The FIFA World Cup, the well known World Cup, is a national team football competition. The teams who participate are all members of the International Federation of Football (FIFA), the sport’s global governing body.
In 2018, the competition was 88 years old. Until the 2018 tournament in Russia, another 20 fascinating competitions took place with 79 teams in total competing.
The World Cup is the most prestigious association football tournament in the world. It is also the event with the most followers and viewers in the world. The cumulative viewership of all matches of the 2006 World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion. Specifically, the day of the final 715.1 million people were in front of a TV (or in the stadium) to watch the event. The number is truly astronomical if we consider that it is the 1/9 of the entire population of the planet.
17 countries have hosted the National’s team tournament. Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, and Mexico have each hosted twice, while Uruguay, Switzerland, Sweden, Chile, England, Argentina, Spain, the United States, Japan and South Korea (jointly), South Africa, and Russia have each hosted once. Qatar will be the next hosting city in 2022.
Did you know that?
From 1930 to 1970, whichever team won the trophy, took it home and hold it until the next tournament. Until 1946, the trophy’s name was simply “World Cup” or “Coupe du Monde”. After that year the trophy was renamed “Jules Rimet”, after FIFA’s president, who set up the first tournament. Brazil of 1970 is one of the greatest national teams ever to appear in the tournament. They won the World Cup for the third time and so they took the trophy permanently back home. Unfortunately, in 1983 the trophy thieves stole the trophy and none has ever managed to find it.
