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How it all started
Before the World Cup was inaugurated, the football tournament arranged as part of the Summer Olympics was given the most prestige. But in the 1920s, the game was facing a transition to the professionalism that wasn't consistent with the Olympic spirit. Therefore, the government body, FIFA, made plans to organize a World Cup. The decision of arranging the first edition was officially declared on May 26, 1928. -
First ever World Cup
The first competition for the cup was organized in 1930 by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and was won by Uruguay who also hosted the competition. At the time of the event, an economic depression took place in Europe. The travel expenses hindered some teams and many of the European players were reluctant to leave their countries on a long trip, afraid that they would lose their jobs – this was long before it became normal with football players playing for a living. -
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1934 World Cup
Uruguay was hand directly qualified but declined to participate in protest due to the fact many European teams refrained from travel to South America four years ago when Uruguay had been the World Cup host. Great Britain wasn't represented by any team since they had decided not to join FIFA. -
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1938 World Cup
Was hosted by France. Again this year only 16 teams competed. Two World Cups in a row was held in Europe which angered South America that had expected the tournament to be played in their continent every second time. This led to a boycott from Argentina and Uruguay. The World Cup was dominated by European nations, 13 of 16 teams were European. Indonesia which also became the first Asian team to participate in the World Cup. Italy won for the second time in a row. -
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Competition Cancelled
Because of the Second World War, no World Cup were arranged neither 1942 nor 1948. In 1946 the decision was taken to arrange a new World Cup that would take place in Brazil, far from war-torn Europe but it was not officially recognized by Fifa. This match is deemed by many South Americans as the unofficial World Cup final. -
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1950 World Cup
Due to the actions in the war, both Germany and Japan were banned from the tournament. Due to political reasons, the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia refrained from participating. Argentina, France, and India would withdraw for other reasons -
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1954 World Cup
The 1954 FIFA World Cup was hosted by Switzerland. Scotland, South Korea, and Turkey all had managed to qualify for the World Cup final for the first time. Germany that had been forbidden to participate in the previous World Cup due to the actions in World War II were welcomed back into the World Cup -
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1958 World Cup
This was the first time in World Cup history, all the British nations would be qualified. 17 old Péle would be the youngest ever in a World Cup final and made history as one of the greatest players in the world. Which he lead the team to victory. -
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1962 World Cup
The match was hosted by Chile but originally it was supposed to be hosted by Argentina but it had political instability. Brazil won the tournament for the second time in a row -
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1966 World Cup
Africa was still not considered ''worthy'' to earn full membership in the greatest sport on earth. An increased amount of African nations had become members of FIFA, but the Confederation of African Football wasn't permitted a guaranteed place in the final tournament. Upset by the treatment, all African teams would react with a complete boycott. England won the first time. -
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1970 World Cup
hosted by Mexico, was the first time the tournament wasn't played in Europe or South America. The FIFA World Cup 1970 was the first World Cup ever broadcast on television in color. It was also the first World Cup with an officially sponsored ball. (Adidas) Brazil won for the third time in a row which kept the Jules Rimet Trophy forever. -
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1974 World Cup
The World Cup was hosted by West Germany. Australia, East Germany, Haiti, and Zaire participated for the first time. All matches and accommodations of the teams were highly guarded because of the horrific Munich massacre two years earlier in the Summer Olympics when terrorists killing eleventh athletics. The Netherlands won the competition. -
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1978 World Cup
This competition was hosted by Argentina. Tunisia’s victory over Mexico would mark the first time an African team won a match in a FIFA World Cup final. Though Argentina won the World cup, Argentina's triumph against Peru was involved with dirty tricks by the Argentinean political dictatorship led by Jorge Videla that held power at that time. -
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1982 World Cup
Spain hosted the World Cup. Italy won the competition. Many African teams were mad that more countries were able to participate but theirs -
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1986 World Cup
The matches were hosted by Mexico. The 13th World Cup was actually planned to be arranged in Columbia, but a country in economic crises decided to back out of the large arrangement. Argentina won the 1986 World Cup -
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1990 World Cup
Hosted by Italy, the Soviet Union was the only other candidate (after England and Greece had withdrawn) when Italy in 1984 was chosen to be World Cup host for the second time. West Germany won the 1990 World Cup. -
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1994 World Cup
For the first time, the United States hosted the 1994 World Cup. Greece, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia had succeeded in qualifying for the first time. Brazil won the World Cup which was the first time any final has been won by penalty shoot outs. -
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1998 World Cup
The world Cup was hosted by the French States and won the competition. After being blacklisted under a long period for the apartheid, South Africa made their first appearance in FIFA World Cup. Due to the Balkan War Yugoslavia had been banned from several competitions. Croatia played for the first time since their independence. It was Jamaica's first time being qualified for the final tournament. -
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2002 World Cup
The World Cup was hosted by South Korea and Japan. For the first time the World Cup tournament was held in Asia and for the first time was the hostship shared by two nations. China, Ecuador, Senegal, and Slovenia entered the tournament for the first time.v France beat Brazil in the final. -
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2006 World Cup
Hosted by Germany, there was a huge growth in new participating countries. Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Serbia, and Montenegro would all do their first World Cup appearances. The biggest scandal ever in Italian football, ''Calcipoli'', concerning match-fixing, had exploded in the football world and many players in the Italian team were in some way affected by it. -
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2010 World Cup
The World Cup was hosted by South Africa. It was the first time ever that the tournament was played in Africa. Morocco had been rather close to being the host in 1994. Slovakia and Serbia would make their first debut in the tournament. With extra time Spain won the final -
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2014 World Cup
For the second time, Brazil Hosted the Worl Cup. The enormous sums involved in constructing and rebuilding football stadiums for the event caused protests which escalated in wild street demonstrations. The cost for the rebuilding of the Maracana Stadium was €335 million. -
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2018 World Cup
The FIFA World Cup was held in Russia for the first time. Iceland and Panama managed to qualify for the first time. While technology was advancing it was the first time that the decisions of the referee could be changed after reviewing the situation by the use of video footage. With the Prize money of 400 million France won the tournament. In total, the 2018 FIFA World cup funds will accumulate to $791 million.