Since the creation of the game, Football has witnessed some incredible moments that left fans and viewers wondering if there were some supernatural powers or spirits behind those moments. Some of the moments have truly been magical.
Today, we bring you a collection of some magical moments of football as well as some incredible facts.
1. The very first official, international, match of football, as recognized by FIFA, was played on the 30th of November 1872 between England and Scotland. The match was attended by 4,000 people and resulted in a draw with a final score of 0-0.
2. Football was essentially rugby until 1882, when new rules were established that gave each team three tries to advance the ball five yards.
3. In football’s early days, the forward pass was illegal, so most plays were variations on a theme of “ball carrier smashes into the line of scrimmage.” Unsurprisingly, this limited playbook led to a lot of injuries.
4. As president, Teddy Roosevelt threatened to ban football unless new rules were established to ensure player safety. The revised rules introduced the forward pass. The new rules also cut the time of the games by ten minutes. Games were originally 70 minutes long.
7. The huddle was first used in the 1890s by quarterback Paul Hubbard, who was deaf. Hubbard was concerned the other team could interpret his hand signals, so he brought his teammates into a round formation to call plays.
8. The first professional football player was William “Pudge” Heffelfinger. He was paid $500 to play in a game in 1892.
9. The first televised professional football game took place in 1939. It wasn’t quite the huge spectacle that pro football has become—that first broadcast only appeared on approximately 500 TV sets.
10. The Largest Football Tournament. Back in 1999 for the second Bangkok League Seven-a-Side Competition, saw at least 5,098 teams compete and in that tournament, there was participation from more than 35,000 players. This is considered as one of the most interesting Football facts in the world.
11. There are only 3 players in football history who have scored in every minute of the game. Earlier, only Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic held this record but Luis Suarez also joined them recently.
12. The FIFA World Cup is the most watched sports event in the world and it was estimated that World Cup 2018, which was played in Russia, had a combined viewership of 3.572 billion (357.2 crore people) which means almost half of the world’s population watched the tournament.
13. Most goals scored by a single player in an official match. Back in December of 1942, Stephan Stanis scored a staggering 16 goals for his side Racing Club de Lens, not a single person, since then, has managed to break this bizarre record which now stands tall since 78 years
14. Highest scoring game ever. The date was 31st October 2002 and the world of football saw one of the most bizarre game in its history when a team, in protest, did something which impacted the game vastly. The game was between two arch-rivals A S Adema and SO l’Emyrne when SO l’Emyrne intentionally lost the game in protest over an unfair refereeing decision in the previous game. SO l’Emyrne scored 149 own goals and the game ended A S Adema 149 – 0 SO l’Emyrne.
15. Longest penalty shootout. The year was 2005 and the competition was Namibian Cup when KK Palace and Civics were facing each other and it took a total of record breaking 48 spots kicks to settle the match. This record is also listed on the Guinness World Records. Each player of both sides had to take 3 spot-kicks in the shootout, and the whole penalty shootout lasted for almost as long as the game itself. In the end, KK Palace won the match.
SUPPORT NIGERIAN CANADIAN NEWS
If you like our work and want to keep enjoying what we offer, kindly support us by donating to the Nigerian Canadian News through the button below
Share your thoughts in the comments section below
Do you want to share any news or information with us? If yes, contact the publisher at publisher@nigeriancanadiannews.ca