Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

Today we have the last post for the World Cup Mania subseries and today we also end the Summer Extravaganza. It has really been a great factfull summer with the Factorium and 4 editions of the FactBook. Hope all of our readers have enjoyed the Fact Bonanza called Summer Extravaganza. Presenting before you the last fact on FIFA All-Star teams today....

The All-Star team is a select team of 23 best players chosen by FIFA's Technical Study group from the World Cup finals. It is commercially termed Mastercard All-Star Team. The number of players was expanded from 11 to 16 at the 1998 finals, and then to the current 23. Before 1998, journalists and experts chose a "Dream Team" with outstanding players from each playing position. The current format of an All-Star team has 3 Goalkeepers, 6 Defenders, 6 Midfielders and 4 Forwards, totaling to 19. The All-Star team for 2006 FIFA World Cup was:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon, Jens Lehmann and Ricardo.

Defenders: Roberto Ayala, John Terry, Lilian Thuram, Phillipp Lahm, Gianluca Zambrotta and Ricardo Carvalho.

Midfielders: Ze Roberto, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Ballack, Francesco Totti and Luis Figo.

Forwards: Hernan Crespo, Thierry Henry, Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni.

A new subseries: "Quoty Quotes" starts tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

Today we will look at some facts on the Golden Boot or Golden Shoe award, which is one of the coveted award in FIFA World Cups.

The Golden Boot Award goes to the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup.

The award was introduced at the 1930 World Cup. The 1994 World Cup in the United States was the first time that Silver and Bronze boots awards were added to reward the second and third top scorers in the tournament. Since 1994, if there is more than one player with the same amount of goals, the tie-breaker goes to the player who has contributed the most assists (with the FIFA Technical Study Group deciding whether an assist is to be counted as such). If there is still more than one player, the tie-breaker goes to the player who has played the least amount of time.

So far, the highest goals scored in a World Cup are 13, by Just Fontaine of France in 1958. In the last world cup, Miroslav Klose won the Adidas Golden Shoe with 5 goals, followed by Hernan Crespo with 3 and Ronaldo with 3.

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

For the next 3 days, we will see facts on 3 of the prestigious awards presented by FIFA. We will today see some facts on the Golden Ball award, which is one of the prestigious awards presented at the FIFA World Cup.

This award was first given in 1982 as Golden, Silver and Bronze Ball. FIFA has also made a list of best players in the previous world cups. According to the list, Jose Nasazzi was the best player in the 1930 World Cup. The award is commercially termed "Adidas Golden Ball" and was presented to Zinedine Zidane of France in 2006. This was followed by Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo. In 1982, Paolo Rossi of Spain was presented the first ever Golden Ball followed by Falcao of Brazil with the Silver Ball and Karl-Heinz of Germany with the Bronze Ball.

We will see interesting facts on the Golden Boot and All-star team in the remaining 2 days' time.

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

We continue the World Cup Mania today with something to do with awards concerning the FIFA World Cup.

There are a total of 7 awards/recognitions currently that are attributed to the players and teams which have distinguished from the rest, in different aspects of the game. These are:

1. The Golden Ball (currently commercially termed "adidas Golden Ball") for the best player. Also, the runners-up get the Silver and Bronze Ball for 2nd and 3rd Place respectively.
2. The Golden Shoe (also known as the Golden Boot, since 1982 commercially termed "adidas Golden Shoe") was first awarded in 1930 for top goal scorer. Also, Silver and Bronze shoes have been awarded since 1982.
3. The Yashin Award for best goalkeeper (first awarded in 1994).
4. The Best Young Player (currently commercially termed as "Gillette Best Young Player") award for best player under 21 years of age at the start of the calendar year, first awarded in 2006.
5. The FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team with the best record of fair play (first awarded in 1970).
6. The Most Entertaining Team award for the team that has entertained the public the most, during the World Cup final tournament, as determined by a poll of the general public, first awarded in 1994.
7. An All-Star Team (currently commercially termed "Mastercard All-Star Team") comprising of the best players of the tournament, is also announced for each tournament since 1990.

3 More days of Exciting World Cup Mania left....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

Today is the last day of facts on the FIFA World Cup 2010. But we will be continuing our World Cup mania till the 21st of June i.e till the end of the Summer Extravaganza. Today we will have a look at the 'official' things of the World Cup 2010.

The official mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is Zakumi, an anthromorphosised leopard with green hair, presented on 22 September 2008. His name comes from "ZA", the international abbreviation for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means "ten" in various African languages. The mascot's colours reflect those of the host nation's playing strip – yellow and green. Zakumi's official motto is 'Zakumi's Game is Fair Play.'

