History
Jules Rimet, the president of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), suggested in 1926 that an international soccer tournament "could reinforce the ideals of a permanent and real peace."
His idea was given impetus by an ongoing and escalating struggle between the FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over control of the sport at the international level.
Only teams made up of amateur players were admitted to the Olympics Games, but most of the best players in the world were professionals. After several countries refused to compete in the 1928 Olympics because of the amateur rule, the FIFA voted on May 26, 1928, to hold its own world championship tournament.
The tournament was originally to be held in 1929, but it was delayed by financial problems. At a meeting in May of 1929, FIFA Vice-President Rodolfe Seeldrayers proposed that the host country should pay transportation and lodging expenses for the participating teams.
At first, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay offered to host the tournament, but Holland and Sweden withdrew shortly afterward to back Italy as the host country. Gradually, all the European countries withdrew their offers and Uruguay was selected, basically by default.
Because of the difficulties involved in traveling to South America, only four European teams, Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia took part. They were joined by Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the United States and Uruguay.
Although it was commonly referred to as the World Cup, the championship trophy was formally named the Jules Rimet Cup. Host Uruguay was the first winner, beating Argentina, 4-2, in the championship game.
Brazil was given permanent possession of the trophy after winning it for the third time in 1970. It was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered.
The Jules Rimet Cup was replaced in 1974 by the present trophy, the FIFA World Cup, which is made up solid gold and malachite. The winning country keeps it until the next tournament, but the trophy remains the permanent property of the FIFA. However, each country that wins the World Cup is given a gold-plated replica.
In 1998, the World Cup field expanded from 24 to 32 teams, with the defending champion and the host country automatically given berths. The other 29 are allotted by region. For the 2002 tournament, 13 slots were given to Europe, 5 to Africa, 4 to South America, 3 to Central and North America, and 2 to Asia.
The two remaining berths were filled between home-and-away playoff series, one between the #3 Asian team and the #14 European team, the other between the Oceania champion and the #5 South American team.
The teams are divided among eight groups that play round-robin tournaments, with the top two teams in each group advancing into the single-elimination tournament round.
