As Russia host the 21st edition of the World Cup, Iceland and Panama became the 78th and 79th nations to take part in the quadrennial extravaganza.
The 77 nations that have taken part before these two have varying shades and lengths of history, ranging from one match for the Dutch East Indies to the might and pedigree of Germany and Brazil.
Speaking of the Selecao, they are the most successful team in World Cup history, with five titles, while defending champions Germany and Italy follow closely with four titles.
Overall, Europe and South America share the titles between them, Europe leading 11 to 9 in the overall tally. Miroslav Klose leads the way for the all-time goalscoring charts, with 16 goals to his name, while Thomas Muller is the highest active goal scorer with 10.
The World Cup is a tournament filled with goal, numbers and records that should fascinate football fans.
Sample these: Luis Monti is the first and only player, to date, to compete in two World Cup Finals for different nations, when he turned for Argentina in the 1930 final and won the title with Italy in ‘34.
Poland’s Ernest Wilimowski became the first player to score four goals in a World Cup match in 1938. Unfortunately for him, it came in a losing cause against a Leonidas-inspired Brazil in a 6-5 thriller.
And how about this? Julio Olarticoechea, the Argentinian who played at Mexico 1986, is the player with the joint-longest surname to play in a World Cup.
Well, if you are a fan of these World Cup stats and trivia, take our quiz and show us how well you know the history of the game. 20 questions, one each for the 20 World Cups we have seen before Russia 2018 – not in any particular order.
Did you smash it into the roof of the net? Or did you score an own goal? Go on... Share your scores with us on The Field.
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