TheFIFA World Cup wasfirst held in 1930, whenFIFA, the world's football governing body, decided to stage an international men'sfootball tournament under the era of FIFA presidentJules Rimet who put this idea into place.Jules Rimet was the president of FIFA from 1921 to 1954. Rimet was appreciated so much for bringing the idea of FIFA to life that in 1946 the trophy was named the Jules Rimet Cup instead of the World Cup Trophy.[1] The inaugural edition, held in 1930, was contested as a final tournament of only thirteen teams invited by the organization. Since then, the World Cup has experienced successive expansions and format remodeling, with its current 48-team final tournament preceded by a two-year qualifying process involving over 200 teams worldwide.
Thefirst official international football match was played in 1872 inGlasgow betweenScotland andEngland,[2] although at this stage the sport was rarely played outside Great Britain.
At the end of the 19th century, games that were considered the "football world championship" were meetings between leading English and Scottish clubs, like the1895 game betweenSunderland A.F.C. and theHeart of Midlothian F.C., which Sunderland won.[3][4][5][6][7]
By the twentieth century, football had gained ground all around the world and national football associations were being founded. The first official international match outside theBritish Isles was played betweenUruguay andArgentina inMontevideo in July 1902.[8] The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded inParis on 21 May 1904 – comprising football associations from France, Belgium (the preceding two teams having played their first national against each other earlier in the month), Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, with Germany pledging to join.[9]
As football began to increase in popularity, it was contested as anIOC-recognizedOlympic sport at the1900 and1904 Summer Olympics, as well as at the1906 Intercalated Games, before becoming an official FIFA-supervised Olympic competition at the1908 Summer Olympics.[10] Organised by England'sFootball Association, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. TheEngland national amateur football team won the event in both 1908 and1912.
There was an attempt made by FIFA to organize an international football tournament between nations outside of the Olympic framework in 1906 and this took place in Switzerland. These were very early days for international football and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure.[11]
With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between amateur teams, competitions involving professional teams also started to appear. TheTorneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva, held inTurin in 1908, was one of the first, and the following year; SirThomas Lipton organized theSir Thomas Lipton Trophy, also held in Turin. Both tournaments were contested between individual clubs (not national teams), each one of which represented an entire nation. For this reason, neither was really a direct forerunner of the World Cup, but notwithstanding that, the Thomas Lipton Trophy is sometimes described asThe First World Cup,[12] at the expense of its less well-known Italian predecessor.
In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognize the Olympic tournament as a "world football championship for amateurs",[13] and took responsibility for organizing the event. However, the outbreak of theFirst World War led to the cancellation of the1916 Summer Olympics. The tournament that was played that year instead was theinaugural edition of the competition now known as theCopa América. That same year,CONMEBOL, the South American continental confederation, was founded.
Olympic football resumed at the1920 Summer Olympics, won byBelgium.[14] Uruguay won the tournaments in1924 and1928.
Eventually, FIFA made the decision to stage their own international tournament. FIFA presidentJules Rimet thus set about organizing theinaugural World Cup tournament. With Uruguay now a two-time Olympic champion and due to celebrate its centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA namedUruguay as the host country.
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 the European sides at the time of theGreat Depression. No European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition.[15] Rimet eventually persuaded the national teams ofBelgium,France,Romania,Hungary andYugoslavia to make the trip and play the tournament.[16] In total, 13 nations took part – seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America.
The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously and were won by France and theUnited States, who beatMexico 4–1 andBelgium 3–0, respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored byLucien Laurent of France. Four days later, the first World Cuphat-trick was achieved byBert Patenaude of the U.S. in the Americans' 3–0 win againstParaguay. In thefinal,Uruguay defeatedArgentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people inMontevideo to become the first nation to win the World Cup.[17]
The1932 Summer Olympics held inLos Angeles did not include football as part of the programme. FIFA and theIOC also disagreed over the status of amateur players, and so football was dropped from the Games.[18]
The1934 World Cup was hosted byItaly and was the first World Cup to include a qualification stage. Sixteen teams qualified for the tournament, a number which would be retained until the expansion of the finals tournament in 1982.Uruguay, the titleholders from 1930, still upset about the poor European attendance at their World Cup in 1930, boycotted the 1934 World Cup, the only time the defending champions didn't take part in the next tournament.Bolivia andParaguay were also absent, allowingArgentina andBrazil to progress to the finals in Italy without having to play any qualifying matches.Egypt became the first African team to compete, but lost toHungary in the first round.Italy won the tournament, with a2-1 extra time win overCzechoslovakia, becoming the first European team to do so.
