FACTBOX: 2014 World Cup hosts Brazil

(Reuters) - Brazil were named on Tuesday as the host nation for the 2014 World Cup. The country's footballers are renowned for their artistry and unique panache and the national team has a glorious World Cup history.

Here are some facts about Brazilian football:

SOME STATS:

* Brazil have won the World Cup a record five times, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. The 1970 team is considered to be one of the best teams the world has ever seen. Brazil have also been runner-ups twice - in 1950 and 1998.

* Football was introduced to Brazil in the 1890's by Charles Miller, the son of a Scottish expatriate railway engineer, who had played the game at school in Britain. The square outside Sao Paulo's municipal Pacaembu Stadium is named after him.

* Brazil's worst World Cup experience was their 2-1 defeat in the deciding match of the 1950 World Cup by Uruguay in the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The Uruguayans stunned the world record 199,000 in the stadium and millions across the country into silence. The event is known as the Maracanazo -- the Maracana Blow.

* The Selecao, as the national team is known, adopted their famed strip of yellow shirts with green trim and blue shorts after the Maracanazo. They are the colors on the Brazilian flag.

PELE:

* Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. Born in 1940, he played for Santos from the age of 15, and won his first World Cup in 1958 at 17 when he was the youngest player to appear in a final.

-- He was the star of the 1970 World Cup. He grew up in poverty and when he scored his 1,000th goal in 1969, he dedicated it to the poor children of Brazil. One of the world's most recognizable sportsmen, he retired in 1977.

* Brazil never lost a match in the 40 games that Pele and wayward genius Garrincha played together in the national side.