100. Heat at the 1954 game between Austria and Switzerland was so intense that one player got hyperthemia - the opposite of hypothermia - while another became disoriented and wandered off the pitch during the game, at one point being seen 'defending' while standing behind his own goal.
99. Of the 154 players to have represented Bulgaria at the World Cup finals, only two did not have a surname that ended in the letter v.
98. Mwepu Ilunga, the Zaire defender who famously broke from his team's defensive wall to boot away the ball before Rivelino could take a free-kick during their 1974 finals match, shouldn't have been playing in the game at all. Striker Mulumba Ndaye was sent off in the previous game against Yugoslavia for a foul committed by Mwepu. He said: "I panicked and kicked the ball away before he had taken it. Most of the Brazil players, and the crowd too, thought it was hilarious. I shouted, 'You bastards!' at them because they didn't understand the pressure we were under."
97. ITV producer John Bromley and sidekick Jimmy Hill invented the football panel ahead of the 1970 World Cup, hiring controversial pundits like Malcolm Allison, Derek Dougan and Pat Crerand. Panelists were sequestered at a Hertfordshire hotel and woken every morning with a bottle of champagne. Handed Allison's room service bill by a worried manager after the first week, Bromley contended that it was "not nearly high enough" and doubled the bubbly order.
96. Italy broke the World Cup soon after receiving it in 2006. A large piece of the green malachite which surrounds the base was chipped off during their wild celebrations.
95. Peru's players are claimed to have received $50,000 per man to throw their 1978 game against Argentina, which the hosts had to win by four clear goals. The Peruvian FA is said to have received $10m, while the country also received a $100m consignment of wheat. The match finished 6-0. 94. A search of the crowd before the 1930 World Cup final uncovered 1,500 revolvers.
93. Spain keeper Santiago Canizares was ruled out of the 2002 World Cup finals in May of that year, when the first-choice stopper dropped a bottle of aftershave in his hotel bathroom and a shard of glass cut the tendon in his big toe. "I do not consider myself to be unlucky by any manner of means," Canizares said.
92. Cameroon legend Roger Milla is said to have been arrested in 1992 after his plan to organise a Pygmy World Cup drew only a handful of spectators to the country's 50,000-seat Omnisports Stadium. By the third day, the disgruntled little folk, from local rain forests, were complaining about being locked in a guarded room underneath the ground with only one meal of rice and sauce in 72 hours. Said a spokeman: "You don't know the pygmies. They are extremely difficult to control. They play better if they don't eat too much," argued the spokesman."
91. Frenchman Lucien Laurent, who scored the first goal at the inaugural World Cup finals, was a prisoner of the Nazis during World War II. After the liberation he discovered they had looted a furniture depository in Strasbourg where he had stored memorabilia including his 1930 World Cup jersey.
90. Win a World Cup and you're almost certain to be asked to write an autobiography. Paolo Rossi, whose hat-trick knocked our the favourites in 1982, later penned I Made Brazil Cry , Maradona's was I Am The Diego while Alan Ball's effort was the cleverly titled It's All About A Ball .
89. Three key figures in the 1966 theft and recovery of the World Cup were killed by the 'Curse Of The Jules Rimet Trophy'. Edward Betchley, who supposedly stole it, died of emphysema in 1969, shortly after completing a two-year jail term for demanding money with menaces. Joe Mears, the FA chairman who conducted negotiations with Betchley, to try to get the trophy back, didn't even see England lift it--he died of an angina attack ten days before the finals started. And Pickles, the mongrel who recovered it from a hedge, died in 1967, strangling himself with his lead as he attempted to chase a cat up a tree.
88. West Germany's Paul Breitner organised a strike at the 1974 finals, urging his team-mates to refuse to play unless they were guaranteed a 100,000 Deutschmark bonus each for winning the trophy. The left-back was politically a left-winger who was once photographed seated in a rocking chair beneath a poster of Mao Tse-Tung, while leafing through a Chinese communist newspaper.
87. Matthias Sindelar, remembered as the greatest footballer in Austrian history, was asked to play for Germany at the 1938 finals because his country had been annexed by the Nazis. He refused, and a year later he and his girlfriend were found dead in bed, with carbon monoxide poisoning blamed. Some say they were murdered, some they they committed suicide, while others simply blame a defective chimney.
86. U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jnr wrote Ireland's 1990 World Cup record, Put 'Em Under Pressure .
85. During the 2002 World Cup, commentator John Motson became obsessed with the fact that most of the matches were being played at breakfast time in the UK. “You can have your breakfast with Batistuta and your cornflakes with Crespo," he informed the nation, later telling us there was "just one minute of overtime, so you can put the eggs on now if you like" and adding: “I can confirm that Trevor Brooking did have his own eggs and bacon before setting off this morning.” When David Beckham scored against Argentina, he told viewers to "smash your cups and saucers if you like".
84. When Brazil surprisingly lost the 1950 final to Uruguay at their own Maracana Stadium, two fans committed suicide by jumping off a stand.
83. Pickles, the black and white mongrel who found the Jules Rimet Trophy when it was stolen before the 1966 World Cup final, later starred alongside Eric Sykes and June Whitfield in the film The Spy With the Cold Nose . He shared an agent with Sykes and Spike Milligan.
82. The Jules Rimet Trophy, which Brazil got to keep after winning the World Cup for a third time in 1970, was stolen in 1983 from their FA's headquarters in Rio and melted down for its 3kg of solid gold.
