World Cup years. The most fascinating facts from the history of the World Cup. World Cup: victory stories
Five stars are located above the emblem of the Brazilian national football team. This indicates that it is the Brazilians who are considered the most titled football power. This team has won five World Championships in 1952, 1958, 1970, 1994 and 2002. World football legend Pele holds the record for titles. He won three world championships with his national team.
Italy
In Europe, two football teams are called tetracampios, one of them is the national team of Italy. The Italians celebrated triumph at the world championships in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006. History preserves many names of great Italians who were honored to raise the coveted trophy over their heads. Some of them still delight fans with their performances in the jersey of the national team (Buffon, Pirlo, Barzagli).
Germany (FRG)
The national team of Germany (FRG) is not inferior to the Italians in titles. At the moment, it is the Germans who are the reigning world champions. The national team, nicknamed the "German machine", excelled on the football fields in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014. The names of Gerd Müller, Lothar Matthäus and other great football players will forever remain in the history of world sports.
Argentina
A country like Argentina, with its outstanding football talents, simply could not remain without the title of world champion. Twice the Argentines, led by Mario Kempes and Diego Maradona, managed to win world championships. Kempes shone on home championship 1978, and Diego led his team to the title in Mexico in 1986.
Uruguay
The Uruguayans became the first world champions in football. In this country, for the first time, the world football championship among teams was held (1930). The second time the national team of Uruguay won in 1950 at the championship in Brazil. In the final at the Maracana Stadium, in the presence of 200,000 spectators, the Uruguayans beat the hosts of the championship.
England
The founders of football also did not remain without the title of the best football team in the world. At the home world championship in 1966, it was the hosts who became the victors of the championship.
France
Helped home stands and the French. The national team of Zinedine Zidane triumphantly performed at the home World Cup in 1998. In the final, the French defeated the main contenders for the gold of the Brazilians (who were the reigning champions at that time) with a score of 3:0.
Spain
The tournament held in South Africa in 2010 is recognized as the most pragmatic world football championship in recent decades. The Spaniards excelled in the competition, meager for bright matches and goals. The final of that championship fully reflects the specifics of the entire World Cup. Spain national team only Extra time outplayed the Netherlands 1-0.
In this article, the whole history of the winners of the World Cup. Which country and in what year became world champions. How many titles does each team have in total? About all this further.
General information on the World Cup
Football World Cup (WCH) is the largest international sports tournament organized by FIFA, in which the best football countries from all over the world. This tournament is held every 4 years.
The very first World Cup was held back in 1930. And the winner of the first World Cup was the Uruguay team, which in the final beat the Argentina team (4:2). Only 13 teams took part in it. So far, 20 tournaments have taken place.
The last (current) world champion for 2019 is France national team, which became the winner of the last World Cup in 2018, held in Russia.
Former champions - the German national team, who won the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil, did not even leave the group at this tournament.
Note: West Germany (Former Germany) 3 times world champion (1954, 1974 and 1990).
Teams that have become world champions - which country has the most titles?
In the football world, top teams stand out, attracting their attention both by the quality of the game and the selection of players. And therefore most often they are favorites in such tournaments. Many are interested in who how many times became the world champion.
Winning countries by number of championship wins (table)
| national team | How many wins | In what years did they become champions |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 5 | 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002 |
| Germany | 4 | 1954, 1974, 1990, 2014 |
| Italy | 4 | 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006 |
| Uruguay | 2 | 1930, 1950 |
| Argentina | 2 | 1978, 1986 |
| France | 2 | 1998, 2018 |
| England | 1 | 1966 |
| Spain | 1 | 2010 |
USSR and World Cup
The national team of the Soviet Union has never in its history become the winner of the World Cup. The best result is 4th place in 1966, held in England. Then the USSR national team in the semifinals lost to the German national team with a score (2:1). And in the match for 3rd place, she lost to Portugal with the same score.
Russia at the World Cup
The Russian national team also did not win the title of world champions in football. Best result The Russian team showed at the home World Cup in 2018, reaching the quarterfinals, where they lost to the Croatian team in a penalty shootout.
