World Cup Corner

World Cup soccer was the brainchild of the president of the World Football federation in 1926. Therefore, if it were not for Jules Rimet there would not be world cup soccer. He pushed to get everything organized and fought for nondiscrimination because of amateur or professional status. These things would not matter to this league. It took him and a few others 5 years to get everything together and to get it finalized by the board. Then on May 26th, 1928, the World Cup was born. Five of the European countries were picked to be the host, Uruguay was chosen. This was because of their outstanding Olympic record.

The only problem they seemed to have had been travel and the war when first starting out. 1942 and 1946 were cancelled due to World War 2 and its aftermath. In 1920, the British withdrew because they did not want to compete against someone they went to war with. However, they returned to competition in 1946.

On July 13th, 1930, the first games were held. It kicked off the season at Pocitos Stadium and this is where France beat Mexico 4 to 1. This was the beginning of the long history of the World Cup. There were 13 teams in the first World Cup including:

Uruguay-HOST
Argentina
Brazil
Bolivia
Chile
Paraguay
Peru
Mexico
United States

The winner of the first World Cup was Uruguay in 1930. They beat Argentina 4 to 2. There have been 18 tournaments and out of them Brazil is the all time leader of winning the World Cup winning. The others include:

Italy won four
Germany won three
Uruguay won two
Argentina won two
England won one
France won one

The most recent tournament was in Germany where Italy won over France 5-3 in June 2006. The next tournament will be in South Africa in 2010.

From 1930-1970 the trophy, named Jukes Rimet trophy, was awarded to the winner of each tournament and when someone won the tournament three times in a row they received the trophy permanently. Then it was stolen in 1983 and has never been found but believed to have been melted down by the thieves. It was then known as the World cup but renamed to Rimet in 1946 since he founded it. Then in 1970, a new trophy was made and named FIFA World Cup Trophy. It is 3 feet tall, made of 18-carat gold, and weighs 6,175 grams. The base of the trophy has two layers of semi-precious malachite and the bottom side bears the year and name of each winner since 1974. Now, the cup is not awarded to any winning team permanently. They just hold it until the next tournament. Then they do not get the original they get a replica and the original will be retired in 2038 when the plaque is filled up with winning names.

The first World cup Tournament was seen on television in 1954 with an estimated viewing audience of 28.8 billion. Then in 2006, they had over 300 million viewers of just the final game! Now, it is the most widely viewed and followed sport compared to the Olympics. Even the World cup has its own mascot. He is called World Cup Willie and has been since 1966. Mascots for 2006 were Goleo the lion and Pille a football.

The World Cup Tournament is one sport that is watched by millions all over the world and is becoming more popular. From the beginning with only 13 teams competing to today being an international event and with all the difficulties of wars it is hard to imagine, the World Cup Tournament has stayed a strong presence in our lives.