FIFA World Cup; The FIFA World Cup is the most important competition for football sport under the supervision of the International Football Federation. The FIFA World Cup has been held every four years since 1930, except for the 1942 and 1946 tournaments that were canceled because of the Second World War. Since 1998, 32 national teams, divided into eight groups, have participated in the current tournament system, competing for the tournament title for a month at the host country’s stadiums. These teams qualify for the tournament through a three-year qualifying system.
Who Won the previous 20 titles?
The previous 20 editions of the FIFA World Cup saw eight different teams win the title. Also, registers the Brazilian team’s presence in all tournaments. He has never missed a World Cup to date and is the most decorated in the Cup, winning it five times: 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002. Followed by the four-time Italian team in 1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006, with the 4-time German team also in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014. Argentina, Uruguay, and France won the title twice, while England and Spain won the tournament once.
Who Won Two Times in Row?
Only two teams have secured the championship title of the FIFA World Cup two times in a row, with the Italian national team being the first to win the tournament two times in a row in the 1934 and 1938 editions, and then Brazil the champions of the years: 1958, 1962.
The Most Watched Sport
The World Cup is one of the world’s most watched sporting events. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup final, held in Germany, 715 million people followed the final. The current defending champion is the 2018 World Cup-winning French team held in Russia after winning the final against Croatia by 4-2.
The History
The first international football match was held in 1872 between Scotland and England and ended in a goalless draw. The first international tournament was the British Championship in 1884. At this point the sport was rarely played outside of Great Britain and Ireland.
After FIFA was founded in 1904, there was an attempt by FIFA to organize an international football tournament among nations, outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906, which was the first start of international football. As the Olympic event continued with the participation of amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organized the 1909 Sir Thomas Lipton Cup in Turin, a professional competition. Lipton’s championship was between clubs (not national teams) from different countries, each representing the entire country. It is sometimes referred to as the first club-level World Cup.
In 1914, the Fédération internationale de football agreed to recognize the Olympic Championship as an “amateur World Football Championship”, taking responsibility for running the event. This paved the way for the world’s first intercontinental football competition at the 1920 Summer Olympics. Subsequently, Uruguay won the Olympic football championships in 1924 and 1928. In 1928, Fédération Internationale decided to organize its own international tournament outside the Olympic Games. With Uruguay being the two-time official football champions and celebrating the centenary of Uruguay’s independence in 1930, the World Football Federation of Uruguay became the host of the first edition of the World Cup.
The Tournament Invention
The idea of holding the World Cup dates back to the first FIFA meeting in 1904 in Paris, attended by seven countries: Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. The International Federation embraced the idea of holding a World Football Championship, after the decision took a long time to agree on because of several difficulties. The most significant of these difficulties was the International Olympic Committee’s rejection of the idea of the tournament for fear of affecting the oldest Olympic sessions, as well as for fear of the International Federation dominating the most popular game in the world.
The idea was again raised in 1921 by French lawyer Jules Rimet, who later became President of the International Federation and worked hard to launch the first World Football Championship. Seven years after his appointment to the presidency, the International Federation agreed at a historic meeting held on 25 May 1928 to endorse the World Cup and call it the Victory Cup.
Uruguay applied for the tournament, which was approved because it was the leader of the teams at the time and the champion of the last two Olympics, provided facilities for the participating teams, and ensured that the teams’ expenses and difficult movements were paid at the time. Two years before the launch of the first World Cup, the instructions stipulated that there should be a precious award for the World Cup-winning team, which led them to create the Victory Cup (Jules Rimet Cup). The tournament was first launched in 1930 and continues every 4 years today.
The Championship Cup
The World Cup is a Gold Cup rewarded by the World Cup winner. He has so far been presented with two different trophies for tournament winners since its inception in 1930: the Jules Rimet Cup from 1930 to 1970, and the World Cup Cup from 1974 to the present. The first trophy was the Victory Trophy but was later renamed after Fédération internationale française (Fédération internationale de football française) president Jules Rimet as the godfather and owner of the tournament in his honour. Brazil won the trophy in 1970 forever prompting the FIFA to create an alternative trophy. But in 1983 the Jules Rimet Cup was stolen and never recovered. The current FIFA World Cup Trophy was presented in 1974. It is made of 18 carat gold with a base of alabaster depicting two human characters carrying the globe and is currently the winner of the French team in 2018.
The Awards
After the end of each tournament, the awards are distributed to players and participating teams, currently there are 6 FIFA World Cup awards list.
- Ballon d’Or: For the best player in the tournament (currently known as the Adidas Golden Ball).
- Golden Shoe: For tournament goals, first awarded in 1930 (currently known as the Adidas Golden Shoe).
- Golden Glove: For the best goalkeeper, first awarded in 1994.
- Young Player of the Year: Best Young Player Under-21, first awarded in 1958, while the current edition was first awarded in 2006 (currently known as the Hyundai Young Player of the Year Award).
- Fair play: The team with the fewest cards, first awarded in 1970.
- Championship team: The top 11 fun players are selected, through a public opinion poll, first awarded in 1994.
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