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1930 FIFA World Cup
The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the first FIFA World Cup, the men's national association's inofficial title of football clubs. It occurred in Uruguay from 13th to 30th July 1930. FIFA, the world's governing football body, selected Uruguay as the host nation, as the country would celebrate the centennial of its first constitution, and the national football team in Uruguay had effectively maintained its name at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Both matches took place in Uruguay's tournament-built capital, Montevideo, which is the bulk at the Estadio Centenario. Twelve teams have been working their way into the competition. Thanks to the difficulties of flying to South America, only a few European teams agreed to participate. The teams were split into four groups, progressing to the semi-finals with the winner of each group. The first two matches of the World Cup were held concurrently, and France and the USA won, defeating Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. France's Lucien Laurent scored the first goal in World Cup history and US goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas posted the competition's first official clean sheet. In order to qualify for the semi-finals, Chile, Uruguay, the United States and Yugoslavia each won their respective matches. Eventually, hosts and pre-tournament favourites from Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 to 68,346 spectators, making it the first nation to win the World Cup. The other was first World Cup, without a win. Any FIFA affiliated country with an approval date of 28 February 1930, was eligible to apply. Among the nations of the Americas there was considerable concern; Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States all took part. In all, we've included seven South American countries, more than at any previous World Cup finals. Nevertheless, relatively few European teams were invited to participate due to the lengthy and costly ship journey across the Atlantic Ocean and the period of absence expected by the participants. Some refused to fly to South America in any conditions as no European entries had been sent before the deadline of February. The Uruguayan Football Federation sent a letter of invitation to The Football Association in an effort to attract any European interest, as the British Home Nations had withdrawn from FIFA at the time. This was confirmed by the FA Tribunal on 18 November 1929. Two months before the event no team from Europe officially entered the tournament. FIFA chairman Jules Rimet intervened and eventually four European teams made the trip by sea: Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia. The Romanians, led by Constantin Rădulescu and coached by their captain Rudolf Wetzer and Octav Luchide, left the tournament after recently crowned, interfering with King Carol II. He assembled the squad himself, then collaborated with managers to ensure that all players regained jobs. The French respected Rimet's personal involvement, but no French star defender Manuel Anatol or regular team coach Gaston Barreau persuaded him of the journey. The Belgians were engaged at the instigation of FIFA German-Belgian vice-president Rodolphe Seeldrayers. Hosting proposals have been registered in Italy, Denmark, The Netherlands, France, Hungary and Uruguay. Uruguay's offer was the clear one because all the other countries had called their offers back. The 13 teams have been split into four groups, with four teams in Group 1 and the remaining three. Through group played a round-robin format, with the four group winners progressing into the knockout stage in the semifinals. Since there were no qualification rounds, the first two matches of the tournament were the first ever World Cup rounds played concurrently on 13 July 1930; France beat Mexico 4–1 at Estadio Pocitos, while the United States concurrently defeated Belgium 3–0 at Estadio Gran Parque Central. France's Lucien Laurent was the first goal scorer in World Cup.
1938 FIFA World Cup
The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third round of the World Cup, played from 4 to 19 June 1938 in France. In the final, Italy has kept the championship intact, defeating Hungary 4–2. Teams from Italy were the only ones to have won two World Cups under the same manager, Vittorio Pozzo in 1934 and 1938. On 13 August 1936, FIFA voted France as host nation at Berlin. During the first round of elections France was preferred over Argentina and Germany. The plan to stage a second consecutive tournament in Europe created confusion in South America where the site was thought to be alternating between the two continents. It was the last World Cup held until the beginning of World War II. Due to dissatisfaction at the decision to stage a second consecutive World Cup in Europe, neither Uruguay nor Argentina joined the competition Spain has been hesitant to participate due to the raging Spanish Civil War in the meantime. The hosts, France, and the title winners, Italy, both won overwhelmingly and is the first time they both met. From 1938 until 2002, game winners were granted direct entry into the World Cup, following which they were removed. For the remaining 14 positions, 11 are assigned to Europe, 2 to the Americas and 1 to Asia. As a result, it included only three non-European countries: Nicaragua, Cuba and the Dutch East Indies. This is the lowest number of teams allowed to participate in a FIFA World Cup outside of the host country. Austria qualified for World Cup but the Anschluss merged Austria with Germany after the qualifying was complete. Austria then withdrew from the competition, replacing the German squad with some