Football is an intriguing game, and one of the sports played extensively in the world. As the most loved sport, it has a huge fan following and is enjoyed both in the east and the west. Players require extreme fitness levels and have to be at their peak physical performance every time of the year, as the game has several tournaments that happen across all seasons.
The great popularity of football made it impossible for people to adjust after the stadium matches completely shut down during the pandemic. Football fanatics felt claustrophobic in stuck-up apartments with the severe lack of sporting events. Still, this deficit was soon covered up by fantasy football apps that helped occupy the minds of the ecstatic football fans worldwide. If you missed out on this digital football revolution, you should immediately try installing a fantasy football app and play the game.
Also, let us look at some of the most interesting facts about football that will leave you stunned and wondering about the game’s most interesting phenomena.
Asteroids Named after Football Players
The game is popular enough to be broadcasted everywhere and played by millions across the globe. But little did you know that some players reach such a podium of fame in their career that they find themselves among the stars. In a more literal sense, this does stand true as of the present date 5 famous footballers have entire asteroids named after them. This is one of the greatest feats any athlete can achieve in their mortal lives.
The recent addition to the list is Arsene Wenger– 33179-Arsenewenger with others like Johan Cryuff, Josef Bican, Ferenc Puskas, and Michael Ballack, who all have similar interplanetary associations!
Average Distance Covered by a Football Player
The fact that 22 players are after a single ball in a given game translates to the fact that football is a game that lets players traverse the most distance. Statistics have recorded that an average footballer covers a distance of 11.2 kms, 7 miles in a single football match, obviously leaving out the goalkeeper, whose movement is restricted because of his position of play.
There is a huge difference compared to other popular sports, as a basketball player only goes a distance of 4.1 kms in a single game. A tennis player, on the other hand, covers around 4.8 kms which is 3 miles per game. The only other sport where players are recorded to cover a longer distance of 13.6 kms,8.5 miles is cricket. However, the football players do the herculean feat in 90 minutes, whereas a single ODI in cricket lasts for over 8 hours.
Places Where it is Called Soccer
It might shock you, but only two places in the world have named football soccer which is America and Canada. If you were to travel to America and talk about football, they would expose you to a completely different sport called American Football.
Similarly, the idea of soccer in Canada is different, and their alternative sport is Canadian football. Surprisingly no other place in the world has made such alterations in the sport except these two countries.
Doubles Matches in a Single Day
Current football players consist of some of the richest athletes in the world. Due to this, players also get a rest of 4-5 days between matches. In early times due to low income in playing the game, players could not get a deserved rest between matches and had to jump across places to be wherever required.
In the 90s, Mark Hughes, a player from Manchester United, did the impossible by playing in two matches consecutively within one single day. When Hughes got selected to play for Bayern Munich, his qualifier matches for his club, and national teams overlapped, and he could do nothing but play both and create a crazy history for the game.
Most Goals Scored by any Player
Such a feat screams to be captured only by an original legend from the game’s early years. Stephan Stanis, a Racing Club de Lens player, achieved it in 1942. Stanis stunned everyone, including his teammates, by scoring an insane 16 goals in one football match. The record for this still stands strong at 78 years and has not been broken by any player.
The Most Played Sport in the World
Currently, football is the most played sport in the world. Over 210 countries are registered with FIFA, and it is recorded that thousands across many countries play the game in the form of some tournament. The differential between this sport and basketball is that though it is a comparatively more popular sport, only 100 regions have their national basketball team or a dedicated league. On the other hand, cricket, another world-famous sport, has around 104 registered members, of which only 12 are the ones who actively conduct events, and the rest all stand as associates.
In Conclusion
If you dig through the game’s history, several things would emerge and startle you with facts you could never have dreamed of. The football ground is home to places where some of the most interesting things happen. The fans are never disappointed in live matches; sooner or later, they are also pulled into the game’s history by some incredible event. To date, the game seems to offer more to the fans every day and is certainly one of the best-enjoyed sports worldwide.