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129-487: At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game. The Golden Ball award is presented to the best player at each FIFA World Cup finals, with a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee (Technical Study Group) and the winner voted for by representatives of the media. Those who finish as runners-up in
258-461: A Maniche strike in an acrimonious match , which marked a new World Cup record with 16 yellow cards (Portugal: 9, the Netherlands: 7) and 4 players being sent off for a second bookable offence. France came from behind to defeat Spain 3–1 thanks to goals from Franck Ribéry , Patrick Vieira , and Zinedine Zidane . Germany and Argentina ended 1–1 after extra time; the hosts edged out
387-401: A round-robin tournament in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. This means that a total of six matches are played within a group. The last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within
516-426: A "world football championship for amateurs", and took responsibility for managing the event. This paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football competition for nations, at the 1920 Summer Olympics , contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, and won by Belgium . Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928 . Those were also the first two open world championships, as 1924
645-455: A dozen FIFA officials were made since that time, particularly on 29 May and 3 December. By the end of May 2015, a total of nine FIFA officials and five executives of sports and broadcasting markets had already been charged on corruption. At the time, FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced he would relinquish his position in February 2016. On 4 June 2015, Chuck Blazer while co-operating with
774-481: A draw with Sweden in their opening game and managing to hold England scoreless for 83 minutes, until goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard sealed a 2–0 win for the Three Lions. Sweden qualified for the knockout rounds after drawing 2–2 with England to maintain their 38-year unbeaten record against them. Both Argentina and Netherlands qualified from Group C with a game remaining. Argentina topped
903-470: A form, the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the candidacy. After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to host the event and a report on the country is produced. The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament. There have been occasions where
1032-526: A formula based on the FIFA World Rankings or performances in recent World Cups, and drawn to separate groups. The other teams are assigned to different "pots", usually based on geographical criteria, and teams in each pot are drawn at random to the eight groups. Since 1998 , constraints have been applied to the draw to ensure that no group contains more than two European teams or more than one team from any other confederation. Each group plays
1161-443: A group. Since 1994 , three points have been awarded for a win , one for a draw and none for a loss (before, winners received two points). Considering six matches in a group each with three possible outcomes (win, draw, loss), there are 729 (= 3 ) possible final table outcomes for the 40 possible combinations of the four teams' points. However, 14 of the 40 points combinations (or 207 of the 729 possible outcomes) lead to ties between
1290-431: A major football tournament since UEFA Euro 1992 . Brazil were the defending world champions , but were eliminated by France in the quarter-finals. The 2006 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.29 billion times viewed compiled over the course of the tournament. The final attracted an estimated audience of 715.1 million people. The vote to choose
1419-504: A particularly dark cloud because of the 2015 FIFA corruption case, allegations and criminal charges of bribery, fraud and money laundering to corrupt the issuing of media and marketing rights (rigged bids) for FIFA games, with FIFA officials accused of taking bribes totaling more than $ 150 million over 24 years. In late May, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a 47-count indictment with charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy against 14 people. Arrests of over
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#17328021033821548-620: A pattern of alternating the hosts between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 1998 FIFA World Cup . The 2002 FIFA World Cup , hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, was the first one held in Asia, and the first tournament with multiple hosts. South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010 . The 2014 FIFA World Cup was hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America since Argentina 1978 , and
1677-493: A payment by a company of German media mogul Leo Kirch , who also paid millions for usually worthless TV rights for friendly matches of the Germany team and FC Bayern Munich . On 16 October 2015, German news magazine Der Spiegel alleged that a slush fund with money from then- Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus was used to influence the vote of four Asian members of the FIFA executive committee. The sum of €6.7 million
1806-556: A penalty shoot-out are indicated by (p). In the second round, conceding two early goals in the first twelve minutes to Germany effectively ended the Swedes' hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals. Argentina struggled to get past Mexico until a Maxi Rodríguez goal in extra time put the Albiceleste in the quarter-finals. Australia's journey ended when Italy were awarded a controversial penalty scored by Francesco Totti , deep into
1935-408: A political matter so why not have more Africans? The competition is to bring all the people of all the world. If you don't give the possibility to participate, they don't improve." In October 2016, FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated his support for a 48-team World Cup in 2026. On 10 January 2017, FIFA confirmed the 2026 World Cup will have 48 finalist teams. By May 2015, the games were under
2064-465: A ranking of the goalscorers, the first time an award was given was in 1982, under the name Golden Shoe. It was rechristened Golden Boot in 2010. FIFA sometimes lists the top goalscorers of previous Cups among the Golden Boot winners. If there is more than one player with the same number of goals, since 1994 the tie-breaker goes to the player with more assists. If there is still more than one player,
2193-452: A revised format of the 2026 tournament, which features 12 groups of four teams each, with the top 8 third-placed teams joining the group winners and runners-up in a new round of 32. Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress. The locations were controversial because South America and Europe were by far the two centres of strength in football and travel between them required three weeks by boat. The decision to hold
2322-544: A scoreless draw against Switzerland and a 1–1 draw against South Korea . With captain Zinedine Zidane suspended, their 2–0 win against Togo was enough for them to advance to the knockout round. They were joined by the group winners, Switzerland, who defeated South Korea 2–0, and did not concede a goal in the tournament. South Korea won their first World Cup finals match outside their own country in defeating Togo, but four points were not enough to see them through to
