FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup

Founded	1930
Region	International (FIFA)
Number of teams	32 (finals) 209 (eligible to enter qualification)
Related competitions	FIFA Confederations Cup
Current champions	Germany (4th title)
Most successful team(s)	Brazil (5 titles)
Television broadcasters	List of broadcasters
Website	fifa.com/worldcup
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

The 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony
Tournaments
1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026

The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is Germany, which won its fourth title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase, which is often called the World Cup Finals. 32 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation(s), compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about a month.

The 20 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national teams. Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The other World Cup winners are Germany and Italy, with four titles each; Argentina and inaugural winners Uruguay, with two titles each; and England, France and Spain, with one title each.

The World Cup is the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games; the cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the final match, a ninth of the entire population of the planet.^[1][2][3][4]

The 2014 World Cup took place in Brazil. The next two World Cups will be hosted by Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Both choices have been criticised in the media; Russia in light of the 2014 Crimean crisis and Qatar for allegations of vote-buying and poor working conditions for foreign workers.

By May 2015, the games were under a particularly dark cloud because of the 2015 FIFA corruption case, allegations and criminal charges of bribery, fraud and money laundering to corrupt the issuing of media and marketing rights (rigged bids) for FIFA games,^[5] with FIFA officials accused of taking bribes totaling more than $150 million over 24 years. In late May, the U.S. Justice Department announced a 47-count indictment with charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy against 14 people. Arrests of over a dozen FIFA officials were made since that time, particularly on May 29 and December 3.^[6]

On June 10, 2015, FIFA postponed the bidding process for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in light of the allegations surrounding bribery in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. Secretary general Valcke stated that "Due to the situation, I think it's nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being."^[7]

History

Previous international competitions

The world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England,^[8] which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the inaugural edition of the British Home Championship, took place in 1884.^[9] As football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at the turn of the 20th century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics (however, the IOC has retroactively upgraded their status to official events), and at the 1906 Intercalated Games.^[10]

After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906. These were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure.^[11]

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition. Planned by The Football Association (FA), England's football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain (represented by the England national amateur football team) won the gold medals. They repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm.

With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between individual clubs (not national teams) from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. The competition is sometimes described as The First World Cup,^[12] and featured the most prestigious professional club sides from Italy, Germany and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be associated with the competition and declined the offer to send a professional team. Lipton invited West Auckland, an amateur side from County Durham, to represent England instead. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title.

In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a "world football championship for amateurs", and took responsibility for managing the event.^[13] This paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, and won by Belgium.^[14] Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928. Those were also the first two open world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFA's professional era.

World Cups before World War II

Due to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, with President Jules Rimet as the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a world championship itself.^[15] With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay as the host country of the inaugural World Cup tournament.

The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total, 13 nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.

The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously on 13 July 1930, and were won by France and USA, who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France.^[16] In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and in doing so became the first nation to win the World Cup.^[17]

After the creation of the World Cup, the 1932 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles, did not plan to include football as part of the schedule due to the low popularity of the sport in the United States, as American football had been growing in popularity. FIFA and the IOC also disagreed over the status of amateur players, and so football was dropped from the Games.^[18] Olympic football returned at the 1936 Summer Olympics, but was now overshadowed by the more prestigious World Cup.

The issues facing the early World Cup tournaments were the difficulties of intercontinental travel, and war. Few South American teams were willing to travel to Europe for the 1934 and 1938 tournaments, with Brazil the only South American team to compete in both. The 1942 and 1946 competitions, which Nazi Germany and Brazil sought to host,^[19] were cancelled due to World War II and its aftermath.

World Cups after World War II

The 1950 World Cup, held in Brazil, was the first to include British participants. British teams withdrew from FIFA in 1920, partly out of unwillingness to play against the countries they had been at war with, and partly as a protest against foreign influence on football,^[20] but rejoined in 1946 following FIFA's invitation.^[21] The tournament also saw the return of 1930 champions Uruguay, who had boycotted the previous two World Cups. Uruguay won the tournament again after defeating the host nation Brazil, in the match called "Maracanazo" (Portuguese: Maracanaço).

