The contest starts with thequalification 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 the course of about a month. The host nation(s) automatically qualify for the group stage of the tournament. The competition is scheduled to expand to 48 teams, starting with the2026 World Cup.
As of the 2022 World Cup, 22 final tournaments have been held since the event's inception in 1930, and a total of 80 national teams have competed.The trophy has been won by eight national teams. With five wins,Brazil is the only team to have played in every tournament. The other World Cup winners areGermany andItaly, with four titles each; Argentina, with three titles; France and inaugural winnerUruguay, each with two titles; andEngland andSpain, with one title each.
The World Cup is globally regarded as the most prestigious association football competition, as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world.[2][3] The viewership of the2018 World Cup was estimated to be 3.57 billion, close to half of the global population,[4][5] while the engagement with the 2022 World Cup was estimated to be 5 billion, with about 1.5 billion people watchingthe final match.[6]
Eighteen countries have hosted the World Cup, most recentlyQatar, who hosted the 2022 event. The 2026 tournament will be jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, which will give Mexico the distinction of being the first country to host games in three World Cups.
AfterFIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906. These were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been unsuccessful.[10]
Team of Great Britain that won the Olympic tournament in 1908
With the Olympic event continuing to be a contest between amateur teams only,Sir Thomas Lipton organised theSir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament inTurin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between individual clubs (not national teams) from different nations, each of which represented an entire nation. The competition is sometimes described asThe First World Cup,[12] and featured the most prestigious professional club sides from Italy, Germany and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be associated with the competition and declined the offer to send a professional team. Lipton invitedWest Auckland, an amateur side fromCounty Durham, to represent England instead. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title.[13] Prior to the Lipton competition, from 1876 to 1904, games that were considered to be the "football world championship" were meetings between leading English and Scottish clubs, such as the1895 game betweenSunderland A.F.C. and theHeart of Midlothian F.C., which Sunderland won.[14]
In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise theOlympic tournament as a "world football championship for amateurs", and took responsibility for managing the event.[15] This paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football competition for nations, at the1920 Summer Olympics, contested byEgypt and 13 European teams, and won byBelgium.[16]Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in1924 and1928. Those were also the first twoopen world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFA's professional era, and is the reason whyUruguay is allowed to wear 4 stars.[17][18]
World Cups before World War II
FIFA presidentJules Rimet convinced theconfederations to promote an international football tournament
Due to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, withPresidentJules Rimet as the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress inAmsterdam decided to stage a world championship.[19] With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate theircentenary ofindependence in 1930, FIFA namedUruguay as the host country of theinaugural World Cup tournament.[20]
The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides, especially in the midst of theGreat Depression. As such, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams fromBelgium,France,Romania, andYugoslavia to make the trip.[20] In total, 13 nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America.[21]
The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously on 13 July 1930, and were won by France and theUnited States, who defeatedMexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored byLucien Laurent of France.[22] In thefinal,Uruguay defeatedArgentina 4–2 in front of 93,000 spectators inMontevideo, and became the first nation to win the World Cup.[23] After the creation of the World Cup, FIFA and theIOC disagreed over the status of amateur players; football was dropped from the1932 Summer Olympics.[24][25] After the IOC and FIFA worked out their differences, Olympic football returned at the1936 Summer Olympics, but was now overshadowed by the more prestigious World Cup.[24]
The issues facing the early World Cup tournaments were the difficulties of intercontinental travel and war. Few South American teams were willing to travel to Europe for the1934 World Cup and all North and South American nations exceptBrazil andCuba boycotted the1938 tournament. Brazil was the only South American team to compete in both. The 1942 and 1946 competitions, whichGermany andBrazil sought to host,[26] were cancelled due toWorld War II.[27]
The1950 World Cup, held inBrazil, was the first to include British football associations.Scotland,England,Wales, andNorthern Ireland had withdrawn from FIFA in 1920, partly out of unwillingness to play against the countries they had been at war with, and partly as a protest against foreign influence on football.[28] The teams rejoined in 1946 following FIFA's invitation.[29] The tournament also saw the return of 1930 championsUruguay, who had boycotted the previous two World Cups. Uruguay won the tournament again after defeating the host nation Brazil, in the match called "Maracanazo" (Portuguese:Maracanaço).[30]
In the tournaments between 1934 and1978, 16 teams competed in each tournament, except in 1938, whenAustria wasabsorbed intoGermany after qualifying, leaving the tournament with 15 teams, and in 1950, whenIndia, Scotland, andTurkey withdrew, leaving the tournament with 13 teams.[31] Most of the participating nations were from Europe and South America, with a small minority from North America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. These teams were usually defeated easily by the European and South American teams. Until 1982, the only teams from outside Europe and South America to advance out of the first round were:United States, semi-finalists in 1930;Cuba, quarter-finalists in 1938;North Korea, quarter-finalists in1966; andMexico, quarter-finalists in1970.
