The FIFA World Cup is the formal term for a quadrennial football tournament where men’s national teams compete to determine the sport’s world champion.
Before the first official World Cup, there were other prestigious football competitions, including the Summer Olympics which is considered the most prestigious of all. However, everything changed in the 1920s when soccer moved into a more professional field. The planning procedure for a bigger tournament began on May 26th, 1928, when it was finally announced to the public. The first-ever World Cup was celebrated in 1930 and was hosted by Uruguay, who also won the tournament; back then, only 13 teams participated. It grew in popularity almost immediately, and for the competition in 1934, 32 nations were pre-qualifying.
For the 2022 World Cup, a total of 211 teams began the qualification process. But how does the qualifying part work? The teams are divided into confederations based on geographic regions. The qualification procedure differs for each of the six confederations; but in simple terms, the teams within each confederation play each other over a number of rounds, before moving on to a playoff where they officially determine who qualifies for the World Cup.
The format of each World Cup is the same: prior to the tournament, a draw is used to split the 32 teams into eight different groups consisting of four teams each. The four teams in each group will play each other once, with the winner and runner-up advancing to the next stage: the “knockout stage”, also referred to as the round of 16. Winners of this phase will then proceed to the quarterfinals, with the winners advancing to the semi-finals, and eventually the Final or third-place match.
As of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 22 final tournaments have been held and a total of 80 national teams have competed. Brazil is the nation that has won the most World Cups with five wins, Germany and Italy tie in second place with a total of four wins each, Argentina now resides in third place with three wins, France and Uruguay tie in fourth place with two wins, and finally, Spain and England tie in fifth place with a total of one World Cup won.
The World Cup is one of the most popular international sporting competitions, and no other sports event can compete in significance: the latest FIFA World Cup reached over three billion television viewers worldwide and one billion watched the final. Fans travel from all over the world to follow their favorite teams as they compete against some of the most talented players in soccer. The competition is made up of teams from six different continental zones – Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd and will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three countries: United States, Mexico, and Canada. This tournament will make history by being the first-ever hosted by three nations and by including 48 teams instead of the usual 32.
Mexico will become the first nation to host the eventthree timesand it will be Canada’sfirst time ever hosting.