FIFA World Cup in Dates

World Cup 1930

World Cup was hosted by Italy, and was the first World Cup to include a qualification stage. 16 teams qualified for the tournament, a number which would be retained until the expansion of the finals tournament in 1982. Uruguay, the titleholders from 1930, still upset about the poor European showing at their World Cup in 1930, boycotted the 1934 World Cup. Bolivia and Paraguay were absent, allowing Argentina and Brazil to go to the finals in Italy without having to play any qualifying matches. Egypt became the first African team to compete, but lost to Hungary in the first round. Italy won the tournament, but faced accusations of biased officiating, with Benito Mussolini said to have influenced the choice of referees for Italy’s matches.

World Cup 1934

World Cup competition was also held in Europe, much to the consternation of many South Americans, but Uruguay and Argentina were boycotting. For the first time the title holders and the host country were given automatic qualification. Following a play-off match against Latvia, Austria had officially qualified for the final round but because of the Anschluss in April 1938, could not attend. Their place was offered to England, but they declined. This left the Finals with 15 nations competing. France hosted, but for the first time the hosts did not win the competition, as Italy retained their title, beating Hungary in the final.

World Cup 1938

The competition resumed with World Cup in Brazil, which was the first to include British participants. British teams withdrew from FIFA in 1920, partly out of unwillingness to play against the countries they had been at war with, and partly as a protest against a foreign influence to football, but rejoined in 1946 following FIFA’s invitation. The tournament also saw the return of 1930 champions Uruguay, who had boycotted the previous two World Cups. For political reasons, Eastern European countries (such as Hungary, the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia) did not enter. Title-holder Italy did take part, despite the Superga air disaster of 1949 in which the entire Grande Torino team were killed.

World Cup 1950

World Cup was the only tournament not to stage a final tie, replacing knockout rounds with two group phases. However, the final match of the second group phase was in effect a final, as the group standings meant the winners would be crowned champions. Uruguay were surprise victors over hosts Brazil (in a match which would later be known as Maracanazo) and became champions for the second time.

World Cup 1954

World Cup, held in Switzerland, was the first to be televised. The Soviet Union did not participate because of their dismal performance at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Scotland made their first ever appearance in the tournament, but were unable to register a win, going out after the group stage. West Germany were the tournament winners, defeating Olympic champions Hungary 3-2 in the final, overturning a 2-0 deficit in the process, with Helmut Rahn scoring the winner.

World Cup 1958

Brazil won the World Cup, held in Sweden, and became the first and so far only team to win a World Cup outside their home continent. The Soviet Union participated this time, most likely due to their win at Melbourne 1956. For the first time, all four British teams qualified for the final round. Wales was able to take advantage of a situation in the Africa/Asia zone, where the amount of withdrawals would give Israel qualification without having played a single qualifying match. This prompted FIFA to rule that qualification without playing was not allowed and so Israel were ordered to play against one of the teams finishing second in the other groups. A tie was created, and Wales defeated Israel 2-0 twice in 1958. It was the first (and so far the only) time that a country played a World Cup final round after having been eliminated in the regular qualifiers.

World Cup 1962

Chile hosted the World Cup, a tournament dominated by defensive play which Brazil won, retaining the Jules Rimet trophy.

World Cup 1966

World Cup, hosted by England, was the first to embrace marketing, featuring a mascot and official logo for the first time. South Africa was banned for violating the anti-discrimination charter (apartheid). The ban remained in effect until 1992 when the South Africa Football Association was finally accepted by FIFA. The eventual qualifiers from the zone, North Korea, became the first Asian team to reach the quarter-finals, eliminating Italy in the process. England won the tournament even if Joao Havelange claimed that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively. Geoff Hurst became the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final and Eusebio, whose team Portugal were taking part in their first World Cup, was the tournament top-scorer, with 9 goals to his name.

World Cup 1970

The qualification stages of the World Cup were the cause of the Football War between Honduras and El Salvador. The finals were held in Mexico. Israel had been with Europe, but due to political issues, it was becoming harder to place them adequately in the qualifying rounds.The group stage clash between defending champions England and Brazil lived up to its billing, and is still remembered for England goalkeeper Gordon Banks ‘ save from a Pele header on the six-yard line, arguably the greatest save ever.

