| Every four years international football teams from all around the world compete in the FIFA World Cup. The first Football World Cup Final was played in 1930 between Argentina and Uruguay, with the latter winning 4-2. Over the past 80 years the competition has been held in countries all over the globe including, Germany, Japan, France, U.S.A, Mexico, Argentina, England, Chile, Sweden, Switzerland and Brazil.
The Football World Cup was cancelled in 1942 and 1946 due to the outbreak of the Second World War. However, the Brazilian World Cup of 1950 reignited the international football scene. A standard World Cup final match lasts 90 minutes unless it ends with a draw, when an additional 30 minutes of play is given. If the game is still tied after extra time then the champions are decided via a penalty shoot out. The team who scores the most goals are declared victorious and get to lift the legendary FIFA World Cup trophy. In order to wager effectively in this complicated game make sure you have the latest football betting tips. Out of the 192 nations in the world, 75 of them have appeared in the World Cup finals. Brazil are the most successful World Cup team, winning the tournament no less than 5 times followed closely by Italy who have won it 4. England lifted 'The Jules Rimet Trophy' for the first and last time in 1966 and have been striving to win the Football World Cup final again ever since. Germany was the last country to host the World Cup Final in 2006, with France losing to Italy 5-3 in a penalty shootout. Now South Africa is warming up to stage the next Football World Cup in 2010, which promises to be a spectacular tournament showcasing the best football talent that the world has to offer. The first Rugby World Cup was hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand in 1987. Since then, the tournament has been held every four years and has gone from strength to strength growing into one of the largest sporting events in the world. After the Rugby World Cup final the champions are awarded the William Webb Ellis Cup, which is named after the man who invented the game after he caught the ball and ran with it during a football match whilst at Rugby School. There are currently 20 nations that compete in the Rugby World Cup and the tournament is split into two parts, the group and knocks out stages. The nations are spilt into 4 groups of 5 using a pool system with the top two teams going through to the quarter finals and the knock out stages. The two winning nations from the semi finals compete in the World Cup final to determine who will become the Rugby World Cup champions. The current World Cup champions are South Africa who proved themselves victorious in the final against England in 2007. New Zealand is getting ready to hold the next Rugby World Cup Final in 2011 with England hosting it in 2015 and Japan in 2019. The fourth largest sporting event in the world is the Cricket World Cup which is an international tournament held every four years, with the first being hosted by England in 1975. The International Cricket Council who organises the Cricket World Cup final also hosts the Women's Cricket World cup, which has been running since 1973. The Cricket World Cup consists of One Day internationals matches between all ten Test playing countries, which are Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, West Indies, India, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and South Africa, and the ODI playing nations which presently include Kenya, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland and Afghanistan. The Test and ODI playing nations compete together with the countries who qualify through the World Cup Qualifier. The West Indies were the last nation to host the Cricket World Cup final in 2007, with Australia beating Sri Lanka to win the World Cup final for the fifth time. Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan have won the final once with the West Indies being crowned the Cricket World Cup champions twice, England world cup hopes have still to be realised. Field Hockey is a very popular sport attracting thousands of fans from around the world; this support prompted the International Hockey Federation to host the first Hockey World Cup in 1971. The Hockey World Championships as it’s often called is held every four years in between the summer Olympics. During the tournaments short history 24 nations have qualified for the Hockey World Cup with Pakistan and the Netherlands dominating it, winning the championships 5 and 3 times respectively. Germany has been victorious twice with India and Australia being crowned the Hockey World Cup final winners once. India is warming up to host the next Hockey World Championship in 2010 which promises to be the most exciting and exhilarating yet. Most common sports these days have a World Cup final of some sort, whether it's hosted every four years or annually, whatever sport you pursue there is a World Cup for you can cheer along to. The most common are the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and the Cricket World Cup with the most unusual ranging from the Orienteering World Cup all the way through to the Skeleton World Cup final. |
World Cup Final
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