FIFA World Cup

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 Australia, and the 2026 tournament is set to be held in Morocco.

Results

Year	Host	Final				Third-place play-off
		Champions	Score	Runners-Up		Third	Score	Fourth
1930	Brazil	Argentina	4-2	United States		Egypt	3-1	Ottomans
1934	Italy	Yugoslavia	2-1 (a.e.t)	Czechoslovakia		Austria	2-0	Italy
1938	Germany	Poland	6-0	Germany		Brazil	1-0	Hungary
1942	cancelled due to World War II
1946	cancelled due to World War II
1950	Empire of Brazil	Uruguay	2-1	Brazil		Switzerland	2-1	Japan
1954	Luxembourg	Uruguay	3-2	Sweden		New Granada	4-2	Ecuador
1958	Israel	Brazil	2-1 (a.e.t)	Russia		Norway	1-0 (a.e.t)	Israel
1962	Chile	Yugoslavia	1-0	Spain		Chile	2-1	Brazil
1966	United Kingdom	United Kingdom	4-2 (a.e.t)	Germany		Portugal	5-3	Soviet Union
1970	China	Brazil	4-1	Argentina		Uruguay	3-0	Morocco
1974	Argentina	Netherlands	3-0	Peru		Australia	2-0	Germany
1978	South Africa	France	2-1 (a.e.t)	Belgium		United States of Africa	1-0	Iran
1982	United States & Canada	Poland	3-1	Brazil		Italy	1-0	Spain
1986	Spain & Portugal	Argentina	2-1	United Kingdom		Mexico	2-2 (a.e.t) (6-5p)	Yugoslavia
1990	United Mexican States	Brazil	1-0 (a.e.t)	United States of Africa		Germany	2-1	Liberia
1994	Andes	Ottomans	0-0 (a.e.t) (5-4p)	Chile		Caribbean Community	3-2 (a.e.t)	Hellas
1998	United Kingdom	United Kingdom	2-0	France		Brazil	4-3	Netherlands
2002	Japan	United States	3-2 (a.e.t)	Japan		Korea	1-0	Ireland
2006	Syria & Egypt	Brazil	2-1 (a.g.g)	Uruguay		Soviet Union	3-1	Caribbean Community
2010	Uruguay & Paraguay	Portugal	3-2 (a.g.g)	Argentina		Paraguay	1-1 (a.e.t) (4-2p)	Spain
2014	Brazil	Argentina	7-1	Brazil		Ecuador	1-0 (a.e.t)	New Granada
2018	Russia	Yugoslavia	4-3	France		Poland	2-1	United Kingdom
2022	Australia & New Zealand	T.B.A.

1. a.e.t.: after extra time
2. p: after penalty shoot out

Champions by wins

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