Ahead of World Cup 2022, take a trip down memory lane and learn everything there is to know about the history of the iconic tournament. You will find all the best markets, boosted odds and betting promotions online at NetBet.
What is the World Cup?
The FIFA World Cup sees the world’s footballing nations compete against each other with the hope of being crowned champions. It is the most watched sporting event across the globe with billions sitting down in front of their televisions and watching the World Cup final.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) organised the first edition in 1930, where Uruguay emerged victorious. Since 1930, the competition has been held every four years, except during the period of World War II. The World Cup consists of 32 teams who have qualified from groups from their respective regions.
The World Cup tournament sees the best players from around the world compete in the same place. This is in contrast to Olympic football. Olympic football requires a team to play a specific number of players under the age of 23, with the exception of only three players being older. This rule sparked controversy between FIFA and the Olympic Association in the 1930s on the status of a player and was one of the reasons the first World Cup took place.
The Beginnings of the Tournament
FIFA held its first edition of the World Cup in 1930. The Olympics were scheduled to take place two years later in 1932, and football was not in the plans for the event as it was deemed unpopular in the USA. Disputes between FIFA and the IOC on players’ amateur status led to the game being removed from the 1932 Olympics.
Jules Rimet, then president of FIFA, had already made his own plans for the World Cup by 1930. Uruguay, celebrating 100 years of independence in 1930, was selected as the very first host nation for this event.
Every country’s national association was invited to nominate a team that was going to travel to South America for the tournament. For European countries, this meant that the teams had to undertake a journey of over 10,000 kilometres to reach their destination at a very high cost through the Atlantic. Initially, no nation from Europe committed to sending their team to the World Cup until two months before the event began.
With such a short deadline, Jules Rimet successfully managed to convince a number of nations to make the trip. The former nation of Yugoslavia was one of the countries he managed to convince, and they ultimately made it to the semi-finals of the first World Cup. There were 13 teams on the final list of countries that made it to the event, with seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.
The first two games of the World Cup were played simultaneously. These matches were the United States vs Mexico and France vs Belgium. The United States defeated Mexico 4-1, while France defeated Belgium 3-0. The World Cup also saw its first hat-trick four days into the event when USA played Paraguay in a 3-0 win. Bert Patenaude wrote his name in the history books for his hat-trick vs Paraguay on 17th July 1930.
The tournament concluded with Uruguay defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final in front of a crowd of 93,000 in Montevideo on 30th July that year. The win for Uruguay that day against their arch-rivals meant that they were the first champions of a tournament that was going to define an incredibly successful legacy for the future of this game.
The cup given to the winners of the tournament was named after Jules Rimet, hence the Jules Rimet trophy. In 1974 the name was changed to the FIFA World Cup. It has remained that way ever since.
Who Won the Last World Cup in 2018?
The most recent edition of the World Cup was held in Russia in 2018. Panama and Iceland were debutants, as this was the first time they had ever qualified for this event in their history. France’s team, filled with superstars from Europe’s elite clubs, comfortably defeated Croatia 4-2 in the World Cup final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow in front of 78,000 fans.
In addition to Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba, and Kylian Mbappe scoring for France, Ivan Perisic scored for Croatia. Croatia’s striker Mario Mandzukic scored for both teams as one of his goals was unfortunately headed into his own net.
England’s captain, Harry Kane, scored 6 in the tournament, which was enough to earn him the Golden Boot for being the top scorer. Thibaut Courtois, who finished third with Belgium, won the Golden Glove with the most clean sheets in the tournament. Luka Modric, who was a losing finalist, was voted as the player of the tournament by members of the media and received the Golden Ball.
The Latest Edition of the World Cup
The latest edition of the World Cup will be held in Qatar, which will mean a first ever World Cup in the Arab region and the first in Asia since Japan and South Korea jointly hosted the 2002 World Cup. The event starts on 20th November and will conclude on 18th December.
A winter World Cup is certainly against tradition as it is typically held between the summer months of May, June and July. The reason the competition has been moved to this time of year is to combat the country’s extremely hot weather.
Most World Cup Appearances
Lothar Matthaus, a former captain of Germany, has participated in the most World Cups and has made the most appearances. Between 1982 and 1998, he participated in five World Cups, making 25 appearances in total. In 1990, he was also a member of the winning team.
With 24 appearances, fellow German Miroslav Klose is the all-time top scorer and holds down the second spot for appearances. From 2002 to 2014, he played crucial roles in four World Cups. Paolo Maldini, a well-known Italian centre-back, is in third place with 23 appearances from 1990 to 2002.
Most Successful Nations
Brazil’s national team has won more World Cups than any other nation. They have a record five titles, the most recent being in 2002 when a legendary squad starring Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho defeated Germany 2-0 in the final game.
The Germans have won the World Cup four times, thrice as West Germany and once again in 2014 as a unified country. The first country to win two World Cups, Italy, also has the same number of victories as Die Mannschaft, four.
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