The1938 World Cup competition was also held inEurope (inFrance), much to the consternation of many South Americans, withUruguay andArgentina boycotting. For the first time, the title holders and the host country were given automatic qualifications. Following a play-off match againstLatvia,Austria qualified for the tournament, but because of theAnschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938, Austria withdrew from the tournament, with some Austrian players being added to theGerman team, which was eliminated in the first round bySwitzerland. Austria's place was offered toEngland, but they declined. This left the finals with 15 nations competing.France hosted, but for the first time the hosts did not win the competition, asItaly retained their title, beatingHungary 4-2 inthe final. Polish strikerErnest Willimowski became the first player to score four goals in a World Cup game duringPoland's 6–5 loss againstBrazil; his record was later equalled by other players, but was not bettered until 56 years later in the 1994 World Cup.
| Country | Result |
|---|---|
 Germany | Cancelled |
 Brazil (resume) |
TheFIFA World Cup was planned to take place in 1942. Germany officially applied to host the 1942 FIFA World Cup at the 23rd FIFA Congress on 13 August 1936 inBerlin. In June 1939, Brazil also applied to host the tournament.
On 1 September 1939,Nazi GermanyinvadedPoland, triggering the outbreak of theSecond World War, and this fact, along with theUnited Kingdom andFrance declaring war on Nazi Germany, resulted in further plans for the 1942 FIFA World Cup to be cancelled, before a host country could be selected. DuringWorld War II, FIFA struggled to keep itself afloat, and it had no financial or personnel resources with which to plan a peacetime tournament for when hostilities ended.[19]
When the war ended in 1945, it was clear that FIFA would have no hope in a single year of planning and scheduling a 1946 World Cup. In fact, FIFA's first meeting was on 1 July 1946 – around the time the 1946 FIFA World Cup would ordinarily have been played – and when it planned the next World Cup for 1949 no country would host it.[20] The only major international tournament in 1946 was the1946 South American Championship in whichArgentina beatBrazil 2–0 on 10 February 1946. Eventually, the World Cup would resume in 1950, with Brazil (who was unaffected by the war despite joining the Allies and sending an expeditionary force to Italy to fight) hosting the tournament.
The competition resumed with the1950 World Cup inBrazil, which was the first to includeEngland. British teams withdrew 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 a foreign influence to football,[21] but rejoined in 1946 following FIFA's invitation. England's involvement, however, was not to be a success. The English failed to make the final group round in a campaign that included a surprise1–0 loss to theUnited States.[22]
The tournament also saw the return of 1930 championsUruguay, who had boycotted the previous two World Cups. For political reasons, Eastern European countries (such asHungary, theSoviet Union andCzechoslovakia) did not enter. Title-holderItaly did take part, despite theSuperga air disaster of 1949 in which the entireGrande Torinoteam (many of whom were national team players) were killed. The 1950 World Cup was the only tournament not to stage a final tie, replacing knockout rounds with two group phases. The last match of the second group phase, however, is sometimes referred to as a "final", as the group standings meant the winners would be the overall winners. Uruguay were surprise victors over hostsBrazil with a final score of 2–1 (the game would later be known asMaracanazo), and became champions for the second time. This game also held the record for the highest attendance at any sporting match, at roughly 200,000.[23]
The1954 World Cup was held inSwitzerland during FIFA's 50th anniversary, and it was the first to be televised. TheSoviet Union did not participate because of their dismal performance at the1952 Summer Olympics.Scotland made their first appearance in the tournament, but were unable to register a win, going out after the group stage. This tournament set a number of all-time goal-scoring records, including highest average goals per game and highest-scoring team (Hungary), and most goals in a single match (Austria's 7–5 quarter-final victory overSwitzerland). Despite losing 8-3 toHungary in the group stage,West Germany won the tournament for the first time after defeating the defending Olympic champions 3–2 inthe final, overturning a 2–0 deficit in the process, withHelmut Rahn scoring the winner. The match is known as the Miracle of Bern inGermany.
