History of FIFA - The first FIFA World Cup™

Source: Google Images

The success of the Olympic Football Tournament intensified FlFA's wish for its own world championship. Questionnaires were sent to the affiliated associations, asking whether they agreed to the organisation of a tournament and under what conditions. A special committee examined the question, with President Jules Rimet the driving force. He was aided by the untiring Secretary of the French Football Federation, Henri Delaunay.

Following a remarkable proposal by the Executive Committee, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam on 28 May 1928 decided to stage a world championship organised by FIFA. Now, the organising country had to be chosen. Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden submitted their candidatures. Right from the start, Uruguay was the favourite and not simply for its Olympic gold medal wins in 1924 and 1928 - the country was celebrating its 100th anniversary of independence in 1930 at great expense.

Moreover, its national association was willing to cover all the costs, including the travel and accommodation of the participating teams. Any possible profit would be shared, while Uruguay would take on the deficit. These arguments were decisive. The FIFA Congress in Barcelona in 1929 assigned Uruguay as first host country of the FIFA World Cup ™. The other candidates had withdrawn.

With Europe in the midst of an economic crisis, not everything went to plan during the countdown to these first finals. Participation did not only involve a long sea journey for the Europeans; the clubs would have to renounce their best players for two months. Consequently, more and more associations broke their promise to participate and it took much manoeuvring by Rimet to ensure at least four European teams - France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia - joined him on the Conte Verde liner bound for Buenos Aires.

The first FIFA World Cup opened at the brand-new Estadio Centenario in Montevideo on 18 July 1930. It was the beginning of a new era in world football and the inaugural event proved a remarkable success, both in a sporting and a financial sense. Of course, the organisers were disappointed that only four European sides had participated. The anger in Montevideo was so intense in fact that four years later, world champions Uruguay became the first and only team to refuse to defend their title.

When the Congress convened in Budapest in 1930, it thanked Uruguay for staging the world championship for the first time in difficult conditions. It also noted its regret at seeing only a minimum number of teams participating from Europe.

The significance of the new tournament only increased following the setback FIFA suffered in the lead-up to the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. After failing to settle differences of opinion over the amateur status of footballers with the International Olympic Committee regarding the amateur status of football players, plans to organise the Olympic Football Tournament were abandoned.

Source: Google Images

FIFA chose Italy ahead of rival candidates Sweden to host the second FIFA World Cup and this time it took qualifying matches to arrive at the 16 finalists. Unlike in 1930 there were no groups and only knockout rounds, meaning Brazil and Argentina went home after playing just one match each. Once again, the home team prevailed, Italy winning the Final against Czechoslovakia in extra time. For the first time, the Final was transmitted on the radio.

Four years later, Rimet saw his wish fulfilled when the third FIFA World Cup took place in France, his home country. Again not everything ran according to plan: Austria had disappeared from the scene and so Sweden did not have an opponent in the first round. Uruguay still did not wish to participate and Argentina withdrew. This is why the national teams from Cuba and the Dutch East Indies came to France. This time, there was no home victory and Italy successfully defended their title.

Source: Goggle Images

The FIFA World Cup should have taken place for the fourth time in 1942 but the outbreak of World War Two meant otherwise. Although FIFA maintained its Zurich offices throughout the conflict, it was not until 1 July 1946 in Luxembourg that the Congress met again. Thirty-four associations were represented and they gave Rimet, who had been President for a quarter of a century already, a special Jubilee gift. From now on, the FIFA World Cup trophy would be called the Jules Rimet Cup.

As the only candidate, Brazil was chosen unanimously to host the next FIFA World Cup, to be staged in 1949 (and postponed to 1950 for time reasons). At the same time, Switzerland was given the option for 1954.

The World Cup returned to Europe in 1954 with Switzerland playing hosts and Hungary, led by "Galloping Major" Ferenc  Puskas, arriving as favorites. The Hungarians thrashed in 17 goals in their opening two games, including an 8-3 win over West Germany, their eventual opponents in the final. But in a match known in Germany as the "Miracle of Berne," it was Fritz Walter's side who emerged as 3-2 winners.

The 1958 World Cup in Sweden marked the arrival of a 17-year-old superstar called Edison Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, as Brazil were crowned champions at last. Pele didn't appear until the quarterfinals, but followed the winning goal against Wales with a hat-trick against France and two more in a 5-2 win over the hosts in the final.

Brazil were winners again in 1962 in Chile, this time inspired by Garrincha's trickery. The winger scored four times in wins over England and Chile before Brazil completed the defense of their crown with a 3-1 win over Czechoslovakia.

1966 was the year when England finally embraced the World Cup, with home advantage proving enough to carry Alf Ramsey's side all the way to the title, capped by Geoff Hurst's hat-trick in a 4-2 final win over West Germany. But the victory also marked the beginning of the country's still unfulfilled obsession with repeating the feat.

