Asia Cup Cricket: Dhoni’s men Crush Lankan Tigers to become Asian Champions
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Posted By: Michelle Beckett
Posted In: Cricket
3 hours, 4 minute(s) ago
Asia Cup Cricket: Dhoni’s men Crush Lankan Tigers to become Asian Champions
Indian seam bowlers played a pivotal role in the success of their team in the Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka. With the victory, the pressure is off MS Dhoni and his bowlers as they win for the fourth time in their last seven finals. The Indian seam attack made considerable improvements coming into this match. And with conditions of Dambulla supporting movement of ball, it is not surprising to see Sri Lankan batsmen struggling against trio of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar.
Indian fast bowlers were instrumental in restricting the hosts as they enjoyed bowling on a track that offered movement, bounce and consequently wickets. Sri Lanka coming into this match with an earlier win over India was looking bit over-confident and didn’t attack as they have done in their earlier contest. And with the absence of performances such as Mahroof’s hat-trick in their last match, it was evident that Dhoni’s men were there to dominate the proceedings.
India started the innings in a shaky manner as Gautam Gambhir failed to capitalize on a decent start as he was poorly run out. Sri Lanka, who fielded brilliantly in the last match failed miserably as they dropped a number of catches early in the innings. Capitalizing on the hosts’ incompetence in the field, Karthik seized the initiative for India as he accelerated the score for India. With the dismissal of Dhoni in the 33rd over, India was 167-4. Instead of attacking the Indians, Sangakkara kept on using his part timers which cost the Tigers heavily as new Indian batsmen, in-form Raina and Rohit Sharma steered India to a respectable total. After 50 overs, India scored 268 for 6 with Karthik as top scorer with 66.
In response, Sri Lanka started disastrously as they lost most of their top order in the first 15-overs. Indian seam bowlers did the most damage as trio of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar took collectively 5 wickets. Kumar struck for India in opening over as he removed danger man Dilshan. After the dismissal of Dilshan, Sangakkara and Tharanga found it difficult to cope with onslaughts of Kumar and Zaheer khan.
Zaheer’s in-swinger hit the top of the stumps as Tharanga failed to judge the bounce and movement and left the delivery. Nehra was introduced in the attack by Dhoni and he responded by removing Mathews in the 14th over leaving Sri Lanka 49 for 3. He then struck again in 16th over when he removed skipper Sangakkara. But his best deliveries came against Chamara Kapugedera, who failed repeatedly to read Nehra’s balls. Kapugedera and Kulasekara provided some respite to hosts in form of a good partnership but they could not save the former Asian Champions as Sri Lanka crumbled to 187 awarding Indians victory by a margin of 81 runs. Kapugedera was top scorer for Sri Lankans with unbeaten 55.
This was a repeat of the final two years ago. The totals and victory margin are almost the same but the winner is different. Indian bowlers were responsible for turning the match but Karthik was awarded man of the match for his solid batting performance.
Dhoni looked satisfied as they had had a great campaign with only one loss. Talking at the post match ceremony, he said, “This was a very satisfying win for us since we won three out of four games. It was an important tournament, four of the best sides were playing, and each side was quite balanced, overall happy with the performance”. Commenting on his decision to bat first, he said, “The guys were pumped-up to perform. It was a good toss to win, conditions were ideal for batting. It got a bit slower as the game progressed and it started doing a bit under the lights, the fast bowlers made the most out of it”.
India will be leaving Sri Lanka after being crowned as new Asian Champions. For Sri Lanka, it was utter disappointment as they not only failed to defend their title but also lost in front of their home crowd.
2.India emerge winners as Pakistan exits Asia Cup 2010 fighting
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Posted By: Michelle Beckett
Posted In: Cricket
4 days, 14 hour(s) ago
India emerge winners as Pakistan exits Asia Cup 2010 fighting
In a game that lived up to its hype and expectation, yesterdays game between Pakistan and India went down to the wire as both sides displayed excellent cricketing skills and showed the world just why they are so good at cricket.
One can safely say that the match was evenly poised up till the last over when India required 3 runs of 2 balls. Harbhajan Singh then came to the occasion and smashed the penultimate ball from Mohammad Aamer for a six as India knocked Pakistan out of the Asia Cup with a three-wicket win
Pakistan batting first posted a total of 267 as both their openers gave them a good start and the middle order batsmen all contributed and played their role. At the end of their innings it was suspected that they were perhaps 10-15 runs short of what they could have made. This was exactly the case as India won with only one ball to spare as they scored 52 runs in the last five over’s.
India will now be meeting hosts Sri Lanka in the final to be played on the 24th of June and before that the two sides will face each other on Tuesday in the last game of the draw. Pakistan and Bangladesh, who have not won a match yet and thus stand eliminated, will play each other for a consolatory win as they meet on Monday.
India’s batting started solid as both opener Gautam Gambhir and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni clicked at the time that mattered most for their team. However to their disappointment they could not finish the match. As just when they were cruising home, Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal managed to get the wicket of Gambhir, thus, triggering a middle-order collapse with four wickets falling and only 39 runs being added to the scoreboard.
With this Pakistan got back into the game, however India managed to get back their concentration right in time as both Raina and Harbhajan stepped in to lead India's recovery and crush Pakistan’s hopes of an Asia Cup.
Despite Pakistan emerging as the eventual losing side one must add that the country, the fans and the captain could not have asked for a better display of cricket. It always does become hard to come to terms with such a loss especially when u get so close and yet so far. Pakistan unfortunately have been victims of this twice in a short span (the T-20 semi final loss to Australia). Captain Afridi however remains satisfied about his team’s performance and despite the loss praises the Indians for holding their nerves and winning.
As quoted before and is usually the case in such high pressure matches, controlling ones nerves in such situations is usually key to success. Yesterday, the Indians managed just that as they sailed their way into the finals of the Asia Cup.
There can never be a Pakistan-India came where you do not come across an exchange of hot words between players. This emotional intensity was witnessed yet again yesterday. During the match verbal clashes between Harbhajan Singh and Shoaib Akhtar and earlier between Kamran Akmal and Gautam Gambhir were witnessed. On both the occasions the field umpires, Billy Bowden and Billy Doctrove had to intervene.
Pakistan’s former captain and wicket keeper, Moin Khan says that a lack of cricket between the two countries is a major reason for this as both teams have to wait too long to seek revenge. Before yesterdays’ Asia Cup match, Pakistan last met India in September, last year, in the Champions Trophy in South Africa and Pakistan had won.
Harbhajan known for his in-disciplinary antics had a spat with Shoaib Akhtar in the finals stages of the match. While, earlier in the innings Gautam Gambhir featured in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with Pakistan’s wicket-keeper. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shoaib Akhtar had to separate the two.
The team managers say that the match referee had a chat with the players from both sides and decided not to charge them as he felt it was a heat of the moment incident and even Pakistan’s captain Shahid Afridi played down the incident.
3. Pak vs India, Asia Cup: Pakistan Cricket Team Marred by Politics & Poor-Play
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Posted By: Michelle Beckett
Posted In: Cricket
5 days, 13 hour(s) ago
Pak vs India, Asia Cup: Pakistan Cricket Team Marred by Politics & Poor-Play
There was a time when Pakistan cricket team used to boast of superstars like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram and Saleem Malik, who used to play for a win, and win matches as well, but that was a long time ago.
The side hasn’t won a single One-Day match this year, and it is only because of politics - the one the country’s cricket board is involved in, and the one the players are a part of.
Despite the cricket team’s poor recent performance, the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ijaz Butt, is not being removed because his relatives are close to President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the Patron-in-Chief of the board. Butt and his yes men continue to take decisions that don’t have any logic; yet he is untouchable in the country.
The same goes for the cricket team, where planning takes a backseat. No one in his right mind would have discontinued Abdul Razzaq after he bowled 5 overs for just 18 runs. Nobody who understands cricket would have let Shoaib Akhtar bowl the penultimate over. No selector would have selected Kamran Akmal in the side due to his hopeless performance. However, all of this was part of the Pakistan India match that usually makes the Asia Cup one of the most interesting tournaments in the world.
Pakistan continued its wretched form in the tournament, and crashed out of the event’s tenth edition with one match to play. The Pakistan and Bangladesh clash will mean nothing since India and Sri Lanka, two teams with better captains, safe fielders, dependable lower order batsmen and a wicketkeeper who drops lesser catches, have already made it to the finals.
If one compares Pakistan and India after today’s match, one can find only one difference - common sense. Salman Butt once again proved that despite being one of the most stylish batsmen in the world, he can self destruct at any given time. His decision to take a single when the ball was in the hands of the bowler was illogical, improper, and meaningless. Yet it cost Pakistan the match because after his dismissal, no batsman except Kamran Akmal was able to make use of the batting-friendly conditions.
Comparatively, Gautam Gambhir played a more sensible knock because like Salman Butt, who opened with the shaky Imran Farhat, Gambhir also had a partner in Virender Sehwag who seemed out of sorts. Yet Gambhir played well, converting singles into doubles and striking the odd boundary. He was also supported by his middle order batsmen unlike the Pakistan side, where constant shuffling in the batting order saw no one score big.
Umar Amin, the left hander who made his debut against Sri Lanka at number 3, came in at number 5 today, while Shoaib Malik, who had refused to come at number 3 after the Champions Trophy last year, came and went without impressing anyone except wife Sania Mirza, who is an Indian tennis star.
Similarly, Umar Akmal might be a good batsman but he is no Kevin Pietersen, and if he wants to stay in the side, he will have to first learn to play it right, and then innovatively. His unusual dismissal for the second time in as many matches might get him nowhere except the record books where there is a position vacant: about player with most consecutive unusual dismissals.
As for the bowling, fast men were hit for runs even though the wicket wasn’t unsupportive; the Pakistanis seemed more generous than their opponents in gifting runs. India gave only 11 extras, which included 5 leg byes, whereas the Pakistani bowlers gave away as many as 24, with 15 runs coming from leg byes, and the rest from wide balls and no balls at crucial stages of the match.
Shoaib Akhtar couldn’t bowl at his usual pace - a fact that will leave the selectors rethinking their decision - because he was limping at the end, couldn’t bowl at a stretch and seemed a force well past his best!
Fielding proved to be the biggest difference between both sides. While the Indians jumped around, took catches and hit the stumps regularly, this was only occasionally the case for Pakistan. With the team for the Twenty20 matches in England to be announced on Sunday, Pakistan selectors might make some big changes and take players with potential rather than big names with no recent performance to help them.
4. Cricket News: India win Asia Cup 2010, Australia lose against England
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Posted By: Michelle Beckett
Posted In: Cricket
5 hours, 38 minute(s) ago
Cricket News: India win Asia Cup 2010: Australia lose against England
On a day that mattered most, India's seam attack lived up to the occasion as they helped the men in blue win the all important Asia Cup 2010, knocking over tournament favourites and the only undefeated team in the series, SriLanka.
The victory meant that extra something for the Indians as only two days ago they were subjected to humiliation at the hands of the same team whom they now won the Trophy against and thus having the last say in the tournament with the history books now reflecting India as the ultimate winners of the 2010 Asia Cup. As a result, when one would look back at the series, the only thing that would mater is the winner, despite whatever happened throughout the series, as the ones with the Asia Cup are the ones who are remembered.
The victory also meant that India won the Asia cup after 6 years, winning their last Asia Cup trophy in 2004 and also denying SriLanka a hat-trick of Asia Cup victories.
To India’s advantage, they won the toss and elected to bat first and thus bowled under lights with conditions that supported all of their seamers.
Ashish Nehra lead the bowling charge as he bowled superbly, moving the bowl both ways of the seam. He got that extra bounce and thus left the SriLankan batsmen completely bamboozled which eventually lead to a batting collapse of the tournament favourites, SriLanka, who lost wickets at regular intervals.
All three of the pacers, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra bowled a good, tight line throughout their spells and thus did not give the SriLankan batsmen any room to experiment.
