Fascinating Football Facts you don't find every day
True Fact! A Football player took part in a Football match with...?
A Football player played a game with an electronic tag for the first time in 2005.
Jermaine Pennant played for Birmingham City F.C. and had an electronic tag on his leg during the match against Tottenham Hotspure F.C.
In march 2005 he was arrested for drink-driving and had to go to jail.
On the match day against Tottenham Hotspure F.C. he was allowed to leave prison and was able to take part in the match.
During the match he wore his electronic tag. The match ended 1:1.
The English are one of the co-founders of Football (or as they call it: Football)
England is known as the mother of Football. The reason for that is the Football Association was founded in England in 1866.
It is a considerable system of rules that contributes a lot to the way we play Football these days.
The chinese had a similar game with a ball in the 3rd Century that was named Cuju. The game was invented for military exercise purposes.
Over time Cuju became popular and was also practiced amongst the general population.
Variations of the game spread to Japan and Korea, but it appears to have died out sometime before the mid-19th century.
The pre-Columbian culture also had a game with a ball, that had influence on contemporary Football. The ball was made of natural rubber and weighed a few kilos.
Sadly knowledge of the rules was not passed on.
The red card
The red card didn’t existe in the early days of Football. The red card was launched in 1970; the year the world cup took place in Mexico, however nobody showed the red card during this tournament.
It was first used in 1974; given to Carlos Caszely form Chile during a match against Germany.
A classic Football is made up of 12 pentagon and 20 hexagon shapes. The mathematical description for that geometric form is called icosahedron. So a Football is a callous icosahedron.
Use of the classic honeycomb structure for a Football has declined. Present-day Footballs need to fullfill the following characteristics:
- spherical
- made of leather or any adequate material
- circumference of min. 86 cm and max. 70 cm
- needs a mass of at least 450g but at most 410g
- a Football needs to be inflated to 0.0 - 1.1 bar
Football - a popluar sport for years
Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. Approximately 240 million people play Football worldwide.
Costa rica is the country with the highest rate of Football players: 27% of the population.
In Germany about six million people play Football in 27 000 Football clubs. Four million people play it just for fun.
At the world cup in 1986 a goal was scored by a handball.
At the quarter final in 1986 Diego Maradona a striker from Argentina hit the ball with his hand and made the 1:0 goal against England.
The referee approved the goal as he didin´t see the handball.
Argentina won the quarter final against England with that handball and a final score of 2:1
Football Players don’t always wear their real name on their trikot
Football playesr from south america sometimes take nicknames for their inscription on the back of their playing shirt.
Their real names are to long for printing on their backs. In contrast to most of the european players which have one family name, they have two family names.
Family names of south americans are a combination of the family name of their father and also the family name of their mother.
Cheering can be painful
Football player Thierry Henry (Arsenal, London) was so happy about his own match point against Chelsea that while celebrating in front of his fans he ran face first into the corner flag.
He needed treatement by his team doctor.
Paolo Diogo had an even worse experience whilst celebrating; he got is finger stuck in a fence. Half of his finger was cut off and could not be saved or reattached to his hand.
What’s worse is that he got a yellow card for “excesive celebrating on the Football field”.
Gutted!
The smallest league in the world!
The Scilly Isles in Great Britain arrange the Football-league with least teams, with only two participants; the Garrison Gunners and Woolpack Wanderers.
Both teams play 16 matches against each other until one is crowned champion at the end of the season.
Betting isn’t just for experts!
Gamblers take a close look at statistics and charts to place the perfect bet. However, they don’t really have much higher chances of winning than betting-amteurs.
Nevertheless, the gamblers are still convinced that they place the better bets, therefore they are willing to bet more money on their decisions.
(Source: Uni Spiegel, Mai 2014)
