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1. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be taking place in South Africa. This will be the first time in history that an African country hosts the competition.

2. A record 206 countries entered qualification for the 2010 World Cup.

3. The balls used in World Cup Soccer are traditionally made by Adidas.

4. The 2006 World Cup saw the unveiling of a new style of ball. The Adidas "Teamgeist" ball for the 2006 World Cup Soccer games was a fourteen panel ball instead of the normal thirty two.

5. It is interesting to note that the first multi-colored ball was used in the World Cup Soccer finals in 1998.

6. World Cup soccer is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with over one billion people watching every four years.

7. The Romans played a game named 'harpastum' which can be said to be the origin of soccer game of the modern era.

8. In the early days of the game, the referees used to wave a handkerchief to control the players. The whistles were introduced in the game in the year 1878.

9. The red-yellow card system made its world cup debut at the 1970 event.

10. Uruguay went on to win the first ever Soccer World Cup in 1930.

11. Jules Rimet, the president of Fifa at the time wanted an international football tournament outside of the Olympics.

12.Uruguay, having won consecutive Olympic titles was chosen as the host of the first World Cup tournament.

13.Because Uruguay is an out-of-the-way destination, only four European teams took part in the inaugural tournament: Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia.

14.The first-ever World Cup goal was scored by Lucien Laurent for France against Mexico.

15.Not many South American teams were keen to travel to Europe for the World Cups in 1934 and 1938 because of the distance involved. Brazil was the only South American country to play in both tournaments.

16.There were no World Cups in 1942 and 1946 because the world had a bit of an argument. (WW2)

17.Bafana Bafana shouldn’t be too worried. Scotland has been knocked out in the first round in 8 consecutive World Cups for which they qualified (1954, 1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1998).

18.The official count for the highest attendance at a World Cup game was at the final in 1950, hosted by Brazil. In Rio de Janiero, 199 854 people attended the game.

19.Mexico has hosted two world cups, the most recent of which was in 1986. This was because Colombia, the chosen hosts for that tournament, were unable to host it for economic reasons.

20.Brazil is the only country to have played in every World Cup.

21.Brazil has won the World Cup a record five times.

22.The first Women’s World Cup was held in China in 1991.

23.The World Cup trophy is made of solid 18 carat gold and weighs more than 6 kilograms.

24.West Germany is one of the tournament’s most successful teams with three wins in six World Cup finals (excluding Germany’s appearance in the 2002 final).

25.Italy is the second most successful World Cup team with four wins (1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006).

26.The host nation has won the World Cup six times: Italy in 1934, West Germany in 1974, Argentina in 1978, Uruguay in 1930, France in 1998 and England in 1966.

27.The Netherlands, Czechoslovakia and Hungary are the most successful teams to have never won the tournament - they all made two finals.

28.Argentina and Uruguay have each won the World Cup twice.

29.Sweden, Chile, South Korea and Mexico have all put in their best World Cup performances when hosting the tournament (good news for Bafana?)

30.A FIFA Fair Play award is given out at the end of the tournament for the team who was booked the least.

31.Lothar Matthaus (Germany) and Antonio Carbajal (Mexico) have both played in a record five World Cup tournaments.

32.Matthaus has also played the most World Cup matches: 25.

33.Pele is the most successful player of all time, having won three World Cup medals.

34.Ronaldo from Brazil (not Cristiano) has scored the most goals in World Cups - 15.

35.Brazil has scoffed the most World Cup goals with 201!

36.The youngest player to feature in the World Cup is Normal Whiteside from Northern Ireland. He was 17 years and 41 days old when he participated in the 1982 tournament.

37.South Africa is the 50th most successful World Cup nation (out of 75) with 1 win and 3 draws from 6 games.

38.El Salvador is the least successful with 6 losses from 6. Others who have never won a game are Iraq, Slovenia, Togo, Canada, Indonesia, UAE, China, New Zealand, Greece, Haiti, and Zaire (DRC).

39.The most successful team outside the perennial success of the European and South American teams is Mexico who have played 45 games at World Cup Finals, won 11, drawn 12 and lost 22.

40.The most successful Africa team at World Cups has been Cameroon.

41.Cameroon and Senegal are also the only African team to have progressed to the quarter finals.

42.The infrastructure revamp in South Africa has cost around R80 billion.

