Nine Fun Facts About Brazil World Cup Football Team That Will Surprise You

The beautiful game of football has, throughout the years, earned lots of love and respect in the hearts of millions. 

However, when we talk about football in Brazil, we are not just talking about love any more. In the legendary Pele's home country in South America, soccer is not just a sport but a lifestyle.

The most popular and well-known sport in the entire world is football, and the one country known for its excellence in this game is Brazil. The moment one says 'Brazil', we bet the first thing that comes to your mind is the passion that resides within the hearts of the local people of Brazil.

People in Brazil are so passionate about football that most of its citizens often refer to football as 'Jogo Bonito' or the Beautiful Game.

The country is called 'o País do Futebol', meaning 'the country of football'.

However, Brazil was not the original home of football and was only introduced to it by Charles Miller, a citizen of England, in the year 1894. He returned to Brazil with two footballs and a rule book from England, and gradually the Brazilians found the love of their life.

Almost over 10,000 people in Brazil choose football as a profession, and they never fail to work the hardest. Brazilian football clubs are all associated with their state coalitions, which are again associated with the Brazilian Football Confederation.

And just like that, each state has its own pyramid within which football is played. A federal pyramid runs parallel to it as well.

As a result, each club competes in its state championships, with only a few of the largest clubs competing in the national championships. Now with that said, let's hop on to the fascinating world of football in Brazil and its marvelous team.

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Brazil World Cup Wins

FIFA World Cup is one of the most-watched sports events in the world, which takes place every four years with participation from all continents, including Europe, Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America.

Brazil is, without a doubt, the most triumphant national soccer team in World Cup history and has won five world cups so far and two second-place, third-place, and fourth-place results apiece.

Apart from Argentina, Spain, and Germany, Brazil is the only country to have played and won a FIFA World Cup outside of its continent. Sweden 1958, Chile 1962, Mexico 1970, USA 1994, and South Korea/Japan 2002: that is five wins.

Brazil's national team is the only team in the history of the FIFA World Cup to have competed in every FIFA World Cup finals edition.

With 73 victories in 109 matches played, a 124 positive goal differential, 237 points, and only 18 losses, Brazil has the best overall performance in FIFA World Cups.

Apart from Argentina, Brazil is one of the major South American countries involved in the competition.

Argentina has traditionally been Brazil's main football adversary in the tournament and in football, in general.

If we look at the history of the FIFA World Cup tournament, the two countries have met four times, with Brazil winning two (West Germany 1974 and Spain 1982) and Argentina winning one (Italy 1990), while the two teams drew in the second round group of the 1978 edition of the competition in which Argentina was the host country.

Sweden is the country that has faced Brazil in the finals of the tournament the most times: seven times, with Brazil winning five times and drawing twice.

Interestingly, the Seleção had a chance of winning the World Cup tournament on their home soil in 1950, but in the final against neighboring Uruguay held in the Estádio do Maracanã Stadium in the city of Rio de Janeiro, they lost.

Did you know that the next World Cup of soccer is to be held in Qatar?

Qatar was appointed by FIFA as the host country for the 2022 World Cup in 2010, with this edition having the most number of teams and groups in the history of the tournament.

This will be a change from the traditional eight groups and 32 teams that qualify and play in the finals from six confederations around the world. These confederations are Asia, Africa, South America, North and Central America, plus the Caribbean, Europe, and Oceania.

The venue for the 2026 World Cup, held four years' after 2022, will be the USA, Canada, and Mexico, with this being in the record books as the first time the qualifying teams will play in three countries.

Brazil Football Team Facts

The Brazilian football team has won the most World Cups compared to any other country in the world, making it the most successful football team. The top four teams that are famous in the country are Flamengo, Atlético Mineiro, Palmeiras, and Fluminense. Other teams also include Santos, Botafogo, Corinthians, and Sau Paulo.