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams in1982,[32] and then to 32 in1998,[33] allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part. Since then, teams from these regions have enjoyed more success, with several having reached the quarter-finals:Mexico, quarter-finalists in1986;Cameroon, quarter-finalists in1990;South Korea, finishing in fourth place in2002;Senegal, along withUSA, both quarter-finalists in 2002;Ghana, quarter-finalists in 2010;Costa Rica, quarter-finalists in 2014; andMorocco, finishing in fourth place in 2022. European and South American teams continue to dominate, e.g., the quarter-finalists in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2018 were all from Europe or South America and so were the finalists of all tournaments so far.
In October 2013, Sepp Blatter spoke of guaranteeing theCaribbean Football Union's region a position in the World Cup.[35] In the edition of 25 October 2013 of theFIFA Weekly Blatter wrote that: "From a purely sporting perspective, I would like to see globalisation finally taken seriously, and the African and Asian national associations accorded the status they deserve at the FIFA World Cup. It cannot be that the European and South American confederations lay claim to the majority of the berths at the World Cup."[36] Those two remarks suggested to commentators that Blatter could be putting himself forward for re-election to the FIFA Presidency.[37]
Following the magazine's publication, Blatter's would-be opponent for the FIFA Presidency,UEFA PresidentMichel Platini, responded that he intended to extend the World Cup to 40 national associations, increasing the number of participants by eight. Platini said that he would allocate an additional berth to UEFA, two each to theAsian Football Confederation and theConfederation of African Football, two shared betweenCONCACAF andCONMEBOL, and a guaranteed place for theOceania Football Confederation.[38] Platini was clear about why he wanted to expand the World Cup. He said: "[The World Cup is] not based on the quality of the teams because you don't have the best 32 at the World Cup ... but it's a good compromise. ... It's a political matter so why not have more Africans? The competition is to bring all the people of all the world. If you don't give the possibility to participate, they don't improve."[38]
In October 2016, FIFA presidentGianni Infantino stated his support for a 48-team World Cup in 2026.[39] On 10 January 2017, FIFA confirmed the 2026 World Cup will have 48 finalist teams.[40]
By May 2015, the games were under a particularly dark cloud because of the 2015 FIFA corruption case, allegations and criminal charges of bribery, fraud and money laundering to corrupt the issuing of media and marketing rights (rigged bids) for FIFA games,[41] with FIFA officials accused of taking bribes totaling more than $150 million over 24 years. In late May, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a 47-count indictment with charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy against 14 people. Arrests of over a dozen FIFA officials were made since that time, particularly on 29 May and 3 December.[42] By the end of May 2015, a total of nine FIFA officials and five executives of sports and broadcasting markets had already been charged on corruption. At the time, FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced he would relinquish his position in February 2016.[43]
On 4 June 2015,Chuck Blazer while co-operating with theFBI and the Swiss authorities admitted that he and the other members of FIFA's then-executive committee were bribed in order to promote the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.[44] On 10 June 2015, Swiss authorities seized computer data from the offices ofSepp Blatter.[45] The same day, FIFA postponed the bidding process for the2026 FIFA World Cup in light of theallegations surrounding bribery in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. Then-secretary generalJérôme Valcke stated, "Due to the situation, I think it's nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being."[46] On 28 October 2015, Blatter and FIFA VP Michel Platini, a potential candidate for presidency, were suspended for 90 days; both maintained their innocence in statements made to the news media.[47]
