South Africa, 2010

This was the 19th FIFA World Cup and it was held for the first time in an African nation. It started July 11 and ended one month later. There were 4 top scorers for the first time with 5 goals each and the best goalkeeper was Iker Casillas from Spain. Netherlands beat Uruguay in the semifinals and Spain defeated Germany and reached to the final against Netherlands. Spain won their first title after defeating Germany 1-0 in extra time and Germany got the third place.
The official mascot was an African leopard called Zakumi and the official ball was called Jabulani, manufactured by adidas, that means "bringing joy to everyone". The vuvuzelas were used a lot by the fans in each match. This noisy horns brought many complains from players and other people.

Vuvuzela

Jabulani

Germany, 2006

The 18th World Cup was held from June 9 to July 9 in Germany. There were 147 goals scored in 12 different venues. Italy won the World Cup, winning their 4th title, after defeating France in penalty shootout that ended 5-3 after a tie in regular time. The host Germany defeated Portugal in the match for the third place. The best young player ward was awarded to the German Lukas Podolski. Five African countries and one European qualified for the first time. This tournament had a record number of yellow and red cards with 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards. The official mascot was a lion called "Goleo VI" and the ball was the Adidas Teamgeist.

Korea-Japan, 2002

This world cup was the first one to have two countries together as hosts and it was the first world cup held in Asia. It was the 17th world cup in history. It started the 31 of May and ended on June 30. Thirty two teams played 62 matches in 20 different venues. Brazil won the world cup, winning their fifth one for the first time after beating Germany 2-0 with two goals of Ronaldo. Turkey beat one of the hosts, South Korea, in the match for the third place. The best player award was awarded to the Brazilian player Ronaldo and the best player was Oliver Khan, the German goalkeeper. Ato, Kaz and Nik were the official mascots and the official ball was the Fevernova.

France, 1998

In this world cup, held in France from June 10 to July 12, a lot of this changed to become what the world cup is now. There were 32 teams that played 64 matches in 10 different stadiums. This tournament was won by France that beat Brazil in an amazing performance from the host that ended in a 3-0. Croatia, who qualified to the World Cup for the first time, got the third place after defeating France. Other countries that qualified for the first time were South Africa, Jamaica and Japan. The mascot was called Footix and the ball was the Tricolore. For the first time there was an official song called "The cup of life" recorded by Ricky Martin.

United States, 1994

This World Cup was in 9 cities from the United States. It started the 17 of June and ended one month later, the 17 of June. The official match ball was the Adidas Questra and the mascot was a dog called Striker. There were 141 goals scored and the best player was the brazilian Romario. Brazil won their 4th world cup after defeating Italy in a penalty shootout for the first time in history. Brazil also won the FIFA Fair Play Award. This cup had the highest attendance average.

Italy, 1990

The 14th World Cup was in Italy from June 8 to July 8. There were 24 teams from 5 different confederations. There were 115 goals scored in 52 matches played in 12 cities.cThe official match mall was the Adidas Etrusco Unico and the official mascot was Ciao. Teams like Cameroon, Colombia and Costa Rica had a surprising good performance for the first time. In the semifinals both matches passed through penalties and West Germany beat England and Argentina, the defending champion, beat Italy.
Italy, the host, got the third place by defeating England 2-1. The final was played in Rome were West Germany won the World Cup for the third time by beating Argentina 1-0. The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the first one to be officially recorded and transmitted in HDTV
The best player and top scorer was Salvatore Schillaci.

Mexico, 1986

This World Cup was held in Mexico for the first time from May 31 to June 29. The formats were already almost like what we have right know. There were 24 teams that played 52 matches in 9 cities. There was a group stage, round of 16, quarter finals, semi finals and the final. Argentina, that had Maradona as their star, beat England in the quarter finals with the infamous "Hand of God". West Germany also beat the host Mexico in the same round. Argentina beat Belgium in thew semifinals with goals of Maradona. They played the final against West Germany and beat them 3-2 in the last exciting 10 minutes. France got the third place. The mascot was Pique and Maradona got the Golden Ball award.

