World Cup Soccer

World cup soccer is an exclusively men’s event. It is organized every four year since 1930. However a gap of eight years came in the middle due to the World War II. All the teams, a member of the FIFA, the soccer governing body, take part in the World Cup qualifiers. Only the qualified teams are allowed to take part in the mega event which is also known as the World Cup finals. The qualification round spanned over three years. Thirty two teams from all the continents take part in the final round. The soccer world cup is one of the most extensively watched sporting events. More than 171.5 million people watched the final of the 2006 world cup. Earlier the only major soccer event was a part of the Olympics. However, at that time Olympics only allowed amateur players and teams to enter the event. Therefore, FIFA decided to arrange an event which is exclusive of Olympics and would provide the professionals with a chance to demonstrate their skills.

Italy is the current world champion which won the 2006 soccer world cup held in Germany. This was the forth time that Italy had won the world cup. However, Brazil has the record of winning most soccer world cups. They lifted the trophy a total five times. The soccer world cup, however, might never go out of Europe and South America. Out of the eighteen tournaments held so far, nine each was won by the South Americans and Europeans. Apart from Brazil and Italy, Germans twice became the world champions, once this honor went to English, twice to Argentineans, once to French and twice to Uruguay. The 1950 world cup was only the fourth world cup that was organized since its beginning. But it became important because it was the first world cup that was staged after a gap of twelve years. This break came in the middle due World War II. There was no one interested to host the event in Europe as most of the countries had been ruined in the war. Germany and Brazil were the highest bidders for the upcoming event. However, as the previous two world cups had taken place in Europe therefore, South America was provided a chance this time. This world cup was won by Uruguay, who had already won the inaugural title as well.

Men soccer world cup is not the only event that is organized by FIFA at such large scale. FIFA provided the women playing professional soccer with a chance to prove them too. The first Women Soccer World Cup was organized in 1991. The event is named as the Women’s World Championship. The event is held every four years since then.

The first women world cup was hosted by China with twelve women world cup teams taking part in it. The tournament has been organized five times by now. It is gaining a lot of popularity in the soccer world. The final of the 1999 Women Soccer World Cup held in USA was watched by 660,000 spectators in the ground. Twice the cup was taken up by the United States and Germany, and Norway won it once. The World Cup soccer teams are always given a high regard from the spectators and their fans. It is very difficult to qualify for the final round, which only a team of great calibre can win.