Here are 10 of the coolest facts about the Men’s FIFA Football World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is a football competition between qualifying countries all over the world.

And you can keep up to date with the World Cup with George and Jake from MOTD Mag!

Impress your family and friends at school with everything you need to know about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar courtesy of Breakfast show presenter George and MOTD Mag’s Jake! 

1. The 2022 World Cup was in Qatar.

The 2022 World Cup took place in Qatar between 20th November and 18th December. It was the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world and the second to be held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.

It wasn’t all good though. Lots of people weren’t happy the World Cup was being held in Qatar. There were suspicions that FIFA Officials were bribed by Qatar to award them the World Cup. There was lots of news coming out that workers who built stadiums for the World Cup were treated really badly as well as their lack of human rights.

2. The first World Cup was in 1930.

The first World Cup took place back in 1930. The tournament consisted of thirteen invited teams and took place in Uruguay, who also won the tournament.

3. Brazil have won the most world cups of any country.

Brazil has won the World Cup five times. Italy and Germany are close behind with four each.

Check out the video below to see when see when ex England footballer David James joined Conor for a chat!

4. Ronaldo is the first man to score at 5 different World Cups.

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first man to score at five FIFA World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022) when he scored a penalty in Portugal’s 3-2 victory over Group H rivals Ghana.

5. The 2022 World Cup used a ‘Smart Ball’.

The 2022 World Cup ball, made by Adidas, provided connected ball technology in all 64 matches. 

The World Cup ‘smart ball’ has a sensor inside it which has been designed and built by engineers. 

The sensor means that the position of the ball can be tracked at all times. So that means a referee can check the ball has definitely crossed the goal line and the exact time it happens, the referee will get all that information immediately sent to a smart watch they are wearing. The technology is very accurate and instantaneous so it can help referees make quick and fair decisions.

Football engineers help with these sorts of decisions can also make technology to help referees know if the ball is off side.

You can find our more about the technology and engineering at the World Cup in Undercover Engineers.

6. Brazil is the only country to have played at every World Cup.

Brazil is the only country to have played in every World Cup since competition’s inception. That means they’ve played in 22 World Cups.

7. The Second World War meant there was no World Cup in 1942 or 1946.

In 1942 and 1946 there was no Wold Cup due to The Second World War.

Following the war, the England Football team rejoined FIFA, after having left the organization in 1920.

8. The fastest ever World Cup goal was under 11 seconds into a match.

Hakan Sukur scored a goal for Turkey 10.89 seconds into the match. This was playing against South Korea in 2002.

9. A dog called Pickles found the World Cup trophy after it was stolen.

Before the 1966 tournament in England, the trophy was on display at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.

A thief got past security and stole the trophy. It was later found under a bush by a dog named Pickles. You can hear the full story, plus some other great football facts in our Activity Quest episode where we went the National Football Museum in Manchester.

10. Qatar built the first demountable World Cup stadium.

Qatar has built a stadium that will be taken apart and put back together somewhere else for the World Cup. Stadium 974, is a 40,000-seat stadium created by Fenwick Iribarren Architects and constructed from shipping containers and modular steel.

You can follow the World Cup with our downloadable tracker below!

Send us your favourite facts!

Is there something we've missed? Got a fact you're dying to tell us? Submit it below and we could use it on a future Top 10 Facts page! 

Remember to always ask an adult before filling out forms online.