On 3 December 2015 two FIFA vice-presidents were arrested on suspicion of bribery in the same Zurich hotel where seven FIFA officials had been arrested in May.[48] An additional 16 indictments by the US Department of Justice were announced on the same day.[49]
Biennial World Cup proposition
A biennial World Cup plan was first proposed by theSaudi Arabian Football Federation at the 71stFIFA Congress on 21 May 2021 and prominently backed by former Arsenal managerArsène Wenger and national federations in Africa and Asia.[50]Continental confederations such as UEFA and CONMEBOL are not on board with the plan[51][52] but, in total, the idea is supported by 166 of the 210 member associations of FIFA.[53]
An equivalent tournament forwomen's football, theFIFA Women's World Cup, was first held in1991 inChina.[54] The women's tournament is smaller in scale and profile than the men's, but is growing; the number of entrants for the 2007 tournament was 120, more than double that of 1991.[55]
Men's football has been included in everySummer Olympic Games except 1896 and 1932. Unlike many other sports, the men'sfootball tournament at the Olympics is not a top-level tournament, and since 1992, an under-23 tournament with each team allowed three over-age players.[56] Women's football made itsOlympic debut in 1996.
TheFIFA Confederations Cup was a tournament held one year before the World Cup at the World Cup host nation(s) as a dress rehearsal for the upcoming World Cup. It is contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships, along with the FIFA World Cup champion and the host country.[57] The first edition took place in1992 and the last edition was played in2017. In March 2019, FIFA confirmed that the tournament would no longer be active owing to an expansion of theFIFA Club World Cup in 2021.[58]
The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is held biannually, including the year before each Women's World Cup. Both tournaments were awarded in a single bidding process on three occasions, with the U-20 tournament serving as a dress rehearsal for the larger competition each time (2010,2014 and2018).[60]
From 1930 to 1970, theJules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winning team. It was originally simply known as theWorld Cup orCoupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA presidentJules Rimet who set up the first tournament. In1970,Brazil's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered, apparently melted down by the thieves.[61]
After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven countries, evaluated the 53 presented models, finally opting for the work of the Italian designerSilvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36 cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18carat (75%) gold and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb).[62]
The base contains two layers of semi-preciousmalachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since1974.[62] The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory."[63]
This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy only until the post-match celebration is finished. They are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original immediately afterwards.[64]
All members (players, coaches, and managers) of the top three teams receive medals with an insignia of the World Cup Trophy; winners' (gold), runners-up' (silver), and third-place (bronze). In the2002 edition, fourth-place medals were awarded to hostsSouth Korea. Before the 1978 tournament, medals were only awarded to the eleven players on the pitch at the end of the final and the third-place match. In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals.[65][66][67]
Since 2006, winners of the competition are also awarded the right to wear theFIFA Champions Badge, up until the time at which the winner of the next competition is decided.[68]
Format
This article needs to beupdated. The reason given is: Tournament format has been changed. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(May 2025)
Since the second World Cup in1934, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament.[69] They are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa,Asia,North and Central America and Caribbean,South America,Oceania, andEurope), overseen by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams.