In the tournaments between 1934 and 1978, 16 teams competed in each tournament, except in 1938, when Austria was absorbed into Germany after qualifying, leaving the tournament with 15 teams, and in 1950, when India, Scotland, and Turkey withdrew, leaving the tournament with 13 teams.^[22] Most of the participating nations were from Europe and South America, with a small minority from North America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. These teams were usually defeated easily by the European and South American teams. Until 1982, the only teams from outside Europe and South America to advance out of the first round were: USA, semi-finalists in 1930; Cuba, quarter-finalists in 1938; North Korea, quarter-finalists in 1966; and Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1970.

Expansion to 32 teams

The tournament was expanded to 24 teams in 1982,^[23] and then to 32 in 1998,^[24] also allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part. Since then, teams from these regions have enjoyed more success, with several having reached the quarter-finals: Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1986; Cameroon, quarter-finalists in 1990; South Korea, finishing in fourth place in 2002; Senegal, along with USA, both quarter-finalists in 2002; Ghana, quarter-finalists in 2010; and Costa Rica, quarter-finalists in 2014. Nevertheless, European and South American teams continue to dominate, e.g., the quarter-finalists in 1994, 1998, and 2006 were all from Europe or South America and so were the finalists of all tournaments so far.

Two hundred teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds; 198 nations attempted to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while a record 204 countries entered qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[25]

Possible expansion to 40 teams

In October 2013, Sepp Blatter spoke of guaranteeing the Caribbean Football Union's region a position in the World Cup.^[26] In the 25 October 2013 edition of the FIFA Weekly Blatter wrote that: "From a purely sporting perspective, I would like to see globalisation finally taken seriously, and the African and Asian national associations accorded the status they deserve at the FIFA World Cup. It cannot be that the European and South American confederations lay claim to the majority of the berths at the World Cup."^[27] Those two remarks suggested to commentators that Blatter could be putting himself forward for re-election to the FIFA Presidency.^[28]

Following the magazine's publication, Blatter's would-be opponent for the FIFA Presidency, UEFA President Michel Platini responded that he intended to extend the World Cup to 40 national associations, increasing the number of participants by eight. Platini said that he would allocate an additional berth to UEFA, two to Asia Football Confederation and Confederation of African Football, two shared between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, and a guaranteed place for the Oceania Football Confederation.^[29] Platini was clear about why he wanted to expand the World Cup. He said: "[The World Cup is] not based on the quality of the teams because you don't have the best 32 at the World Cup ... but it's a good compromise. ... It's a political matter so why not have more Africans? The competition is to bring all the people of all the world. If you don't give the possibility to participate, they don't improve."^[29]

Other FIFA tournaments

An equivalent tournament for women's football, the FIFA Women's World Cup, was first held in 1991 in China.^[30] The women's tournament is smaller in scale and profile than the men's, but is growing; the number of entrants for the 2007 tournament was 120, more than double that of 1991.

Football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games except 1896 and 1932. Unlike many other sports, the men's football tournament at the Olympics is not a top-level tournament, and since 1992, an under-23 tournament with each team allowed three over-age players.^[31] Women's football made its Olympic debut in 1996, and is contested between full national sides with no age restrictions.

The FIFA Confederations Cup is a tournament held one year before the World Cup at the World Cup host nation(s) as a dress rehearsal for the upcoming World Cup. It is contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships, along with the FIFA World Cup champion and the host country.^[32]

FIFA also organises international tournaments for youth football (FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup), club football (FIFA Club World Cup, FIFA Women's Club World Cup), and football variants such as futsal (FIFA Futsal World Cup) and beach soccer (FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup).

When the U-20 Women's World Cup is held the year before the Women's World Cup, both tournaments are awarded in a single bidding process. The U-20 tournament serves as a dress rehearsal for the larger competition, the same role as the Confederations Cup plays in the men's game.

Trophy

From 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winning team. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament. In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered, apparently melted down by the thieves.^[33]

After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven countries, evaluated the 53 presented models, finally opting for the work of the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36 cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18 carat (75%) gold and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb). The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory."^[34]

This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy only until the post-match celebration is finished. They are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original immediately afterwards.^[35]

Currently, all members (players, coaches, and managers) of the top three teams receive medals with an insignia of the World Cup Trophy; winners' (gold), runners-up' (silver), and third-place (bronze). In the 2002 edition, fourth-place medals were awarded to hosts South Korea. Before the 1978 tournament, medals were only awarded to the eleven players on the pitch at the end of the final and the third-place match. In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals.^[36][37][38]

Format

Qualification

Since the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament.^[39] They are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, and Europe), overseen by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams.