2451-563: A survey on the Internet for users to choose the "Best Young Player" of the World Cup, between 1958 and 2002, named the best young player of each tournament. With 61% of the overall vote, the winner was Pelé , who finished ahead of the Peruvian Teófilo Cubillas , the best young player at Mexico 1970 , and England's Michael Owen , who reached similar heights at France 98 . The winner of the award has only been part of
2580-524: A team formed to take the Soviet Union 's place following dissolution, that multiple sovereign states had been represented in the finals of a major footballing tournament by a single team and the only occurrence in the World Cup finals to date. The highest ranked team not to qualify was Denmark (ranked 11th), while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was Togo (ranked 61st). The following 32 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for
2709-456: A women's version, although a FIFA Women's Club World Cup has been proposed. The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is held biannually, including the year before each Women's World Cup. Both tournaments were awarded in a single bidding process on three occasions, with the U-20 tournament serving as a dress rehearsal for the larger competition each time ( 2010 , 2014 and 2018 ). From 1930 to 1970,
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#17328021033822838-3377: Is a subjectively awarded prize for the team that had done the most to entertain the public with a positive approach to the game, organised through public participation in a poll starting in 1994. The All-Star Team is a team of the best performers at the respective World Cup finals. Since 1994, FIFA decided to add official best squads, chosen by its Technical Study Group under the brand name MasterCard All-Star Team . For 1998, 2002 and 2006, substitute and reserve members were also nominated for full squads. [REDACTED] Michel Preud'homme [REDACTED] Jorginho [REDACTED] Márcio Santos [REDACTED] Paolo Maldini [REDACTED] Dunga [REDACTED] Krasimir Balakov [REDACTED] Gheorghe Hagi [REDACTED] Tomas Brolin [REDACTED] Romário [REDACTED] Hristo Stoichkov [REDACTED] Roberto Baggio [REDACTED] Fabien Barthez [REDACTED] José Luis Chilavert [REDACTED] Roberto Carlos [REDACTED] Marcel Desailly [REDACTED] Lilian Thuram [REDACTED] Frank de Boer [REDACTED] Carlos Gamarra [REDACTED] Dunga [REDACTED] Rivaldo [REDACTED] Michael Laudrup [REDACTED] Zinedine Zidane [REDACTED] Edgar Davids [REDACTED] Ronaldo [REDACTED] Davor Šuker [REDACTED] Brian Laudrup [REDACTED] Dennis Bergkamp [REDACTED] Edwin van der Sar [REDACTED] Juan Sebastián Verón [REDACTED] Thierry Henry [REDACTED] Jay-Jay Okocha [REDACTED] Michael Owen [REDACTED] Christian Vieri [REDACTED] Oliver Kahn [REDACTED] Rüştü Reçber [REDACTED] Roberto Carlos [REDACTED] Sol Campbell [REDACTED] Fernando Hierro [REDACTED] Hong Myung-bo [REDACTED] Alpay Özalan [REDACTED] Rivaldo [REDACTED] Ronaldinho [REDACTED] Michael Ballack [REDACTED] Claudio Reyna [REDACTED] Yoo Sang-chul [REDACTED] Ronaldo [REDACTED] Miroslav Klose [REDACTED] El Hadji Diouf [REDACTED] Hasan Şaş [REDACTED] Iker Casillas [REDACTED] Cafu [REDACTED] Dietmar Hamann [REDACTED] Joaquín [REDACTED] Hidetoshi Nakata [REDACTED] Landon Donovan [REDACTED] Marc Wilmots [REDACTED] Gianluigi Buffon [REDACTED] Jens Lehmann [REDACTED] Ricardo [REDACTED] Roberto Ayala [REDACTED] John Terry [REDACTED] Lilian Thuram [REDACTED] Philipp Lahm [REDACTED] Fabio Cannavaro [REDACTED] Gianluca Zambrotta [REDACTED] Ricardo Carvalho [REDACTED] Zé Roberto [REDACTED] Patrick Vieira [REDACTED] Zinedine Zidane [REDACTED] Michael Ballack [REDACTED] Andrea Pirlo [REDACTED] Gennaro Gattuso [REDACTED] Luís Figo [REDACTED] Maniche [REDACTED] Hernán Crespo [REDACTED] Thierry Henry [REDACTED] Miroslav Klose [REDACTED] Luca Toni [REDACTED] Francesco Totti FIFA published
2967-430: Is followed by the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final. On 10 January 2017, FIFA approved a new format, the 48-team World Cup (to accommodate more teams), which was to consist of 16 groups of three teams each, with two teams qualifying from each group, to form a round of 32 knockout stage, to be implemented by 2026. On 14 March 2023, FIFA approved
3096-499: Is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy only until the post-match celebration is finished. They are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original immediately afterwards. All members (players, coaches, and managers) of the top three teams receive medals with an insignia of the World Cup Trophy ; winners' (gold), runners-up' (silver), and third-place (bronze). In
3225-487: Is partly to avoid a similar scenario to the bidding process for the 2014 tournament, where Brazil was the only official bidder. The 2026 FIFA World Cup was chosen to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, marking the first time a World Cup has been shared by three host nations. The 2026 tournament will be the biggest World Cup ever held, with 48 teams playing 104 matches. Sixty matches will take place in
3354-593: Is scheduled to expand to 48 teams, starting with the 2026 tournament . As of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 22 final tournaments have been held since the event's inception in 1930, and a total of 80 national teams have competed. The trophy has been won by eight national teams. With five wins, Brazil is the only team to have played in every tournament. The other World Cup winners are Germany and Italy , with four titles each; Argentina , with three titles; France and inaugural winner Uruguay , each with two titles; and England and Spain , with one title each. The World Cup
3483-536: Is still considered unofficial. [REDACTED] František Plánička [REDACTED] Domingos da Guia [REDACTED] Pietro Rava [REDACTED] Zezé Procópio [REDACTED] Michele Andreolo [REDACTED] Ugo Locatelli [REDACTED] Arne Nyberg [REDACTED] Giuseppe Meazza [REDACTED] Leônidas [REDACTED] György Sárosi [REDACTED] Pál Titkos [REDACTED] Harry Gregg FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup , often called
3612-449: Is the most prestigious association football competition in the world, as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world. The viewership of the 2018 World Cup was estimated to be 3.57 billion, close to half of the global population, while the engagement with the 2022 World Cup was estimated to be 5 billion, with about 1.5 billion people watching the final match . Seventeen countries have hosted
3741-557: The Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winning team. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde , but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament. In 1970 , Brazil 's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered, apparently melted down by
3870-672: The 1906 Intercalated Games . After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906. These were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been unsuccessful. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London , football became an official Olympic sport. Planned by The Football Association (FA), England's football governing body,
