Obscure Football Facts That Will Surprise You

As the football season is coming to an end and the titles are being given out, I wanted to recap some of the most interesting and obscure statistics that are out there in the football world. Some of them will surprise you, other will be probably already know. For me these statistics were truly bizarre when I first heard about them. With that being said, there are probably more bizarre and obscure statistics out there, so feel free to share the most obscure statistic that you can think of from the top of your head!

Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Unfulfilled

I think that every football fan knows who I am talking about when I mention the name “Zlatan”. Although this amazing footballer and part time Kung-Fu-Fighter is not getting any younger he is still playing on a very high level at Milan. He is a personality that shows edge and this is what makes him liked by many football fans out there. Comments like “Training starts when Zlatan says that training starts” are just the tip of the iceberg. But why is he on my list today? Well, this is because Zlatan never won a Champions League title. Hm, yeah, for a star-player like him, this would be certainly a surprise but haven’t many players not won a Champions League title? Well, yes I agree, wouldn’t it be for the fact that the played for six teams which actually won the Champions League during the period of his career. Clubs like: Barcelona, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Manchester United, Juventus Turin and Ajax Amsterdam were his stations but unfortunately for him he was not around when they won the Champions League. Maybe this is the reason why he is trying to extend his amazing career.

Fernando Torres – Competition Scorer

Let’s stay with strikers for the next fact. Most of you will know Fernando Torres as well. The Spaniard was truly amazing at Liverpool and had a very good run until he transferred to Chelsea. His time there was very unlucky and he was made fun of by many fans and experts. The bizarre fact that is related to him is that in the season 13/14, he was able to score at least one goal in every competitions that Chelsea played in. This includes: Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, Club World Cup, FA Cup, Community Shield and League Cup. Despite his bad form at Chelsea this is a truly interesting fact and as far as I know nobody else has achieved this kind of statistic.

Rogerio Ceni – Goalscoring Goalie

Staying with goals this time (my transitions are on point in this post! :D). Normally, a goalkeeper is supposed to prevent the opposition from scoring goals. This obviously means that he is the furthest away from the goal of scoring for his own team. On rare occasions some goalkeepers are managing to score last minute equalizers when their team has a corner in the last few seconds of the game. But what if I told you that there was a goalkeeper out there who was known to score goals? This goalkeeper’s name is Rogerio Ceni and he was able to score 131 goals in his career. To be honest, most of his goals were penalties and free kicks but his free kick technique was so amazing that the coaches and players trusted this man to take it. It requires a lot of bravery to make this decision, since during the time of the free kick your own goal is empty, but it was worth taking the risk since, 131 goals are speaking for themselves!

Josip Simunic – Two Time Are Not Enough

Moving away from goals and towards other statistics which are present in the world of football: Yellow and Red Cards. Everybody knows, if you get a red card you have to leave the pitch. The same outcome happens if you get two yellow cards which transforms into a red card. Or is it? In the Word Cup game between Croatia and Portugal in the year of 2006 Josip Simunic did not walk off after his second yellow card. The referee who was officiating this game was probably overwhelmed of the amount of cards that he had to give out that he just did not realize his mistake. But because this game was so rough anyways Simunic was able to receive his third yellow card shortly after which made him ultimately leave the pitch. This match ended with sixteen yellow cards and four send-offs which is a World Cup record in itself.

New Zealand – Unbeatable Losers

The final obscure fact lets us move to another World Cup which took place four years later in 2010 in South Africa. One of the teams that qualified for this tournament was New Zealand. Because they were such an underdog, they immediately got the sympathies of the fans and they knew how to repay it. In a difficult group with reigning World Cup winner Italy, Slovakia and Paraguay the last place was reserved for New Zealand. But what happened was truly amazing! This team went through the group stage without a loss. Due to a 0-0 against Paraguay, and a 1-1 tie against Italy and Slovakia, the underdogs from New Zealand were able to collect 3 points and leave Italy behind. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to proceed into the next round without wins which sent New Zealand home and out of the World Cup. What is left behind is the statistics that New Zealand was the only team in the tournament to not lose a match.

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Published by ga38jem on
Sports Talk Social
On 2nd May 2022