15 Surprising Stats About Football

Behind every sport, there’s a wealth of facts and statistics that will surprise even the biggest fans, but particularly in the world of football. From the number of shots scored to the distance a player runs on average during the course of the game, there are many interesting pieces of information that many fans aren’t aware of. If you want to impress your mates with some trivia, or if you just want to improve you knowledge for gambling reasons, to place a football bet for today, here are 15 stats that you might not know about football.

1. Football was actually invented in China nearly 476 B.C. and has since become the most watched and most played sport in the world.

2. In every game of football, players prove their skill and fitness but also their stamina – in fact, players run an average of 9.65km over the course of the match.

3. The maximum number of goals ever scored was in December 1942 by a French player called Stephan Stanis. He scored 16 goals for his side Racing Club during a French Cup match against Aubry Asturies.

4. Of all the players to take ten or more spot kicks in the Premier League, Yaya Toure is the only one to have a 100% success rate.

5. One of the quickest goals ever scored was made by Ricardo Olivera in December 1998, in a staggering 2.8 seconds.

6. In professional football, the ball has stayed the same size and shape for more than 120 years – 28inches in circumference.

7. One of the largest football tournaments in football history took place in 1999 and comprised 5,098 teams and more than 35,000 players.

8. Asmir Begovic scored the quickest and longest goal in football history on 2^nd November 2013 when he played against Southampton. At 100.5 yards, it earned the Guinnes World Record for the longest goal and is unbeaten to this day.

9. In 2017, Manchester United scored four goals in their opening two Premier League games of a season, breaking a 110-year spell.

10. Lee Todd currently holds the record for receiving the fastest red card in the sport after using foul language on the pitch.

11. The largest number of goals in a football game was 149-0 when Stade Olympique de L’emyme played against AS Adema of Madagascar.

12. Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player to have scored a goal in every single minute of the game, with the exception of the seventh.

13. The world’s first football club was actually founded in 1857 and was the Sheffield Football Club.

14. The current world record for the most goals scored by a single player in one match is held by Archie Thompson, who scored an impressive 13 goals against American Samoa in Australia’s 31-0 victory in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. In the very same match, fellow player David Zdrilic scored 8 goals.

15. In the 2017 Premier League season, Tottenham’s goal difference of +60 was the highest ever achieved by a team who didn’t win the title.