FIFA World Cup Winners
The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition established in 1930. It is contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has taken place every four years, except in 1942 and 1946, when the competition was cancelled due to World War II. The most recent World Cup, hosted by South Africa in 2010, was won by Spain, who beat the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time. The next World Cup is scheduled to be held in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014.
The World Cup final matches are the last of the competition, and the results determine which country's team is declared world champions. If after 90 minutes of regular play the score is a draw, an additional 30-minute period of play, called extra time, is added. If such a game is still tied after extra time it is decided by kicks from the penalty mark, commonly called a penalty shootout. The winning penalty shoot-out team are then declared champions. The tournament has been decided by a one-off match on every occasion except 1950, when the tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain). Uruguay's 2–1 victory over Brazil was the decisive match (and 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 regarded by FIFA as the final of the 1950 World Cup.
In the 19 tournaments held, 76 nations have appeared at least once. Of these, twelve have made it to the final match, and eight have won. With five titles, Brazil is the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have participated in every World Cup finals tournament. Italy have four titles and Germany have three. The other former champions are Uruguay, who won the inaugural tournament, and Argentina, with two titles each, and England and France, who have each won one. The current champions, Spain, took their first title in 2010.
Read more about FIFA World Cup Winners: List of Finals, Results By Nation, Results By Confederation
Famous quotes containing the words world, cup and/or winners:
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Strew’d flowers upon the barren way,
Making the wintry world appear
Like one on whom thou smilest, dear.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
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—Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927)
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)