The first international football match
was played in 1872 between Scotland and England. At this
stage the sport was rarely played outside Great Britain and
Ireland. As football started gaining popularity, it was held
as a demonstration sport (with no medals awarded) at the 1900
and 1904 Summer Olympics. It became an official competition
at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Planned by the Football
Association, the event was for amateur players only and was
regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition.
The 1932 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles, did not plan
to include football as part of the schedule due to its low
popularity of football in U.S. So football was dropped from
the Games. FIFA President Jules Rimet thus planned the
inaugural World Cup tournament to be held in Uruguay in
1930. The national associations of selected nations were
invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue
for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the
Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to
send a team until two months
before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia to
make the trip. In total 10 nations took part- four from South Africa, four from Europe and
two
from North America.
The issues facing the early Worid Cup tournaments were
the difficulties of intercontinental travel and war. Few
South American teams were willing to travel to Europe for
the 1934 and 1938 tournaments, with Brazil the only South
American earn to compete in both. The 1942 and 1946
competitions
were cancelled due to World War II and its aftermath. The
1950 World Cup was the first to include British
participants. The tournament also saw the return of Uruguay,
who had boycotted the previous two World Cups.
In the tournament between 1934 and 1978, 16 teams qualified
for each finals tournament. The finals were expanded to 24
teams in 1982, then 32 in 1998.
Trophy
From 1930 to 1970, the trophy was awarded to the Cup
winner. It was originally simply known as the 'World Cup'
or 'Coupe du Monde', but in 1946 it was renamed after the
FIFA president who set up the first tournament and thus
called the 'Jules Rimet Trophy'. In 1970, Brazil's third
victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy
permanently. However the trophy was stolen in 1983 and has
never been recovered.
After 1970, a new trophy known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy
was designed. This is
not awarded to the winning nation permanently. It will not
be retired until the name plaque has been entirely filled with the names of winning
nations in 2038. The new trophy is 36 cm high, made of solid
18-carat gold and weighs 10.97 kilogrammes. The base
contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the
bottom side of the Trophy bears the engraved year
and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. World Cup
winners retain it until the next tournament and are awarded
a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original.
The Golden Boot award is given to the top scorer of the
tournament. Eusebio was the first player to be awarded by
the Golden Boot in 1966. The Golden Ball award started in
1982.
The first international football match
was played in 1872 between Scotland and England. At this
stage the sport was rarely played outside Great Britain and
Ireland. As football started gaining popularity, it was held
as a demonstration sport (with no medals awarded) at the 1900
and 1904 Summer Olympics. It became an official competition
at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Planned by the Football
Association, the event was for amateur players only and was
regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition.
