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During the year 2004, which was also the centenary of FIFA, a record number of international matches were played - in total FIFA organized 1066 matches, which is 22 more than the previous record set in 2000.
Although in the football calendar of 2004 there were continental tournaments and the qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup, there were 491 friendly matches played (45%), while there were slightly fewer World Cup qualifying matches - 423 (40%).
As always, Europeans were the most active, playing almost a quarter of all matches, which is 266 games, while Asians remained in second place among the continents with 248 matches (23%).
Out of the 205 national teams classified in the FIFA World Ranking, 184 entered the field last year, playing an average of 11.6 matches and improving the previous average by two. The Bahrain national team played the most matches against opponents, a total of 33 times.
