10 interesting facts about football that’ll take you by surprise 

It is impossible to not talk about football with the 2022 FIFA world cup under way. Football fans across countries would be glued to the TV screens during live football matches.

Hyderabad: It is impossible to not talk about football with the 2022 FIFA world cup under way. Football fans across countries would be glued to the TV screens during live football matches. The 2022 FIFA World Cup, which kicked off on November 20, is being held in Qatar. The final match of the world cup is scheduled to take place on December 18 at Lusail Stadium.

So here, let’s see a few interesting facts about football.

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1. A live football match was first televised by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) in 1937. The first televised match was a practice game between the London-based Arsenal’s main team and the reserve team.

2. Every year, more than 30 teams take part in the FIFA World Cup, but only 8 teams have won world cups since the 1930 FIFA inaugural world cup.

Brazil – 5 times

Germany – 4 times

Italy – 4 times

Argentina -2 times

France – 2 times

Uruguay – 2 times

England and Spain – 1 time each

3. The circumference of football has been the same for 130 years, i.e., between 68 cm (27 in) and 70 cm (28 in).

4. Football is mostly played in the Americas and European countries, but it originated in China around 476 BC.

5. FIFA World Cup is the most popular sporting event in the world. The 2018 World Cup was witnessed by around 3.572 billion viewers worldwide. It means that more than half of the world watched the world cup that was held in Russia. The final match between Russia and Croatia was watched by 1.12 billion viewers.

6. In every game, a football player runs an average of 9.65 km (5.9 miles)

7. As we all know, football is also known as soccer, but only Americans and Canadians call it soccer.

8. Scoring a goal in football is considered an arduous task, but a player from France, Stephan Stanis scored 16 goals in a wartime French Cup game in 1942.

9. The largest football tournament was held in Bangkok in 1999. A total of 5,098 teams (seven-a-side) and over 35,000 players took part in the Bangkok League tournament.

10. 80% of footballs used across the globe are manufactured in Pakistan.