80 years of FIFA World Cup: The good, the bad and the ugly
As the World Cup turns 80, we discover that no other sporting event captures the world’s imagination like the FIFA world cup soccer tournament ever since its introduction in Uruguay in 1930. Federation International Football Association (FIFA) flagship has constantly grown in popularity and prestige, having passion for both the players and fans, Uruguay was given the hosting right for the World Cup. This right was given to them because they were football champions in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, along with 100 years of Independence celebration in 1930. Many European nations missed this great event because of traveling costs; only 13 nations participated and Uruguay won the FIFA’s great trophy and then asked teams to qualify for World Cup held in Italy, alas, Uruguay was not able to defend its title coupled with the non appearance of European nations on its soil, Italy went on to win in 1934. The next tournament that was hosted by France gave the host nation and defending champion’s direct entries into the finals. Italy retained the tittle while many South American nations boycotted the event because of the finals in Europe.
The original idea of bringing the World’s strongest national football teams together to compete for the title at World Champions was from a group of visionary French football administrators, led in the 1920s by the innovative Jules Rimet. The original gold trophy bore Jules Rimet’s name and was contested for three times before the Second World War which put a stop to the competition for 12 years.
The 1950 World Cup rapidly advanced to its indisputable status as the greatest single sporting event of the modern world. 1950 World Cup saw England participating for the first time; the competition did away with knockouts and had two group phases Uruguay won the trophy.
Since 1930, the 19 tournaments have seen only seven different winners; however, FIFA World Cup has also been punctuated by dramatic upsets that have helped create football history. United States defeated England in 1950, North Korea defeated Italy in 1966, Cameroon’s emerges in the 1980s and they defeated the Argentine Cup holders in 1990 in an opening match.
1n 1996, the World Cup broke new ground with the Executive Committee’s decision in May, to select Korea and Japan as co-hosts for the 2002 edition World Cup body has holds the entire global public under its spell an it accumulated audience of about 37 billion people.
After all these years of many changes, the main focus of FIFA still remains the same-the glistening golden trophy, which is the embodiment of every footballer’s dream.
Team Records
Every team in world cup wants to make history. Brazil holds the most World Cup championship with five titles seconded by Italy with four; West Germany takes the third position with three titles. Hungary tallied the most goals in single World Cup when they scored 27 goals in 1954. Also In the same year, Austria beat Switzerland 7-5 for the most goals (12) combined in a World Cup match. Hungary beat EL Savador in 1982 10-1 for the highest goals different in a World Cup match, Hungary is also the only team to score 10 or more goals in a World Cup.
Individual Records
Brazilian Ronaldo is the top scorer in World Cup history with 15 goals followed by General Muller with 14. Salenko of Russia Scored 5 goals in a match during the 1994 World Cup. Bert Patenaude of United States was the first player to ever record a hattrik in 1930 World Cup. Hakan Sukur of Turkey scored the fasted goal in World Cup history in 2002 when he scored Korea. Lothar Mathaus of Germany has the most appearances by a player in the World Cup with 25. Norman Whiteside of Northern Ireland was the youngest player 17 years old to ever step on the field is World Cup, (1982) Pele of Brazil was also the youngest player to score in World Cup (1958). Pele also the youngest player to ever win a World Cup (1958, 1962, and 1970). Roger Milla of Cameron was the oldest (42 years, 39 days) to play World Cup in 1994, Milla also scored a goal in the match against Russia. The first player to ever be ejected from World Cup match was Galindo of Peru in 1930.
World Cup Records
1994 World Cup in United States had the highest average attendance with over 68,990 for each match. 1950 World Cup final (Uruguay vs Brazil) had over 174,000 spectators, the largest number of spectators to watch a single game. The 1970World Cup final at Aztecta Stadium in Mexico City had the highest final attendance with 107,412 spectators. The 1954 World Cup held in Switzerland holds the highest average for goals per game 5.38 (140 goals in 26 matches).
South Africa 2010
Now in its 80th year; the World Cup has been move down to the continue of Africa Hosted by South African which is on going. This tournament in African soil has been predicated to be the greatest of World Cup event. Which Country would emerge the winner of 2010 World Cup?
World Cup Summaries
Year Champion Runner up Result Host
1930 Uruguay Argentina 4-2 Uruguay
1934 Italy Czechoslovakia 2-1 Italy
1938 Italy Hungary 4-2 France
1950 Uruguay Brazil 2-1 Brazil
1954 West Germany Hungary 3-2 Switzerland
1958 Brazil Sweden 5-2 Sweden
1962 Brazil Czechoslovakia 3-1 Chile
1966 England West Germany 4-2 England
1970 Brazil Italy 4-1 Mexico
1974 West Germany Holland 2-1 West Germany
1978 Argentina Holland 3-10 Argentina
1982 Italy West Germany 3-1 Spain
1986 Argentina West Germany 3-2 Mexico
1990 West Germany Argentina 1-0 Italy
1994 Brazil Italy 2-0 (3:2) U.S.A
1998 France Brazil 3-0 France
2002 Brazil Germany 2-0 Korea/Japan
2006 Italy France 1.1(5:4) Germany
2010 ? ? ? South Africa
convert this post to pdf.
Comments
No comments yet.