1 THE WORLD CUP Soccer fans around the world dream of winning the World Cup Every soccer-playing nation no matter how small has a chance to win it From the tiny island of Tonga to five-time world champion Brazil the World Cup is a truly global event The tournament is run by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association FIFA As of 2016 209 countries were FIFA members The World Cup is held every four years One country plays host to the final 32 teams The process of qualifying for the final tournament takes several years Teams began qualifying for the Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger holds the World Cup trophy aloft before a massive crowd at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in 2014 4
Coach Vittorio Pozzo back row third from left and his players celebrate Italy’s 1938 World Cup victory 2018 World Cup in March 2015 As host Russia automatically qualifies The rest of the teams battle for spots They play against other countries from their region of the world The 32-team finals take place over approximately one month First the teams are placed into eight groups of four The teams in each group all play each other once This is 6
known as pool play The top two teams in each group advance to the next round These 16 teams then square off in a single-elimination tournament or the knockout rounds Countries bid for the right to host the tournament The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930 Except for 1942 and 1946 it has been held every four years since Eight different countries have won the World Cup Brazil has been the most successful It has won five world titles and has qualified for every tournament Germany and Italy nearly match Brazil’s success They each have four World Cup wins Germany has the tournament’s all-time leading goal scorer WORLD CUP TROPHY The first trophy awarded to the World Cup winner was called the Jules Rimet Trophy It disappeared in 1966 and was later found buried under a tree After Brazil won its third World Cup rules said it got to keep the trophy But in 1983 the cup was stolen in Rio de Janeiro It was never found The current World Cup trophy is made of 18-karat gold stands 14 inches 36 cm high and weighs more than 13 pounds 6 kg 7