Austrian players, but not even Austrian main player Matthias Sindelar, who declined to compete with the reunited side. Latvia was the runner-up in the qualification division of Austria, but was not permitted to take part; then Austria's position remained vacant, and by implication Sweden, who was expected to be Austria's first competitor, advanced straight to the second round. The tournament saw the first, and only, participation of Cuba and Dutch East Indies in a World Cup match as of 2018. It has already seen debuts in Poland and Norway at the World Cup. Until 1970 Romania had not qualified for another World Cup, Poland and the Netherlands would not reappear in a final tournament until 1974 and until 1994 Norway would not qualify for another World Cup final. Before 1994, a single team from Germany emerged again, while Austria returned in 1954 and came in sixth. It had maintained the format of the event in 1934. If a match has been drawn so after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will be played. If after extra time the score was still level so the match will repeat. It was the first World Cup event to employ a single elimination system. At Paris on 5 March 1938 Germany, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Cuba and Brazil were seeded for games. Thanks to Austria's exit Sweden got a bye. Five of the first seven round matches have taken extra time to crack the deadlock; two games have already gone to a replay. In one replay Cuba advanced into the next round, at Romania's expense. On the other replay, Germany, who led 1–0 against Switzerland in the first round, led 2–0 but was finally defeated by 2–4. This loss, which happened in front of a angry, bottle-throwing audience in Paris, was blamed by German coach Sepp Herberger for the defeatist nature of the five Austrian players he was forced to include; a German journalist subsequently reported that "Germans and Austrians seem to be competing against each other as though they are in the same group."
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the four-year international championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It was held in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the hosting rights were granted to the nation in 2007. For the second time Brazil has hosted the event, the first in 1950 and the sixth in South America. Many fans and pundits likewise see this version of the World Cup as one of the biggest ever held. 31 National teams qualified to reach the host country by qualifying competition at the final tournament. A total of 64 matches were played throughout Brazil at 12 stadiums, based in almost as many host cities. For the first time in a World Cup finale, game officials used goal-line technology as well as fading spray for free kicks. In each host city a total of 5 million people attended FIFA Fan Festivals and the country hosted 1 million tourists from 202 countries. Since the first tournament in 1930 – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Uruguay – every World Cup winning team has qualified for this competition. Spain, the championship winners were defeated in group round along with England and Italy. Uruguay was eliminated in the round of 16, and France withdrew in quarter-finals. Host nation Brazil, which won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, lost 7–1 to Germany in the semi-finals and finished fourth. Germany ultimately beat Argentina 1-0 to win the tournament and secure the country's fourth world title, the first since German reunification in 1990, when they also overcame Argentina as the West Germany in the World Cup final. Germany became the first European team to win the Cup of the Americas, becoming the third consecutive European team champion following Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010. For this case, twelve venues in twelve towns were chosen. The venues represented all of the major regions of Brazil and created hosting that was wider than the 1950 Brazil finals. The tournament therefore required the teams to travel long distances. During World Cup, Brazilian cities were also home to the participating teams in 32 separate base camps as well as hosting official fan festivals where spectators could watch the games. During the draw for a third consecutive World Cup tournament FIFA held fan festivals at each of the 12 host cities. Prominent examples were the 2010 Rio de Janeiro Fan Fest Copacabana Beach, and the São Paulo Vale do Anhangabaú. The first public function was held at Iracema Beach in Fortaleza on 8 June 2014. Following successful trials at the Confederations Cup, among others, in 2014 the World Cup introduced goal-line technologies to stop ghost goals. The selected target control software contained 14 high-speed cameras, 7 that were guided to each of the targets. Data were sent to the central image processing center where a visual representation of the ball for validating the score was created on a widescreen. A vibrating watch was fitted to the referee, and a light was placed on a goal. France's second goal during their group game against Honduras was the first time goal-line technology could be used to confirm a target. Following positive trials, FIFA allowed the referees to use the vanishing spray for the first time in a World Cup final. The water-based spray, which will vanish after minutes of use, can be used for a free kick to mark a ten-yard line for the defending team and also to draw where to bring the ball to a free kick. Cooling breaks for the players were instituted due to the relatively high ambient temperatures in Brazil, particularly at the northern venues. Breaks that arise after the 30th minute of each half at the referee's discretion, if the Wet Bulb Globe temperature reached 32 ° C.
