The World Cup is over for most people, except the four million Argentines who flooded the streets to give a Hero’s welcome to the Ultimate victors and their captain Lionel Messi.
The rest of the world is now reminiscing or still arguing over what penalties were deserved, what fouls should have received the yellow or red card or whose jersey was the most fashion-forward at the tournament.
One debate that is still heated is the G.O.A.T debate, whatever side of the argument you are on, here are a few stats that made the 2022 Fifa World Cup interesting.
Prize Money
Qatar 2022 ended with Argentina lifting the trophy for the third time in their history. They achieved this feat after defeating France four goals to two on a penalty shoot-out after a three-goal tie.
By this, Argentina went home with $42 million in prize money as the winner of the tournament. This was a 10.53% increase in the $38 million given to France as the winner in Russia 2018.
All 32 teams in the tournament shared $440 million amongst themselves. Those who made it to the tournament and exited at the group stage went home with $9 million each. Thus, the 16 teams that were knocked out of the group stage left with a total of $144 million split $9 million apiece.
The eight teams knocked out in the second round shared $104 million at $13 million each. $68 million was shared amongst the four teams that left at the quarter-final stage. These teams took home $17 million each.
By finishing fourth, Morocco took home $25 million. Croatia was given $27 million, while France took home $30 million as runner-up.
While the tournament attracted millions of fans from around the globe, it had some highlights which made the competition live by its name.
Goals
Kylian Mbappé’s strike in the 118th minute of the final took the goal tally at the 2022 finals to 172. At this number, Qatar 2022 had a goal average of 2.69 goals per game. The 172 goals scored in Qatar set a new record for goals scored in a single tournament.
France scored the most goals in the tournament, contributing 16 goals. Argentina scored 15, and England scored 13 goals. Portugal and Netherlands scored 12 goals and ten goals, respectively.
Seventeen of these goals were from the penalty spot, as 19 penalties were awarded at this year’s final.
Goals Scored by African Teams
The African contingent scored a total of 21 goals at the Qatar 2022 world cup. Morocco scored the most goals, netting 6 goals en route to their fourth-place finish. These six goals include the own goal when they played against Canada in their final group match. They were ranked 9th on the goal chart.
Senegal and Ghana scored 5 goals each, ranking 12th and 15th, respectively. Cameroon scored 4 goals and was ranked 19th, and Tunisia scored just a goal in their three-game appearance.
Cards
This year’s tournament was not without disciplinary drama, as 291 yellow cards and four red cards were issued.
Argentina received the highest number of yellow cards in the tournament, as they were issued 17 yellow cards in 7 games. Saudi Arabia received 14 of them, and the Netherlands got 13.
However, Serbia, who received 12 yellow cards, had an average rate of 4 yellow cards per game since they played just three games.
Morocco got nine yellow cards, while Switzerland and France got eight yellow cards each.
Morocco, Netherlands, Cameroon, and Wales shared the remaining four red cards.
Source: NDTV Sports
Other tournament statistics show 517 shots on target, 572 corners, and 255 offsides. One thousand six hundred and forty-nine (1649) crosses were made, and 1760 shots were blocked throughout the tournament.
Average Age of Countries
The world cup is the only tournament that does not have an age limit. Thus, each team can field any player of their choice despite his age.
This year’s tournament had an average age of 27 years across the 32 teams.
With an average age of 24.7 years, Ghana had the least average age amongst the teams at the finals. For the other teams, the USA is 25.2 years, Spain 25.3 years, Ecuador 25.6 years, Morocco 26.2 years, and Senegal and Cameroon tieing at 26.3 years as the youngest teams.
Iran is the oldest team in the tournament. The average age of the country’s players is 28.9 years. Mexico is the second oldest team, with an average age of 28.5 years.
Tunisia and Brasil had their player’s ages averaging 27.9 years, and Argentina, Belgium, Uruguay, South Korea, and Japan all had an average age of 27.8 years.
The youngest player at the tournament is Youssoufa Moukokowho, Germany’s teen prodigy who turned 18 years on November 20 at the start of the tournament. He is, however, not the youngest to feature in a world cup, as Norman Whiteside who played for Ireland at the 1982 world cup in Spain, holds the record at 17 years and 41 days.
That of the oldest player goes to Mexican goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera who is 40 years and 63 days at the tournament.
Coaches Who Left their Post After the Tournament
A team’s poor performance at any tournament is usually attributed to the technical ability of the managers. Thus, the manager/coach takes full responsibility when a team performs poorly. This sometimes leads to the resignation of the manager if he or she is not sacked by the country.
So far, eight country’s coaches have either left their positions or been sacked as a result of the poor outing recorded at the tournament.
One of these coaches was sacked, while the other seven left their position as head coaches.
Luis Enrique, the manager of Spain, was sacked after a dismal performance saw them being eliminated in the second round. He was, however, not the first coach to leave his position.
The first coach to leave his position was Gerardo Martino of Mexico, who resigned after the country was eliminated in the first round. Gerardo Martino went to Qatar as the sixth highest-paid manager at the tournament.
Roberto Martinez of Belgium and Otto Addo of Ghana were the other coaches that resigned as their teams fail to make it past the group stage.
Paulo Bento, who managed South Korea, bowed out after falling to Brasil 4-1 in the second round.
After defeating South Korea in the second round but failing to repeat the same feat with Croatia at the quarterfinal stage, Tite left his position as Brasil’s coach.
Louis van Gall of the Netherlands and Fernando Santos of Portugal also stepped down from their position as their countries were eliminated in the quarterfinal stage.
Though there is still a shadow over the future of managers of Qatar, Wales, Denmark, Uruguay, and Serbia due to poor performance, they still have their jobs.
With players like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, and the likes having little international playtime on their time card, their availability for the next tournament is still hanging. Messi and Modric have made commitments to keep going, but we can only watch to see if they, alongside other players in that same ticking-time category, will make an appearance at the next tournament. After all, Pepe, the almost 40-year-old Portuguese player, scored a beautiful header in Portugal’s decimation of Switzerland in the Round of 16. Messi will only be 39 by the next world cup and if Pepe can do it, maybe he can too.
Roger Milla, Cameroonian football legend, scored against Russia at the 1994 World Cup at the ripe football age of 42 years. Ronaldo will only be 41 when the biggest football tournament comes around in 4 years’ time, and with Messi’s world cup win this year, he may just be motivated enough to show up and do the Sui celebration one more time on the international stage.