From Oleg Salenko's record five goals against Cameroon in 1994, to Qatar's dream of matching the achievements of Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), Germany (1974), Argentina (1978) and France (1998) - who all won the title on home soil - to the curse of the defending champions in the last three editions.
In a year in which, for the first time, national selectors can take 26 players, Flashscore presents 23 figures and three curious facts from World Cup history.
23 key figures:
1 - Qatar are the only debutants at the 2022 edition of the World Cup, and not since Italy in 1934 has a team made its debut as World Cup hosts. They were champions that year, as were Uruguay in 1930. Those are the two best World Cup debuts ever. Can Qatar match that?
1 - Ndaye Mulamba (Zaire) was suspended for one year for kicking a referee during a match with Yugoslavia in 1974. Twelve years later, in 1986, Samir Shaker (Iraq) also received a one-year suspension for spitting at the referee during a match against Belgium.
2 - Only two teams have ever won the World Cup twice in a row. After winning in 1934, Italy triumphed again in 1938, while Brazil, with Pele at the helm, repeated their 1958 triumph in 1962.
3 - The Netherlands have played in three finals (1974, 1978 and 2010) but have never won the title. Can they go one better this year?
3 - Pele is the only player in the world with three titles. The Brazilian won the 1958, 1962 and 1970 competitions. However, the 1962 medal was only awarded to him in 2007 as, until 1974, FIFA stipulated that world champions were just the players who played in the final and Pele missed the decisive game due to injury.
4 - The number of times the champion has won every match in the tournament. A feat achieved by Uruguay (1930), Italy (1938) and Brazil (1970 and 2002)
5 - This record number of titles belongs to Brazil. The Canarinha is the only five-time world champion (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002) but has not won the World Cup for 20 years. The best they have managed since last lifting the trophy was fourth place in 2014.
5 - Oleg Salenko holds the record for most goals in a single game. He scored five in Russia's thrashing of Cameroon on the final matchday of Group B at World Cup 1994.
6 - There have been six occasions when the title has stayed home, meaning the host has won it. Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), Germany (1974), Argentina (1978) and France (1998). No one has managed it this century yet, however. Another goal for Qatar perhaps?
7 - Mexico have never managed to get past the round of 16 in seven consecutive editions: 1994 (eliminated by Bulgaria), 1998 (by Germany), 2002 (by the United States), 2006 (by Argentina), 2010 (by Argentina again), 2014 (by the Netherlands) and 2018 (by Brazil).
7 - Antonio Carbajal, Rafa Marquez (both of Mexico) and Lothar Matthaus (Germany) are currently the only players to have appeared in five World Cups. Cristiano Ronaldo (37), Lionel Messi (35) as well as Mexico's Andres Guardado (36) and Guillermo Ochoa (37) will join this list with their appearances in Qatar. Those four all participated in the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
8 - Germany hold the record for the number of final appearances, having participated in eight (1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002 and 2014). But they have only won four of those (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014).
9 - The highest goal difference in a World Cup match is nine and it has occurred on three occasions: Hungary 9-0 South Korea (1954); Yugoslavia 9-0 Zaire (1974) and Hungary 10 -1 El Salvador (1982).
10 - Brazil are the team to have won their group 10 times. Since 1982, the Canarinha have always topped their group. Will they do it again?
10 - Peter Shilton (England), between 1982 and 1990, and Fabien Barthez (France), between 1998 and 2006, hold the record for most games without conceding a goal at a FIFA World Cup. Interestingly, only the Frenchman managed to become a world champion.
11 - The fastest goal in FIFA World Cup history was scored by Hakan Sukur, who struck 11 seconds into the third-and-fourth-place match between Turkey and South Korea in 2002. The Turks won 3-2.
12 - Europe holds the record for most titles. Twelve times a European side won the tournament: Germany (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014), Italy (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), France (1998 and 2018), Spain (2010) and England (1966).
13 - Just Fontainte (France) has the most goals scored in a single World Cup. His 13 goals in 1958 have never been matched by any other player, with Gerd Muller (Germany) coming closest with 10 in 1970.
16 - Miroslav Klose is the top scorer in the history of the World Cup, with 16 goals across the four World Cups he took part in (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014).
25 - Lothar Matthaus is the player with the most appearances at the FIFA World Cup. The German international played 25 matches between 1982 and 1998. However, the man with the most minutes in the World Cup finals is Paolo Maldini, who has 23 matches to his name but 2,216 minutes compared to 2,045 by the German.
33 - Cristiano Ronaldo is the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the World Cup finals. He collected that record with his three goals against Spain (3-3) in the 2018 group stage at the ripe old age of 33 years and 130 days.
42 - Roger Milla became the oldest player ever to participate in a World Cup match when he turned out for Cameroon against Russia in 1994 at the age of 42 years and 39 days. He doesn't hold that record anymore but he is still the oldest outfield player to have appeared at a World Cup and the oldest player to have scored in a World Cup thanks to his goal in that game against Russia.
51 - The minute Maradona scored what is perhaps the most famous goal of a World Cup: the Hand of God. In the quarter-final between Argentina and England in 1986, El Pibe beat Peter Shilton to the ball with his hand and opened the scoring. Later, in the 54th minute, he scored another goal - considered the best of the century by FIFA - and thus led the Albiceleste to the semi-finals of a competition they would eventually go on to win.
Three more interesting facts:
- The last three defending champions ended up being eliminated in the group stage: Italy (2010), Spain (2014) and Germany (2018). The only time they entered the competition as holders, France (2002) also crashed out at the group stage. Can they break that curse in Qatar?
- Since Brazil in 2002, the world champions have failed to win all three group games. Italy (2006), Germany (2014) and France (2018) went through with seven points (two wins and a draw), and Spain (2010) registered a loss against Switzerland but won their next two matches. Another test for France this year is whether they can go three from three in Group D.
- Uruguay are the only team to have won the World Cup without winning a final. In 1950, instead of the teams advancing to an elimination round, the four group stage winners played out another group. Even so, their last match with Brazil, the famous Maracanazo, is considered the final as they were the only two teams still with a chance of winning the tournament going into the last round of matches. The Uruguayans would win that game 2-1 and spark mass hysteria in the host nation Brazil.
