Even though FIFA was
formed as early as 1904, it took them almost three decades
to start a true international competition. The Olympic
tournament had been the only tournament so far with world
wide participation, but that was for amateurs only. However,
more and more nations had adopted professionalism and "shamateurism" was creeping into the amateur game. This was
apparent at the Paris Olympics in 1924, when the very
"professional" Uruguay team became the first South American
nation to win the title.
FIFA and the
International Olympic Committee were at loggerheads over who
should control the Olympic soccer tournament. FIFA announced
they were the highest footballing authority and so should run
a tournament claiming to be the biggest soccer event in the
world. With many top nations withdrawing from the Olympics in
1928, among them Denmark and England, FIFA made a decision.
They accepted the resolution of Henri Delaunay, secretary of
the French FA since 1919 until his death in 1956, that a World
Cup competition would be organized immediately. The acceptance
of his proposal came two years after he had announced to the
footballing authorities: "International football can no longer
be held within the confines of the Olympics and many countries
where professionalism is now recognized and organized cannot
any longer be represented there by their best players." His
resolution was passed by 25 votes to
5.
FIFA duly announced its
plan to run its own competition, open to all affiliated
countries. They did not immediately give name to the
competition, but the world's press were quick to give it their
own title. "World Cup", "World Soccer Championship" and "La
Coupe de Monde" were favourite descriptions. Another was the
"Jules Rimet Cup". Eventually that was how the World Cup
officially became known, thus honouring the man who had done
so much for FIFA in drumming up support amongst member
nations.
By May 1929, FIFA still
had not finalized plans for the first championship, although
they had announced it would take place in 1930. The host
nation had not been selected and as talks dragged on, it was
apparent that finance was to be the biggest problem in running
such a tournament, particularly if it was to be a true world
championship.
Rodolfe Seeldrayers,
the FIFA vice-president, proposed that the country give the
honour of staging the first tournament should make funds
available for (in the following order of priority) transport
and accommodation expenses for referees, FIFA members and the
teams. This was clearly going to be an expensive proposition
for any national FA to undertake, but there were some willing
takers. Holland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay had
all put their names forward, but Sweden and Holland soon
withdrew and lent their support to Italy's claim. The South
American nations stood by Uruguay, and the rest of the
European candidates soon withdrew of various
reasons.
So it was all left to
Uruguay, the only remaining nominee. At last the dream was
about to be realized, the date was set and the host country
selected. It was a case of "Uruguay, here we
come".
THE
TROPHIES
The French sculptor Abel Lafleur was honoured to design the first World Cup trophy, the
Jules Rimet Cup. It was a gold statuette weighing about 3,8
kilograms and was about 35 centimeters tall, representing an
allegorical winged victory on an octagonal base. This famous
trophy was first stolen at an exhibition in London prior to
the 1966 World Cup, but it was found by a dog named Pickles
under some bushes outside London shortly after. In 1930 they
said the first nation to win it three times would keep it
forever. When Brazil won their third title in Mexico 1970,
they won permanent possesion of it. In 1983 it was stolen
again, and to this day it has not been
recovered.
The present trophy, the FIFA
World Cup, weighs about 5 kilograms and is 36 centimeters
tall. It was introduced to the 1974 World Cup and is made of
solid gold and malachite. It is made by the Italian sculptor
Silvio Gazzaniga. He described his creation thus: "The lines
spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to
receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the
compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes
at the stirring moment of
victory".
This trophy cannot be
won outright as the regulations state that it shall remain
FIFA's own possession. The World Cup winners retain it until
the next tournament and are awarded a replica, gold-plated
rather than solid gold.
|
MOST
HAT-TRICKS |
|
2- |
Sandor
Kocsis (HUN) vs South Korea in 1954 and vs West
Germany in 1954 (4 goals).
Juste
Fontaine (FRA) vs Paraguay in 1958 and vs West
Germany in 1958 (4 goals).
Gerd
Müller (GER) vs Bulgaria in 1970 and vs Peru
in 1970.
Gabriel Batistuta (ARG) vs Greece in 1994 and vs
Jamaica in 1998.
