Football World Cup

The Football World Cup (official name: FIFA World Cup) is the most important competition in international football (soccer). Organised by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's governing body, the World Cup finals tournament is the most widely-viewed and followed sporting event in the world, more so than even the Olympic Games.

Related Topics:
Football - FIFA - Olympic Games

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The finals tournament is held every four years, but the World Cup competition itself takes place over a three-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 the past, the host country and current world champions automatically qualified for the next World Cup, but from 2006 on only the hosts will get an automatic berth.

Related Topics:
1998 - 2006

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Over 200 nations have competed for the World Cup, but only eleven nations have made it to the final matches, and of those eleven only seven national teams have actually won. As a consequence of this exclusiveness, the World Cup inspires a great deal of enthusiasm and national pride amongst the tournament's fans.

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Six of the seven past world champions have won while playing in their homeland, and nations actively lobby to be selected as World Cup hosts. The only previous winner not

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to have won on home ground is the otherwise extremely successful Brazil, who famously lost the deciding match when they hosted the 1950 tournament. Even traditionally "weaker" nations have been successful during their spell as hosts, most recently South Korea, who made it to the semifinals while hosting the 2002 World Cup. Both England ({{Wc|1966}}) and France ({{Wc|1998}}) won their only World Cups whilst playing as host nations.

Related Topics:
Brazil - 1950 - South Korea - 2002 World Cup - England - France

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The next football World Cup will be held in Germany in 2006.

Related Topics:
Germany - 2006

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