Looking back at the match in detail, Sri Lanka bowling first did well initially to restrict the Indians however the difference was that they could not finish the job as India managed to bat through their allotted quota of 50 over’s and thus posting a challenging total of 268 for the SriLankan batsmen to chase.
It was a disappointing day for SriLanka as their worst nightmare came to life and on the all important day of the final, they were sloppy in the fielding department and even the SriLankan batsmen never looked to be in the chase. They lost their openers and even their inform batsmen Tillakaratne Dilshan early on in the innings.
As a result of this early collapse, the Indians did not lose their grip on the affairs of the match as they managed to get wickets at regular intervals and eventually won the game comfortably by 81-runs.
For India, Dinesh Karthik was the top-scorer, making 66 runs. In the bowling department, Ashish Nehra claimed four wickets as he played a key role in reducing the hosts to 51-5 in only the 16th over of the final as the entire SriLankan team collapsed by the 45th over.
In the other match of the day, England capitalized on their first match victory by putting another win under their belt as they now lead the 5 match series 2-0.
The victory for the English side yesterday was a result of an overall team effort as both the bowlers and the batsmen complimented each other in their respective areas of expertise, helping England cruise to a victory against Australia who batting first, posting a total score of 239 in their allotted 50 overs.
Strauss, Pietersen and Collinwood were the main anchors of the English batting helping the English sail to victory.
For Australia, it was a rare ordinary outing as their batsmen struggled to time the ball. However all credit must be given to the English bowlers who noticed this bit of hesitancy and thus took great advantage of the situations and kept bowling with a disciplined line and length.
The 2-0 score line would now make it a touch difficult however not impossible for Australia to come back and win the series. Their batting is missing that Australian spark and thus the bowlers despite their efforts are being unable to defend the small totals.
But Australia does have that knack of rising to the occasion and with their backs against the wall one could be sure that in the next outing we can expect something different from the kangaroos.
5. Match Day: Pakistan takes on India in Asia Cup 2010
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Posted By: Daniel Smith
Posted In: Cricket
6 days, 2 hour(s) ago
Match Day: Pakistan takes on India in Asia Cup 2010
Team Pakistan will be meeting their arch rivals India at the Rangiri Dambulla in Sri Lanka as both teams are looking forwards to a win. The stakes are quite high as any team winning today’s match will make it to the finals of the Asia cup 2010. Pakistan will be meeting India on the fields of cricket after eight months and the atmosphere in both the dressing rooms, the stands and the ground itself is expected to be a historically proven intense one.
When Shahid Afridi’s men in green step into the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium today against Mahindra Singh Dhoni’s men in blue, it is assured that the entire world will be watching. Today’s game is expected to be the prime focus in Pakistan nd India despite the football World Cup running in South Africa.
Both the teams last met at the Champions Trophy in September and in that instance the Pakistanis had the better of India. Thus this time around in today’s all important match as a loss for Pakistan would mean an Asia Cup exit, Dhoni’s men would be itching to take their revenge and also in the process eliminating the men in green from the tournament.
However, Pakistan is no push overs as they can be dangerously volatile. When put in a do-or-die situation, the men in green tend to bring out their best game. A classic display of their unpredictability was evident not so long ago when Pakistan comprehensively beat the South Africans and had a very close match with the Australians in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.
Also to make matter worse for the Indians, a determined and aggressive Afridi, the twin power of the Akmal brothers, who are single-handedly capable of turning around matches when the chips are down. Combining the batting prowess of Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik will make it a touch difficult for the struggling Indian bowlers to curb Pakistan’s run flow.
With every said on paper, India still have a superior batting unit. Their batting runs down deep with even Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan capable of pulling their side out of a crisis like situation if the match demands so. Then they also have the likes of Virender Sehwag who has a good record against the Pakistani’s and the flamboyant Gautam Gambhir who just made an excellent 82 against Bangladesh.
But what about the bowling department? This is one department where Pakistan definitely has an edge over the Indians is the pace and spin they.
Shoaib Akhtar has returned to the side and in his first game against the SriLankan team. He looked impressive which is why he will be a key bowler against India. Pakistan also has the services of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer who could very well pose problems if they back their ability to move the ball with accuracy.
When it comes to spin, Pakistan may use Captain Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik - both of whom were brilliant against the SriLankan’s in the opening match of the Asia Cup 2010.
For India, the bowling department is not that exciting as an uncertain cloud hangs over Ashish Nehra’s fitness. If he doesn’t play today, then Zaheer Khan will be India’s main attacking bowler. Harbhajan Singh, who has been bowling well of late, can be an asset for the Indian side. However, the way Afridi dealt with Muralitharan the other day, it is assured that fireworks have been prepared for Pakistani batsmen once the spinner starts to operate.
So with all said we can now sit back and wait for the greatest moments in cricketing history to be once again be written today. Pakistan batmen Shoaib Malik has 1685 runs under his belt against India and even Salman Butt enjoys his time at the crease against the Indian as he is only 82 runs away from the 1000-run mark against them.
Historically, India and Pakistan have faced off against each other on eight different occasions in the Asia Cup, where India has won three times and Pakistan on four occasions with one match ending in a draw. So statistically, Pakistan remains the favourite team for today.
6. Cricket Update: England Destroys Australia again, is England the Next Power House of Cricket
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Posted By: Michelle Beckett
Posted In: Cricket
4 hours, 8 minute(s) ago
Cricket Update: England Destroys Australia again, is England the Next Power House of Cricket
Australia was once again at the losing end, as England crushed them comfortably to record their second win of the series. If it was Eoin Morgan who was nemeses for Aussies in the first match, then it was Broad, who demolished Australian batting line up this time. Despite Broad’s heroics, this victory is attributed to professional approach and play of the English, as they clinically finished Australians.
Australian batsmen struggled to cope with English onslaughts in Cardiff, Wales as they posted a modest total of 239, which was easily chased by England with the loss of 6 wickets. Moreover, with this loss, England is in stronger position as they lead the series 2-0 and with pathetic performance of the Australian batsmen in first two matches, it is unlikely they can change things around.
Broad struck early in Australian innings as he removed Tim Paine, who was caught at leg side by Craig Kieswetter. Paine came in the match as replacement of injured wicket keeper Brad Haddin but failed to make any significant impact. He then removed Australian skipper Rick Ponting for 13, also caught by Kieswetter. Clark was Broad’s next victim as he was caught by Swann in short leg for 1. After losing early wickets, Australia found some respite in form of Cameroon White and Smith. Both of these batsmen are famous for hard hitting. But they gave untypical performance as they battled to find the boundaries. This can be substantiated from the fact that both of them scored just 33 runs in batting power play later in the innings. Smith made 41 where as White scored unbeaten 86 from 98 balls.
England started their chase in formidable fashion as Clint Mckay, who was replacement of Josh Hazlewood sent two no balls. In response, Andrew Strauss murdered the free hits to give England an accelerated start. Strauss was instrumental in steering and stabilizing English innings as he developed 68- run second-wicket partnership with in-form Kevin Pietersen. Strauss scored 51 before he was bowled and caught by Nathan Hauritz. Pietersen scored 33 off 38 when he was removed on the bowling of Steven Smith but through brilliant catch of Ricky Ponting. Later, Morgan and Collingwood steered England close to target without facing any stiff resistance from Australian bowlers. During his innings, Collingwood changed the history books as he became the highest run-scorer for England in ODIs. Collingwood departed for 48 and Morgan for 52 but after bringing England closer to victory. Swann finished the innings with style as he hit six over mid-wicket with 28 balls to spare.
England is now one win away from sealing the series. Moreover, if they win the series, they will for the first time established their dominance over Australia in all three forms of cricket. They first defeated Aussies in Ashes, then they won the T20 championship and now they are close to winning ODI series. Commenting on their victory, English skipper Andrew Strauss said, “Australia have had a very good 12 months or so, and they played well against us last summer, but ultimately that was last summer. Times have moved on, and I'm happy with where we are as a side at the moment.” Meanwhile, man of the match, Stuart Broad said, “The most pleasing thing was the way we adapted as a bowling unit. I think the first couple of overs didn't go to plan, but we communicated about the best ways to go, and we tried to bowl as straight as possible because players thrive on a bit of width these days.”
Australia needs to re-evaluate their strategy if they want to salvage any success in this series. They need to find weak points of their English counterparts; otherwise, England will easily wrap up the series in the next match. After many years, England is on high as they have finally established dominance over their arch-rivals in all forms of cricket.
Friday, June 25, 2010
FIFA world cup
A German view on English football
Page last updated at 11:22 GMT, Friday, 25 June 2010 12:22 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version By Marcus Schuler
Bavarian Public Broadcasting, Munich
There are high hopes for the German team, their youngest in 76 years I'm not allowed to attach a German flag to our car. That's my wife's decree.
Never mind that millions of German men have cars sporting nice flags of black, red and gold. My wife calls it nationalism. My wife does not understand football.
No, I'm not a nationalist. I love football, but only when it comes to the World Cup. I don't follow the Bundesliga at all, like many of my countrymen.
But during a World Cup we'll wave flags and wear silly wigs painted black, red and gold.
However, playing England is nobody's idea of fun. We all still remember that awful moment.
You know, the one with the Russian referee. Ball behind the line? Every German has seen this clip a million times.
Continue reading the main story No German team likes to play the Dutch. But England - that should be a fascinating feast of football
Marcus Schuler
That's why we're not keen to play England. By the way: Who is the referee on Sunday? Is he Russian? If yes, I'll need a forest of flags.
What I don't understand, though, are newspaper headlines like The Sun's "Get Ready for Germ Warfare".
We have nothing against the English. On the contrary: Lady Diana was our Queen Of Hearts, too.
I see little difference between the drinking habits of German and British football hooligans.
Hackneyed stereotypes
And anyway, when I talk to English friends about football, they never ever use words like "Blitzkrieg" or "Fritz".
I have no idea why British media, especially the tabloids, use these hackneyed stereotypes. Don't they know better?
World War II is long over. I was born in 1971.
Sunday's match between England and Germany will be their 28th The first foreign language I learned in school was English. And through exchange programmes I met plenty of humorous and lovely English students that were pretty much like us (apart from the watery beer they liked).
I suspect that British journalists rely on these stereotypes because they lack creativity.
There's only one match pairing that's like a red rag to a bull for us: Germany - Netherlands.
That would bring up plenty of bad memories. Everybody remembers when Frank Rijkaard spat at Rudi Voeller during the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
No German team likes to play the Dutch.
Feast of football
But England - that should be a fascinating feast of football: A classic, 90 minutes of highly-emotional fair play - with one winning team at the end.
ENGLAND v GERMANY FACTS
Continue reading the main story England and Germany have been in 27 matches together of which England has won 12 and Germany 10.
Germany's team is their youngest for 76 years, while England have their oldest squad ever to play in a World Cup.
Until 1990, Germany played as West and East Germany.
The first time the two teams met in a competitive match was at Wembley in the final of the 1966 World Cup - when England beat West Germany 4-2.
And this time it will be very exciting: Germany has one of the youngest teams in its footballing history.
The English have stars like Wayne Rooney - who doesn't score any more (hopefully). Oh, and there are our penalty shoot-out specialists.
Another opinion of a truly neutral party - the chef of our staff restaurant who is Swiss. His bet: Germany will win on Sunday. Why? "Your team is very young and is getting better with each game. And the English team isn't that good."
I disagree with him. Part of me hopes we lose against England.
After all, who wants to meet Argentina in the quarter final?
2' FIFA President invites Congress to continue working together into the future (FIFA.com) Thursday 10 June 2010
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The 60th FIFA Congress was held in Johannesburg today, 10 June 2010, just one day before the kick-off of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. Following updates on the past year in the football world, President Joseph S. Blatter invited the FIFA Congress to continue working together into the future and announced that he would be at the disposal of the Congress to run for another term in 2011 so as to be able to complete FIFA’s current mission.
