Time to get excited about the 2014 World cup in Brazil!

Excitement and anticipation are slowly building across the globe, for the fast-approaching World Cup in vibrant Brazil – including in our office.  The Wall Chart and facepaints will soon be making their way into the building, and we will all be rooting for England (apart from a minority of footie-phobes, who will be bringing in the earplugs and resolutely ignoring the football fever as it builds!)

For many children, the spectacle of the world cup is especially enthralling, particularly if they are keen footballers themselves.  They can look forward to 4 weeks and 3 days of scintillating skills from footballing superstars and battling minnows, as 32 nations compete to hold aloft the much-coveted Jules Rimet trophy as champions.

England may not be fancied by many commentators, but that won’t stop England supporters both young and old from ardently supporting the team, whether it be as a lucky spectator at the games, or as an armchair viewer.

To help get you in the mood for proceedings, we have gathered a collection of World Cup activities and resources together, that we hope you (and your children) will enjoy.

Ideas for a World Cup birthday party

World Book Day Fest – countdown to the World Cup

World Cup qualifiers word search

World Cup colouring pages and flag colouring pages

Fifa World Cup Songs

World Cup Trivia Challenge

A downloadable World Cup wallchart

World Cup 2014 Quiz: which England legend are you?

World Cup Wallchart predictor game

Further to this, we’ve put together a ‘Football Frenzy Puzzles’ worksheet which you can download below as well as a fun true and false quiz:

True/False World Cup Quiz

Test your knowledge of the upcoming World Cup in Brazil by deciding whether the following statements are true or false.  You can check your answers as we have listed the correct answers further down the page.

1.  There will be vanishing spray at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
2. There will be 32 teams competing in Brazil.
3. The next World Cup in 2018 will be held in England.
4. There will be 12 venues for world cup games in Brazil.
5. This will be the first World Cup with goal-line technology.
6. France built their own World Cup hotel and training camp.
7. Cristiano Ronaldo is the most expensive player in the World Cup.
8. No Scandinavian country will participate in the 2014 World Cup.
9. The referees will be able to stop play if the weather gets too hot.
10.   The average age of the players in the England squad for the World Cup is 28.

Answers to True/False Quiz:

1.  True – a waterbased vanishing spray will be used for the first time at a World Cup Finals.  It is used by referees to mark the ten-yard line for a defending team during a free kick and also to show where the ball should be placed.  The marks ‘magically’ disappear after a minute.
2. True.
3. False – the 2018 World Cup will take place in Russia.  It will be the first time that Russia has hosted the tournament and the first time the competition has been held in Eastern Europe.
4. True.
5. True – This is the 4^th FIFA competitions to use the technology.  The decision was prompted after the last World Cup, where England were incorrectly denied a goal in their tie against Germany.
6. False.  It was Germany – France allegedly demanded 2 types of soap in each hotel room.
7. False.  Lionel Messi is ‘the most expensive player’ in the 2014 World Cup.
8. True.
9. True.  As it is humid and hot in some parts of Brazil, referees are able to draw a halt to play 2 to 3 times per match to allow players to rehydrate.
10. False.  The average age is 26.6, which makes them the squad with the 10^th youngest set of players in contention. The youngest squad is Ghana – an average of 24.9.