On June 11 and for the first time ever, the world cup will be held on African soil. Can you believe it, the world cup is here. 32 nations competing for the gold while 27 billion hold their breath and wait for the drama to unfold.

I’ll try and avoid the rehashed stuff all the other soccer sites are talking about.

Did you know, the original World Cup was made from gold-plated sterling silver? Legend has it that FIFA Vice President Ottorino Barassi put the trophy in a shoebox and placed it under his bed to hide it from the Germans troops during World War 2.

Fast forward two decades later and the trophy went missing in 1966. The scene was England and to the rescue came a dog named Pickles who found the gold under a hedge.

Unfortunately the original World Cup was stolen again in 1983 and never recovered.

The current trophy is held by the winners until the next tournament and then replaced by a gold plated replica.

The World Cup Tournament

A record 204 Nations competed for 32 spots. The only country guaranteed a spot was South Africa the host nation.

The World is represented as follows, 13 spots were allocated to Europe, 5 to Africa, 4 to South America and Asia and 4 to North, Central America and the Caribbean area had 3.

I know what you’re thinking, that’s only 29. South Africa makes it 30 and the other 2 nations were determined by inter-zone play offs.

World Cup Statistics and Numbers

Discipline and order will be maintained by 41,000 police officers from all over the world.

15,000 Volunteers will be working, or should I say helping.

The oldest player to play in the World Cup was Cameroon’s Roger Milla at the young age of 42 years and 39 days.

The fastest goal ever scored goes to Turkey’s Hakan Sukur in 2002 against Korea after just 11 seconds.

Brazil have won the World Cup a record 5 times.

140 goals were scored in 26 matches during the 1954 World Cup with an average of 5.4 goals per match.

Croatian Josip Simunic (some would argue Australian) was given 3 yellow cards in the 2006 match against Australia before finally being sent off.

Frenchman Zinedine Zidane’s 2 red cards, 4 yellow cards in 3 World Cups is a penalty record. Not to mention the best head butt the tournament has ever seen.

Last but not least, 3 million tickets are available for the 64 matches.