The Russian team in the match with Croatia at the 2018 World Cup. Source: gazeta.ru Full list of world champions by year in the table
| Year | World Cup Winner | Who was beaten in the final (Score) | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Uruguay | Argentina (4:2) | Uruguay |
| 1934 | Italy | Czechoslovakia (2:1 - additional time) | Italy |
| 1938 | Italy | Hungary (4:2) | France |
| 1950 | Uruguay | Brazil (2:1) | Brazil |
| 1954 | West Germany | Hungary (3:2) | Switzerland |
| 1958 | Brazil | Sweden (5:2) | Sweden |
| 1962 | Brazil | Czechoslovakia (3:1) | Chile |
| 1966 | England | West Germany (4:2 - additional time) | England |
| 1970 | Brazil | Italy (4:1) | Mexico |
| 1974 | West Germany | Netherlands (2:1) | West Germany |
| 1978 | Argentina | Netherlands (3:1 - additional time) | Argentina |
| 1982 | Italy | West Germany (3:1) | Spain |
| 1986 | Argentina | West Germany (3:2) | Mexico |
| 1990 | West Germany | Argentina (1:0) | Italy |
| 1994 | Brazil | Italy (0:0 - penalty shootout 3:2)) | USA |
| 1998 | France | Brazil (3:0) | France |
| 2002 | Brazil | Germany (2:0) | Japan and South Korea |
| 2006 | Italy | France (1:1 - penalty shootout 5:3) | Germany |
| 2010 | Spain | Netherlands (1:0 - additional time) | South Africa |
| 2014 | Germany | Argentina (1:0 - extra time) | Brazil |
| 2018 | France | Croatia (4:2) | Russia |
And finally, a video reviewing the final match of the last World Cup between France and Croatia. Enjoy watching!
- one of three players along with the Germans Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose, who scored in four world championships. He is also the scorer of the "youngest" goal. When he hit the gates of the Wales team at the 1958 World Cup, he was only 17 years, seven months and 27 days old.
The German striker holds the record for most goals scored in a World Cup final. Top scorer in the history of the national team he scored 16 goals: five at the 2002 World Cup, five at the 2006 World Cup, four at the 2010 World Cup and two more at the gold for the German 2014 World Cup team. Klose is one goal ahead of Brazil's Ronaldo, Germany's Gerd Müller by two and France's Juste Fontaine by three.
Just Fontaine
The French striker is the most effective scorer in a single tournament. Fontaine scored all of his 13 goals at the 1958 World Cup. In the group stage, he first scored a hat-trick against Paraguay, then scored a double in the game with Yugoslavia and added a goal to Scotland. Juste then scored twice in the quarter-final against Northern Ireland and scored once in the semi-final against the Brazilians. Finally, in the match for third place Fontaine succeeded in poker against the German national team. Since then, no one has been able to come close to the result of the Frenchman. Only Gerd Müller at the 1970 World Cup reached the milestone of 10 goals.
Weather and child labor. Problems of the organizers before the World Cup
Difficulties arise constantly.
The striker of the Russian national team at the 1994 World Cup managed to score five goals in one match. The Cameroon national team became a client of a native of Leningrad. In the entire history of the world championships, no one, except Salenko, has succeeded in a penta-trick. In total, Oleg had six goals in three matches at that tournament. group stage, because he also scored in the game with Sweden. At the 1994 World Cup, Salenko won the Golden Boot along with Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov. Interestingly, the match with Cameroon was the last in the striker's career for the Russian national team.
Geoffrey Hirst
Continuing the theme of the great scorers of the World Cups, one cannot but recall the former striker of the England national team. Hurst is the only player to score a hat-trick in the final. It happened at the 1966 World Cup in a match with Germany. Regular time ended with a score of 2:2, and in extra time everything was decided by two accurate blows from Hurst. The episode with the winning goal, which the Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst counted after consulting with the Soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov, remains perhaps the most controversial in the history of the world championships.
Antonio Carbajal and Lothar Matthäus
The Mexican goalkeeper and Germany defender have played in five World Cups. Carbajal entered the field in tournaments that were held from 1950 to 1966. Matthäus made his debut at the 1982 World Cup, and his last tournament was the 1998 World Cup. It is Matthäus who holds the record for the number of matches in the final stages of the world championship. The German has 25 of them. In addition to Carbajal and Matthäus, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was included in the Italian national team's application for the World Cup five times, but he played in four tournaments from 2002 to 2014. For Mexico defender Rafael Marquez will also be the fifth in his career.
The Brazilian defender is the only player to have played in three World Cup finals (1994, 1998, 2002). Two of them ended with the victory of the Kafu team. In 1994, the Brazilian national team defeated Italy in a penalty shootout, and in 2002, they defeated Germany - 2: 0.