39 other players have scored
one
hat-trick
each. |
GOAL RECORDS
Fastest goal in a World Cup match was
scored by Turkey's Hakan Sükür after only 11 seconds
against South Korea in 2002.
Latest goal was scored by Alessandro Del Piero
of Italy, in their semifinal match against Germany in
2006 after 121 minutes.
Fastest hat-trick was made by Hungary's Laszlo
Kiss against El Salvador in 1982, when he scored after
70, 74 and 77 minutes. He is infact also the only
substitute to have scored a hat-trick.
Oldest player to have scored a goal is
Roger
Milla of Cameroon when he scored against Russia in
1994. He was then 42 years and 39 days old.
Youngest player to have scored a goal is
Pelé
of Brazil when he scored against Wales in 1958. He was
then only 17 years and 239 days old.
Only players to have scored in every match
including the final are
Jairzinho
of Brazil, who did this in the 1970 World Cup and Alcide
Ghiggia of Uruguay in 1950. The latter only played four
games where as Jairzinho played six.
Fastest goal by a substitute was made by Ebbe
Sand of Denmark against Nigeria in the second round in
1998. Sand scored only 16 secs after coming on in
Denmark's 4-1 win.
Only players to have scored in two World Cup Final
matches are Vava of Brazil in 1958 and 1962,
Pelé
of Brazil 1958 and 1970,
Paul
Breitner of West Germany in 1974 and 1982 and
Zinedine Zidane of France in 1998 and 2006.
First player to score a hat-trick in a World
Cup match was United States's Bert Patenaude who did
this against Paraguay in the first round of the 1930
World Cup.
Only player to score four goals in one match and
still end up on the losing team was Poland's Ernst
Willimowski against Brazil in 1938.
Only player to have scored for two countries
is Robert Prosinecki who represented Yugoslavia in 1990
scoring against the United Arab Emirates, and Croatia in
1998 scoring against Jamaica.
First own-goal in World Cup history was scored
by Ernst Lötscher of Switzerland against Germany in a
first round replay game in 1938.
Only player to have scored a goal plus an own-goal
in the same match is Ernie Brandts of Holland in the
second phase match against Italy in 1978. The Dutch team
won 2-1.
First substitute to score a goal was Juan
Basaguren when he netted the last goal against El
Salvador in Mexico's 4-0 win in 1970.
The World Cup
history is full of different stories. We have searched
through archives, videos and books for strange happenings
and facts. Here you can read about some of what we found....
Alf Ramsey - manager of
England's World Cup winners in 1966 - ran out on the field
immediately after the final whistle after his team beat
Argentina in the quarterfinal. But not in celebration, but to
prevent his players to swap shirts with the Argentinians. Mr.
Ramsey said: "We don't swap shirts with
animals!".
Brothers have been part of
the same World Cup squad several times. But Victor and
Vyacheslav Chanov are unique. They were in the 1982 Soviet
Union squad, both as goalkeepers! None of them played a match
though, as the great Rinat Dassajev was first
choice.
Captaining a winning side
must be every player's dream. It's a once in a lifetime
experience, and the history shows it too. None has done it
twice. Diego
Maradona has been the closest when he captained Argentina
to victory in 1986 and to silvermedals in 1990. Dunga of
Brazil won as captain in 1994 and lost the final in 1998 and
in some way copied Maradona. Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge is the only captain to lose two World Cup
finals (1982 and 1986).
Dismissals or sending-offs
didn't help much in the Brazil - Hungary game in 1954. 3
players were sent off, but by today's standard the number
would have been much higher. The match produced disgraceful
scenes and was later dubbed as "The battle of Berne". The
players were still fighting on their way back to the
dressingrooms after the final whistle! Hungary won the match
4-2.
Erik Nilsson of Sweden and
Alfred Bickel of Switzerland are the only men to have played
in the World Cup both before and after World War II. They both
appeared in 1938 and 1950.
For the United Arab Emirates,
winning the World Cup was not realistic. In 1990 they were
knocked out after three straight defeats in the groupstage.
