Introduction: the History of the Football World Cups
The history of the FIFA World Cup began with the creation of a football championship in the year 1904 and the founding of FIFA in the same year.
But the first World Cup in history took place in 1930, in Uruguay. Uruguay was chosen for having an Olympic football title and for celebrating 100 years of independence that year.
The creation of the World Cup happened because the Olympic Games that would take place in 1932 in Los Angelis did not plan to include football as part of the games, having this information FIFA decided to create its own world football competition.
The First Football World Cup
Frenchman Jules Rimet was the creator of the idea of the first Football World Cup, he invited football entrepreneurs and visionaries to be part of this movement.
The idea was that the prize would be a gold cup, and the first cup was named after Jules Rimet as a tribute.
The first Football World Cup in history included 13 teams, seven from South America (Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Chile), four from Europe (Yugoslavia, Romania, France, Belgium), and two from North America (Mexico and the United States).
See also ⇒ Official FIFA Football Field
The History of the Football World Cups
First World Cup 1930 in Uruguay
Uruguay was already two-time champion of the football competition that was held during the Olympics, which at the time was the most important football competition that existed.
The first World Cup champion
Uruguay was the first champion in the history of the Football World Cups. Besides being the host, Uruguay confirmed its hegemony, as it was already the two-time Olympic champion.
Uruguay played the final of the first World Cup against Argentina, winning the game 4X2.
The History of the 1934 World Cup in Italy
The 1934 World Cup took place in Italy, and even with some complications, they did not give up on the second edition of the World Cup, in the midst of a fascist moment, Italy opened its doors for the competition to take place.
Italy was the great champion of this Cup, beating Czechoslovakia 2-1 in the final.
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The Story of the 1938 World Cup in France
Due to various political and economic problems, the world was terrorized by the Second World War, and several countries were left out of this edition because of battles in the war.
In this World Cup that took place in France, Brazil was the only South American country to participate in the competition. Brazil, despite having shown a lot of evolution this year, ended up in third place.
The 1938 World Cup champion was Italy again, who retained their title by winning the final match against Hungary 4X2.
The History of the 1950 World Cup in Brazil
After the 12-year interruption of the World Cup due to World War II, the World Cup returns, and this time it was Brazil’s chance to be the host for the first time in the history of the World Cups.
This cup was played in an unusual way, in the first phase there were 13 teams, which were divided into two groups of four, another of three, and finally one of two.
Brazil reached the final against Uruguay, but the Uruguayans proved to be the best at the time and took the victory 2-1. The first great Brazilian defeat in the history of World Cups.
The Story of the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland
The 1954 World Cup was held in Switzerland, and it was in this cup that Brazil debuted its famous yellow jersey, but this was not the mark of this cup.
Unfortunately, Brazil left a negative impression, where there were many fights on the field and also in the locker room against the players of the Hungarian team.
The final was played between Germany and Hungary on a very rainy day, and Germany came out as the winner by 3X2, winning their first world cup title in the history of the world cups.
At that time the ball was made of leather and absorbed water, making it heavier, and Germany already had some experience with the situation, and boots that helped on the wet field.
The Story of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden
The 1958 World Cup was held in Sweden, this was the first World Cup to be broadcast on television.
Besides this great novelty, the 1958 World Cup had a 17-year-old player, Pelé was the youngest player of the time.
The final was played between Brazil and Sweden, and since both teams had the yellow jersey, a draw was made to see who would wear the primary uniform. Brazil lost the draw and ended up having to play with the secondary blue uniform, but emerged as the winner of the cup with a score of 5-2.
The Story of the 1962 World Cup in Chile
The 1962 World Cup took place in Chile, a championship known for violence, in the dispute between Chile and Italy, Chile was the winner by 2-0, but punches, kicks, were stopped in this game, resulting in some warnings, two players were expelled and one player got his nose broken and this all on the Italian team.
Brazil lost its greatest player in the second game of the competition, simply Pelé, who was injured in the game against Czechoslovakia, but this did not stop Brazil from having another victory, Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 to take the title and become two-time world champion.
The History of the 1966 World Cup in England
The 1966 World Cup took place in England, which was also the champion of this year’s cup, England fought and got its first world title in the history of world cups, its final dispute was against West Germany, with a final score of 4X2, had a great victory.
England was also the first team to create a mascot, which was the Lion Willie.
But England’s mascot was not the only animal to be a celebrity in this cup, the dog Pickles also got his moment of fame when he found the cup that had been stolen before the World Cup while it was on display in London.
About England’s victory is still disputed today, because one of the goals scored by England hit the crossbar, hit the ground and then returned to the field. The videos of the time show that the ball did not actually go in.
The History of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico
The 1970 World Cup held in Mexico was the first World Cup to be broadcast on color television, and the best moments of the event were made by a player from Brazil, Pelé. Among these moments were the three almost goals he tried to score, a goal attempt with his head that was saved, a kick in the middle of the field against the Czechoslovakian team, and a great body dribble on the goalkeeper of the Uruguay team.
