Dogs heroes, leaders who entered the field to cancel a goal, are just some of the anecdotes that have lived throughout the World Cup.
Throughout the history of the World Cup have occurred countless anecdotes and curious facts that are worth remembering, even more so when only 33 days to start a new edition of the largest sports festival on the planet: the World Cup in Russia 2018. Here are some of the most relevant facts:
The first World Cup broadcast on television was that of Switzerland 1954.
The theft of the World Cup. In March of 1966, three months before the 1966 World Cup kicked off in England, an individual stole the Jules Rimet trophy, while being exhibited in a church in central London. The cup was found by a dog named 'Pickles' in the garden of a house, but the thief was never found.
The Brazilian Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as 'Pelé', is the only one who has won three World Cups: Sweden 1958, Chile 1962 and Mexico 1970.
The Spanish Antonio Carbajal, the German Lothar Matthaus and the Italian Gianluigi Buffon are the only ones who have played five editions of the World Cup.
The 'show' of Kuwait. In the match between France and Kuwait in the group stage of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Sheikh Fahd Al-Ahmad Sabah, president of the Kuwaiti Football Federation and brother of the Kuwaiti head of state, canceled the fourth goal of the French .
The sheikh broke into the field to demand the referee invalidate the play, arguing that the players of his selection had let the Gauls pass because they had heard a whistle. The referee gave in to the pressure and annulled the goal, but shortly after the Gauls scored the final 4-1.
The only footballer who played three World Cups with three different selections. Dejan Stanković played for Yugoslavia in France 1998, but after that country split into five independent states he wore the Serbia and Montenegro jersey in Germany 2006. Finally in South Africa 2010, he captained the newly created country of Serbia.
Brazil 2014 was the World Cup in which the most goals were scored: 171.
The Englishman Geoff Hurst is the only footballer who has scored three goals in a final. The feat was achieved in the World Cup England 1966, where the hosts were left with the trophy after beating the Federal Republic of Germany (4-2).
The fastest doublet. In Brazil 2014, the German Toni Kross scored two goals in just 69 seconds during the match that Germany won the host team 7-1.
The match for the quarterfinals between Austria and Switzerland at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland is the one in which the most goals have been scored in a World Cup. The final score was 7-5 in favor of the Austrians.
The top scorer in the same match. Russia's Oleg Salenko scored five goals in the match his team won (6-1) against their Cameroon counterpart in the group stage of the World Cup. 1994
The trainer that more world-wide has disputed. The Brazilian Carlos Alberto Pereira is the only coach who has been on the bench in six different World Cups: He led Kuwait in the 1982 edition, the United Arab Emirates in the 1990 World Cup, Brazil in the 1994 edition. He also managed the reins of Saudi Arabia in 1998, Brazil in 2006 and finally to South Africa in 2010.
Portugal is the only team that has managed to come back and win a game after losing 3-0. The feat occurred in the duel for the quarterfinals of the England 1966 World Cup against North Korea, whose final score was 5-3 in favor of the Portuguese.
Hungary is the only team that has managed to score the most goals in a World Cup: 27. It happened in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.
The top scorer of the worlds so far is the German Miroslav Klose with a total of 16 targets, marked in the tournaments of 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.