The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before the final tournament and last over a two-year period. The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations. Usually, one or two places are awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs. For example, the winner of the Oceanian zone and the fifth-placed team from the Asian zone entered a play-off for a spot in the 2010 World Cup.^[40] From the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations receive automatic qualification to the final tournament. This right was also granted to the defending champions between 1938 and 2002, but was withdrawn from the 2006 FIFA World Cup onward, requiring the champions to qualify. Brazil, winners in 2002, were the first defending champions to play qualifying matches.^[41]

Final tournament

The current final tournament has been used since 1998 and features 32 national teams competing over the course of a month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage.^[42]

In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams each. Eight teams are seeded, including the hosts, with the other seeded teams selected using a formula based on the FIFA World Rankings and/or performances in recent World Cups, and drawn to separate groups.^[43] The other teams are assigned to different "pots", usually based on geographical criteria, and teams in each pot are drawn at random to the eight groups. Since 1998, constraints have been applied to the draw to ensure that no group contains more than two European teams or more than one team from any other confederation.^[44]

Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. This means that a total of six matches are played within a group. The last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams.^[45] The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a group. Since 1994, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss (before, winners received two points).

If one considers all possible outcomes (win, draw, loss) for all six matches in a group, there are 729 (= 3⁶) different outcome combinations possible. However a certain number (207) of these combinations lead to ties between the second and third places. In such case, the ranking among these teams is determined as follows:^[46]

1. Greatest combined goal difference in all group matches
2. Greatest combined number of goals scored in all group matches
3. If more than one team remain level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined as follows:
   1. Greatest number of points in head-to-head matches among those teams
   2. Greatest goal difference in head-to-head matches among those teams
   3. Greatest number of goals scored in head-to-head matches among those teams
4. If any of the teams above remain level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined by the drawing of lots

The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with extra time and penalty shootouts used to decide the winner if necessary. It begins with the round of 16 (or the second round) in which the winner of each group plays against the runner-up of another group. This is followed by the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final.^[42]

Hosts

Selection process

Wikinews has related news: FIFA receives eleven bids for 2018 and 2022 World Cups

Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress. The locations were controversial because South America and Europe were by far the two centres of strength in football and travel between them required three weeks by boat. The decision to hold the first World Cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing.^[47] The next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these in France was disputed, as the South American countries understood that the location would alternate between the two continents. Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the 1938 FIFA World Cup.^[48]

Since the 1958 FIFA World Cup, to avoid future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began a pattern of alternating the hosts between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, was the first one held in Asia, and the only tournament with multiple hosts.^[49] South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010. The 2014 FIFA World Cup is hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America since Argentina 1978,^[50] and is the first occasion where consecutive World Cups are held outside Europe.

The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Executive Committee. This is done under an exhaustive ballot system. The national football association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are expected from a strong bid. The bidding association also receives a form, the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the candidacy. After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to host the event and a report on the country is produced. The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament. However, there have been occasions where the hosts of multiple future tournaments were announced at the same time, as was the case for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively.

For the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the final tournament is rotated between confederations, allowing only countries from the chosen confederation (Africa in 2010, South America in 2014) to bid to host the tournament. The rotation policy was introduced after the controversy surrounding Germany's victory over South Africa in the vote to host the 2006 tournament. However, the policy of continental rotation will not continue beyond 2014, so any country, except those belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments, can apply as hosts for World Cups starting from 2018.^[51] This is partly to avoid a similar scenario to the bidding process for the 2014 tournament, where Brazil was the only official bidder.

Bribery & corruption investigations

By the end of May 2015, a total of nine FIFA officials and five executives of sports and broascasting markets had already been charged on corruption. At the time, FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced he would relinquish his position in February 2016.^[52]

On 4 June 2015 Chuck Blazer while co-operating with the FBI and the Swiss authorities admitted that he and the other members of FIFA's executive committee were bribed in order to promote the South African, 1998 and 2010 World Cups.^[53]

On 10 June 2015 Swiss authorities seized computer data from the offices of Sepp Blatter.^[54]
Also, on 10 June 2015 the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup was suspended amid suspicions about bribery in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.^[55]

On 28 October 2015, Blatter and FIFA VP Michel Platini, a potential candidate for presidency, were suspended for 90 days; both maintained their innocence in statements made to the news media.^[56]

On 3 December 2015 two FIFA vice-presidents were arrested on suspicion of bribery in the same Zurich hotel where seven FIFA officials had been arrested in May.^[57] An additional 16 indictments by the U.S. Department of Justice were announced on the same day.^[58]

Performances

Six of the eight champions have won one of their titles while playing in their own homeland, the exceptions being Brazil, who finished as runners-up after losing the deciding match on home soil in 1950 and lost their semifinal against Germany in 2014, and Spain, which reached the second round on home soil in 1982. England (1966) and France (1998) won their only titles while playing as host nations. Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934) and Argentina (1978) won their first titles as host nations but have gone on to win again, while Germany (1974) won their second title on home soil.