The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before the final tournament and last over a two-year period. The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations. Usually, one or two places are awarded to winners of intercontinentalplay-offs. For example, the winner of the Oceanian zone and the fifth-placed team from the Asian zone entered a play-off for a spot in the2010 World Cup.[70] From the1938 World Cup onwards, host nations receive automatic qualification to the final tournament. This right was also granted to the defending champions between 1938 and 2002, but was withdrawn from the2006 FIFA World Cup onward, requiring the champions to qualify, as previous defending champions had uncompetitive performances at subsequent editions of the FIFA World Cup.Brazil, winners in2002, were the first defending champions to play qualifying matches.[71]
The final tournament format since 1998 has had 32 national teams competing over the course of a month in the host nations. There are two stages: the group stage, followed by the knockout stage.[72]
In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams each. Eight teams are seeded, including the hosts, with the other seeded teams selected using a formula based on theFIFA World Rankings or performances in recent World Cups, and drawn to separate groups.[73] The other teams are assigned to different "pots", usually based on geographical criteria, and teams in each pot are drawn at random to the eight groups. Since1998, constraints have been applied to the draw to ensure that no group contains more than two European teams or more than one team from any other confederation.[74]
Each group plays around-robin tournament in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. This means that a total of six matches are played within a group. The last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams.[75] The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a group. Since1994,three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss (before, winners received two points).
Considering six matches in a group each with three possible outcomes (win, draw, loss), there are 729 (= 36) possible final table outcomes for the 40 possible combinations of the four teams' points.[76] However, 14 of the 40 points combinations (or 207 of the 729 possible outcomes) lead to ties between the second and third places. In such case, the ranking among these teams is determined by:[77]
Greatest combined goal difference in all group matches
Greatest combined number of goals scored in all group matches
If more than one team remain level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined as follows:
Greatest number of points in head-to-head matches among those teams
Greatest goal difference in head-to-head matches among those teams
Greatest number of goals scored in head-to-head matches among those teams
Fair play points, defined by the number of yellow and red cards received in the group stage:
Yellow card: minus 1 point
Indirect red card (as a result of a second yellow card): minus 3 points
Direct red card: minus 4 points
Yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
If any of the teams above remain level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined by the drawing of lots
The knockout stage is asingle-elimination tournament in which teams play each other in one-off matches, withextra time andpenalty shootouts used to decide the winner if necessary. It begins with the round of 16 (or the second round) in which the winner of each group plays against the runner-up of another group. This is followed by the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, thethird-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final.[72]
On 10 January 2017, FIFA approved a new format, the 48-team World Cup (to accommodate more teams), which was to consist of 16 groups of three teams each, with two teams qualifying from each group, to form a round of 32 knockout stage, to be implemented by 2026.[78] On 14 March 2023, FIFA approved a revised format of the 2026 tournament, which features 12 groups of four teams each, with the top 8 third-placed teams joining the group winners and runners-up in a new round of 32.[79][80]
In March 2025, it was reported that FIFA was considering an one-off expansion to 64 teams for the2030 FIFA World Cup, the centennial anniversary of the FIFA World Cup.[81]
A map of FIFA World Cup final hosts, 1930–2022. Green: once; dark green: twice; light green: planned
Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress. The locations were controversial because South America and Europe were by far the two centres of strength in football and travel between them required three weeks by boat. The decision to hold thefirst World Cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing.[82] The next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these in France was disputed, as the South American countries understood that the location would alternate between the two continents. Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the1938 FIFA World Cup.[83]
Since the1958 FIFA World Cup, to avoid future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began a pattern of alternating the hosts between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the1998 FIFA World Cup. The2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, was the first one held in Asia, and the first tournament with multiple hosts.[84] South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in2010. The2014 FIFA World Cup was hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America sinceArgentina 1978,[85] and was the first occasion where consecutive World Cups were held outside Europe.[86]
Russian delegates celebrate being chosen as the host of the2018 FIFA World Cup