The1958 World Cup was held inSweden. TheSoviet Union debuted in this tournament. During the qualification cycle, the USSR won gold medal at the1956 Summer Olympics held inMelbourne. For the first (and so far only) time, all four British teams,England,Scotland,Wales, andNorthern Ireland, qualified for the tournament. Wales was able to take advantage of a situation in the Africa/Asia zone, where the number of withdrawals would giveIsrael qualification without having played a single qualifying match. This prompted FIFA to rule that no team could qualify without playing a match, and so Israel were ordered to play against one of the teams finishing second in the other groups. A tie was created, andWales defeated Israel 2–0 twice in 1958. It was the first, and so far the only time that a country played a World Cup after having been eliminated in the regular qualifiers. The tournament also saw the emergence ofPelé, who scored two goals in the final.French strikerJust Fontaine was the top scorer of the tournament with 13 goals, a record that still stands despite expansion.Brazil won the tournament for the first time after beating hostsSweden 5-2 inthe final. Brazil became the first team to win a World Cup outside their home continent a feat repeated by Brazil itself in 1970, 1994 and 2002,Argentina in 1986 and 2022,Spain in 2010 andGermany in 2014.
Chile hosted the1962 World Cup. Two years before the tournament, an earthquake struck, thelargest ever recorded at 9.5magnitude, prompting officials to rebuild due to major damage to infrastructure. When the competition began, two of the best players were in poor form as Pelé was injured inBrazil's second group match againstCzechoslovakia. Also, theSoviet Union saw their goalkeeperLev Yashin show poor form including a 2–1 loss to hostsChile as the hosts captured third place.
The competition was also marred by overly defensive and often violent tactics. This poisonous atmosphere culminated in what was known as theBattle of Santiago first round match betweenItaly and Chile in which Chile won 2–0. Prior to the match, two Italian journalists wrote unflattering articles about the host country. In the match, players on both sides made deliberate attempts to harm opponents though only two players from Italy were sent off by English refereeKen Aston. In the end, the Italian team needed police protection to leave the field in safety.
In a rematch of the group stage, Brazil beat Czechoslovakia inthe final 3–1 led byGarrincha andAmarildo, in Pelé's absence, and retained the title. This was the second successful defense of a World Cup title, after Italy in 1938, and the most recent.
Colombia'sMarcos Coll made World Cup history when he scored a goal direct from a corner kick (called an Olympic goal in Latin America), the only one ever made in a World Cup, past legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin.
The1966 World Cup, hosted byEngland, was the first to embrace marketing, featuring a mascot and official logo for the first time. The trophy was stolen in the run-up to the tournament but was found a week later by a dog named"Pickles".South Africa was banned due to theapartheid regime that governed the country at the time. The ban remained in effect until 1992 when theSouth Africa Football Association had their ban repealed by FIFA after the end of racial discrimination. The qualifying rounds of the tournament saw a controversy when the African nations decided to withdraw in protest of only one qualifying place allocated by FIFA to the regions of Asia, Oceania and Africa. The eventual qualifiers from the zone,North Korea, became the first Asian team to reach the quarter-finals, eliminatingItaly in the group stages, before being eliminated by also debutantsPortugal 5-3 in the quarter-finals. Defending championsBrazil were eliminated in the group stage.England won the tournament with a 4-2 win overWest Germany in extra time.Geoff Hurst became the first player to score ahat-trick in a World Cup final.Eusébio fromPortugal was the tournament top-scorer, with nine goals to his name.
João Havelange, the Brazilian FIFA president from 1974 to 1998, later claimed that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively.[24]
The1970 World Cup was held inMexico, the first time the tournament was held inNorth America, and the first time the tournament was held outside Europe or South America. Thequalification stages of the tournament were marred bt theFootball War betweenHonduras andEl Salvador.Israel had been a member ofAFC, but due to a boycott by Arab countries, it was becoming harder to place them adequately in the qualifying rounds. They were grouped in Asia/Oceania.North Korea then refused to play Israel, even though this meant automatic disqualification for North Korea. Israel debuted in the 1970 tournament. Israel were eventually expelled from the AFC, and eventually admitted intoUEFA.
