Starting off at number 10 now we have North Korean Torture.
In 2010, a spotlight was turned on North Korea amid claims their world cup team was tortured
after their poor performance in the world cup.
According to media, the coach and players were punished by the North Korean government
after they lost all 3 games of the tournament.
Radio Free Asia reported that the whole squad, except for two foreign-based players, were
subjected to -harsh ideological criticism- after their team conceded the most goals out
of all 32 teams in the world cup.
Perhaps even more shocking was the claim that coach Kim Jong-hun was publicly humiliated
and sentenced to hard labor for their performance.
FIFA sent a letter to the North Korean footballing body, hoping to find out if the reports were
true.
Of course, with North Korea, nothing is out in the open, everything is under wraps.
They were no more willing to talk about the allegations than any other allegations of
human rights abuse.
9.
The Curse of ITV According to British Urban Legend, the real
reason that the England Squad has performed so poorly at cup tournaments is that of broadcasting
rights!
England famously hasn’t won the world cup since 1966, and while we may not have been
champions in over 50 years, we were performing alright until 1982, but then it took a downturn.
Why?
Dodgy decision making, poor management, Beckham’s temper, Rooney’s nerves?
Nah, ITV mate.
What?
Yep, people genuinely believe that since the ITV won the majority of the broadcasting rights
of England games, performances have nose-dived because of a curse.
It’s hard not to buy into it when you look at the cold hard stats….Since 1982 the Lions
have only won 21 percent of World Cup games broadcast on ITV, compared with 64 percent
of matches screened on the good old BBC.
People are more than disgruntled...they’re downright angry!
Amelia Jones from Bristol spoke to the Sun and said TV should be banned.
They are influencing the games.
The stats speak for themselves.”
That they do, Amelia, that they do!
8.
Masked Menaces Hooligans have always been a bit of an issue
when it comes to football, with some nations known for their aggressive supporters more
so than others.
England doesn’t have a great track record abroad, we have to admit, but the group in
this story seem far worse and much scarier than your classic three lions brute.
In Poland, a football fan ran on to the pitch and tried to slit a players throat.
It seems that a group of Polish fans calling themselves Young Crew is threatening any fans
that oppose their national team.
In April, the group posted a message on Facebook threatening bloodshed and disruption, leading
many to fear for the safety of spectators in Russia.
In the post, they referenced a football fan who had been hacked to death with a machete
in February 2018, saying whoever’s next in line, the Young Crew will cut your hands
off.
It isn’t just the Polish Young Crew threatening to disturb the police in Russia; there is
also a group of Russian hooligans naming themselves the Russian Ultras.
This group of menaces has told England fans they should prepare to die if they set foot
in Russia.
A few fans have actively stayed away from the tournament for fear of their safety.
Next up at number 7, we have The Russian Ultras.
This is a group of ultra fanatical Russian football fans - an extreme version of your
average Football Hooligan - they've struck fear into the hearts of fans who traveled
to Russia for the world cup - and that's exactly what they want.
In the run-up to the 2018 world cup, the ultras pledged to -unleash hell- during the tournament.
They've been found using social networking sites to discuss with each other how best
to ambush and attack other fans.
Although Russian football is no stranger to hooliganism, the concept of these ultras is
a fairly new one.
It was only in Euro 2016 that they made a name for themselves.
Reports came in of them attacking fans with hammers or iron bars.
150 of them descended on Marseille, clashing with a number of English fans.
They are famous for fighting in a -wall- formation, running at an opposing group of fans as a
flat unit to beat down their opponents with unhinged violence.
Even Russian authorities acknowledge the danger for visitors, warning that Russian Ultras
should be their primary concern above all other football fans and that they are not
to be taken lightly …
Moving on to number 6 we have ISIS Death Threats.
In May 2018, less than a month before the start of Russias World Cup, notorious terrorist
group ISIS released propaganda threatening to behead Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Among the material were pledged to attack fans and players with guns, knives, and vehicles.
The two famous players were pictured being pinned to the ground with their heads being
hacked off in a packed football stadium.
The picture was captioned -your blood will fill the ground- … other pictures simply
said -we will be there- in front of the World Cup logo.
Instructions were revealed that encouraged would be jihadists to strike using trucks
and cars.
The poster even indicates a guide to the -deadly points in a human body- for -targeting the
infidels in our out of stadiums- … naturally, this isn't the first time ISIS has done this
kind of thing.
In the past, they have often produced threatening propaganda in the run-up to major events,
hoping to incite violence and scare people.
Russian authorities worked nonstop in the run-up to the world cup to ensure that any
terror attempts were thwarted.
5.
This young player lost their lives on the pitch during a world cup qualifying match.
Samuel Okwaraji Samuel was age just 25 when he stepped out
for a huge match against Angola in August 1989.
Okwaraji was not only a professional international footballer but a qualified lawyer.
He didn’t know he had an underlying health issue when he stepped on to the pitch for
a final time at the Lagos National Stadium in Surulere.