The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Council. This is done under anexhaustive ballot system. The national football association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are expected from a strong bid. The bidding association also receives a form, the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the candidacy. After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to host the event and a report on the country is produced. The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament. There have been occasions where the hosts of multiple future tournaments were announced at the same time, as was the case for the2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded toRussia andQatar, with Qatar becoming the first Middle Eastern country to host the tournament.[87][88]
For the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the final tournament was rotated between confederations, allowing only countries from the chosen confederation (Africa in 2010, South America in 2014) to bid to host the tournament. The rotation policy was introduced after thecontroversy surrounding Germany's victory over South Africa in the vote to host the2006 tournament. However, the policy of continental rotation did not continue beyond 2014, so any country, except those belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments, can apply as hosts for World Cups starting from2018.[89] This is partly to avoid a similar scenario to the bidding process for the 2014 tournament, where Brazil was the only official bidder.[90]
The2026 FIFA World Cup was chosen to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, marking the first time a World Cup has been shared by three host nations.[91] The 2026 tournament will be the biggest World Cup ever held, with 48 teams playing 104 matches. Sixty matches will take place in the US, including all matches from the quarter-finals onward, while Canada and Mexico will host 10 games each.[91]
Six of the eight champions have won one of their titles while playing in their own homeland, the exceptions beingBrazil, who finished as runners-up after losing thedeciding match on home soil in 1950 and lost theirsemi-final against Germany in 2014, andSpain, which reached the second round on home soil in 1982.England (1966) won its only title while playing as a host nation.Uruguay (1930),Italy (1934),Argentina (1978), andFrance (1998) won their first titles as host nations but have gone on to win again, whileGermany (1974) won their second title on home soil.[92][93]
Other nations have also been successful when hosting the tournament.Switzerland (quarter-finals 1954),Sweden (runners-up in 1958),Chile (third place in 1962),South Korea (fourth place in 2002),Russia (quarter-finals 2018), andMexico (quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986) all have their best results when serving as hosts.[93][94] So far,South Africa (2010) andQatar (2022) failed to advance beyond the first round.[95][96]
The World Cup was first televised in1954 and as of 2006[update] is the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world. The cumulative viewership of all matches of the 2006 World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion.[2] 715.1 million individuals watched the final match of the tournament, almost a ninth of the entire population of the planet. The2006 World Cup draw, which decided the distribution of teams into groups, was watched by 300 million viewers.[97] The World Cup attracts major sponsors such asCoca-Cola,McDonald's andAdidas. For these companies and many more, being a sponsor strongly impacts their global brands. Host countries typically experience a multimillion-dollar revenue increase from the month-long event.
Each FIFA World Cup since1966 has its ownmascot or logo.World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 competition, was the firstWorld Cup mascot.[100] World Cups featureofficial match balls specially designed for each tournament. AfterSlazenger produced the ball for the 1966 World Cup, Adidas became the official supplier to FIFA.[101] Each World Cup also has anofficial song, which have been performed by artists ranging fromShakira toWill Smith.[102][103] Other songs, such as "Nessun dorma", performed byThe Three Tenors at four World Cup concerts, have also become identified with the tournament.[104]
Forming a partnership with FIFA in 1970,Panini published its firststicker album for the 1970 World Cup.[105] Since then, collecting and trading stickers andcards has become part of the World Cup experience, especially for the younger generation.[106] FIFA has licensed World Cupvideo games since1986, sponsored byElectronic Arts.[105]
^There was no third place match in 1930; the two losing semi-finalists are ranked according to their overall records in the tournament.[107]
^abThe final stage in 1950 was a round-robin group of four teams. Coincidentally, one of the last two matches pitted together the top two teams (and the only two who could win the title), and the other was between the bottom two teams. Uruguay v Brazil is often considered the de facto final of the 1950 World Cup.[108][109]
In all, 80 nations haveplayed in at least one World Cup.[a] Of these, eight national teams have won the World Cup,[114] and they have addedstars to their badges, with each star representing a World Cup victory. Uruguay, however, chose to displayfour stars on their badge, representing their two gold medals at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics, which are recognized by FIFA as World Championships, and their two World Cup titles in 1930 and 1950.
With five titles, Brazil are the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to haveplayed in every World Cup (22) to date.[115] Brazil were also the first team to win the World Cup for the third (1970), fourth (1994) and fifth (2002) time. Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962) are the only nations to have won consecutive titles. West Germany (1982–1990) and Brazil (1994–2002) are the only nations to appear in three consecutive World Cup finals. Germany has made the most top-four finishes (13), medals (12), as well as the most finals (8).