The group stage clash between defending championsEngland andBrazil lived up to its billing, and is still remembered for England goalkeeperGordon Banks' save from aPelé header on the six-yard line. The tournament is also remembered for the semi-final match betweenItaly andWest Germany, in which five goals were scored inextra time, andFranz Beckenbauer played with a broken arm, since Germany had used up all their allowed substitutions. Italy were the eventual 4–3 winners, but were defeated 1–4 inthe final by Brazil, who became the first nation to win three World Cups, and were awarded theJules Rimet trophy permanently for their achievement.
A new trophy was created for the1974 edition, held inWest Germany. After a draw in their firstUEFA/CONMEBOL Intercontinental play-off match againstChile in the qualifiers, theSoviet Union refused to travel toSantiago for the second fixture protesting thepolitical situation in Chile, and in accordance with the regulations, Chile were awarded a victory.East Germany,Haiti,Australia andZaire made their first finals. The tournament also saw a new format, where the two top teams from each of the earlier four groups were divided into two groups of four each again, the winner of either group playing each other in the final.
The very well-playingPoland finished third, after defeating defending championsBrazil 1–0 (and after defeatingArgentina 3–2 and eliminatingItaly 2–1 in the initial group play), having barely lost in terrible rain in the semi-finals to West Germany 0–1. The revolutionaryTotal Football system of the Dutch captured the footballing world's imagination, despite hostsWest Germany winning the competition by beating theNetherlands 2–1 inthe final.
The1978 World Cup was held inArgentina, causing controversy as amilitary coup had taken place in the country two years earlier. Allegations that Dutch starJohan Cruyff refused to participate because of political convictions were refuted by him 30 years later.[25] and none of the teams decided to stay away.
This was the hardest ever World Cup to qualify for. With 95 countries vying for 14 places (the holders and hosts qualified automatically), there were nearly seven teams competing for each place in Argentina.Hungary won their European group but still had to win a play-off againstBolivia to qualify, whileEngland andItaly - the only former champions involved in European qualifying - were placed in the same group, with the result that England were eliminated on goal difference despite winning five of their six qualifying matches.
Iran andTunisia were first-time participants. Tunisia won their first match againstMexico 3–1 and became the first African team to ever win a World Cup game. There was some on-field controversy as well. During the second round,Argentina had an advantage in their match againstPeru since the kick off was several hours afterBrazil's match withPoland. Brazil won their match 3–1, so Argentina knew that they had to beat Peru by four goals to advance to the final. Trailing 2–0 at half-time, Peru simply collapsed in the second half, and Argentina eventually won 6–0. Rumors suggested that Peru might have been bribed into allowing Argentina to win the match by such a large margin. Argentina went on to winthe final 3–1 against theNetherlands in extra time, with the Dutch being runners-up for the second time in a row.
The1982 World Cup was held inSpain, and was the first held with 24 teams after an expansion. The teams were divided into six groups of four, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the second round, where they split into four groups of three. The winners of each group advanced to the semi-finals.Cameroon,Algeria,Honduras,New Zealand andKuwait were the debutants. The group match between Kuwait andFrance was stage of a farcical incident. As the French were leading 3–1, the Kuwaiti team stopped playing after hearing a whistle from the stands which they thought had come from referee, as French defenderMaxime Bossis scored. As the Kuwaiti team were protesting the goal, Sheikh Fahid Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, president of theKuwait Football Association, rushed onto the pitch and gave the referee a piece of his mind, who proceeded to disallow the goal. Bossis scored another valid goal a few minutes later and France won 4–1.
Also during the group stages,Hungary beatEl Salvador with a10–1 score, which has been the only occasion to this day that a team scored ten goals in a World Cup match, and the biggest victory in World Cup history.[26] The group match betweenWest Germany andAustria, which ended in a1-0 win for West Germany, later resulted in a change of World Cup rules, after both teams visibly aimed to keep the scoreline ensuring both teams qualifying to the next round at the expense of Algeria. The semi-final between West Germany and France saw another controversy when German keeperHarald Schumacher's challenge took outPatrick Battiston, with the score at 1–1. Schumacher escaped a red card, and West Germany won in a penalty shoot-out, after coming back to level from having gone 1–3 down.The final was won byItaly 3-1 against West Germany, making Italian captainDino Zoff the oldest player to win the World Cup at 40 years old. Italian strikerPaolo Rossi, who was making his comeback after a match-fixing scandal and the ensuing ban, was the tournament top-scorer with six goals including a classichat-trick against Brazil.
