Wild World Cup trivia — Part IV: Ronaldo's convulsion, the attendance record and the 7–1

Part III featured stories with stolen trophies and dogs on the pitch. Now, three stories in which the Brazilian national team shows up in very different lights — one cinematic, one statistical and one that still hurts.

Ronaldo, the mysterious convulsion and the final nobody understands

The 1998 World Cup in France was supposed to be the tournament of Ronaldo's definitive coronation. He arrived at the final as favorite for the Ballon d'Or, playing football from another planet, and Brazil would face the hosts for back-to-back titles. Then the night before the final happened.

According to widely reported accounts afterwards, Ronaldo had a convulsion in his room at the team hotel. Teammates panicked — one of them, according to several reports, said out loud in the moment that 'he's going to die on the pitch'. The player was taken to hospital, examined and cleared by the doctors.

• The initial starting lineup released by the CBF did not include Ronaldo's name.
• Hours later, a new list was published — this time with his name included.
• There was never any public explanation for the change.

Brazil lost 3–0. Ronaldo did take the field, but played well below his own level. More than two decades later, neither the doctors nor Ronaldo himself have been able to explain what caused the convulsion — and he never had another similar episode. The scene remains one of the greatest mysteries in recent football history.

The only country that has played every single World Cup

There's a fact that's easy to repeat but hard to measure: Brazil is the only country in the world to have taken part in every edition of the World Cup since the first, in 1930. No other national team has ever come close.

For perspective: Italy, four-time champions, missed the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Argentina, current world champions, spent decades without going far in the knockout rounds before 2022. Meanwhile, Brazil simply shows up every time — whether to win or to break hearts.

Bonus: the 7–1 that made historical sense in the worst way

In 1950, Brazil thrashed Sweden 7–1 at the home World Cup — one of the most exciting runs up to that point and a scoreline that became a symbol of stylish football. In 2014, also at home, Germany thrashed Brazil 7–1 in the semifinal in Belo Horizonte.

"Same scoreline. Same national team. Completely opposite meanings."

— A coincidence only football history could deliver

History has a cruel sense of humor sometimes. This closes the compilation making it clear that, when Brazil and the World Cup are involved, there's rarely a small story — or a repetition without weight.

Sources

Compiled from reports by BBC Brasil, CNN Brasil, ESPN Brasil and the historical archives of FIFA and the CBF.