stoppage time of a crucial tie, and there’s nothing like the pain of coming back from a certain defeat only to lose on penalties.

It’s a game of emotions. But sometimes, through the anger, sadness, and elation, things in football are just actually crazy and funny at times.

Even if you are a hardcore fan of the game, there are still a lot of crazy and fun facts that you don’t know about the beautiful game.

This article was first published on Dec 20, 2020, and updated on July 2, 2022.

Contents

ODD FOOTBALL FACTS
Football is not a British game, it’s actually Chinese.
Football Transfer Fees And Salary Facts
Football Stadium Facts
Trophies And Titles Facts
Fun Facts About Football
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ODD FOOTBALL FACTS

When Barcelona’s Xavi was 19, he almost signed for Milan. His father gave his “yes” to him but his mother said, “if Xavi leaves Barca, I will divorce!”
While Zlatan Ibrahimovich’s youth team was 4-0 down, he came in as a substitute and scored 8 goals.
Juan Mata is the first player in history to have joined Manchester United from Chelsea.
Alex Song has 27 siblings – 17 sisters and 10 brothers.
Ryan Giggs is the only Premier League player to score 100 goals without scoring a hat-trick.
Cristiano Ronaldo was named after former US President Ronald Reagan.
Steven Gerrard has swapped his jersey with more than a hundred players, but never with a Man United player.
Ronaldinho first gained media attention when his youth team won 23 – 0. He scored all 23 goals.
Chelsea has been relegated more times than they have won the English Premier League title.
The difference between Messi’s age and Ronaldo’s age is 869 days, the same difference between Messi’s son and Ronaldo’s son.
Zinedine Zidane was never caught in an offside position in his whole career.
Only one GOLD Premier League trophy has been awarded and it was to Arsenal because in the 2003/2004 season they didn’t lose any match.

Brazilian legend Pele, scored 92 hat-tricks, 4 goals on 31 occasions, 5 goals on 6 occasions, and 8 goals on one occasion.
When Mourinho says you have a bright future, it means you can’t make his team at the moment.
Cristiano Ronaldo was expelled from school at the age of 14, after throwing a chair at his teacher for mocking his family’s financial status.
CR7 has no tattoos because he often gives blood, and getting a tattoo will render him unable to do so for 6 months.
Real Madrid sold 50,000 James Rodriguez jerseys in one day.
Juventus sold 0 (zero) Bendtner jerseys in one season.

The History of Red Card

It is said that British referee Ken Aston actually got the idea of the red and yellow card while being stuck in traffic by a traffic signal. It was then he got the idea of assigning a yellow card to caution players and a red card to send them off.

An Entire Football Team Was Struck By Lightning

In October 1998, witchcraft was blamed when a match in the Congo ended in tragedy.

All eleven players for Bena Tshadi were reportedly killed when lightning struck the pitch during their match against local rivals Basangana.

Apparently, the opposition players were away from the incident unscathed but another thirty people were injured.

Due to the civil war which raged in the DRC at the time of this incident, many of the details are unknown.

Arsenal Was The First Team To Go Live

Arsenal was the first, and only, team to appear in the first-ever live televised match on 16th September 1937.
The Arsenal’s first team played against their reserves at Highbury in a specially arranged practice match, which was shown live by the BBC.

Football is not a British game, it’s actually Chinese.

Crazy, Funny Football Facts You Won't Believe

Invented in 476 BC, we get the first reports of the game being played in China it was known as “Cuju” which involved players kicking a ball made of leather. However, the entire pitch and the goalposts were designed by professionals, which were the British.

How old is football/soccer?

The English Football Association was formed in 1863.

When was the first professional league created?

The first league was created in 1888, in England.

Which is the oldest football club?

The oldest club was Sheffield Football Club. There are now two clubs in Sheffield England – Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United.

Which football club is the biggest in the world?

Real Madrid is currently the largest in 2019, then Barcelona and Manchester United. This changes every year between these three clubs and is based on their revenue and trophies won.

Which football club has the most fans?

Manchester United comes out as the winner. With millions of fans worldwide and record-breaking home-ground attendances, seconded by the most number of jersey sales over the world, United stands out as the king to the supporters.

How many people play football around the world?

FIFA estimates that a staggering 265 million people – men and women – play football worldwide, and a staggering 3.5 billion consider themselves football fans.

When was the first football World Cup?

On July 13, 1930, France defeats Mexico 4-1 and the United States defeats Belgium 3-0 in the first-ever World Cup football matches, played simultaneously in the host city of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Which players have won the most trophies?

As of the time of writing this, Dani Alves, over the course of his career, won a whopping 43 titles, the most trophies by a player in football.

Which football manager has won the most trophies?

Sir Alex Ferguson (48 Titles) Sir Alex Ferguson is the football manager with the most trophies won.

How long is a standard football field?

