4 The World Cup is a month-long celebration of soccer which is held every four years Teams from 32 countries battle it out on the fi eld for the ultimate prize in soccer the World Cup trophy THE WORLD CUP GREAT PLAYERS What makes a great World Cup player Some stars will always stand out Brazil’s Pelé dominated the 1970 World Cup It was the fi rst time a World Cup had been seen on color TV and Brazil’s soccer team captivated fans around the world Diego Maradona propelled Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 through a combination of genius and streetwise cunning Johan Cruyff only fi nished with a runners-up medal in 1974 but gave his name to the Cruyff turn and treated the world to the fi rst display of total soccer GREAT GOALS Goalscorers win tournaments which is why Brazil’s Ronaldo makes our top ten list as does Germany’s Jürgen Klinsmann who scored three or more goals in three successive tournaments But there are other considerations to be made in selecting the greatest World Cup players The creative genius of Zinedine Zidane and Andrés Iniesta have made them legendary athletes Longevity has to be a factor which is why Germany’s Lothar Matthäus is included as he is the only player ever featured in fi ve tournaments Winning the World Cup is the crowning moment of any soccer player’s career
WORLD CUP EXPERT THE WORLD CUP 5 Pelé’s amazing skills lit up four World Cup tournaments This statue of Bobby Moore one of England’s greatest players stands outside Wembley Stadium in London WORLD CUP FAST FACTS FOUNDED 1930 NUMBER OF TEAMS THAT TAKE PART 32 expanded from 16 in 1978 and again from 24 in 1982 MOST SUCCESSFUL TEAM Brazil TOP GOAL-SCORER Ronaldo 15 FORMAT For the group stage teams are put in eight groups of four teams Each team plays all the other three teams once The top two teams from each group qualify for the knock-out stages where the winner of one group plays the runner-up of another The winners of this qualify caption for the eight-team quarterfi nals which are followed by the semifi nals and the long-awaited World Cup fi nal itself LEADERS Leadership is vital for every team and Bobby Moore inspired his men through his unfl appable approach He was an immaculate defender but also managed to make two goals for England in the 1966 World Cup fi nal Age is also a factor and to win the World Cup at 40 years old as Italy’s goalkeeper and captain Dino Zoff did is a fantastic achievement UP FOR DEBATE This selection will always be controversial Players who can count themselves unlucky not to make our top ten include Hungary’s star of 1954 Ferenc Puskás West Germany’s heroes of 1974 Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller and England’s 1966 hat-trick legend Geoff Hurst But hopefully readers will agree on one thing all ten players in this book have in many different ways contributed to the magic of the World Cup
