The Romanians, managed by Costel Radulescu and coached by their captain Rudolf Wetzer and Octav Luchide, entered the competition following the intervention of newly crowned King Carol II

Correct. Your go Chris

Chris

who was the first person to win the x factor??

Mr Steven Desmond "Steve" Brookstein, who got 6 million votes in the final

Bump?

Right, I'm taking a go.

What would have happened if the final of the 1950 World Cup had ended in a draw?

If the final between Brazil and Uruguay had finished a draw then Brazil would have been crowned champions. This was due to their convincing wins against Sweden and Spain.

Brazil were actually drawing until 11 minutes from the end when Alcides Ghiggia scored to make it 2-1 to Uruguay

Correct. A draw would have given the title to Brazil as it was not knockout at that stage but a second round-robin group stage. Your go!

What happened in the 1986 World Cup which led to a clarification in the rules about penalties?

The penalty hit the crossbar, hit the Brazilian goalie on the back and crossed the line. The ref gave it as a goal, and the Brazilian captain got booked for protesting "the kick should have been considered a miss as soon as it rebounded off the post" (Wikipedia).

The "Madrid rule" has since clarified that such a goal should stand.

That's correct. Your go

Nice...

This is brilliant. Lausanne in Switzerland hosted 5 games in the 1958 World Cup. Griffiths and Viana were the names of two referees of games there. What was the name of the third referee to take charge of a game in Lausanne?

Charlie Faultless from Scotland was the referee for the match played at Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in Lausanne. The match was between Brazil and Yugoslavia, which finished 1-1.

He also took charge of the Quarter final at the same stadium, in which Austria beat Switzerland 7-5.



btw it was the 1954 World Cup that was held in Switzerland. 1958 was Sweden

Edited at 00:24 Wed 23/06/10 (BST)

1954 I meant, sorry... But yeah, the answer is the greatest name ever for a referee: Faultless. Your go

Which country holds the record for most unsuccessful attempts to qualify for the World Cup and how many times have they tried?

At a guess, probably Ireland; 18 campaigns, 15 failures...

Correction: Luxembourg, 0/18 successful attempts (and only 3 wins out of 114 games too)

Edited at 05:06 Wed 23/06/10 (BST)

Bumpski

More bump

Extra bump cos he's online