Other nations have also been successful when hosting the tournament. Switzerland (quarter-finals 1954), Sweden (runners-up in 1958), Chile (third place in 1962), South Korea (fourth place in 2002), and Mexico (quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986) all have their best results when serving as hosts. So far, South Africa (2010) was the only host nation to fail to advance beyond the first round.

Attendance

	Year	Host country	Continent	Host's perf.*	Sites / towns	Total gate	Matches	Average gate	Top gate ‡	Site of best- attended game(s) ‡
1	1930	Uruguay	S. Amer.	1st	3 / 1	590,549	18	32,808	93,000	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
2	1934	Italy	Europe	1st	8 / 8	363,000	17	21,353	55,000	Stadio Nazionale PNF, Rome
3	1938	France	Europe	QF	10 / 9	375,700	18	20,872	58,455	Olympique de Colombes, Paris
4	1950	Brazil	S. Amer.	2nd	6 / 6	1,045,246	22	47,511	171,772	Maracanã Stadium, Rio
5	1954	Switzerland	Europe	QF	6 / 6	768,607	26	29,562	65,000	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel
6	1958	Sweden	Europe	2nd	12 / 12	819,810	35	23,423	51,800	Råsunda Stadium, Solna †
7	1962	Chile	S. Amer.	3rd	4 / 4	893,172	32	27,912	68,679	Estadio Nacional, Santiago
8	1966	England	Europe	1st	8 / 7	1,563,135	32	48,848	98,270	Wembley Stadium, London
9	1970	Mexico	N. Amer.	QF	5 / 5	1,603,975	32	50,124	108,192	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
10	1974	West Germany	Europe	1st	9 / 9	1,865,753	38	49,099	83,168	Olympiastadion, West Berlin
11	1978	Argentina	S. Amer.	1st	6 / 5	1,545,791	38	40,679	71,712	River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires
12	1982	Spain	Europe	top 12	17 / 14	2,109,723	52	40,572	95,500	Camp Nou, Barcelona
13	1986	Mexico	N. Amer.	QF	12 / 11	2,394,031	52	46,039	114,600	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
14	1990	Italy	Europe	3rd	12 / 12	2,516,215	52	48,389	74,765	San Siro, Milan
15	1994	United States	N. Amer.	top 16	9 / 9	3,587,538	52	68,991	94,194	Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif.†
16	1998	France	Europe	1st	10 / 10	2,785,100	64	43,517	80,000	Stade de France, Saint-Denis †
17	2002	South Korea &  Japan	Asia	4th / top 16	10 / 10 10 / 10	2,705,197	64	42,269	69,029	International Stadium Yokohama (Japan)
18	2006	Germany	Europe	3rd	12 / 12	3,359,439	64	52,491	80,000	Olympiastadion (Berlin)
19	2010	South Africa	Africa	Group	10 / 9	3,178,856	64	49,670	84,490	Soccer City, Johannesburg
20	2014	Brazil	S. Amer.	4th	12 / 12	3,429,873	64	53,592	74,738	Maracanã Stadium, Rio
Overall						37,500,710	836	44,857	171,772	Maracanã Stadium, Rio (1950)

 • QF = Quarter-Finals (top 8) ; Group = did not advance beyond first round (group play)

[Solna borders Stockholm, Pasadena borders Los Angeles and Saint-Denis is a suburb of Paris.]

The best-attended single match, shown in the last two columns, has been the final in only about half of the twenty World Cup series so far. Another match or matches drew more attendance than the final in 1938, 1954, 1966–1982, 1990 and 2006.

