13. For
the first World Cup, FIFA boss Jules Rimet – the organisation’s third president
and the man who inaugurated the tournament – travelled to Uruguay on the same
ship as the Belgian, French and Romanian teams. And, of course, the trophy
which was in Monsieur Rimet’s luggage.
14. The
original trophy was named after Rimet, although it wasn’t so named until 1946
and, prior to it being replaced, it was generally referred to simply as the
World Cup. It had to be replaced after the 1970 tournament, because Rimet’s original
stipulation was that the first country to win it three times would get to keep
it for ever. When Brazil faced Italy in the final of that year, whichever side
won would become the first three-times winner, thus necessitating a
replacement. Brazil won that final 4-1.
15. The
replacement, which has been used since the 1974 tournament, is officially
called the FIFA World Cup Trophy. It’s made of 18-carat gold with a malachite
base. Designed by Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga, it is 36.8cm tall and weighs
6.1kg. FIFA claims it’s solid gold, but top British chemist Sir Martyn
Poliakoff (a professor at Nottingham Uni) has theorised that it must be hollow,
for if it were solid gold it would be too heavy to lift. Unlike its
predecessor, this World Cup cannot be won outright – the winners must give it
back four years later, however many times they’ve previously won it, but they
do get to keep a gold-plated replica.
16. The
highest attendance of any World Cup game was when 199,854 people crammed into
the Maracana in Rio to watch the Brazil-Uruguay game in 1950 (that’s the
official attendance figure, although many have estimated that the actual
attendance was somewhat north of 200,000). Although technically a group game
(the final stage of the tournament being a four-team group for the first and
only time), this was the de facto
final as whoever won that game would win the World Cup. In fact, Brazil, who
were ahead on points, only needed to draw to win it.
17. In
the 1950 final, Brazil were heavy favourites to win, although premature
declarations of the hosts as world champions were probably tempting fate; Uruguay
won 2-1. The fall-out in Brazil was intense. Their traditional white shirts with
blue collars were never used again, and Brazil did not play at the Maracana for
four years after that. Interestingly, they did not play any games at the
Maracana when they hosted the World Cup for a second time, 64 years later.
18. The
last surviving player from the 1950 final, Uruguayan winger Alcides Ghiggia,
died in 2015, 65 years to the day after the game (in which he scored the
winning goal). He had been the oldest living World Cup winner, an honour that
with his death passed to Hans Schafer, who played for West Germany in the 1954
final. After his death in 2017, the oldest surviving player from a World Cup
final is his team-mate, Horst Eckel. He’s 86.
19. The
1954 final, dubbed the Miracle of Bern, saw West Germany beat favourites
Hungary 3-2. Hungary had previously thrashed the Germans 8-3 in the group
stage, which may have led them to underestimate their opponents (who had in
fact deliberately fielded a weak team for the earlier match, figuring – rightly
– that they’d get out of the group stage anyway). The German victory unleashed
a wave of euphoria in a country still recovering from the Second World War and
is regarded as a key moment in post-war German history.
20. Fritz
Walter, the German captain in 1954, later had a stadium named after him in his
home town of Kaiserslauten; it was used for the 2006 World Cup.
21. FIFA
is the world governing body for football, but below it there are six
international confederations which are responsible for football in their
respective continents. They are the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North
America, Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), the OFC
(Oceania) and UEFA (Europe). Each of these has their own continental
championship which takes either every two years (in the odd-numbered years) or every
four years, either the year after the World Cup or in the even-numbered year that isn’t a World Cup year.
22. Four
reigning continental champions have failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup –
Cameroon (who won the African Cup of Nations last year), Chile (the current
Copa America holders), New Zealand (Oceania’s reigning champions) and the USA
(last year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup winners). The two continental champions which are present at the World Cup are Austrailia (Asia) and Portugal (Europe).
23. The
World Cup isn’t the only international football tournament involving teams from
different confederations. Held every four years in the year before a World Cup,
the Confederations Cup is an eight-team tournament comprising of the reigning world
champions and the winners of the six confederation championships, along with
the host nation which is always the country which is due to host the following
year’s World Cup (thus making this tournament a rehearsal of sorts for the host
nation’s infrastructure).
24. It
was first held in 1997. Brazil have won the Confederations Cup the most times
(four), while Germany won it for the first time last year (they beat Chile 1-0
in the final). To date, none of the Home Nations (England, Northern Ireland,
Scotland and Wales) has ever qualified for it.
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