Some sports only offer players the opportunity to compete against other teams from their own country, with international play only possible during the Olympic Games. However, [tag-tec]soccer[/tag-tec] is one sport that offers its players the chance to compete against teams from all over the world every four years outside of the Olympics. The competition is known as the [tag-tec]Soccer World Cup[/tag-tec].

In a previous article, I wrote about the [tag-tec]history of soccer[/tag-tec], encouraging all soccer parents, players and coaches to read about the history of this great game. Well, [tag-tec]soccer world cup history[/tag-tec] is another bit of homework for you to read up on. Some say that the [tag-tec]soccer world cup[/tag-tec] is a bigger event than the Olympics and if you talk to most kids that play the game they would probably agree!

The Soccer World Cup’s official name is the FIFA World Cup. FIFA, or the International Federation of Football Association, is the organization that governs worldwide [tag-tec]soccer[/tag-tec]. There are currently six affiliates, or divisions, set up by FIFA for the purpose of World Cup play. These affiliates are: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA. The affiliates cover the areas of Asia, Africa, North and Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and Europe, respectively. The AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF affiliates are further divided into zones for the purpose of World Cup play.

A Frenchman by the name of Jules Rimet, reportedly came up with the idea of bringing the strongest football teams together to compete for a world championship. This was in the 1920’s and the first world cup tournament was planned to be held in Uruguay in 1930. Thirteen countries took part, however fewer countries participated in the 1934 and 1938 tournaments due to difficulties experienced with travel and war.

The Second World War put a 12-year halt to the competition. The competition resumed in 1950 and this was the first [tag-tec]soccer world cup[/tag-tec] to include British participants. Since 1950, the world cup has been held every four years with varying number of teams competing for the finals. The number of teams has varied from 16 teams in the early stages to the current number of 32.

The road to the Soccer World Cup is a lengthy process, which takes two years of lower-level play. The first step that FIFA must take is to determine how to allocate the 32 slots in the World Cup tournament. The nation that hosts the World Cup automatically receives one of these slots, and one or two are also reserved for winners of predetermined intercontinental play-off games. This leaves approximately 29 to 30 slots in the World Cup tournament, which must then be divided among the six affiliates. The strength of teams within the affiliate will have significant bearing on how many slots the affiliate receives. Each affiliate holds its own lower-level competitions, with its top teams taking the World Cup slots.

The 32 teams that compete in the Soccer World Cup tournament do so in two stages. The first stage is known as the group stage, in which the teams are divided into eight groups, four teams to a group. Eight teams are seeded, and each will be put in a separate group. The remaining teams are assigned by random draws from geographically-ordered pools. Each group then plays a round-robin tournament, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the next World Cup stage.

The second [tag-tec]Soccer World Cup[/tag-tec] stage is called the knockout stage. The sixteen remaining teams are paired by their performance in the group stage. The winner of each group will play the second place team of another group. Eight teams move on from this round to the quarter-finals, then four teams to the semi-finals. The two losing teams in the semi-finals play in the third-place match to determine who is awarded third place in the World Cup, while the two winning teams in the semi-finals go on to the World Cup finals.

The team that wins the Soccer World Cup final game is awarded the FIFA World Cup Trophy. The trophy has not always been called the FIFA World Cup Trophy. The trophy is very much a part of [tag-tec]world cup soccer history[/tag-tec]. From 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy as it was known, named after the originator, was awarded to the World Cup winner. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed. After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed.

This trophy is made of solid 18-carat gold, and features the year of each Soccer World Cup tournament and every winning team since 1974 engraved on the bottom side. This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently, irrespective of how many World Cups they win. Soccer World Cup winners retain the trophy until the next tournament and are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original. The trophy will not be retired until the name plaque has been entirely filled with the names of winning nations in 2038.

I hope you have enjoyed your lesson on [tag-tec]world cup soccer history[/tag-tec]. There will be short test issued later – only joking….!