Spain, 1982

The 12th World Cup was in Spain for the first time from June 30 to July 11. The last champion Argentina was eliminated in the second round. This World Cup was very different and there were 24 teams that played 52 games in 17 stadiums in 14 different cities as hosts. The format of this world cup was very different from the last ones having a first and second round and then a knockout stage with semifinals, third place match and the final.
Poland, Italy, West Germany and France qualified to the finals where Italy beat Poland and Germany beat France. Poland beat France in the match for the third place and Italy beat 3-1 to West Germany. The best player and top scorer was the Italian Paolo Rossi, the mascot was Naranjito and the official match ball was the Tango España made by Adidas.

Argentina, 1978

Official match ball: Tango

The 11th World Cup was in Argentina from the 1st to the 25th of June. There were 16 teams that played 38 matches in 6 different stadiums from 5 different cities. The best player and top scorer were awarded to Mario Kempes from Argentina. For the first time the Adidas Tango was the official match ball and the mascot was "Gauchito". Brasil, Netherlands, Italy and Argentina qualified for the final rounds where Brasil won 2-1 to Italy and got the third place and Netherlands played the final against the host Argentina. The match was very even and after a 1-1 at the end of the match they had to go to extra time were Mario Kempes, the winner of the Golden Boot, scored and gave the cup to Argentina. Argentina also won the FIFA Fair Play Trophy and Antonio Cabrini from Italy won the award for Best Young Player.

"Gauchito" mascot

West Germany, 1974

This World Cup was held in Germany were soccer was starting to change to what is now. It started the 13 of July and ended in July 7. This was the first time that the FIFA World Cup Trophy was awarded to the winners. There were 16 teams that played 38 matches in 9 different cities. The best player was Johan Cruyff. In this world cup a mascot was added: Tip and Tap. Brazil, Netherlands, Poland and West Germany qualified to the final 4. Brazil and Poland played for the third place were Brazil won. The final was in Munich and 75,200 people attended. It was a very good match where Germany turned the result and won 2-1.

Chile, 1962

This World Cup was held in Brazil from May 30 to June 17. There were 16 teams and 32 matches played in 4 different cities. In the semifinals Brazil beat Chile and Czechoslovakia beat Yugoslavia in an exciting match. Chile, the host, got the third place by winning by one goal to Yugoslavia. The final was won by Brazil that won their second FIFA World Cup and defeated Czechoslovakia 3-1. Brazil became the second country to successfully defend the world title.

Switzerland, 1954

The fifth World Cup was in Switzerland in 1954. It was from June 16 to July 4.In every World Cup, the teams and goals started to increase. This time there were 16 teams of 4 confederations. The host Switzerland and the last champion Uruguay, qualified automatically and other teams like Germany, Austria and Brazil also qualified. It was a very exciting world cup, in quarter finals Hungary beat Brazil, Uruguay beat England, Germany beat Yugoslavia and Austria beat Switzerland. West-Germany and Hungary got to the finals. The first half ended 2-2 and in the second half Germany scored and won the World Cup after turning things from 0-2 to 3-2. For the first time in World Cup history, there was television coverage!

Brazil, 1950

The 1950 World Cup was in Brazil from 24 of July to 16 of July. This was the fourth World Cup because the World Cups of 1942 and 1946 were skipped because of the terrible World War 2. the trophy of this World Cup was called the Jules Rimet Cup because of the 25th anniversary of his FIFA presidency. There were 13 teams and 22 matches played in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Recife. There were 4 pots. Each of them with great teams and amazing matches. Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden and Spain qualified to the final round were Uruguay and Brazil played the last decisive match. It was a very equal game and in the minute 79 Uruguay score the decisive second goal that gave Uruguay the 2-1 victory against the host. It was the most exciting match at the time!!