1994 FIFA World Cup

The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, held in nine cities across the United States from 17 June to 17 July 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on 4 July 1988. Despite the host nation's lack of a national top-level soccer league, the tournament broke the World Cup average attendance record with nearly 69,000 spectators per game, a mark that still stands today. The total attendance of nearly 3.6 million for the final tournament remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams (and from 52 to 64 games) in the 1998 World Cup.

Brazil beat Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 0–0 after extra time, the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. This made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles. At the 1994 World Cup Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia made their first appearances in the finals, with Norway making its first appearance since 1938, and Bolivia since 1950. Bulgaria, Morocco and Mexico returned after missing the 1990 tournament.

1990 FIFA World Cup

The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice (the first being Mexico in 1986). Teams representing 116 national football associations entered, and qualification began in April 1988. A total of 22 teams qualified from this process, along with host nation Italy and defending champion Argentina.

The tournament was won by West Germany, their third World Cup title. They beat Argentina 1–0 in the final, a rematch of the previous final four years earlier. Italy finished third, and England fourth, after both lost their semi-finals in penalty shootouts. This was the last tournament to feature a team from the divided Germany, with the country being reunified later in 1990. Costa Rica, Ireland and the UAE made their first appearances in the finals, and Egypt its first since 1934. The official match ball was the Adidas Etrusco Unico.

2010 FIFA World Cup

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. The bidding process for hosting the tournament finals was open only to African nations; in 2004, the international football federation, FIFA, selected South Africa over Egypt and Morocco to become the first African nation to host the finals.

The matches were played in 10 stadiums in nine host cities around the country, with the final played at the Soccer City stadium in South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg. Thirty-two teams were selected for participation via a worldwide qualification tournament that began in August 2007. In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These 16 teams advanced to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play decided which teams would participate in the final.

History of the FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup was first held in 1930, when FIFA president Jules Rimet decided to stage an international soccer tournament. The inaugural edition, held in 1930, was contested as a final tournament of only thirteen teams invited by the organization. Since then, the FIFA World Cup has experienced successive expansions and format remodeling to its current 32-team final tournament preceded by a two-year qualifying process, involving almost two hundred teams from all over the world.

The first official international soccer match was played in 1872 in Glasgow between Scotland and England, although at this stage the sport was rarely played outside Great Britain.

However by 1900 soccer had gained ground all around the world and national football associations were being founded. The first official international match outside of the British Isles was played between Uruguay and Argentina in Montevideo in July 1902.FIFA was founded in Paris on 22 May 1904 – comprising football associations from France, Belgium (the preceding two teams having played their first international against each other earlier in the month), Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with Germany pledging to join.

1938 FIFA World Cup

The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third staging of the World Cup, and was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy retained the championship (and thus became the only team to have won two FIFA World Cups under the same coach, or Vittorio Pozzo), beating Hungary 4–2 in the final.

Host selection

France was chosen as hosts by FIFA in Berlin on August 13, 1936. France defeated Argentina and Germany in the first round of voting. The decision caused outrage in South America where it was believed that the venue would alternate between the two continents; instead, it was the second tournament in a row to be played in Europe. This was the last World Cup to be staged before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Qualification

Because of anger over the decision to hold a second successive World Cup in Europe, neither Uruguay nor Argentina entered the competition, while Spain became the first country to be prevented from competing because of it being at war.

It was the first time that the hosts (France) and the title holders (Italy) qualified automatically. Title holders were given an automatic entry into the World Cup until 2006 when this was abolished.

2006 FIFA World Cup

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process, along with the host nation, Germany, for the finals tournament.

Italy won the tournament, claiming their fourth World Cup title. They defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shootout in the final, after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish in third place. Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro, Trinidad & Tobago and Togo made their first appearances in the finals.

The 2006 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.29 billion non-unique viewers, compiled over the course of the tournament. The final attracted an estimated audience of 715.1 million people. The 2006 World Cup ranks fourth in non-unique viewers, behind the World Cup in 1994, 2002, and 1990. As the winner, Italy represented the World in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

1982 FIFA World Cup

The 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th FIFA World Cup, was held in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982.

The tournament was won by Italy, after defeating West Germany 3–1 in the final in the Spanish capital of Madrid. It was Italy's third World Cup win and first since 1938. The holders Argentina were eliminated in the second group round. Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait and New Zealand made their first appearances in the finals.

The tournament featured two of the greatest matches in World Cup history: Italy's sensational win over Brazil in a second round game and West Germany's semi-final defeat of France via the first ever penalty shoot-out in World Cup competition.

In the first round of Group 3, Hungary defeated El Salvador 10–1, equalling the largest margin of victory ever recorded in the finals (Hungary over South Korea 9–0 in 1954, and Yugoslavia over Zaire 9–0 in 1974).

Host selection

Spain was chosen as the host nation by FIFA in London, England on 6 July 1966. Hosting rights for the 1974 and 1978 tournaments were awarded at the same time. West Germany agreed a deal with Spain by which Spain would support West Germany for the 1974 tournament, and in return West Germany would allow Spain to bid for the 1982 World Cup unopposed.