Football Facts You Need To Know

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), which was founded on May 21, 1904 at 229 Saint Honore in Paris, remains the ruling body of the highly entertaining game all over the world. It's current president  is a Swiss named Sepp Blatter (1998 - Till date)

Here are some other interesting moments and achievements which have been documented in the history of this popular sport:

World Cup Historical Moments...

- The first World Cup, which was hosted by Uruguay in 1930, was the only one to take place in a single city Montevideo - and only four teams participated.

- Korean republic in the team which has conceded the most goals in one tournament - 16 goals in 1954 

- The names of teams that have won the World Cup competition are engraved under the cup, and there is no space to include the names of winners until 2038.

- 10 stadiums hosted the World Cup tournament in South Africa and "Soccer City" situated in Johannesbourg had the target capacity - with 94,700 seats.

- France, Italy, Mexico and Germany have each hosted the World Cup tournament twice.

- 1986 World Cup, England - Argentina Quarter Final, Diego Maradona tallied a goal with his hand that lobbed in while the score was 0-0. He later explained that it was "The hand of God."

- Hakan Súkúr of Turkey scored the fastest goal in the history of the World Cup - when Turkey played Korea on June 29, 2002.

- Germany are the current Champions of the FIFA World Cup, after edging Argentina in Brazil last summer.

Goal Keepers Historical Achievements...

- The Paraguayan goal keeper Chilavert is the best goal scorer amongst keepers with 62 goals. 

- With 1,390 matches in the English league between 1966 and 1997, Peter Shilton is the goal keeper who has competed in the most matches.

Golden Ball Prize...

- In 2009, Lionel Messi became the first Argentinean to figure on the Golden Ball prize list. Above all, he is the first South American, not from Brazil, to win the trophy after the successes of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka.

- Forty-three winners from nineteen different countries have been awarded the France Football Golden Ball
 

Facts About Jerseys...

- The famous black and white stripes on the jersey of Juventus of Turin are in fact an error in 1903, when the club ordered for pink jerseys, the English provider made a mistake and sent striped black and white jerseys instead.

- In 2006, FC Barcelona began a five-year agreement to pay to have the UNICEF logo on its jersey. Before then, the team's jersey had no logos on it for over 100 years. However, at the expiry of the UNICEF agreement, the Qatar foundation took over sponsorship of the Catalans' jersey.

  'goditty'... 

-During his days at Inter Milan, Samuel Eto'o once said "If there's a current god of football, his name is (Lionel) Messi."

-1986 World Cup, England - Argentina Quarter Final, Diego Maradona tallied a goal with his hand that lobbed in while the score was 0-0. He later explained that it was "The hand of God."