Amazing Facts About Football
- Willie ‘Fatty’ Foulke was a goalkeeper and also the heaviest ever England player. He was 6.6 feet tall and weighed 22 stones and played for England around the turn of the century.
- The United States has the most number of official soccer players than any other nation in the world. The number is almost 18 million and 78% of those are of the age of 18
- A Manchester City fan was banned in 1995 for bringing dead chickens into City’s Maine Road ground. He had a habit to celebrate City goals by swinging the birds around his head.
- 20 red cards shown during a football game between Sportivo Ameliano and General Caballero in Paraguay in 1993.
- In 1990, Barcelona ’s Hristo Stoichkov banned for six months for stamping on the referee’s foot.
- ASEC Abidjan Club of Cote D’Ivoire remained unbeaten for the straight 108 games between 1989 and 1994.
- The Liberia team nearly escaped imprisonment by holding Gambia to a goalless draw in 1980. Because the Liberian Head of State, Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, had threatened to jail them if they had lost that game.
- A European Football team has reached every World Cup Final except 1930 and 1950.
- The Scottish Cup tie between Falkirk and Inverness Thistle in 1979 postponed at least 29 times because of bad weather.
- In 1950 India withdrew from World Cup because they were not allowed to play barefoot by FIFA.
- The Sampdoria team and 200 players walked 20 miles to a mountain sanctuary near Genoa in 1969 to thank the Madonna for helping them stave off relegation from a competition.
- Charlton Athletic defeated Huddersfield town by 7-6 after they were trailing by 1-5 against them just before 30 minutes of the final whistle.
- In 1998, The Macclesfield mascot was sent off for making obscene gestures while a players’ brawl in the match with LincolnCity.
- A Liberian player George Weah paid for his teammates’ uniforms and all the expenses of his team to play the African Nations Cup.
- At the age of 52, Pedro Gatica cycled from his home in Argentina to Mexico for the 1986 World Cup. On his arrival, he found that he couldn’t afford to get in. While he was trying to haggle for a ticket, thieves stole his bike.
- Martin Sylvester sent himself off the field after he punches another player during a Sunday League game in 1998.