• Source: FIFA^[59]

Broadcasting and promotion

The World Cup was first televised in 1954 and is now the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world. The cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 World Cup is estimated to be 26.29 billion.^[1] 715.1 million individuals watched the final match of this tournament (a ninth of the entire population of the planet). The 2006 World Cup draw, which decided the distribution of teams into groups, was watched by 300 million viewers.^[60] The World Cup attracts many sponsors such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Adidas. For these companies and many more, being a sponsor strongly impacts their global brands. Host countries typically experience a multimillion-dollar revenue increase from the month-long event. It is predicted that Brazil will bring in more than $11 billion in revenue for the 2014 World Cup.

Each FIFA World Cup since 1966 has its own mascot or logo. World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 competition, was the first World Cup mascot.^[61] Recent World Cups have also featured official match balls specially designed for each World Cup.

The World Cup even has a statistically significant effect on birth rates, the male/female sex ratio of newborns, and heart attacks in nations whose national teams are competing.^[62][63][64] Hosting the World Cup or a home team's win tends to increase male births and total birth rate, and heart attacks are more common when home teams are on the field.

Results

Year	Host		Winner	Score	Runner-up		Third place	Score	Fourth place		Number of teams
1930 Details	Uruguay		Uruguay	4–2	Argentina		United States	[note 1]	Yugoslavia		13
1934 Details	Italy		Italy	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Czechoslovakia		Germany	3–2	Austria		16
1938 Details	France		Italy	4–2	Hungary		Brazil	4–2	Sweden		16/15 [note 2]
1950 Details	Brazil		Uruguay	[note 3]	Brazil		Sweden	[note 3]	Spain		16/13 [note 4]
1954 Details	Switzerland		West Germany	3–2	Hungary		Austria	3–1	Uruguay		16
1958 Details	Sweden		Brazil	5–2	Sweden		France	6–3	West Germany		16
1962 Details	Chile		Brazil	3–1	Czechoslovakia		Chile	1–0	Yugoslavia		16
1966 Details	England		England	4–2 (a.e.t.)	West Germany		Portugal	2–1	Soviet Union		16
1970 Details	Mexico		Brazil	4–1	Italy		West Germany	1–0	Uruguay		16
1974 Details	West Germany		West Germany	2–1	Netherlands		Poland	1–0	Brazil		16
1978 Details	Argentina		Argentina	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands		Brazil	2–1	Italy		16
1982 Details	Spain		Italy	3–1	West Germany		Poland	3–2	France		24
1986 Details	Mexico		Argentina	3–2	West Germany		France	4–2 (a.e.t.)	Belgium		24
1990 Details	Italy		West Germany	1–0	Argentina		Italy	2–1	England		24
1994 Details	United States		Brazil	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–2p)	Italy		Sweden	4–0	Bulgaria		24
1998 Details	France		France	3–0	Brazil		Croatia	2–1	Netherlands		32
2002 Details	South Korea &  Japan		Brazil	2–0	Germany		Turkey	3–2	South Korea		32
2006 Details	Germany		Italy	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–3p)	France		Germany	3–1	Portugal		32
2010 Details	South Africa		Spain	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands		Germany	3–2	Uruguay		32
2014 Details	Brazil		Germany	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Argentina		Netherlands	3–0	Brazil		32
2018 Details	Russia		Future events				Future events				32

• a.e.t.: after extra time
• p: after penalty shoot-out

Notes

1. ↑ There was no official World Cup Third Place match in 1930; The United States and Yugoslavia lost in the semi-finals. FIFA now recognises the United States as the third-placed team and Yugoslavia as the fourth-placed team, using the overall records of the teams in the tournament.^[65]
2. ↑ Austria withdrew after the draw as a result of the Anschluss with Germany: some Austrian players subsequently joined the German squad, leaving the tournament with 15 teams.
3. 1 2 There was no official World Cup final match in 1950.^[66] The tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain). Coincidentally, one of the last two matches of the tournament pitted the two top ranked teams against each other, with Uruguay's 2–1 victory over Brazil thus often being considered as the de facto final of the 1950 World Cup.^[67] Likewise, the game between the lowest ranked teams, played at the same time as Uruguay vs Brazil, can be considered equal to a Third Place match, with Sweden's 3–1 victory over Spain ensuring that they finished third.
4. ↑ Only 13 teams played the 1950 FIFA World Cup.^[66] 16 teams entered the seeding groups draw. However, Turkey and Scotland both withdrew before the draw; France (eliminated in qualifying) was invited as a replacement, leaving the tournament to be held with 15 teams. After the draw, India and France both withdrew, so only 13 teams participated in the tournament.