81. Holland great Johan Cruyff missed the 1978 finals, with the Dutch FA originally claiming it was down to his distaste for the junta in Argentina. But 30 years later it was revealed Cruyff had pulled out because of worries over family security following a kidnap attempt. He said: "Someone had a rifle at my head and tied me up and tied up my wife in front of the children at our flat in Barcelona." 80. The Falkands War was still ongoing as the 1982 finals opened and when birds were released at the end of the opening ceremony, Irish TV commentator Jimmy Magee hailed, "The symbol of peace... the pigeon."
79. Drug-snorting, hand-balling, cigar-puffing, Castro-worshipping, ephedrine-taking wild man Diego Maradona's original nickname was... 'Fluffy'.
78. While South Africa are nicknamed Bafana Bafana (The Boys), the South African women's team is known as Banyana Banyana (The Girls). The Under-21 men's team, however, is called Amaglug-glug, because they are sponsored by a petrol firm.
77. Denmark are nicknamed Olsens Elleve - Olsen’s Eleven - after coach Morten Olsen.
76. Argentina introduced ticker tape to the finals in 1978 and four years later their FA brought crates of the stuff to Spain in support of their country's efforts in the Falkands War. One side bore a Spanish flag with the message 'Gracias Espana', while the other showed Argentinean blue and white with the legend 'Las Malvinas Son Argentinas'.
75. Brazil's legendary midfielder Socrates, who was a medical doctor despite smoking 20 cigarettes a day, was another left-winger. He listed his heroes as Che and Fidel Castro.
74. Chain-smoking coach Cesar Luis Menotti, who led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1978, was befriended by the country's military leaders despite being a Communist whose home was decorated with a framed picture of Che Guevara.
73. Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe was warned by FIFA during the 2006 World Cup after cameras caught him chain-smoking in the dugout. The former Argentine international had a magnificent tournament, calling journalists "f***ing idiots" and spending much of his time at the team's training sessions eating doughnuts under a roped-off parasol.
72. South Africa's Nazareth Baptist Church have threatened to sue FIFA if they allow fans to play vuvuzelas - the African horns - at the World Cup. They claim they have a copyright on the 'holy' instrument.
71. Franz Beckenbauer returned from the 1966 World Cup as a teen sensation and had a hit single in West Germany, Gute Freunde Kann Niemand Trennen - Good Friends Can't Be Separated.
70. Prevented from going on the field by a FIFA official during Ireland's defeat to Mexico at USA 94, John Aldridge responded with a magnificent verbal tirade picked up by the off-field microphones. The hapless suit--clad in yellow baseball hat and light blue jacket--was told: "F*** off, you. F*** off. You t**t. You d***head. W****r. You f*****g cheat."
69. The preliminaries at the 1930 final included two coin-tosses--one for ends and one to decide which ball should be used as both Argentina and Uruguay had brought their own. The Argentines won but Uruguay still used their own for the second half--and overturned a 2-1 deficit to win 4-2.
68. As he prepared to take the kick-off in a match at Mexico 70, Pele gestured to the referee that he needed to tie his laces. The camera panned in and the world got a glimpse of his new Puma Pele boots, giving the company a huge sales boost. It might just have been deliberate ...
67. During Italia 90, Irish manager Jack Charlton fell asleep during an audience with the Pope. He said: "The Pope had his hand in the air and as I woke up I thought he was waving at me so I stood up and waved back."
66. Before the 2002 finals, Swedish TV aired an hour-long documentary claiming that the 1958 finals had not been held in the country but in fact had been a hoax cooked up by the American government as Cold War propaganda. Conspiracy '58 contained interviews with Swedish players of the era admitting their matches had been stitched together from old footage--but was itself, of course, a hoax.
65. Before the 1938 final, Mussolini sent Italy's team a telegram reading 'Win Or Die'. News of this so upset their opponents that after losing 4-1, Czech keeper Antal Szabó said: "At least I saved some lives". But the phrase was common in Italy at the time and was the rough equivalent of 'win or bust'.
64. Swedish referee Ivan Eklind infuriated opponents Czecholslovakia by visiting Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in his box before the 1938 final.
63. In 2006, Jimmy Armfield told BBC viewers: "There's a real international flavour to this World Cup."
62. David Coleman prefaced BBC highlights of the 1962 'Battle of Santigao' between Italy and Chile with the words: "Good evening. The game you are about to see is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game."
61. Chilean coach Marco Bielsa, known as El Loco--The Madman--once gave a four-hour press conference.
60. Uruguay's 2-1 win over France at the 1966 World Cup was played at White City Stadium, Shepherd's Bush, because Wembley was already booked for a greyhound race night.
59. The New York Times refused to report that the USA had beaten England 1-0 at the 1950 World Cup because editors believed the scoreline was a hoax.
58. Chile's utility defender, who has been linked with a move to Wigan, is called Waldo Ponce.
57. The Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) side which appeared at the 1938 finals was captained by a doctor, Acmad Nawir, who wore glasses during the games.
56. Uruguay were sequestered in a hideaway for eight weeks before the 1930 finals. Keeper Antonio Mazzali was caught sneaking out to see his family and was kicked out of the squad.
55. Hector Castro, who scored the winner in the 1930 World Cup final, accidentally cut off his right arm with an electric saw when he was 13. He was known as El Manco--The Maimed.
54. The top scorer in 1938, the Brazilian Leonidas, became a private detective after retiring.
53. Switzerland centre-forward Poldi Kielholz scored three goals in two matches at the 1934 finals despite keeping his spectacles on during matches.
52. The opening match of the 1966 tournament, against Uruguay, was delayed because seven England players had left their FIFA registration cards back at the team hotel. A police motorcyclist was sent to get them.
51. After Brazil paraded the Jules Rimet trophy following the 1970 final, a young supporter snatched the lid and ran. He was apprehended near the stadium exit by sub Davio.
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