However, they managed to score two goals and no wonder the
goalscorers celebrated as if they had won the World Cup. The
players received a Rolls Royce for every goal they
scored!
Gays, longhaired players and
players with earrings did not have a future in the Argentine
national side as long as Daniel Passarella was the coach. He
set strict rules for the candidates to the tournament in
France. Even Gabriel Batistuta got his hair cut, not to miss
the World Cup.
Harald Schumacher, West
Germany's great goalkeeper and twice World Cup silvermedalist,
is perhaps best known for his assult on French defender
Patrick Battiston in the 1982 semifinal. After losing his
second World Cup final in 1986, he said he wanted to come back
in 1990 and win the cup at his third attempt. But in 1987 he
wrote a book and claimed 90% of the players in the German
Bundesliga did drugs! He was never picked for the German squad
again after that. He escaped to Turkey and played league
soccer there instead.
Injury time added on by the
referree is sometimes necessary. But Frenchman Michel Vautrot
added on 8 minutes only in the first period of
extra-time in the semifinal between Italy and Argentina in
1990! He later admitted he forgot about the
time.
José Batista of Uruguay was
sent off after just 56 seconds against Scotland in 1986! That
is the fastest dismissal in World Cup history. His foul on
Gordon Strachan gave French referree Joël Quiniou no choice.
Uruguay kept the score at 0-0 and progressed to the next round
at the expense of Scotland.
Korea (North) sent Italy out
of the 1966 World Cup already in the groupstage. In Italy such
an early exit is not accepted. Their flight home had a secret
destination to avoid the press, media and angry fans. Many
fans still found out where they arrived and their bus at the
airport was bombarded by fruit and rotten tomatoes as they
escaped!
Laszlo Kiss of Hungary is the
only substitute to have scored a hat-trick in the World Cup.
Hungary were 5-1 ahead when Kiss scored his first of three in
this match against El Salvador which ended 10-1 in Spain
1982! That is by the way the biggest victory in World
Cup history.
Mario Zagallo managed Brazil
to their 1970 triumph, with that he became the first man to
play in and then manage a World Cup winning team. He was a
member of the Brazillian sides which won the trophy in 1958
and 1962. Later
Franz
Beckenbauer copied that feat.
No match in World Cup history
has been more distasteful than the West Germany - Austria
clash in Spain 1982. Because of the format of the tournament,
only a 1-0 win to the Germans meant that both these neighbour
countries would proceed to the next round at the expense of
Algeria. When West Germany took the lead after 10 minutes,
both teams virtually stopped playing. It slowed down to
walking pace with neither of the teams interested in going
forward. The neutral Spanish crowd and the Algerian fans
constantly booed and shouted, a German supporter was so
disgusted that he set fire to his national flag on the
terraces. The following day Algeria protested to FIFA that the
game had been fixed and called for both teams to be
disqualified, but their protest was rejected. From the 1986
World Cup onwards, the last round of matches in the 1st round
have been played simultaneously to avoid scandals like
that.
One of the most controversial
managerial decisions was made by Ademar Pimenta, coach for
Brazil in 1938.
Leonidas,
one of the stars of that tournament, had scored 6 goals in two
rounds, but was left out of the team for the semifinal against
defending champions Italy because the manager wanted to save
him for the final! Brazil lost the game, but won the
bronzematch this time with Leonidas in the team scoring
twice!
Penalty shoot-outs have
played a vital part in recent World Cups. West Germany/Germany
and Argentina have the best records, winning all three they
have participated in. Italy have been the most unlucky,
participated three times and lost
all.
Quiroga, with the first name
Ramon, was keeper for Peru in the 1978 World Cup. He was
similar to his Colombian colleague René Higuita in his style
of goalkeeping. In Peru's match against Poland (0-1) he set
some kind of record as being the only keeper to be booked for
a foul in the opponents half of the
field!