During his opening address to the Congress, President Blatter reminded the attendees of the “House of Football” vision that he first presented in 1999, with programmes such as Goal, which have given the member associations their own headquarters and technical centres. President Blatter also reviewed the three pillars that currently make up FIFA’s mission: touch the world, develop the game and build a better future. “Today, we find a united football family which works together to achieve these goals,” he said.
In addition, the Congress received a review of FIFA’s finances over the past 15 years as well as an update on FIFA’s current positive financial situation (for more information, please refer to the FIFA Financial Report 2009 by clicking on the link to the right)
The member associations were informed that each association would receive an additional financial contribution from FIFA of USD 250,000 in 2010, and the six confederations learned that each confederation would receive an additional USD 2.5 million as a share in the success of FIFA’s 2009 financial results.
The Congress also ratified the decision taken by the Executive Committee to maintain the status quo regarding age eligibility for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament for 2012, 2016 and beyond. This means that U-23 players and an optional three additional over-age players per team will continue to be eligible for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament.
Furthermore, the Congress approved an amendment to the FIFA Statutes to create a legal basis for the establishment of normalisation committees for member associations in exceptional circumstances.
The FIFA Congress also confirmed the suspension of the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (BAFA), as proposed by the FIFA Executive Committee. As the chances of the BAFA being re-registered in the coming weeks have improved, the FIFA Congress also gave the FIFA Executive Committee the authority to lift this suspension if the BAFA is re-registered.
Finally, the delegates received presentations on:
the measures that are being put in place in the area of the protection of minors, including the registration of all players, whether they are playing in a club or an academy;
the application of the transfer matching system (TMS) for all international transfers, which is currently being implemented and will be mandatory for all member associations as of 1 October 2010;
the early warning system (EWS) and the fight against match-fixing in football;
the reform of the players’ agent system and the work being conducted to review the regulations;
doping control activities at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™;
the Football for Health programme and the activities that have been carried out, in particular in Africa, as part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™;
players’ eligibility for club competitions, which will continue to be examined in the scope of a multi-sport approach.
3. Assisting of referees tops agenda(FIFA.com) Tuesday 18 May 2010 Print Email my friend Share
Decisions taken at today’s Special Meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) led to some stimulating discussions during the subsequent press conference at the home of FIFA. Three issues in particular interested the media representatives present: the recent experiment with additional assistant referees, the role of the fourth official and feinting by players taking penalty kicks.
The principal discussion point concerned the extra assistants experiment, for which UEFA Europa League matches were used as a testing ground this season. The possibility of extending the experiment, on a voluntary basis, was authorised by the IFAB. “We wanted to maintain the principle of one referee on the field of play. But having rejected the use of technology in football, we decided that we would look at the option of additional assistant referees, whose role is to help the main referee. A trial period, over the next two seasons, has been approved – it’s an option, it’s not compulsory. We will leave it up to the Confederations and National Associations to continue conducting the trial,” explained Jerome Valcke, FIFA Secretary General.
“We’ve had the tests in the Europa League this season, over 205 games in total. In the context of all the football that’s played, it’s not a huge amount. Consequently, we haven’t seen enough evidence to say that it’s the best system,” clarified Irish Football Association (FA) President, Patrick Nelson.
“The general consensus during our meeting was that the results have certainly proved more favourable than negative – that’s why we’ve endorsed the idea that the trial will be extended,” added Jonathan Ford of the FA of Wales. "We’re also cogniscent of the fact that there are five Federations outside of Europe, and we wanted to give them the opportunity to run trials themselves,” concluded Nelson.
The scope of the fourth official’s duties was next on the agenda. For Valcke, enhancing these responsibilities is a way of providing additional help to the referee, who will remain the ultimate decision-maker: “The main change is that the fourth official can talk directly to the referee, in the event of him spotting something noteworthy on the pitch. His power has been expanded considerably; it’s now the same as that of assistant referees. But the head referee retains the authority to make the final decision on any aspect of the game.”
Finally, the issue of feinting by players at the conclusion of their penalty kick run-up – henceforth regarded as foul play and punishable by a yellow card – and the distinction with stop-start moves during their approach, raised several questions from the floor. “We saw some video examples this morning which make it obvious that it is very unfair. A player at the end of his run-up feigns to kick the ball, sending the goalkeeper in one direction, then pulls his foot back to kick the ball in the other direction – that is clearly unsporting. That is what has motivated the change,” noted Nelson.
“It’s considered unsporting behaviour and that is a cautionable offence,” pointed out George Peat of the Scottish FA. “It’s important to note that we are only talking about sanctioning players who stop, feign to hit the ball and then shoot, not those that hesitate or employ a stop-start motion during their run-up, without feigning to shoot. We will of course make sure that referees, players and coaches fully understand this amendment to the rules in time for the World Cup,” confirmed Valcke.
5. IFAB press briefing: streaming(FIFA.com) Tuesday 18 May 2010 Print Email my friend Share
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) today convened for a Special Meeting at the Home of FIFA, and the post-meeting press conference will soon be available to watch on FIFA.com.
The focal point of the meeting, which was chaired by FIFA and its President Joseph S. Blatter, was the final analysis of the experiment with additional assistant referees in the UEFA Europa League 2009/10.
Other items pending from this year's 124th Annual General Meeting, including Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct – Sending-off Offences), Law 14 (The Penalty Kick) and the role of the fourth official, were also discussed.
5. Laws
Laws of the Game 2010/2011
Beach Soccer Laws of the Game
Questions and Answers to the Futsal Laws of the Game
Futsal Laws of the Game
FIFA Tournament Regulations
Regulations FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011™
Regulations 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™
Regulations
Regulations FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Trinidad & Tobago 2010
Regulations FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009
Regulations FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009
Regulations FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009
Regulations FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009
Regulations FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009
Regulations FIFA Futsal World Cup Brazil 2008
Regulations Men's Olympic Football Tournament 2008
Miscellaneous Regulations
Regulations Governing the Admission of Associations to FIFA
Equipment Regulations
Guide to the Artificial Lighting for Football pitches
Football Stadiums: Technical recommendations and requirements - 4th Edition
FIFA Safety Regulations
Transfers, Player’s status, Clubs, Agents Regulations
Rules Governing the Procedures of the Players' Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) (2008)
Club Licensing Regulations
Regulations on the Status and Transfers of players (October 2009)
Commentary on the Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players
Players' Agents Regulations (2008)
Annex 6 of the Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players: Rules for the Status and Transfer of Futsal Players
Match Agents Regulations
Archived regulations
FIFA Statutes (edition 2008)
Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players (2008)
Rules Governing the Procedures of the Players' Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) (2005)
Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players (edition July 2005)Regulations
Process related to Rules of Conduct
Rules of Conduct
Standard Cooperation Agreement
National Dispute Resolution Chamber (NRDC) - Standard Regulations
Standard Electoral Code
FIFA Code of Ethics
6. FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking
Calculation of Points
FIFA World Ranking - Q&A
FIFA World Ranking (long)
FIFA World Ranking (short)
Top Team and Best Mover of the Year
FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking
FIFA Women's World Ranking
Big Count - Official Survey
Big Count Stats Package
Big Count Summary Report
Big Count Summary Report by Association
Big Count: FAQ
Big Count: FIFA Magazine article
7.Previous international competitions
The world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England,[2] with the first international tournament, the inaugural edition of the British Home Championship, taking place in 1884.[3] At this stage the sport was rarely played outside the United Kingdom. As football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at the turn of the century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics (however, the IOC has retroactively upgraded their status to official events), and at the 1906 Intercalated Games[citation needed].
After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906. These were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure.[4]
At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition. Planned by The Football Association (FA), England's football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain (represented by the England national amateur football team) won the gold medals. They repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm, where the tournament was organised by the Swedish Football Association[citation needed].
With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between individual clubs (not national teams) from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. The competition is sometimes described as The First World Cup,[5] and featured the most prestigious professional club sides from Italy, Germany and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be associated with the competition and declined the offer to send a professional team. Lipton invited West Auckland, an amateur side from County Durham, to represent England instead. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title. They were given the trophy to keep forever, as per the rules of the competition[citation needed].
In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a "world football championship for amateurs", and took responsibility for managing the event.[6] This paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and thirteen European teams, and won by Belgium.[7] Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928.
First World Cup
Estadio Centenario, the location of the first World Cup final in 1930 in Montevideo, UruguayDue to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, with President Jules Rimet the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a world championship organised by FIFA.[8] With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions (as 1924 was the start of FIFA's professional era) and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay as the host country of the inaugural World Cup tournament.
The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total thirteen nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.
The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously on 13 July 1930, and were won by France and USA, who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France.[9] In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and in doing so became the first nation to win the World Cup.[10]
World Cups before World War II
After the creation of the World Cup, the 1932 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles, did not plan to include football as part of the schedule due to the low popularity of the sport in the United States, as American football had been growing in popularity. FIFA and the IOC also disagreed over the status of amateur players, and so football was dropped from the Games.[11] Olympic football returned at the 1936 Summer Olympics, but was now overshadowed by the more prestigious World Cup.
The issues facing the early World Cup tournaments were the difficulties of intercontinental travel, and war. Few South American teams were willing to travel to Europe for the 1934 and 1938 tournaments, with Brazil the only South American team to compete in both. The 1942 and 1946 competitions were cancelled due to World War II and its aftermath.
World Cups after World War II
The 1950 World Cup, held in Brazil, was the first to include British participants. British teams withdrew from FIFA in 1920, partly out of unwillingness to play against the countries they had been at war with, and partly as a protest against foreign influence on football,[12] but rejoined in 1946 following FIFA's invitation.[13] The tournament also saw the return of 1930 champions Uruguay, who had boycotted the previous two World Cups. Uruguay won the tournament again by defeating the host nation Brazil in one of the most famous matches in World Cup history, which was later called the "Maracanazo" (Portuguese: Maracanaço).
Map of countries' best resultsIn the tournaments between 1934 and 1978, 16 teams competed in each tournament, except in 1938, when Austria was absorbed into Germany after qualifying, leaving the tournament with 15 teams, and in 1950, when India, Scotland and Turkey withdrew, leaving the tournament with 13 teams.[14] Most of the participating nations were from Europe and South America, with a small minority from North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. These teams were usually defeated easily by the European and South American teams. Until 1982, the only teams from outside Europe and South America to advance out of the first round were: USA, semi-finalists in 1930; Cuba, quarter-finalists in 1938; Korea DPR, quarter-finalists in 1966; and Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1970.
Expansion to 32 teams
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams in 1982,[15] and then to 32 in 1998,[16] allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part. In recent years, teams from these regions have enjoyed more success, and those who have reached the quarter-finals include: Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1986; Cameroon, quarter-finalists in 1990; Korea Republic, finishing in fourth place in 2002; and Senegal, along with USA, both quarter-finalists in 2002. European and South American teams have remained the stronger forces; for example, the quarter-finalists in 2006 were all from Europe or South America.
200 teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds; 198 nations attempted to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while a record 204 countries entered qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[17]
Other FIFA tournaments
An equivalent tournament for women's football, the FIFA Women's World Cup, was first held in 1991 in the People's Republic of China.[18] The women's tournament is smaller in scale and profile than the men's, but is growing; the number of entrants for the 2007 tournament was 120, more than double that of 1991.
Football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games except 1896 and 1932. Unlike many other sports, the men's football tournament at the Olympics is not a top-level tournament, and since 1992, an under-23 tournament with each team allowed three over-age players.[19] Women's football made its Olympic debut in 1996, and is contested between full national sides with no age restrictions.
The FIFA Confederations Cup is a tournament held one year before the World Cup at the World Cup host nation(s) as a dress-rehearsal for the upcoming World Cup. It is contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships, along with the FIFA World Cup champion and the host country.[20]
FIFA also organises international tournaments for youth football (FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup), club football (FIFA Club World Cup), and football variants such as futsal (FIFA Futsal World Cup) and beach soccer (FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup).