The national soccer team of Brazil is called the Brazil National Football team (or Seleção Brasileira de Futebol), which has been one of the most successful football teams winning five World Cups in the years of 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 (after extra time and penalties), and 2002.

The most famous Brazilian football players names include Ronaldo, Pele, Ronaldinho, Romario, and Roberto Rivelino.

Ronaldo won the Golden Ball (given to the player playing the best) in the 1998 World Cup finals, while he also won the Golden Boot (given to the player scoring the most) in the 2002 World Cup.

This meant that Ronaldo Nazario, or O Fenômeno (The Phenomenon) as he is popularly called, has the incredible record of being still the only player to win the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot in two different editions.

Pele still remains the only player ever to win the World Cup at the age of 17. This Brazilian legend retains the record of the top scorer of his country at the international level with 77 goals scored. Neymar Junior is fourth on the list for most goals within the current batch of active Brazilians playing the game.

The Seleção has also been the only country to have qualified for each and every World Cup competition. They are also the only nation to have played the most times in the top eight of the tournament.

However, Germany (erstwhile West Germany before the unification of east and west Germany) has the record of the most appearances in the World Cup Final history with eight appearances, just above the Seleção with seven appearances.

The record of the biggest defeat of Brazil in a World Cup match was against Germany 1-7 in the 2014 World Cup. The biggest win in the finals was a reverse scoreline of their biggest loss, with Brazil defeating Sweden 7-1 in the 1950 edition.

When Brazil captured the World Cup in 1970, FIFA allowed them to keep the trophy, then known as the Jules Rimet Trophy. However, that had been stolen in 1983, and the trophy has never been found. This is a great blemish on the sport.

Interestingly, Brazilian legend Cafu has the maximum number of appearances in the World Cup finals through his playing in 20 games. Between 1994 to 2006, Cafu, who played as a defender, won the World Cup twice in 1994 and 2002!

Brazil World Cup Winning Years'

The Selecao has played and won in the FIFA World Cup Final match a record five times. They first gained glory in 1958, defeating a strong Sweden squad (also in a match that was dominated by Brazilians 5-2.)

They won the next edition as well in 1962, held in Chile by defeating Czechoslovakia. The third time Brazil lifted the cup was in 1970, becoming the first nation to do so.

That year they played the final against Italy. Considered by many to be the greatest Brazilian squad of all time, Pele and company overwhelmed Italy 4-1 in the match.

Exactly 24 years later, Brazil and Italy met in the Final of the tournament again. This time held in the United States, the Seleção defeated Italy after penalty kicks.

Unfortunately, the 1998 Seleção team reached the final again. Held in France this time around, they met the host nation of France in the Final. However, France, led by the iconic Zinedine Zidane, demolished the Seleção 3-0.

The last time the Brazilians won this prestigious international cup was in 2002, four years after their damning defeat to France. The three famous R's of the Brazilian squad - Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Rivaldo dominated the cup, with the Seleção emerging as deserving victors of that edition.

Brazil World Cup Qualifiers

Like we have mentioned before, the Seleção have always qualified for the finals of the World Cup of this global sport. Thus, they also have the joint-most number of appearances in the history of the FIFA World Cup with 109 matches.

In their recent stint of World Cup qualifying matches in their CONMEBOL (South American) Confederation, the Brazilian team managed by the coach Tite became the first to qualify for the '22 World Cup finals.

Having played 13 out of the scheduled 18 games in their group so far, the Brazilian team is yet to lose a game and currently leads the 10-team group.

Sporting stars like Neymar Junior, Casemiro, Alisson, Vinicius Junior, Marquinhos, the squad is a balance of youth and experience with high hopes on them to do well in next year's finals.

The next qualifying game that the Seleção will play is against Ecuador on January 27, 2022. If you are intrigued by the Seleção and want to experience to magic of Samba and Jogo Bonito, you can watch the game along with millions of supporters worldwide.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Facts about the Brazil World Cup, then why not take a look at Antoninus Pius facts, or Antonio Banderas facts.