Soccer - The World Cup

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup is an international football competition contested by men's national teams. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. Thirty two (32) teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation(s), compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about a month.

Soccer - World Cup Format

Qualifying tournaments are held to set the field for the final tournament involving 32 teams. They are held within the six FIFA continental zones namely Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, and Europe. These qualifying tournaments are run by their respective federations. For each tournament, FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, based on the relative strength of the federations' teams. The qualification process lasts over a two year period, involving different formats by region. In addition some places may also be awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs. The host nation receive 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 This right was also granted to the defending champions between 1938 and 2002, but was withdrawn from the 2006 FIFA World Cup onward, requiring the champions to qualify.

The current final tournament features 32 national teams competing over a month in the host nation. There are two stages: the group (round robin) stage followed by the single game knockout stage.

In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams. Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. This means that a total of six matches are played within a group. The last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. 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.

If there is a tie (points) within a group for the teams rankings are then determined by:

1. Greatest combined goal difference in all group matches
2. Greatest combined number of goals scored in all group matches
3. If more than one team remain level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined as follows:
   1. Greatest number of points in head-to-head matches among those teams
   2. Greatest goal difference in head-to-head matches among those teams
   3. Greatest number of goals scored in head-to-head matches among those teams
4. If any of the teams above remain level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined by the drawing of lots

The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament, with extra time and penalty shootouts used to decide the winner if necessary. It begins with the round of 16) 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.

Soccer - World Cup Winners

Year	Hosts	Winner	Score
2018	Russia	France	France 4–2 Croatia
2014	Brazil	Germany	Germany 1–0 Argentina
2010	South Africa	Spain	Spain 1-0 Netherlands
2008	Germany	Italy	1-1, then Italy beat France 5-3 in penalties
2002	Japan / S. Korea	Brazil	Brazil 2-0 Germany
1998	France	France	France 3-0 Brazil
1994	USA	Brazil	0-0, then Brazil defeated Italy 3-2 in penalties
1990	Italy	Germany	Germany 1-0 Argentina
1986	Mexico	Argentina	Argentina 3-2 Germany
1982	Spain	Italy	Italy 3-1 Germany
1978	Argentina	Argentina	Argentina 3-1 Holland
1974	Germany	Germany	Germany 2-1 Holland
1970	Mexico	Brazil	Brazil 4-1 Italy
1966	England	England	England 4-2 Germany
1962	Chile	Brazil	Brazil 3-1 Czechoslovakia
1958	Sweden	Brazil	Brazil 5-2 Sweden
1954	Switzerland	Germany	Germany 3-2 Hungary
1950	Brazil	Uruguay	Uruguay 2-1 Brazil
1946	Not Held
1942	Not Held
1938	France	Italy	Italy 4-2 Hungary
1934	Italy	Italy	Italy 2-1 Czechoslovakia
1930	Uruguay	Uruguay	Uruguay 4-2 Argentina