Football or soccer is arguably the most popular sports in the world. It is evident from the fact that almost all the countries in the world are members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international regulating authority of football. FIFA is responsible for hosting all the international soccer matches around the world. Now among all the international football events, nothing comes closer to the magnitude of the World Cup of football. Organized in every four years, the FIFA World Cup or the Football World Cup is by far the biggest footballing event in the world. So great is the stage of the World Cup that nearly 200 countries from all around the globe take part these days in the qualifying matches. The countries that win the qualifying rounds get the opportunity to play in the prestigious finals of the World Cup. The stage is a gigantic one, with millions of soccer lovers having their eyes glued to television. The venue of a given edition of the World Cup also gets much global attention from the sponsors and football pundits. Taking a long hard look at the World Cup history is going to tell you about the kind of popularity and fanaticism this event has been generating for such a long time. The World Cup history is also reminiscent of many great footballers who truly set the world stage ablaze with panache and grace.
You need to date back to 1930 to trace the World Cup history of soccer. The then FIFA president Jules Rimet took the initiative to arrange for a tournament that would assume a global significance in terms of the number of participating teams. Accordingly, the maiden edition of the World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. A paltry number of 13 nations participated in this event – four from the European continent and seven from South America and two countries from North America. Initially the European countries were a bit reluctant to take part in the event. It was because it cost a great deal of money to travel to the other side of the Atlantic to take part in the World Cup. Eventually France, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Romania agreed to go for the long trip. This part of the World Cup history is very interesting as it is unthinkable in modern times. There are so many things at stake in the World Cup that no nation can afford to turn down the offers of World Cup participation. However, the host Uruguay won the first World Cup, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final.
The concept of adopting a mascot and official logo came into being for the first time in 1962. In fact it was the first time in World Cup history that FIFA arranged for financial sponsors as means to increase revenues.
Brazil enjoys the coveted distinction of winning the World Cup for maximum number of times. Another of the Latin American giant Argentina have also won the World title twice. Countries such as Italy, France and Germany have also won the trophy for more than a single occasion. So far no Asian country has managed to overcome the final barrier.
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