Trophy
Main article: FIFA World Cup Trophy
The FIFA World Cup Trophy on a German stampFrom 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winner. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament. In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983, and has never been recovered, apparently melted down by the thieves.[21]
After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven different countries, evaluated the 53 presented models, finally opting for the work of the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36 cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18 carat (75%) gold and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb). The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory."[22]
This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy until the next tournament and are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original.[23]
Format
Qualification
Main article: FIFA World Cup qualification
Since the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament.[24] They are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, and Europe), overseen by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams.
The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before the final tournament and last over a two-year period. The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations. Usually, one or two places are awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs. For example, the winner of the Oceanian zone and the fifth-placed team from the Asian zone entered a play-off for a spot in the 2010 World Cup.[25] From the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations had received automatic qualification to the final tournament. This right was also granted to the defending champions between 1938 and 2002, but was withdrawn from the 2006 FIFA World Cup onward, requiring the champions to qualify. Brazil, winners in 2002, thus became the first defending champions to play in a qualifying match.[26]
Final tournament
For the various formats used in previous tournaments, see History of the FIFA World Cup#Format of each final tournament.
The current final tournament features 32 national teams competing over a month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage.[27]
In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams each. Eight teams are seeded, including the hosts, with the other seeded teams selected using a formula based on the FIFA World Rankings and/or performances in recent World Cups, and drawn to separate groups.[28] The other teams are assigned to different "pots", usually based on geographical criteria, and teams in each pot are drawn at random to the eight groups. Since 1998, constraints have been applied to the draw to ensure that no group contains more than two European teams or more than one team from any other confederation.[29]
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.[30] The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout 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 (before, winners received two points).
The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:
a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as follows:
d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee (i.e. at random).[31]
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. It begins with the "round of 16" (or the second round) in which the winner of each group plays against the runner-up of another group. This is followed by the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final.[27]
Selection of hosts
Main article: FIFA World Cup hosts
Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress. The choice of location gave rise to controversies, a consequence of the three-week boat journey between South America and Europe, the two centres of strength in football. The decision to hold the first World Cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing.[32] The next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these, the 1938 FIFA World Cup, in France was controversial, as the American countries had been led to understand that the World Cup would rotate between the two continents. Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the tournament.[33]
Since the 1958 FIFA World Cup, to avoid future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began a pattern of alternating the hosts between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, was the first one held in Asia, and the only tournament with multiple hosts.[34] South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010. The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America since 1978,[35] and will be the first occasion where consecutive World Cups are held outside Europe.
Wikinews has related news: FIFA receives eleven bids for 2018 and 2022 World Cups
The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Executive Committee. This is done under a single transferable vote system. The national football association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are expected from a strong bid. The bidding association also receives a form, the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the candidacy. After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to host the event and a report on the country is produced. The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament. However, there have been occasions where the hosts of multiple future tournaments were announced at the same time, as will be the case for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
For the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the final tournament is rotated between confederations, allowing only countries from the chosen confederation (Africa in 2010, South America in 2014) to bid to host the tournament. The rotation policy was introduced after the controversy surrounding Germany's victory over South Africa in the vote to host the 2006 tournament. However, the policy of continental rotation will not continue beyond 2014, so any country, except those belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments, can apply as hosts for World Cups starting from 2018.[36] This is partly to avoid a similar scenario to the bidding process for the 2014 tournament, where Brazil was the only official bidder.
Organisation and media coverage
See also: List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters
The World Cup was first televised in 1954 and is now the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games. The cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 World Cup is estimated to be 26.29 billion.[1] 715.1 million individuals watched the final match of this tournament (a ninth of the entire population of the planet). The 2006 World Cup draw, which decided the distribution of teams into groups, was watched by 300 million viewers.[37]
Each FIFA World Cup since 1966 has its own mascot or logo. World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 competition, was the first World Cup mascot.[38] Recent World Cups have also featured official match balls specially designed for each World Cup.
Notes
^ There was no official World Cup Third Place match in 1930; The United States and Yugoslavia lost in the semi-finals. FIFA now recognises the United States as the third-placed team and Yugoslavia as the fourth-placed team, using the overall records of the teams in the tournament.[39]
^ a b There was no official World Cup final match in 1950.[40] The tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain). However, Uruguay's 2–1 victory over Brazil was the decisive match (and also coincidentally one of the last two matches of the tournament) which put them ahead on points and ensured that they finished top of the group as world champions. Therefore, this match is often considered the final of the 1950 World Cup.[41] Likewise, Sweden's 3–1 victory over Spain (played at the same time as Uruguay vs Brazil) ensured that they finished third.
Map of winning countriesIn all, 76 nations have played in at least one World Cup.[42] Of these, seven national teams have won the World Cup, and they have added stars to their crests, with each star representing a World Cup victory. (However, Uruguay are an exception to this unwritten rule; They choose to display four stars on their crest, representing their two gold medals at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics and their two World Cup titles in 1930 and 1950). With five titles, Brazil are the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have played in every World Cup to date.[43] Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962) are the only nations to have won consecutive titles. Brazil and Germany have both made the most appearances in the final, with seven, while Germany have made the most appearances in the top four, with eleven.
Teams reaching the top four
Team Titles Runners-up Third place Fourth place
Brazil 5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002) 2 (1950*, 1998) 2 (1938, 1978) 1 (1974)
Italy 4 (1934*, 1938, 1982, 2006) 2 (1970, 1994) 1 (1990*) 1 (1978)
Germany^ 3 (1954, 1974*, 1990) 4 (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002) 3 (1934, 1970, 2006*) 1 (1958)
Argentina 2 (1978*, 1986) 2 (1930, 1990) — —
Uruguay 2 (1930*, 1950) — — 2 (1954, 1970)
France 1 (1998*) 1 (2006) 2 (1958, 1986) 1 (1982)
England 1 (1966*) — — 1 (1990)
Netherlands — 2 (1974, 1978) — 1 (1998)
Czechoslovakia# — 2 (1934, 1962) — —
Hungary — 2 (1938, 1954) — —
Sweden — 1 (1958*) 2 (1950, 1994) 1 (1938)
Poland — — 2 (1974, 1982) —
Austria — — 1 (1954) 1 (1934)
Portugal — — 1 (1966) 1 (2006)
Chile — — 1 (1962*) —
Croatia — — 1 (1998) —
Turkey — — 1 (2002) —
United States — — 1 (1930) —
Yugoslavia# — — — 2 (1930, 1962)
Belgium — — — 1 (1986)
Bulgaria — — — 1 (1994)
Korea Republic — — — 1 (2002*)
Soviet Union# — — — 1 (1966)
Spain — — — 1 (1950)
* = hosts
^ = includes results representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990
# = states that have since split into two or more independent nations[42]
See also: National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup#Comprehensive team results
Performances by host nations
See also: Results of host nations in the FIFA World Cup
Six of the seven champions have won one of their titles while playing in their own homeland, the exception being Brazil, who finished as runners-up after losing the deciding match on home soil in 1950. England (1966) and France (1998) won their only titles while playing as host nations. Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934) and Argentina (1978) won their first titles as host nations but have gone on to win again, while Germany (1974) won their second title on home soil.
Other nations have also been successful when hosting the tournament. Sweden (runners-up in 1958), Chile (third place in 1962), Korea Republic (fourth place in 2002), Mexico (quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986), and Japan (second round in 2002) all have their best results when serving as hosts. So far, South Africa (2010) was the only host nation to fail to advance beyond the first round.
Best performances by continental zones
See also: FIFA World Cup results by confederation
To date, the final of the World Cup has only been contested by European and South American teams. The two continents have won nine titles apiece. Only two teams from outside these two continents have ever reached the semi-finals of the competition: USA (North, Central America and Caribbean) in 1930 and Korea Republic (Asia) in 2002. The best result of an African team is reaching the quarter-finals: Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. Only one Oceanian qualifier, Australia in 2006, advanced to the second round.[44]
Brazil's victory in 1958 in Sweden is the only time a non-European team won a World Cup in Europe. A European team has never won the World Cup outside of Europe, as all World Cups hosted in either South America, North America, or Asia have been won by a South American team. Only twice have consecutive World Cups been won by teams from the same continent – when Italy and Brazil successfully defended their titles in 1938 and 1962 respectively.
Awards
Main article: FIFA World Cup awards
At the end of each World Cup, awards are presented to the players and teams for accomplishments other than their final team positions in the tournament. There are currently six awards:[45]
The Golden Ball for the best player, determined by a vote of media members (first awarded in 1982); the Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball are awarded to the players finishing second and third in the voting respectively;[46]
The Golden Shoe (sometimes called the Golden Boot) for the top goalscorer (first awarded in 1982, but retrospectively applied to all tournaments from 1930); most recently, the Silver Shoe and the Bronze Shoe have been awarded to the second and third top goalscorers respectively;[47]
The Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 1994);[48]
The Best Young Player Award for the best player aged 21 or younger at the start of the calendar year, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 2006).[49]
The FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team with the best record of fair play, according to the points system and criteria established by the FIFA Fair Play Committee (first awarded in 1978);[49]
The Most Entertaining Team for the team that has entertained the public the most during the World Cup, determined by a poll of the general public (first awarded in 1994);[49]
An All-Star Team consisting of the best players of the tournament has also been announced for each tournament since 1998.
Records and statistics
Main article: FIFA World Cup records
Two players share the record for playing in the most World Cups; Mexico's Antonio Carbajal and Germany's Lothar Matthäus both played in five tournaments.[50] Matthäus has played the most World Cup matches overall, with 25 appearances.[51] Brazil's Pelé is the only player to have won three World Cup winners' medals,[52] with 20 other players who have won two World Cup medals.[53]
The overall top goalscorer in World Cups is Brazil's Ronaldo, scorer of 15 goals in three tournaments. West Germany's Gerd Müller is second, with 14 goals in two tournaments.[54] The third placed goalscorer, France's Just Fontaine, holds the record for the most goals scored in a single World Cup. All his 13 goals were scored in the 1958 tournament.[55]
Brazil's Mário Zagallo and West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer are the only people to date to win the World Cup as both player and head coach. Zagallo won in 1958 and 1962 as a player and in 1970 as head coach.[56] Beckenbauer won in 1974 as captain and in 1990 as head coach.[57] Italy's Vittorio Pozzo is the only head coach to ever win two World Cups.[58] All World Cup winning head coaches were natives of the country they coached to victory.
As of the end of the 2006 tournament, Brazil and Germany have both played 92 matches, the most by any nation, with Brazil scoring the most goals, 201.[59] The two teams have played each other only once in the World Cup, in the 2002 final.
See also
Book:FIFA World Cup
Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.
FIFA Women's World Cup
List of other competitions named World Cup
1980 Mundialito, a tournament held in Uruguay to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the World Cup
FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
FIFA Dream Team
FIFA World Cup official songs
African nations at the FIFA World Cup
List of goals scored by African teams at the FIFA World Cup
Notes and references
^ a b 2006 FIFA World Cup broadcast wider, longer and farther than ever before, FIFA.com. Retrieved on October 11, 2009.
^ England National Football Team Match No. 1, England Football Online. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ "British PM backs return of Home Nations championship". Agence France-Presse. http://www.soccerway.com/news/2007/November/22/british-pm-backs-return-of-home-nations-championship. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
^ History of FIFA – FIFA takes shape, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ 'The First World Cup'. The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy. Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council (October 10, 2003). Retrieved on April 11, 2006. [dead link]
^ History of FIFA – More associations follow, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ Reyes, Macario (October 18, 1999). VII. Olympiad Antwerp 1920 Football Tournament rec.sport.soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved on June 10, 2006.
^ History of FIFA – The first FIFA World Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ Molinaro, John F. "Lucien Laurent: The World Cup's First Goal Scorer". CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/worldcup2006/history/events/laurent_lucien.html. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
^ FIFA World Cup Origin (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ The Olympic Odyssey so far... (Part 1: 1908–1964), FIFA.com. Retrieved on January 8, 2008.