He was a promising player and had scored one of the fastest ever goals in the history of
the African Nations Cup.
During the world cup qualifier, he collapsed in the 77th minute and died on the pitch of
congestive heart failure.
The autopsy revealed he had an enlarged heart and high blood pressure, underlying health
issues neither her nor his squad were aware of.
The young man died in his national kit of green and white stripes and Nigeria still
honors and remembers their fallen star today.
4, Zambian Team Plane Disaster This is very sad indeed.
In one evening, the entire national team of one World Cup qualifying nation lost their
life.
On the 27th April 1933, team Zambia was traveling to a qualifier against Senegal in Dakar.
Unfortunately, the DHC-5 Buffalo plane belonging to the Zambian airforce crashed into the Atlantic.
The plane suffered an engine fire and the pilot had responded by shutting down the wrong
engine in response.
All 30 passengers and crew on board died when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean
shortly after takeoff from Libreville in Gabon.
Of the 30 on board, 18 were football players.
Other passengers included the team's coach and support staff.
The African team was actually very promising indeed.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, they thrashed Italy 4-0 and they were eyeing up the Africa
Cup of Nations and a spot in the 1994 World Cup tournament.
Sadly, it was not to be.
Zambia has since never qualified for a spot in the starting line up.
Next up at number 3, we have The Dog Slaughter.
This is the shocking story that in the run-up to the 2018 world cup, authorities in Russia
had been killing hundreds of stray dogs in an effort to clean up the image of the country.
Its thought that the government wished to quietly get rid of the stray dogs by claiming
they posed a public health risk.
Media reported that 7 out of the 11 cities that were hosting games during the tournament
ordered the dogs to be killed.
A PETA activist claimed that dog hunters received roughly 8 dollars for every dog they captured
or killed.
This isn't the first time that Russia has been taken to task by animal rights activists.
They were also criticised by PETA for allowing a dancing bear to be made to pick up a football
and pass it to a referee ahead of a Russian league game.
While that was out in the open, the true nature of the dog story is still being debated.
According to the Washington Post, this isn't the first time Russia has been called out
for stray dog culling.
They say that during the SOCHI Winter Olympics in 2014, one Russia company was paid nearly
30,000 dollars by the government to cull over 1,200 stray cats and dogs …
Next up at number 2, we have The Dome Collapse.
On October 16th, 1996, Guatemala played Costa Rica for a world cup qualifying match.
Many people wanted to come out and cheer on Guatemala as they played at home.
Tragically though, the game will always be remembered for the human stampede and crush
that happened - resulting in the deaths of 84 people and injuring 147 more.
The 45,000 seat stadium had been filled far past capacity.
FIFA claimed that ticket forgers had sold fake tickets to the event, far oversubscribing
it.
By the time authorities realized there were too many people there, the game was already
underway.
There are conflicting accounts of what set off the stampede.
A government spokesman said the rush began when fans tried to flee a drunken brawl in
the stands.
In any case, fans kicked down an entrance door which sent others tumbling down into
the stands.
As the stampede began, guards opened security gates to try to ease the crush, but it was
too late.
Most of the victims died from suffocation.
Some of them were children.
At the time, this was only the latest in a string of deadly crashes at Football matches
over the previous decade.
Football officials around the world have tried to make the stands and regulations a lot safer
so that these disasters never happen again …
1.Andres Escobar Murder: This is a horrifying story and one that highlights
the dangers of putting yourself in the spotlight.
During the world cup of 1994, Andres Escobar was a 27-year-old footballer at the top of
his game as a Colombian defender.
He was thrilled to be part of the 1994 Colombian Team.
The build-up to the tournament seemed promising for Escobar and the team - they beat Argentina
5-0 in the qualifiers and some people, including Pele, tipped the team to win.
In the end, they didn’t make it out of the group stage.
After an embarrassing loss in their opening match against Romania, the pressure was on
for their second game.
Next up, Colombia played host nation, the United States...it was always going to be
a big game and the team had already started receiving death threats from their fellow
countrymen should they fail.
Who can face that kind of pressure?
Some of the team wanted to drop out, but they decided to be strong and face blackmail and
criminal masterminds head-on by continuing with
their job.
Escobar was, by all means, a good defender, but in the 35th minute of the game, he let
in an own goal that would not only be the nail in the coffin of Colombia’s world cup
dreams but would also seal his own fate.
Despite winning their final group stage game, Colombia was out and the 27-year-old returned
home to Medellin.
He was out at a club in the early hours of July 2nd when he was shot in the back six
times - as the assassin shouted Goal after each shot.
It is thought he was shot 6 times as that is the number of goals the team let in, plus
the own goal Escobar scored.
Sadly, Escobar was 5 months away from marrying his girlfriend of 5 years.
His funeral was attended by 120 thousand people and he is remembered in the city of Medellin
with a statue that was unveiled in 2002.
The incident very much tarnished the Colombian national image.