2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was an international football competition contested from 14 June to 15 July 2018 by the national men's teams competing in Russia. This was the 21st FIFA World Cup, an international match that was held around the world once every four years. This was the eleventh time they contested the European championships, the first in Eastern Europe. This has been the most expensive World Cup to date, at an estimated expense of more than $14.2 billion. The finals featured 32 players, 31 of which came from qualification events, while Russia was selected as the host country automatically. Among the 32, 20 had already taken part in the 2014 case while Iceland and Panama had made their first appearances in the World Cup. A total of 64 matches took place at twelve stadiums across 11 cities. Germany had been defending champions but were eliminated in the group round. Host country Russia was eliminated in the quarter-finals. France defeated Croatia in the July 15 final at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. In order to win a second World Cup, France won match 4–2. The festival has received a number of accolades. Croatian player Luka Modrić has been named best player in the competition to win the Golden Ball. Thibaut Courtois had earned the Golden Glove awarded to the goalkeeper with most clean sheets. The festival was commended for the quality of the case but criticized for being a distraction from drug allegations and public relations within Russia. The estimated game attendance during the tournament, with over 3 million participants. Russia suggests the following host cities: Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, St Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Ekaterinburg. With the exception of Ekaterinburg, which is situated very close to the border between Europe and Asia, each city was situated in European Russia, in the vast country, with any travel period for the teams. The bid evaluation report stated: "The Russian plan suggests 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, thereby satisfying FIFA's minimum requirements. Three of the 16 stadiums will be renovated, and 13 will be newly built." In October 2011, Russia dropped the number of stadiums from 16 to 14. The regional government canceled the building of the proposed Podolsk stadium in the Moscow city, and Otkritie Arena clashed with Dynamo Stadium, which was to be constructed first, in the capital too. The final list of host cities was revealed on 29 September 2012. The number of towns also fell to 11, and as Krasnodar and Yaroslavl the number of stadiums dropped from the final list to 12. For the 12 stadiums in the tournament, 3 were fully renovated, and the other 9 stadiums to be used are brand new; $11.8 billion was spent on hosting the event. This has been the most expensive World Cup in history, at an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion as of June 2018, surpassing the 2014 FIFA World Cup loss in Brazil. The Russian government originally accepted a $20 billion budget that was eventually cut to $10 billion for World Cup preparations, half of which is spent on transportation infrastructure. With a total budget of 352.5 billion rubles, 170.3 billion coming from the federal government, 35.1 billion coming from the state budgets and 147.1 billion coming from donors, a federal sub-committee "Development and Reconstruction of Transport Infrastructure" was initiated as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup preparation programme. Aviation program was the main portion of federal spending. Development of new hotels in World Cup host cities has been a key area for progress of infrastructure. As preparations were in progress, spending continued to ballon.
1978 FIFA World CUP
The 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship competition, took place in Argentina, respectively 1 and 25 June. The host country, Argentina, which beat the Netherlands 3–1in the final, won the Cup after extra time. The final was played at River Plate home stadium called Estadio Monumental which is in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. This victory was the first title of Argentina's World Cup and became the first team to become both hosts and world champions. Australia, the Netherlands and Brazil were the gold, silver, and bronze medalists respectively. Iran and Tunisia both made their first appearance in the history of the games at the event. This was also the last World Cup game to take advantage of the original 16-team inclusion. In 1930 only fifteen teams were permitted to qualify for the first World Cup; but in Spain, FIFA extended the field to 24 teams for the next World Cup. The Adidas Tango was the official ball to the match. Within the first round, some shocks came about. Poland took Group 2 ahead of world champions West Germany after bringing the Germans to a goalless draw and then beating Tunisia and Mexico. Then the Germans thrashed Mexico 6–0 and wound-up playing against Tunisia a second goalless draw. And if they weren't qualified for the second round, Tunisia has made history by beating Mexico 3–1 while losing 0–1 in part. It was the first time that any African team had played a game in World Cup final. In Group 4, Peru pushed the Netherlands into second places Scotland suffered goal differential for the second straight competition. Teofilo Cabrillas was fantastic for Peru, scoring twice in Peru's 3-1 win over Scotland and collecting a hat-trick over Iran's newcomers in their 4-1 triumph. The Netherlands 'Rob Rensenbrink also played