“Did you know that…”, “it’s interesting…”, “by the way…” - that’s how you can start to tell a funny story about the previous World Cups. Here are some examples.

1. After Brazil sensationally lost the decisive match of the 1950 World Cup to Uruguay, two of their fans committed suicide right at the stadium, jumping off an upper tribune.

2. The Romanian squad for the first ever World Cup in 1930 was personally approved by the Romanian King Karol II.

3. In 1974, East Germany forward Juergen Sparwasser scored a sensational winner against West Germany, bringing the whole communist propaganda machine into ecstasy. Ironically, Sparwasser was the first member of that team to flee to West Germany - he did it when the Berlin Wall still existed.

4. While checking spectators before the World Cup final in 1930 in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, the police confiscated 1,5 thousand revolvers. Montevideo was obviously not the most peaceful place in the world in those years…

5. Of 160 footballers, who represented Bulgaria at the World Cup finals, only three had last names not ending in “-ov” or “-ev”. Yevgeni Yanchovski, Milko Gaydarski and Petar Miktarski - all three were ethnic Macedonians.

6. According to FIFA rules, the players at the World Cup rosters should have shirt numbers from 1 to 23. However, that makes special problems for Japan as they try to avoid the number 4 - in Japanese, the words “four” and “death” sound the same. So the Japanese decide by draw who will wear number 4.

7. The start of the final match at the 1974 World Cup was delayed by ten minutes. The reason was that construction workers at the Munich stadium had forgotten to install the corner flags. And this happened in Germany!

8. The start of the opening match at the 1974 World Cup was delayed as well, but for another reason. Seven England players left their accreditation cards at the hotel. Although everyone in England knew their national players’ faces, the police refused to let the footballers in. Because the regulations are above all!

9. The Belgian John Langenus, the referee of the final match at the first World Cup in 1930, was dressed in a formal jacket with a tie and pompous riding breeches.

10. The brothers Vyacheslav and Viktor Chanov, both goalkeepers, were in the Soviet Union team roster at the 1982 World Cup. However, neither of them played a single minute during the tournament as Rinat Dasaev was the undoubted first choice.

11. During the entire World War II, the president of the Italian federation Ottorino Barassi was hiding the Victory (a trophy awarded to the World Cup winners from 1930 to 1970) in a ragged boot in his pantry. The Nazis often visited Barassi with searches, but each time left with nothing.

12. Scotland had an extremely unfortunate start at the 1978 World Cup. At a press conference, their coach Ally MacLeod was facing tough criticism when suddenly a dog walked into the room. The coach sadly remarked: "It seems that this is my only friend in this room." However, when he wanted to stroke the dog, he maliciously bit MacLeod. So the Scottish coach ended up without any friends.

13. For the opening match of the Argentina national team in Uruguay in 1930, a huge number of Argentine fans were expected, because Buenos Aires is literally on the opposite shore of the La Plata estuary. However, there were almost no Argentines on the stands. The fog was to blame, as the motor ship with the fans could not depart in time. When the fans finally arrived in Montevideo, the match was over.

14. Just before the start of the 1934 World Cup final match between Italy and Czechoslovakia, the Swedish referee Ivan Eklind walked up to Benito Mussolini’s box and had a brief conversation with the Italian dictator. The content of their conversation remained a mystery, but Eklind’s refereeing was quite controversial. Italy won the game 2:1, scoring the winner in an extra time.

15. Before the 2010 World Cup, the Baptist Church of South Africa demanded that FIFA should prohibit the use of vuvuzelas in the stands. The baptists claimed to have copyrights to the divine instrument. Unfortunately, FIFA did not believe them, and the horrible howl of vuvuzelas accompanied every match of that tournament.

16. Although the World Cups are held since 1930, the first match without goals took place only in 1958, at the sixth tournament. England and Brazil played 0:0 then.

17. Before the 1938 World Cup match between Poland and Brazil, a shower turned the field into a swamp. The Brazilian Leonidas tried to take off his boots and play barefoot, but the referee banned such a trick. It made Leonidas angry, and he scored four goals as Brazil ultimately won 6:5.

18. The red and yellow cards first appeared during the 1970 World Cup, and prior to that, the referees dismissed the players verbally. The reason for the innovation was the case at the 1966 World Cup, when the Argentine player pretended not to understand the referee who had dismissed him, and stayed on the pitch for a while.

19. The famous Bulgarian prophetess Vanga made some of her predictions about football. During the 1994 World Cup, she said the final match would see a meeting of two teams beginning with B. However, it was Bulgaria that spoiled Vanga’s prediction by losing to Italy in the semifinals. The second finalist was Brazil.

20. To prepare for the World Cup in 1966, the North Korean team was locked for half a year on a high-altitude training base, without holidays, vacations and the right to see relatives. Strangely enough, it gave an effect. At the tournament, North Korea beat Italy and became the first Asian team to qualify for the play-offs.