Did you know? 15 stories about football...

At Kipsta we love football and its fans. We've got some great stories for you about your favourite sport, so great that you'll be dying to tell your friends about them. Everyone loves a good story.

Stories and fun facts 8 to 10

FIFA officially adopted shirt numbers in 1950.

France once wore a green and white striped jersey. It happened in their 1978 World Cup match against Hungary. Les Bleus' team supervisor missed a fax sent by FIFA informing him that Hungary would be playing in white that day and took just a single set of shirts with him to the stadium... white shirts.In response, a frantic hunt was launched for an alternative strip in the streets of the Argentinian city of Mar del Plata, where the match was taking place. France ended up wearing the shirt of Kimberley Football Club.

Diego Maradona once said: “Getting into the box and not getting a shot in on goal is like dancing with your sister."

Stories and fun facts 1 to 4

Laurent Blanc scored more goals than France teammate Christophe Dugarry in his career (136 against 89).

One national team became world champions without having to win a final. For the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, FIFA introduced a new format: a first round comprising four groups of four teams, with the winners of each section going through to contest a final four-team round robin stage. The winners of that final round would be world champions. It was Uruguay who came out on top, beating the host nation in the decisive final game of the round.

Brazil is the only country to have taken part in every World Cup.

Franck Jurietti holds an unusual record: that of the shortest international career. He spent a mere five seconds on the pitch when France played Cyprus in 2005. It just goes to show that history can be made in any match!

Stories and fun facts 5 to 7

The first red card was shown in… 1966! During a tense encounter between Argentina and England, the referee sent off an Argentinian defender. He waved his hands at him, telling him to leave the pitch. The player refused to go, causing confusion. It was later decided to give referees something they could show players to indicate that they were dismissed from the field of play. And so the red card was born.

Have you heard of Martin Palermo? He was a great striker who brought a lot of joy to Boca Juniors. He is also famous for missing three penalties in a match. A first in the history of the game.

The fastest quintuple in history was scored by Robert Lewandowski. On 22 September 2015, the Polish striker needed just nine minutes to score five goals. His victims? VfL Wolfsburg.

Stories and fun facts 11 to 15

Back in 1996, Iceland played Estonia in a friendly game. The match is remembered for one thing: the 17-year-old Eidur Gudjohnsen coming on as a substitute in place of his 34-year-old father Arnor. Young Eidur went on to have an outstanding career, playing for both Chelsea and Barcelona.

Penalty shootouts are now the only way to separate teams at the end of knockout matches ending in a draw. They were first introduced to the game in 1970. Up to that point, lots were drawn to decide the winner.

Sometimes, it's just not meant to be. The 1979 Scottish Cup tie between Falkirk and Inverness Caledonian Thistle was postponed no fewer than 29 times because of the weather.

The crossbar was first introduced in 1882.

Kipsta is a combination of two words: KIP for "équipe" (French for "team") and STA for "stade" (French for "stadium"). So now you know!

This article was co-written with:

Martin mahieux, community manager kipsta

I started playing football when I was five. I played in northern France in the green of Stade Lezennois and US Lesquin, where I discovered what club spirit was all about.

My game was all about one thing: my left foot. I played in a number of positions, moving from attack to defence as the years went by.

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