During the 1974 world cup in Munich, national teams were given BMW buses for transportation. After being eliminated, Zaire unsuccessfully tried to drive theirs back to Africa.

When the Americans defeated favorite England in the 1950 World Cup, the story goes that many newspapers around the world believed the 1-0 score to be a typo and instead printed that England won 10-1.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, played goalie for the amateur Portsmouth association football club, which would eventually become the Portsmouth professional team that won the FA cup in 2008.