Russian referree Miroslav
Stupar made a controversial decision in the Kuwait - France
match in 1982. France led 3-1 when Giresse blasted home number
four with the Kuwaiti defenders rooted to the spot. They
claimed they had stopped playing upon hearing a whistle. The
Kuwaiti FA president Prince Fahid came on to the field from
his seat in the stands and protested long and hard. It led to
Stupar disallowing the goal! However, France scored a fourth
goal in the last minute. For Prince Fahed's interference an
Ł8.000 fine was imposed on the Kuwaitis by
FIFA.
Suspension made it impossible
for
Paolo
Rossi to play for two years. Just weeks before the 1982
World Cup, he returned after being punished for a bribe
scandal. Coach Enzo Bearzot had faith in him and picked him
for the squad, despite playing just a few games in the last
couple of years. He played four games in the cup without
scoring, the pressure on Rossi and Bearzot increased. People
wanted him out of the team. But in a decisive match against
favourites Brazil, he scored a hat-trick and sent Italy to the
semis, there he scored both goals in the 2-0 win against
Poland, and he scored the first in Italy's 3-1 victory over
West Germany in the final. Those 6 goals made in him topscorer
of the tournament.
The World Cup has only seen 5
players who each have appeared for two nations: José Altafini
(then known as Mazzola) Brazil in 1958 and Italy in 1962;
Luis
Monti, Argentina in 1930 and Italy in 1934;
Ferenc
Puskas, Hungary in 1954 and Spain 1962; José Santamaria
for Uruguay in 1954 and Spain in 1962 and Robert Prosinecki
for Yugoslavia in 1990 and Croatia in 1998. The rules are
changed now, and no player will ever be playing for more than
one country again.
Usually the World Cup Final
produces lots of goals. No final match had produced less than
three goals until, West Germany beat Argentina by 1-0 in 1990!
That winning goal was scored from the penalty spot by
Andreas
Brehme, and with the 1994 final ending in a penalty
shoot-out after a goalless draw, it meant that Jorge
Burruchaga's winner for Argentina against West Germany in the
1986 final was the last goal scored not from the penalty spot
in a World Cup final.
Venue for the 1970 World
Cup's opening match was the Azteca Stadium in Mexico. This
match between Mexico and the Soviet Union marked the start of
a new era, as substitutions, yellow and red cards were used
for the first time in the competition's
history.
Walter Zenga, goalkeeper of
Italy, holds the record of longest unbeaten run in World Cup
history. He played 517 minutes (Almost 6 games) without
letting in a goal in the 1990 tournament. Claudio Caniggia of
Argentina ended his run in the semifinal which Italy lost on
penalties.
Xuereb of France (first name
Daniel) came on as a substitute for Bruno Bellone in the
semifinal against West Germany in 1986, that meant that every
letter in the alphabet had been used for players' surnames
since the start of the championships in
1930.
Youngest player to have
appeared in a World Cup match, was Norman Whiteside of
Northern Ireland in 1982. He was 17 years and 42 days old when
he played against Yugoslavia. The oldest player, was
Roger
Milla of Cameroon, who was 42 years and 39 days when he
played against Russia in 1994. He infact scored in that game,
making him the oldest goalscorer as
well!
Zairean Muampa Kazadi was the
first goalkeeper to be replaced for any other reason than
injury in World Cup history, when Zaďre were 0-3 down versus
Yugoslavia after just 22 minutes in 1974. However, his
replacement Dimbi Tubilandu couldn't stop the goalrush and his
country eventually lost the game 9-0! Only one other time has
a goalkeeper been replaced for any other reason than injury.
That was in the bronzematch in USA 1994, when Bulgarian keeper
Mihailov was substituted at half time when Sweden lead 4-0.
Nikolov came in for him and kept a clean sheet in the second
half as the result stayed that way.
Now to the useful
stuff..
Link here for anything about the World Cup
World Cup History -
A very comprehensive site
about the history of the World Cup.
Holland 1974
and 1978 - A
site full of background info, detailed matchreports and pictures from the
great Dutch teams of the 1970s.
1930 World Cup Museum -
This is an online museum about the very first World Cup. Lots of
pictures, souveniers, background stories and statistics to look at.
World Cup History page - Here is a Polish site about
the World Cup and also other events and stadiums.
SoccerSTATS.com -
Your site for everything in
soccer statistics.
