FIFA World Cup is Close
The FIFA World Cup is Close by Daniel Millions
Held every four years, the FIFA World Cup is probably one
the most renown and popular sports tournaments in the world.
The soccer tournament takes place in one or two countries
over a four week period in which thirty-two teams compete
against each other to claim the title of world champions.
The most recent world cup was held in Germany in 2006, in
which Italy were proclaimed as the winners after defeating
France in a penalty shoot-out.
Origins of the World Cup: The first World Cup tournament was
held in Uruguay in 1930. The first tournament was difficult
to establish because of the location. The organizers
struggled to attract European nations to send teams to South
America to contest the tournament. Eventually, the
tournament took place with thirteen teams involved; nine
from the Americas and four from Europe. The first final was
contested between the hosts and Argentina, with Uruguay
winning 4-2.
The early competitions were troubled by the difficulties of
transportation and frequent interruptions caused by war.
Many countries refused to participate, as it would involve
playing soccer matches against teams that either they did
not recognize or had been in conflict with in the recent
past. After World War Two many of these problems were
removed and FIFA was able to organize credible and
professional tournaments much easily.
The Modern World Cup: The World Cup is essentially organized
in two distinct parts; the qualification stage and the
finals. The qualification stage takes place over a two year
period and runs concurrently with each nation's domestic
soccer season. Teams are divided into regions: Europe, South
America, Asia, Africa, Oceania and the North American and
Caribbean regions.
Within these regions the countries are drawn into groups and
will play each other home and away. The exact qualification
method differs from region to region, but usually the top
team in each group qualifies for the World Cup Finals and
the runner-up competes in a play-off for the last remaining
qualifying positions.
The World Cup Finals themselves are held in a different
country on each occasion. Sometimes, FIFA has selected two
countries in the same vicinity to host the tournament; for
example, South Korea and Japan hosted in 2002.
The finals are contested between thirty-two nations divided
into eight groups. They play each other once and the top two
teams qualify for the knock out stages. There follows three
further rounds that are decided by one match. If the match
is level, the game will be decided on penalties.
Past Winners of the World Cup: Brazil is the most successful
team in the history of the World Cup, having won the
tournament a record five times. Italy's recent victory in
2006 has brought them close to equaling the record with four
successes. Remarkably, the World Cup has only been won by
seven different countries over the eighteen tournaments so
far. Germany, Uruguay, Argentina, France and England
complete the list.
The Future of the World Cup: The next World Cup will be held
in the South Africa in 2010. This will be the first time
that the tournament will be held on the African continent.
After a series of promising performances by Cameroon,
Senegal and Nigeria in recent tournaments, many soccer
experts are predicting that one of these nations may be able
to win the Word Cup next time.
About the Author
Livescore and iScores professional sports scores.
ADVERTISING:
Google Adsense (Jasa Pembuatan Website dan Account Google Adsense -Murah)