The World Cup is divided into two parts: the qualifying match and the last week. Qualifying matches will be held three years before the last week to decide which teams can enter the last week. At present, 32 teams can enter the last week, and each team will compete for the championship in the host country for one month. World Cup Final Week is the most popular event in the world. About 765,438+05 million people watched the 2006 World Cup finals.
In the eighteen competitions held today, seven countries or places won the championship. Brazil is the only team that entered the final weeks of the 18 season and won the championship five times. Italy, the current world champion, has won the championship four times, second only to Brazil. Then Germany won the championship three times (including the West Germany period). Uruguay and Argentina won the championship twice respectively. Britain and France each won a championship in their own project.
The last World Cup was held in South Africa, which opened in June 1 1 and closed in July1/. 20 14 will be held by five-time champion Brazil.
Early international competition
The first international football match in the world was the match between Scotland and England in Glasgow, Scotland in 1872 [4], and the first international football match was the British home championship in 1884. During this period, there was almost no such movement outside Britain. /kloc-from the 9th century to the 20th century, football became more and more popular all over the world, and the Olympic Games also introduced football matches, which were listed as performance events in 1900, 1904 and intermission games (no champion medals); From 65438 to 0908, football became the official event of the Olympic Games. Under the plan of the Football Association of England (FA), this event is only for amateurs, and the competition focuses on performance rather than competition. The English amateur football team representing Britain won the Olympic champion with the scores of 1908 and 19 12.
After the establishment of FIFA 1904, it tried to break away from the Olympic framework and held an international football match in Switzerland in 1906. This is the first attempt of international football, and according to the official history of FIFA, this game is a failure.
Sir Thomas Lipton held the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in Turin on 1909, because the Olympic Games is still limited to amateur teams and athletes. The tournament is attended by clubs from different countries, and each club is a representative of its own country. This game is sometimes considered as the first World Cup. Italy, Germany and Switzerland all sent local top clubs to participate, but the English Football Association refused to participate and refused to send professional clubs to participate. Nathan invited Durham county amateur team West Oakland Football Club to represent England. As a result, West Oakland won the championship successfully, and successfully defended the championship with 19 1 1, and won the championship trophy that can be preserved forever, which is also the first precedent of the trophy preservation system.
19 14, FIFA decided to designate the Olympic football match as the amateur world football championship, and was responsible for managing the match. This paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football match (1920 Summer Olympic Football Match). 13 the European national team and Egypt participated in this controversial game, and finally the host Belgium won without a fight. Subsequent Olympic champions of 1924 and 1928 were won by Uruguay. 1928, FIFA decided to set up its own international events outside the framework of the Olympic Games. At that time, Uruguay won the official football championship twice in a row (FIFA's career began in 1924) and will celebrate the centenary of its independence in 1930. FIFA decided to award Uruguay the right to host the World Cup.
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The early World Cup was blocked by traffic inconvenience and war. Only a few South American countries are willing to go to Europe to participate in the World Cups of 1934 and 1938, among which Brazil is the only South American national team to participate in these two events. 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled due to World War II.
For the first time, Britain sent representatives to the 1950 World Cup. British teams quit FIFA in 1920, on the one hand, because they were unwilling to compete with their war rivals, and on the other hand, because they thought football was only a British sport, but they joined FIFA again at the invitation of 1946. This tournament is Uruguay's second champion after the 1930 World Cup. Uruguay boycotted the previous two World Cups. In this World Cup final, they beat Brazil 2:/kloc-0: and won the championship trophy again. The classic final between Uruguay and Brazil was later called "Maracanazo".
1934 to 1978 World Cup, 16 teams advanced to the final week; Except Austria in 1938, the team was annexed by Nazi Germany after entering the finals, making only fifteen teams participate in the finals week; India, Scotland and Turkey with 1950 withdrew one after another, leaving only 13 teams to participate. Most of the participating national teams are from Europe and South America, and a few are from North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Until 1982, only the following non-European and South American teams broke through the first lap: the United States entered the semi-finals at 1930; Cuba 1938 entered the semi-finals; 1966 North Korea unexpectedly entered the quarter-finals; Mexico also entered the quarter-finals with 1970.
Since the 1982 World Cup, the number of teams participating in the finals week has increased to 24, and since the 1998 World Cup, it has expanded to 32, increasing the opportunities for teams from Africa, Asia and North America to participate in the finals week. The only exception is Oceania, where no team has ever won a full final week ticket. In recent years, teams from these continents have performed better than before. Many teams have been in the semi-finals, Mexico 1986, Cameroon 1990, Senegal and the United States and South Korea in 2002 won the fourth place. However, teams from Europe and South America have always been better. Take the 2006 World Cup as an example. All the teams that entered the semi-finals came from these two continents, while the teams that entered the semi-finals came from Western Europe.
In addition, * * * 198 national and regional teams competed for seats in the last week of the 2006 world cup, and the 20 10 world cup even broke the previous record-204 teams participated in the qualifiers.