World Cup 2014: A Consumer’s Guide

The 2014 FIFA World Cup begins tomorrow, June 12th and runs through July 13th, with host Brazil taking on Croatia so what better way to prepare yourself as an International soccer fan than an Infographic titled – World Cup 2014: A Consumer’s Guide. The Sports Techie community blog gives our global thanks to Sports Management Degree Hub and Zelda Robbins once again for sharing this unique Big Data and analytical look at the single most viewed event of the planet. What other sport business can factually claim they are bigger than the Olympics, no one. Consider the following Brazil World Cup facts listed below.

Brazil Essentials:
The population of Brazil is 201 million which consists of a large variety of mixed races. A new tent village has risen within view of Itaquerao stadium, the venue that will host the upcoming World Cup opener. The city of Brasilia is the nation’s capital. The country is the 5th largest in terms of land size in the world. The official language is Portuguese. Right now this critical South American nation possses 25% of the world’s rainforests, a major key with keeping global warming in check. Incrediblely, every city in Brazil has a soccer stadium including 12 custom built or modified for this ultra expensive World Cup, some with sustainability in mind, others that will simply become another “White Elephant” building.

Betcha didn’t know: Brazil will use robots to help police the world cup games.
• $7.2 million: amount paid to Massachusetts based iRobot for 30 PackBot robots
• PackBots can travel at 9 mph
• iRobot’s models include a host of sensors including GPS, video, thermal detection, electronic compass and system diagnostics.

Bookie Odds

Top 5 favorites:
• Brazil, 3-1
• Argentina, 5-1
• Germany, 11-2
• Spain, 7-1
• Belgium, 14-1

And some others:
France: 22-1
England: 25-1
Mexico: 125-1
USA: 150-1
Honduras: 3,000-1

Source: SportsManagementDegreeHub.com at http://www.sportsmanagementdegreehub.com/world-cup/.

Sports Techie, The numbers do not lie. An amazing 3.2 billion, or 46 % of the world, watched the 2010 tournament on TV. Add in all the mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to the 2014 WC and this digitally inspired record is sure to fall. Consider that 1 billion humans watched the World Cup, cricket match, India v. Pakistan in 2011. While 600 million Olympics’ viewers, on average, are glued to their first, second and third screen experience any given minute. Finally, 111.5 million viewers engaged with the NFL Superbowl, in the U.S. and elsewhere, when the Seattle Seahawks trounced the Denver Broncos in SB 48 played at MetLife Stadium.

Some facts:
• 76: number of nations that have appeared at least once
• 2,208: number of goals scored
• 5 – Most wins. Brazil won the World Cup in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002. Italy (four wins), Germany (three), Uruguay, Argentina (twice each), England, France and Spain (once each) are the other past winners in this year’s field.
• Bosnia-Herzegovina: their first major tournament.
• The 2014 World Cup will see matches take place in 12 different cities, more than any other finals on record.
• From north to south, there will be games in Manaus, Fortaleza, Natal, Recife, Salvador, Cuiaba, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre.
• 1.1 million tickets (so far) allocated to fans.

Timeline:

July 13, 1930 – The first World Cup begins in Montevideo, Uruguay.
1942, 1946: The tournament is not held because of World War II. Play resumes in 1950.
2010 – The World Cup takes place in South Africa. Spain wins its first World Cup championship by defeating the Netherlands in the final, 1-0.
June 12-July 13, 2014 –  Brazil.
2018- The World Cup in Russia.
2022- The World Cup in Qatar.

Greatest World Cup Players Ever
• Diego Maradona, Argentina (21 games, 8 goals)
• Pele, Brazil (14 games, 12 goals)
• Franz Beckenbauer, West Germany (18 games, 5 goals)
• Giuseppe Meazza, Italy (8 games, 3 goals)
• Gerd Mueller, West Germany (13 games, 14 goals)

Established Superstars:

• Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
• Lionel Messi, Argentina
• Neymar, Brazil
• Andrea Pirlo, Italy
• Mario Gotze, Germany

7 Emerging stars:
Son Heung-Min (South Korea), 20, a forward
Christian Atsu (Ghana), left winger
Paul Pogba (France). midfielder
Diego Reyes (Mexico), defender
Angelo Henriquez (Chile), forward
Kenneth Omeruo (Nigeria), center back
Bernard (Brazil), forward

Billion of fans love the World Cup and the simple game of soccer that can be played with a sock ball or the official FIFA adidas Brazuca soccer ball. FIFA is a NGB non-profit, led by Sepp Blatter, who’s time has come to change for the better of all, yesterday. As funny as this HBO video is, the facts will astonish you.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): FIFA and the World Cup

At the end of the day, the $11 billion spent hosting this World Cup consists of the construction of brand new stadiums and an inexcusable $350 million tax-break for FIFA that will certainly not feed, house and offer medical help to the massive amount of poor people that are truly at the core of Brazilian fandom. Many of the players on the number one raked team in the world, either grew up in favelas or have been clearly influenced by this unfortunate way of lifestyle and reality.

A Political Science class I took at Whitier College introduced me to 1982 Nobel Peace Prize Literature winner, Gabriel García Marquez, and his novels, often describing the vast inequalities that still exist in Latin America and around the world. My Mother was born in Ecuador and traveling there as a kid opened my eyes to the amount of poverty that fellow human beings suffer through to get running water, electricity and hope. This is why I root on Team Ecuador as do the rest of the country’s 11 million citizens like it truly matters because to them and me, it does for the right reasons, a pure love of the game.

Yes, robots will forever be intertwined with sporting events. The ongoing match-fixing scandals that plague FIFA should and will affect the sports betting odds so keep that in mind when you gamble and lay down a cash bet. All this means is that when you are watching your country or favorite player represent you on TV or in person, understand the gravity of what a win or loss means from the poor’s perspective, it is humbling and inspiring at the same time.

The love of sport, football and the World Cup is clearly a worldwide phenomenon that you as a consumer, need to learn the facts about.

Go US Soccer and Team USA!

I will see ya when I see ya, THE Sports Techie @THESportsTechie – http://twitter.com/THESportsTechie

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