against Iran three times, scoring both goals as the Netherlands gained 3–0.Scotland drew 1–1 with Iran and the only highlight of their season was a 3–2victory over the Netherlands in their final group game, which was not necessary to prevent relegation. Iran, the tournament's reigning Asian champions, ended up winless. Rensenbrink’s goal scored against Scotland has been the 1000th goal in World Cup history. Scotland’s Willie Johnston was disqualified from World Cup following the discovery of a banned stimulant used during the opening match against Peru. The mascot for this World Cup was Gauchito, a boy sporting an Argentina hat. The hat, neckerchief, and whip are common for gauchos. In 1972, there were eight pre-selected venues, and in 1978, six plus La Plata and Tucuman. A "one-of-a-kind stadium" was designed by the diagonal area, but its internal bids were scrapped by 1974.Recall, the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata was opened in 2003.In Tucuman's case, Horco Molle, along with the roof, suggested an spectacular stadium of 70,000 spectators, similar to the new Racing Club de Avellaneda stadium. Given the severity of guerrilla and army acts in the province, the Tucuman site was temporarily halted in 1974 and decommissioned in 1975.FIFA picked Argentina as host nation in London, England on 6 July 1966.Two years ago, after the 1970 race was won Mexico withdrawn from the bidding process. The logo is based on President Juan Perón's signature pose: a welcome to the crowd, sticking out both arms above his head. It was one of the most praiseworthy, populist pictures of Perón. The architecture was founded in 1974, just two years before the military coup of 1976.The military hierarchy was conscious that the World Cup logo symbolised Perón's policy, and they tried to change the competition's icon. By this time the idea was still widely commercialised, and the goods had already been made: a mandatory reform "would trigger a tsunami of lawsuits against the government," so the military has no choice but to comply.
1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th FIFA World Cup, was played from 31 May to 29 June 1986 at Mexico City. The tournament was the second one which had a format of 24 matches. While European nations were not permitted to host the tournament in Spain after the previous World Cup, Colombia was originally chosen by FIFA to host the tournament but was not prepared to do so, primarily for economic reasons, and was officially resigned in 1982. In May 1983, Mexico was named as the new host, and thus became the first nation to host the World Cup more than once. This was the third consecutive FIFA World Cup tournament hosted by a Spanish speaking nation, after Argentina in 1978 and Spain in 1982. Argentina also captured those. Argentina was captained by the 25-year-old Diego Maradona who played an important part in the success of his team. In the same quarter-final against England, Maradona scored the goal of "Hand of God," as well as another one voted "Goal of the Century." These were two of Maradona's five goals scored during the game and he also produced five more for his teammates. In the final at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City Argentina beat West Germany 3–2. The total final stage attendance was 2,394,031, with Canada, Denmark and Iraq making their first appearances per game on average at 46,039. The competition format changed as from 1982. The final pair of matches in each group started simultaneously, and the second round was played on a knock-out basis rather than on groups. The 24 teams that had qualified were split into six groups of four. The top two teams and the top four third-place finishers from the six groups qualified into the knockout stage for the 16 teams. Italy were the defending champions but they were defeated by France in the 16th round. The 1986 World Cup saw the introduction of a phenomenon of audience called the Mexican wave, popularized internationally after it emerged during the tournament. Originally FIFA selected Colombia as host in June 1974. However, on 5 November 1982 the Colombian authorities finally announced that they could not afford to host the World Cup under the conditions set by FIFA due to economic concerns. Mexico was chosen as the replacement hosts on May 20, 1983, holding off the bids from Canada and the U.S., and thereby becoming the first country to host two World Cups. This second Mexico World Cup stepped up 16 years after the first one in 1970. In September 1985, eight months before the tournament, a major earthquake raised questions about Mexico's capacity to manage the game, but the stadiums were not damaged, and the plans agreed to proceed. Denmark stormed with a 100 per cent record in category E, nicknamed the death squad. In their first game, they beat Scotland 1–0 and then hammered Uruguay 6–1 to a hat-trick by Preben Elkjær Larsen. Denmark defeated one of the championship favourites, West Germany, 2–0 with a penalty from Jesper Olsen and a goal from John Eriksen Scotland took the lead against West Germany after losing to Denmark thanks to a goal from Gordon Strachan but the West Germans came back to win 2–1. The Scots have been eliminated from the competition after a tense 0–0 draw against Uruguay. During that contest, Uruguay's José Batista was sent off for a foul on Strachan after less than a minute of play, a record that still stands. After a loss in Denmark, West Germany pushed through to second round. After holding both Poland and England to goalless draws, Morocco overtook Group F and defeated Portugal 3–1.
