The History Of FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup is organized in Football. Football is undoubtedly the most popular and watched sport in the world. The World Cup is likely the biggest sporting event in the world. This is a quadrennial tournament of men which determines the sport’s world champion. This was first organized in 1930 by Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Uruguay emerged as the winner. Similar to this, a competitive sport event that is organized for women national teams is the women’s World Cup. Billions of people watch both of the tournaments every time. 

Since 1930, the FIFA World Cup has been held every four years except during World War 2nd. The competition consists of many tournament sections leading to the finals made up of 32 teams only. In contrast to any other game of competition, there is no age restriction or amateurism criteria for players in the World Cup. The worldwide significance of the FIFA World Cup is irreplaceable.

Background

Before the world cup was introduced, the football tournament was organized as a part of the summer Olympics. It was given the most prestige at that time. In the 1920s, this game was transitioning to professionalism. But this did not suit as a part of the Olympics because it was too contrasting to the Olympics spirit. That’s why the government body of football decided to introduce the FIFA World Cup in order to provide an international stage for National Football teams and prove themselves world champions. The decision of arranging a FIFA World Cup was first declared on May 26, 1928.

Even though before 1930, Summer Olympics used to select and represent the best national teams, a shadow of the world cup already existed contemporary to summer Olympics. An unofficial World Cup under the name of Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was organized before 1930. These were held in 1909 and 1911.

World Cup Tournaments Since 1930

Are you also a football lover and want to go deep down in the history of Football World cups. Well obviously the answer is yes because if you have reached here, that means the curiosity to get more knowledge brought you here. So let’s start.

As you may already know, the first world cup was played in 1930 in Uruguay. Uruguay also won the first world cup in history. Since then, the World Cup tournament has been held every four years except during World War II. The World Cup is the biggest award any team can win for playing football. This concept of a team representing the whole country is really impressive. No other tournament is comparable to the World Cup as it is on the top.

• The First World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930 which went on for 27 days with 13 Nations participating.
• The 1934 World Cup was played in Italy from May 17 to June 10 with 16 participant countries. Italy was also the winner of this world cup.
• The third FIFA World Cup was held in 1938 with the same number of participating nations as of 1934. This was played in France.
• The 1950 FIFA World Cup was played in Brazil with 15 nations. Since 1938, it was held for the first time due to world war II.
• The 1954 FIFA World Cup was played in Switzerland again with the 16 participant countries. It went on from June 16 to July 4. 
• Next to that FIFA World Cup was organized in Sweden in 1958 and went on for 20 days.
• The 1962 FIFA World Cup was played in Chile from May 30 to June 17. The number of participants stayed the same as 16 till 1978.
• The FIFA World Cup 1966 was played in England, Britain, the originator of football. It was played in the month of July from 11 to 30.
• The 1970 FIFA World Cup was played in Mexico in May and June. 16 countries participated in this tournament.
• The 1974 FIFA World Cup was played in West Germany from June 13 to July 7.
• The FIFA World Cup 1978 was the last tournament with 16 participants as it increased from the next world cup. It was held in South American Country Argentina.
• The FIFA World Cup 1982 was played by 24 countries in Spain from June 13 to July 11.
• Again 24 countries participated in the FIFA World Cup 1986 that was held in Mexico for the second time.
• The FIFA World Cup 1990 was organized in Italy for the second time after 1934. 
• Next FIFA world cup was played in the United States for the very first time in 1994. 
• France also got the second chance to host the FIFA World Cup in 1998 after Mexico and Italy. But now the number of player Nations has increased to 32.
• The Football World Cup 2002 was played in Japan for the first time from May 31 to June 30.
• The Football World Cup 2006 was played in Germany instead of West or East as the end of cold war led to the Unification of Germany in 1990. 
  
• South Africa had the opportunity to host the Football World Cup 2010.
• The Football World Cup 2014 was held in Brazil for the second time from June 12 to July 13.
• The last but not the least Football World Cup 2018 was played by 32 nations in Russia. Now it is interesting to see which country will host the Football World Cup 2022.

World Cup Winners 

Top Goal Scorers

There is a long list of players who have scored 6 goals in one world cup. These are

• Erich Probst (1954)
• Max Marlock (1954)
• Josef Hugi (1954)
• Pele (1958)
• Helmut Rahn (1958) 
• Helmut Haller (1958)
• Mario Kempes (1978)
• Paolo Rossi (1982)
• Gary Lineker (1986)
• Salvatore Schillaci (1990)
• Hristo Stoichkov (1994)
• Oleg Salenko (1994)
• Davor Suker (1998)
• James Rodriguez (2014)
• Harry Kane (2018)

There are 5 players who cannot fit into this list because their records are record breaking. They have made the most goals overall. These players include:

• Ronaldo – 18 goals in 4 tournaments
• Miroslav klose – 16 goal in 4 tournaments
• Gerd Muller – 14 goals in 2 tournaments
• Just Fontaine – 13 goals in 1 tournament
• Pele – 12 goals in 4 tournaments