3999-654: The 1936 Summer Olympics , but was now overshadowed by the more prestigious World Cup. The issues facing the early World Cup tournaments were the difficulties of intercontinental travel, and war. Few South American teams were willing to travel to Europe for the 1934 World Cup and all North and South American nations except Brazil and Cuba boycotted the 1938 tournament. Brazil was the only South American team to compete in both. The 1942 and 1946 competitions, which Germany and Brazil sought to host, were cancelled due to World War II . The 1950 World Cup , held in Brazil ,
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4128-575: The 1990 tournament in Italy. In 1998, the Argentinian newspaper Clarín provided a brief description of each star player dating back to 1930. Some are controversial decisions as is the case with retrospective awards. The 1998 winner was awarded after the tournament ended. The Golden Boot or Golden Shoe award goes to the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup. While every World Cup had
4257-426: The 2002 edition , fourth-place medals were awarded to hosts South Korea . Before the 1978 tournament, medals were only awarded to the eleven players on the pitch at the end of the final and the third-place match. In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals. Since 2006, winners of the competition are also awarded
4386-406: The 2022 tournament . The contest starts with the qualification phase , which takes place over the preceding three years to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. In the tournament phase, 32 teams compete for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over the course of about a month. The host nation(s) automatically qualify for the group stage of the tournament. The competition
4515-716: The Asian Football Confederation and the Confederation of African Football , two shared between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL , and a guaranteed place for the Oceania Football Confederation . Platini was clear about why he wanted to expand the World Cup. He said: "[The World Cup is] not based on the quality of the teams because you don't have the best 32 at the World Cup ;... but it's a good compromise. ... It's
4644-679: The Caribbean Football Union 's region a position in the World Cup. In the edition of 25 October 2013 of the FIFA Weekly Blatter wrote that: "From a purely sporting perspective, I would like to see globalisation finally taken seriously, and the African and Asian national associations accorded the status they deserve at the FIFA World Cup. It cannot be that the European and South American confederations lay claim to
4773-513: The FBI and the Swiss authorities admitted that he and the other members of FIFA's then-executive committee were bribed in order to promote the 1998 and 2010 World Cups. On 10 June 2015, Swiss authorities seized computer data from the offices of Sepp Blatter . The same day, FIFA postponed the bidding process for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in light of the allegations surrounding bribery in the awarding of
4902-600: The World Cup , is an international association football competition among the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA ), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930 , with the exception of 1942 and 1946 due to the Second World War . The reigning champions are Argentina , who won their third title at
5031-694: The first World Cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing. The next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these in France was disputed, as the South American countries understood that the location would alternate between the two continents. Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the 1938 FIFA World Cup . Since the 1958 FIFA World Cup , to avoid future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began
5160-519: The qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process along with hosts Germany for the finals tournament. It was the second time that Germany staged the competition and the first as a unified country along with the former East Germany with Leipzig as a host city (the other was in 1974 in West Germany), and the 10th time that the tournament
5289-506: The 2006 World Cup seeding tool. Serbia and Montenegro was drawn first, then their group was drawn from the three seeded non-European nations, Argentina , Brazil , and Mexico . FIFA predetermined that, hosts, Germany would be placed in Group A, thus being assured of the venues of their group matches in advance of the draw. They also announced, in advance, that Brazil (the defending champion) would be allocated to Group F. The group stage draw
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5418-453: The 2018 and 2022 tournaments. Then-secretary general Jérôme Valcke stated, "Due to the situation, I think it's nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being." On 28 October 2015, Blatter and FIFA VP Michel Platini, a potential candidate for presidency, were suspended for 90 days; both maintained their innocence in statements made to the news media. On 3 December 2015 two FIFA vice-presidents were arrested on suspicion of bribery in
5547-455: The 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin of three games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The teams coming first and second in each group qualified for the Round of 16. If teams were level on points, they were ranked on
5676-484: The Australians a place in the Round of 16 in a game where two players were sent-off for second bookings and one, erroneously, for a third booking by English referee Graham Poll . The Brazilians won all three games to qualify first in the group. Their 1–0 win against Croatia was through a goal late in the first-half by Kaká . Croatia and Japan went out of the tournament without a single win. France only managed
5805-475: The Czech Republic and the United States. Daniele De Rossi was suspended for 4 games following his sending-off against the United States. Group F included the reigning World Champions Brazil , Croatia , Japan , and Australia . Playing in their first World Cup for 32 years, Australia came from behind to defeat Japan 3–1, and, despite losing 0–2 to Brazil, a 2–2 draw with Croatia was enough to give
5934-761: The German team played. For the closing ceremonies, Matthias Keller composed a work performed simultaneously by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra , the Bavarian State Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra with conductors Christian Thielemann , Zubin Mehta and Mariss Jansons , and soloists Diana Damrau , Plácido Domingo and Lang Lang . Despite early success by Australia , Ecuador , and Ghana ,
6063-530: The Match (POTM) award picks the outstanding player in every match of the tournament. The award was introduced with the name "Man of the Match" in 2002. It was rechristened "Player of the Match" in 2022. While the inaugural two editions were chosen by the technical group, since 2010, Player of the Match is picked by an online poll on FIFA's website. Total awards As of 18 December 2022 By country As of 18 December 2022 The Most Entertaining Team award
