History
The first World Cup was held in 1930. Attempts to develop competitive international football tournaments started in the late 19th century, but they only came to fruition in 1930, when the president Jules Rimet organised the World Cup. The inaugural tournament was held in Uruguay, to mark the centenary of their independence. The costly travel and limited budgets of the European national teams made it difficult for many European teams to participate in the competition but finally four teams made the trip. A total of 13 teams played in the competition, 4 from Europe, 7 from South America and 2 from North America. Uruguay, the hosting nation, won the inaugural tournament.
In 1934, the second World Cup was held by Italy. This time 16 teams participated in the tournament, a number of entrants that would remain until the structural expansion of the competition in 1982. Italy won the competition at home, becoming the first European team to win the tournament. In 1938, the World Cup was held in France, and this upset the South American football community as they were under the impression that the tournament would alternate between the two continents with each edition. Back then, the European and South American federations were the only organised footballing bodies, with both continents having large numbers of fans.
In 1942, due to the war, the competition was not held, and the competition was resumed in 1950. Since then, the competition has been held once every four years, and the other federations have been added: the African federation, Asian federation, and Oceanic federation.
Many legendary footballers made their names playing in the World Cup and the tournament has been won by 8 teams. Brazil have won it the most times with 5 trophies. The country has also placed second twice and third twice. They are followed by Germany, who won four World Cups, have placed second four times, and third four times. Italy has won the competition four times, coming in second place twice and third once. They are followed by Argentina, who have won two World Cup trophies and come second three times. France has won two World Cups, and placed second and third once each. Uruguay won the initial World Cup and won once more in 1950. England won the World Cup once and so did Spain.
Structure
In the current structure of the tournament, 32 teams play in the group stage, and the winners advance to the knockout stage, where the winner is determined. In the group stage, the contestants are drawn into 8 groups of 4, and they play in single leg robin rounds. The teams that finish first and second advance to the knockout stage, and the other teams are knocked out.
The knockout stage begins with the round of the last 16. Here, the teams are paired based on where they finished in the groups, with the winners of each group facing those who placed second in other groups. The teams play in an elimination round, and if the scores are tied after full time, the teams have to play extra time and then if there is still no winner then the matches are determined by a penalty shootout.
Once the competition reaches the semi-finals, the two losers then proceed to play in a third place play off, and the final match of the tournament is the finals, where the two remaining teams play for the World Cup trophy.
The whole tournament usually lasts one month. The group stage is played over two weeks where two games are played each day. Once that stage is finished, the round of the last 16 is played over four days, with two games per day. There is a short break before the teams play in the quarterfinals, also played with two games per day. After another short break, the two semi-finals games are played over two days, and then the third place play off is played one day before the final.
It is important to note that this structure will change from the 2026 World Cup that will be held in North America, Canada, and Mexico. In that World Cup, the tournament will be expanded to have 48 entrants. The upcoming 2022 Qatar World Cup was also rescheduled to be held in November and December to avoid the summer heatwave. The length of the tournament was also slightly shortened so that the national teams would be able to finish and not interrupt the schedule of the regular season.
World Cup Fun Facts
The host nations have won the World Cup 6 times: Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934, England in 1966, West Germany in 1974, Argentina in 1978, and France in 1998.
The top goalscorer in one World Cup is a striker called Just Fontaine. He was not a hugely famous player, although he managed to score 13 goals for France in the 1958 World Cup. Surprisingly, the nation only finished in third place that year.
The largest attendance at a World Cup final was in the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, 1986. 114,600 spectators turned up to watch Argentina play West Germany. The game was extremely dynamic and finished with Argentina winning 3-2. This was the same year that Diego Maradona beat the English with his amazing solo effort goal and “hand of God” goal, and it was also the birthplace of the “Mexican Wave”.
Germany is the only nation that has fielded two separate teams in a single World Cup. In 1974, West Germany hosted the tournament, and East Germany also qualified to play for the first and only time in its history. Both German teams were drawn in the same group and East Germany beat West Germany, finishing the group in first place with West Germany in second. West Germany went on to win the competition that year.
The three tournaments between 1974-1982 did not follow the group stage and knockout rounds, but instead featured two group stages followed by a final. This format was then dropped and never used again.