The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred
to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested
by the men's national football teams of the member
nations of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global
governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament's final phase, often called the World Cup Finals, is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world,
with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.[1] The current format of the Finals
involves thirty-two national teams competing at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. To
determine the participating teams, qualifying rounds take place over the
three years preceding the Finals.
In the eighteen tournaments held, only seven nations have won the title. Brazil is the most successful World Cup team, having won the tournament five times. The
current World Champions, Italy, follows with four titles, while
Germany holds three. The other former champions are Uruguay (who won the inaugural tournament) and Argentina with two titles each, and England and France with one title
each.
The most recent World Cup Finals were held between June
9 and July 9, 2006 in Germany, where Italy was crowned champion after beating France in the final, winning the penalty
shootout 5-3 after the match finished 1-1 after extra time. Germany placed third after beating Portugal 3-1. The next World Cup Finals
will be held in 2010 in South Africa.
Since 1991, FIFA has also organized the FIFA Women's World Cup every four
years.
History
-
Previous international competitions
The world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England,[2] with
the first competitive international match taking place in Belfast in 1884, between Ireland and Scotland, in the inaugural British
Championship. At this stage the sport was rarely played outside Great Britain and
Ireland. As football began to increase in popularity in other parts of the world at the turn of
the century, it was held as a demonstration sport (with no medals awarded) at the
1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics, and at the 1906 Intercalated Games; football became an official competition at the
1908 Summer Olympics. Planned by The Football Association (FA), 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 event in both 1908 and 1912.
After FIFA was founded in 1904, there was an attempt made by FIFA to arrange an international
football tournament between nations outside of 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.[3]
Some may argue that the FA Cup was the first World Cup, as Scottish side Queen's Park F.C. played in 1884 and 1885 (reaching
the final on both occasions) and numerous Welsh sides (Cardiff City won in 1927) having competed in England's national cup, however this can be dismissed as
all teams who have participated have been located in the United Kingdom. With the Olympic
event continuing to be contested only between amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organized
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,[4] and featured the most prestigious
professional club sides from Italy, Germany and Switzerland, but The Football Association 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, and were given the trophy to keep forever, as per the rules of the competition.
In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a "world
football championship for amateurs",[3] and took responsibility for managing the event. This paved the way for the world's first
intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics,
contested by Egypt (who were knocked
out in their first match) and thirteen European teams. The gold medals were won by
Belgium.[5] Uruguay then won the Olympic football
tournaments in 1924 and 1928. In 1928 FIFA made the decision to stage their own international tournament
outside of the Olympics. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions (as 1924 was the start of FIFA's
professional era) and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named
Uruguay as the host country.
First 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 football 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.[6] FIFA president
Jules Rimet thus planned the inaugural World Cup
tournament to be held in Uruguay in 1930. 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.[7]
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, and were won by France and the USA, who
beat Mexico 4-1 and Belgium 3-0, respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by
Lucien Laurent of France. In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2
in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and became the first nation to win a
World Cup.[8]
Growth
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 were cancelled due to World War II and its aftermath.
The 1950 World Cup 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 a foreign influence on football,[9] but
rejoined in 1946 following FIFA's invitation. The tournament also saw the return of 1930 champions Uruguay, who had boycotted the
previous two World Cups. Uruguay won the tournament again in one of the most famous matches ever which was later called the
"Maracanazo".
Map of countries' best results
In the tournaments between 1934 and 1978, 16 teams competed for each finals
tournament, except in 1938, when Austria were 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. 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: United States, semi-finalists in 1930;
Cuba, quarter-finalists in 1938; North Korea, quarter-finalists in 1966;
and Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1970.
The finals were expanded to 24 teams in 1982, then to 32 in 1998, allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part. The one exception is
Oceania, who have never had a guaranteed spot in the finals. In recent years, teams from these regions have enjoyed more success,
and those who have reached the knockout stage include: Mexico,
quarterfinalists in 1986 and reaching the knockout rounds in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006; Morocco, reaching the knockout rounds in 1986; Cameroon, quarter-finalists in 1990; Costa Rica, reaching the knockout rounds in 1990; Nigeria, reaching the knockout rounds
in 1994 and 1998; Saudi Arabia, reaching the knockout rounds in
1994; United States, reaching the knockout rounds in 1994 and
quarter-finalists in 2002; South Korea, finishing in fourth place
in 2002; Senegal, quarter-finalists in 2002; Japan, reaching the knockout rounds in 2002; and Australia and Ghana,
both reaching the knockout rounds in 2006. However, European and South American teams have remained the stronger forces. For
example, the quarter-finalists in 2006 were all from Europe or South America.
198 nations attempted to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and a record 204
will attempt to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[10]
An equivalent tournament for women's football, the FIFA Women's World Cup, was first held in 1991 in the People's Republic of China.
.
Trophy
-
From 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winner. 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.[11]
After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was
designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven different countries, evaluated the 53 presented models, finally opting for the
work of the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36 cm high, made of
solid 18-carat gold and weighs 6,175 grammes. 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."[12]
This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently, irrespective of how many World Cups they win. World Cup
winners retain the trophy until the next tournament and are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original.
Argentina, Germany (as West Germany), Italy and Brazil have all won the second trophy twice, while France has won it once. It
will not be retired until the name plaque has been entirely filled with the names of winning nations in 2038.