The1986 World Cup was supposed to be hosted byColombia. However, Colombia withdrew as the host to the tournament on 25 October 1982.[27] Replacement hostsMexico became the first nation to host two World Cup editions. The format changed again, with the second round being replaced by the round of 16 and the return of the quarter-finals. It was also decided that the final two matches in all groups would kick off simultaneously, to ensure complete fairness.Colombia then failed to even qualify.Canada,Denmark andIraq debuted.José Batista of Uruguay set a World Cup record being sent off after a mere 56 seconds into the game againstScotland. The quarterfinal match betweenEngland andArgentina is remembered for two remarkableDiego Maradona goals, later regarded as player of the tournament, the first, the controversialhandball goal, and the second, considered to be theGoal of the Century, in which he dribbled half the length of the field past five English players before scoring. Inthe final, Argentina beatWest Germany 3–2, inspired by Diego Maradona, who set upJorge Burruchaga for the winner.
The1990 World Cup was held inItaly.Cameroon, participating in their second World Cup, made it to the quarter-finals after beatingArgentina in the opening game. No African country had ever reached the quarter-finals before. Mexico was banned from the competition as a result of a two-year ban for age fraud at a youth championship, an incident known asCachirules. TheUnited States qualified for the first time since 1950 with a1-0 away win atTrinidad and Tobago. An unpleasant episode marred theSouth American qualifiers: during the match betweenBrazil andChile, a firework landed close to the Chilean goalkeeperRoberto Rojas, who then feigned injury by cutting his own face with a razor blade he had hidden in his glove. His team refused to continue the match (as they were down a goal at the time).The plot was discovered and resulted in a 12-year suspension for Rojas and to Chile being banned from the 1994 World Cup.[28]
Costa Rica, theUnited Arab Emirates and theRepublic of Ireland made their first appearances in the tournament, with the Republic of Ireland reaching the quarter-finals without winning a single game. The team drew all three group stage matches, defeated Romania in the round of 16 with a 5-4 win on penalties after a goalless draw, before being knocked out by hostsItaly 1-0 in the quarter-finals. This is the furthest a team has ever advanced in the World Cup without winning a game. The final was a rematch of the previous one. Unlike the previous final,West Germany beatArgentina 1–0 inthe final to win their third title. That was the last tournament beforeGerman reunification.
The1994 World Cup was held in theUnited States.Yugoslavia was excluded due toUN sanctions in connection to theBosnian War.Colombia qualified after defeatingArgentina5-0.Japan almost qualified to the World Cup for the first time, but Japan drew withIraq 2-2 in the final match of the qualification round, remembered by Japanese fans as theAgony of Doha. As a result,South Korea qualified to the tournament.Russia played the first World Cup competition after thefall of the Soviet Union in 1991.Greece,Nigeria andSaudi Arabia debuted in this tournament.
Oleg Salenko of Russia became the first player to score five goals in a single World Cup finals game in his country's 6–1 group stage win over Cameroon. In the same match, 42-year-oldRoger Milla scored the only goal forCameroon, becoming the oldest player ever to score in a World Cup match. Diego Maradona was banned mid-tournament after testing positive forcocaine. Without him,Argentina were eliminated in the last 16 byRomania 3-2.Hristo Stoichkov shared the Golden Boot as the joint top goal scorer in the tournament with Oleg Salenko (six goals), as well as earning the Bronze Ball award. He ledBulgaria to a shock 2–1 win over defending championsGermany in the quarter-finals, before losing 2–1 toItaly in the semi-finals and losing the third place play-off toSweden, 4–0.Brazil defeated Italy 3-2 on penalties after a goalless draw after extra time inthe final. It was the first final to end 0-0, and the first to be decided by a penalty shootout.
The total attendance for the tournament of 3,587,538 remains the biggest in World Cup history. Despite soccer's relative lack of popularity in the host nation, the tournament was the most financially successful in World Cup history.[29][30] It broke tournament records with an average attendance of 68,991 per match,[31] marks that stood unbroken as of 2025[32] despite later expansion of the competition.[33]
The1998 World Cup was held inFrance, and had an expanded format featuring 32 teams.Japan debuted in this tournament after defeatingIran 3-2 in a playoff. But Iran also qualified for the tournament after defeatingAustralia in the intercontinental playoffs on away goals. In the second round match betweenFrance andParaguay witnessed the firstgolden goal in World Cup history, asLaurent Blanc scored to give the hosts a 1–0 victory. Hosts France won the tournament by beatingBrazil 3–0 inthe final, with Brazilian star playerRonaldo controversially playing in the match after having had a seizure hours before kickoff. DebutantsCroatia finished a commendable third.
