FIFA World Cup facts for kids

See also: 2018 FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup
Founded	1930
Number of teams	32
Current champions	Germany (4th title)
Most successful team	Brazil (5 titles)

"Soccer world cup" redirects here. For the women's tournament, see FIFA Women's World Cup.

The FIFA World Cup is the most watched sport of football (soccer). The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) puts together the World Cup every four years. More people watch the World Cup finals than any other sporting event in the world—even more people than the Olympic Games. The most successful team has been Brazil.

The finals tournament is held every four years. On the other years there are only qualifiers (qualifying tournaments). These games help to decide which teams will move on. Over 160 national teams play in the beginning games. The best teams from the beginning games win a place in the finals. The finals now include 32 teams. Before 1998, only 24 teams were in the finals. Many years before each World Cup, FIFA picks the host nation, the country where the finals will be held. Being the host nation means that their team has qualified for the finals tournament automatically and does not need to play any qualifying games. The 32 teams in the finals then play for four weeks, usually between June and July, to decide the champion (tournament winner).

Past World Cup results

Year	Host	Winner	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1930 Details	Uruguay	Uruguay	4 - 2	Argentina	United States		Yugoslavia
1934 Details	Italy	Italy	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Czechoslovakia	Germany	3 – 2	Austria
1938 Details	France	Italy	4 – 2	Hungary	Brazil	4 – 2	Sweden
1950 Details	Brazil	Uruguay		Brazil	Sweden		Spain
1954 Details	Switzerland	West Germany	3 – 2	Hungary	Austria	3 – 1	Uruguay
1958 Details	Sweden	Brazil	5 – 2	Sweden	France	6 – 3	West Germany
1962 Details	Chile	Brazil	3 – 1	Czechoslovakia	Chile	1 – 0	Yugoslavia
1966 Details	England	England	4 – 2 (a.e.t.)	West Germany	Portugal	2 – 1	USSR
1970 Details	Mexico	Brazil	4 – 1	Italy	West Germany	1 – 0	Uruguay
1974 Details	West Germany	West Germany	2 – 1	Netherlands	Poland	1 – 0	Brazil
1978 Details	Argentina	Argentina	3 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands	Brazil	2 – 1	Italy
1982 Details	Spain	Italy	3 – 1	West Germany	Poland	3 – 2	France
1986 Details	Mexico	Argentina	3 – 2	West Germany	France	4 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Belgium
1990 Details	Italy	West Germany	1 – 0	Argentina	Italy	2 – 1	England
1994 Details	United States	Brazil	0 – 0 (a.e.t.) (3 – 2 penalties)	Italy	Sweden	4 – 0	Bulgaria
1998 Details	France	France	3 – 0	Brazil	Croatia	2 – 1	Netherlands
2002 Details	Korea Republic & Japan	Brazil	2 – 0	Germany	Turkey	3 – 2	Korea Republic
2006 Details	Germany	Italy	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) (5 – 3 penalties)	France	Germany	3 – 1	Portugal
2010 Details	South Africa	Spain	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands	Germany	3 – 2	Uruguay
2014 Details	Brazil	Germany	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Argentina	Netherlands	3 – 0	Brazil
2018 Details	Russia	??	'	??	??	'	??
2022 Details	Qatar	??	'	??	??	'	??

Notes

Wins by team

Map of winning countries

Team	Titles	Runners-up	3rd Place	4th Place	Top 4
Brazil	5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)	2 (1950, 1998)	2	2	11
Germany	4 (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014)	4 (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002)	4	1	13
Italy	4 (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006)	2 (1970, 1994)	1	1	8
Argentina	2 (1978, 1986)	3 (1930, 1990, 2014)	-	-	5
Uruguay	2 (1930, 1950)	—	-	3	5
France	1 (1998)	1 (2006)	2	1	5
England	1 (1966)	—	-	1	2
Spain	1 (2010)	—	-	-	1
Netherlands	—	3 (1974, 1978, 2010)	1	1	5
Czechoslovakia	—	2 (1934, 1962)	-	-	2
Hungary	—	2 (1938, 1954)	-	-	2
Sweden	—	1 (1958)	2	1	4

Images for kids

Map of FIFA World Cup final hosts, 1930–2022. Green: once; dark green: twice; light green: planned
Estadio Centenario, the location of the first World Cup final in 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay
Map of countries' best results