Every day this week we'll be bringing you 20 weird and wonderful facts from World Cup history. Starting today, fittingly enough, with numbers 1 to 20...

1) The 1990 'art' film Cicciolina And Moana At The World Cup features two porn stars who sleep their way through the opposition, tiring out star performers like thinly-disguised versions of Jurgen Klinsmann and Diego Maradona and enabling Italy to win. The Ruud Gullit lookalike in the movie was a big lad.

2) After Scotland's disastrous start to the 1978 tournament Ally McLeod had told supporters they would win, the manager was holding a press conference in his Cordoba hotel when a small dog ran up to him, and the manager reached down to pat the stray. "This little fellow is my last friend in the world," he said mournfully. The dog bit him.

3) The Jabulani ball which will be used at the tournament has been advertised as the "roundest-ever ball".

4) Juergen Sparwasser, who scored East Germany's winning goal over the West in a 1974 finals match which would be the only meeting between the sides, was forbidden to join the team celebration as Communist leaders feared a photo of him celebrating in Munich would be damaging to national morale. He defected to the West in 1988.

5) Yugoslavia's Rajko Mitic failed to make the kick-off of their 1950 match against hosts Brazil in Rio because he had run into an iron girder in the players' tunnel. He emerged 20 minutes later, his head bandaged, with his team already a goal down.

6) During the 1954 'Battle Of Berne' between Brazil and Hungary, English ref Arthur Ellis dismissed three players, including Joseph Bozsik, who was also a Hungarian MP. During the match a Brazilian player was struck on the head by a bottle thrown from the Hungarian bench, allegedly by legend Ferenc Puskas. Ellis later spent 18 years as the referee on BBC TV's It's A Knockout.

7) Garrincha, Brazil's World Cup hero of 1968 and 1962, lost his virginity at age 12. To a goat. He went on to father 14 children.

8) After Ireland were beaten by Italy in 1990, then-Prime Minister Charles Haughey visited the dressing room. Niall Quinn remembered: "Those of us brought up in Ireland stood there in amazement as he made a speech about sporting sons of Ireland. It was totally hair standing up on the back of the neck stuff. But not everyone was from Ireland. Tony Cascarino was behind me and said loudly: 'Who the f*** is that?', ruining the moment. I said: 'that's the Taoiseach'. Andy Townsend was beside him and said loudly again: 'Who is it, Cas?' And he said: 'Dunno. Quinny said he owns a tea shop.'"

9) In April 2010, prisoners at Castro-Castro prison in Lima, Peru, staged their own World Cup - including an opening ceremony in which inmates danced for several hours.

10) Not only did Diana Ross miss her penalty at the opening ceremony of USA 94, but hostess Oprah Winfrey fell off the stage.

11) The story of Scotland winger Willie Johnstone's positive drug test at the 1978 finals was broken on live TV by young reporter Trevor McDonald.

12) A mugger who stole Eva Standmann's handbag before the Brazil-Australia game in Munich four years ago found her ticket inside and decided to enjoy the game. Unfortunately, he sat in Eva's seat, next to her husband Berndt, who had him arrested.

13) Argentina's opening match in the 1930 tournament was watched by only 18,000 because supporters arriving by sea to Montevideo found the port so fogbound that eight of their 10 ships did not make it to land before their match had finished.

14) After losing 9-0 to Yugoslavia in the 1974 finals, Zaire players were threatened by President Mobutu’s guards and told that they could not return home if they lost to Brazil by a score of 4-0 or worse. Luckily, they kept it to 3-0.

15) After his brilliant blunder in 2006, former referee Graham Poll begins his after-dinner speeches with the words: "Good evening, I'm the prat who gave one bloke three yellow cards at the World Cup."

16) The Japanese squad list goes from 3 to 5 as the number 4 is considered unlucky in the country. Four is pronouced "shi" which is the same as "death."

17) Cameroon's team hotel at the 2010 finals is called The Oyster Box.

18) Brothers Victor and Vyacheslav Chanov battled each other to be the Soviet Union's goalkeeper at the 1982 finals. Both went to Spain, but neither played - they were second- and third-string to  Rinat Dassajev.

19) Romania's 1930 squad was personally selected by King Carol II.

20) With France trailing Mexico 1-0 in their second game of the 1930 World Cup finals, referee Almeida Rego blew up for full time with a French forward clear through on goal and six minutes remaining on the clock.