FIFA World Cup
 | |
| Organising body | FIFA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1930 |
| Region | International |
| Number of teams | 32 (finals) 170 (eligible) |
| Current champions | Yugoslavia (3rd title) (2022) |
| Most successful team(s) | Brazil (4 titles) |
 2022 FIFA World Cup | |
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The reigning champions are Yugoslavia, who won their third title at the 2018 tournament.
The format involves a qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. In the tournament phase, 32 teams compete for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over about a month. The host nation(s) automatically qualify to the group stage of the tournament.
As of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 21 final tournaments have been held and more than 80 national teams have competed. The trophy has been won by eleven national teams. Brazil, with four wins, are the only team to have played in every tournament. Yugoslavia and inaugural winner Argentina have three wins each. Uruguay, Poland, and the United Kingdom each have two titles. The Netherlands, France, Anatolia (then as the Ottoman Empire), the United States, and Portugal all have one title each.
The World Cup is the most prestigious association football tournament in the world, as well as the most widely viewed and followed single sporting event in the world. The viewership of the 2018 World Cup was estimated to be 3.23 billion (half of the global population) with an estimated 1.01 billion people watching the final match.
Twenty four countries have hosted the World Cup, most recently Russia, who hosted the 2018 edition. The 2022 tournament will be jointly hosted by New Zealand and Petit Tasmanie, and the 2026 tournament is set to be held in Morocco.
Results[edit | edit source]
| Year | Host | Final | Third-place play-off | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runners-Up | Third | Score | Fourth | |||
| 1930 |  Empire of Brazil
|
 Argentine Republic |
4-2 | .svg){kind=small} United States of America |
.svg){kind=small} Kingdom of Egypt |
3-1 |  Sublime Ottoman State | |
| 1934 |  Kingdom of Italy
|
.svg){kind=small} Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
2-1 (a.e.t) |
 Czechoslovak Republic |
 Republic of Austria |
2-0 | Kingdom of Italy | |
| 1938 | .svg){kind=small} Third German Reich
|
.svg){kind=small} Republic of Poland |
6-0 | Third German Reich |
Empire of Brazil |
1-0 | .svg){kind=small} Kingdom of Hungary | |
| 1942 | cancelled due to World War II | |||||||
| 1946 | cancelled due to World War II | |||||||
| 1950 | Empire of Brazil
|
 Oriental Republic of Uruguay |
2-1 | Empire of Brazil |
.svg){kind=small} Swiss Confederation |
2-1 |  Empire of Japan | |
| 1954 |  Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
|
Oriental Republic of Uruguay |
3-2 |  Kingdom of Sweden |
 Republic of New Granada |
4-2 |  Republic of Ecuador | |
| 1958 |  State of Israel
|
Empire of Brazil |
2-1 (a.e.t) |
.svg){kind=small} Russian SFSR |
 Kingdom of Norway |
1-0 (a.e.t) |
State of Israel | |
| 1962 |  Republic of Chile
|
.svg){kind=small} SFR Yugoslavia |
1-0 |  Carlist Kingdom of Spain |
Republic of Chile |
2-1 | Empire of Brazil | |
| 1966 | .svg){kind=small} United Kingdom
|
United Kingdom |
4-2 (a.e.t) |
 Federal Republic of Germany |
 Second Portuguese Republic |
5-3 | Russian SFSR | |
| 1970 |
|
Empire of Brazil |
4-1 | Argentine Republic |
Oriental Republic of Uruguay |
3-0 |  Kingdom of Morocco | |
| 1974 | Argentine Republic
|
 Kingdom of the Netherlands |
3-0 |  Republic of Peru |
.svg){kind=small} Commonwealth of Australia |
2-0 | Federal Republic of Germany | |
| 1978 | .svg){kind=small} Republic of South Africa
|
 French Seventh Republic |
2-1 (a.e.t) |
 Kingdom of Belgium |
.png){kind=small} United States of Africa |
1-0 | .svg){kind=small} Imperial State of Iran | |
| 1982 |  United States of America &  Commonwealth of Canada
|
 Republic of Poland |
3-1 | Empire of Brazil |
Kingdom of Italy |
1-0 | Carlist Kingdom of Spain | |
| 1986 | C. Kingdom of Spain & S. Portuguese Republic
|
Argentine Republic |
2-1 | .svg){kind=small} United Kingdom |
 United Mexican States |
2-2 (a.e.t) (6-5p) |
SFR Yugoslavia | |
| 1990 | United Mexican States
|
Empire of Brazil |
1-0
(a.e.t) |
 United States of Africa |
Federal Republic of Germany |
2-1 |  Republic of Liberia | |
| 1994 |  Andean Plurinational Union
|
Sublime Ottoman State |
0-0 (a.e.t) (5-4p) |
Republic of Chile |
 Caribbean Community |
3-2 (a.e.t) |
 Hellenic Kingdom | |
| 1998 | United Kingdom
|
United Kingdom |
2-0 | French Seventh Republic |
Empire of Brazil |
4-3 | Kingdom of the Netherlands | |
| 2002 | Empire of Japan
|
United States of America |
3-2 (a.e.t) |
Empire of Japan |
 United Provinces of Korea |
1-0 |  Republic of Ireland | |
| 2006 |  Syrian AR &  Egyptian AR
|
Empire of Brazil |
2-1 (a.g.g) |
Oriental Republic of Uruguay |
 Ukrainian SSR |
3-1 | Caribbean Community | |
| 2010 | Oriental Republic of Uruguay &  Republic of Paraguay
|
Second Portuguese Republic |
3-2 (a.g.g) |
Argentine Republic |
Republic of Paraguay |
1-1 (a.e.t) (4-2p) |
Carlist Kingdom of Spain | |
| 2014 | Empire of Brazil
|
Argentine Republic |
7-1 | Empire of Brazil |
Republic of Ecuador |
1-0 (a.e.t) |
 Federal Republic of New Granada | |
| 2018 |  Russian SFSR
|
 SFR Yugoslavia |
4-3 | French Seventh Republic |
Republic of Poland |
2-1 | United Kingdom | |
| 2022 | .png){kind=small} Republic of Petit Tasmanie &  Commonwealth of New Zealand
|
T.B.A. | ||||||
- a.e.t.: after extra time
- p: after penalty shoot out
Champions by wins[edit | edit source]
The first country to win the World Cup twice was Uruguay which happened consecutively in 1950 and 1954, whilst the first country to win the World Cup three and four times was Brazil (1958, 1970, 1990, 2006). Since then both Argentina (1930, 1986, 2010) and Yugoslavia (1934, 1962, 2018) have won the tournament thrice. Brazil also has appeared in the World Cup final over seven times, and has hosted the World Cup more than any other country, having hosted it three times in 1930, 1950 and 2014.
4 wins: Brazil
3 wins: Argentina; Yugoslavia
2 wins: Uruguay; Poland; United Kingdom
1 win: ; Netherlands; France; 
Anatolia; United States; Portugal