The official song of the FIFA world cup "Waka Waka" is presented by the Colombian singer Shakira and the band Freshlyground from South Africa, and is sung in both English and Spanish.

The official match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, manufactured by Adidas, will be named the Jabulani, which means "bringing joy to everyone" in isiZulu.

The official FIFA World Cup sponsors are Budweiser, Castrol, Continental, McDonalds, MTN, Mahindra Satyam, Seara and Yingli Solar.

The official Prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as $420 million, a 60 percent increase on the 2006 tournament. Before the tournament, each participating team would receive $1 million, for preparation costs. Once at the tournament, teams exiting at the group stage would receive $8 million. Thereafter, the prize money would be distributed as follows:

1. $9 million - Round of 16

2. $18 million - Quarter Finals

3. $20 million - Semi Finals

4. $24 million - Runners Up

5. $30 million - Winners.

That brings us to the end of facts on the World Cup of Association Football 2010. More World Cup Mania tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

Today we will be reading facts on the venues for the FIFA World Cup 2010 and tomorrow about the Official Masoct, Football, Anthem and more. Let us begin today then!

The 10 venues are

1.Soccer City, Johannesburg

2. Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban

3. Cape town Stadium, Cape Town

4. Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

5. Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria

6. Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth

7. Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

8. Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane

9. Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg

10. Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit.

More World Cup Mania tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

For the next 3 days we will see about the FIFA World Cup 2010.

The ongoing FIFA World Cup 2010 is the 19th FIFA World Cup of Football. It will run from 11th June - 11th July. The qualification of the World Cup began with 204 member nations, matching the 2008 Summer Olympics. Also, this is the first time that an African nation has got hosting duties. In the Final tournament of the World Cup, 32 nations will be participating with 4 teams from AFC, 3 from CONCACAF, 13 from UEFA, 5 from CONMEBOL, 1 from OFC and 6 from CAF. We already saw about these associations yesterday.

A total of 10 venues will host the 64 matches to be played. See this innovative FIFA World Cup schedule calendar on this link.

More FIFA World Cup 2010 Coming tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

We now come to the Presidents of FIFA on this last day of facts on FIFA. Till date there have been 8 presidents, these are:

Robert Guerin - 1904-1906

Daniel Burley Woolfall - 1906-1918

Jules Rimet - 1921-1954

Rodolphe Seeldrayers - 1954-1955

Arthur Drewry - 1955-1961

Stanley Rous - 1961-1974

Joao Havelange - 1974-1998

Sepp Blatter - 1998-Till Date

More World Cup Mania tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

Today we will look at more facts on FIFA, the world governing body of Association Football. We will today see about the structure of FIFA and tomorrow about its presidents.

FIFA is an association established under the Laws of Switzerland. Its headquarters are in Zürich. FIFA's supreme body is the FIFA Congress, an assembly made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. Aside from its worldwide institutions (presidency, Executive Committee, Congress, etc.) there are confederations recognised by FIFA which oversee the game in the different continents and regions of the world. These are:

AFC - Asian Football Confederation in Asia and Australia.

CAF - Confédération Africaine de FootbalL in Africa.

CONCACAF - Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football In North and Central America.

CONMEBOL - Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol in South America.

OFC - Oceania Football Confederation in Oceania.

UEFA - Union of European Football Associations in Europe.

More FIFA tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

With the World Cup underway, everyone is celebrating the Football Fever, even the Factorium with its subseries, World Cup Mania. For the next 3 days we will have a look at the governing body of the FIFA World Cup, FIFA. We will see facts on FIFA for the next 3 days.

FIFA Abbreviates to Fédération Internationale de Football Association or the International Federation of Association Football. It is basically the international governing body of Association Football like ICC for Cricket. The current president of FIFA is Sepp Blatter. Till Date there were 8 presidents in office with the first one being Robert Guerin from 1904-1906. Its motto is "For the Game, for the World." FIFA has 208 member associations, which is 16 more than the United Nations and three more than the International Olympic Committee, though five fewer than the International Association for Athletics Federation. FIFA governs football's major world tournaments, notably the FIFA World Cup. Its headquarters are in Switzerland, Zurich. If you were wondering what "Association Football" is, let me assure you that Football and Soccer are general names of the sport and that Association Football is the 'real' name of the game.

More FIFA tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

We will see the bids from 1974-2010 World Cups today.