^ "Scotland and the 1950 World Cup". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/asportingnation/article/0001/index.shtml. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
^ Glanville, Brian (2005). The Story of the World Cup. Faber. p. 44. ISBN 0-571-22944-1.
^ Glanville, p45
^ Glanville, p238
^ Glanville, p359
^ Record number of 204 teams enter preliminary competition, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on December 22, 2007.
^ Regulations Men's Olympic Football Tournament 2008 (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on December 22, 2007.
^ FIFA Confederations Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on December 22, 2007.
^ Jules Rimet Trophy, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ FIFA World Cup Trophy, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ FIFA Assets – Trophy, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ "FIFA World Cup qualifying: Treasure-trove of the weird and wonderful". FIFA. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminarydraw/news/newsid=576440.html. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
^ "2010 World Cup Qualifying". ESPN. November 26, 2007. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/print?id=468907&type=story&cc=. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
^ History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year), FIFA.com.
^ a b "Formats of the FIFA World Cup final competitions 1930–2010" (PDF). FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_04e_fwc_formats_slots_8821.pdf. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
^ FIFA World Cup: seeded teams 1930–2010, FIFA.com.
^ Previously, due to there being fewer finals places and a bigger ratio of European finalists, there had been several occasions where three European teams were in a single group, for example, 1986 (West Germany, Scotland, and Denmark), 1990 (Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Austria), and 1994 (Italy, Republic of Ireland, and Norway). History of the World Cup Final Draw, FIFA.com.
^ This practice has been installed since the 1986 FIFA World Cup. In some cases during previous tournaments, for example, Argentina 6–0 Peru in 1978 Argentina and West Germany 1–0 Austria in 1982 Spain, teams that played the latter match were perceived to gain an unfair advantage by knowing the score of the earlier match, and subsequently obtaining a result that ensured advancement to the next stage.
^ Regulations of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (PDF), (page 41), FIFA.com. Retrieved on June 21, 2010.
^ "Uruguay 1930". BBC. April 11, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/history/newsid_1632000/1632201.stm. Retrieved May 13, 2006.
^ France 1938, BBC. (April 17, 2002). Retrieved on May 13, 2006.
^ "Asia takes World Cup center stage". CNN. June 3, 2002. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/world/2002/world_cup/news/2002/06/03/au_asia_rb/. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
^ "Brazil will stage 2014 World Cup". BBC. October 10, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7068848.stm. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
^ "Rotation ends in 2018". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/administration/releases/newsid=625122.html#rotation+ends+2018. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
^ Socceroos face major challenge: Hiddink, ABC Sport, December 10, 2005. Retrieved on May 13, 2006.
^ FIFA Assets – Mascots, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ 1930 FIFA World Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on 5 March 2009.
^ 1950 FIFA World Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on 5 March 2009.
^ FIFA World Cup Finals since 1930 (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on 5 March 2009.
^ a b FIFA considers that the national team of Russia succeeds the USSR, the national team of Serbia succeeds Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro, and the national teams of the Czech Republic and Slovakia both succeed Czechoslovakia.
^ "Brazil". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=bra/index.html.
^ Australia's qualification in 2006 was through the Oceanian zone as they were a member of the OFC member during qualifying. However, on 1 January 2006, they left the Oceania Football Confederation and joined the Asian Football Confederation.
^ "FIFA World Cup awards". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-301_03a_fwc-awards_22643.pdf. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
^ "Golden Ball for Zinedine Zidane". Soccerway. July 10, 2006. http://www.soccerway.com/news/2006/July/10/golden-ball-for-zinedine-zidane/. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "adidas Golden Shoe – FIFA World Cup Final". http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/awards/golden/award=gsa/idcup=17/pastcupawards.html. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
^ "Kahn named top keeper". BBC. June 30, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/team_pages/germany/newsid_2075000/2075695.stm. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ a b c "FIFA Awards". RSSSF. May 18, 2007. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html. Retrieved January 8, 2008.
^ Yannis, Alex (November 10, 1999). "Matthaus Is the Latest MetroStars Savior". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00EFD8103AF933A25752C1A96F958260. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ "World Cup Hall of Fame: Lothar Matthaeus". CNN. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/world/2002/world_cup/hof/matthaeus/. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ Kirby, Gentry (July 5, 2006). "Pele, King of Futbol". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/classic/bio/news/story?page=Pele. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals, which means Pelé, being part of three World Cup-winning teams, including 1962 where he did not play in the final due to injury, have three winners' medals. 122 forgotten heroes get World Cup medals, ESPNSoccernet.com, November 25, 2007.
^ Chowdhury, Saj (June 27, 2006). "Ronaldo's riposte". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/brazil/5112982.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ "Goal machine was Just superb". BBC. April 4, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/team_pages/france/newsid_1752000/1752740.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ Hughes, Rob (March 11, 1998). "No Alternative to Victory for National Coach : 150 Million Brazilians Keep Heat on Zagalo". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/1998/03/11/soccer.t_7.php. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ Brewin, John (December 21, 2007). "World Cup Legends – Franz Beckenbauer". ESPN. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/archive/worldcup/editorial/legends_beckenbauer.html. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "1938 France". CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/worldcup2006/history/events/1938.html. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "Planet World Cup – All time table". Planet World Cup. http://www.planetworldcup.com/NATIONS/maraton.html. Retrieved January 26, 2008.
Page last updated at 11:22 GMT, Friday, 25 June 2010 12:22 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version By Marcus Schuler
Bavarian Public Broadcasting, Munich
There are high hopes for the German team, their youngest in 76 years I'm not allowed to attach a German flag to our car. That's my wife's decree.
Never mind that millions of German men have cars sporting nice flags of black, red and gold. My wife calls it nationalism. My wife does not understand football.
No, I'm not a nationalist. I love football, but only when it comes to the World Cup. I don't follow the Bundesliga at all, like many of my countrymen.
But during a World Cup we'll wave flags and wear silly wigs painted black, red and gold.
However, playing England is nobody's idea of fun. We all still remember that awful moment.
You know, the one with the Russian referee. Ball behind the line? Every German has seen this clip a million times.
Continue reading the main story No German team likes to play the Dutch. But England - that should be a fascinating feast of football
Marcus Schuler
That's why we're not keen to play England. By the way: Who is the referee on Sunday? Is he Russian? If yes, I'll need a forest of flags.
What I don't understand, though, are newspaper headlines like The Sun's "Get Ready for Germ Warfare".
We have nothing against the English. On the contrary: Lady Diana was our Queen Of Hearts, too.
I see little difference between the drinking habits of German and British football hooligans.
Hackneyed stereotypes
And anyway, when I talk to English friends about football, they never ever use words like "Blitzkrieg" or "Fritz".
I have no idea why British media, especially the tabloids, use these hackneyed stereotypes. Don't they know better?
World War II is long over. I was born in 1971.
Sunday's match between England and Germany will be their 28th The first foreign language I learned in school was English. And through exchange programmes I met plenty of humorous and lovely English students that were pretty much like us (apart from the watery beer they liked).
I suspect that British journalists rely on these stereotypes because they lack creativity.
There's only one match pairing that's like a red rag to a bull for us: Germany - Netherlands.
That would bring up plenty of bad memories. Everybody remembers when Frank Rijkaard spat at Rudi Voeller during the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
No German team likes to play the Dutch.
Feast of football
But England - that should be a fascinating feast of football: A classic, 90 minutes of highly-emotional fair play - with one winning team at the end.
ENGLAND v GERMANY FACTS
Continue reading the main story England and Germany have been in 27 matches together of which England has won 12 and Germany 10.
Germany's team is their youngest for 76 years, while England have their oldest squad ever to play in a World Cup.
Until 1990, Germany played as West and East Germany.
The first time the two teams met in a competitive match was at Wembley in the final of the 1966 World Cup - when England beat West Germany 4-2.
And this time it will be very exciting: Germany has one of the youngest teams in its footballing history.
The English have stars like Wayne Rooney - who doesn't score any more (hopefully). Oh, and there are our penalty shoot-out specialists.
Another opinion of a truly neutral party - the chef of our staff restaurant who is Swiss. His bet: Germany will win on Sunday. Why? "Your team is very young and is getting better with each game. And the English team isn't that good."
I disagree with him. Part of me hopes we lose against England.
After all, who wants to meet Argentina in the quarter final?
2' FIFA President invites Congress to continue working together into the future (FIFA.com) Thursday 10 June 2010
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The 60th FIFA Congress was held in Johannesburg today, 10 June 2010, just one day before the kick-off of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. Following updates on the past year in the football world, President Joseph S. Blatter invited the FIFA Congress to continue working together into the future and announced that he would be at the disposal of the Congress to run for another term in 2011 so as to be able to complete FIFA’s current mission.
During his opening address to the Congress, President Blatter reminded the attendees of the “House of Football” vision that he first presented in 1999, with programmes such as Goal, which have given the member associations their own headquarters and technical centres. President Blatter also reviewed the three pillars that currently make up FIFA’s mission: touch the world, develop the game and build a better future. “Today, we find a united football family which works together to achieve these goals,” he said.
In addition, the Congress received a review of FIFA’s finances over the past 15 years as well as an update on FIFA’s current positive financial situation (for more information, please refer to the FIFA Financial Report 2009 by clicking on the link to the right)
The member associations were informed that each association would receive an additional financial contribution from FIFA of USD 250,000 in 2010, and the six confederations learned that each confederation would receive an additional USD 2.5 million as a share in the success of FIFA’s 2009 financial results.
The Congress also ratified the decision taken by the Executive Committee to maintain the status quo regarding age eligibility for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament for 2012, 2016 and beyond. This means that U-23 players and an optional three additional over-age players per team will continue to be eligible for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament.
Furthermore, the Congress approved an amendment to the FIFA Statutes to create a legal basis for the establishment of normalisation committees for member associations in exceptional circumstances.
The FIFA Congress also confirmed the suspension of the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (BAFA), as proposed by the FIFA Executive Committee. As the chances of the BAFA being re-registered in the coming weeks have improved, the FIFA Congress also gave the FIFA Executive Committee the authority to lift this suspension if the BAFA is re-registered.
Finally, the delegates received presentations on:
the measures that are being put in place in the area of the protection of minors, including the registration of all players, whether they are playing in a club or an academy;
the application of the transfer matching system (TMS) for all international transfers, which is currently being implemented and will be mandatory for all member associations as of 1 October 2010;
the early warning system (EWS) and the fight against match-fixing in football;
the reform of the players’ agent system and the work being conducted to review the regulations;
doping control activities at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™;
the Football for Health programme and the activities that have been carried out, in particular in Africa, as part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™;
players’ eligibility for club competitions, which will continue to be examined in the scope of a multi-sport approach.
3. Assisting of referees tops agenda(FIFA.com) Tuesday 18 May 2010 Print Email my friend Share
Decisions taken at today’s Special Meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) led to some stimulating discussions during the subsequent press conference at the home of FIFA. Three issues in particular interested the media representatives present: the recent experiment with additional assistant referees, the role of the fourth official and feinting by players taking penalty kicks.
The principal discussion point concerned the extra assistants experiment, for which UEFA Europa League matches were used as a testing ground this season. The possibility of extending the experiment, on a voluntary basis, was authorised by the IFAB. “We wanted to maintain the principle of one referee on the field of play. But having rejected the use of technology in football, we decided that we would look at the option of additional assistant referees, whose role is to help the main referee. A trial period, over the next two seasons, has been approved – it’s an option, it’s not compulsory. We will leave it up to the Confederations and National Associations to continue conducting the trial,” explained Jerome Valcke, FIFA Secretary General.
“We’ve had the tests in the Europa League this season, over 205 games in total. In the context of all the football that’s played, it’s not a huge amount. Consequently, we haven’t seen enough evidence to say that it’s the best system,” clarified Irish Football Association (FA) President, Patrick Nelson.
