FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament that was organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). This tournament is held every 4 years with the participation of all national football teams of FIFA member countries. The first tournament was held in 1930, and it was interrupted twice in 1942 and 1946 due to the Second World War. It is an important part of world football history.

The birth of the world cup tournament

A group of French football managers, headed by Jules Rimet, had the idea of bringing together the strongest teams of nations in a football league to compete in the world championship in 1920.

World Cup is the biggest football festival on the planet. Source: https://thevang.live/

In 1928, the regular implementation of the World Football Championship was approved by the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam. In fact, the official name of the World Cup  has been changed several times. At first it was called “World Cup” (Coupe du monde), then it was renamed “Cup Jules Rimet” (name of former FIFA president), then “World Cup – Cup Jules Rimet “. Finally, it was officially named the FIFA World Cup.

The first tournament was officially held in Uruguay in 1930 with the participation of 13 teams, and the first gold cup named “Jules Rimet” was owned by the home team- Uruguay.

Brief the history of the world cup football tournament

With the rules of the current tournament, 32 best teams will be able to participate in the final round (since 1998). Qualifying rounds were held during the previous 3 years to determine which teams were entitled to play final rounds with the host country. It is possible that world Cup is a sporting event that attracts the most attention worldwide.

Over 20 times (as of 2014), there are 8 countries won the tournament. Brazil is the only team to attend all 20 finalists, and currently Brazil also keeps a record of 5 times the championship; followed by Italy and Germany with 4 times winning the cup of the world cup tournament. Uruguay (the first champion team) and Argentina also have 2 championships. Finally, England, France, and Spain are all countries that once owned this noble title. Nowadays, France is currently the reigning world champion after defeating the Croatian team with the score 2-1 in the final of the 2018 World Cup.

According to the latest news, FIFA has accepted to increase the number of teams to the final round to 48; this decision takes effect from the 2026 World Cup onwards. This is the first time since 1998, FIFA increased the number of teams participating in the World Cup.

Cup

From 1970 and earlier, the world championship team was awarded the “gold cup” which in official FIFA documents called “art items”. it is known as a small figurine of “Nike Goddess of victory” (in Greek mythology) which is commonly referred to in the football world as the “Golden Goddess”. According to FIFA orders, this statue was completed in 1928 by a jeweler in Paris named Abel Lafleur. Especially, this statue is cast in real gold, weighing 1.8kg (with a granite base weighing around 4kg). The value of the statue is around $ 10,000.

Before the 1970s, according to the rules of the tournament, FIFA will award the cup to the national football federation of the country whose team won the world cup tournament. After that, they had to return the cup to FIFA before FIFA held the next World Cup final rounds.

In 1970, after three championships, as stipulated in the charter, the Brazilian team was awarded the “Golden Goddess” permanently. After that, FIFA made the new cup named ‘the FIFA World Cup’. This cup is a rotating-cup, no team can hold it permanently. The winning teams will be awarded the miniature version cup as a souvenir. In addition, the champion will hold the official cup during the time between the two World Cup leagues.

The new cup was cast in real gold and it is composed by Italian artist, Silvio Gazzaniga. This cup has a height of 36.5cm, weighs 6,175kg; Its value is 20,000 USD. This cup is cast by Stabilimento Artistico Bertoni-the goldsmith  in Milano city. The cup has a picture of two young men with four arms raised to support the Earth. Nowaday, the metal part of the cup is 4.9 kg, it is made of 18 carat solid gold and has 2 layers of malachite stone.

The cup has a picture of two young men with four arms raised to support the Earth.

Fifa World Cup records and statistics

In the world cup league, the German team played the most matches with 106 matches meanwhile the Brazilian team won the most matches. 2nd in the list of teams that have played the most in the world cup, the Brazilian team played a total of 104 matches. Germany is the team that scored the most goals with 224 goals, followed by Brazil with 220 goals. These two teams met for the first time in the final of 2002 with the victory for the Brazilian team (it was four-one to Russia).

The two players participated in the World Cup final rounds the most were Antonio Carbajal – Mexican player, and former German captain-Lothar Matthäus. Both players participate 5 times. Especially, Matthäus is also the most-played player with a total of 25 appearances. Today, Matthaus is a coach, Antonio Carbajal has retired.

On the other hand, the most goalscorer in the World Cup tournament was the German player named Miroslav Klose. He scored 16 times in 4 world cup periods. Currently, he has retired; followed by Ronaldo, Brazilian player, with 2nd place. 3rd place belongs to Gerd Müller-a German player the same as Miroslav Klose Gerd Müller, his achievement is 14 goals in the world cup league. The French legend, Just Fontaine, came in fourth place with a record of 13 goals at the 1958 world cup tournament; He is also the record holder for the number of goals scored in a World Cup season.

Miroslav Klose is the most goalscorer in the World Cup tournament.

Miroslav Klose is also the player who gets the most World Cup medal (1 gold medal, 1 silver medal, 2 bronze medals). He is not only the only player to have all kinds of medals, but also the only player to have the medal in every World Cup he participates in. It is said that he was the pride of German football

Another interesting thing is Mário Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer are both World Cup winners as players and coaches. Zagallo won the World Cup league in 1958 and 1962 as a Brazilian player; he won as a coach in 1970. Another, Beckenbauer won the tournament in 1974 when he was captain of the West German team and he won the World Cup tournament in 1974 as a coach. Mr. Vittorio Pozzo, the Italy coach, is the only person who has won the World Cup tournament twice as a coach.

There are 173,830 audiences at the Maracana stadium in the 1950 World Cup final between Brazil and Uruguay. Breaking this record is impossible.

In conclusion, there is no denying that the World Cup is the biggest football festival on the planet. It inspires all ages around the world. Another, the World Cup is also an opportunity for countries to promote their image into the world.