News & Events

6^th June 2012

1.       The 1952 FA Cup was played on 3^rd May at Wembley –   Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0

2.       UEFA Euro 2012 takes place in Poland & Ukraine from 8^th June

3.       During the last 60 years England have won the World Cup once in 1966

4.       Since then they have been in two Euro semi-finals & been in World Cup semi-final in 1990

5.       Handball is proven to boost fitness and tone your legs – Home and Futsal iGoals can be used for Handball

6.       Major League Soccer (MLS) was founded in 1993 of 19 teams – 16 in US and 3 in Canada

7.       There are more than 2 billion soccer supporters worldwide

8.       There are 92 teams in England football league – 20 in Premiership

9.       Since 1888 23 clubs have been crowned champions of English football

10.   In 1952 capacity of Wembley Stadium was 82,000 – down from 1923 opening capacity of 123,000

11.   Manchester United are reputed to be most popular football club in world with highest average home attendance in Europe

12.   Make us dream is message from UEFA President Michel Platini to the 16 competing teams in the 2012 tournament

13.   Michel Platini remains the only player to win Ballon D’Or (European Footballer of Year) in following year from 1983-85 when he was playing for Juventus

14.   Uruguay staged the inaugural World Cup in 1930

15.   Did you know that iGoals can be used for matches and Junior goals have been even used in Wembley for a FA football festival

16.   Landon Donovan remains the most well-known player in MLS – he plays for Los Angeles Galaxy and has 140 caps for his appearances in US national team

17.   The first UEFA European Championship was held in 1960 in France and USSR won 2-1 against Yugoslavia

18.   This was the same year as both Diego Maradona & Gary Lineker were born

19.   Sir Alex Ferguson is the longest serving manager in Premier League – he was appointed on 6^th November 1986

20.   Did you know 80% of football played in UK is on land the teams don’t own with no goal posts

21.   The ‘offside rule’ is both the best known and most misunderstood aspect of competitive football

22.   First football competition to negotiate a sponsorship deal was League Cup in 1982 when it became known as Milk Cup under adoption by  Marketing Board Board

23.   Argentinia’s Lionel Messi is the worlds highest paid footballer with an income topping EUR33m in 2012

24.   Arsenal won English football league Championship in 1952 beating Preston North End on goal difference – they played 42 matches

25.   On the last day of the 2012 football season, Manchester city beat Manchester United on goals difference – teams playing 38 games

26.   Next FIFA World Cup is 2014 hosted by  Brazil

27.   Futsal is all about creativity and technique – footballers Ronaldo and Ronaldinho both say that playing Futsal as youngsters made them the players they are today

28.   In 1978 Liverpool FC became the first British football club to have a shirt sponsor

29.   England Handball use iGoals in their community and schools programme throughout the UK

30.   Statistics show the between 1979 and 2011, 36 youth football players died and 56 suffered severe injuries in accidents associated with football goals

31.   It is estimated that Manchester United have 333 million fans worldwide

32.   The yellow & red cards system was introduced for the 1970 FIFA World Cup

33.   Handball is played by 19m people in 795,000 teams with 166 international federations

34.   Jose Mourinho is the highest paid football manager with an income believe to be EUR10.5m

35.   Anyone using iGoal can be confident that it is designed and produced to prevent injury to all players – it is the safest thing on the pitch

36.   FC Barcelona are the only European club to have played continental football every season since 1955

37.   Worlds most capped footballer is Ahmed Hassan who has 183 for his inclusion in Egypt national team

38.   The Beautiful Game is played in over 200 countries

39.   Over 5,500,000 people watched soccer during last MLS season in US

40.   Peter Shilton goalkeeping legend and iGoal Ambassador, holds the records for winning 125 caps for his appearances for England football team

41.   David Beckham joined LA Galaxy in 2007 – moving from Real Madrid

42.   Tottenham Hotspur had highest attendance during 1952 football season with average of 51,134

43.   At the turn of 21^st century, association football, also known as soccer, is a game played by over 250 million players

44.   The FIFA Woman’s World Cup was introduced in 1991

45.   iGoal’s  undergo expert testing by, TUV Product Service – the world leader in independent testing and certification - the result is that iGoal goes beyond market obligations & strives to exceed expectations

46.   Brazil, Italy, France & Germany have all won World Cup twice

47.   In 1979 Trevor Francis became Englands first £1m player when he transferred to Nottingham Forest

48.   In 2009 Cristiano Ronaldo was transferred to Real Madrid for £80m

49.   Internationally, only Barcelona considered their shirt ‘too sacred’ to be spoiled until 2010 when non-profit Qatar Foundation joined UNICEF as the Spanish champions short sponsor

50.   Did you know that there are over 40,000 amateur football clubs in England – 20,000 clubs have to share sites and equipment

51.   Sir Stanley Matthews made 697 appearances between 1932 and 1965

52.   More Brazilian players, followed by French, have been holders of FIFA World Player of Year awards

53.   Average attendance in English Premier League is 35,283 – in German Bundesliga its 42,673

54.   Frenchman Jules Rimet who was FIFA President from 1921-1954 had the trophy named in his honour

55.   In 1976 Czechoslavakia won UEFA European Championships after a penalty shoot out – beating West Germany

56.   Ryan Giggs holds record for most Premier League appearances – 598

57.   Alan Shearer is top UK scorer with 260 Premier League goals

58.   The FA Cup 2012 was won by Chelsea who beat Liverpool 2-1 – attendance was 89,102

59.   The inaugural winner of Ballor D’Or was Sir Stanley Matthews in 1956 – he played for Blackpool

60.   HRH Prince William chose to play football with his mates in a local park the night before his wedding when he became Duke of Cambridge