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A Brief History of Futbol (Soccer) World Cups

FIFA is an international governing body for football, beach football and futsal. FIFA divides the countries in six regions (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, UEFA). Wold Cups are implemented every 4 year, and there have been 21 world cups within 1930 and 2018. The following graphs provide a brief history of the world cups from 1930 to 2018. The FIFA confederations are the following:

  1. AFC = Asian Football Confederation in Asia and Australia.
  2. CAF = Confédération Africaine de Football in Africa.
  3. CONCACAF = Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football in North America and Central America.
  4. CONMEBOL = Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol
  5. OFC = Oceania Football Confederation in Oceania
  6. UEFA = Union of European Football Associations

Scroll Down to explore the different world cups:

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A Brief History of Futbol World Cups:

There have been 21 world cups between 1930 and 2018. Only eight countries have won the world cup. Brazil is the most successful country with 5 world cups.

World Cup: 1930

  1. Host: Uruguay.
  2. Champion: Uruguay. (Score: 4:2)
  3. Runner-up: Argentina.
  4. Third Place: USA
  5. Fourth Place: Yugoslavia
  6. Number of Teams: 13
  7. Top Scorer: Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) - 9 goals

World Cup: 1934

  1. Host: Italy
  2. Champion: Italy (Score: 2:1)
  3. Runner-up: Czechoslovakia
  4. Third Place: Germany
  5. Fourth Place: Austria
  6. Number of Teams: 16
  7. Top Scorer: Oldfich Nejdly (Czech) - 5 goals

World Cup: 1938

  1. Host: France
  2. Champion: Italy (Score: 4:2)
  3. Runner-up: Hungary
  4. Third Place: Brazil
  5. Fourth Place: Sweden
  6. Number of Teams: 15
  7. Top Scorer: Leonidas (Brazil) - 7 goals

World Cup: 1950

  1. Host: Brazil
  2. Champion: Uruguay (Score: 2-1)
  3. Runner-up: Brazil
  4. Third Place: Sweden
  5. Fourth Place: Spain
  6. Number of Teams: 13
  7. Top Scorer: Ademir (Brazil) - 8 goals

World Cup: 1954

  1. Host: Switzerland
  2. Champion: Germany (Score: 3-2)
  3. Runner-up: Hungary
  4. Third Place: Austria
  5. Fourth Place: Uruguay
  6. Number of Teams: 16
  7. Top Scorer:Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) - 11 goals

World Cup: 1958

  1. Host: Sweden
  2. Champion: Brazil (Score: 5-2)
  3. Runner-up: Sweden
  4. Third Place: France
  5. Fourth Place: Germany
  6. Number of Teams: 16
  7. Top Scorer: Just Fontaine (France) - 13 goals

World Cup: 1962

  1. Host: Chile
  2. Champion: Brazil (Score: 3-1)
  3. Runner-up: Czechoslovakia
  4. Third Place: Chile
  5. Fourth Place: Yugoslavia
  6. Number of Teams: 16
  7. Top Scorer: Florian Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union), Garrincha (Brazil), Drazan Jerkovic (Croatia), Leonel Sanchez (Chile), Vava (Brazil) - 4 goals

World Cup: 1966

  1. Host: England
  2. Champion: England (Score: 4-2)
  3. Runner-up: Germany
  4. Third Place: Portugal
  5. Fourth Place: Soviet Union
  6. Number of Teams: 16
  7. Top Scorer: Eusebio (Portugal) - 9 goals

World Cup: 1970

  1. Host: Mexico
  2. Champion: Brazil (Score: 4-1)
  3. Runner-up: Italy
  4. Third Place: Germany
  5. Fourth Place: Uruguay
  6. Number of Teams: 16
  7. Top Scorer: Gerd Muller (Germany) - 10 goals

