FIFA-Some interesting facts

FIFA fever is everywhere. All are talking about FIFA. And i am no exception. Thought of listing out some interesting facts about the same.

The South African National team is called Bafana Bafana (which means the boys, the boys in isiZulu) was nicknamed by the fans during the 1996 African Nations Cup.

The million bees like sound which we hear in the stadium is from the noisy plastic trumpet called Vuvuzela. That was the subject of controversy, but has finally got the blessing by FIFA

The Rankings in FIFA -- World Rankings in which the top three are Brazil ,Spain and Portugal in that order, as of May 2010. This is updated monthly and rank each team based on their performance in terms of international competitions, qualifiers, and friendly matches.

India pulled away from the 1950 World Cup because the players were not allowed to play without shoes.

The red and yellow card system was not introduced until the 1970 World Cup. The first player to receive a red card was Chile’s Carlos Caszely in 1974 in a match against West Germany in the 67th minute.

The three matchtimes are 1:30 pm, 4:00 pm, 8:30 pm local time. (The 1:30 timeslot will soon disappear, as the third group matches are played simultaneously.)

Slovakia is the team that has made its debut in this world cup

Brazil has been the only country with most appearances- all 19 from 1930 to 2010 and also winning 5, making it the most wins of the World Cup.

Pelé from Brazil is the only player who has won the most World Cups: 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Roger Milla of Cameroon has been the oldest player to have participated in the World Cup game. He was 42 years and 39 days old when he played against Russia in World Cup USA 1994.

Prize Money-The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as $420 million, a 60 percent increase on the 2006 tournament. Before the tournament, each participating team would receive $1 million, for preparation costs. Once at the tournament, teams exiting at the group stage would receive $8 million. Thereafter, the prize money would be distributed as follows

$9 million – Round of 16

$18 million – Quarter-finals

$20 million – Semi-finals

$24 million – Runners up

$30 million – Winners

And finally the Winners chart till now

Winners Country	Years
Uruguay	1930,1950 (2)
Italy	1934, 1938, 1982, 2006 (4)
West Gernany	1954, 1974, 1990 (3)
Brazil	1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002 (5)
England	1966 (1)
Argentina	1978, 1986 (2)
France	1998 (1)
ITALY is the defending Champion

You are most welcome to contribute to this list.....

[The above facts are from credible sources : fifa.com,Wikipedia,journeymart.com]