The world cup is by far the most important soccer/football tournament on the globe! