F I F A

WORLD CUP
From Uruguay 1930 to Qatar 2022
A mini-report about the biggest sporting event in the world.
Intelligence by Techpoint
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AUTHORS
Abiodun Adenle
Precious Mogoli
Yinka Awosanya
 PREFACE
The Fédération Internationale de Football because, unlike Abiodun and I, they love the game.
Association (FIFA) World Cup is the biggest sporting
In no time, we decided to do a mini-report about the
event globally, though Olympics enthusiasts might
World Cup since it was first held in Uruguay in 1930.
disagree. The quadrennial tournament hosts 32
We immediately jumped on data gathering and only
countries from Asia, Africa, North and Central
waited for the final game between Argentina and
America and the Caribbean, South America, Oceania,
France to update our statistics.
and Europe. The most recent edition of the 93-year-
old tournament, Qatar 2022, was held between This mini-report — FIFA World Cup: from Uruguay
November 20 and December 18. 1930 to Qatar 2022 — tells some of the compelling
stories in World Cup history. One such story is that
I should correct an impression before you read
the late Edson Arantes do Nascimento, popularly
further — I am not a fan of the game. If anything, I am
known as Pelé, is the only one ever mentioned in the
pretty clueless, even though Germany 2006 caught
Greatest of All Time (GOAT) discussions with at least
my attention for some reason that now eludes me. In
five goals in World Cup knockout matches.
the spirit of full disclosure, I watched a bit of South
Africa 2010, which ended for me with Ghana’s exit. We put this mini-report together, hoping that lovers
of the beautiful game and those who flirt with
Abiodun Adenle, Research Analyst at Intelligence by
it — like Abiodun and I — will find it insightful and
Techpoint, and I discussed the possibility of sharing
informative.
two insights about the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which
had just begun. We brought it up later when Precious
Yinka Awosanya
Mogoli (Lead Sub-editor) and Chimgozirim Nwokoma
Research Lead, Intelligence by Techpoint
(Senior Reporter) were in the office. They blew it up

FIFA World Cup 4

 CONTENT

- Players 8
- Countries 14
- How Qatar hosted the most technology 17
advanced FIFA World Cup in 2022
- Tournaments 24
- Qatar 2022 29

5 FIFA World Cup

 HIGHLIGHTS

South Korea’s

22
World Cup
80
have
national
teams
2,720
178
red cards
Portuguese coach,
Paulo Bento,
became the first
goals in shown so coach in World Cup
tournaments participated in
962 far history to get
to date FIFA World Cups
to date matches a red card during
Qatar 2022.

Brazil has
participated in Miroslav Klose has Lionel Messi has Cameroon’s Roger
every World Cup scored the most played the most Milla is the oldest
goals in World Cup World Cup matches outfield player to play
history in the World Cup

FIFA World Cup 6

7 FIFA World Cup
 Players

FIFA World Cup 8

 ALL-TIME LEADING GOAL SCORERS IN WORLD CUP HISTORY

(Goals) *Matches (Tournaments)

Klose (16) *24 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)

Ronaldo (15) *19 (**1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)

Muller (14) *13 (1970, 1974)

Fontaine (13) *6 (1958)

Messi (13) *26 (2006, **2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)

Pelé (12) *14 (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970)

Mbappe (12) *14 (2018, 2022)

Kocsis (11) *5 (1954)

Klinsmann (11) *17 (1990, 1994, 1998)

Germany has more players with at least 11 World Cup goals

than any other country.

**Ronaldo and Messi didn’t score at USA 94 and South Africa 2010, respectively.
9 FIFA World Cup
 MOST WORLD CUP MATCHES
26 25 24 23 22 21

Messi Matthaus Klose Maldini C. Ronaldo Maradona

21 21 20 20 20 20

Seeler Zmuda Cafu Lahm Lato Mascherano

20 20 20 19 19 19

Schweinsteiger Marquez Giroud Overath Ronaldo Rummenigge

19 19 19 19

Vogts Mertesacker Griezmann Modric *World Cup match appearances

FIFA World Cup 10

 OLDEST PLAYERS IN WORLD CUP HISTORY

45 yrs,
161 ds

43 yrs, Cameroon’s Roger Milla is

3 ds
the only outfield player to
42 yrs,
play at a World Cup after
39 ds
turning 40, bringing the
40 yrs, number of Africans on this
41 yrs
292 ds 40 yrs, 40 yrs, list to three.
133 ds 71 ds Milla’s goal against Russia
at USA ‘94 made him the
oldest scorer in World Cup
history.

: Goalkeeper
: Outfield player
(Last World (Russia (Brazil (USA (Mexico (Italy (Spain (Germany
Cup) 2018) 2014) ‘94) ‘86) ‘90) ‘82) 2006)

Essam Faryd Roger Pat Peter Dino Ali

El-Hadary Mondragón Milla Jennings Shilton Zoff Boumnijel

11 FIFA World Cup

 MOST GOALS SCORED IN A WORLD CUP MATCH

Oleg Salenko RUS vs CMR (USA ‘94)

Ernst Willimowski POL vs BRA (France ‘38)

Ademir de Menezes BRA vs SWE (Brazil ‘50)

Sandor Kocsis HUN vs DEU (Switzerland ‘54)

Just Fontaine FRA vs DEU (Sweden ‘58)

Eusébio da Silva PRT vs PRK (England ‘66)

Emilio Butragueño ESP vs DNK (Mexico ‘86)

FIFA World Cup 12

 MOST GOALS IN WORLD CUP KNOCKOUT MATCHES

(Goals) (Tournaments)

Ronaldo de Lima (8) (1998-2006)

Oldrich Nejedly (7) (1934-1938)

• Brazil’s Pelé is the only one
Pelé (7) (1958-1970)
mentioned in Greatest of All
Edvaldo Izidio Neto (Vavá) (7) (1958-1962) Time (GOAT) discussions to
score at least 5 goals in WC
Leônidas da Silva (6) (1934-1938)
knockout games.
Gary Lineker (6) (1986-1990) • Argentina’s Maradona (4)
and Messi (4) and Portugal’s
Gyorgy Sarosi (6) (1934-1938)
Christiano Ronaldo (0) have
Roberto Baggio (5) (1990-1998) only scored 8 knockout goals
Eusébio (5) (1966) between them, despite Qatar
2022 being Messi and Ronaldo’s
Miroslav Klose (5) (2002-14) 5th WC appearance.
Kylian Mbappé (5) (2018-22) • Eusébio, Piola, and Zsengeller
each scored 5 goals in one WC.
Silvio Piola (5) (1938)

Wesley Sneijder (5) (2006-2014)

Zinedine Zidane (5) (1998-2006)

Gyula Zsengeller (5) (1938)

13 FIFA World Cup

 Countries

FIFA World Cup 14

 COUNTRIES WITH THE COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST
MOST WORLD CUP WINS WORLD CUP APPEARANCES

Brazil Brazil 22

Germany 20
Germany
Italy 18
Italy
Argentina 18

Argentina Mexico 17

England 16
France
France 16
Uruguay
Spain 16
England Uruguay 14

Spain Belgium 14

Brazil is the only country to have been at all 22 World Cups, winning the trophy a record five times.
The top four countries by appearance have the most World Cup wins.

15 FIFA World Cup

 COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST RED CARDS IN WORLD CUP HISTORY

Brazil 11

Argentina 10

Cameroon 9

Uruguay 9

Germany 8

Italy 8

Netherlands 8

Czechia 6

France 6

Mexico 6

Portugal 5

FIFA World Cup 16

How Qatar hosted the most
technology advanced FIFA
World Cup in 2022
I
N case you’ve been living under a rock, Argentina
won its third World Cup on Sunday, December 18,
2022, in an exhilarating final against France. The
tournament was a spectacle and a testament to
technology’s ongoing global invasion. Interestingly,
we experienced the next step in a developing theme
during FIFA tournaments: more technology in
football.
The game has evolved from introducing yellow and
red cards at Mexico 70 to using a video assistant
referee (VAR) tasked with reviewing a referee’s
decision to award a card, among other things.
The video assistant referee (VAR) was written into
the Laws of the Game (LOTG) by the International
Football Association Board in 2018 after being
trialled extensively at some major competitions.
The rest, as they say, is history, and people will
remember Qatar for its use of tech and innovation
during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
17
With over 3.5 billion fans, football is unarguably
the world’s most popular sport. The first known
example of the game dates back over 3,000 years
and was played in old Mesoamerican cultures with a
ball made out of a rock. However, the debate about
the origin of the game is ongoing. What is not up
for argument is that the game as we know it today
was developed in England in the 12th century. Many
variants existed between the Mesoamerican and the
British versions, cutting across cuju in China, kemari
in Japan, to Ancient Roman military exercises called
harpastum.
Fast forward to 2022, and football has evolved
beyond even the wildest possible imaginations, with
technology sinking its tentacles deep into the game
across on-field and off-field applications.
The recent edition of the Fédération Internationale
de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup was held
in Qatar between November 20 and December 18,
2022.
When Qatar won the bid to host the World Cup
in December 2010, edging out seemingly better-
prepared countries like the USA and Japan, the
outcry among football stakeholders was loud.
FIFA World Cup
There were allegations of bribery and corruption
on the way to securing the bid, all of which Qatar
vehemently denied. The oil-rich nation maintains its
position today, insisting all bid-related actions were
above the board.
Qatar is a peninsular Arab country with desert
terrain. Why is this piece of geographical information
important, you might ask. Well, beyond the public
outcry after FIFA announced the host country, one
of the primary reasons cited while arguing against
Qatar’s suitability to host the tournament was its
intense summer heat and high humidity, which is
never good for footballers. Per Andrew Hulton, an
exercise scientist, “Humidity is definitely a bigger
issue than heat. Even in the shade, the humidity will
still affect you, and can affect you for longer.”
It also did not help that it would hold in November-
December, deviating from the June-July cycle fans
are accustomed to. You see, as loved as the FIFA
World Cup is, hosting it in November-December was
always going to be disruptive. For who? Football
leagues, administrators, players, coaches, and
fans. Also, the fear of players returning to their
clubs injured was not misplaced. France’s Lucas
Hernandez, who ruptured his anterior cruciate
FIFA World Cup
ligament (ACL) in his side’s 4-1 victory over Australia,
is a good case in point. I doubt Julian Nagelsmann,
Hernandez’s coach at Bayern Munich, received the
news well, considering most athletes return from
ACL injuries between six to nine months.
But I digress.
Ignoring all the noise surrounding the now-
concluded tournament, Qatar hosted what is
unarguably the most tech-advanced/enabled FIFA
World Cup to date.
A technology exhibition
The technology on display at Qatar 2022 cut across
on-field and off-field use, enhancing gameplay and
people’s experiences. The usual suspects — goal-
line technology and VAR — were all in use, being
FIFA requirements, so what we want to do with this
article is look at some of the more interesting and
new tech that was on display in Qatar.
On-field technology
Al Rihla (The Journey)
There is no better place to start than Al Rihla (Arabic
for “the journey”), the Official Match Ball for the
18
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM. The accuracy of this
During its reveal in March 2022, Adidas said, “Al solution was evident
Rihla will be the first World Cup Official Match Ball in the disputes
to feature this innovation, providing precise ball over who scored
data, which will be made available to Video Match Portugal’s first goal
Officials in real time. Combined with player position in their 2-0 group-
data and by applying artificial intelligence, the stage victory over
innovative connected ball technology contributes to Uruguay.
FIFA’s semi-automated offside technology and offers “In the match
Video Assistant Referees instantaneous information between Portugal
to help optimize decision making. and Uruguay, using
“A new Adidas Suspension System in the center the Connected Ball
of the ball hosts and stabilizes a 500Hz inertial Technology housed in Adidas’s Photo Credit: Adidas
measurement unit (IMU) motion sensor, which Al Rihla Official Match Ball, we are able to definitively
provides unprecedented insight into every element show no contact on the ball from Cristiano Ronaldo
of the movement of the ball, while making this for the opening goal in the game. No external force
technology unnoticeable for players and not on the ball could be measured as shown by the lack
affecting its performance whatsoever. The sensor of ‘heartbeat’ in our measurements. The 500Hz IMU
is powered by a rechargeable battery, which can be sensor inside the ball allows us to be highly accurate
charged by induction.” in our analysis,” FIFA said in its statement to ESPN
on behalf of Adidas.
But as a fan, you’d wonder how this would happen,
considering the long waits often experienced when
VAR checks are conducted. But Adidas solved the FIFA Player App
problem of wait times by designing their IMU motion The FIFA Player App allows players to access their
sensor to send out data 500 times per second. performance data. If you are like me, you’d probably
19 FIFA World Cup
 Information from the Player App allows teams to
communicate via voice and text. It also facilitates
sending and receiving still images and drawings,
which probably explains why some members of the
coaching crew were staring intensely and frantically
scribbling at many points during the world cup.

Semi-automated offside technology

The newly introduced semi-automated offside
technology (SAOT) is not a standalone technology.
Photo Credit: FIFA Instead, it is a support tool for the VAR and on-field
say, “Only the likes of Erling Haaland and Christiano
referees. Per FIFA, “The new technology uses 12
Ronaldo are interested in such fine performance
dedicated tracking cameras mounted underneath
details.” Then again, maybe you are not like me, and
you understand why players want to get this data
after matches. However, we can agree that coaching
staff need such information.
The Player App collects data via tracking system
devices in cameras positioned around the field,
which capture the distance players cover and at what
speeds, maximum game speed, and actions done
while going as fast as 25 km/h. The data displayed
on a heat map provides live game analyses like
receiving locations, pressure applied to the player
with the ball, moment of play, etc. Photo Credit: FIFA
FIFA World Cup 20
the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to payment.
29 data points of each individual player, 50 times
With Visa installing 5,300 contactless payment
per second, calculating their exact position on the
terminals in Qatar, the 2022 FIFA World Cup was “...
pitch. The 29 collected data points include all limbs
the most payment-enabled FIFA tournament ever,”
and extremities that are relevant for making offside
said Saeeda Jaffar, Senior VP and Gulf Country
calls.”
Cooperation Region Manager at Visa.
SAOT made its official appearance at Qatar 2022
after being trialled and tested at FIFA tournaments,
The Bonocle and Feelix Palm
including the FIFA Arab Cup 2021TM and the FIFA
Club World Cup 2021TM.
With SAOT, a player can be offside by a fingernail or
a wild strand of hair.

Off-the-field tech
Visa’s Pay with your face
Football fans who made the trip to see games in
Qatar could enable facial recognition as a payment
option. This was the first time in the history of
sporting events that this innovative approach to
Photo Credit: Bonocle
payments was used, with Visa’s Pay with your face
taking centre stage. I don’t know if Venessa Williams’ 1992 song, Save
the Best for Last, popularised the expression, “Save
The process was as simple as:
the best for last,” or if it was the genesis. What I do
1. Enrol and record face biometrics. know, however, is that I kept what I consider the most
2. Show your face as a form of contactless significant innovation till the end.
21 FIFA World Cup
As a lover of the beautiful game, I have often thought
about the visually impaired and their inability to take
in the game. So, I was glad when a video of a man
explaining the events of a live match to his blind
friend went viral in early 2021. Now imagine my
joy when I realised that the visually impaired were
adequately considered before the world cup kicked
off in Qatar. Visually impaired fans would enjoy the
games with the aid of The Bonocle and The Feelix
Palm.
According to Boncole’s founders, “Bonocle will
enable the blind community all over the world to
Photo Credit: Feelix Palm
FIFA World Cup
experience the World Cup in 2022 in new ways
that were never available before…It will remove the
barriers that have kept blind people restricted and
open doors for them to explore new things and new
places.”
The Bonocle works as a smartphone/tablet controller
and converts screen content to real-time Braille.
Feelix Palm, on the other hand, is a palm communicator
with tactile features that uses electric impulses to
offer braille-like messages to the visually impaired
without restricting their physical movement or
hearing.
One interesting thing about both technologies is
that users get different types of information about
the surrounding environment in real time.
Conclusion
What is a record if not motivation to excel? The onus is
now on USA, Canada, and Mexico — joint hosts of the
2026 FIFA World Cup — to outdo Qatar and showcase
the latest and most innovative technologies on the
beautiful game’s grandest stage. If you ask me, they
are off to a good start on the record-setting front,
with the next edition of the world cup being hosted
22
by more than two nations for the first time since
Korea and Japan co-hosted it in 2002.
The 23rd edition of the quadrennial tournament is
set to feature 48 teams for the first time, which can
only mean one thing — more GOALS!!!

23 FIFA World Cup

 Tournaments

*A total of 18 countries have hosted the World Cup with Brazil, France,
Germany, Italy, and Mexico each hosting the tournament twice.

FIFA World Cup 24

MOST GROUP STAGE GOALS IN WORLD CUP HISTORY

Brazil 2014 136

Spain ‘82 129

Korea - Japan 2002 128

France ‘98 126

Russia 2018 122

Qatar 2022 120

Germany 2006 117

Mexico ‘86 114

South Africa 2010 101

Argentina ‘78 95

West Germany ‘74 93

Switzerland ‘54 92

United States ‘94 92

Sweden ‘58 91

25 FIFA World Cup

 MOST GOALS SCORED IN WORLD CUP HISTORY

Qatar 2022 172

Russia 2018 171

Brazil 2014 171

South Africa 2010 169

Germany 2006 161

Korea - Japan 2002 147

France ‘98 146

USA ‘94 145

Italy ‘90 141

Mexico ‘86 140

Spain ‘82 132

Argentina ‘78 126

West Germany ‘74 115

Mexico ‘70 102

FIFA World Cup 26

HIGHEST SCORING MATCHES IN WORLD CUP HISTORY

Austria 7-5 Switzerland (Switzerland ‘54) 12

Brazil 6-5 Poland (France ‘38) 11

Hungary 8-3 West Germany (Switzerland ‘54) 11

Hungary 10-1 El Salvador (Spain ‘82) 11

France 7-3 Paraguay (Sweden ‘58) 10

Argentina 6-3 Mexico (Uruguay ‘30) 9

Hungary 9-0 Korea Republic (Switzerland ‘54) 9

West Germany 7-2 Turkey (Switzerland ‘54) 9

France 6-3 West Germany (Sweden ‘58) 9

Yugoslavia 9-0 Zaire (West Germany ‘74) 9

Four of the 26 matches played in the 1954 tournament recorded

at least 9 goals.

27 FIFA World Cup

 TOURNAMENTS WITH MOST RED CARDS

Germany 2006 28

France ‘98 22

Korea - Japan 2002 17

South Africa 2010 17

Italy ‘90 16

USA ‘94 15

Brazil 2014 10
Referees officiating at World Cup
Mexico ‘86 8 matches didn’t start awarding red
cards until West Germany ‘74.

Chile ‘62 6

FIFA World Cup 28

Qatar
2022

29 FIFA World Cup

 QATAR 2022 PLAYER DISTRIBUTION BY LEAGUE COUNTRY
England 158
Spain 86
Germany 81
Italy 71
France 58
Saudi Arabia 35
Qatar 33
USA 26
Belgium 24
Mexico 23
Netherlands 19
Portugal 19
Turkey 19
Costa Rica 17 • There were 831 footballers at Qatar
South Korea 14 2022.
Greece • Two in every ten players at Qatar play
13
their club football in England.
Scotland 13
Canada 10
Japan 10

FIFA World Cup 30

FOOTBALL CLUBS WITH THE MOST PLAYERS AT QATAR 2022

Bayern Munich 17

Barcelona 16

Manchester City 16

Al Sadd 15

Manchester United 14

Chelsea 13

Real Madrid 13

Al Hilal 12

Ajax 11

Atletico Madrid 11

Borussia Dortmund 11

Juventus 11

PSG 11

Tottenham Hotspur 11

31 FIFA World Cup

 References
Cover World Cup logo: SVG Repo
All icons used in this report were sourced from Freepik

FIFA World Cup 32

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