“The general consensus during our meeting was that the results have certainly proved more favourable than negative – that’s why we’ve endorsed the idea that the trial will be extended,” added Jonathan Ford of the FA of Wales. "We’re also cogniscent of the fact that there are five Federations outside of Europe, and we wanted to give them the opportunity to run trials themselves,” concluded Nelson.
The scope of the fourth official’s duties was next on the agenda. For Valcke, enhancing these responsibilities is a way of providing additional help to the referee, who will remain the ultimate decision-maker: “The main change is that the fourth official can talk directly to the referee, in the event of him spotting something noteworthy on the pitch. His power has been expanded considerably; it’s now the same as that of assistant referees. But the head referee retains the authority to make the final decision on any aspect of the game.”
Finally, the issue of feinting by players at the conclusion of their penalty kick run-up – henceforth regarded as foul play and punishable by a yellow card – and the distinction with stop-start moves during their approach, raised several questions from the floor. “We saw some video examples this morning which make it obvious that it is very unfair. A player at the end of his run-up feigns to kick the ball, sending the goalkeeper in one direction, then pulls his foot back to kick the ball in the other direction – that is clearly unsporting. That is what has motivated the change,” noted Nelson.
“It’s considered unsporting behaviour and that is a cautionable offence,” pointed out George Peat of the Scottish FA. “It’s important to note that we are only talking about sanctioning players who stop, feign to hit the ball and then shoot, not those that hesitate or employ a stop-start motion during their run-up, without feigning to shoot. We will of course make sure that referees, players and coaches fully understand this amendment to the rules in time for the World Cup,” confirmed Valcke.
5. IFAB press briefing: streaming(FIFA.com) Tuesday 18 May 2010 Print Email my friend Share
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) today convened for a Special Meeting at the Home of FIFA, and the post-meeting press conference will soon be available to watch on FIFA.com.
The focal point of the meeting, which was chaired by FIFA and its President Joseph S. Blatter, was the final analysis of the experiment with additional assistant referees in the UEFA Europa League 2009/10.
Other items pending from this year's 124th Annual General Meeting, including Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct – Sending-off Offences), Law 14 (The Penalty Kick) and the role of the fourth official, were also discussed.
5. Laws
Laws of the Game 2010/2011
Beach Soccer Laws of the Game
Questions and Answers to the Futsal Laws of the Game
Futsal Laws of the Game
FIFA Tournament Regulations
Regulations FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011™
Regulations 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™
Regulations
Regulations FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Trinidad & Tobago 2010
Regulations FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009
Regulations FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009
Regulations FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009
Regulations FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009
Regulations FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009
Regulations FIFA Futsal World Cup Brazil 2008
Regulations Men's Olympic Football Tournament 2008
Miscellaneous Regulations
Regulations Governing the Admission of Associations to FIFA
Equipment Regulations
Guide to the Artificial Lighting for Football pitches
Football Stadiums: Technical recommendations and requirements - 4th Edition
FIFA Safety Regulations
Transfers, Player’s status, Clubs, Agents Regulations
Rules Governing the Procedures of the Players' Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) (2008)
Club Licensing Regulations
Regulations on the Status and Transfers of players (October 2009)
Commentary on the Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players
Players' Agents Regulations (2008)
Annex 6 of the Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players: Rules for the Status and Transfer of Futsal Players
Match Agents Regulations
Archived regulations
FIFA Statutes (edition 2008)
Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players (2008)
Rules Governing the Procedures of the Players' Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) (2005)
Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players (edition July 2005)Regulations
Process related to Rules of Conduct
Rules of Conduct
Standard Cooperation Agreement
National Dispute Resolution Chamber (NRDC) - Standard Regulations
Standard Electoral Code
FIFA Code of Ethics
6. FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking
Calculation of Points
FIFA World Ranking - Q&A
FIFA World Ranking (long)
FIFA World Ranking (short)
Top Team and Best Mover of the Year
FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking
FIFA Women's World Ranking
Big Count - Official Survey
Big Count Stats Package
Big Count Summary Report
Big Count Summary Report by Association
Big Count: FAQ
Big Count: FIFA Magazine article
7.Previous international competitions
The world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England,[2] with the first international tournament, the inaugural edition of the British Home Championship, taking place in 1884.[3] At this stage the sport was rarely played outside the United Kingdom. As football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at the turn of the century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics (however, the IOC has retroactively upgraded their status to official events), and at the 1906 Intercalated Games[citation needed].
After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906. These were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure.[4]
At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition. Planned by The Football Association (FA), England's football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain (represented by the England national amateur football team) won the gold medals. They repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm, where the tournament was organised by the Swedish Football Association[citation needed].
With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between individual clubs (not national teams) from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. The competition is sometimes described as The First World Cup,[5] and featured the most prestigious professional club sides from Italy, Germany and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be associated with the competition and declined the offer to send a professional team. Lipton invited West Auckland, an amateur side from County Durham, to represent England instead. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title. They were given the trophy to keep forever, as per the rules of the competition[citation needed].
In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a "world football championship for amateurs", and took responsibility for managing the event.[6] This paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and thirteen European teams, and won by Belgium.[7] Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928.
First World Cup
Estadio Centenario, the location of the first World Cup final in 1930 in Montevideo, UruguayDue to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, with President Jules Rimet the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a world championship organised by FIFA.[8] With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions (as 1924 was the start of FIFA's professional era) and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay as the host country of the inaugural World Cup tournament.
The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total thirteen nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.
The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously on 13 July 1930, and were won by France and USA, who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France.[9] In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and in doing so became the first nation to win the World Cup.[10]
World Cups before World War II
After the creation of the World Cup, the 1932 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles, did not plan to include football as part of the schedule due to the low popularity of the sport in the United States, as American football had been growing in popularity. FIFA and the IOC also disagreed over the status of amateur players, and so football was dropped from the Games.[11] Olympic football returned at the 1936 Summer Olympics, but was now overshadowed by the more prestigious World Cup.
The issues facing the early World Cup tournaments were the difficulties of intercontinental travel, and war. Few South American teams were willing to travel to Europe for the 1934 and 1938 tournaments, with Brazil the only South American team to compete in both. The 1942 and 1946 competitions were cancelled due to World War II and its aftermath.
World Cups after World War II
The 1950 World Cup, held in Brazil, was the first to include British participants. British teams withdrew from FIFA in 1920, partly out of unwillingness to play against the countries they had been at war with, and partly as a protest against foreign influence on football,[12] but rejoined in 1946 following FIFA's invitation.[13] The tournament also saw the return of 1930 champions Uruguay, who had boycotted the previous two World Cups. Uruguay won the tournament again by defeating the host nation Brazil in one of the most famous matches in World Cup history, which was later called the "Maracanazo" (Portuguese: Maracanaço).
Map of countries' best resultsIn the tournaments between 1934 and 1978, 16 teams competed in each tournament, except in 1938, when Austria was absorbed into Germany after qualifying, leaving the tournament with 15 teams, and in 1950, when India, Scotland and Turkey withdrew, leaving the tournament with 13 teams.[14] Most of the participating nations were from Europe and South America, with a small minority from North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. These teams were usually defeated easily by the European and South American teams. Until 1982, the only teams from outside Europe and South America to advance out of the first round were: USA, semi-finalists in 1930; Cuba, quarter-finalists in 1938; Korea DPR, quarter-finalists in 1966; and Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1970.
Expansion to 32 teams
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams in 1982,[15] and then to 32 in 1998,[16] allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part. In recent years, teams from these regions have enjoyed more success, and those who have reached the quarter-finals include: Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1986; Cameroon, quarter-finalists in 1990; Korea Republic, finishing in fourth place in 2002; and Senegal, along with USA, both quarter-finalists in 2002. European and South American teams have remained the stronger forces; for example, the quarter-finalists in 2006 were all from Europe or South America.
200 teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds; 198 nations attempted to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while a record 204 countries entered qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[17]
Other FIFA tournaments
An equivalent tournament for women's football, the FIFA Women's World Cup, was first held in 1991 in the People's Republic of China.[18] The women's tournament is smaller in scale and profile than the men's, but is growing; the number of entrants for the 2007 tournament was 120, more than double that of 1991.
Football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games except 1896 and 1932. Unlike many other sports, the men's football tournament at the Olympics is not a top-level tournament, and since 1992, an under-23 tournament with each team allowed three over-age players.[19] Women's football made its Olympic debut in 1996, and is contested between full national sides with no age restrictions.
The FIFA Confederations Cup is a tournament held one year before the World Cup at the World Cup host nation(s) as a dress-rehearsal for the upcoming World Cup. It is contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships, along with the FIFA World Cup champion and the host country.[20]
FIFA also organises international tournaments for youth football (FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup), club football (FIFA Club World Cup), and football variants such as futsal (FIFA Futsal World Cup) and beach soccer (FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup).
Trophy
Main article: FIFA World Cup Trophy
The FIFA World Cup Trophy on a German stampFrom 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winner. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament. In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983, and has never been recovered, apparently melted down by the thieves.[21]
After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven different countries, evaluated the 53 presented models, finally opting for the work of the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36 cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18 carat (75%) gold and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb). The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory."[22]
This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy until the next tournament and are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original.[23]
Format
Qualification
Main article: FIFA World Cup qualification
Since the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament.[24] They are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, and Europe), overseen by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams.
The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before the final tournament and last over a two-year period. The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations. Usually, one or two places are awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs. For example, the winner of the Oceanian zone and the fifth-placed team from the Asian zone entered a play-off for a spot in the 2010 World Cup.[25] From the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations had received automatic qualification to the final tournament. This right was also granted to the defending champions between 1938 and 2002, but was withdrawn from the 2006 FIFA World Cup onward, requiring the champions to qualify. Brazil, winners in 2002, thus became the first defending champions to play in a qualifying match.[26]
Final tournament
For the various formats used in previous tournaments, see History of the FIFA World Cup#Format of each final tournament.
The current final tournament features 32 national teams competing over a month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage.[27]
In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams each. Eight teams are seeded, including the hosts, with the other seeded teams selected using a formula based on the FIFA World Rankings and/or performances in recent World Cups, and drawn to separate groups.[28] The other teams are assigned to different "pots", usually based on geographical criteria, and teams in each pot are drawn at random to the eight groups. Since 1998, constraints have been applied to the draw to ensure that no group contains more than two European teams or more than one team from any other confederation.[29]
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.[30] The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout 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 (before, winners received two points).
The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:
a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as follows:
d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee (i.e. at random).[31]
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. It begins with the "round of 16" (or the second round) in which the winner of each group plays against the runner-up of another group. This is followed by the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final.[27]
Selection of hosts
Main article: FIFA World Cup hosts
Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress. The choice of location gave rise to controversies, a consequence of the three-week boat journey between South America and Europe, the two centres of strength in football. The decision to hold the first World Cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing.[32] The next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these, the 1938 FIFA World Cup, in France was controversial, as the American countries had been led to understand that the World Cup would rotate between the two continents. Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the tournament.[33]
Since the 1958 FIFA World Cup, to avoid future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began a pattern of alternating the hosts between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, was the first one held in Asia, and the only tournament with multiple hosts.[34] South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010. The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America since 1978,[35] and will be the first occasion where consecutive World Cups are held outside Europe.
Wikinews has related news: FIFA receives eleven bids for 2018 and 2022 World Cups
The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Executive Committee. This is done under a single transferable vote system. The national football association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are expected from a strong bid. The bidding association also receives a form, the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the candidacy. After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to host the event and a report on the country is produced. The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament. However, there have been occasions where the hosts of multiple future tournaments were announced at the same time, as will be the case for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
For the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the final tournament is rotated between confederations, allowing only countries from the chosen confederation (Africa in 2010, South America in 2014) to bid to host the tournament. The rotation policy was introduced after the controversy surrounding Germany's victory over South Africa in the vote to host the 2006 tournament. However, the policy of continental rotation will not continue beyond 2014, so any country, except those belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments, can apply as hosts for World Cups starting from 2018.[36] This is partly to avoid a similar scenario to the bidding process for the 2014 tournament, where Brazil was the only official bidder.
