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FIFA World Cup Tickets Information

FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup -- also referred to as Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, or simply as the World Cup -- an international football competition between national football teams of the member nations of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The championship takes place after every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The tournament's final stage - World Cup Finals, is the most famous and widely-watched sporting event in the world, estimating around 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final. This one month event comprises of 32 national teams competing at venues within the host nation (or nations). Qualifying rounds take place over three years inorder to select the teams for the world cup matches.

In the eighteen tournaments held, only seven nations have won the title. Brazil has won the event 5 teams, making them the most title-winning World Cup team. The current Cup holder, Italy, has won four times, while Germany has thrice. The other former champions are Uruguay and Argentina with two titles each, followed by England and France with one title each. The most recent World Cup Finals were held between June 9 and July 9, 2006 in Germany, where Italy won the tournament against France in the final, winning the penalty shootout 5-3 after the match finished 1-1 after extra time. Germany placed third after beating Portugal 3-1.

The next World Cup Finals is to be held in 2010 in South Africa.

Since 1991, FIFA has also organized the FIFA Women's World Cup every four years.

The Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles (1932), did not plan to include the game in the event due to its less popularity in US, as American football had been growing in popularity, not to mention FIFA and the IOC also disagreed and thus football was dropped from the Games. FIFA president Jules Rimet thus planned the inaugural World Cup tournament to be held in Uruguay in 1930. The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet ultimately persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total 13 nations took part ? seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.

The first two World Cup matches took place concurrently, and were won by France and the USA, who beat Mexico 4-1 and Belgium 3-0, respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France. In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and became the first nation to win a World Cup.

From 1930-1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winner. Originally known as World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament.

In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the tournament, thus keeping the trophy. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983, and has never been recovered, apparently melted down by the thieves.

After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed. The experts of FIFA, from seven different countries, valued the 53 presented models, finally selecting the work of the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36 cm high, made of solid 18-carat gold and weighs 6,175 grammes. The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory." This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently, irrespective of how many World Cups they win. World Cup winners keep the trophy until the next tournament and are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original. Argentina, Germany, Italy and Brazil have all won the second trophy twice, while France has won it once. It will not be retired until the name plaque has been entirely filled with the names of winning nations in 2038.

Since the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), supervised by their respective confederations. FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the qualified strength of the confederations' teams, but also subject to lobbying from the confederations.

The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before the final tournament and last over a two-year period. The qualification system for tournaments are different between confederations. Usually, one or two places are awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs. For example, the winner of the Oceanian zone and the fifth-placed team from the South American zone entered a play-off to decide which team would qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

From the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations have received an automatic berth in the finals. This right had also been granted to the defending champions since 1938, but it has been withdrawn starting from the 2006 FIFA World Cup, requiring them to qualify as well, meaning that Brazil, who won in 2002, became the first defending champion to play in a qualifying match.

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