New Delhi: The biggest soccer extravaganza is just two days away and whole world is already suffering from to what we call “Football Fever” as 32 nations will be competing against each other for one month.All the eyes will be on the hosts and hot favorites Brazil as well as the fans of David Villa and other Spanish players will be hoping that Spain will successfully defend their title.Before the World Cup starts, we get you ten interesting facts you must know about this beautiful game:1) Hosts Brazil has won FIFA World Cup a record five times. It won the Cup in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Brazil is followed by Italy that has won the World Cup on four occasions, in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006.Germany has won the world Cup thrice, in 1954, 1974 and 1990. Argentina and Uruguay have won it twice each. While Argentina got the top honour in 1978 and 1986, Uruguay won it in 1930 and 1950. France, England and Spain have won the World Cup once. 2) Germany holds the record of maximum finishes as a runner-up. It has stumbled on the final hurdle in 1966, 1982, 1986 and 2002. 3) Germans are followed by the Dutch as the side with most runners-up trophies. The Netherlands have finished second best in 1974, 1978 and 2010.Brazil, Italy, Argentina, Hungary and erstwhile Czechoslovakia have finished second best twice each.4) Goal-line technology: This World Cup will make history for an additional reason. It's the first time that FIFA has permitted the use of technology to automatically detect when a ball crosses the goal line. For the tournament, GoalControl's system, called "4D," used 14 cameras, seven aimed at each goal to measure with absolute precision if the ball crossed the goal line completely. With GoalControl's technology, when the ball crosses the goal line, the referees receive in the form of a vibration and a message to a wristwatch a notification of the goal. It's important to mention that the referees displayed a high level of satisfaction.5) Costliest World Cup: FIFA is spending an unprecedented 576 million USD in this World Cup. This includes 70 million USD that Brazil spends for developing the game's domestic structure. The amount is a whopping 37 percent more than what FIFA splurged in 2010. This is easily the costliest FIFA World Cup ever.6) The official World Cup ball has been manufactured by Adidas, and is called Adidas Brazuca. The name was decided by public voting, where over a million Brazilians voted this name. 7) It would also be interesting to know that the “Brazuca” has been manufactured in Sialkot origins of Pakistan. From June 12 to July 13, sports enthusiasts across the globe will be staring at something made in Pakistan.8) The mascot for this World Cup is Fuleco. In the word, Fuleco, the part Ful comes from Futebol (Football) and eco comes from Ecologia (Ecology). His birthday coincides with New Year's Day. It is a Brazilian three-banded armadillo which is an endangered species and plays a major part in the environmental drive. Over 90% of Brazilians believe Brazil 2014 should be environmentally friendly. The name Fuleco won out over Zuzeco and Amijubi with 48% of the vote.9) Most expensive player: Lionel MessiIn its annual report on the player market, the Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory put Messi's value at 216 million euros ($294 million). Even though Messi's lower performance levels slashed 19 million euros from his market value, he was still worth almost twice as much as arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, second in the ranking on 114 million euros.10) Most expensive team: BrazilThe odds-on favorite to win soccer's ultimate prize, Brazil also boasts the most expensive lineup of the 32 competing teams with a roster value of $718,299,900. Defending champion Spain came in second, with a total value of $673,567,074, followed by Argentina ($654,482,640), Germany ($621,815,994), France ($555,070,372), England ($493,232,648) and Belgium ($467,856,476).
Updated on: June 11, 2014 7:52 IST
