FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup
Founded	1930
Region	Worldwide
Number of teams	32 (finals) 210 (eligible to enter qualification)
Tournament information
Current champions	Argentina (3rd title)
Most successful team(s)	Brazil (5 titles)
Current
Website	Official website

The FIFA World Cup (also called the Football World Cup, the Soccer World Cup, or simply the World Cup) is an international football competition contested by members of the International Federation of Association Football, better known as FIFA. It has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was canceled due to the Second World War.

Format

The current format of the tournament involves 32 teams competing for the title. A qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, is used to determine which teams qualify for the tournament. The hosts of the tournament qualify automatically.

For the final tournament the qualified 32 teams are split into eight groups, this is known as the Group Stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a group. Since 1994, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same 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. 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. The table below shows how the knockout stage works.

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Winner Group A

Runner-up Group B

Winner of R16 1

Winner of R16 2

Winner Group C

Runner-up Group D

Winner of QF 1

Winner of QF 2

Winner Group E

Runner-up Group F

Winner of R16 3

Winner of R16 4

Winner Group G

Runner-up Group H

Winner of SF 1

Winner of SF 2

Winner Group B

Runner-up Group A

Winner of R16 5

Winner of R16 6

Winner Group D

Runner-up Group C

Winner of QF 3

Winner of QF 4

Third place

Winner Group F

Runner-up Group E

Winner of R16 7

Loser of SF 1

Winner of R16 8

Loser of SF 2

Winner Group H

Runner-up Group G

Trophy

The World Cup is a gold trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup. Since the advent of the World Cup in 1930, two trophies have represented victory. The Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970, and the FIFA World Cup Trophy from 1974 to the present day.

Below is a table containing all eight winners of the World Cup and awarded trophies.

Country	Jules Rimet Trophy	FIFA World Cup	Total
Brazil	3	2	5
Italy	2	2	4
Germany	1	3	4
Argentina	0	3	3
Uruguay	2	0	2
France	0	2	2
England	1	0	1
Spain	0	1	1
Total	9	12	21

Results

Year	Host	Winners	Runners-up	Third Place	Fourth Place
1930	Uruguay	Uruguay (1st title)	Argentina	United States
1934	Italy	Italy (1st title)	Czech Republic	Germany
1938	France	Italy (2nd title)	Hungary	Brazil
1950	Brazil	Uruguay (2nd title)	Brazil	Sweden
1954	Switzerland	Germany (1st title)	Hungary	Austria
1958	Sweden	Brazil (1st title)	Sweden	France
1962	Chile	Brazil (2nd title)	Czech Republic	Chile
1966	England	England (1st title)	Germany	Portugal
1970	Mexico	Brazil (3rd title)	Italy	Germany
1974	Germany	Germany (2nd title)	Netherlands	Poland
1978	Argentina	Argentina (1st title)	Netherlands	Brazil
1982	Spain	Italy (3rd title)	Germany	Poland
1986	Mexico	Argentina (2nd title)	Germany	France
1990	Italy	Germany (3rd title)	Argentina	Italy	England
1994	United States	Brazil (4th title)	Italy	Sweden	Bulgaria
1998	France	France (1st title)	Brazil	Croatia	Netherlands
2002	South Korea & Japan	Brazil (5th title)	Germany	Turkey	South Korea
2006	Germany	Italy (4th title)	France	Germany	Portugal
2010	South Africa	Spain (1st title)	Netherlands	Germany	Uruguay
2014	Brazil	Germany (4th title)	Argentina	Netherlands	Brazil
2018	Russia	France (2nd title)	Croatia	Belgium	England
2022	Qatar	Argentina (3rd title)	France	Croatia	Morocco
2026	Canada Mexico United States	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

Golden Ball

The Golden Ball award is presented to the best player of each World Cup. Those who finish as runners-up in the vote receive the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball awards as the second and third most outstanding players in the tournament respectively.

World Cup	Golden Ball	Silver Ball	Bronze Ball
1930 Uruguay	José Nasazzi	Guillermo Stábile	José Andrade
1934 Italy	Giuseppe Meazza	Matthias Sindelar	Oldřich Nejedlý
1938 France	Leônidas	Silvio Piola	György Sárosi
1950 Brazil	Zizinho	Juan Schiaffino	Ademir
1954 Switzerland	Ferenc Puskás	Sándor Kocsis	Fritz Walter
1958 Sweden	Didi	Pelé	Just Fontaine
1962 Chile	Garrincha	Josef Masopust	Leonel Sánchez
1966 England	Bobby Charlton	Bobby Moore	Eusébio
1970 Mexico	Pelé	Gérson	Gerd Muller
1974 West Germany	Johan Cruijff	Franz Beckenbauer	Kazimierz Deyna
1978 Argentina	Mario Kempes	Paolo Rossi	Dirceu
1982 Spain	Paolo Rossi	Falcão	Karl Rummenigge
1986 Mexico	Diego Maradona	Harald Schumacher	Preben Elkjær
1990 Italy	Salvatore Schillaci	Lothar Matthäus	Diego Maradona
1994 United States	Romário	Roberto Baggio	Hristo Stoichkov
1998 France	Ronaldo	Davor Šuker	Lilian Thuram
2002 Korea/Japan	Oliver Kahn	Ronaldo	Hong Myung-Bo
2006 Germany	Zinedine Zidane	Fabio Cannavaro	Andrea Pirlo
2010 South Africa	Diego Forlán	Wesley Sneijder	David Villa
2014 Brazil	Lionel Messi	Thomas Müller	Arjen Robben
2018 Russia	Luka Modrić	Eden Hazard	Antoine Griezmann
2022 Qatar	Lionel Messi	Kylian Mbappé	Luka Modrić
2026 Canada/Mexico/USA	TBD	TBD	TBD

Future World Cups

2026 FIFA World Cup

The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and United States. It will be the first World Cup hosted by three nations.