World Cup 1974

A new trophy was created for the World Cup, held in West Germany. After a draw in their first UEFA/CONMEBOL Intercontinental play-off match against Chile in the qualifiers, the Soviet Union refused to travel to the Chilean capital for the return fixture for political reasons, and in accordance with the regulations, Chile were awarded a victory. East Germany, Haiti, Australia and Zaire made their first finals. The tournament also saw a new format, where the two top teams from each of the earlier four groups were divided into two groups of four each again, the winner of either group playing each other in the final. The West German hosts won the competition by beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final, but it was also the revolutionary Total Football system of the Dutch that captured the footballing world’s imagination. The very well-playing Poland finished third, after defeating Brazil 1-0, having barely lost in terrible rain in the semifinals to West Germany 0-1.

World Cup 1978

World Cup was held in Argentina, causing controversy as a military coup had taken place in the country two years earlier. Dutch star Johan Cruyff refused to participate for this reason, though none of the teams decided to stay away. Iran and Tunisia were first time participants. There was some on-field controversy as well, when Argentina, needing to win by a clear four goals in order to make the final in place of Brazil, beat Peru 6-0, the total number of goals they had scored in the tournament till this match. They went on to win the final 3-1, Mario Kempes scoring twice, with the Dutch being runners-up for the second time running.

World Cup 1982

Spain hosted an expanded World Cup which featured 24 te
ams, the first expansion since 1934. The teams were divided into six groups of four, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the second round, where they split into four groups of three. The winners of each group advanced to the semi-finals. Cameroon, Algeria, Honduras, New Zealand and Kuwait were the debutants. The group match between Kuwait and France was stage of a farcical incident. The semi-final between West Germany and France saw another controversy. Germany won in a penalty shoot-out, after coming back to level from having gone 1-3 down. The final was won by Italy, making Italian captain Dino Zoff the oldest player to win the World Cup. Italian striker Paolo Rossi, who was making his comeback after a match-fixing scandal and the ensuing ban, was the tournament top-scorer with six goals including a classic hat-trick against mighty Brazil.

World Cup 1986

Mexico became the first nation to hold two World Cups. The format changed again, with the second round being replaced by a pre-quarterfinal, knockout competition, for which 16 teams would qualify. It was also decided that the final two matches in all groups would kick off simultaneously, to ensure complete fairness. Canada, Denmark and Iraq made their first finals. The quarterfinal match between England and Argentina is remembered for two remarkable Diego Maradona goals. In the final, Argentina beat West Germany 3-2, inspired by Diego Maradona, who set up Jorge Burruchaga for the winner.

World Cup 1990

World Cup was held in Italy. Cameroon reached the quarter-finals, a first for an African team. As a result of a two-year FIFA ban imposed for falsifying age at a youth championship, Mexico was suspended from the 1990 World Cup preliminary competition. The final featured the same teams as in 1986. After finishing runners-up in the two previous tournaments, West Germany won their third World Cup.

World Cup 1994

World Cup, held in the USA, saw the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties, with Brazil edging out Italy. Yugoslavia was excluded due to UN sanctions in connection with the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Russia played their first World Cup competition as a new country, with Greece, Nigeria, Norway and Saudi Arabia as the other first-timers. The total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the greatest in World Cup history. Oleg Salenko of Russia became the first player to score five goals in a single World Cup finals game in his country’s group stage win over Cameroon.

World Cup 1998

World Cup was held in France, and had an expanded format featuring 32 teams. Iran beat the Maldives in qualification by the widest margin in World Cup history — 17-0. In the finals, the second round match between France and Paraguay witnessed the first Golden Goal in World Cup history. Hosts France won the tournament by beating Brazil 3-0 in the final, as the scorer of four goals in the tournament, Ronaldo , appeared to be less than a hundred percent in the match, and was unable to make any impact. Debutants Croatia finished a commendable third.

World Cup 2002

World Cup was the first to be held in Asia, and was hosted jointly by Japan and South Korea. Togolese Souleymane Mamam became the youngest player ever to take to a World Cup preliminary game field at 13 years, 310 days in Lome in May 2001. Australia defeated American Samoa 31-0 in a preliminary match – a new record for the margin of victory, and the highest-scoring match ever. The tournament was a successful one for teams traditionally regarded as minnows, with South Korea, Senegal and USA all reaching the last eight. Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in the final for their fifth title.

World Cup 2006

World Cup was held in Germany. It is the first world cup for which the previous winner had to qualify. The host will continue to receive an automatic berth. First seed and holders Brazil and second seeded England were initially bookmakers’ favourites. A strong performance by Germany brought them as far as the semifinals. However, the final match-up was between Italy and France, in which French captain Zinedine Zidane was sent off in the last 10 minutes of extra time for a headbutt to the chest to Italian central defender Marco Materazzi. Italy went on to win 5-3 in a penalty shootout, the score having been 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time.