10 things you didn’t know about Rio’s 2014 World Cup

By Efrosini Costa

10 things you didn’t know about Rio’s 2014 World Cup
With the 2014 World Cup just around the corner, we take a look at some interesting facts that you may not now about this year’s event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • A spiritual home of football, Brazil will host the World Cup for a second time. The last time was at the 4th World Cup in 1950, with Uruguay beating them 2-1 in the final group game to win the trophy.
  • Bosnia Herzigovina will feature in the major football tournament for the first time. The team won the UEFA zone Group G to take their place in Brazil.
  • The 2014 World Cup will see matches take place in 12 different cities at 12 different stadiums – more than any other finals on record.
  • The 2014 FIFA World Cup mascot is Fuleco an armadillo that can curl up into a football – as voted by the Brazilian public
  • The official ball to be used at the 2014 World Cup is the adidas Brazuca, like their mascot is was named by the public and will feature in the finals only.
  • Tickets are selling quickly with over 6 million requests from football fans. So far 62 per cent of all tickets are for Brazilian residents, the US has 65,000 tickets, England 22,000 and Germany 18,000. Australia, Canada, France and Colombia also all picked up more than 10,000 tickets each.
  • Eight previous world cup winners are taking part in the Rio World cup. Five-time winners, Brazil holds the record. Italy has won four times, Germany thrice, Uruguay, Argentina have one twice each and England, France and Spain once respectively.
  • Past World Cups have shown a downward trend in number of goals scored  during matches, for e.g. in France in 1998 2.7 goals were scored per game on average. in germany in 2006 this was down to 2.3 and that average was also observed in South Africa in 2010. Experts believe the trend is due to increased levels or organisation, tactical trends nullified and the slower pace of the international game.
  • Goal-line technology in place for the first-ever FIFA World Cup. Only time will tell if it will actually be needed and, more importantly, if it passes the test with the world watching.
  • “All in one rhythm” is the message or slogan for this years FIFA World Cup. The slogan in Portuguese is “Juntos num so ritmo.”

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