THE world Cup is a sporting event held every four years in which the classified teams compete for the title of best soccer team in the world. It is the biggest football event on the planet and has an audience of billions of people (the 2010 and 2014 World Cups had 3.2 billion spectators).
THE first edition of the World Cup happened in 1930 and was headquartered by Uruguay. Since then, editions of the Cup have been held in almost all continents, with the exception of Oceania. As a huge event that mobilizes billions of people, hosting a World Cup is something that involves a huge amount of money.
In the 2014 World Cup, hosted in Brazil, approximately eight billion were spent on the construction of stadiums alone. From a financial point of view, the biggest beneficiary is the International Football Federation (Fifa), which registers record profits in each edition. In the 2014 World Cup, for example, the profit registered was 18.6 billion reais.
First World Cup
The first World Cup took place in Uruguay, in 1930, and was the result of FIFA's many years of effort to create this competition. THE FIFA, naturally, was the institution responsible for the professionalization and popularization of football around the world, and the World Cup played a very important role in this. FIFA emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, in 1904, and had the following nations: Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The first efforts to have an edition of the World Cup were carried out by a Dutchman named Carl Anton Wilhelm Hirschman. However, the Frenchman was largely responsible for making the World Cup possible. Jules Rimet, FIFA president for over 30 years.
The factor that defined the possibility of organizing the World Cup was the success of the men's soccer competition during the Olympic Games of 1924 and 1928 (both won by Uruguay). The soccer competition in these Olympics was held by a partnership between FIFA and the IOC (International Olympic Committee).
Also access:History of the Olympic Games
The decision to organize the World Cup took place in two meetings: one in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and another in Zurich (Switzerland), both in 1928, and the choice of the venue was made in 1929. The application of the Uruguay defeated a number of European candidacies mainly because the Uruguayans committed to pay the expenses of the participants, in addition to authorizing the construction of a gigantic stadium for the event.
O first Worlds, however, was severely harmed because of the 1929 crisis, also known as the Great Depression. The economic crisis that spread around the world discouraged several European teams to participate. Thus, the first Cup had the participation of thirteen teams:
Europe: Belgium, Romania, Yugoslavia and France
AmericaofNorth: USA and Mexico
AmericaofSouth: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay
In the 1930 edition, the Uruguayans confirmed their favoritism and won the competition with four victories. The Uruguayans defeated Peru, Romania, Yugoslavia and, in the final, faced the Argentina, coming out winners by 4x2.
THE Brazilian participation was quite modest, mainly because of a crack that caused the players from São Paulo to boycott the team. Brazil fell in the First Round, losing to the Yugoslavs by 2x1 and beating the Bolivians by 4x0.
competition growth
Over time, the competition gained importance and this was directly reflected in the number of participating nations. Of the initial 13, the competition had 16 in 1934, 15 in 1938 and 13 in 1950; from 1954 to 1978, the competition had 16 participants; from 1982 to 1994, 24 selections. As of 1998, the model started with 32 selections. This model will be used until 2022, since, from 2026 onwards, the Cup will be organized with 48 teams.
The current model, with 32 selections, has the following organization: selections are divided into eight groups composed of four selections each. From each group, two teams are classified, which makes a total of 16 teams, who dispute from then on in eliminatory clashes. The 16 classified compete for the round of 16. The eight winners of the clashes go to the quarterfinals. The four winning selections progress to the semi-final, and the winner of each semi competes in the final. The semis losers also compete for 3rd place.
World Cup Champions
Currently, eight teams have won at least one edition of the World Cup, being 3 South American and 5 European. The winning nations are: Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002), Germany (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014), Italy (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006), Argentina (1978 and 1986) and Uruguay (1930 and 1950), Spain (2010), France (1998) and England (1966). When it comes to vice, the teams that most often lost finals were Germany (1966, 1982, 1986 and 2002), Argentina (1930, 1990, 2014) and Netherlands (1974, 1978 and 2010).
THE Netherlands, in fact, is the only team in the world that reached three finals and lost them all. Other teams that played in finals and never won Cup editions were Hungary (1938 and 1954), Czechoslovakia (1934 and 1962) and Sweden (1958). The only two teams outside of South America and Europe that were in the top four of one edition of the World Cup was the USA (1930), with 3rd place, and South Korea (2002), with 4th place.
Statistics and history of Brazil at the World Cup
THE selection that most often faced Brazil in World Cups was the Sweden. The Swedes have been in Brazil's way on seven occasions, and Brazil's record is positive: there were five wins and two draws. The last time the clash took place was during the 1994 World Cup semifinal with a 1-0 victory for Brazil.