1990 FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup of 1990 was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football competition. It was held from 8 June until 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams from 116 national football associations entered, and the qualification started in April 1988. Through this process, twenty-two teams emerged along with host nation Italy and defending champions Argentina. West Germany won the tournament, which is their third World Cup title. They beat Argentina 1–0 at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, a repeat in the previous final four years ago. Italy finished third and England finished fourth despite both losing their semi-finals in penalty shoots. It was the last tournament that featured a West Germany team, with the country reunified with East Germany a few months later in October, as well as Eastern Bloc teams before the end of the Cold War in 1991, when the Soviet Union, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia teams made their appearances. The first Final appearances were made by Costa Rica, Ireland and the UAE. It was the last time since 2018 that the UAE has qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals. Adidas Etrusco Unico was official ball for the match. As for the football, the 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the worst World Cups. This resulted in an average of 2.2 goals per game – a record low that is still standing – and 16 red cards including the first ever final dismissal. Considered to be the World Cup that undoubtedly had the most lasting effect on the game as a whole, it saw the Fair Play Flag pre-match being introduced to encourage fair play. Defensive tactics led to the introduction of the backpass rule in 1992 and to three points instead of two for a victory in the forthcoming World Cups. In addition to what has become the soundtrack of the World Cup, the tournament has produced some of the World Cup's best-remembered moments and stories including the emergence of African nations: "Nessun dorma" The 1990 World Cup ranks among the most watched events in the history of television, garnering an estimated 26.69 billion non-unique viewers over the duration of the tournament. This was the first World Cup to be officially filmed and broadcast by Italian broadcaster RAI in HDTV in cooperation with Japan's NHK. The immense success of the broadcast model has also had a profound impact on the sport. At the time, it was the most watched World Cup in history in non-unique viewers but it was improved by the 1994 and 2002 World Cups. In 1990 twelve stadiums in twelve cities were chosen to host World Cup matches. Bari's San Nicola Stadium and Turin's Stadio delle Alpi have become brand new stadiums set up for World Cup. Just two of the twelve stadia used for the 1934 FIFA World Cup had been used. FIFA also found the seeds a secondary consideration dependent on the nations 'participation in the 1986 World Cup with World Cup 1982 in particular. Six of the final eight in 1986 had qualified for the tournament in 1990, with Mexico and France absent. Italy – first seeded as hosts – had not reached the final eight in 1986, leaving FIFA in need of eliminating one of the three quarter-finals excluded in 1986: Brazil, England or Spain. Cameroon had reached the quarter-finals where they were narrowly defeated by England. They ended the tournament with a surprise victory over the defending champions of Argentina, before leading the group ahead of them, Romania's Soviet Union runners-up and the European Championship. The success was shot by the goals of Roger Milla, a 38-year-old forward who came out of international retirement to join the national squad at the last minute following a personal appeal from Cameroonian president Paul Biya.
1998 FIFA World Cup
In 1998 the FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the unofficial championship of the men's national football teams association. It was held in France from 10 June until 12 July 1998. For the second time in the history of the competition FIFA named the country as the host nation, defeating Morocco in the bidding process. This was the second time France hosted the exhibition, and the seventh time it was held in Europe. It was the first World Cup held under the leadership of Sepp Blatter. The final qualifying began in March 1996, and finished in November 1997. The group stage was extended for the first time in the tournament from 24 teams to 32, with eight groupings of four. 64 matches were played at Stade de France, Saint-Denis, in 10 stadiums in 10 host cities, with the opening match and the final game. France's World Cup hosting plan concentrated on an 80,000-seat national stadium and nine other stadiums spread throughout the world. When the finals were first contested in July 1992, neither of the national club grounds were able to meet FIFA's requirements – that is, being able to comfortably seat 40,000. The proposed national stadium, colloquially referred to as the 'Grand Stadium,' encountered uncertainty at every planning stage; politics, economy and cultural importance determined the stadium's location. As Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac succeeded in striking a agreement with Prime Minister Édouard Balladur to bring the Stade de France to the municipality of Saint-Denis just north of the capital, as it is called today. Construction on the stadium began in December 1995, and was completed after 26 months of construction in November 1997 at a cost of about 2.67 billion. In particular, 10 stadiums were used for the finals; in addition to nine matches being played at the Stade de France, an further six matches were held at the Parc des Princes in Paris Saint-Germain, bringing the cumulative number of matches contested in Paris to 15. France played for four of their seven matches at the national stadium; they also participated in the second and third largest cities in the world, Marseille and Lyon, as well as a round of 16 knockout matches in northern city Lens. Nantes, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier, and Saint-Etienne each played a total of 6 matches; all the used stadiums have played second stage matches. This was the first World Cup in which fourth officers used electronic displays, not carton. The knockout stage consisted of the 16 teams that were advancing from the group stage of the competition. In the knockout round, every draw at 90 minutes was followed by 30 minutes of extra time for each team; if scores were still level there was a penalty shoot-out to determine who went on to the next round. If during extra time a team wins, the golden goal comes into play, becoming the winner that ends the game. The final was played on the 12th of July 1998 at Stade de France, Saint-Denis. France defeated Brazil 3–0 champions, with two goals from Zinedine Zidane and a stop-off time shot from Emmanuel Petit. The triumph secured France their first World Cup trophy, becoming the sixth national team after Uruguay, Italy, England, West Germany and Argentina to bring the tournament to their home soil. We have suffered the second-heaviest defeat to Brazil in the World Cup, only to be overtaken by Germany's 7–1 demolition to Brazil in the semi-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The pre-match build-up was dominated by the exclusion from the start line-up by Brazilian striker Ronaldo, only to be recalled 45 minutes before kick-off.
