1. The Fastest Goal in Soccer history was scored just over 2 seconds after kick-off.
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  2. A 20-month-old baby became the youngest professional soccer player ever, after being signed up by a Belgian club.
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  3. Qatar's 2022 World Cup will take more lives than 9/11 due to horrible working conditions for migrant workers building stadiums and infrastructure.
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  4. 8 of the 12 host cities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil are among the 50 most violent cities in the world.
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  5. The city of Lusail, host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final game, does not exist yet.
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  6. In 2013, soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo opened a museum dedicated to himself.
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  7. The first soccer game televised was a friendly match between Arsenal's first and second team in 1937.
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  8. More than 1 in 20 soccer injuries are caused by celebrating goals on the pitch.
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  9. On average, soccer players run as far as 9.5 miles in a single match.
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  10. Argentina's retired soccer player Diego Maradona has his own religion made by his fans.
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  11. The word "soccer" originated as a
    slang abbreviation of the word "association"
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  12. The Vatican has its own soccer team.
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  13. Ronaldinho's deal with Coca-Cola ended after he was caught sipping a Pepsi in a news conference.
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  14. FIFA has more member countries than the U.N.
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  15. The original 2014 World Cup's ball was produced in Pakistan.
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  16. The most goals scored in a World Cup's match was 10 by Hungary against El Salvador in 1982.
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  17. When the World Cup was hosted in the U.S. in 1994, they only spent US$30 million on infrastructure improvements. For the 2014 World Cup, Brazil spent US$11 billion.
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  18. Famous soccer player Mario Balotelli is an Italian, born to immigrants from Ghana, raised by a Jewish mother.
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  19. In 1969, El Salvador waged war on Honduras
    after it lost against it in a soccer match.
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  20. The British coined the term "Soccer" in the late 1800s, not America.
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  21. German soccer player Mesut Ozil donated his €300,000 World Cup victory bonus to pay surgeries for 23 children in Brazil.
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  22. Soccer player Didier Drogba is credited with brokering a cease-fire in his home country of Ivory Coast that brought a five-year civil war to an end.
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  23. When Germany won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, it was the first time as a united country. The three previous times, the soccer World Cup was won by West Germany.
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  24. Soccer fans in Italy are called "tifosi", meaning "carriers of typhus", because their fanatism is like a fever.
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  25. In 1967, the Nigerian Civil War ground to a halt for two days because both sides wanted to watch soccer player Pele in an exhibition match.
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  26. A Liverpool fan killed himself when his team was 3-0 down in the 2005 Champions League final's first half. They came back to win the game in the second half.
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  27. After the whistle to start the game, soccer player Lee Todd said "F*ck me, that was loud" and received the fastest red card in history: 2 seconds.
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  28. Cristiano Ronaldo funded the education of a 7-year-old survivor of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. He was found wearing a Portuguese jersey. The boy grew up to be a soccer player and was signed by Sporting Lisbon in 2015.
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  29. Henry Kissinger convinced Pele to play soccer in the U.S.
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  30. Soccer player Ronaldinho came to media attention at 13 years old when his team won 23-0. He'd scored all 23 goals.
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  31. A refereeing decision in a soccer match between Argentina and Peru in 1964 led to a riot in which 300 fans were killed.
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  32. Brazilian footballer Carlos Kaiser staged his whole career for 24 years: he could barely kick a ball. In the first training session with every new team, the con man usually suffered a "muscle injury" that would keep him out for an indefinite period.
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  33. Soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento, most known as Pelé, was named after Thomas Edison.
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  34. Soccer player Pelé has his own day every year in Santos, Brazil. On November 19, Pelé day remembers the date of his 1,000th goal.
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  35. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Sherlock Holmes, was a founder and the first goalkeeper of soccer club Portsmouth FC.
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  36. The 20 richest soccer clubs, all European, earned 7.4 billion euros in the 2015/16. Sponsorships and merchandise accounted for 43% of it, broadcast rights 39%, and ticket sales 18%.
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  37. A record $4.79 billion was spent on 14,591 soccer player deals globally in 2016, according to FIFA. That's about $328,000 per average deal.
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  38. Iran women's national soccer team fielded up to 8 men awaiting sex change operations in 2015.
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  39. When Iceland's soccer team reached the quarter-final of the 2016 Euro Cup, 10% of Iceland's population traveled to France for the game.
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  40. Australia's National Soccer team is called "The Socceroos."
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  41. After Korean soccer player Ahn Jung-hwan scored the goal to eliminate Italy from the 2002 World Cup, his contract was cancelled by the Italian club he played at for ‘ruining Italian soccer.'
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Updated on 2018-01-18
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