*Yellow and Red Cards were first introduced during the 1970 World Cup in Mexico and the first player to be cautioned was USSR’s Kakhi Asatiani against Mexico..
*The first World Cup penalty shoot-out was between France and West Germany in 1982.
*Gianluca Pagliuca was the first goalkeeper to be sent-off in a World Cup match against Norway in 1994.
*Laurent Blanc scored the first -ever World Cup goalden goal as France defeated Paraguay 1-0.
*Jurgen Klinsmann and Ronaldo Nazario are the only players to score three or more goals in three consecutive World Cups.
*Miroslav Klose is the all time leading scorer in World Cup history with 16 goals in four tournaments.
*Hungary’s Laszlo Kiss is the only substitute to score a hat-trick in the World Cup in a 5-1 victory over El-Salvador in 1982.
*The only player to be sent-off on his birthday was Italian forward Gianfranco Zola against Nigeria in 1994.
*SouthKorean goalkeeper Hong Duk-Yung is the only goalkeeper to conceed the most goals (16) in one tournament.
*Bodo Illgner of West Germany was the first goalkeeper to keep a clean-sheet in the World Cup final and that was in 1990 against a Diego Maradona led Argentina.
*The host nations have won six of the last 20 World Cups.
*The 2022 World Cup will be the first to be held during the winter,Every other hosts has held the tournament in the summer months.
*The youngest player ever to play in the FIFA World Cup was Norman Whiteside from Northern Ireland at 17years and 41days old when he played against Yugoslavia in 1982.
*Luis Monti was the first player to represent two different countries in World Cup history (Argentina 1930 and Italy 1934).
*The fastest substitute from the start of the game was Italian Alessandro Nesta. He was replaced by Guiseppe Bergomi after only four minutes against Austria in 1998.
*The fastest player to be sent-off was Jose Batista of Uruguay who was sent-off after 56 seconds against Scotland in 1986.
*French and Brazilian legends Zinedine Zidane and Cafu hold the record for most cards.They each received six cautions.
*Dimbi Tubilandi of Zaire was the first goalkeeper to be replaced for any other reason other than an injury against Yugoslavia after conceeding 3 goals in 22 minutes,his replacement was unable to unblock the goals rush as they subsequently lost the game 9-0.
*The longest unbeaten goalkeeper in World Cup history is Walter Zenga. He went 517 minutes without conceeding during the 1990 tournament.
*As captain of the Italian national team in 1982, Dino Zoff was the oldest player to win the World Cup at the age of 40years,4months and 13 days.
*Juan Jose Tramutota was 27years old when he led Argentina to the 1930 tournament as a coach and is the youngest till date.
*Helmut Schon holds the record for most matches as a coach at the World Cup with 25 games between 1966 and 1978.
*Frenchman Didier Deschamp, Brazil’s Mario Zagallo and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer have won the World Cup as player and head coach.
*A nation with a foreign coach has never won the World Cup.
*Bora Milutinovic and Carlos Alberto both coached five different teams at the World Cup.
*The first World Cup match was played between France and Mexico in Montevedio with France winning 4-1.
*The first World Cup goal was scored by Lucien Laurent of France.
*USA goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas was the first goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in the 1930 World Cup tournament.
*In 1974 Carlos Caszely of Chile became the first player to be red-carded in the history of the World Cup.
*Manuel Rosa scored the first penalty in World Cup history in 1930.
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