6192-530: The Round of 16 conceding just one goal (an own goal ) by Cristian Zaccardo in the group phase against the United States . The US bowed out of the tournament after disappointing results against the Czech Republic and Ghana , 0–3 and 1–2, respectively, despite a 1–1 draw (finishing with 9 vs 10 men) against Italy. Tournament debutant Ghana joined Italy in the round of 16, following victories over
6321-431: The Round of 16. Saudi Arabia and Tunisia went out of the tournament having 1 point each, thanks to a 2–2 draw against each other. The knockout stage involved the sixteen teams that qualified from the group stage of the tournament. There were four rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round. The successive rounds were: round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final. There
6450-641: The US, including all matches from the quarter-finals onward, while Canada and Mexico will host 10 games each. 2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup , the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in
6579-539: The World Cup matches. During the tournament, many of them were known by different names, as FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadia unless the stadium sponsors are also official FIFA sponsors. For example, the Allianz Arena in Munich was known during the competition as FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich (German: FIFA WM-Stadion München ), and even the letters of the company Allianz were removed or covered. Some of
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#17328021033826708-487: The World Cup, most recently Qatar , who hosted the 2022 event. The 2026 tournament will be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico, which will give Mexico the distinction of being the first country to host games in three World Cups. The world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England . The first international tournament for nations,
6837-465: The award was originally a certificate. From 1982 to 1990, it was a golden trophy based on Sport Billy , a football-playing cartoon character from 1982 who became an icon for FIFA Fair play. Ever since 1994, it is simply a trophy with an elegant footballer figure. Peru was the first nation to win the award after receiving no yellow or red cards in the 1970 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico. The Player of
6966-462: The base camps for each participating team. Squads for the 2006 World Cup consisted of 23 players, as in the previous tournament in 2002 . Each participating national association had to confirm its 23-player squad by 15 May 2006. The eight seeded teams for the tournament were announced on 6 December 2005 and placed into Pot A for the draw. Pot B contained the unseeded qualifiers from South America, Africa and Oceania; Pot C contained eight of
7095-410: The bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974 . The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory." This new trophy
7224-415: The competition with an unwanted new record in becoming the first team in a World Cup to fail to convert any penalties in a shootout. Their elimination also meant that they became the first nation to be eliminated from the World Cup without conceding any goals (and indeed the only nation ever to participate in a World Cup finals tournament without conceding a goal). No two teams from the same group qualified for
7353-448: The competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium , France , Romania , and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total, 13 nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously on 13 July 1930, and were won by France and the United States , who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history
7482-408: The continental confederations. Thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams (Europe), five by CAF teams (Africa), four by CONMEBOL teams (South America), four by AFC teams (Asia), and three by CONCACAF teams (North and Central America and Caribbean). The remaining two places were decided by playoffs between AFC and CONCACAF and between CONMEBOL and OFC (Oceania). Eight nations qualified for
7611-574: The correct criteria. In any event, the finals tournament saw only two pairs of teams level on points: Argentina and the Netherlands at 7 points in Group C; Tunisia and Saudi Arabia at 1 point in Group H. Both of these ties were resolved on total goal difference. Also, in both cases the teams had tied their match, so the order of ranking criteria made no difference. The finals tournament of the 2006 World Cup began on 9 June. The 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four teams each, within which
7740-431: The dearth of goals was Portugal, which only scored in the 23rd minute of the round of 16, and did not score again until the 88th minute of the third place play-off. No player managed to score a hat-trick in this tournament. Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and France were the only teams to score more than one goal in a knockout match. Germany was one of the exceptions, tending to play an attacking style of football throughout
7869-511: The eve of the vote. Had Dempsey voted as originally instructed, the vote would have resulted with a 12–12 tie, and FIFA president Sepp Blatter , who favoured the South African bid, would have had to cast the deciding vote. More irregularities surfaced soon after, including, in the months leading up to the decision, the sudden interest of German politicians and major businesses in the four Asian countries whose delegates were decisive for
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#17328021033827998-707: The event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain (represented by the England national amateur football team ) won the gold medals . They repeated the feat at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm . With the Olympic event continuing to be a contest between amateur teams only, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament
8127-410: The existence of a slush fund". The DFB announced they would consider seeking legal action against Der Spiegel. During a press conference on 22 October 2015, Niersbach repeated his stance, emphasising that the €6.7 million was used in 2002 to secure a subsidy by FIFA. According to Niersbach, the payment had been agreed upon during a meeting between Franz Beckenbauer and FIFA president Blatter, with
8256-502: The finals for the first time: Angola , Czech Republic , Ghana , Ivory Coast , Togo , Trinidad and Tobago , Ukraine , and Serbia and Montenegro . Czech Republic and Ukraine were making their first appearance as independent nations, but had previously been represented as part of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union respectively; Serbia and Montenegro had competed as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1998, as well as making up part of Yugoslav teams from 1930 to 1990. As of 2022, this
8385-544: The finals tournament: In 2006, Germany had a plethora of football stadia that satisfied FIFA's minimum capacity of 40,000 seats for World Cup matches. The outdated and still-standing Olympiastadion in Munich (69,250), the venue for the 1974 final match was not used for the tournament, even though FIFA's regulations allow one city to use two stadia. Düsseldorf 's LTU Arena (51,500), Bremen 's Weserstadion (43,000) and Mönchengladbach 's Borussia-Park (46,249) were also not used. Twelve stadia were selected to host