The 1970 World Cup in Mexico was a technicolored spectacle, brought live to millions of television screens by satellite technology and featuring a virtuoso performance by a Brazilian team considered the greatest in football history.

Pele produced the tournament's most memorable cameos, including his famous near-miss from the halfway line against Czechoslovakia and an astonishing dummy that sent the ball past a bewildered Uruguayan keeper -- though neither moment led to a goal. The save from his downward header by England goalkeeper Gordon Banks is rated by many as the best of all time.

Jairzinho achieved the unique feat of scoring in every match while captain Carlos Alberto capped his side's 4-1 win over Italy in the final with an emphatic finish that summed up the Brazilians' supremacy.

By 1974, the World Cup was starting to resemble its modern incarnation, with teams such as Zaire -- the first from sub-Saharan Africa -- and Australia extending the competition's reach beyond its roots in Europe and South America.

Johan Cruyff's brilliant Dutch side took the tournament by storm with their revolutionary "total football" but it was hosts West Germany who came out on top 2-1 in the final.

Who will be the World Cup's best player?

Home advantage also proved decisive in 1978 as Argentina ended their long wait for World Cup success with Mario Kempes scoring twice in a 3-1 win over the Netherlands in the final. For some however, the tournament was tainted, offering apparent legitimacy to the country's oppressive military regime.

Italy ended their long wait for a third title in 1982 in Spain, recovering from a slow start to beat favorites Brazil in a thrilling second-round match in which striker Paolo Rossi scored a hat-trick on his way to winning the top scorer's Golden Boot.

West Germany were the Italians' opponents in the final, though their passage was marred by a semifinal penalties victory over France principally remembered for a horrendous challenge by West German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher which left Frenchman Patrick Battiston unconscious. Rossi opened the scoring in Italy's 3-1 win.

The 1986 tournament in Mexico belonged to Diego Maradona, whose individual brilliance carried Argentina to victory virtually single-handedly -- literally in the case of his notorious "Hand of God" goal against England.

Maradona's second goal of that match, a waltzing solo from inside his own half, confirmed him as football's greatest talent since Pele, and not even a West German fightback from two goals down in the final could prevent Argentina being crowned champions as 3-2 winners.

The 1990 tournament in Italy opened with a stunning upset as Cameroon beat Argentina 1-0 in a brutal performance which saw them end the game with nine men. Argentina regrouped to advance to the final, setting up a rematch of the 1986 final against West Germany. This time the West Germans, the tournament's most impressive side, came out on top, winning 1-0.

Maradona's last World Cup, in the U.S. in 1994, ended in disgrace as he failed a drugs test. Colombia went into the competition as favorites but their participation ended tragically with early elimination and the murder on their return home of defender Andres Escobar, the scorer of a critical own-goal.

That left Brazil, led by Romario, carrying the South American challenge, while Italian Roberto Baggio hauled his team through the knockout stages in a trio of match-winning performances against Nigeria, Spain and Bulgaria.

But Baggio's fate was to be remembered as the man who missed in the first final to be settled on penalties, shooting over the crossbar to send the World Cup back to Brazil for the first time since 1970.

 

World Cup predictions

Brazil reached the final once again in 1998, but the buildup to their clash with hosts France would prove more dramatic than the match itself as the world's most feared striker, Ronaldo, was first omitted from the Brazilians' team sheet and then reinstated at the last minute.

Later reports suggested Ronaldo had suffered a pre-match fit, and the incident seemed to be playing on his teammates' minds as Zinedine Zidane struck twice for France in a 3-0 win, triggering wild celebrations on the Champs Elysees.

In 2002 the World Cup visited Asia for the first time, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea. It was a tournament of upsets with Senegal humbling France in the opening game and South Korea riding their luck and some generous refereeing to oust Spain and Italy on their way to the last four.

Turkey were also surprise semifinalists, but the final brought together two heavyweights in Brazil and Germany. Making up for the disappointment of 1998, Ronaldo scored both goals in a 2-0 win as Brazil became five-time winners.

Both Zidane and Marco Materazzi found the net in the 2006 final in Germany between France and Italy, but it was the pair's off-the-ball clash deep into extra time that became the tournament's defining moment.

Zidane had emerged from international retirement to lead his country to the final, a fitting stage for the greatest player of his generation's final game.

Instead, Zidane was dismissed from the field for headbutting Materazzi, apparently in retaliation to some verbal insult offered by the Italian defender. France's 10 men held out for a 1-1 draw but without their talisman the fates had swung decisively against them.

Having defied the distraction of a match-fixing scandal at home and beaten hosts Germany in a tense semifinal, the Italians held their nerve once again to convert five perfect penalties and win the World Cup for the fourth time.