Norman Whiteside
At the 1982 World Cup, this Northern Ireland attacking midfielder played against Yugoslavia at the age of 17 years and 41 days. Whiteside is the youngest participant in the final stages of the World Championships. The Northern Irishman broke the record owned by . At the club level, Whiteside played for Manchester United and Everton, but due to injuries he was forced to retire at the age of 26. He managed to play 38 matches for the Northern Ireland national team, in which he scored nine goals. Including hit the gates of the Algerian national team at the 1986 World Cup.
Farid Mondragon
The Colombian goalkeeper holds a record with the opposite value. Mondragon is the oldest player ever to play in the final stages of the World Cup. He entered the field against Japan at the 2014 World Cup at the age of 43 years and three days. However, in Russia Mondragon's record is likely to be beaten. The main goalkeeper of the Egyptian national team, Essam El-Hadari, is already 45 years old and almost five months old!
Roger Mila
The legendary Cameroonian striker is still the oldest player to score at the World Cups. In 1990, the whole world fell in love with the bright team of Cameroon Valery Nepomniachtchi, in which Milla sparkled. However, Roger managed to excel at the next 1994 World Cup. He hit the gates of Stanislav Cherchesov in the same match Russia - Cameroon (6:1). At that time, the striker was already 42 years old, one month and eight days old.
Italy goalkeeper has created the longest streak without conceded goals. At the 1990 World Cup, Zenga kept a clean sheet for 517 minutes. In three matches of the group stage, he did not miss from Austria, the USA and Czechoslovakia, then Walter played to zero in the 1/8 finals with Uruguay and the quarter-finals with Ireland. Only the Argentinean Claudio Canigia managed to break Zenga in the semi-finals. The Italians were leading 1-0, but conceded in the 67th minute and lost on penalties.
Photo: Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images
Jose Batista
The former player of the national team of Uruguay has a record that none of the participants in Russia exactly wants to repeat. Batista is the author of the earliest red card in the world championships. This story happened in 1986 in the match of the 3rd round of the group stage Scotland - Uruguay. The defender left the field less than a minute after the starting whistle was blown. French referee Juel Quino sent off Batista in the 56th second for a tackle from behind against Gordac Strachan.
You will definitely love these guys! How foreign fans sing
Fans from Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Egypt and Morocco are already in Russia.
The history of the FIFA World Cup opened its pages with 1928 FIFA President Jules Rimet, who announced the holding of an international football tournament. The first championship was held in Uruguay in 1930, but was contested as only 13 teams participated. Since then, the FIFA World Cup has evolved into a 32-team final tournament, with 2-year preliminary qualifiers involving around 200 teams from around the world.
World Cup: victory stories
World Cup - 1930
The first FIFA World Cup was held in the capital Montevideo, where the Uruguayan team won the Olympic Games in 1926. All matches were played in three stadiums such as Gran Parc Central, Positos and Centenario. Especially for the first World Cup, the Centenario Stadium was built with an incredible number of spectator seats even for our time - 90,000!
It hosted ten of the eighteen tournaments, in which thirteen teams took part. On final match 68,546 fans attended, but in fact there were at least 80,000, and Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 with brilliance and became the very first champion.
World Cup - 1934
The second, and no less grandiose expected World Championship was held in Italy. Of all available big stadiums the largest and most suitable was Milan's San Siro arena, which at that time could accommodate 55,000 fans. 
And of course, the biggest audience was the final, where Italy beat Czechoslovakia 3:1.
World Cup - 1938
The game for the third World Cup took place in France. True, due to the occupation of Austria by Nazi Germany, the first was unable to take part in the world tournament, so only fifteen teams took part in the final.
45 thousand people gathered to watch this hot game.
The largest number of spectators gathered in the quarter-finals of France and Italy, whose game ended with a score of 1:3 (58,465 people). In the final, Italy defeated Hungary with a score identical to the 1930 World Cup (ie 4:2).
World Cup - 1950
Since the second began World War, The World Championship has not been held for 12 years. The first post-war tournament was hosted by Brazil, which did not stint and built an arena for two hundred thousand seats in Rio de Janeiro for such an occasion. 
In total, 13 teams from several countries participated, but in the final, the host country blundered and lost to Uruguay with a score of 2: 1 (173,950 fans were present).
World Cup - 1954
The fifth Cup was held in wealthy Switzerland, which remained a neutral side during the war, and, accordingly, did not spend its money on post-war reconstruction. 6 stadiums hosted matches, but the largest was Wankdorf with 64,000 seats. 