In all, 77 nations have played in at least one World Cup.^[68] Of these, eight national teams have won the World Cup, and they have added stars to their badges, with each star representing a World Cup victory. (Uruguay, however, choose to display four stars on their badge, representing their two gold medals at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics and their two World Cup titles in 1930 and 1950.)

With five titles, Brazil are the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have played in every World Cup (20) to date.^[69] Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962) are the only nations to have won consecutive titles. West Germany (1982–1990) and Brazil (1994–2002) are the only nations to appear in three consecutive World Cup finals. Germany has made the most top-four finishes (13), medals (12), as well as the most finals (8).

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Top 4 finishes	Top 3 finishes	Top 2 finishes
Brazil	5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)	2 (1950*, 1998)	2 (1938, 1978)	2 (1974, 2014*)	11	9	7
Germany^	4 (1954, 1974*, 1990, 2014)	4 (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002)	4 (1934, 1970, 2006*, 2010)	1 (1958)	13	12	8
Italy	4 (1934*, 1938, 1982, 2006)	2 (1970, 1994)	1 (1990*)	1 (1978)	8	7	6
Argentina	2 (1978*, 1986)	3 (1930, 1990, 2014)	& —	& —	5	5	5
Uruguay	2 (1930*, 1950)	& —	& —	3 (1954, 1970, 2010)	5	2	2
France	1 (1998*)	1 (2006)	2 (1958, 1986)	1 (1982)	5	4	2
England	1 (1966*)	& —	& —	1 (1990)	2	1	1
Spain	1 (2010)	& —	& —	1 (1950)	2	1	1
Netherlands	& —	3 (1974, 1978, 2010)	1 (2014)	1 (1998)	5	4	3
Czechoslovakia#	& —	2 (1934, 1962)	& —	& —	2	2	2
Hungary	& —	2 (1938, 1954)	& —	& —	2	2	2
Sweden	& —	1 (1958*)	2 (1950, 1994)	1 (1938)	4	3	1
Poland	& —	& —	2 (1974, 1982)	& —	2	2	& —
Austria	& —	& —	1 (1954)	1 (1934)	2	1	& —
Portugal	& —	& —	1 (1966)	1 (2006)	2	1	& —
United States	& —	& —	1 (1930)	& —	1	1	& —
Chile	& —	& —	1 (1962*)	& —	1	1	& —
Croatia	& —	& —	1 (1998)	& —	1	1	& —
Turkey	& —	& —	1 (2002)	& —	1	1	& —
Yugoslavia#	& —	& —	& —	2 (1930, 1962)	2	& —	& —
Soviet Union#	& —	& —	& —	1 (1966)	1	& —	& —
Belgium	& —	& —	& —	1 (1986)	1	& —	& —
Bulgaria	& —	& —	& —	1 (1994)	1	& —	& —
South Korea	& —	& —	& —	1 (2002*)	1	& —	& —

* = hosts

^ = includes results representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990

# = states that have since split into two or more independent nations^[68]

Best performances by continental zones

To date, the final of the World Cup has only been contested by teams from the UEFA (Europe) and CONMEBOL (South America) confederations. European nations have won 11 titles; South American teams have won nine. Only two teams from outside these two continents have ever reached the semi-finals of the competition: USA (North, Central America and Caribbean) in 1930 and South Korea (Asia) in 2002. The best result of an African team is reaching the quarter-finals: Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. Only one Oceanian qualifier, Australia in 2006, has advanced to the second round.^[70]

Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Germany are the only teams to win a World Cup outside their continental confederation; Brazil came out victorious in Europe (1958), North America (1970 and 1994) and Asia (2002), Argentina won a North American World Cup in 1986, while Spain won an African World Cup in 2010. Germany was the first European team to win in South America in 2014. Only on four occasions have consecutive World Cups been won by teams from the same continent – Italy and Brazil successfully defended their titles in 1938 and 1962 respectively, while Spain's 2010 and Germany's 2014 triumphs followed Italy's in 2006.