100 yards long. There are two constants, across the level of competition: 120 yards (360 feet) of length and 53 1/3 yards (160 feet) of width. The playing field is 100 yards long, with a 10-yard-deep end zone on each side.

Has Zlatan Ibrahimovic ever won the European Champions League?

Although he played for 6 clubs that have won the competition, It is staggering that despite his history with the competition, Zlatan has never won the UEFA Champions League. In fact, the closest he ever came was the quarter-final in 2015-16 with Paris Saint-Germain

What was an old football ball made from?
Footballs have gone through a dramatic change over time. During medieval times balls were normally made from an outer shell of leather filled with cork shavings. Another method of creating a ball was using animal bladders for the inside of the ball making it inflatable.

Who has been the most substituted player?

Shola Ameobi – 142
Carlton Cole – 129
Theo Walcott – 124
Joe Cole – 123
Kanu – 118
Ryan Giggs – 110

Who has scored the most own goals?

Richard Dunne tops the chart with a total of 10 in the Premier League.

Football Transfer Fees And Salary Facts

What is the highest transfer fee paid for a footballer?

As of the time of writing this, the current transfer record was set by the transfer of Neymar from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for €222 million (£190 million) in August 2017

Who was the first footballer to be transferred?

The first player to ever be transferred for a fee of over £100 was Scottish striker Willie Groves, when he made the switch from West Bromwich Albion to Aston Villa in 1893, eight years after the legalization of professionalism in the sport.

Which footballer earns the highest salary?

Kylian Mbape (PSG) – $62M per year. He has become the highest-paid footballer in the world by signing a massive new contract with PSG as of June 2022.

Who is the highest-paid Premier League player?

Cristiano Ronaldo remains the highest-paid player in the Premier League, while Kevin De Bruyne is on £ 400,000 a week. United goalkeeper David De Gea is also on £375,000-a-week

Football Stadium Facts

Which football team has the largest capacity stadium?

No.	Stadium	The home team(s)
1	Rungrado 1st of May Stadium ♦	Korea DPR national football team, DPR Korea women’s national football team, April 25
2	Michigan Stadium ♦	Michigan Wolverines
3	Melbourne Cricket Ground ♦	Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn, Melbourne
4	Camp Nou ♦	FC Barcelona

What is the largest attendance for a football match in the world ever?

Maracana Stadium – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (official attendance: 199,854) The largest ever “official” attendance… step forward to the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where just shy of 200,000 people watched Uruguay lift the World Cup trophy back in 1950

What was the highest-attended soccer game in the United States?

Rank	Match	Attendance
1.	Man United vs. Real Madrid	109,318
2.	Chelsea vs. Real Madrid	105,826
3.	France vs. Brazil	101,799
4.	Liverpool vs. Man United	101,254

Which club has the largest capacity in the MLS?

Toronto FC has the largest capacity, for a purpose-built stadium with a capacity of 30,000 and Atlanta has a stadium capacity of 72,035.

What was the highest-attended football game in the UK?

At Wembly stadium in 1923, there were 126,047 people. It was even higher in Scotland, for a game at Hampden Park in 1937 with attendance at 149,415.

Which club has the largest capacity in the EPL?

Old Trafford, home to Manchester United, is the biggest stadium in the English Premier League, with a capacity of 74,140.

Trophies And Titles Facts

Which country has won the most football World Cups?

With five titles, Brazil is the most successful World Cup team, and also the only nation to have participated in every World Cup tournament.

Which football club won the most Champions League?

Real Madrid has won the UEFA Champions League 14 times, making them the most successful team in the UCL. Italian club AC Milan is next with seven.

Which football team has won the EPL the most?

Manchester United is currently the record title winner in the English top flight, having won the division a total of 20 times since 1889, followed by Liverpool at 18 and Arsenal at 13.

Which soccer team has won the most MLS finals?

The holds the record for most MLS Cup titles, having won five times in nine appearances.

The championship has been won by the same team in two or more consecutive years on three occasions, and the match has featured consecutive sets of finalists on three occasions.

Which player has won the most World Cups?

Brazil’s Pelé is the only one to have won three times, while another 20 have won twice. No player has won two World Cups both as captain.

Fun Facts About Football

What was the quickest sending-off with a red card?

In 2007, Keith Gillespie played for Sheffield United vs Reading in 0 seconds! Yes, 0 seconds – he was just brought on as a substitute, and before a throw-in was taken he elbowed an opponent.

Who has scored the most goals during a soccer match?

For World Cup and qualifying, Archie Thompson scored 13 in one game playing for Australia against American Somoa in 2002. The game ended 31-0.

Which goalkeeper has scored the most goals?

Rogério Ceni.

The record for most goals by goalkeepers is held by the Brazilian. He scored an amazing 132 goals – all but one from penalties and freekicks. This was from 1992 to 2015.

What was the longest goal ever scored in football?

Tom King, a goalkeeper scored 100 yards away from the goal.

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Crazy, Funny Football (Soccer) Facts You Won’t Believe