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th edition of FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. This was funded by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994 at nine locations around the country. On 4 July 1988 FIFA chose the United States as host. Given the absence of soccer heritage in the host nation, the event was the most commercially lucrative in World Cup history; helped by the high-capacity stadiums in the U.S., it broke the average World Cup attendance record of over 69,000 fans per game, a figure that still holds. Despite the subsequent widening of the competition from 24 to 32 teams, which was first introduced at the 1998 World Cup and is the latest format, the overall attendance of about 3.6 million for the final tournament remains the highest in the WC's history. Brazil won the tournament after the game ended 0–0 after beating Italy 3–2 in a penalty shoot- Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California close to Los Angeles, after some extra time. This was the first to be finalised in the World Cup finals on penalties. The achievement made Brazil the first nation to claim four World Cup titles. The tournament was attended by three new entrants: Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia plus two countries formed at the end of the Cold War: Russia, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, and a newly reunified Germany took part in the tournament for the first time since 1938, after the reunification of that country in October 1990, which took place a few months after the victory of West Ge In the midst of the dispute, the U.S. hosted a highly popular match with a total attendance of nearly 70,000 setting a record that surpassed the maximum FIFA World Cup attendance of 51,000 in 1966, due to the large seating capacity provided to the fans by the U.S. stadiums compared to the smaller grounds in Europe and Latin America. Until this day, after the extension of the competition from 24 until 32 nations at the 1998 World Cup in France, the overall attendance of almost 3.6 million for the final game remains the largest in the history of the World Cup. On 19 December 1993 in Las Vegas Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and the United States were seeded for final draw. The format of the contest remained the same as in 1990 World Cup: 24 qualified teams, divided into six groups of four. The six group champions will qualify for the knockout phase, the six group runners-up and the four third-placed teams with the best records. Because of the 1998 expansion of the final tournament to 32 teams, this was the last time this format was used. This World Cup was the first to earn three points, instead of two, for a win. Following many teams 'defensive display at Italia' 90, FIFA launched this feature to encourage a soccer attack. The tournament saw the end of Diego Maradona's World Cup career, having participated in the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups, leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title and the 1990 World Cup final. Maradona was suspended after he failed a drug check that contained ephedrine in his saliva, a weight losing drug. Colombia has failed to make it from the round robin, raising high expectations because of its style and excellent qualifying campaign. The team was reportedly dogged by pressure from betting syndicates and drug cartels, with coach Francisco Maturana receiving death threats over selection of squads. Defender Andrés Escobar was a tragic figure of this tournament as he scored his own goal in the group stage game against the United States which eliminated his team. Just 10 days later, Escobar was shot to death outside a pub in a suburb of Medellín, seemingly in retaliation for his own goal. The opening ceremony of the World Cup took place on 17 June at the Chicago Soldier Field.
