2014 World Cup Wallchart

The 2014 World Cup is nearly upon us and what better way to keep track of proceedings than with this colourful wallchart hand illustrated by myself.

The wall chart features memorable moments and colourful characters from past World Cups and measures in at a home and office-friendly 594 x 420mm (A2). They are printed on 90gsm white bond poster paper and come delivered rolled up in a standard postal tube.

They cost a mere ten English pounds, ALL of which is being donated to the brilliant Luton and Dunstable Hospital Neonatal and Intensive Care Unit.

Below are some of the moments, characters and features to be found on my wallchart in a bit more detail:

Blonde Romanians
At the 1998 World Cup in France the entire Romanian team famously dyed their hair blonde after beating England in the group stages. The plan was supposed to bring them good luck - but sadly Gheorghe Hagi and co were knocked out of the tournament in the second round by Croatia.



Dutch/German/Phlegm-ish

Today's 2014 World Cup Wallchart moment comes from the 1990 World cup and features West Germany's Rudi Voller and Frank Rijkaard of the Netherlands. In a match that historically never needs an excuse for trouble, Rijkaard decided to spit in Voller's mullet-perm after being booked. Voller then found himself in the referee's notebook for complaining about Rijkaard's phlegm assault. From the resulting free kick another scuffle occurred with both players receiving red cards and Voller receiving another dose of dutch mucus. Don't click here if you hate spitting (or bad hairstyles).

Colourful keepers

Next up, taking pride of place on my wallchart, are a couple of the 1990's craziest keepers.

On the left is René Higuita, Columbia's 'Sweeper keeper'. Higuita was famous for taking and scoring free kicks, his habit of leaving his goal to dribble the ball up the pitch and also his trademark Scorpion kick . Here is 'El Loco' in probably his most infamous World Cup moment back in 1990.

Next to him is Mexico's Jorge Campos, flamboyant Campos was also partial to a stroll up the pitch but is probably better known for his (self-designed) headache-inducing kits.

Paul the psychic octopus

At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the most reliable pundit wasn't Hansen or Lawrenson, it was someone far more attractive – an octopus called Paul.

The German based psychic cephalopod correctly predicted the winners of 11 out of 13 matches including Spain to beat the Netherlands in the World Cup final on 11th July. Here's a video of him in action.

Venue map of Brazil

Here's the colour coded map from the wall chart featuring all 12 of the venues that are being used to host World Cup games in Brazil.

England open their campaign against the Italians on June 14th in the Amazonian city of Manaus before meeting Uruguay in Sao Paulo on the 19th and finally Costa Rica in Recife on the 24th - after that, who knows?

Zaïre's crazy defensive wall from 1974

Brazil were shaping up to take a free kick in their group match against Zaïre, but the African defender Mwepu Ilunga had other ideas. Before the referee had signalled for the free kick to be taken, Ilunga decided to break free from the end of the Zaïre wall, run to the ball and boot it as far as he could. Brazil ended up winning 3-0 and Ilunga earned himself a booking in probably one of the funniest moments in World Cup history – watch it here.