The two teams that Brazil has the worst record are France and Holland. The French eliminated Brazil on three occasions (1986, 1998 and 2006), and the Dutch also beat Brazil on three occasions (1974, 2010 and 2014). The Brazilian player with the most World Cup games is cafu (20 games), and the top scorer in Brazil in Hearts is Ronaldo (15 goals).
Regarding the history of Brazil's participation in the Cup, the big highlight goes to the five titles won cross country. Throughout the World Cups, Brazil also registered two runners-up (in 1950, losing to Uruguay, and in 1998, losing to France). O Brazil was 3rd place in the Cup on two occasions (in 1938, during the Cup hosted in France and, in 1978, during the Cup hosted in Argentina). In 1974 and 2014, Brazil was in 4th place after being defeated in the dispute for 3rd place (in 1974 we lost to Poland and in 2014 to the Netherlands).
In other participations, Brazil reached the Quarter Finals (the best eight) in 1954, 1986, 2006 and 2010. In 1990, the Seleção was eliminated in the Round of 16 (defeat by 1x0 to Argentina) and in 1982 it was eliminated in the Second Group Stage (it was among the top twelve). The worst Brazilian participations took place in the 1930 and 1966 World Cups (eliminated in the Group Stage) and 1934 (eliminated during the First Round).
World Cup Top Scorers
Over twenty editions of the World Cup, the five top scorers in the competition were:
Player |
Parents |
goals |
Participations |
Miroslav Klose |
Germany |
16 |
2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 |
Ronaldo |
Brazil |
15 |
1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 |
Gerd Müller |
Germany |
14 |
1970 and 1974 |
Just Fontaine |
France |
13 |
1958 |
Skin |
Brazil |
12 |
1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970 |
You players who scored the most goals in a single edition of the World Cup were the French justFontaine, who scored 13 goals in 1958, during the Cup organized in Sweden, and SandorKochsis, Hungarian player who scored 11 goals during the Hungarian vice-championship in 1954, during the Cup organized in Switzerland.
The two Brazilian players who scored the most goals in a single edition of the World Cup were Ronaldo and Ademir Menezes. Both scored 8 goals (the first in the 2002 edition and the second in the 1950 edition). Other highlights were Leônidas da Silva and Jairzinho, who scored 7 goals in the 1938 and 1970 editions, respectively.
Summary of all World Cups
In this excerpt, we list below a summary of all World Cups with the following information: year, host country, final game (champion will be bold) and the top scorer of the respective edition.
Year |
Host country |
Final game |
scorer |
1930 |
Uruguay |
Uruguay 4x2 Argentina |
Guillermo Stabile (8 goals) |
1934 |
Italy |
Italy 2x1 Czechoslovakia |
Oldrich Nejedly (5 goals) |
1938 |
France |
Italy 4x2 Hungary |
Leônidas da Silva (7 goals) |
1950 |
Brazil |
Uruguay 2x1 Brazil |
Ademir Menezes (8 goals) |
1954 |
Switzerland |
Germanywestern 3x2 Hungary |
Sándor Kocsis (11 goals) |
1958 |
Sweden |
Brazil 5x2 Sweden |
Just Fontaine (13 goals) |
1962 |
Chile |
Brazil 3x1 Czechoslovakia |
Garrincha, Vavá, Leonel Sánchez, Flórián Albert, Drazan Jerkovic and Valentin Ivanov (4 goals) |
1966 |
England |
England 4x2 West Germany |
Eusebio (9 goals) |
1970 |
Mexico |
Brazil 4x1 Italy |
Gerd Muller (10 goals) |
1974 |
Germany Oc. |
Germanywestern 2x1 Netherlands |
Grzegorz Lato (7 goals) |
1978 |
Argentina |
Argentina 3x1 Netherlands |
Mario Kempes (6 goals) |
1982 |
Spain |
Italy 3x1 West Germany |
Paolo Rossi (6 goals) |
1986 |
Mexico |
Argentina 3x2 West Germany |
Gary Lineker (6 goals) |
1990 |
Italy |
Germanywestern 1x0 Argentina |
Salvatore Schillaci (6 goals) |
1994 |
USA |
Brazil 0x0 Italy (3x2 penalties) |
Hristo Stoichkov and Oleg Salenko (6 goals) |
1998 |
France |
France 3x0 Brazil |
Davor Suker (6 goals) |
2002 |
Japan and South Korea |
Brazil 2x0 Germany |
Ronaldo (8 goals) |
2006 |
Germany |
Italy 1v1 France (5x3 on penalties) |
Miroslav Klose (5 goals) |
2010 |
South Africa |
Spain 1x0 Netherlands |
Thomas Müller, David Villa, Wesley Sneijder and Diego Forlán (5 goals) |
2014 |
Brazil |
Germany 1x0 Argentina |
James Rodríguez (6 goals) |
2018 |
Russia |
*Image credits: fig and Shutterstock
