World Cup is over and we feel heart-broken. The next World Cup is only in 4 years. This World Cup was 21st and we collected 21 World Cup 2018 fun facts, which was historical in many ways!
- The distance between Ekaterinburg and Kaliningrad, the easternmost and the westernmost host cities at the 2018 World Cup is about 2500 km. For comparison, that’s about three times the distance from Paris to Milan, or twice the length of the island of Great Britain.
- Russia is the world’s largest country and spans across 11 time zones. Only four were relevant for the World Cup though, but still…
Volgograd
- This is the first time a tournament has taken place across two continents – Europe and Asia.
- The World Cup winning country is rumored to see a baby boom 9 months after the World Cup.
World Cup 2018 records
- There were 22 penalties scored at the 2018 World Cup, the most in any edition of the competition.
- There were nine winning goals scored in the 90th minute or later at the 2018 World Cup (excluding extra-time), more than at any other edition of the tournament.
- Portugal talisman Cristiano Ronaldo is just the fourth player to score in four different World Cup tournaments (2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018) after Pele, Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose. Ronaldo became the first European player in history to score in eight consecutive major tournaments (World Cup and European Championships).
World Cup 2018 in Moscow
- Essam El-Hadary (45y 161d) broke the record for the oldest player to appear at a World Cup. Egypt didn’t do much scoring or winning in Russia but they did create a bit of history by fielding 45-year-old goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary, who made his first-team debut in 1993.
- Brazil is the only nation to have played in every World Cup and have won the most titles (5).
- Brazil have been eliminated by a European nation in each of the last four editions of the World Cup (France 2006, Netherlands 2010, Germany 2014 and Belgium 2018).
- Croatia have proven themselves to be a formidable team but they are also the lowest ranked team, 20th, to reach a World Cup final.
- 2018 was be Nigeria’s sixth World Cup. No African country has qualified as often since the Super Eagles made their debut in 1994.
- South Korea have qualified for their 10th World Cup – more than any other Asian country.
Mexican football fans in Moscow
- 66,000 Iceland fans have requested tickets for the 2018 World Cup – that equates to 20% of their entire population. Iceland are the smallest nation to qualify for a World Cup (just 334,000 inhabitants). Size doesn’t matter.
- For the first time since 1986, the US men’s national team didn’t qualify for the World Cup. More awkward was that Fox Sports paid a reported $400 million (€324 million) for broadcasting rights.
- Sochi’s Olympic stadium – the Fisht Olympic Stadium – was used to open the Winter Olympics in 2014, and will be a venue at the 2018 football tournament. This is only the second stadium ever to have done both – Stadio Olimpico in Turin, Italy is the other.
- The architects who designed the Kazan Arena also designed Wembley and the Emirates.
Kazan arena
- Every World Cup has been won by a coach who is the same nationality as his team.
- Russia’s victory against Saudi Arabia means that the host nation has never lost their opening match in any of the 21 editions of the FIFA World Cup.
- The last three defending champions were knocked out in the group stage. Let’s watch France in World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
- France have the most expensive squad (€1.08 billion). Panama the cheapest (€8.28 million).
Most Popular Posts
50 Facts about Moscow – all you need to know about Russian CapitalEverybody likes fun facts and we always prepare a ton of them for our Moscow tours ...
47.3k views
50 Fun Facts about Los AngelesA visit to Los Angeles isn’t complete without Hollywood. And Getty Museum. And Downtown LA ...
37.6k views
50 Facts about ParisEiffel Tower, Notre Dame de Paris, Louvre, the smell of coffee and freshly baked croissants ...
31.7k views