Organisation and media coverage
See also: List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters
The World Cup was first televised in 1954 and is now the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games. The cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 World Cup is estimated to be 26.29 billion.[1] 715.1 million individuals watched the final match of this tournament (a ninth of the entire population of the planet). The 2006 World Cup draw, which decided the distribution of teams into groups, was watched by 300 million viewers.[37]
Each FIFA World Cup since 1966 has its own mascot or logo. World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 competition, was the first World Cup mascot.[38] Recent World Cups have also featured official match balls specially designed for each World Cup.
Notes
^ There was no official World Cup Third Place match in 1930; The United States and Yugoslavia lost in the semi-finals. FIFA now recognises the United States as the third-placed team and Yugoslavia as the fourth-placed team, using the overall records of the teams in the tournament.[39]
^ a b There was no official World Cup final match in 1950.[40] The tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain). However, Uruguay's 2–1 victory over Brazil was the decisive match (and also coincidentally one of the last two matches of the tournament) which put them ahead on points and ensured that they finished top of the group as world champions. Therefore, this match is often considered the final of the 1950 World Cup.[41] Likewise, Sweden's 3–1 victory over Spain (played at the same time as Uruguay vs Brazil) ensured that they finished third.
Map of winning countriesIn all, 76 nations have played in at least one World Cup.[42] Of these, seven national teams have won the World Cup, and they have added stars to their crests, with each star representing a World Cup victory. (However, Uruguay are an exception to this unwritten rule; They choose to display four stars on their crest, representing their two gold medals at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics and their two World Cup titles in 1930 and 1950). With five titles, Brazil are the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have played in every World Cup to date.[43] Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962) are the only nations to have won consecutive titles. Brazil and Germany have both made the most appearances in the final, with seven, while Germany have made the most appearances in the top four, with eleven.
Teams reaching the top four
Team Titles Runners-up Third place Fourth place
Brazil 5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002) 2 (1950*, 1998) 2 (1938, 1978) 1 (1974)
Italy 4 (1934*, 1938, 1982, 2006) 2 (1970, 1994) 1 (1990*) 1 (1978)
Germany^ 3 (1954, 1974*, 1990) 4 (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002) 3 (1934, 1970, 2006*) 1 (1958)
Argentina 2 (1978*, 1986) 2 (1930, 1990) — —
Uruguay 2 (1930*, 1950) — — 2 (1954, 1970)
France 1 (1998*) 1 (2006) 2 (1958, 1986) 1 (1982)
England 1 (1966*) — — 1 (1990)
Netherlands — 2 (1974, 1978) — 1 (1998)
Czechoslovakia# — 2 (1934, 1962) — —
Hungary — 2 (1938, 1954) — —
Sweden — 1 (1958*) 2 (1950, 1994) 1 (1938)
Poland — — 2 (1974, 1982) —
Austria — — 1 (1954) 1 (1934)
Portugal — — 1 (1966) 1 (2006)
Chile — — 1 (1962*) —
Croatia — — 1 (1998) —
Turkey — — 1 (2002) —
United States — — 1 (1930) —
Yugoslavia# — — — 2 (1930, 1962)
Belgium — — — 1 (1986)
Bulgaria — — — 1 (1994)
Korea Republic — — — 1 (2002*)
Soviet Union# — — — 1 (1966)
Spain — — — 1 (1950)
* = hosts
^ = includes results representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990
# = states that have since split into two or more independent nations[42]
See also: National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup#Comprehensive team results
Performances by host nations
See also: Results of host nations in the FIFA World Cup
Six of the seven champions have won one of their titles while playing in their own homeland, the exception being Brazil, who finished as runners-up after losing the deciding match on home soil in 1950. England (1966) and France (1998) won their only titles while playing as host nations. Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934) and Argentina (1978) won their first titles as host nations but have gone on to win again, while Germany (1974) won their second title on home soil.
Other nations have also been successful when hosting the tournament. Sweden (runners-up in 1958), Chile (third place in 1962), Korea Republic (fourth place in 2002), Mexico (quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986), and Japan (second round in 2002) all have their best results when serving as hosts. So far, South Africa (2010) was the only host nation to fail to advance beyond the first round.
Best performances by continental zones
See also: FIFA World Cup results by confederation
To date, the final of the World Cup has only been contested by European and South American teams. The two continents have won nine titles apiece. Only two teams from outside these two continents have ever reached the semi-finals of the competition: USA (North, Central America and Caribbean) in 1930 and Korea Republic (Asia) in 2002. The best result of an African team is reaching the quarter-finals: Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. Only one Oceanian qualifier, Australia in 2006, advanced to the second round.[44]
Brazil's victory in 1958 in Sweden is the only time a non-European team won a World Cup in Europe. A European team has never won the World Cup outside of Europe, as all World Cups hosted in either South America, North America, or Asia have been won by a South American team. Only twice have consecutive World Cups been won by teams from the same continent – when Italy and Brazil successfully defended their titles in 1938 and 1962 respectively.
Awards
Main article: FIFA World Cup awards
At the end of each World Cup, awards are presented to the players and teams for accomplishments other than their final team positions in the tournament. There are currently six awards:[45]
The Golden Ball for the best player, determined by a vote of media members (first awarded in 1982); the Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball are awarded to the players finishing second and third in the voting respectively;[46]
The Golden Shoe (sometimes called the Golden Boot) for the top goalscorer (first awarded in 1982, but retrospectively applied to all tournaments from 1930); most recently, the Silver Shoe and the Bronze Shoe have been awarded to the second and third top goalscorers respectively;[47]
The Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 1994);[48]
The Best Young Player Award for the best player aged 21 or younger at the start of the calendar year, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 2006).[49]
The FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team with the best record of fair play, according to the points system and criteria established by the FIFA Fair Play Committee (first awarded in 1978);[49]
The Most Entertaining Team for the team that has entertained the public the most during the World Cup, determined by a poll of the general public (first awarded in 1994);[49]
An All-Star Team consisting of the best players of the tournament has also been announced for each tournament since 1998.
Records and statistics
Main article: FIFA World Cup records
Two players share the record for playing in the most World Cups; Mexico's Antonio Carbajal and Germany's Lothar Matthäus both played in five tournaments.[50] Matthäus has played the most World Cup matches overall, with 25 appearances.[51] Brazil's Pelé is the only player to have won three World Cup winners' medals,[52] with 20 other players who have won two World Cup medals.[53]
The overall top goalscorer in World Cups is Brazil's Ronaldo, scorer of 15 goals in three tournaments. West Germany's Gerd Müller is second, with 14 goals in two tournaments.[54] The third placed goalscorer, France's Just Fontaine, holds the record for the most goals scored in a single World Cup. All his 13 goals were scored in the 1958 tournament.[55]
Brazil's Mário Zagallo and West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer are the only people to date to win the World Cup as both player and head coach. Zagallo won in 1958 and 1962 as a player and in 1970 as head coach.[56] Beckenbauer won in 1974 as captain and in 1990 as head coach.[57] Italy's Vittorio Pozzo is the only head coach to ever win two World Cups.[58] All World Cup winning head coaches were natives of the country they coached to victory.
As of the end of the 2006 tournament, Brazil and Germany have both played 92 matches, the most by any nation, with Brazil scoring the most goals, 201.[59] The two teams have played each other only once in the World Cup, in the 2002 final.
See also
Book:FIFA World Cup
Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.
FIFA Women's World Cup
List of other competitions named World Cup
1980 Mundialito, a tournament held in Uruguay to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the World Cup
FIFA World Cup All-Time Team
FIFA Dream Team
FIFA World Cup official songs
African nations at the FIFA World Cup
List of goals scored by African teams at the FIFA World Cup
Notes and references
^ a b 2006 FIFA World Cup broadcast wider, longer and farther than ever before, FIFA.com. Retrieved on October 11, 2009.
^ England National Football Team Match No. 1, England Football Online. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ "British PM backs return of Home Nations championship". Agence France-Presse. http://www.soccerway.com/news/2007/November/22/british-pm-backs-return-of-home-nations-championship. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
^ History of FIFA – FIFA takes shape, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ 'The First World Cup'. The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy. Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council (October 10, 2003). Retrieved on April 11, 2006. [dead link]
^ History of FIFA – More associations follow, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ Reyes, Macario (October 18, 1999). VII. Olympiad Antwerp 1920 Football Tournament rec.sport.soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved on June 10, 2006.
^ History of FIFA – The first FIFA World Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ Molinaro, John F. "Lucien Laurent: The World Cup's First Goal Scorer". CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/worldcup2006/history/events/laurent_lucien.html. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
^ FIFA World Cup Origin (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ The Olympic Odyssey so far... (Part 1: 1908–1964), FIFA.com. Retrieved on January 8, 2008.
^ "Scotland and the 1950 World Cup". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/asportingnation/article/0001/index.shtml. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
^ Glanville, Brian (2005). The Story of the World Cup. Faber. p. 44. ISBN 0-571-22944-1.
^ Glanville, p45
^ Glanville, p238
^ Glanville, p359
^ Record number of 204 teams enter preliminary competition, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on December 22, 2007.
^ Regulations Men's Olympic Football Tournament 2008 (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on December 22, 2007.
^ FIFA Confederations Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on December 22, 2007.
^ Jules Rimet Trophy, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ FIFA World Cup Trophy, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ FIFA Assets – Trophy, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ "FIFA World Cup qualifying: Treasure-trove of the weird and wonderful". FIFA. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminarydraw/news/newsid=576440.html. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
^ "2010 World Cup Qualifying". ESPN. November 26, 2007. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/print?id=468907&type=story&cc=. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
^ History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year), FIFA.com.
^ a b "Formats of the FIFA World Cup final competitions 1930–2010" (PDF). FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_04e_fwc_formats_slots_8821.pdf. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
^ FIFA World Cup: seeded teams 1930–2010, FIFA.com.
^ Previously, due to there being fewer finals places and a bigger ratio of European finalists, there had been several occasions where three European teams were in a single group, for example, 1986 (West Germany, Scotland, and Denmark), 1990 (Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Austria), and 1994 (Italy, Republic of Ireland, and Norway). History of the World Cup Final Draw, FIFA.com.
^ This practice has been installed since the 1986 FIFA World Cup. In some cases during previous tournaments, for example, Argentina 6–0 Peru in 1978 Argentina and West Germany 1–0 Austria in 1982 Spain, teams that played the latter match were perceived to gain an unfair advantage by knowing the score of the earlier match, and subsequently obtaining a result that ensured advancement to the next stage.
^ Regulations of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (PDF), (page 41), FIFA.com. Retrieved on June 21, 2010.
^ "Uruguay 1930". BBC. April 11, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/history/newsid_1632000/1632201.stm. Retrieved May 13, 2006.
^ France 1938, BBC. (April 17, 2002). Retrieved on May 13, 2006.
^ "Asia takes World Cup center stage". CNN. June 3, 2002. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/world/2002/world_cup/news/2002/06/03/au_asia_rb/. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
^ "Brazil will stage 2014 World Cup". BBC. October 10, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7068848.stm. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
^ "Rotation ends in 2018". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/administration/releases/newsid=625122.html#rotation+ends+2018. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
^ Socceroos face major challenge: Hiddink, ABC Sport, December 10, 2005. Retrieved on May 13, 2006.
^ FIFA Assets – Mascots, FIFA.com. Retrieved on November 19, 2007.
^ 1930 FIFA World Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on 5 March 2009.
^ 1950 FIFA World Cup, FIFA.com. Retrieved on 5 March 2009.
^ FIFA World Cup Finals since 1930 (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on 5 March 2009.
^ a b FIFA considers that the national team of Russia succeeds the USSR, the national team of Serbia succeeds Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro, and the national teams of the Czech Republic and Slovakia both succeed Czechoslovakia.