World Cup: 1974

  1. Host: Germany
  2. Champion: Germany (Score:2-1)
  3. Runner-up: Netherlands
  4. Third Place: Poland
  5. Fourth Place: Brazil
  6. Number of Teams: 16
  7. Top Scorer: Grzegorz Lato (Poland) - 7 goals

World Cup: 1978

  1. Host: Argentina
  2. Champion: Argentina (Score: 3-1)
  3. Runner-up: Netherlands
  4. Third Place: Brazil
  5. Fourth Place: Italy
  6. Number of Teams: 16
  7. Top Scorer: Mario Kempes (Argentina) - 6 goals

World Cup: 1982

  1. Host: Spain
  2. Champion: Italy (Score: 3-1)
  3. Runner-up: Germany
  4. Third Place: Poland
  5. Fourth Place: France
  6. Number of Teams: 24
  7. Top Scorer: Paolo Rossi (Italia) - 6 goals

World Cup: 1986

  1. Host: Mexico
  2. Champion: Argentina (Score: 3-2)
  3. Runner-up: Germany
  4. Third Place: France
  5. Fourth Place: Belgium
  6. Number of Teams: 24
  7. Top Scorer: Gary Lineker (England) - 6 goals

World Cup: 1990

  1. Host: Italy
  2. Champion: Germany (Score: 1-0)
  3. Runner-up: Argentina
  4. Third Place: Italy
  5. Fourth Place: England
  6. Number of Teams: 24
  7. Top Scorer: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) - 6 goals

World Cup: 1994

  1. Host: USA
  2. Champion: Brazil (Score: 0-0, 3-2)
  3. Runner-up: Italy
  4. Third Place: Sweden
  5. Fourth Place: Bulgary
  6. Number of Teams: 24
  7. Top Scorer: Oleg Salenko (Russia), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) - 6 goals

World Cup: 1998

  1. Host: France
  2. Champion: France (Score: 3-0)
  3. Runner-up: Brazil
  4. Third Place: Croatia
  5. Fourth Place: Neatherlands
  6. Number of Teams: 32
  7. Top Scorer: Davor Suker (Croatia) - 6 goals

World Cup: 2002

  1. Host: South Korea, Japan
  2. Champion: Brazil (Score: 2-0)
  3. Runner-up: Germany
  4. Third Place: Turkey
  5. Fourth Place: South Korea
  6. Number of Teams: 32
  7. Top Scorer: Ronaldo (Brazil) - 8 goals

World Cup: 2006

  1. Host: Germany
  2. Champion: Italy (Score: 1-1; 5-3p)
  3. Runner-up: France
  4. Third Place: Germany
  5. Fourth Place: Portugal
  6. Number of Teams: 32
  7. Top Scorer: Miroslav Klose (Germany) - 5 goals

World Cup: 2010

  1. Host: South Africa
  2. Champion: Spain (Score: 1-0)
  3. Runner-up: Netherlands
  4. Third Place: Germany
  5. Fourth Place: Uruguay
  6. Number of Teams: 32
  7. Top Scorer: Thomas Muller (Germany), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), David Villa (Spain) - 5 goals

World Cup: 2014

  1. Host: Brazil
  2. Champion: Germany (Score: 1-0)
  3. Runner-up: Argentina
  4. Third Place: Netherlands
  5. Fourth Place: Brazil
  6. Number of Teams: 32
  7. Top Scorer: James Rodriguez (Colombia) - 6 goals

World Cup: 2018

  1. Host: Russia
  2. Champion: France (Score: 4-2)
  3. Runner-up: Croatia
  4. Third Place: Belgium
  5. Fourth Place: England
  6. Number of Teams: 32
  7. Top Scorer: Harry Kane (England) - 6 goals

Though UEFA and CONMEBOL countries have won all the worldcups, Asian and African countries have improved.

Though, countries belonging to Africa (CAF) and Asia (AFC) have a relatively strong performance, their performance has decreased in the last worldcups. Please go the "Confederation Performance" tab to see more details about it."