South Koreans watching their nation on the big screens inSeoul Plaza during the 2002 World Cup when they became the first Asian country to reach the semi-finals
To date, the final of the World Cup has only been contested by teams from theUEFA (Europe) andCONMEBOL (South America) confederations. European nations have won twelve titles, while South American nations have won ten. Only three teams from outside these two continents have ever reached the semi-finals of the competition:United States (North, Central America and Caribbean) in 1930;South Korea (Asia) in 2002; andMorocco (Africa) in 2022. Only oneOceanian qualifier,Australia in 2006, has advanced to the second round, a feat they later reaccomplished in 2022.[b]
Brazil,Argentina,Spain andGermany are the only teams to win a World Cup hosted outside their continental confederation; Brazil came out victorious inEurope (1958),North America (1970 and1994) andAsia (2002). Argentina won a World Cup in North America in1986 and in Asia in2022. Spain won inAfrica in2010. In2014, Germany became the first and so far the only European team to win in the Americas. Only on five occasions have consecutive World Cups been won by teams from the same continent; the longest streak of tournaments won by a single confederation is four, with the2006,2010,2014, and2018 tournaments all won by UEFA teams (Italy, Spain, Germany, and France, respectively).
Argentina'sLionel Messi has played a record 26 World Cup matches across a joint-record five tournaments.Cristiano Ronaldo is the first and only player to score in five tournaments.
Miroslav Klose of Germany (2002–2014) is the all-time top scorer at the World Cup with 16 goals. He brokeRonaldo of Brazil's record of 15 goals (1998–2006) during the2014 semi-final match against Brazil. West Germany'sGerd Müller (1970–1974) is third, with 14 goals.[120] The fourth-placed goalscorer,France'sJust Fontaine, holds the record for the most goals scored in a single World Cup; all his 13 goals were scored in the 1958 tournament.[121]
Pelé is the only person to win the World Cup three times as a player.
In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals.[65] This made Brazil'sPelé the only player to have won three World Cup winners' medals (1958, 1962, and 1970, although he did not play in the 1962 final due to injury),[122] with20 other players who have won two winners' medals. Seven players have collected all three types of World Cup medals (winners', runner- ups', and third-place); five players were from West Germany's squad of 1966–1974: Franz Beckenbauer,Jürgen Grabowski,Horst-Dieter Höttges,Sepp Maier, andWolfgang Overath (1966–1974), Italy'sFranco Baresi (1982, 1990, 1994) and the most recent has beenMiroslav Klose of Germany (2002–2014) with four consecutive medals.[123]
Brazil'sMário Zagallo, West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer and France'sDidier Deschamps are the only people to date to win the World Cup as both player and head coach. Zagallo won in 1958 and 1962 as a player and in 1970 as head coach.[124] Beckenbauer won in 1974 as captain and in 1990 as head coach,[125] and Deschamps repeated the feat in 2018, after having won in 1998 as captain.[126]Italy'sVittorio Pozzo is the only head coach to ever win two World Cups (1934 and 1938).[127] All World Cup-winning head coaches were natives of the country they coached to victory.[128]
Among the national teams, Brazil has played the most World Cup matches (114), Germany appeared in the most finals (8), semi-finals (13), and quarter-finals (16), while Brazil has appeared in the most World Cups (22), has the most wins (76) and has scored the most goals (237).[129][130] The two teams have played each other twice in the World Cup, in the2002 final and in the2014 semi-final.[131]
At the end of each World Cup, awards are presented to the players and teams for accomplishments other than their final team positions in the tournament.