8514-474: The first All-Star Team in 1938, but it never made All-Star Team again until 1990 due to ensuing complaints. In January 1959, the host of 1958 tournament Swedish Federation published an All-Star Team based on 720 answers out of 1,200 experts. In 1990 there was an All-Star Team announced in combination with the Golden Ball ceremony. It was chosen by the same journalists who chose the best player, but this team
8643-419: The first defending champions to play qualifying matches. The final tournament format since 1998 has had 32 national teams competing over the course of a month in the host nations. There are two stages: the group stage, followed by the knockout stage. In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams each. Eight teams are seeded, including the hosts, with the other seeded teams selected using
8772-518: The first player to win a second Golden Ball. The following players are recognised as best players by the FIFA website. FIFA recognizes the Golden Ball award prior to 1982 only in 1978; it does not recognize Golden Ball awards from 1930 to 1974. Authoritative football historian and statistician Ejikeme Ikwunze , popularly called "Mr. Football", published a list of the best players in his book World Cup (1930-2010): A Statistical Summary , and it gained
8901-496: The first time since 1978 and Cameroon failed to qualify for the first time since 1986. The other notable qualifying streaks broken were for Nigeria , who had made the previous three tournaments, and Denmark and South Africa , who had both qualified for the previous two. France had their first successful qualifying campaign since 1986, as they did not qualify for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, in 1998 they were automatically qualified as hosts and in 2002 as defending champions. For
9030-517: The first time since the 1982 World Cup, all six confederations were represented at the finals tournament. The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro dissolved prior to the start of the World Cup, on 3 June 2006, with Serbia and Montenegro becoming independent countries; their team competed at the World Cup unaffected. Their involvement in the competition became similar to the Commonwealth of Independent States that appeared at UEFA Euro 1992 ,
9159-409: The following criteria in order: In the original version of the rules for the finals tournament, the ranking criteria were in a different order, with head-to-head results taking precedence over total goal difference. The rules were changed to the above in advance of the tournament, but older versions were still available on the FIFA and UEFA websites, causing some confusion among those trying to identify
9288-470: The group on goal difference, having hammered Serbia and Montenegro 6–0 and beaten Ivory Coast 2–1. The Dutch picked up 1–0 and 2–1 victories over Serbia and Montenegro and Ivory Coast, respectively. Ivory Coast defeated Serbia and Montenegro 3–2 in their final game, in Serbia and Montenegro's last international as the country had dissolved 18 days earlier. Portugal coasted through in Group D, picking up
9417-537: The host country of the inaugural World Cup tournament . The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides, especially in the midst of the Great Depression . As such, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of
9546-450: The hosts of multiple future tournaments were announced at the same time, as was the case for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups , which were awarded to Russia and Qatar , with Qatar becoming the first Middle Eastern country to host the tournament. For the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the final tournament was rotated between confederations, allowing only countries from the chosen confederation (Africa in 2010, South America in 2014) to bid to host
9675-532: The hosts of the 2006 tournament was held in July 2000 in Zürich , Switzerland. It involved four bidding nations after Brazil had withdrawn three days earlier: Germany, South Africa, England and Morocco. Three rounds of voting were required, each round eliminating the nation with the fewest votes. The first two rounds were held on 6 July 2000, and the final round was held on 7 July 2000, which Germany won over South Africa. Accusations of bribery and corruption had marred
9804-533: The inaugural British Home Championship , took place in 1884 and included games between England, Scotland, Wales , and Ireland . As football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at the start of the 20th century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics ; however, the International Olympic Committee has retroactively upgraded their status to official events, as well as
9933-462: The knock-out stage, which was reflected by the fact that they scored the most goals (14), with players from all three outfield positions (defence, midfield and forward) making the scoresheet. Germany's Miroslav Klose scored five goals to claim the Golden Boot, the lowest total to win the prize since 1962 . No other player scored more than three goals. No player from the winning Italian squad scored more than two goals, though ten players had scored for
10062-487: The last goal of the 2006 World Cup. In addition, Fabio Grosso clinched the cup for Italy with the decisive spot kick in the penalty shootout. The tournament had a record number of yellow and red cards, breaking the previous record set by the 1998 World Cup . Players received a record-breaking 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards, with Russian referee Valentin Ivanov handing out 16 yellow and 4 red cards in
10191-577: The majority of the berths at the World Cup." Those two remarks suggested to commentators that Blatter could be putting himself forward for re-election to the FIFA Presidency. Following the magazine's publication, Blatter's would-be opponent for the FIFA Presidency, UEFA President Michel Platini , responded that he intended to extend the World Cup to 40 national associations, increasing the number of participants by eight. Platini said that he would allocate an additional berth to UEFA , two each to
10320-495: The maximum number of points, with Mexico qualifying in second. Iran missed chances against Mexico in their opening 1–3 defeat and were eliminated in their match against Portugal. They fought hard against the Portuguese, but lost 2–0. Their last game against Angola ended in 1–1 draw. The Africans had a respectable first World Cup tournament after earning draws with Mexico (0–0) and Iran. In Group E, Italy went through to
10449-456: The men's football tournament at the Olympics is not a top-level tournament, and since 1992, an under-23 tournament with each team allowed three over-age players. Women's football made its Olympic debut in 1996 . The FIFA Confederations Cup was a tournament held one year before the World Cup at the World Cup host nation(s) as a dress rehearsal for the upcoming World Cup. It is contested by
10578-489: The money being provided by Dreyfus. On the same day, FIFA contradicted Niersbach's statement, saying: "By our current state of knowledge, no such payment of 10 million francs was registered by FIFA in 2002." The following day, former DFB president Theo Zwanziger publicly accused Niersbach of lying, saying: "It is evident that there was a slush fund for the German World Cup application". According to Zwanziger,