The2002 World Cup was hosted jointly bySouth Korea andJapan, and it was the first to be held inAsia, and the first to have two hosts. TogoleseSouleymane Mamam became the youngest player ever to take to a World Cup qualifiers game field at 13 years, 310 days inLomé in May 2001.Australia defeatedAmerican Samoa 31–0 in a preliminary match – a new record for the margin of victory, and the highest-scoring match ever. However, both failed to qualify for this edition, with Australia being knocked out in theintercontinental playoffs byUruguay.
The tournament was a successful one for teams traditionally regarded as minnows, withSouth Korea,Senegal and theUnited States all reaching the last eight.Turkish playerHakan Sukur made history by scoring the earliest World Cup goal of all time againstSouth Korea at only 11 seconds in the third place match. Turkey's third place was the best performance by a Muslim country in World Cup history, and South Korea had the best performance by an Asian team at World Cups.Brazil beatGermany 2–0 inthe final for their fifth title.
The2006 World Cup was held inGermany. It was the first World Cup for which the previous winner had to qualify; the host nation(s) continue to receive an automatic berth. First seed and holdersBrazil and second seededEngland were initially English bookmakers' favourites. Four African teams also made their debut in the World Cup:Togo,Ivory Coast,Angola andGhana, who made it to last 16 by beating theCzech Republic, third ranked in the world, 2–1, along with theUnited States 2–0, before losing to the defending champions Brazil 0–3. Defending champions Brazil were eliminated byFrance with a 1-0 in the quarter-finals.
A strong performance byGermany brought them as far as the semi-finals, being defeated in the semi-finals byItaly with a 2-0 score after extra time. Germany won third place againstPortugal 3-1.The final was between Italy and France, in which French captainZinedine Zidane was sent off in the last ten minutes of extra time for aheadbutt to the chest of Italian central defenderMarco Materazzi. Italy went on to win 5–3 in a penalty shootout, the score having been 1–1 after 90 minutes and extra time.
The2010 World Cup was held inSouth Africa. It was the first cup hosted inAfrica, and the cup was won bySpain. The tournament was noted for its highly defensive opening matches, controversies surrounding goal-line technology, and the introduction ofvuvuzelas. Though considered as one of the tournament favorites, the Spaniards won the cup despite scoring only eight goals in seven games and losing their opening match toSwitzerland.David Villa led the squad in scoring with five goals. In a final which saw a record number of yellow cards distributed and what some considered violent play from the Dutch side, the ten-manNetherlands squad were defeated1–0 in the 116th minute of extra time by anAndrés Iniesta goal.
The2014 World Cup was held inBrazil, marking the second time that Brazil hosted the competition. The cup was won byGermany, who beatArgentina 1–0 inthe final. TheNetherlands defeatedBrazil (who lost to the eventual winners, Germany,7–1 in the semi-finals) 3–0 in the match for third place.
Because of the relatively high ambient temperatures in Brazil, particularly at the northern venues, cooling breaks for the players were first introduced during these games.[34] In this World Cup there was the debut of sensors to avoid phantom goals with theGoal-line technology, used to determine, in doubtful situations, whether the ball crossed the goal line.[35]
The2018 World Cup was held inRussia. It was the first cup to be held inEastern Europe. The cup was won byFrance, who beatCroatia 4–2 in the final.Belgium defeatedEngland 2–0 in the match for third place. It was also the first cup to use thevideo assistant referee (VAR) system.
The2022 World Cup was hosted byQatar, and was the first tournament to not be held in the northern hemisphere summer time in which it is usually held, and it was also the first to be held in theMiddle East. The cup was won byArgentina, who prevailed over defending championsFrance 4–2 in the penalty shootout, afterthe final was drawn 3–3 after extra time, despite France'sKylian Mbappé netting a hat-trick, becoming only the second player to do so in a World Cup Final. Previous tournament runners-upCroatia won the match for third place, beatingMorocco 2–1, whose fourth-place finish was the furthest of any African or Arab nation at the World Cup. It was also the last to feature 32 teams.