1974, 1978, 1982: In an odd set of circumstances, three hosts were chosen in London, England on July 6, 1966. West Germany and Spain bid in 1974 with West Germany clinching the bid as Spain withdrew. Argentina and Mexico bid for the 1978 World Cup and Argentina won as Mexico withdrew. Spain and West Germany bid for 1982 World Cup and West Germany withdrew in line of 1974 Hosting Duties as Spain had done in 1974 in line for 1982 Hosting Duties.

1986: Columbia won the bid after an unopposed bidding process. However, Columbia later withdrew due to financial problems and Mexico, Canada and USA then Bid with Mexico emerging winners.

1990: England, Greece, Italy and Soviet Union bid, with Italy winning the vote against England after the others dropped out.

1994: Brazil, Morocco and USA bid, with USA emerging winners after winning the voting process.

1998: France, Morocco and Switzerland bid with France emerging victorious after winning 11 votes while Morocco and Switzerland getting 7 votes.

2002: Korea Republic, Japan and Mexico bid and for the first time, a joint bid was formed y Japan and South Korea which got the hosting duties after an oral voting.

2006: Brazil, England, Germany, Morocco and South Africa bid with Germany winning against the others in a voting process.

2010: Egypt, Libya/Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa Bid. Libya and Tunisia withdrew and South Africa won with 14 votes against Nigeria's 10 and Egypt's 0.

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

Today we will look at an unique and behind-the-clouds aspect of the FIFA World Cup that is perhaps most important. You guessed it Right - Bidding. We will look at the different bids for the world cups. We will look at 1930-1970 world cups today and 1974-2010 world cups tomorrow. The Format is Year, Aspiring Hosts, Winner.

1930: The aspiring hosts were Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay. Uruguay won the bid after withdrawls for the other bidders.

1934: Only Italy and Sweden bid and as Sweden withdrew, Italy were the hosts.

1938: Argentina, France and Germany were the bidders. Argentind emerged victorious after getting 19 votes.

1950: Brazil had the bid for the 1942 world cup but because of the WWII it couldn't host then. So it was given the bid to host the 1950 World Cup.

1954: Same with Switzerland. Initial hosts for 1946, granted in 1954.

1958: Sweden got the bid after the bidding process went yet again, unopposed.

1962: Argentina, Chile and West Germany. West Germany withdrew and Argentina lost to Chile in voting.

1966: England, West Germany and Sweden were the bidders. England won after securing 34 votes after Spain withdrew.

1970: There were 2 bidders - Argentina and Mexico. Mexico won the bid in voting, with 56 votes.

We will see the remainder of Bidding tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

Today we will have a look at the names of the Official FIFA world Cup footballs from the 1970 world cup to the 2010 World Cup. Unfortunately, there were no names to be found for the World Cup balls before 1970.

1970 and 1974: Telstar

1978: Tango

1982: Tango Espana

1986: Azteca

1990: Etrusco Unico

1994: Questra

1998: Tricolor

2002: Fevernova

2006: Teamgeist

2010: Jabulani

Summer Extravaganza - World Cup Mania

As we all know, the FIFA World Cup 2010 will be held from 11th June. So, this subseries will be all about Football and facts and trivia regarding the World Cup and football altogether. So we begin today....

Today we will have some elementary facts on Countries that have won the FIFA World Cup in the years. The world cup was not held in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. The format is Year, Winners, Runner Ups, Host Country.

1930: Uruguay, Argentina, Uruguay

1934: Italy, Czechoslovakia, Italy

1938: Italy, Hungary, France

1950: Uruguay, Brazil, Brazil

1954: West Germany, Hungary, Switzerland

1958: Brazil, Sweden, Sweden

1962: Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Chile

1966: England, West Germany, England

1970: Brazil, Italy, Mexico

1974: West Germany, Netherlands, West Germany

1978: Argentina, Netherlands, Argentina

1982: Italy, West Germany, Spain

1986: Argentina, West Germany, Mexico

1990: West Germany, Argentina, Italy

1994: Brazil, Italy, United States

1998: France, Brazil, France

2002: Brazil, Germany, Japan/South Korea

2006: Italy, France, Germany

More Foot Bol up for tomorrow....

Summer Extravaganza - Pure Facts

Pure Facts ends today with the package of the last 7 facts:

1. The most ironically named French invention is the Belgian waffle, and the most most ironically named Belgian invention is French toast. These names were originally chosen to confuse the Nazis.

2. Man's closest relative is the chimpanzee, at 6 million years ago.

3. I

talian scientist Galileo Galilei was the first person to observe the surface of the Moon, rings of Saturn and Jupiter and its moons with the help of a self built telescope in 1609.

