According to Wikipedia, Football belongs to a family of team sports that involve, kicking a ball to score a goal. But, more than just involving kicking a ball to score a goal, football is a game many people are passionate about. In Nigeria, for instance, Football is one of the major unifying factor in the country; it is loved by many, regardless of their social or political standing.
But, how much do you really know about football? Here are some facts about the most loved sport in the world which I believe you will find interesting.

1. Football originated in China around 476 B.C.

2. Football is the most played and most watched sport on earth.

3. Football is the most popular sport in the world. Over one billion fans watch World Cup Football on television.

4. The largest Football tournament saw no less than 5,098 teams. They competed in 1999 for the second Bangkok League Seven-a-Side Competition. Over 35,000 players participated.

5. The maximum number of goals scored by one player in a single Football match was 16. It was scored by Stephan Stanis (France) playing for Racing Club de Lens in December 1942.

6. Based on video evidence, one of the fastest ever scored was in 2.8 seconds by Ricardo Olivera (Uruguay) in December 1998.

7. Football goalies didn’t have to wear different coloured shirts from their teammates until 1913.

8. Football players run an average of 9.65 km during every game.

9. The very first game of basketball was played with a soccer ball.

10. The World’s First Football Club was the English Sheffield Football Club. It was founded in 1857 by Colonel Nathaniel Cresswick and Major William Priest, two British Army officers.

11. European Teams have reached every World Cup final, except for the finals of 1930 and 1950.

12. The highest scoring game was clocked 149-0. StadeOlympique de L’emyrne, a team from Madagascar scored their own goals. They did it as a form of protest for the unfair decision by referee in the previous game.

13. Celestine Babayaro, Nigerian born Chelsea player injured his legs while celebrating his debut goal in a pre-season match, while Luigi Riva broke a spectator’s arm with his powerful shot.

14. The first black football player was Arthur Wharton in the 1800s.

15. Pele was the first to call football “the beautiful game”.

16. Only Americans and Canadians call football “soccer”.

17. England came up with the word “soccer”. It’s a shortened version of “Association Football” that was changed to “Assoc Football”. This was changed to “Soccer”. In 19th century England, it was popular to add the “-er” sound to shortened words.

18. In 1964, a referee’s call during a football match in Peru caused a riot that killed over 300 people.

19. In 1998, lightening killed an entire football team. The catastrophe occurred in Congo during a match between the villages of BenaTshadi and nearby Basangana.

20. ASEC Abidjan of Cote d’Ivoire was unbeaten for 108 games between 1989 and 1994.

21. The Portuguese boast of scoring the world’s greatest goals to game ratio of 1.77. The team has found the net an incredible 331 times in just 187 games for Sporting Lisbon between 1937 and 1949 (compared to Messi’s 0.82 for Barcelona).

22. Worldwide, there are 27 professional football clubs that take a Beatles song as their nickname – Villarreal in Spain being the most famous (the Yellow Submarines).

23. Neil Armstrong originally wanted to take a football to the moon – but NASA deemed it to be un-American.

24. The ball used in professional football has remained exactly the same size and shape for 120 years – 28inches in circumference.

25. More than 80% of the world’s footballs are manufactured in Pakistan.

26. The first live coverage of a football match was shown on television in 1937. It was a practice match Arsenal played at Highbury stadium.

27. A total of 20 red cards were shown in a match played between SportivoAmeliano and General Caballero in Paraguay.

28. In 1978, Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson was fired for swearing at a lady.

29. Ryan Giggs’ (of Manchester United) dad was a professional Rugby League player.

30. More than 1 in 20 soccer injuries are caused by celebrating goals on the pitch.

31. Argentina’s retired soccer player DiegoMaradona has his ownreligion made by his fans

32. FIFA has more member countries than the U.N.

33. The original 2014 World Cup’s ball was produced in Pakistan.

34. The most goals scored in a World Cup’s match was 10 by Hungary against El Salvador in 1982.

35. In 1969, El Salvador waged war on Honduras after it lost against it in a soccer match.