Every 4 years, football lovers are excited about the World Cup tournament. World Cup is no doubt real the best tournament ever, attracting millions of people all around the world. The article lists some interesting things you may not know about this incredible tournament.
Keyword: football
The history of the World Cup
The World Cup was held for the first time in 1930 by FIFA- the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Football had existed for a long time before the year 1930. The match between Scotland and England marked the first international football match in the world. Since then, football had stretched all around the world and gained love from a huge amount of people.
In the 1932 Summer Olympics in the United States, football did not appear in the list of sports, which led to FIFA’s decision about holding their own football tournament. Uruguay was chosen as the host country for this first tournament.
First FIFA World Cup was held in Centenario Stadium in Montevideo city. There were only 13 nations taking part in this tournament, including four nations from Europe, two nations from North America and seven nations coming from South America.
Reasons why the World Cup is held every four years
World Cup is obviously the most attractive tournament in the world. So there must be some reasons why FIFA decided to take it every four years instead of two years, three years or every year. The answer is more simple than what you have in your mind.
In the past, IOC, the organization which holds the Olympic event, had tried to hold it every two years. However, they failed from their first time in 1906. After some discussions, they all agreed that 4-years coming up as the best gap to hold this football tournament.
In addition, as the FIFA World Cup started in 1930 when transportation did not develop strongly like what it does today, it was hard for footballers to travel around the world for the annual tournament. This is the reason why there were 13 countries joining the first World Cup tournament in 1930. In fact, four countries from Europe participated and others chose to stay at home because of this geographical barrier.
Hosting a World Cup tournament is not an easy task. Source: AboutBrasil
On the other hand, footballers really need time to relax and recover (if they have any injuries during the tournament). As football is sports with many activities, footballers can potentially get the injury. In some serious case, they have to stop playing for a particular period of time to receive treatment. The gap four years may be an ideal period for them to fully recover but not making their fans to wait too long.
From the view of the host country, World Cup would be an incredible chance to introduce more about the country, culture, splendid sights,…Thus, the host country can attract more foreign tourists, contributing greatly to the development of tourism industry.
However, the story is not that simple. The host country has to ensure its infrastructure to welcome about five million or even more football fans. Brazil, the host of World Cup 2014, spent about $4 billion in their 12 stadiums upgrading. The amount of money is even three times bigger for Russia to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Their $12 billion to prepare everything needed for this football tournament really shocked the whole world.
Lastly, the four-year period seems to be a perfect time for the football fans to wait for their favourite footballers’ performance. Letting them wait instead of holding this football tournament every year or every two years is actually reasonable and smart.
Are the winners “home teams”?
It is not random that in many football tournaments, the winners are the home teams. This is what many people, especially the football lovers, often complain about. The host nations not only gain huge economic benefits but their home teams seem to receive preferential treatments no matter how their performances are.
There are six home teams who are also the winners: Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), Germany (1974), Argentina (1978), France (1998). In four years, including 1930, 1950, 1962 and 1978, when the FIFA World Cup was held in South America, all the teams won came from South America.
This may be just a coincidence. Of course, we cannot deny the fact that all many teams are talented, but these coincidences really raise doubts about the preferential treatments. Why people around the world all perceive football as the king of sports? The reason is its tremendous spirit that no other sports have. And damaging this spirit, of course, makes football fans angry.
Is there a nation competing in every World Cup?
Brazil competes in every World Cup tournament. Source: BongDaF
The answer is Brazil. Brazil is the only country in the world to participate in every FIFA World Cup. Brazil now leads the world with its five wins. Before building this excellent reputation, Brazil team had faced a hard time when they lose Uruguay in a knockout match in the 1950 World Cup.
That Uruguay won 2-1 was really a shock, not only for Brazil citizens but also for football fans all around the world. The president of FIFA, Jules Rimet, had thought that Brazil would be the winner and only prepared his speech in Portuguese, Brazil’s most popular language. Brazil now ranks first in the soccer World Cup titles won by the country with their five winning tournaments, including 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002.
The Queen of World Cup songs
Football and music have a close relationship. World Cup songs often are sung by famous singers and they receive love from people all around the world, even they are not football fans. These songs inspire both footballers and football fans greatly with their meaningful lyrics and an amazing beat.
Shakira is the Queen of World Cup theme song. Source: YouTube
One of the most successful World Cup songs is “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” which is the combination between Colombian singer Shakira and South African band Freshlyground. Released in 7th May 2010, the song was chosen as the official song of FIFA World Cup 2010.
This pop song encourages people to purchase their goals and fight for them like a soldier. At the moment, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) has got more than two billion views on Shakia’s official Youtube channel with more than 8,3 million likes. More than just an anthem, Waka Waka also ranked 38 on the Billboard 100. Shakira, therefore, is called as the Queen of World Cup by Billboard.
Shakira also sang the 2014 World Cup theme song “La La La” feat Carlinhos Brown. The collaboration of pop and Brazilian funk has gotten love and support not only from football fans but also from music lovers.
At the moment, the song has gotten more than 1 billion views and 4.3 million likes. “I dare you” appears at the very first second of the song, making the whole song like an encouragement. Another reason for the popularity of this song, besides the incredible beat and lyrics, is the appearance of most famous football players, such as Messi, James Rodríguez, Neymar, Sergio Agüero, Eric Abidal, Cesc Fàbregas, Radamel Falcao, Shakira’s boyfriend Gerard Piqué.
The football world is more than what in your mind. The most beautiful performances are not the only incredible things about this fascinating world. There are hundreds of things in this football world waiting for you to discover.