43.South Africa was invited to play the opening fixture in the France 1998 World Cup against the hosts, but lost 3-0.

44.Argentina knocked England out of the 1986 World Cup, courtesy of the goal scored by Diego Maradonna… off of his hand. The goal is known as the "Hand of God"

45.Argentina went on to win the 1986 World Cup.

46.John Terry, England captain for the qualifiers has been stripped of the captaincy because he can’t keep his todger in his pants. Particularly when his team’s mates’ ex-girlfriends are around.

47.Wayne Bridge, the England left back, will not be coming to the World Cup tournament because John Terry picked his ex girlfriend.

48.Franz Beckenbauer won the World Cup as a player and a manager with West Germany.

49.The Netherlands have been one of the World Cup’s great underachievers, even when they boasted the greatest striker in the world in the late eighties and early nineties: Marco van Basten.

50.No European team has ever won a World Cup held outside Europe.

51.Bora Milutinovic coached teams in five consecutive World Cups, but they were all different: China, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Mexico and the USA.

52.Switzerland is the only team to have not conceded a goal, but not won the tournament.

53.One of Africa’s greatest players, Roger Milla of Cameroon, is the oldest player to have participated in a World Cup: he was 42 years old and 39 days in the 1994 tournament.

54.Hungary has scored the most goals in one game, beating El Salvador 10-1 in 1982.

55.The 2010 World Cup will be the first time that no country has debuted in the World Cup Finals, although Slovakia and Serbia did it under the Yugoslavia banner previously.

56.So far in World Cup history, there have been 708 games containing 2063 goals.

57.Bafana Bafana manager, Carlos Alberto Parreira knows how to win World Cups. He did so with Brazil in 1994.

58.Two World Cup finals have been decided on penalties: Brazil beat Italy in 1994 after Roberto Baggio sent his kick sailing over the goals, and Italy beat France in the last World Cup.

59.Zinedine Zidane, one of the greatest soccer players ever, is remembered for his last ever act on a football field: head butting Marco Materazzi in the chest which led to a red card.

60.The first scoreless World Cup match was in 1958 between Brazil and England.

61. The first match decided on a penalty shootout was the semi final between France and West Germany in the 1982 tournament.

62.Mexico’s 22 World Cup losses are the most by any team.

63.Italy played 5 matches in the 1990 tournament without conceding a goal. This is a record.

64.West Germany kept the same coach for four consecutive tournaments. Helmut Schoen was their coach in 1966, 1970, 1974 and 1978.

65.The most goals scored in one match are 12, when Austria beat Switzerland 7-5 in the 1954 World Cup.

66.The most bad-tempered World Cup fixture was between the Netherlands and Portugal at the 2006 World Cup with each side getting 2 red cards.

67.Geoff Hurst has scored the only hat trick (3 goals) in the deciding game of the tournament, and he did it in 1966 when the English went on to beat West Germany 4-2 in extra time.

68. Hungary holds the record for the most goals in one tournament with 27 in 1954.

69. South Africa was eliminated from the 2002 World Cup on goals only. Bafana and Paraguay finished level on points and goal difference, but the South American team had scored 6 goals to our 5.

70. The fastest sending off in the World Cup was Uruguay’s Jose Baptista who lasted a full 56 seconds in 1986 against Scotland.

71.The fastest goal ever scored in World Cup soccer was eleven seconds and the player was Hakan Sukur from Turkey in 2002.

72.It is interesting to note that a World Cup Soccer milestone goal was reached at the 2006 World Cup soccer games. Swedish player Marcus Allback scored the 2 000th goal in World Cup soccer history in a game against England.

73. Numbers were first used on players’ shirts at the 1938 tournament.

74. Miroslav Klose holds the record for the most headed goals in a tournament with 5 in 2006.

75. The only European players to win more than one World Cup are Giuseppe Meazza & Giovanni Ferrari who won World Cups with Italy in 1934 and 1938.

76.Two sets of brothers have won World Cups. Fritz and Otmar Walter of West Germany in 1954, and Jack and Bobby Charlton for England in 1966.

77.The Netherland's Ernie Brandts is the only player to score a goal and an own goal in a World Cup match.

