All the numbers you could possibly want on the World Cup...
There were fewer red cards at the 2014 World Cup than any other edition since 1986 (8).
The 2014 World Cup saw a joint-high number of goals scored (171).
Germany reached their 8th World Cup final, more than any other side in the history of the competition.
Germany scored 18 goals; the last team to score as many in a World Cup was Brazil (also 18) in 2002.
Argentina trailed for just 7 minutes in the entire tournament (excluding injury-time).
Belgium reached the quarter-finals despite only holding a lead for 52 minutes in their 5 matches combined.
Brazil committed 31 fouls in their quarter-final win over Colombia, the most fouls that they had made in a single World Cup game since records began in 1966.
James Rodriguez became the first player to score in his first 5 career World Cup appearances since Peru’s Teofilo Cubillas (across the 1970 and 1978 tournaments). Gerd Muller in 1970 was the last player to do it in a single tournament.
Miroslav Klose became the top-scoring player in World Cup history with his strike against Brazil in the semi-final (16 goals).
This was the first time that 3 sides from the CONCACAF region made it out of the group stages and into the last 16 (since the format began in 1986).
Costa Rica knocked out Italy, England, Greece and beat Uruguay, 4 sides placed in the top 12 positions of the FIFA Rankings (Uruguay 7th, Italy 9th, England 10th, Greece 12th).
Only 6 European nations made it to the last 16, a joint-low since the Round of 16 was introduced in 1986.
All 8 group stage winners progressed to the quarter-finals stage for the first time in World Cup history.
1 point was England’s lowest-ever haul in a World Cup group stage.
In fact, this was the first time that England have been eliminated from a World Cup at the group stage since 1958.
3 of the last 4 teams to win the World Cup have gone out in the following group stage (France 2002, Italy 2010, Spain 2014).
There were more goals scored by substitutes in this World Cup than in any previous edition (32).
Silvestre Varela's goal for Portugal vs USA was the latest during normal-time of a World Cup finals match since 1994 (94:33).
Tim Howard made 15 saves in the USA’s quarter-final defeat to Belgium – no goalkeeper has ever made as many saves in a single World Cup game (1966-2014).
3 of the Netherlands’ 5 outright victories in this World Cup tournament were from losing positions in normal-time.
Italy have exited at the group stage in their last 2 World Cups. The last time they managed this was in the 1960s (1962 and 1966).
Germany are the first European team to win the World Cup in the Americas.
UEFA have won the last 3 World Cups, the first time a single confederation has won 3 in a row.
Germany’s 7-1 win over Brazil was the biggest margin of victory ever seen in a World Cup semi-final and the first time a team had scored 7 in the semi-finals.
With their destruction of Brazil, Germany became the top-scoring nation in World Cup history (223), overtaking Brazil in the process. Germany ended the tournament with 224 goals, 3 ahead of Brazil.
Faryd Mondragón became the oldest player to ever make an appearance at a World Cup finals when he came on for Colombia vs Ivory Coast (43y 3d).
Luke Shaw was the youngest player to play at this World Cup finals, when he played for England vs Costa Rica (18y 348d).
13.3% of shots were scored, a higher proportion than in any other World Cup tournament since records began in 1966.
There were only 3 direct free-kicks scored at these finals, the fewest since 1986 (3). In 2010 there were 5 scored, while in 2006 and 2002, 9 were scored.
The only World Cup to see more own goals than this tournament (5) was the 1998 finals (6).
Switzerland’s Diego Benaglio was the only goalkeeper to register a shot at the 2014 tournament, thanks to a late effort vs Argentina.
Algeria goalkeeper Rais M'Bolhi created 2 goalscoring chances for the Foxes; only 3 of his team-mates managed more in the tournament.
Brazil have topped every group they’ve played in at a World Cup from 1982 onwards.
Spain conceded 5+ goals in an international (1-5 vs Netherlands) for the first time since losing 6-2 to Scotland in June 1963.
A 4-goal margin is the biggest losing margin by a defending champion at a World Cup.
Brazil’s 7-1 defeat to Germany was the biggest losing margin by a host nation at a World Cup.
Tim Cahill has scored in 3 World Cups for Australia; no other Australian has done so in more than one tournament.
Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan (6) overtook Cameroon’s Roger Milla (5) as all-time top scoring African player at a World Cup.
Algeria became the first African team to score 4 goals in a World Cup game when they beat South Korea 4-2.
Wayne Rooney recorded his first World Cup assist in England’s opening game vs Italy and his first goal in their game vs Uruguay.
Keisuke Honda became the first Japanese player to score at 2 separate World Cups.
Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri scored the first entirely left-footed hat-trick at a World Cup (1966-2014).
Shaqiri's treble was also the 50th hat-trick in the history of the World Cup.
By losing 4-0 to Germany, Portugal conceded 4 goals in a World Cup for the first time in their history.
Clint Dempsey’s 29th-second goal vs Ghana for the USA was the fifth-fastest in World Cup history.
England goalkeeper Joe Hart made only 1 save in 2 World Cup games.
In his 126 minutes of World Cup action, Diego Costa failed to muster a single shot on target (and only 5 shots in total).
In winning Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012, Spain conceded a total of 6 goals, 1 fewer than they did in their 3 matches at World Cup 2014.
Alex Song picked up Cameroon’s eighth red card in their World Cup history. His relative Rigobert Song is 1 of only 2 players (along with Zinedine Zidane) to be sent off twice at World Cups, meaning the Song family is responsible for 3 of Cameroon’s 8 reds.
Olivier Giroud’s opening goal vs Switzerland was France’s 100th goal at World Cup finals.
Neymar scored the 100th goal of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil’s 100th game in World Cup finals history.
Honduras have now played 9 games without a win at the World Cup (D3 L6). They have played more matches at the World Cup without winning than any other side (New Zealand, El Salvador and Bolivia all managed 6).
Ghana went out in the group stage for the first time ever (in their third World Cup). Now only 3 teams have never exited in a World Cup opening group stage: Germany, Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland.
Fabio Capello has won 1 of his 7 World Cup games as a manager.
Mexico have been knocked out of the World Cup finals at the second round stage in all 6 editions since 1994; no team has been knocked out at this stage as often as this.
Nigeria have lost all 3 of their World Cup second round ties (0-2 vs France in 2014, 1-2 vs Italy in 1994 and 1-4 vs Denmark in 1998).
Angel di Maria’s goal vs Switzerland is the latest ever scored by Argentina at the World Cup (118 minutes).
Switzerland have failed to score in their last 3 World Cup knockout matches, last scoring in one in 1954.
Belgium only conceded a total of 3 goals in 5 games at the 2014 World Cup.
The Netherlands have progressed to the semi-finals in 3 of their last 4 World Cups.
Costa Rica’s Keylor Navas saved 21 of the 23 shots on target that he faced at this World Cup (91%).
Thomas Muller has scored 10 goals and provided 6 assists in just 13 World Cup matches.
Against Brazil in the semi-final, Germany were 5-0 up faster than any other team in World Cup history (29 minutes).
The 7-1 defeat to Germany equalled Brazil’s all-time biggest margin of defeat (lost 6-0 to Uruguay in 1920).
Germany scored 2 more goals vs Brazil than England have in their past 2 World Cup campaigns combined.
Argentina have progressed from all 4 of their World Cup semi-finals.
Argentina vs Netherlands was the first World Cup semi-final to finish 0-0 (including extra-time). Lionel Messi did not touch the ball in the opposition box in the entire 120 minutes.
9 of the 14 goals Brazil conceded in this World Cup came in the first 30 minutes of their games.
Brazil conceded 10 goals from 14 shots on target in the semi-final and third place play-off game combined.
Mario Götze is the first substitute to score a winning goal in the World Cup final.
Götze is the youngest scorer of a goal in a World Cup final since Wolfgang Weber in 1966 (22 years, 33 days).
Sami Khedira is the 10th player to win the European Cup/Champions League and World Cup in the same season.
Gary Parkinson is a freelance writer, editor, trainer, muso, singer, actor and coach. He spent 14 years at FourFourTwo as the Global Digital Editor and continues to regularly contribute to the magazine and website, including major features on Euro 96, Subbuteo, Robert Maxwell and the inside story of Liverpool's 1990 title win. He is also a Bolton Wanderers fan.