2002 FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup 2002 was the 17th FIFA World Cup, organized by FIFA, the men's national football association teams 'quadrennial world championship. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at locations in South Korea and Japan, with Japan hosting the final match at Yokohama International Stadion. For this World Cup, which was the first to be held in Asia, the first to be held outside the Americas or Europe, a field of 32 teams participated and the first to be hosted jointly by more than one nation. Ukraine, Cameroon, Senegal and Slovenia made world cup debuts. The tournament saw some upsets and surprising outcomes, including eliminating the defending champions of France in the group stage after winning a single point and also dropping the second favorites of Argentina in the group stage. South Korea managed to make the semi-finals, beating Spain, Italy and Portugal on the way, becoming the first country to reach the last four World Cups from outside Europe and the Americas. Yet the most dominant team of the competition, Brazil, has won, winning the final against Germany 2–0, rendering them the first and only country to lift the World Cup five times. The victory qualified Brazil in one row for the Confederations Cups of 2003 and later 2005, with its fourth and fifth appearance in the Confederations Cup. Turkey won 3–2 in the third-play-off match against South Korea, coming third in just its second ever FIFA World Cup and scoring the fastest goal in FIFA World Cup history. The 2002 World Cup has also been the last to take advantage of the law of golden goals. South Korea and Japan both received 10 venues, most of which were newly built for the tournament. Groups A – D played all their matches in South Korea, while group E – H played all their matches in Japan. The Stadiums Daegu, Suwon, Yokohama, and Saitama all played four matches each, while the other 16 stadiums played three matches each. Notably, there were no matches played in Osaka, making it the city of the second host nation not to have a World Cup venue. The semi-finals saw two 1–0 games; Michael Ballack, the first semi-final, played in Seoul, had a respectable goal enough for Germany to defeat South Korea. However, Ballack had already received a yellow card during the previous match which caused him to miss the final based on accumulated yellow cards. Ronaldo scored a goal in Saitama early in the second half of the next day, scoring his sixth of the competition for Brazil, which beat Turkey in a replay of their Group C meeting. Two goals by Ronaldo sealed the World Cup for Brazil when they claimed victory over Germany in the final match played in Yokohama, Japan. Ronaldo scored twice in the second half and after the game won the Golden Shoe Trophy for the tournament's highest scorer, with eight goals. It was the fifth World Cup win for Brazil, cementing its status as the most successful national team in the history of the tournament. Brazil became the first team to lift the trophy since Argentina in 1986, without having to face a penalty shoot-out at any point during the knock-out phase and the total number of penalty shoot-outs was the lowest since the four-round knockout system was introduced in 1986. Brazil also became the first team to win every game in the World Cup Finals since 1970 and set a new record for a World Cup winner with the highest overall difference in goal. Brazil's captain Cafu, who became the first player to appear in three successive World Cup finals, has won the award on behalf of the country.
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the international football community's quadrennial world championship competition. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which gained the right to host the festival in July 2000. Teams from 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process, which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams have qualified from this cycle along with host nation Germany for the final tournament. It was the second time Germany hosted the exhibition, the first as a single country and the tenth time it was held in Europe. Italy won the tournament and clinched its fourth World Cup title. We defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out in the final, having ended up in a 1–1 draw after extra time. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to come in sixth. Angola, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Trinidad and Tobago and Togo made their first appearances in the final. This was also the first appearance under the name of Serbia and Montenegro, although they had appeared as Yugoslavia in 1998 earlier. Montenegro voted in a referendum at the end of May 2006, just before the tournament, to become a independent country and to sever the then-existing loose confederacy between it and Serbia, with Serbia acknowledging the result of the referendum early in June. Owing to time constraints, FIFA saw Serbia and Montenegro play as one team in the World Cup tournament, marking the first instance of many independent nations that have competed as one team in a global football competition since UEFA Euro 1992. The 2006 World Cup ranks among the most watched events in television history, attracting an unprecedented 26.29 billion seen times obtained during the tournament. The final reached an audience of overwhelming 715.1 million people. In 2006 Germany had a plethora of football stadiums that had exceeded FIFA's total capacity of 40,000 seats for World Cup matches. The venue for the final match in 1974, the still-standing Munich Olympiastadion, was not chosen for the tournament, since the rules of FIFA require one town to use two stadiums. The LTU Arena in Düsseldorf, the Weserstadion in Bremen and the Borussia-Park at Mönchengladbach are not even included. Twelve stadia have been picked to host World Cup matches. Many of