16. Brazil has had the most red cards in the history of the competition (11), with Argentina (10) and Uruguay (9) not far behind.
17. Peru, who competed in the first World Cup, will play in the competition for the first time since 1982, the longest absence of any side that will be in Russia.
18. The record for most goals in the competition
stands at 171 (in 1998 and 2014), while that with least goals from 64 games is 145 (in 2010).
19. Germany has scored the most goals in the last three World Cups (14 in 2006, 16 in 2010, 18 in 2014).
20. The most goals in a single World Cup match occurred on June 26, 1954: Austria beat Switzerland 7-5.
21. Frenchman Just Fontaine still holds the record for the most goals scored in a World Cup (13, in 1958), while Russian forward Oleg Salenko has bagged more than any other in a single World Cup match: five goals against Cameroon, on 28 June 1994.
22. Among the current players, Thomas Muller has the most World Cup goals, with 10 (5 in each of the last two tournaments); He is six goals shy of all-time top scorer Miroslav Klose (16).
23. Thomas Müller also holds the record for assists in World Cups amongst current players (6); only Diego Maradona (
, Grzegorz Lato and Pierre Littbarski (7) can boast more assists than him since 1966.
24. The last player to reach ten goals in a single World Cup was Gerd Müller, in 1970; since then, the best has been Ronaldo in 2002 (.
25. Miroslav Klose, Pelé and Uwe Seeler have all scored in four World Cups; the only players who could reach this landmark in Russia are: Tim Cahill, Rafael Marquez, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Villa.
26. The Mexican Antonio Carbajal and the German Lothar Matthäus have played in more World Cups (5) than any other footballer; only Rafael Marquez could reach this tally in Russia.
27. Every World Cup has been won by a coach who is the same nationality as his team.
28. Uruguay’s Oscar Washington Tabárez will be at his fourth World Cup; more than any other coach at Russia 2018 (he has six wins, three draws and six defeats in the competition).
29. Helmut Schön is the coach with the most matches in the history of World Cups, 25 and all with Germany.
30. Playing as Russia (not the USSR), the hosts have never managed to overcome the group stage in a World Cup (1994, 2002, 2014), finishing in third position on each occasion.
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