2000 years old history of football started when Chinese started kicking the ball with no specific rules. Romans introduced this game in their military academy as part of the physical exercise.
Romans or Norman’s introduced this game in England and after that people started playing this game in an organized way. However, there was setback when Edward II banned football in 1314 due to large-scale violence somewhere near London by the players. Kings avoided the game because it interfered with their archery practice.
Football survived because people all over England started showing interest in this game by the early 1800’s. Football clubs began to be formed in the 1820’s. But there was no specific rule so football developed in several ways with different rules until a ‘Standard Code’ was drawn up at Cambridge University in 1846. This code was revised in 1862. The representatives of English clubs a year later in 1847 formed Football Association (FA).
FA Cup was introduced in 1871, the first competition of its kind in the world. First international match was played in 1872. In this match, Scotland played England at Glasgow. Scots became the first professional players when they were the first footballers that were tempted to play for reward by clubs in Lancashire. Effect of this move was shifting of Football - Power from south to north England.
FA legalized professionalism in football in 1885. The four UK countries had founded International Football Association Board in 1886 and in 1888, 12 English clubs formed the Football League. A group of Englishmen founded the Buenos Aires Football Club in Argentina as early as 1867, and football started flourishing in South America. The rest of Europe soon started launching leagues and cup competitions.
In 1904 seven European nations, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland formed Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Until 1906, England did not join FIFA. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales joined FIFA after that. UK countries withdrew from FIFA twice.
In 1908, Football was introduced in Olympic games and FIFA staged the first Olympic football competition. It was the dream of French football administrator Jules Rimet to bring the world’s strongest national football teams together to compete for the World Cup. World Cup was contested thrice in the 1930’s. Original gold trophy for the World Championship bore the name of Jules Rimet. Due to World War –2 this competition was not held for 12 years. England first participated in World Cup after the war in 1950 and lost to USA.
In last three decades, the speed and tactics of the game have changed due to improved equipment, training and money involved in the game. Television has brought football to our drawing room and created a much wider audience. According to the web site of FIFA, over 37 billion people watched the France 98 tournament, including approximately 1.3 billion for the final alone, while over 2.7 million people flocked to watch the 64 matches in the French stadia.
Footballers are changing their clubs for millions of dollars. These players are being richer by endorsements.
Since 1930, the 16 World Cup tournaments have taken place up to 1998 and so far only six different countries have own the cup. After the final match of 2002, number of winner will remain same because the match will be contested by Germany and Brazil. World Cup winners are Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, and Argentina.
Results of WORLD CUP Final Matches up to 1998
1930-Uruguay 4 / Argentina 2 in Montevideo
1934-Italy 2 / Czechoslovakia 1 in Rome
1938-Italy 4 / Hungary 2 in Paris
1950-Uruguay 2 / Brazil 1 in Rio de Janeiro
1954-West Germany 3 / Hungary 2 in Berne
1958-Brazil 5 / Sweden 2 in Stockholm
1962-Brazil 3 / Czechoslovakia 1in Santiago
1966-England 4 / West Germany 2 in London
1970-Brazil 4 / Italy 1 in Mexico City
1974-West Germany 2 / Netherlands 1 in Munich
1978-Argentina 3 / Netherlands 1 in Buenos Aires
1982-Italy 3 / West Germany 1 in Madrid
1986-Argentina 3 / West Germany 2 in Mexico City
1990-West Germany 1 / Argentina 0 in Rome
1994-Brazil 3 / Italy 2 in Pasadena
1998-France 3 / Brazil 0 in France
Some unexpected incidents in the history of World Cup –
United States defeating England in 1950
North Korea defeating Italy in 1966
Cameroon’s defeating Argentina in 1990.
In 2002 –
World Champion, French lost to the first timer Senegal and could not reach to the second round.
USA entered second round after several years
Turkey and South Korea played their first semifinals after beating the giants
Fastest Goal in the history of world cup by Turkish striker
Some more time to pass to watch some fantastic moments. Watch Ronaldo.
Hooliganism - ’’English disease’’
Violence is part of this game since the beginning. Supporters of rival Clubs fighting and creating havoc to kill the spirit of the game. Moreover, very unfortunately this violence is never restricted inside the stadium. It started from England and this so-called ’’English disease’’ reached to other countries. High level of security arrangement has become the need of the day.
It was a pleasure to see the spirit of South Koreans. They have the courage to celebrate their defeat in the semifinal of World Cup 2002. It was really a mesmerizing moment when players of South Korea and Turkey congratulated each other after the end of the play for the third position in World Cup. I hope Germans and Brazilians will show similar character.
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For more information, you may visit official web site of
FIFA at https://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/
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Update -
Brazil won the World Cup-2002 by 2-0 for the record fifth time. Ronaldo scored both the goals and got the Golden Boot award by scoring 8 goals in this tournament. He has equalled benchmark of all time great Pele.
After their great performance in 1970, Brazil is the first team to won all the matches of the tournament of World Cup. Other two teams who have won all the matches of World cup tournament are Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1938.