With all this, Brazil again showed the ability of its players and had a brilliant performance in this cup, and ended up winning the title. The final was fought against Italy, and the game was 4-1.
The Story of the 1974 World Cup in Germany
Even though Brazil did not win the 1974 World Cup held in Germany, the country still had an efficient participation. In that same year, the Brazilian João Havelange became president of FIFA, a very important event because he was the first non-European to assume the post.
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Canal no Telegram Dicas Educação FísicaThis time the victory was won by West Germany, with its tactical efficiency in every contest, Germany reached the final against the Netherlands, of the famous Dutch carousel, which was won by 2X1.
The Story of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina
The 1978 World Cup took place in Argentina and ended up generating some polemics in the world, some demonstrations took place before the tournament even started.
FIFA ended up with some protests for the competition to be changed, all because Argentina at that time lived under a military dictatorship.
The dispute in this cup was very close, but Argentina got its title, won its disputes honorably, its final dispute was fought against the Netherlands, where Argentina won by 3X1.
The Story of the 1982 World Cup in Spain
The 1982 World Cup was held in Spain where the number of participants changed from 16 to 24.
El Salvador had one of the worst campaigns in the history of the cup, losing 10-1 to the Hungarian team.
Brazil also suffered a painful defeat to Italy. The favorite Brazilian team that had names such as Zico, Socrates, Falcão, Júnior and others, was eliminated 3-2, with three goals by the Italian Paolo Rossi.
Italy showed why it eliminated the favorite Brazil and won the title, in the final against West Germany, winning 3-1.
The History of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico
This year the World Cup was supposed to be held in Colombia, but it was abandoned for financial reasons, and Mexico came to host the event again, and became the first country to host the World Cup for the second time.
Argentina won the title, once again West Germany made it to the final but once again did not take the title, losing to Argentina 3X2.
The Story of the 1990 World Cup in Italy
The 1990 World Cup took place in Italy, and that was when Germany matched Brazil and Italy to become the three-time champion.
The highlight of this cup was the arrival of a team from the African continent in the quarterfinals, the team from Cameroon, but the team ended up going home when they were defeated by England in extra time.
The 1990 World Cup was the moment of revenge for West Germany, who went to the final again against Diego Maradona’s Argentina and this time won 1-0.
The Story of the 1994 World Cup in the United States
There was a lot of talk that the 1994 World Cup would be a failure with regard to the public, because the United States does not have the Football tradition.
In fact, the cup turned out to be a success, with a record 3.5 million viewers.
There were two events that marked this cup, one of them was that Diego Maradona was caught in an anti-doping test and was withdrawn from the competition.
The second was the death of Colombian Andres Escobar, he was the player who scored the own goal in the game against the USA, and ended up disqualifying the Colombian team.
Brazil was the champion, in a tense final against Roberto Baggio’s strong Italy, the game ended in a 0-0 draw and was decided on penalty kicks, the final score was 3-2 to Brazil.
The History of the 1998 World Cup in France
The World Cup held in France, with 32 teams taking part, was the biggest ever.
Brazil reached the final again, but arrived shaken, because their main player, Ronaldo, had suffered a convulsion right before the match, but even with this event he was selected to take the field.
But Brazil did not manage to take the title this time, this merit went to France, Brazil lost the game 3-0.
The Story of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan
This year’s World Cup was the first to be held on the Asian continent, in this case Japan and South Korea.
It was the opportunity for Ronaldo, the Brazilian team’s striker, to turn around the great negative event of the World Cup in France.
Ronaldo scored eight goals during the World Cup, second only to German player Gerd Mueller as the highest scorer in a World Cup.
Brazil went to the final again, but this time to win, and Germany took the title, this game ended with 2X0 on the scoreboard, and won the title of five-time champion.
Brazil became the first country to be champion in three different continents, which would be Europe, Asia, and America.
The Story of the 2006 World Cup in Germany
With the presence of 3 million spectators the cup took place in Germany.
Brazil ended up finishing the competition in fifth place, but Ronaldo ended up scoring his fifteenth goal in the World Cup, becoming the highest scorer in the history of World Cups.
Italy was the Champion, the final was decided on penalties, Italy and France were tied with the score of 1-1 in normal time, but Italy won on penalties by 5X3, and ended up winning the title for the fourth time.
The Story of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa
It was the first World Cup to take place on the African continent in the history of the World Cups.
Spain put together a great team to win the title for the first time, played well, and eliminated opponents such as Portugal, Germany, and Paraguay.
In the great final, Spain faced the Netherlands, and became the champion with the score of 1-0, with a goal by the great midfielder Andres Iniesta.
See Also > 1966 World Cup
The History of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil
The World Cup held in Brazil was a year of much dispute and shame for Brazil in football, the team ended up losing to Germany, by a historic score of 7×1. One of the biggest shocks in the history of World Cups.
And who ended up taking the trophy home was Germany itself, in a tight final against Leonel Messi‘s Argentina, where the final score was 1-0 to the Germans.]