4. A very well known fact... the bestselling book in the world is the Bible.

5. The full form of LASER is Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation and the full form of MASER is Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

6. Continuing, the full form of SASER is Sound Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation and the full form of UASER is Ultrasound Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Then what is the full form of TASER? read on, you will be surprised!!!

7. The full form of TASER is Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle.

This brigns us to the end of the first subseries in the month of June - Pure Facts.

Summer Extravaganza - Pure Facts

The 7 exciting facts for today are the following:

1. The autobiography of Sir. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin mobiles is titled 'Losing my Virginity'.

2. The ISBN, International Standard Book Number is a unique 13-digit number based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College.

3. The Rubik's Cube, a 3-D mechanical puzzle which is the largest selling puzzle in the world, comes in different variants from 2x2x2 to x7x7.

4. The Pacemaker, invented in 1958, was the first implantable device built in the world, which could completely penetrate the skin and fit inside the human body.

5. Adobe Photoshop, the Photo Software by Adobe, was earlier known as ImagePro.

6. The PET Scan is a Position Emission Tomography Scan, which can show a living brain in action.

7. The full name of Shin Chan, the fun-loving, mischievous 5 year old is Shinnosuke Nohara.

Summer Extravaganza - Pure Facts

Today is the World Environment Day, thus today's Pure Facts will comprise environment-related facts only:

1. The World Environment Day (WED) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. The first World Environment Day was on 1973. World Environment Day is hosted every year by a different city with a different theme and is commemorated with an international exposition on the week that 5 June is on.

2. The slogan for the 2005 WED was "Plan for the Planet" and the Slogan for WED 2006 was "Don't Desert Drylands."

3. Whereas the slogan for the WED 2008 was "CO2, Kick the Habit! Towards a low Carbon Economy" and the one for WED 2009 was "Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change" and the one for this year is "Many Species. One Planet. One Future".

4. The host city for this year's WED is Kigali, Rwanda and the one for last year was Mexico City, Mexico.

5. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference) was an international conference convened under United Nations auspices held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5-16, 1972. This is when the WED was officially established.

6. There are many official environmental dates which are established by the UN, some of these are UN World Day for Water on 22nd March (the Factorium commemorated it), UN World Population Day on July 11 and UN World Day to combat desertification and drought on June 17.

7. The other environmental dates include International Mountain Day on December 11, World Soil Day on December 5, International Day of Climate Action on October 24, International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer on September 16 and World Wetlands Day on February 2.

Wishing Everyday a good green World Environment Day.

Summer Extravaganza - Pure Facts

7 More pure facts are lined up for today:

1. Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he did not wear any pants.

2. Antarctica is the only continent that does not have land areas below the sea level.

3. A well known fact and quiz question... Libya is the only country in the world that has a single coloured green flag.

4. Paraskavedekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th.

5. India shares its independence day date with North and South Korea, Bahrain and Republic of Congo.

6. Eskimos use refrigerators to keep their food from freezing.

7. Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.

Summer Extravaganza - Pure Facts

We continue the quest for pure facts today with 7 of them:

1. The Railway line crossing the Nullarbar plain in Australia has the largest stretch of straight trak in the world with 478 km without a bend or a curve.

2. Mandarin Chinese is spoken by the greatest number of people in the world followed followed by English, Hindi, Spanish and Russian.

3. India has never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

4. The first bar code was used on a Wrigley's chewing gum... a well known fact.

5. Great Britain, the first in the world to issue postage stamps, has no name printed on it.

6. There are till date 44 countries in the world that are entirely land locked and do not have a coastline as a border.

7. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War 1 which ended the state of war between Germany and The Allied Powers.

Summer Extravaganza - Pure Facts

We continue our quest for Pure Facts today:

1.

Stonehenge in the west of England was built between 1800 and 1400 BC. They are the world’s oldest observatories.

2.

The first successful corneal transplant was performed as early as 1835 by a British army surgeon in India.

3. The Largest vein of gold ever discovered is in Antartica, but International Law prohibits mining on the continent.

4. A very well known fact... no English word rhymes with Orange, Purple, Silver or Month.

5. The word "daisy" comes from the Old English "daeges eage", meaning "the eye of the day", as it reminded people of the sun.

6. The Greek philosopher Thales (624-546 B.C.) is considered to be the first philosopher, as he was the first man in history to ask questions such as "Of what is the Universe made?", and to answer without introducing gods and demons.

7. English Heritage, the body that looks after Stonehenge, considered selling the site to a Japanese Conglomerate during a budget crisis in the 1980's.