Here are 20 funny statistics about the FIFA 2018 World Cup starting in Russia in a few days.
16
Manchester City has more players in World Cup than any other club team (16), closely followed by Real Madrid (15), FC Barcelona (14), Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Tottenham (all 12).
736
A total of 736 players from 311 clubs have been awarded the World Cup in Russia – remarkable is that Leicester (8) has more participating players than both Arsenal (7) and Liverpool (7).
29
29 years, 203 days – Costa Rica has the world’s oldest player group with 29 years and 203 days on average. Mexico, Panama, Argentina and Egypt also twist them 30-line.
25
25 years, 337 days – Nigeria has the World Cup’s youngest squad and includes 19-year-old goalkeeper Francis Uzoho. France, England, Tunisia and Serbia land all four in over 26 years.
49
So many players in this year’s World Cup were born in France. In addition to the French national team, there are mainly France-born players in Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal.
186
Serbia is together with Germany, Sweden and Iceland’s longest national team with an average length of 186 cm. Denmark, with its 185 cm in average length, has the World Cup’s longest player in Jannik Vestergaard (199 cm). Even Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois measures 199 cm. In the Swedish team, Robin Olsen is 198cm long.
177
Saudi Arabia has the world’s shortest squad group with an average of 177 cm. Peru (178), Japan (178), Argentina (179) and Mexico (179) complete the top five. The shortest player in the championship is Saudi Arabia Yahya Al-Shehri with his 164 cm.
1426
Mexico has the player group with the most national matches behind it. A total of 1426 matches and 62 national matches per game per player. Then follows Panama (1411), Costa Rica (1171), Belgium (1054) and Japan (1004).
462
Tunisia has the least number of international matches in its squad of all World Cup countries (462). But England (465), Senegal (516), Morocco (522) and Serbia (563) are not much better.
1
One of the World Cup’s 736 players joined the World Cup 2002 – Mexico’s Rafael Marquez. 21 players participated in the World Cup 2006, 61 in South Africa 2010 and 200 in the Brazil World Cup 2014.
100%
All of the English national team players come from the domestic league system. Of Russia’s 23 players, 21 will come from the Russian league – Saudi Arabia has 20 out of 23 players.
0%
Sweden and Senegal are the only two national teams that do not have any players from their national league.
19 years
19 years, 161 days – Daniel Arzani is the world’s youngest player with 19 years and 161 days at Australia’s opening match. France’s Kylian Mbappe is second youngest.
45 years
45 years, 150 days – Egypt’s goalkeeper Essam El Hadary has reached 45 years of age and is the oldest player of the World Cup with six years of age. Mexico’s Rafael Márquez will be 39 years and 121 days when the World Cup premiere is here.
19
World Cup players are 19 years old, but nobody is younger than that. For the first time since 1990 there is no one who is 18 or younger at the World Cup. Theo Walcott was just 17 when he was taken in England’s squad in the 2006 World Cup.
10
With his ten goals, Germany’s Thomas Müller has the most championship goals in the lap of all players of the year – but is still in play compared with the countryman Miroslav Klose. James Rodriguez (6) has the second most in this year’s World Cup.
106
Premier League have more World Cup players than any league. 106 players come from the English High School Division, compared to La Liga’s 78 players, Bundesliga’s 62 and Serie A’s 58.
17/23
Only six of Morocco’s 23 World Cup players are born in their home country. The remaining 17 are born in France, Holland, Spain, Belgium and Canada. There is a significant difference to Tunisia, which has the least number of foreign-born players in the squad, nine.
6/8
World Cup’s longest player than goalkeepers. Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois and Denmark’s Jannik Vestergaard are the two longest players in the final and measure 199 cm.
7
Seven players have the opportunity to be goalkeepers on their birthday, including Mohamed Salah, Odion Ighalo and Kristoffer Nordfeldt. It has only happened on six occasions earlier in history. Michel Platini has succeeded at two different World Cup matches.