br From kicking around sacrificial heads to the FIFA World Cup, soccer is woven into the fiber of human beings. Learn more here about the world's favorite sport.br br 1. Soccer is the world’s most popular sport. A FIFA survey found that approximately 265 million people, or 4 of the world's population, played soccer in a regular, organized form.br br 2. Chinese Emperor Huang-Ti invented the earliest form of soccer in 1697 BC. Players kicked a leather ball stuffed with cork and hair.br br 3. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) started the World Cup in 1930, largely because the Olympics banned professional soccer players from competing. FIFA created the Women's World Cup in 1991.br br 4.Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, more commonly known as Pelé, is widely considered to be the best footballer of all time. Pelé was discovered when only 11 and played in his first World Cup (1958) at age 17, helping Brazil secure its first World Cup victory.br br 5. A professional soccer player scoring an average of one goal per game is basically the equivalent of a baseball player hitting a homerun in every game.br br 6. Brazilians refer to soccer as the “jogo bonito” or the “beautiful game.”br br 7. The Romans introduced an early form of soccer to England in 43 AD; kicking and punching were part of the game then. England didn’t have referees for soccer matches until 1881, relying upon “good sportsmanship.”br br 8. The FIFA World Cup is the most-watched sporting event in the world. Nearly half of Earth’s population, 3.2 billion people, tuned in to watch the 2014 World Cup.br br 9. The largest soccer stadium in the world is located in Pyongyang, North Korea. The stadium can seat 150,000 visitors, but it is also infamous as a site for the mass execution of military generals suspected of being enemies of the state.br br 10. Soccer’s relative ease-of-play conditions is one of the reasons for its universal appeal. Unlike sports such as basketball or American football, all you really need to play soccer is a ball and an open field.br br Check out more interesting soccer facts here: br FactRetriever is a leading producer of the most interesting facts, online video content, and a plethora of fascinating topics.