Football's ultimate showdown
Football is undoubtedly the most popular sport on planet Earth, making the FIFA World Cup one of the most popular sporting events around the globe. Ever since its first tentative competition in 1930 in Uruguay, no other sporting event holds the imagination of the entire world like the FIFA World Cup. It is an international association football competition, which is occasionally called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup. The flagship of FIFA World Cup has constantly increased in prestige and popularity since 1930.
The credit for persuading the world's strongest national football teams to make a trip in order to compete for the title of World Champions goes to Jules Rimet. A total of thirteen nations took part in it including four from Europe, seven from South America and two from North America. On 18th July 1930, the first FIFA World Cup opened at the brand-new Estadio Centenario Stadium in Montevideo. The beginning of a new era in world football proved to be a remarkable success, both in sporting as well as financial terms. However, the organisers were disappointed over the fact that only four European teams participated in the tournament. France and USA that took place simultaneously on 13th July 1930 won the first two World Cup matches. Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history while Uruguay became the first nation to win the World Cup after defeating Argentina 4-2 in Montevideo in front of a crowd of 93,000 people.
The issues that faced the early World Cup tournaments included intercontinental travel and war. The original gold trophy was contested only three times in the 1930s. FIFA chose Italy to host the second FIFA World Cup. Once again, the home team won the final against Czechoslovakia in extra time. The final match was also broadcasted on the radio for the first time. Four years later, the third FIFA World Cup took place in France. This time round, Italy successfully defended its title. The competitions of 1942 and 1946 were cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II and its aftermath.
The fourth FIFA World Cup staged in Brazil in 1950 saw British participants for the first time who previously withdrew from FIFA. The 1930 champions Uruguay beat the host nation Brazil in one of the most famous matches in World Cup history, which was later named as "Maracanazo". The nineteen tournaments have seen only seven different winners and the trophy has been on a wild ride since 1930. The number of teams in the tournament was expanded to 24 in 1982 and later on to 32 in 1998. It allowed more teams to participate from Africa, Asia and North America.
The greatest single sporting event of the present world today captures the entire global public under its spell. Over 37 billion people watched the France 98 tournament whereas over 2.7 million people flocked to catch the 64 matches in the football stadiums across France. A record of 204 countries qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2010 while 198 nations qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
The glistening golden trophy, which is the ultimate aim of every footballer, was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament. After 1970, a new trophy was designed which was termed as the FIFA World Cup Trophy. The new trophy is made up of 18-carat gold and weighs 6.175 kilogram. The bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved names of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. It is 36cm in diameter with a base that contains two layers of semi-precious malachite. The World Cup winners retain the trophy until the next tournament.
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