Some Facts about Football to Sustain You Till FIFA 2022

With the FIFA World Cup approaching fast, it is a good idea to brush up our knowledge of football. Here, we take a look at some football facts that might blow, no, strike that, kick your mind away!

Football Was Actually Founded in China

Even though it might not seem like that anymore, football was actually invented in China in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. Written records and even paintings have provided the details for Cuju, which was how the game was known back then. Ironically, China has only managed to play the World Cup only once, in 2002.

Football or Soccer?

It was the Englishmen who coined the word soccer, as a shortened form of association football (to differentiate from rugby football). But then, around the 1980s, when Americans started using the same word, there was a backlash in England, and the word stopped being used. Till date, only two countries refer to football as soccer: America and Canada.

FIFA Is the Most Watched Tournament in the World

In 2018, when the last FIFA World Cup took place, it was estimated that around 3.5 billion watched the tournament. The world population stood at 7.6 billion in 2018, which means nearly half the population watched the tournament.

Football Is the Most Played Game aAcross the World

Apart from FIFA being the most watched tournament, football also happens to be the most played game across the world. While cricket might appear to be a very popular game, only 106 countries have cricket teams, out of which only 12 are members of ICC; the rest are associate members. This is very less when compared to the 210 countries that have football teams, and are registered with FIFA.

Qatar Is the first Middle Eastern Country to Host FIFA

Qatar would be hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022, and after almost two years of suffering through a pandemic, people are certainly going to be looking forward to the event. Naturally, football fans from all over the world try to attend FIFA matches for the atmosphere and the thrill that it provides. This time, for the first time ever, FIFA is being hosted by a Middle Eastern country, which means people get to experience not only the football matches, but a very unique culture as well. For people who are travelling to Qatar for the first time, it is important to be aware of their culture, so they don't end up disrespecting their culture. As they say, be a Roman, when in Rome!