10707-428: The most attention among experts' selections about the best players until 1978. This work is part of the official FIFA library, and received public recognition from his former presidents Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter . A considerable number of other media agreed with him. On 2 August 1950, Dr. Friedebert Becker [ de ] , the editor-in-chief of Kicker (then Sport-Magazin ), chose his best players of
10836-492: The nine remaining European teams, excluding Serbia and Montenegro . Pot D contained unseeded teams from the CONCACAF region and Asia. To ensure that no group contained three European teams, Serbia and Montenegro was placed in a special pot, as they were the lowest ranked qualified team from Europe on the latest FIFA World Ranking ; while it was deemed of less importance they had been seeded higher than Switzerland and Ukraine by
10965-446: The number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams. The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before the final tournament and last over a two-year period. The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations. Usually, one or two places are awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs . For example,
11094-613: The plan but, in total, the idea is supported by 166 of the 210 member associations of FIFA. An equivalent tournament for women's football , the FIFA Women's World Cup , was first held in 1991 in China . The women's tournament is smaller in scale and profile than the men's, but is growing; the number of entrants for the 2007 tournament was 120, more than double that of 1991. Men's football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games except 1896 and 1932. Unlike many other sports,
11223-436: The previous two World Cups. Uruguay won the tournament again after defeating the host nation Brazil, in the match called " Maracanazo " (Portuguese: Maracanaço ). In the tournaments between 1934 and 1978 , 16 teams competed in each tournament, except in 1938, when Austria was absorbed into Germany after qualifying, leaving the tournament with 15 teams, and in 1950, when India , Scotland , and Turkey withdrew, leaving
11352-412: The quarter-finalists in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2018 were all from Europe or South America and so were the finalists of all tournaments so far. Two hundred teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds. 198 nations attempted to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup . A record 204 countries entered qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup . In October 2013, Sepp Blatter spoke of guaranteeing
11481-411: The quarter-finals, with Ukraine and Euro 2004 runners-up Portugal as the only relative outsiders. Argentina and Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals, leaving an all-European final four for only the fourth time (after the 1934 , 1966 , and 1982 tournaments). Despite the early goals that flooded the group stages, the knock-out phase had a much lower goals per match ratio. A prime example of
11610-406: The quarters, all eight teams were from different groups. England struggled against Ecuador but won 1–0 thanks to a David Beckham free kick. Brazil won 3–0 against Ghana, in a game which included Ronaldo 's record 15th World Cup goal. Der Spiegel reported that the match may have been influenced by an Asian betting syndicate. Portugal defeated the Netherlands 1–0. The only goal came courtesy of
11739-505: The remaining seconds of the match, after Fabio Grosso went down in the penalty box. The Italians had spent much of the game with only ten men on the field, following a controversial red card shown to centre back Marco Materazzi . In a 0–0 match, described in The Guardian as "the dullest game in World Cup history", Switzerland failed to convert any of their three penalties in the penalty shoot-out against Ukraine to see them exit
11868-550: The right to wear the FIFA Champions Badge , up until the time at which the winner of the next competition is decided. Since the second World Cup in 1934 , qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament. They are held within the six FIFA continental zones ( Africa , Asia , North and Central America and Caribbean , South America , Oceania , and Europe ), overseen by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides
11997-443: The round of 16 (the only team for which this was the case), while Togo exited without a point. Spain dominated Group H, picking up the maximum number of points, scoring 8 goals, and conceding only 1. Ukraine , despite being beaten 4–0 by Spain in their first World Cup game, took advantage of the weaker opponents to beat Saudi Arabia 4–0 and scrape past Tunisia 1–0 thanks to a 70th-minute penalty by Andriy Shevchenko , to reach
12126-767: The round of 16 match between Portugal and the Netherlands in a match known as the Battle of Nuremberg . Portugal had two players suspended for each of the quarter-final and semi-final matches respectively. FIFA President Sepp Blatter hinted that he may allow some rule changes for future tournaments so that earlier accumulated bookings will not force players to miss the final, should their teams make it that far. The tournament also saw English referee Graham Poll mistakenly hand out three yellow cards to Croatia's Josip Šimunić in their match against Australia. The high number of yellow and red cards shown also prompted discussion about
12255-741: The same Zurich hotel where seven FIFA officials had been arrested in May. An additional 16 indictments by the US Department of Justice were announced on the same day. A biennial World Cup plan was first proposed by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation at the 71st FIFA Congress on 21 May 2021 and prominently backed by former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger and national federations in Africa and Asia. Continental confederations such as UEFA and CONMEBOL are not on board with
12384-420: The second and third places. In such case, the ranking among these teams is determined by: The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with extra time and penalty shootouts used to decide the winner if necessary. It begins with the round of 16 (or the second round) in which the winner of each group plays against the runner-up of another group. This
12513-492: The stadia also had a lower capacity for the World Cup, as FIFA regulations ban standing room; nonetheless, this was accommodated as several stadia had a UEFA five-star ranking . The stadia in Berlin, Munich, Dortmund and Stuttgart hosted six matches each, whilst the other eight stadia hosted five matches each. Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. FIFA announced
12642-563: The success of Germany's bid from the very beginning. On the very day of the vote, a hoax bribery affair was made public, leading to calls for a re-vote. On the night before the vote, German satirical magazine Titanic sent letters to FIFA representatives, offering joke gifts like cuckoo clocks and Black Forest ham in exchange for their vote for Germany. Oceania delegate Charlie Dempsey , who had initially backed England, had then been instructed to support South Africa following England's elimination. He abstained, citing "intolerable pressure" on