78.Mario Zagalo of Brazil boasts three World Cup trophies. Twice as a player (1958 and 1962) and once as a manager (1970). 70. The longest surname of any player who has ever been at the World Cup belongs to Lefter Kucukandonyadis of Turkey in 1954.

79.Two trophies have represented victory during the World Cup: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970, and the FIFA World Cup Trophy from 1974 to the present day.

80.The Jules Rimet Trophy, originally named Victory, but later renamed in honour of former FIFA president Jules Rimet, was made of gold plated sterling silver and lapis lazuli and depicted Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. It stood 35 centimetres (14 in) high and weighed 3.8 kilograms (8.4 lb).

81.On 20 March 1966, four months before the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England, the trophy was stolen during a public exhibition at Westminster Central Hall. The trophy was found just seven days later wrapped in newspaper at the bottom of a suburban garden hedge in Upper Norwood, South London.

82.As a security measure, The Football Association secretly manufactured a replica of the trophy for use in post-match celebrations. The replica was also used on subsequent occasions until 1970. The replica was sold at an auction in 1997 for £254,500, when it was purchased by FIFA.

83.The Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen in 1983 and never recovered. Four men were eventually tried and convicted in absentia for the crime.

84.The replacement trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was first used in 1974. Made of 18 carat gold with a malachite base, it depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. The current holder of the trophy is Italy, winner of the 2006 World Cup.

85.Fifty-three submissions were received from sculptors in seven countries to produce its replacement.

86.Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga was awarded the commission. The trophy stands 36.5 centimetres (14.4 inches) tall and is made of 5 kg (11 lb) of 18 carat (75%) solid gold with a base (13 centimetres [5.1 inches] in diameter) containing two layers of malachite. Produced by Bertoni, Milano, it weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb) in total, depicts two human figures holding up the Earth.

87.It was first presented at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, to West German captain Franz Beckenbauer.

88.The trophy has the visible engravement "FIFA World Cup" in outpouring letters at its base. The name of the country whose national team wins each tournament is engraved in the bottom side of the trophy, and therefore is not visible when the trophy is standing upright.

89. FIFA and the Coca-Cola Company took the real solid-gold trophy to 86 countries during a 225-day journey. The ceremonial start of the tour was held on 21st September 2009, as FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent accompanied the trophy on the first steps of its journey.

90.The winning team gets to keep an identical (but gold-plated) replica of the Cup. The trophy cost approximately $50,000 to make, but today any winning replicas value is estimated to be over $10 million USD.

91.On 8 June 1998 Joseph S. Blatter (Switzerland) was elected as the successor to Dr João Havelange (Brazil) as the eighth FIFA President.

92.FIFA President Joseph S Blatter was the driving force behind a partnership with SOS Children's Villages that started in 1994. This organisation maintains more than 130 villages for children all over the world and it benefits from FIFA's financial and material support.

93.Head of SA LOC, Danny Jordaan served as the president or vice-president of various soccer boards from 1983 to 1992. In 1997, he was elected as the Chief Executive Officer of the South African Football Association (SAFA). He headed South Africa's unsuccessful 2006 FIFA World Cup bid but also the 2010 FIFA World Cup bid, this time successfully.

94.It has been estimated that the 2010 World Cup will create some 129 000 jobs.

95.It will also contribute around R21-billion to the country's gross domestic product and another R7.2-billion in government taxes, with the 350 000 visitors spending a some R9.8-billion in the country.

96.If you are attending the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, it is very important that you know what a vuvuzela is. It's the noise-making trumpet of South African football fans, and it's come to symbolise the sport in the country.

97.The ancestor of the vuvuzela is said to be the kudu horn - ixilongo in isiXhosa, mhalamhala in Tshivenda - blown to summon African villagers to meetings.

98.On the day it was announced that South Africa would host the 2010 Fifa World Cup some 20 000 vuvuzelas were sold by enterprising street vendors.

99.The world football governing body, FIFA, wanted to ban the use of vuvuzelas during the World Cup 2010 because of concerns that hooligans could use the instrument as a weapon. However the South African Football Association (SAFA) made a presentation that vuvuzelas were essential for an authentic South African football experience, and FIFA decided in July 2008 to drop the ban.

100. Some 3-million tickets have been made available for the 2010 World Cup's 64 matches. One third, or a million, will be allocated to South African football fans, another million to international visitors, and the third million to sponsors, teams and the "Fifa family"

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