them were known by specific names during the match, since FIFA bans the sponsorship of the stadium unless the owners of the stadium are also registered FIFA owners. For example, the Allianz Arena in Munich was known as FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich, and even letters from the Allianz corporation were missing or obscured prior to the match. Several of the stadiums have have a reduced capacity for the World Cup, as FIFA regulations forbid standing rooms; however, this was accommodated because certain stadiums have a UEFA score of five stars. The stadiums hosted six matches each in Berlin, Munich, Dortmund, and Stuttgart, while five matches each hosted the other eight stadia. Final tournament of the World Cup 2006 concluded on 9 June. The 32 teams were split into eight groups of four teams each, in which the teams took part in a round-robin tournament to determine the two of those four teams would progress to the 16-team knock-out stage that started June 24. A total of 64 games were played. Even though Germany struggled to win the Cup, Germany considers the tournament to be a big success overall. Germany has seen a dramatic increase in the national spirit of flag movements which have traditionally been frowned upon by German society since World War II, when the German team played. The eight seeded teams were invited to the 2006 tournament on 6 December 2005. In the draw the seeds used Pot A. Pot B included the unseeded qualifiers for Latin America, Asia and Oceania; Pot C contained eight of the remaining nine European countries, except for Serbia and Montenegro. Pot D contained unseeded teams from both the CONCACAF region and from Asia. Serbia and Montenegro were included in a different pot: this was done to ensure three European teams were not represented in the group. In the special pool Serbia and Montenegro were first drawn, then their division was drawn from the three seeded non-European nations, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
1970 FIFA World Cup
The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th FIFA World Cup for men's national teams, the quadrennial world football competition. Played in Mexico from May 31 to June 21, it was North America's first World Cup tournament and the first to be played in Europe and South America. Teams from 75 nations from all six inhabited continents joined the race, and in May 1968 its qualification rounds began. Fourteen teams emerged from this phase in the 16-team final tournament to join host nation Mexico and defending champions England. In the final stage El Salvador, Israel and Morocco made their first appearances. Brazil won the tournament, and beat another two-time world champion, Italy, in the Mexico City final 4–1. The victory won Brazil its third World Cup title and allowed them to retain the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently, and in 1974 a new trophy was launched. The winning side, led by Carlos Alberto and featuring players like Pelé, Gérson, Jairzinho, Rivellino, and Tostão, is frequently cited as the World Cup's best team ever. They continued to maintain a flawless record of victories in all six finals games as well as winning all their qualification fixtures. England were the defending champions who were knocked out of the tournament following a 2–3 defeat in the quarter-final to West Germany. Given the altitude and high temperature problems, the finals have consistently produced football assaults that have established an average goals per game record that has not been surpassed by any subsequent World Cup finals since. With the developments of satellite technology, the 1970 Finals attracted a new FIFA World Cup record-breaking viewing audience when games were televised all around the world and, of a few cases, in colour-the first time that that was the case. Contrary to popular opinion, although a limited percentage of spectators worldwide viewed the tournament on colour TV and colour images and photos have since been commonly shared of common tournament depictions, the bulk of people viewing the tournament have done so in black and white. A total of 75 nations have reached the 1970 FIFA World Cup, and 73 have had to qualify. 68 teams ultimately played in the qualification stages due to withdrawn submissions and withdrawals, including eight first time. Automatic qualification was given to Mexico as the host nation and England as defending World Cup winners, with the remaining 14 final places split among the continental confederations. All four of the semi-finalists were past world champions, with the line-up guaranteeing a European-South American finale. In the all-South American game, controversially moved from the capital to Guadalajara's lower altitude, Brazil returned from behind to beat Uruguay 3–1 and won the right to qualify for their fourth World Cup Final. In the final 15 minutes, two Brazilian goals determined a match which had been closely balanced up until that point. The all-European encounter between Italy and West Germany created a match that many considered as one of the best World Cup games ever. Having lead by Roberto Boninsegna's strike from the eighth minute, Italy was caught in injury when Karl-Heinz Schnellinger sweeper scored his only international goal. When the score swung between the two teams, the extra time brought five more goals before Gianni Rivera gave the Azzurri a convincing 4–3 advantage. The match later became known as the "Game of the Century," and today it is commemorated with a memorial at the Estadio Azteca. West Germany managed to beat Uruguay 1–0 in the battle for third place. Brazil opened the scoring in the final when Pelé headed in a Rivellino cross in the 18th minute but after a series of blunders in the Brazilian defence Roberto Boninsegna equalised for Italy. The match remained until the 66th minute when a powerful shot by Gérson regained the lead for the Brazilians.