The 2014 FIFA World Cup Winners: Germany
The 1930 Uruguay Team
The 1994 Brazilian Team
By Sabiha Tafader
Although many of us love soccer, some of us are not even aware of its origins,or how a massive, cyclical competition to be declared the world’s best soccer team came to be. In fact, I bet you will not even be able to recall where the first FIFA World Cup took place. My purpose is not to bombard you with the history of FIFA, but to inform you about its significance, and how it has changed over time. That way, the next time someone asks you “What do you know about soccer?” you can answer them without hesitation.
The first international soccer game actually took place between England and Scotland long before enough different countries played the sport to make forming the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (or FIFA) feasible. In 1904, FIFA was founded by eight European football associations in Paris. This loose fraternity of international teams tried for many years to organize regular professional tournaments outside of the amateur Olympic matches,which they also sponsored. Finally, the first “world cup” match was held in a brand new stadium in the parque batlle neighborhood of Montevideo in Uruguay on July 18, 1930. This stadium was built between 1929 and 1930, especially to organize the FIFA World Cup—and was reserved mainly for football. But don’t forget to differentiate between American football and what Americans call “soccer.” To be clear, soccer (called football or futbol, outside of the U.S.) is just one of the types of “football” that has been professionally developed as a competitive team sport.
During the first official World Cup, organisers were disappointed that only four European teams participated. Nonetheless, the event became an outstanding success both in sporting and as a business investment. Uruguay won that initial tournament, but did not win again until 1950. Meant to take place every four years, the games are sometimes cancelled or disrupted due to war, as they were in 1938 and 1946.
FIFA chose Italy—instead of the competing candidate Sweden—to host and arrange the second World Cup. This time, organizers were able to attract 16 finalists. Unlike in 1930, there were no group rounds in the playoffs, only “knockout” rounds which caused Brazil and Argentina to go home after each of them had only played one match. Once again, the home team succeeded, with Italy winning the final game against Czechoslovakia during overtime. This was also the first time the soccer final was broadcast on the radio.
Jules Rimet was a French football athlete who became the 3rd president of FIFA from 1921 to 1954. Rimet saw his fondest aspiration fulfilled when the 3rd FIFA World Cup took place in France—his home country—what a blessing! However, not everything ran according to plan, especially since Austria decided not to participate, and so Sweden did not have an opponent in the first round. Later, the national teams from Cuba and the East Indies came to France, which ultimately gave Italy the opportunity to defend their title. The World Cup was supposed to take place for the fourth time in 1942, but was cancelled due to the increasing devastation of World War 2.
On July 1st, 1946, the soccer congress met again in Luxembourg. They gave Rimet a special Jubilee gift for being president for a quarter of a century. That’s significant because he was an ambitious and strong leader. In fact, The FIFA World Cup trophy was named after Jules: it is called the Jules Rimet Cup.
But how can we talk about soccer without expressing gratitude to Ebenezer Cobb Morley, the man who professionalized the sport? Morley was an English soccer player who was the secretary of the British Football Association. At an F.A. meeting on the 24th November, 1863, he presented a draft set of 23 rules for public schools, universities, and football clubs. This was significant because it brought attention to the need to train players to avoid injuries, and to learn all the rules and regulations to perform better. These rules help maintain amateur and professional standards that keep the game fair and square.
Back in 1878, a referee’s job was mainly to whistle and keep track of time. Today, referees can now remove players, award free kicks, and also call fouls. Now the game also uses many referees, and currently has seven of them for 22 players. Plus there are Goaltenders to deal with; the only players who can use their hands in the penalty box. Perhaps worst of all, there is the policy that a goal from outside the penalty box receives the same score as a goal made from inside the penalty box.
So far, the countries that have won a World Cup are: Uruguay, Italy, West Germany, Brazil , England, Argentina, France, and Germany. By winning five times, Brazil remains the country holding the most World Cup titles. The champions of the 2014 World Cup were the German team. Germany won that year against Argentina, a nation that has already collected 4 world titles. One thing to remember though, is that great players are recruited across international borders, and often change teams. This means that a talented Brazilian player could end up one day on an Italian or a Spanish team. Some currently famous professional soccer players are Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, and our favorite Cristiano Ronaldo. As a top-ranked Brazilian player, Ronaldo successfully migrated from Manchester United, to Real Madrid, and most recently to the Italian team Juventus in 2018.
The first soccer/football stadium in Uruguay, 1930
sources
http://www.historyofsoccer.info/world_cup_soccer.html
http://www.football-bible.com/soccer-info/football-world-cup-winners.html