Everyone loves a bit of trivia. Granted, we might not be very good at it, but it’s a fun thing to do. Given that the World Cup is right around the corner, we’ve come up with 18 interesting bits of trivia about this year’s World Cup that you can use to impress your friends, parents, neighbours and even your dog if you want. So, without further ado, here's 18 interesting facts about this World Cup that you didn't know.
By the time most people hit the magic number of forty years of age, you wouldn’t expect them to be taking to the pitch at the highest level. But, for a number of players at the 2018 World Cup, they're looking to defy the social norms. They will be representing their nation in Russia for what could be the final time.
We’ve come up with a starting eleven of the oldest players that are going to be at the World Cup, and we’ve gone with a classic 4-4-2 formation for this team.
In terms of glamour, no group stage game comes close to matching Portugal vs Spain on June 15 at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. This is, after all, a meeting between the last three European Champions (Spain in ’08 and ’12, Portugal in ’16), and a clash between arguably the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo, and a who’s who of talent concentrated at the mega clubs of the world’s two best domestic leagues.
When it was confirmed that Russia would be opening the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a match against Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the general response was one of deep cynicism: here was a bit of home cooking on FIFA’s end; certainly this was the worst opening match in the history of the tournament.
Let’s see a show of hands: With the U.S. not participating in the World Cup this summer, how many of you are just interested in seeing who wins? OK, that’s about 15 percent of you. Well you’ll probably be asking yourself: When is the World Cup final?
The World Cup begins on June 14 and lasts more than a full month. The group stages run through June 28, with the knockout rounds beginning on June 30. So when is the World Cup final?
For the first time ever, Mexico could play a World Cup match with a starting 11 of players all based outside of Mexico. Juan Carlos Osorio finalized his 23-man Mexico World Cup squad on Monday and it features more players from outside of Liga MX than ever before.
Germany’s “Snubbed XI” just added one of the most electric talents in all of world football. A few weeks ago, the “Snubbed XI” began assembling itself with a preposterously strong attacking core spearheaded by the dropped Borussia Dortmund duo of Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle (the two players who expertly combined to sink Argentina in extra time back in 2014).