12771-418: The team, tying France's record in 1982 for the most goalscorers from any one team. For the first time ever in the FIFA World Cup, the first and last goals of the tournament were scored by defenders. German left-back Philipp Lahm scored the opener against Costa Rica after only 5 minutes of the opening match. In the final, Italian centre-back Marco Materazzi out-jumped Patrick Vieira and headed in
12900-519: The teams competed in a round-robin tournament to determine which two of those four teams would advance to the sixteen-team knock-out stage, which started on 24 June. In total, 64 games were played. Although Germany failed to win the Cup, the tournament was considered a great success for Germany in general. Germany also experienced a sudden increase in patriotic spirit with flags waving, traditionally frowned upon by German society since World War II whenever
13029-571: The thieves. After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy , was designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven countries, evaluated the 53 presented models, finally opting for the work of the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga . The new trophy is 36 cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18 carat (75%) gold and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb). The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while
13158-474: The tie (since 2006) is decided by minutes played in the tournament, with the player playing fewest minutes ranked first. A Silver Boot and a Bronze Boot are also awarded for the second and third-highest goalscorers respectively. The Golden Glove award is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The award was introduced with the name " Lev Yashin Award" in 1994, in honor of the late Soviet goalkeeper. It
13287-584: The tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title. Prior to the Lipton competition, from 1876 to 1904, games that were considered to be the " football world championship " were meetings between leading English and Scottish clubs, such as the 1895 game between Sunderland A.F.C. and the Heart of Midlothian F.C. , which Sunderland won. In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as
13416-442: The tournament marked a return to dominance of traditional football powers. Four years after the 2002 tournament , in which teams from North America (the United States ), Africa ( Senegal ) and Asia ( South Korea ) made it deep into the knockout stages and Turkey finished third, all eight seeded teams progressed to the knockout stages and no quarter-finalists were from outside Europe or South America. Six former champions took part in
13545-537: The tournament with 13 teams. Most of the participating nations were from Europe and South America, with a small minority from North America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. These teams were usually defeated easily by the European and South American teams. Until 1982, the only teams from outside Europe and South America to advance out of the first round were: United States , semi-finalists in 1930; Cuba , quarter-finalists in 1938; North Korea , quarter-finalists in 1966 ; and Mexico , quarter-finalists in 1970 . The tournament
13674-406: The tournament's referees . FIFA officials and President Sepp Blatter received criticism for allegedly making rules too rigid and taking discretion away from referees. All times are Central European Summer Time ( UTC+2 ). In the following tables: In the opening match of the tournament, Germany and Costa Rica played a game which ended 4–2 for the host in the highest scoring opening match in
13803-501: The tournament's history. Germany went on to win the Group A after edging Poland and breezing past Ecuador 3–0. Despite the defeat, Ecuador had already joined the host in the Round of 16 having beaten Poland and Costa Rica 2–0 and 3–0, respectively. In Group B, England and Sweden pushed Paraguay into third place after narrow victories over the South Americans. Trinidad and Tobago earned some international respect after
13932-405: The tournament, Montenegro voted in a referendum to become an independent nation and dissolve the loose confederacy then existing between it and Serbia ; Serbia recognised the results of the referendum in early June. Due to time constraints, FIFA had Serbia and Montenegro play in the World Cup tournament as one team, marking the first instance of multiple sovereign nations competing as one team in
14061-517: The tournament. France Football , the sponsor of Golden Ball and Ballon d'Or , selected the best player of the 1966 FIFA World Cup at that time with L'Équipe , and Bobby Charlton became the winner. After the 1978 World Cup , Argentinian magazine El Gráfico held a survey for the best player of the tournament. This was different from the unofficial Golden Ball which is recognised by FIFA. Guerin Sportivo chose their top ten players for
14190-401: The tournament. The rotation policy was introduced after the controversy surrounding Germany's victory over South Africa in the vote to host the 2006 tournament . However, the policy of continental rotation did not continue beyond 2014, so any country, except those belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments, can apply as hosts for World Cups starting from 2018 . This
14319-466: The vote receive the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball awards as the second and third most outstanding players in the tournament respectively. The current award was introduced in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, sponsored by Adidas and France Football . Oliver Kahn is to date the only goalkeeper to have won the award, which he did in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Lionel Messi became
14448-682: The vote. Just a week before the vote, the German government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder lifted their arms embargo on Saudi Arabia and agreed to send grenade launchers to the country. DaimlerChrysler invested several hundred million euros in Hyundai , where one of the sons of the company's founder was a member of FIFA's executive committee. Both Volkswagen and Bayer announced investments in Thailand and South Korea , whose respective delegates Worawi Makudi and Chung Mong-joon were possible voters for Germany. Makudi additionally received
14577-551: The winner of the Oceanian zone and the fifth-placed team from the Asian zone entered a play-off for a spot in the 2010 World Cup . From the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations receive automatic qualification to the final tournament. This right was also granted to the defending champions between 1938 and 2002, but was withdrawn from the 2006 FIFA World Cup onward, requiring the champions to qualify. Brazil , winners in 2002 , were
14706-777: The winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships, along with the FIFA World Cup champion and the host country. The first edition took place in 1992 and the last edition was played in 2017 . In March 2019, FIFA confirmed that the tournament would no longer be active owing to an expansion of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2021. FIFA also organises international tournaments for youth football ( FIFA U-20 World Cup , FIFA U-17 World Cup , FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup , FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup ), club football ( FIFA Club World Cup ), and football variants such as futsal ( FIFA Futsal World Cup ) and beach soccer ( FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup ). The latter three do not have
14835-593: The winning country three times. Pelé in 1958 , Kylian Mbappé in 2018 , and Enzo Fernández in 2022 . The FIFA Fair Play Trophy is given to the team with the best record of fair play during the World Cup final tournament since 1970. Only teams that qualified for the second round are considered. The winners of this award earn the FIFA Fair Play Trophy, a diploma, a fair play medal for each player and official, and $ 50,000 worth of football equipment to be used for youth development. The appearance of
14964-547: The €6.7 million went to Mohamed Bin Hammam , who at the time was supporting Blatter's campaign for president against Issa Hayatou . On 22 March 2016, it was announced that the FIFA Ethics Committee was opening proceedings into the bid. 198 teams attempted to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Germany, the host nation, was granted automatic qualification, with the remaining 31 finals places divided among
15093-579: Was a championship between individual clubs (not national teams) from different nations, each of which represented an entire nation. The competition is sometimes described as The First World Cup , and featured the most prestigious professional club sides from Italy, Germany and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be associated with the competition and declined the offer to send a professional team. Lipton invited West Auckland , an amateur side from County Durham , to represent England instead. West Auckland won
15222-415: Was also a play-off to decide third/fourth place. For each game in the knockout stage, a draw was followed by thirty minutes of extra time (two 15-minute halves); if scores were still level there would be a penalty shoot-out (at least five penalties each, and more if necessary) to determine who progressed to the next round. Results decided after extra time are indicated by (a.e.t.), and results decided via
15351-433: Was awarded for the first time at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and given to Germany's Lukas Podolski . The award is given to the best player in the tournament who is at most 21 years old. For the 2022 World Cup , this meant that the player had to have been born on or after 1 January 2001. In 2006, the election took place on FIFA's official World Cup website with the help of The FIFA Technical Study Group. FIFA organised
15480-627: Was expanded to 24 teams in 1982 , and then to 32 in 1998 , allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part. Since then, teams from these regions have enjoyed more success, with several having reached the quarter-finals: Mexico , quarter-finalists in 1986 ; Cameroon , quarter-finalists in 1990 ; South Korea , finishing in fourth place in 2002 ; Senegal , along with USA , both quarter-finalists in 2002; Ghana , quarter-finalists in 2010; Costa Rica , quarter-finalists in 2014; and Morocco , finishing in fourth place in 2022. European and South American teams continue to dominate, e.g.,
15609-610: Was held in Europe. Italy won the tournament, claiming their fourth World Cup title, defeating France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out in the final after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish in third place. Angola , Ukraine , Ghana , the Ivory Coast , Trinidad and Tobago and Togo made their first appearances in the finals. It was also the only appearance of Serbia and Montenegro under that name; they had previously appeared in 1998 as Yugoslavia. In late May 2006, immediately prior to
15738-466: Was held in Leipzig on 9 December 2005, and the group assignments and order of matches were determined. After the draw was completed, commentators remarked that Group C appeared to be the group of death , while others suggested Group E. Argentina and the Netherlands both qualified with a game to spare with wins over Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro respectively. The first round, or group stage, saw
15867-587: Was later demanded back by Dreyfus. In order to retrieve the money, the Organising Committee paid an equivalent sum to FIFA, allegedly as a German share for the cost of a closing ceremony, which never materialized. Wolfgang Niersbach , president of the German Football Association (DFB), denied the allegations on 17 October 2015, saying that "the World Cup was not bought" and that he could "absolutely and categorically rule out
15996-417: Was rechristened "Golden Glove" in 2010. The FIFA Technical Study Group recognises the top goalkeeper of the tournament based on the player's performance throughout the final competition. Although goalkeepers have this specific award for their position, they are still eligible for the Golden Ball as well, as when Oliver Kahn was awarded in 2002. The FIFA Young Player Award ("Best Young Player Award" 2006–2010)
16125-586: Was scored by Lucien Laurent of France. In the final , Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of 93,000 spectators in Montevideo , and became the first nation to win the World Cup. After the creation of the World Cup, FIFA and the IOC disagreed over the status of amateur players; football was dropped from the 1932 Summer Olympics . After the IOC and FIFA worked out their differences, Olympic football returned at
16254-423: Was the first occasion where consecutive World Cups were held outside Europe. The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Council. This is done under an exhaustive ballot system. The national football association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are expected from a strong bid. The bidding association also receives
16383-431: Was the first to include British football associations. Scotland , England , Wales , and Northern Ireland had withdrawn from FIFA in 1920, partly out of unwillingness to play against the countries they had been at war with, and partly as a protest against foreign influence on football. The teams rejoined in 1946 following FIFA's invitation. The tournament also saw the return of 1930 champions Uruguay , who had boycotted
16512-450: Was the last time Togo, Angola, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Trinidad and Tobago qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals, and the last time Uruguay failed to qualify. Australia qualified for the first time since 1974. Among the teams who failed to qualify were 2002 third-placed team Turkey , quarter-finalists Senegal , Euro 2004 winners Greece and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations winners Egypt . Additionally, Belgium failed to qualify for
16641-665: Was the start of FIFA's professional era, and is the reason why Uruguay is allowed to wear 4 stars . Due to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, with President Jules Rimet as the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a world championship. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay as
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