Total times teams qualified by confederation

	AFC	CAF	CONCACAF	CONMEBOL	OFC	UEFA	Total
Teams	32	39	39	80	4	231	425
Top 16	5	9	13	31	1	81	140[71]
Top 8	2	3	5	32	0	94	136
Top 4	1	0	1	22	0	56	80
Top 2	0	0	0	14	0	26	40
1st	0	0	0	9	0	11	20
2nd	0	0	0	5	0	15	20
3rd	0	0	1	3	0	16	20
4th	1	0	0	5	0	14	20

Awards

At the end of each World Cup, awards are presented to the players and teams for accomplishments other than their final team positions in the tournament. There are currently six awards:^[72]

• The Golden Ball for the best player, determined by a vote of media members (first awarded in 1982); the Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball are awarded to the players finishing second and third in the voting respectively;^[73]
• The Golden Boot (sometimes called the Golden Shoe) for the top goalscorer (first awarded in 1982, but retrospectively applied to all tournaments from 1930); most recently, the Silver Boot and the Bronze Boot have been awarded to the second and third top goalscorers respectively;^[74]
• The Golden Glove Award (formerly the Yashin Award) for the best goalkeeper, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 1994);^[75]
• The Best Young Player Award for the best player aged 21 or younger at the start of the calendar year, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 2006);^[76]
• The FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team with the best record of fair play, according to the points system and criteria established by the FIFA Fair Play Committee (first awarded in 1978);^[76]
• The Most Entertaining Team for the team that has entertained the public the most during the World Cup, determined by a poll of the general public (first awarded in 1994);^[76]

An All-Star Team consisting of the best players of the tournament has also been announced for each tournament since 1998.

Records and statistics

Two players share the record for playing in the most World Cups; Mexico's Antonio Carbajal (1950–1966) and Germany's Lothar Matthäus (1982–1998) both played in five tournaments.^[77] Matthäus has played the most World Cup matches overall, with 25 appearances.^[78] Brazil's Djalma Santos (1954–1962), West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer (1966–1974) and Germany's Philipp Lahm (2006–2014) are the only players to be named to three Finals All-Star Teams.^[79]

Miroslav Klose of Germany (2002–2014) is the all-time top scorer at the finals, with 16 goals. He broke Ronaldo of Brazil's record of 15 goals (1998–2006) during 2014 semi-final match against Brazil. West Germany's Gerd Müller (1970–1974) is third, with 14 goals.^[80] The fourth placed goalscorer, France's Just Fontaine, holds the record for the most goals scored in a single World Cup; all his 13 goals were scored in the 1958 tournament.^[81]

In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals.^[36] This made Brazil's Pelé the only player to have won three World Cup winners' medals (1958, 1962, and 1970, although he did not play in the 1962 final due to injury),^[82] with 20 other players who have won two winners' medals. Seven players have collected all three types of World Cup medals (winners', runner- ups', and third-place); five players were from West Germany's squad of 1966–1974 including Franz Beckenbauer, Jürgen Grabowski, Horst-Dieter Höttges, Sepp Maier and Wolfgang Overath (1966–1974), Italy's Franco Baresi (1982, 1990, 1994) and the most recent has been Miroslav Klose of Germany (2002–2014) with four consecutive medals.

Brazil's Mário Zagallo and West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer are the only people to date to win the World Cup as both player and head coach. Zagallo won in 1958 and 1962 as a player and in 1970 as head coach.^[83] Beckenbauer won in 1974 as captain and in 1990 as head coach.^[84] Italy's Vittorio Pozzo is the only head coach to ever win two World Cups (1934 and 1938).^[85] All World Cup winning head coaches were natives of the country they coached to victory.

Among the national teams, Germany has played the most World Cup matches (106) and appeared in the most finals (8), semi-finals (13), quarter-finals (16) as well as scoring the most World Cup goals (224), while Brazil has appeared in the most World Cups (20).^[86] The two teams have played each other twice in the World Cup, in the 2002 final and in the 2014 semi-final.

Top goalscorers

Players with more than 10 goals at World Cup tournaments

Rank	Nation	Player	Goals scored
1		Miroslav Klose	16
2		Ronaldo	15
3		Gerd Müller	14
4		Just Fontaine	13
5		Pelé	12
6		Jürgen Klinsmann	11
		Sándor Kocsis	11

All-time table for champions

Position	Name of Team	Participations	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Avg Pts	Trophies
1	Brazil	20	104	70	17	17	221	102	119	227	2.18	5
2	Germany[87]	18	106	66	20	20	224	121	103	218	2.06	4
3	Italy	18	83	45	21	17	128	77	51	156	1.88	4
4	Argentina	16	77	42	14	21	131	84	47	140	1.82	2
5	Spain	14	59	29	12	18	92	66	26	99	1.68	1
6	England	14	62	26	20	16	79	56	23	98	1.58	1
7	France	14	59	28	12	19	106	71	35	96	1.63	1
8	Uruguay	12	51	20	12	19	80	71	9	72	1.41	2

See also

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
• List of FIFA World Cup finals
• National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup
• FIFA U-20 World Cup
• FIFA U-17 World Cup
• FIFA Club World Cup
• FIFA Women's World Cup
• FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
• FIFA Futsal World Cup
• FIFA Confederations Cup
• FIFA Legends World Cup

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FIFA World Cup.

