World Cup Football

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.

History

Previous international competitions
The first international football match was played in 1872 between Scotland and England. [2] 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.

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", 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. 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. 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.

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 to 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 the tournaments between 1934 and 1978, 16 teams competed for each finals tournament, except in 1938 and 1950 when teams withdrew after qualifying, leaving them with 15 and 13 teams respectively. 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 1978, 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 all but three of the 207 FIFA member nations have previously entered the competition, with Comoros, East Timor and Bhutan the only current members not yet to have entered (Comoros and East Timor were not FIFA members at the time of the qualifying draw for the 2006 tournament, and so have not yet had an opportunity to take part).

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
The FIFA World Cup Trophy on a German stampFrom 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.

After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven different countries, valued 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."

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
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 South American zone entered a play-off to decide which team would qualify for the 2006 World Cup. From the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations have received an automatic berth in the finals. This right also used to be granted to the defending champion, but from the 2006 finals onwards, this entitlement has been withdrawn, requiring the champions to qualify as well.

Qualification is noted for being extremely competitive. Due to this, many notable players have only played in one World Cup tournament, while some, like George Best, Eric Cantona, Abedi Pele, and George Weah did not even have an opportunity to do so.

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).

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.[16] 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.

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.

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 are the two countries that have formally expressed the interest in hosting the tournament.[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] Recently, 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 on Brazil's court now." The final decision is expected to be made by November 2007.

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, England, Russia, Mexico, Spain, Portugal and the United States. The Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) are planning a joint bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, after Belgium and the Netherlands successfully co-hosted the 2000 UEFA European Football Championship.

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.

FIFA World Cup. (2007, March 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:21, March 24, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FIFA_World_Cup&oldid=117332403

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