Home › Tournaments › World Cup

The history of FIFA World Cup

There is nothing in football that can compare with the World Cup. Even though the UEFA Champions League may produce games of the same quality, it can’t overreach the status earned from the long tradition and the fact that one team represent a whole country. No other sport event can compete in significance: the latest FIFA World Cup reached over three billion television viewers worldwide and one billion watched the final.

FIFA World Cup 2022
A guide with dates, groups, fixtures, cities and venues. Plus other key facts about the 2022 tournament.

Background

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 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.

All World Cup tournaments

The first official World Cup was played in Uruguay 1930, and since when the tournament has been held every fourth year (with exceptions for interruption due to the Second World War). There were, however, unofficial pre-FIFA World Cups already in the late 1800s, in a time when only few national teams existed. Another unofficial “world cup” arranged before 1930 was Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy held in 1909 and 1911. Besides that, the Summer Olympic football competitions would be a mark of which the best national teams were before 1930. The Olympic tournaments consisted, however, only of amateur teams – the World Cup became the “real deal”.

Teams with most titles and finals

Statistics of all national teams that have won or played a final together with numbers of participation in World Cup, concerning the period 1930-2018.

Table 1. Most successful national teams in FIFA World Cup

Team
Titles
Finals
Participation

Brazil
5
7
21

Germany
4
8
19

Italy
4
6
18

Argentina
2
5
17

France
2
3
15

Uruguay
2
2
13

England
1
1
15

Spain
1
1
15

Netherlands
0
3
10

Hungary
0
2
9

Czechoslovakia
0
2
8

Sweden
0
1
12

Croatia
0
1
5

World Cup finals

All finals including winners of World Cup tournaments 1930-2018.

Table 2. Finals and results

Year
Home team*
Away team*
Result

1930
Uruguay
Argentina
4-2

1934
Italy
Czechoslovakia
2-1 (a.e.t)

1938
Hungary
Italy
2-4

1950†
Uruguay
Brazil
2-1

1954
West Germany
Hungary
3-2

1958
Brazil
Sweden
5-2

1962
Brazil
Czechoslovakia
3-1

1966
England
West Germany
4-2 (a.e.t.)

1970
Brazil
Italy
4-1

1974
Netherlands
West Germany
1-2

1978
Netherlands
Argentina
1-3 (a.e.t.)

1982
Italy
West Germany
3-1

1986
Argentina
West Germany
3-2

1990
West Germany
Argentina
1-0

1994
Brazil
Italy
3-2 (pen.)

1998
Brazil
France
0-3

2002
Germany
Brazil
0-2

2006
Italy
France
6-4 (pen.)

2010
Netherlands
Spain
0-1 (a.e.t.)

2014
Germany
Argentina
1-0 (a.e.t.)

2018
France
Croatia
4-2

The home advantage

One noticeable aspect in the World Cup history is that the home team has been over performing. On six occasions have the home team won the competition. Besides, many teams that normally doesn’t compete with the greatest teams have gone far in the tournament then playing on home ground. For example, Sweden in 1958, reaching the final, and South Korea in 2006, reaching the semi-finals.

Advertisement

Top goalscorers

These players have made most goals in a single World Cup.

Table 3. Most successful goal scorers in a single tournament

Player
Goals
Team
Year

Just Fontaine
13
France
1958

Sándor Kocsis
11
Hungary
1954

Gerd Müller
10
West Germany
1970

Eusébio
9
Portugal
1966

Guillermo Stábile
8
Argentina
1930

Ademir
8
Brazil
1950

Ronaldo
8
Brazil
2002

Leônidas
7
Brazil
1938

Jairzinho
7
Brazil
1958

Grzegorz Lato
7
Poland
1974

There are many players that have done six goals in one World Cup and these are: Erich Probst (1954), Josef Hügi (1954), Max Morlock (1954), Pelé (1958), Helmut Rahn (1958), Helmut Haller (1966), Mario Kempes (1978), Paolo Rossi (1982), Gary Lineker (1986), Salvatore Schillaci (1990), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), Oleg Salenko (1994), Davor Šuker (1998), James Rodríguez (2014) and Harry Kane (2018).

The five players that have made most goals overall are Ronaldo (18 goals in 4 tournaments), Miroslav Klose (16 goals in 4 tournaments), Gerd Müller (14 goals in 2 tournaments), Just Fontaine (13 goals in 1 tournament) and Péle (12 goals in 4 tournaments).

World Cup awards

In connection to the World Cup, several awards are given to some players. The most known is The Golden Ball that is awarded to the best player in a FIFA World Cup. Candidates are decided by FIFA which media representatives votes on. Besides the Golden Ball there are also the Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball together with the Golden Boot (top goalscorer) and the Golden Glove (best goalkeeper).

World Cup by continents

A performance comparison by continents (World Cup tournaments 1930-2018).

Table 4. Continent versus continent in FIFA World Cup

Continent
Titles
To reach final
To reach semi-finals

Europe
12
28
52

South America
9
14
22

Asia
0
0
1

Central and North America
0
0
0

Africa
0
0
0

Oceania
0
0
0

Numbers of participants and games

Table 5 shows the numbers of participating team in per World Cup tournament. The numbers in the second column concern the final stage and the third column all teams that took part in the qualification. In addition, the numbers of games played (qualification games excluded) is shown in the fourth column.

Table 5. Participating teams from first to last FIFA World Cup tournament

Year
Teams
(finals)
Teams
(qualification)
Games
(finals)

1930
13
no qualification
18

1934
16
32
17

1938
16*
37
18

1950
15†
36
22

1954
16
37
26

1958
16
55
35

1962
16
56
32

1966
16
74
32

1970
16
75
32

1974
16
99
38

1978
16
107
38

1982
24
109
52

1986
24
121
52

1990
24
116
52

1994
24
147
52

1998
32
174
64

2002
32
199
64

2006
32
197
64

2010
32
204
64

2014
32
203
64

2018
32
210
64

Prize money

The prize money for the tournament has increased massively during the years. The total prize money for the FIFA World Cup 2018 was $791 million (the winners received $35 million), which can be compared to $20 million for the FIFA World Cup 1982.

References:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=12/news=2014-fifa-world-cuptm-reached-3-2-billion-viewers-one-billion-watched–2745519.html
http://www.fifa.com/fifa-tournaments/statistics-and-records/worldcup/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/328497/fifa-world-cup-prize-money/