• FIFA World Cup official site
• Previous FIFA World Cups

FIFA World Cup Tournaments Uruguay 1930 Italy 1934 France 1938 Brazil 1950 Switzerland 1954 Sweden 1958 Chile 1962 England 1966 Mexico 1970 West Germany 1974 Argentina 1978 Spain 1982 Mexico 1986 Italy 1990 United States 1994 France 1998 South Korea/Japan 2002 Germany 2006 South Africa 2010 Brazil 2014 Russia 2018 Qatar 2022 2026 Finals 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Qualification 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 Squads 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Seedings 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Broadcasters 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 Bids 2014 2018 and 2022 2026 2030 Records and statistics All-time table Goalscorers top goalscorers finals goalscorers hat-tricks own goals Penalty shoot-outs Player appearances Red cards Referees Team appearances Teams with no appearances Miscellaneous Awards Balls Economics History Hosts Mascots Official films Official songs Trophy Video games Notes: There was no qualification for the 1930 World Cup as places were given by invitation only. In 1950, there was no final; the article is about the decisive match of the final group stage.

FIFA World Cup winners 1930:  Uruguay 1934:  Italy 1938:  Italy 1950:  Uruguay 1954:  West Germany 1958:  Brazil 1962:  Brazil 1966:  England 1970:  Brazil 1974:  West Germany 1978:  Argentina 1982:  Italy 1986:  Argentina 1990:  West Germany 1994:  Brazil 1998:  France 2002:  Brazil 2006:  Italy 2010:  Spain 2014:  Germany

FIFA World Cup symbols Official songs 1962: "El Rock del Mundial" 1966: "World Cup Willie (Where in this World are We Going)" 1970: "Fútbol México 70" 1974: "Futbol" 1978: "Anthem" 1982: "Mundial '82" 1986: "Hot Hot Hot" 1990: "Un'estate italiana" 1994: "Gloryland" 1998: "The Cup of Life" 2002: "Boom" 2006: "Celebrate the Day" 2010: "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" 2014: "We Are One (Ole Ola)" Mascots 1966: World Cup Willie 1970: Juanito 1974: Tip and Tap 1978: Gauchito 1982: Naranjito 1986: Pique 1990: Ciao 1994: Striker, the World Cup Pup 1998: Footix 2002: Ato, Kaz, and Nik 2006: Goleo VI and Pille 2010: Zakumi 2014: Fuleco Balls 1970: Telstar 1974: Telstar Durlast 1978: Tango Durlast 1982: Tango España 1986: Azteca 1990: Etrusco Unico 1994: Questra 1998: Tricolore 2002: Fevernova 2006: +Teamgeist 2010: Jabulani 2014: Brazuca Video games 1986: World Cup Carnival 1990: World Cup Italia '90 1994: World Cup USA '94 1998: World Cup 98 · Jikkyou World Soccer: World Cup France '98 · World Soccer Jikkyou Winning Eleven 3: World Cup France '98 2002: 2002 FIFA World Cup 2006: 2006 FIFA World Cup 2010: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa 2014: 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Albums 1994: Gloryland 1998: Allez! Ola! Ole! 2002: The Official Album 2006: Voices 2010: Listen Up! 2014: One Love, One Rhythm Instruments 2010: Vuvuzela 2014: Caxirola

FIFA World Cup hosts 1930:  Uruguay 1934:  Italy 1938:  France 1950:  Brazil 1954:   Switzerland 1958:  Sweden 1962:  Chile 1966:  England 1970:  Mexico 1974:  West Germany 1978:  Argentina 1982:  Spain 1986:  Mexico 1990:  Italy 1994:  United States 1998:  France 2002:  South Korea &  Japan 2006:  Germany 2010:  South Africa 2014:  Brazil 2018:  Russia 2022:  Qatar

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