The World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, or simply the World Cup, is an international association football championship played between the men's national teams of countries from all over the world that are members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). It is held every five years since 1930, with 19 tournaments to date, and is considered the most prestigious sporting event in the world along with the Olympic Games.
History[]
A number of football tournaments between teams from different nations were held in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As football grew in popularity, it was included as a demonstration sport in the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics, before becoming an official Olympic competition in 1908. A FIFA congress held on 28 May 1928, with Jules Rimet as President, decided to finally stage the association's own football competition. Brazil was considered as the host because of their team's victory in the two most recent Olympics, but was discarded as most European teams rejected the idea of a costly trip to South America. Since the first modern Olympics occurred in Greece (modern Rhomania), the cradle of the Ancient Olympiads, FIFA decided that the first World Cup would be held in England, the country where the sport was created. However, it was also decided that the World Cup would have a unique characteristic of occurring every five years instead of four. The first World Cup was then held in London, England instead of the previously planned Montevidéu in southern Brazil.
According to the current rules of the World Cup, national teams must pass qualification matches in order to compete in the tournament. The only exceptions are the winner of the last tournament and the host of the coming one, which are automatically qualified. If the host happen to win the previous tournament the most goal scoring non-qualifying team gets through and in case that there are 2 teams with the same amount the team with more points, should that be equal the team with less goals conceded gets through and in the unlikely event that is the same a penalty shootout is arranged.
The current champion is 
Croatia, having won the 2020 tournament.
Tournaments[]
The World Cup has been staged every five years since 1930 and countries from all continents have held the tournament. England and Germany have hosted the tournament twice while Danubia will host its second tournament in 2025 and Brazil will host its second in 2030.
Stats[]
| Country | Title(s) | Runners-up | Third Place | Fourth Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brazil
|
4 (1930, 1970, 1985, 1990) | 3 (1935, 1995, 2000) | 1 (1955) | 1 (1940) |
 Argentina
|
2 (1935, 1980) | 2 (1960, 2010) | — | 3 (1965, 1985, 2020) |
 Germany
|
2 (1975, 2005) | — | 2 (1945, 2000) | 1 (2015) |
 Spain
|
2 (2000, 2010) | — | 2 (1950, 1975) | — |
 Hungary
|
2 (1940, 1955) | — | — | — |
 England
|
1 (1945) | 3 (1940, 1955, 2020) | 1 (1935) | 2 (1970, 1990) |
 Italy
|
1 (1950) | 1 (1930) | 2 (1985, 2005) | 2 (1935, 2010) |
 France
|
1 (2015) | 1 (1985) | 2 (1930, 2020) | 1 (1950) |
 Netherlands
|
1 (1965) | 1 (2005) | 1 (1980) | — |
 Rhomania
|
1 (1995) | — | — | 1 (1945) |
 Soviet Union
|
1 (1960) | — | — | — |
| Croatia
|
1 (2020) | — | — | — |
 Japan
|
— | 2 (1975, 1980) | — | 1 (1960) |
 Chile
|
— | 2 (1970, 2015) | — | — |
 Sweden
|
— | 1 (1950) | 1 (1960) | 2 (1975, 1995) |
 Switzerland
|
— | 1 (1945) | — | — |
 New Holland
|
— | 1 (1965) | — | — |
 Scotland
|
— | 1 (1990) | — | — |
 Mexico
|
— | — | 2 (1970, 2015) | — |
 Portugal
|
— | — | 1 (1965) | 1 (2005) |
 United States
|
— | — | 1 (1940) | — |
 Ireland
|
— | — | 1 (1990) | — |
 Belgium
|
— | — | 1 (1995) | — |
 Serbia
|
— | — | 1 (2010) | — |
 Austria
|
— | — | — | 2 (1930, 1955) |
 Poland
|
— | — | — | 1 (1980) |
 Denmark
|
— | — | — | 1 (2000) |
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