26 fights were held by 16 participating teams. The total number of those who attended the matches was 768,179 people. The most grandiose in terms of the number of spectators was the final, in which Hungary lost to the Federal Republic of Germany with a score of 3:2 (62.5 thousand people)
World Cup - 1958
This FIFA World Cup was held in Sweden at the largest stadium available, Gothenburg's Ullevi, with 53,000 seats. 
The largest indicator of the number of fans reached 50,939 people. Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 in the final.
World Cup - 1962
This time, Chile became the host country, or as it is also commonly called, the host country. Spectator interest was at its peak during the semi-final clash between Brazil and Chile, as an estimated 76,587 fans were on the pitch for that particular game. 
Everything took place at the Estadio Nacional. In the end, Brazil defeated Czechoslovakia 3:1.
World Cup - 1966
Finally, the World Cup has reached the progenitor of football. Meet Her Majesty England!
A total of 564,135 fans attended the 32 matches.
In the final game, England beat West Germany 4-2 at Wembley, attended by 96,835 spectators.
World Cup - 1970
This World Cup was held in Mexico. That year, five stadiums hosted the event with brilliance, with an Azteca of 100,000 in the capital (Jalisco). 
So, Brazil became the champion for the third time ever, having received the Golden Goddess for permanent storage. (score 4:1).
World Cup - 1974
This time the World Championship was held in West Germany. Namely in that year, it was decided to change the format of the tournament, in which two group rounds were organized. Then the match was held at nine stadiums.
In total, 32 matches were played and almost 2 million people who supported each of their teams could see it.
In the final, Germany defeated the Netherlands, overtaking them by just one goal (2:1).
World Cup - 1978
As the history of the World Cup says, in 1978 the championship was held in Argentina. For this, a couple of new arenas were built, but the game of Italy - Argentina (1: 0) gathered the most spectators, because 72,000 fans gathered on that significant day. In the final game, Argentina beat the Netherlands 3-1. 
World Cup - 1982
For this World Cup, Spain was chosen as the hostess, which made the locals very happy, who built 17 stadiums.
But it was in the hands of everyone, since now 24 teams took part.
The most interesting was the match where the Camp Nou lost to Belgium with 95,000 fans. In the final, Italy reached the Cup, beating Germany.
World Cup - 1986
And again in the history of the World Cup, Mexico was among the hosts.
This tournament, which became epic for Diego Maradona, was held in 120 stadiums.
The most popular was the match at the familiar Azteca.
In the final, the title of the strongest on the entire planet was won by the players of Argentina, but the Germans lost for the second time (score 3:2).
World Cup - 1990
The history of the World Championship began to repeat itself again, as the holding was scheduled again in Italy. The matches were held at twelve arenas, and the largest number of spectators managed to gather at the match Germany - the Netherlands (2:1). This time the Germans did not disappoint and beat Argentina 1:0. 
World Cup - 1994
In order to make football even more popular, it was decided to move the championship to America. 9 stadiums commonly used for American football, were temporarily refurbished, but what is most remarkable, the smallest stadiums could accommodate up to 50,000 fans, thanks to which the total attendance reached 3,576,785 people. 
World Cup - 1998
It was the first championship in the history of the World Cup in France, which was held among thirty-two teams. Since then, 64 matches have been played in the championships. Ten stadiums were used, and in the final game, France were able to defeat the Brazilians and for the first time in a long period of time were able to establish themselves as the strongest team. 
So, France - Brazil with a score of 3:0 rightfully received their Cup.
World Cup - 2002
This is the first time the World Cup has received a joint application to host twenty stadiums in South Korea and Japan at once. This match was more remembered not for the football itself, but for the refereeing scandals and striking departures from the game of everyone's favorites. Final - Brazil-Germany (2:0, 69,086 spectators). 
World Cup - 2006
The World Championship was held in Germany. Thanks to the excellent infrastructure, the tournament was excellent. In terms of organization, this is the best tournament in the history of the World Cup. Matches were played at 12 stadiums. 
The final was the final in the career of Zinedine Zidane. This year Italy celebrated its fourfold victory.
World Cup - 2010
The tournament was held in South Africa. 12 stadiums were chosen for the match. The largest attendance was at the opening and final. 
World Cup - 2014
Once again, Brazil became the host country. According to the standard, 12 stadiums accepted the match 9, and some did not sit down to complete the construction). There were a total of 3,429,758 fans in the stands, which gives us an average of 59,768 spectators per match. The United States held the lead. But in the final Germany and Argentina won (1:0). 