Format
Qualification
-
- For a more comprehensive list, see National team
appearances in the FIFA World Cup
Since the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin
the field for the final tournament. They are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America
and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, 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, but also subject to lobbying from the confederations.
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 will enter a play-off for a spot in the 2010 World
Cup. From the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations have received an automatic
berth in the finals. This right had also been granted to the defending champions since 1938, but it has been withdrawn starting
from the 2006 FIFA World Cup, requiring them to qualify as well, meaning that
Brazil, who won in 2002,
became the first defending champion to play in a qualifying match.[13]
Final tournament
The current finals tournament features 32 national teams competing over a month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: a
group stage followed by a knockout stage.
In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams each. The finals draw, held six months before the
tournament in the host nation, determines the groups. Eight teams are seeded (including the hosts, with the other teams selected using a formula based on both
the FIFA World Rankings and performances in recent World Cups) and drawn to separate
groups. 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.
Each group plays a round-robin tournament, guaranteeing that every team will
play at least three matches. The last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among the
teams. 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 (prior to this, winners received two points rather than three). If two or more
teams end up with the same number of points, tiebreakers are used: first is goal difference, then total goals scored, then head-to-head results, and finally drawing of lots (i.e.
determining team positions at random).[14]
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.
Below are the various formats used in previous tournaments:
- 1930: A group stage, followed by a knockout stage with 4 teams (group winners; note that no third-place match was
played)
- 1934–1938: Single-elimination tournament; these are the only tournaments without a group stage
- 1950: A first group stage, followed by a final group stage with 4 teams (group winners); this is the only tournament without
an official final match
- 1954–1970: A group stage, followed by a knockout stage with 8 teams (group winners and runners-up)
- 1974–1978: A first group stage, followed by a second group stage with 8 teams (first round group winners and runners-up),
followed by the final (second round group winners; second round group runners-up played in the third-place match)
- 1982: A first group stage, followed by a second group stage with 12 teams (first round group winners and runners-up),
followed by a knockout stage with 4 teams (second round group winners)
- 1986–1994: A group stage, followed by a knockout stage with 16 teams (group winners, runners-up and the four best
third-placed teams)
- 1998–present: A group stage, followed by a knockout stage with 16 teams (group winners and runners-up)
Selection of hosts
-
Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress. The choice of location was highly controversial,
given the three-week boat journey between South America and Europe, the two centres of strength in football. The decision to hold the first World Cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing.[15] The next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these, the 1938 FIFA World
Cup, in France was controversial, as the American countries had been led to understand
that the World Cup would rotate between the two continents. Both Argentina and Uruguay thus
boycotted the tournament.[16]
After the 1958 FIFA World Cup, to avoid any 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 Japan and South Korea, was the
first one held in Asia (and the only tournament with multiple hosts), and in 2010, South Africa will become the first African nation to host the World Cup.
The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Executive Committee. This is done under a single transferable vote system. The national football association of the country who desires
to host the event receives a guide called "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and indicates requirements that
need to be met to offer a strong bid. The association that desires to celebrate the event also receives a form that the
association must fill out and return to FIFA. This document 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 Cup is currently made six years in advance of
the tournament. For the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the hosting of the final tournament was rotated between its constituent
confederations, and only countries from the chosen confederation may bid on the tournament.
Bidding for the 2014 FIFA World Cup
After the 2010 FIFA World Cup was allocated to Africa, the 2014 FIFA World Cup
was allocated to South America in 2003, which will be the first held in South America since 1978. Brazil and Colombia had formally expressed interest in hosting the
tournament,[17] but Colombia subsequently withdrew,
leaving Brazil as the sole bidder.[18] However, if none
of the candidates in South America meet the standards set by FIFA, the tournament may be moved to another continent.[19] In September 2006, FIFA president Sepp Blatter indicated that "Brazil is likely to be the host", but also said that "I can't guarantee that
Brazil will be the host, but the ball is in Brazil's court now."[20] The final decision will be made by FIFA's Executive Committee on 30
October 2007.[21]
Bidding for the 2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup has not been allocated to any continent; in fact, the
policy of continental rotation may not continue beyond 2014. Countries which have expressed an interest in hosting the 2018 World
Cup include Australia, Nigeria, England, Russia, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, United States and
China, while the Benelux countries
(Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) are planning a joint bid, after Belgium and the Netherlands successfully co-hosted the
2000 UEFA European Football Championship.[22] FIFA president Sepp Blatter stated on February 28,
2007 that the World Cup, "should be in North America in 2018 and there are three countries who
could host it there—the United States, Mexico and Canada." This, however, depends upon decisions regarding the rotation of
hosts.[23] In April 2007, Blatter said "this would mean
that the next World Cup after 2014 would go to Asia."[24] If the rotation system were extended retrospectively, North America, which last
hosted the tournament in 1994, could claim precedence over Asia which hosted the 2002 finals.
Media coverage
The World Cup was first televised in 1954 and is now the most widely-viewed and followed sporting event in the world,
exceeding even the Olympic Games. The cumulative audience of the 2006 World Cup -
including all of the matches - 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.[25]
Each FIFA World Cup since 1966 has its own mascot. World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 competition, was the first World Cup mascot. Mascots for
the 2006 World Cup were Goleo, a
lion, and Pille, a football.
- See also: FIFA World Cup
mascots
Results
World Cup summaries
