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.
#1 The oldest player at the World Cup is Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary, who is at the ripe age of 45.
#2 The youngest player at the World Cup is Australia’s Daniel Arzani, who is 19 and only just completed his first season in the first team at Melbourne City FC.
#3 The team that has the smallest population is Iceland, with a population of just over 350,000. They may be small in size, but they make up for it with their famous Viking Clap, that’s for sure.
#4 The oldest manager at the World Cup is Uruguay manager Óscar Tábarez, who is 71 years old.
#5 The youngest manager at the World Cup is 42-year-old Aliou Cissé, who is the manager of Senegal. Crazy to think that he is younger than the oldest player at the World Cup, right?
#6 12 managers at the World Cup are coaching a team that is not their own nationality.
#7 Every World Cup has been won by a coach who is the same nationality as the team they are coaching. If the coach of your national team falls into the category in #6, then we are truly sorry that you won’t win.
#8 Nigeria has the squad with the youngest average age, with an average of 25.9. Someone once said “you can’t win anything with kids,” but the Super Eagles will be out to prove the doubters wrong.
#9 Costa Rica and Panama have the oldest average age, with an average of 29.6.
#10 England is the only team that has all 23 of their players playing in their own country (the English Premier League). England wins something! Yay!
#11 Peru will be competing in the World Cup for the first time since 1982, the longest time away from the World Cup out of all the nations playing in Russia. Nice to see you again, Peru.
#12 Thomas Muller has the most World Cup goals out of all the players at this year’s World Cup with 10 goals to his name, leaving him six short of record holder Miroslav Klose.
#13 The 2018 World Cup is Joachim Löw’s sixth major tournament as coach of Germany, and he has made the semifinals in all six of those. The German machine rolls on.
#14 In its last 12 games at the World Cup, Nigeria has won just once. Let’s hope they win a few more games this time, because everyone wants to see their awesome kit in action, right?
#15 This will be Iceland and Panama’s first World Cup. Could it be their first and last for a while?
#16 Brazil is the only nation that has competed in every World Cup, and Russia will be the 21st World Cup that they have competed in.
#17 Denmark has only scored goals inside the box at the World Cup, but with Christian Eriksen in the team, that streak definitely looks like it will be broken at the 2018 World Cup.
#18 The last two World Cup champions were knocked out in the group stages: Italy won in 2006 and exited at the group stage in 2010; Spain won in 2010 and came third in their group in 2014. Could Germany fall at the first hurdle?
So, there you have it. We can guarantee there will be plenty more trivia facts that are created during the 2018 World Cup.
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