There are five post-tournament awards from the FIFA Technical Study Group:[132][133]
Diego Maradona (holding the World Cup) received the Golden Ball for best player at the 1986 World Cup.
theGolden Ball (named for its sponsor "Adidas Golden Ball") for best player, first awarded in1982;
theGolden Boot (named for its sponsor "Adidas Golden Boot", formerly known as the "adidas Golden Shoe" from 1982 to 2006) for top goalscorer, first awarded in 1982;
theGolden Glove (named for its sponsor "Adidas Golden Glove", formerly known as the "Lev Yashin Award" from 1994 to 2006) for best goalkeeper, first awarded in1994;
theFIFA Young Player Award (formerly known as the "Best Young Player Award" from 2006 to 2010) for best player under 21 years of age at the start of the calendar year, first awarded in2006;
theFIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team that advanced to the second round with the best record of fair play, first awarded in1970.
There is currently one award voted on by fans during the tournament.:
thePlayer of the Match (currently commercially termed "Budweiser Player of the Match", formerly known as the "Man of the Match" from 2002 to 2018) for outstanding performance during each match of the tournament, first awarded in2002.
There are two awards voted on by fans after the conclusion of the tournament:
theGoal of the Tournament, (currently commercially termed "Hyundai Goal of the Tournament") for the fans' best goal scored during the tournament, first awarded in2006;
theMost Entertaining Team during the World Cup final tournament, as determined by a poll of the general public.
One other award was given between 1994 and 2006:[134]
anAll-Star Team comprising the best players of the tournament chosen by the FIFA Technical Study Group. From 2010 onwards, all Dream Teams or Statistical Teams are unofficial, as reported by FIFA itself.
^Australia's qualification in 2006 was through the Oceanian zone as they were a member of theOFC member during qualifying. However, on 1 January 2006, they left the Oceania Football Confederation and joined theAsian Football Confederation. In 2022, they again reached the second round, albeit representing Asia.
^abStephen Dobson and John Goddard,The Economics of Football, page 407, quote "The World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world: the estimated cumulative television audience for the 2006 World Cup in Germany was 26.2 billion, an average of 409 million viewers per match."
^Glenn M. Wong,The Comprehensive Guide to Careers in Sports, page 144, quote "The World Cup is the most-watched sporting event in the world. In 2006, more than 30 billion viewers in 214 countries watched the World Cup on television, and more than 3.3 million spectators attended the 64 matches of the tournament."
^Tom Dunmore,Historical Dictionary of Soccer, page 235, quote "The World Cup is now the most-watched sporting event in the world on television, above even the Olympic Games."
^"FIFA World Cup Origin"(PDF).FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 14 June 2010. Retrieved19 November 2007.
^"FIFA Women's World Cup".FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived fromthe original on 3 July 2008. Retrieved22 December 2007.
^"FIFA Confederations Cup".FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived fromthe original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved22 December 2007.
^"FIFA World Cup Trophy".FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived fromthe original on 29 March 2013. Retrieved12 July 2014.
^"FIFA Assets – Trophy".FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived fromthe original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved19 November 2007.
^Previously, due to there being fewer finals places and a bigger ratio of European finalists, there had been several occasions where three European teams were in a single group, for example, 1986 (West Germany, Scotland, and Denmark), 1990 (Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Austria), and 1994 (Italy, Republic of Ireland, and Norway). ("History of the World Cup Final Draw"(PDF).FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 23 November 2009. Retrieved12 May 2014.)
^Jackson, Jamie (2 December 2010)."Qatar win 2022 World Cup bid".The Guardian. London.Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved8 September 2017.
^"Rotation ends in 2018".FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 29 October 2007. Archived fromthe original on 24 March 2013. Retrieved30 March 2013.
^"FIFA Assets – Mascots".FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived fromthe original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved19 November 2007.
^"1930 FIFA World Cup Uruguay".FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association.Archived from the original on 23 June 2021. Retrieved30 December 2018.
^"1950 FIFA World Cup".FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived fromthe original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved5 March 2009.
1 Have been member of multiple confederations.2 Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s).3 Team and national federation no longer exist.
Teams indicated initalics are associate/full members of their respective regional bodies but not members of FIFA. See also:List of women's football teams
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