Are you one of the five billion soccer fans around the world? That’s more than half of the world’s entire population! While soccer is beloved across the globe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa represent the largest fan bases, according to the International Federation of Association Football. It’s time to play the field of knowledge and score some soccer facts:
5 Spectacular Soccer Facts
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- The largest soccer stadium in the world is in North Korea. (source) The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium is located in capital city Pyongyang and has a seating capacity of around 114,000 people.
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- The highest-paid athlete in the world is a soccer player. (source) Portuguese soccer player Christiano Ronaldo is worth $136 million and now has an annual salary of an estimated $75 million since his move from Manchester United to Al Nassr.
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- Soccer is the most popular sport in 155 countries. (source) This chart exploring the most popular sport in every country truly highlights just how celebrated soccer is across the globe.
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- FIFA stated that around 1.5 billion people tuned in to watch the 2022 World Cup final live. (source) In addition, it sparked almost six billion engagements on social media!
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- Soccer in its modern form originated in England in the middle of the 19th century. (source) However, predecessors to soccer have existed much earlier. The first known examples of a team game using a ball, which was made out of stone, occurred in Mesoamerican cultrues over 3,000 years ago. The Aztecs called it Tchatali. The ball symbolized the sun and the captain of the losing team would be sacrificed to the gods.