^ "Brazil". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=bra/index.html.
^ Australia's qualification in 2006 was through the Oceanian zone as they were a member of the OFC member during qualifying. However, on 1 January 2006, they left the Oceania Football Confederation and joined the Asian Football Confederation.
^ "FIFA World Cup awards". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-301_03a_fwc-awards_22643.pdf. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
^ "Golden Ball for Zinedine Zidane". Soccerway. July 10, 2006. http://www.soccerway.com/news/2006/July/10/golden-ball-for-zinedine-zidane/. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "adidas Golden Shoe – FIFA World Cup Final". http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/awards/golden/award=gsa/idcup=17/pastcupawards.html. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
^ "Kahn named top keeper". BBC. June 30, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/team_pages/germany/newsid_2075000/2075695.stm. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ a b c "FIFA Awards". RSSSF. May 18, 2007. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html. Retrieved January 8, 2008.
^ Yannis, Alex (November 10, 1999). "Matthaus Is the Latest MetroStars Savior". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00EFD8103AF933A25752C1A96F958260. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ "World Cup Hall of Fame: Lothar Matthaeus". CNN. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/world/2002/world_cup/hof/matthaeus/. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ Kirby, Gentry (July 5, 2006). "Pele, King of Futbol". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/classic/bio/news/story?page=Pele. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals, which means Pelé, being part of three World Cup-winning teams, including 1962 where he did not play in the final due to injury, have three winners' medals. 122 forgotten heroes get World Cup medals, ESPNSoccernet.com, November 25, 2007.
^ Chowdhury, Saj (June 27, 2006). "Ronaldo's riposte". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/brazil/5112982.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ "Goal machine was Just superb". BBC. April 4, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/team_pages/france/newsid_1752000/1752740.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ Hughes, Rob (March 11, 1998). "No Alternative to Victory for National Coach : 150 Million Brazilians Keep Heat on Zagalo". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/1998/03/11/soccer.t_7.php. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ Brewin, John (December 21, 2007). "World Cup Legends – Franz Beckenbauer". ESPN. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/archive/worldcup/editorial/legends_beckenbauer.html. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "1938 France". CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/worldcup2006/history/events/1938.html. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "Planet World Cup – All time table". Planet World Cup. http://www.planetworldcup.com/NATIONS/maraton.html. Retrieved January 26, 2008.
Football world cup
Italy is out ... repeat ... Italy is out of the World Cup after a brilliant Slovakian side was far too good for the reigning champions.
Two goals from Robert Vittek, one either side of the break, and a third from substitute Kapil Kopunek with minutes remaining ended the Italian's defence of their trophy at the group stage, joining France, the team they beat in the final four years ago, on the plane home.
Italy does not tend to go out of World Cup's early. In the previous 10 tournament they have reached four finals, winning two of them. They have lost out at the semi-final stage twice, the quarter finals once and have only went out in the opening round once back in 1974.
With four World Cups in the trophy cabinet they are second only to Brazil who have five. In short they are World Cup royalty and expect to qualify from any group, but especially one such as this.
They deserved little more after two insipid displays and the makings of a third here until they went 2-0 down and rallied to give themselves a fighting chance through Antonio di Natale's strike to bring the score back to 2-1 then when they seemed dead and buried Fabio Quagliarella brought them fresh hope making it 3-2 in injury time.
It ended as a gripping, thrilling, heart-stopping contest as Italy showed the kind of spirit and desire they have been missing these last two weeks.
At least they went down fighting which is more than can be said of the French.
The opening goal came midway through a first half where Italy were second best in almost every department. A header from Robert Vittek, who plays in Turkey, found Mark Hamsik clear but the Napoli attacker didn't realsie how much time he had and should have taken a touch rather than attempt the ambitious volley which he mishit wide.
It was a sign of things to come as these two Slovakians caused Italy all sorts of problems and combined after 25 minutes to put the reigning world champions behind.
A criminally loose pass from Roma's Daniele De Rossi, deep in his own half, was intercepted by Hamsick who caught the Italian defence on their heels, passing to Vittek who drilled a low shot, past the desperate dive of Federico Marchetti and into his bottom right corner.
It was scarcely more than the Slovakians deserved. The attacking trio of Hamsik, Jendrisek and Stoch were causing problems for an Italian defence high on experience but low on pace, and carried far more threat than anything the likes of Simone Pepe or Antonio Di Natale could muster at the other end.
The Italian midfield was crying out for Andrea Pirlo to come off the bench, but losing your best midfielder is not enough of an excuse when it comes to tournament football.
Both Michael Ballack and Michael Essien failed to even make it to their respective squads yet Germany and Ghana have, as we know, both qualified.
Ad Feedback The Slovakians lost central midfielder Zdenko Strba when Gennaro Gattuso's leg naturally followed through from a good tackle but caught the Slovakian's knee with his studs, leaving a deep gouge which produced a lot of blood.
At the end of the first half the teams performances were summed up in injury time as Vittek set up Juraj Kucka, who fired a thuderous volley into the side netting, while Italy went straight up the other end only for Montolivo to mishit a timid shot off target.
Marcello Lippi took immediate action at half time, removing Gattuso for an inglorious end to a glorious career and replacing him with Fabio Quagliarella of Napoli, while fullback Dominico Criscito was withdrawn for Christian Maggio.
Then Andrea Pirlo appeared from the bench, to replace Montelivo, to make his first contribution to the Italian's on-field campaign. He inspired his teammates before he had even taken to the field as Di Natale found himself clear on the right of the Slovakian box, but he failed to get his foot around the ball and it was skewed wide.
There was nothing calm about the Italians now as they commanded more of the ball and created another chance for Di Natale who couldn't find the target.
The Slovakians were not taking a step back either as they tried to exploit the gaps left by Italy who were chasing one goal, at the very least. It also came after 66 minutes when the Slovakian keeper had misread a corner was stranded in no-man's land allowing Quagliarella to fire in a left-foot volley which was blocked on the line by Skrtel and while video evidence appeared to show the lineman got he decision right and ruled out a goal, debates will presumably rage for a while about whether it crossed the line or not.
They were superseded in the 73rd minute when Hamsick and Vittek combined again, with the former firing a low cross from the right where Vittek arrived first and doubled Slovakians' advantage.
If they thought their job was done for the night they were very much mistaken as Italy refused to go quietly, throwing everything forward and showing more attacking hunger than they had in the rest of their games combined.
Then Italy hit back when Quagliarella played a beautiful one-two with Iaquinta before his shot was blocked by the keeper only to fall at the feet of Di Natale who prodded home to give the Italians a lifeline.
Queue bedlam in the goalmouth as players rolled around in the net, holding their faces and claiming all sorts of skullduggery.
Italy were not giving up without a fight and thought they had come back from the dead when Quagliarella had the ball in the back of the net with five minutes tio go, but the Napoli attacker had strayed offside.
Then, just as the crowd began to believe they were going to pull the rabbit out of the hat, Slovakia struck on the break with Kopunek lifting the ball over the keeper to apparently seal the victory.
The final act had not been played out though as Quagliarella again pulled the italians back into the mix with a long-range shot that flew into the Slovakian net.
It was too little too late.
The Kings are dead, who next?
Two goals from Robert Vittek, one either side of the break, and a third from substitute Kapil Kopunek with minutes remaining ended the Italian's defence of their trophy at the group stage, joining France, the team they beat in the final four years ago, on the plane home.
Italy does not tend to go out of World Cup's early. In the previous 10 tournament they have reached four finals, winning two of them. They have lost out at the semi-final stage twice, the quarter finals once and have only went out in the opening round once back in 1974.
With four World Cups in the trophy cabinet they are second only to Brazil who have five. In short they are World Cup royalty and expect to qualify from any group, but especially one such as this.
They deserved little more after two insipid displays and the makings of a third here until they went 2-0 down and rallied to give themselves a fighting chance through Antonio di Natale's strike to bring the score back to 2-1 then when they seemed dead and buried Fabio Quagliarella brought them fresh hope making it 3-2 in injury time.
It ended as a gripping, thrilling, heart-stopping contest as Italy showed the kind of spirit and desire they have been missing these last two weeks.
At least they went down fighting which is more than can be said of the French.
The opening goal came midway through a first half where Italy were second best in almost every department. A header from Robert Vittek, who plays in Turkey, found Mark Hamsik clear but the Napoli attacker didn't realsie how much time he had and should have taken a touch rather than attempt the ambitious volley which he mishit wide.
It was a sign of things to come as these two Slovakians caused Italy all sorts of problems and combined after 25 minutes to put the reigning world champions behind.
A criminally loose pass from Roma's Daniele De Rossi, deep in his own half, was intercepted by Hamsick who caught the Italian defence on their heels, passing to Vittek who drilled a low shot, past the desperate dive of Federico Marchetti and into his bottom right corner.
It was scarcely more than the Slovakians deserved. The attacking trio of Hamsik, Jendrisek and Stoch were causing problems for an Italian defence high on experience but low on pace, and carried far more threat than anything the likes of Simone Pepe or Antonio Di Natale could muster at the other end.
The Italian midfield was crying out for Andrea Pirlo to come off the bench, but losing your best midfielder is not enough of an excuse when it comes to tournament football.
Both Michael Ballack and Michael Essien failed to even make it to their respective squads yet Germany and Ghana have, as we know, both qualified.
Ad Feedback The Slovakians lost central midfielder Zdenko Strba when Gennaro Gattuso's leg naturally followed through from a good tackle but caught the Slovakian's knee with his studs, leaving a deep gouge which produced a lot of blood.
At the end of the first half the teams performances were summed up in injury time as Vittek set up Juraj Kucka, who fired a thuderous volley into the side netting, while Italy went straight up the other end only for Montolivo to mishit a timid shot off target.
Marcello Lippi took immediate action at half time, removing Gattuso for an inglorious end to a glorious career and replacing him with Fabio Quagliarella of Napoli, while fullback Dominico Criscito was withdrawn for Christian Maggio.
Then Andrea Pirlo appeared from the bench, to replace Montelivo, to make his first contribution to the Italian's on-field campaign. He inspired his teammates before he had even taken to the field as Di Natale found himself clear on the right of the Slovakian box, but he failed to get his foot around the ball and it was skewed wide.
There was nothing calm about the Italians now as they commanded more of the ball and created another chance for Di Natale who couldn't find the target.
The Slovakians were not taking a step back either as they tried to exploit the gaps left by Italy who were chasing one goal, at the very least. It also came after 66 minutes when the Slovakian keeper had misread a corner was stranded in no-man's land allowing Quagliarella to fire in a left-foot volley which was blocked on the line by Skrtel and while video evidence appeared to show the lineman got he decision right and ruled out a goal, debates will presumably rage for a while about whether it crossed the line or not.
They were superseded in the 73rd minute when Hamsick and Vittek combined again, with the former firing a low cross from the right where Vittek arrived first and doubled Slovakians' advantage.
If they thought their job was done for the night they were very much mistaken as Italy refused to go quietly, throwing everything forward and showing more attacking hunger than they had in the rest of their games combined.
Then Italy hit back when Quagliarella played a beautiful one-two with Iaquinta before his shot was blocked by the keeper only to fall at the feet of Di Natale who prodded home to give the Italians a lifeline.
Queue bedlam in the goalmouth as players rolled around in the net, holding their faces and claiming all sorts of skullduggery.
Italy were not giving up without a fight and thought they had come back from the dead when Quagliarella had the ball in the back of the net with five minutes tio go, but the Napoli attacker had strayed offside.
Then, just as the crowd began to believe they were going to pull the rabbit out of the hat, Slovakia struck on the break with Kopunek lifting the ball over the keeper to apparently seal the victory.
The final act had not been played out though as Quagliarella again pulled the italians back into the mix with a long-range shot that flew into the Slovakian net.
It was too little too late.
The Kings are dead, who next?
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