Published on December 30th, 2020 | by Bibhuranjan

Ten unusual facts that you didn’t know about soccer

To say that the game of soccer gathers a massive fan-base worldwide would be a severe understatement. This adrenaline pumping sport has the audience on the edge of their seat whenever a game is on. Furthermore, it is also among the most played game in the world, right after cricket as the minimum requirements are as low as a few players, a football and two arbitrary goal markers. The sheer accessibility and affordability of soccer is probably why you’ll find this game being popular, even in the most rural and poor places in the world. On a whole, soccer might look like a simple game on the surface, but it is not without its quirks. For example: Did you know that globally soccer has more fans and followers as the entire population of Asia Combined?

Well here are Ten more Quirky Facts about soccer that you probably didn’t know

1. Goals with a damaged ball don’t count

There is probably no other object that gets as much abused as a football during the time of the match. That is why the ball itself is made to strict standards that is laid out by the IAFB. This however doesn’t really do much when the ball suffers a catastrophic failure in the field during a match. As per the rules, the match must be stopped immediately and if the goal keeper spots the damaged ball while scoring a goal, it won’t count.

2. The craziest ever football bet

Football and betting is like a tradition in a manner of speaking. Each year a lot of people try their luck to earn a fortune, while betting the most minimal amount possible. However, what if I told you that one man made a 30p wager turn into £500,000? Sounds impossible? Well that is exactly what happened to Staffordshire man Mick Gibbs when in 2001 he predicted the winners of 14 matches that year. The craziest part, he bet 30p. Let that sink in for a moment.

Like Mike Gibbs, you can also try your hand in Uganda soccer betting and earn yourself a fortune with minimal investment.

3. The Fastest ever red card

Your words can sometimes put you into serious trouble if you aren’t careful. This thing however was taken to new heights when an English Player by the name of Lee Todd was shown a red card by the referee, just 2 seconds after the referee blew the whistle to start kick-off. Lee was apparently startled when the whistle was blown behind him and said “F**k me, that was loud”, and was subsequently shown a Red Card for using foul language. However you can be sent-off even before the kick-off starts, if you behave or say inappropriate things right before the match is about to start or start a fight.

4. Soccer Player Ends A War?

This is something that will be thoroughly remembered in the pages of history. The Ivory war is perhaps one of the most recent and brutal wars fought in recent history. The war ensued over 4000 casualties and lasted almost 4 years. Chelsea Player Didier Drogba, after helping the Ivory Coast qualify for the 2006 World Cup, would go on to end the war altogether. After securing a 3-1 victory with Sudan, he went on to say, “Men and women of the Ivory Coast…From the north, south, centre, and west, we proved today that all Ivorians can co-exist and play together with a shared aim – to qualify for the World Cup.” “Pardonnez!” – “Forgive! Forgive one another!” “Forgive! Forgive! Forgive! The one country in Africa with so many riches must not descend into war. Please lay down your weapons. Hold elections. All will be better.”

His appeal was so successful that both opposing factions called a ceasefire and laid down their arms a week after his speech.

5. The Goal keepers can hold the ball for a maximum of 6 seconds

This is one of those obscure rules that gets overlooked a lot. However the official time for holding a ball with the hands for a goalie is 6 seconds. If the goal keeper proceeds to hold the ball for an excessive amount of time, then the opposition can be entitled to a free kick.

6. A few football Records

Most number of goals scored by an individual in a single match

Archie Thompson – 13 Goals

Most number of goals scored by a team in a single match

Australia – 31-0 vs. American Samoa

Most number of goals scored by an individual in a single season.

Jimmy Jones – 74 Goals

Most number of goals scored by a team in an entire season.

Manchester City 106 Goals [2017-18]

Most number of goals scored by an individual in the entire career.

Josef Bican – 1500 Goals

Most number of football records held by a single individual.

Lionel Messi – 20 World Records

Most expensive player transfer ever

Neymar’s Transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain – €222 Million

7. Soccer or Football

Americans aren’t great at naming things; they call a manual transmission as a Stick Shift! They also get a lot of flak for calling Football as Soccer. However this might be one of those cases where the blame on the Americans might not be fully justified, as Soccer was actually a British word that was derived as an abbreviation to the world “Association Football”. Americans actually used to call it Football till the early 1900’s but it caused confusion since NFL also used to call Rugby, Gridiron as Football. Because of this confusion, they went back to calling the sport as Soccer, but after the world Soccer was associated with Football by the Americans, the British reverted to calling it Football for some reason.

8. Almost 40% of all Footballers go Bankrupt

Yes you heard that right. Footballers in general don’t come from families of huge wealth. Most of them have humble middle-class origins and as a result when they get their huge paycheck, they are mostly left to fend for themselves to manage all that money. Of course some of them get managers to manage their money but more often than not, most managers don’t really do a good job of it or have the best interest of their clients in mind. As a result, close to 40% of footballers are forced to declare bankruptcy during or after retirement.

9. The football Club whose country didn’t exist?

Football associations from Independent autonomous regions of existing countries, aren’t uncommon, example Monaco. However this wasn’t the case with FC Sheriff Triaspol, who didn’t identify themselves as a Republic of Moldova in the first place. Sheriff Triaspol originally wasn’t a part of the Moldovan football Association, but actually identified themselves to be from the Predestrovian Moldavian Republic or its more common name Transnistria, which you won’t find on any official maps. This republic actually declared their independence from Moldova and wanted to side with the Russian Federation. This however didn’t come to be and was a disputed territory for a long time, so it didn’t have any international recognition either. Today however, FC Sheriff Triaspol represents Moldova in the European league.

10. Lightning Kills Entire Football Team

In what can be described as one of the most bizarre events in all of football history, an entire team was killed by a lightning strike while the opponents remained unscathed. This happened in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where all 11 members of the team were struck dead by a bolt of lightning while they were in the playing field. The allegations vary from mere chance to witchcraft and it is often said that voodoo magic might actually be involved in this, but no can ever know. What’s true is that this is one very Bizarre incident and this happening again anytime soon is next to impossible, although random players in certain instances have deceased after a bolt of lightning hit them. this certainly qualifies it for a football based movie.

Tags: betting, football, soccer, sports

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.