Football World Cup

The finals tournament is held every four years, but the World Cup competition itself takes place over a two year period. Over 160 national teams compete in regional qualifying tournaments for a place in the finals. The finals tournament now involves 32 national teams (increased from 24 in 1998) competing over a 4 week period in a previously nominated host nation. A recent innovation has allowed more than one country to act as joint hosts.

In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the Jules Rimet trophy. A new trophy was then designed. Argentina, Germany (both times as West Germany), and Brazil have all won the second trophy twice. However, the current trophy will not be retired until the name plaque has been entirely filled with the names of winning nations. This will not happen until 2038.

Brazil, by a clear margin, are the most successful World Cup team overall, having won the tournament five times in total and finished as runners-up twice. Germany, three-time winners (as West Germany) and four-time runners-up (three times as West Germany), are next, while Italy have also won three trophies. Argentina and Uruguay are both two-time World Champions, although Uruguay's two successes came rather a long time ago, in the early years of the tournament.

The first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay and ran from July 13- 30, 1930.

The next World Cup finals will be held in Germany, in 2006.

Football World Cup Tournaments

Year	Host		Winner	Runner up	Score		3rd Place	4th Place	Score
1930	Uruguay		Uruguay	Argentina	4-2		USA & Yugoslavia	-----none-----	n/a
1934	Italy		Italy	Czechoslovakia	2-1(aet)		Germany	Austria	3-2
1938	France		Italy	Hungary	4-2		Brazil	Sweden	4-2
1950	Brazil		Uruguay	Brazil	n/a1		Sweden	Spain	n/a
1954	Switzerland		West Germany	Hungary	3-2		Austria	Uruguay	3-1
1958	Sweden		Brazil	Sweden	5-2		France	West Germany	6-3
1962	Chile		Brazil	Czechoslovakia	3-1		Chile	Yugoslavia	1-0
1966	England		England	West Germany	4-2(aet)		Portugal	USSR	2-1
1970	Mexico		Brazil	Italy	4-1		West Germany	Uruguay	1-0
1974	West Germany		West Germany	Netherlands	2-1		Poland	Brazil	1-0
1978	Argentina		Argentina	Netherlands	3-1(aet)		Brazil	Italy	2-1
1982	Spain		Italy	West Germany	3-1		Poland	France	3-2
1986	Mexico		Argentina	West Germany	3-2(aet)		France	Belgium	4-2(aet)
1990	Italy		West Germany	Argentina	1-0		Italy	England	2-1
1994	United States		Brazil	Italy	0-0(pen 3-2)		Sweden	Bulgaria	4-0
1998	France		France	Brazil	3-0		Croatia	Netherlands	2-1
2002	S. Korea & Japan		Brazil	Germany	2-0		Turkey	South Korea	3-2
2006	Germany
2010	Africa2

* aet: after extra time; pen: result decided by penalties. In 1950 there was no final or third place play off.

¹ There was no official World Cup final match in 1950, however Uruguay's '2-1 defeat of Brazil put them ahead on points and ensured that they won the tournament.
'2 For the 2010 World Cup; FIFA are only accepting bids from African nations. So far Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia have shown an interest in hosting the competition.

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