Like every sport, soccer has changed over the years, but even people following it for many years have a hard time remembering all the changes. Recently, a lot of technology has been implemented in league games and major events. Besides your Champions League predictions, you will also have a conference league to bet on, which started in 2021.
The World Cup in Qatar was a big deal for soccer because it broke all the records regarding the number of people watching the sport. This was also the first one played in winter, which is very interesting considering how strict FIFA is. But, when you have enough money, you will probably be able to make changes even in the biggest sports organization in the world.
There are plenty of interesting facts and records related to soccer, some of which are interesting, even if you are not a fan. When you have so many people watching, you attract all kinds of people, so pitch invaders and scandals happen every day.
1. There Are 4 Main Referees
The main referee is constantly on the field with the players, and most people think that only he matters, but the ones on the side of the area are crucial for the match. Those are the referees that the main one will consult with when it comes to off-sides, corners, and other situations that he couldn’t see.
But, there’s also another referee on the side of the field that is in contact with others, and he is usually waiting for the changes to happen and to show the extra time added.
2. Qatar WC
The World Cup in Qatar was unique in a few ways, but the main one is that the cup was organized during winter. They couldn’t play during the summer because it’s too hot there, and even in winter, players had difficulties with the humidity. In the end, Argentina, with high average temperatures, won, thanks to Lionel Messi leading the team.
Another reason why it is unique is that Qatar was the first country from that part of the world and the second Asian country to organize the WC. There was a lot of bad news from the independent media about the organization, so you probably won’t watch the CL finals and make Champions League predictions today in Qatar.
3. Travel Difficulties
Because the World Cup is the biggest soccer event in the world, we have to mention that the first one organized was in 1930 in Uruguay. For European countries that had some of the best teams at the moment, it wasn’t easy to travel there. Some of them were traveling for days by ship to reach Uruguay.
4. Amazing Fans
There’s no doubt that soccer fans are the loudest in the world, and they are very organized when it comes to cheering for their favorite teams. Most of the biggest clubs have groups of hooligans that you wouldn’t want to meet if you were on the opposing team.
Even if these hooligans are doing a lot of illegal things, they invest all of themselves to support their team. You can watch a few YouTube videos about the top fans in soccer and compare them to other sports. They live for their team to be among the Champions League picks, but it’s very hard to achieve that goal for most teams.
5. Biggest Attendance
Considering that the biggest stadiums in the world can handle around 140K people, it’s hard to believe that in 1950, there was a game with about 199K people attending the game.
The match was between Uruguay and Brazil, the top teams, and soccer in the country was more important than anything. It was a World Cup game, another great reason why so many people watched live.