The2026 World Cup is scheduled to be jointly hosted by theUnited States,Canada andMexico, all inNorth America, making it the first to be hosted by three nations, and the tournament will also expand to 48 teams.
The hosts for the2030 World Cup will beArgentina,Uruguay, andParaguay inSouth America for the opening matches to honor the centennial of the first FIFA World Cup, as well asMorocco inAfrica, andSpain andPortugal inEurope.
The2034 World Cup will be hosted bySaudi Arabia.
The number of teams and the format of each final tournament have varied considerably over the years. In most tournaments, the tournament consists of around-robin group stage followed by asingle-elimination knockout stage.[36]
| Year | Teams | Matches | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Min. | Act. | |||
| 1930 | 13 | 18 | 4 groups of 3–4, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final | |
| 1934 | 16 | 16 | 17 | round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd-place match, final |
| 1938 | 15 | 15 | 18 | round of 16,[a] quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd-place match, final |
| 1950 | 13 | 22 | 4 groups of 2–4, final round-robin group of 4 | |
| 1954 | 16 | 24 | 26 | 4 groups of 4,[b] quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd-place match, final |
| 1958 | 16 | 32 | 35 | 4 groups of 4, quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd-place match, final |
| 1962 | 16 | 32 | ||
| 1966 | 16 | 32 | ||
| 1970 | 16 | 32 | ||
| 1974 | 16 | 38 | 4 groups of 4 (first round), 2 groups of 4 (second round), 3rd-place match, final | |
| 1978 | 16 | 38 | ||
| 1982 | 24 | 52 | 6 groups of 4 (first round), 4 groups of 3 (second round), semi-finals, 3rd-place match, final | |
| 1986 | 24 | 52 | 6 groups of 4, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd-place match, final | |
| 1990 | 24 | 52 | ||
| 1994 | 24 | 52 | ||
| 1998 | 32 | 64 | 8 groups of 4, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd-place match, final | |
| 2002 | 32 | 64 | ||
| 2006 | 32 | 64 | ||
| 2010 | 32 | 64 | ||
| 2014 | 32 | 64 | ||
| 2018 | 32 | 64 | ||
| 2022 | 32 | 64 | ||
| 2026 | 48 | 104 | 12 groups of 4, round of 32, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd-place match, final | |
| 2030 | 48 | 104 | ||
| 2034 | 48 | 104 | ||
In 1934 and 1938 draws in knockout matches were resolved via a replay. Later, drawing of lots was provided for, though never invoked. Since 1974, penalty shootouts are used.
In 1954 each group had two seeded and two unseeded teams; the seeded teams played only unseeded teams and vice versa.
Up to 1958, ranking ties in groups were to be broken via a playoff; this only happened in 1954 and 1958.
Until the 1990 FIFA World Cup, 2 points were conceded for a win and 1 point was conceded for a draw. Since the 1994 FIFA World Cup, 3 points are conceded for a win and 1 point is conceded for a draw.
Each group of four teams plays a round-robin schedule. As of the 1986 World Cup, all final group games must be held simultaneously, a rule instituted byFIFA to minimize collusion amongst teams requiring a certain result to advance. FIFA instituted a policy to award three points for a win in the 1994 World Cup. Although goals for was already a tiebreaker, FIFA hoped to create an additional incentive for teams to pursue victory. The first team affected by the rule was Paraguay in 1998, which would have won its group on goal differential over Nigeria under prior FIFA rules. Paraguay advanced to the knockout phase as group runner-up and was defeated by host nation and eventual champion France in the round of 16. It is not possible under the new point system to be eliminated from the group stage with a second place or higher winning percentage, however it is possible to finish behind a team with the same winning percentage yet a lower goal difference. This took place in the 2010 World Cup when New Zealand finished with three draws and Slovakia finished with one win, one draw, and one loss. Slovakia advanced in Group F by finishing second with four points, eliminating New Zealand with three points. Under the previous FIFA point allotment system, New Zealand would have advanced with a zero goal difference, while Slovakia would have been eliminated with a goal difference of −1.
The criteria for advancement to knockout phase is as follows:
As of the 2022 World Cup, lots have only been drawn once in tournament history. However, they were used to separate second and third place in a group (Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands in 1990) where both were already assured of qualification. Thus, a team has never been eliminated based upon drawn lots.
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