Like all sports, numbers and statistics are an integral part of the world of football, which is preparing for the start of the World Cup in Qatar, which starts on Sunday until 18 December.
The website of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) has published some remarkable numbers on the eve of the start of the finals of the twenty-second edition of the World Cup.
203
That’s the length of Dutch goalkeeper Andres Nobert, who will be the tallest player to participate in the Qatar World Cup, ahead of his counterparts, Serbian goalkeepers Vania Milinkovic-Savic (202) and Belgian Thibaut Courtois (200), while the Australian defender Harry Sutar (198) heads the list of tallest outfielders.
When Courtois and Belgium face Morocco in the World Cup in the second round of Group F competitions, Real Madrid’s Spanish goalkeeper will face midfielder Elias Al-Shaer (164), so the height difference between them is 36 centimeters. And the biggest difference in height during the World Cup in the current century remains 39 centimeters between Montenegrin giant Nikola Djegic and Ivory Coast Bakari Koné during the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
163
The English leagues will be represented at the World Cup in Qatar by 163 players out of 831 who will participate in the finals, which is a total of 19.6% of the total number, which is almost double the number of representatives of the second league after it, which is that Spanish with 86 players. The Premier League was also represented in Russia 2018 by the largest number (124 out of 736, or a total of 16.9%).
117
Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 117 goals for his country, more than the total scored by all 26 players in the squads of the 15 teams participating in the finals: Australia, Cameroon, Ecuador, Ghana, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, Countries Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, Tunisia, United States and Wales.
40
Mexican goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera will break the 40-year barrier of 63 days at the start of the finals, making him the oldest player at the World Cup in Qatar. And in the event that he gets his slim chance to attend the presence of fellow veteran Guillermo Ochoa (37), Talavera will become the eighth 40-year-old player to participate in the finals after his Italian counterparts Dino Zoff, Northern Irishman Pat Jennings, Peter Chilton from England, Ali Bumenigl from Tunisia, Fred Mondragon from Colombia, Essam El-Hadary from Egypt and Roger Milla from Cameroon.
And after Talavera in terms of age in the Qatar finals, and in the thirty-ninth, each of Canadian midfielder Atiba Hutchinson, Portuguese defense heart Pepe, Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, Brazilian right-back Danny Alves and the Netherlands goalkeeper Rimko Pasvir Tualia in order of age.
Mila remains the oldest outfield player in Finals history, as she was 42 years, one month and 8 days old during her last appearance at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
In Qatar, Hutchinson will be the oldest outfield player, born on February 8, 1983, 18 days before Pepe.
26
Hosts Qatar and neighboring Saudi Arabia will be the only two countries to have professional players together in the domestic league. England were the only team to play local players in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but relinquished this advantage in the current World Cup due to the inclusion of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham in the squad. coach Gareth Southgate.
18
Yusuf Moukoko will be Qatar’s youngest World Cup player as the German striker celebrates his 18th birthday as Sunday’s finals opener, overtaking Denmark’s Christian Eriksen on the list of youngest players from mainland Europe in the finals, behind Northern Ireland’s Norman Whiteside, who was 17 years and 41 days old when he faced Yugoslavia at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
Mokoko will be among six 18-year-old players during this edition, alongside Australian Garang Cole, Spaniard Gavi, Costa Rican Jewison Bennett, Moroccan Bilal Al Khanous and Ghanaian Isaac Abdul Fatao. At the age of 19 years and 5 months, Australian fullback Daniel Arzani was the youngest player in the 2018 Russian Finals.
17
Bayern Munich will be the most represented club in the finals with 17 players, as their players are spread among teams from Cameroon, Canada, Croatia, France, Morocco, Netherlands, Senegal and Germany, of course. This is followed by Barcelona, Spain, and Manchester City, England, with 16 players each.
10
France are represented in the Qatar finals by 10 players who were part of the 2018 squad that won the title at the expense of Croatia, and they are goalkeepers Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda and Alphonse Areola, as well as Osman Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann , Lucas Hernandez, Kylian Mbappe, Benjamin Pavard and Raphael Varane. . In 2014, Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque brought along 16 players from the squad that won the title four years earlier, while Germany were represented four years ago by nine players from the 2014 champions’ squad.
10
German Thomas Muller is the player with the most goals at the World Cup among the participants in the current edition with ten goals, followed by Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (7), Uruguayan Luis Soares (7), Englishman Harry Kane (6) , by the Argentine Lionel Messi (6) and the Brazilian Neymar (6).
Mueller has the opportunity to advance in the finals’ top scorer list, as just four goals separate him from third place occupied by his compatriot, the late ‘scorer’ Gerd Mueller, while his other compatriot Miroslav Klose tops the table with 16 ahead of the Brazilian phenomenon Ronaldo (15).
5
Four players will compete in the World Cup finals for the fifth time in their careers, and it’s Mexicans Andres Guardado and goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, Argentine Lionel Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, to match the other Mexican goalkeeper’s feat Antonio Carvajal and Rafael Marques, the Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and the German Lothar Matthaus.
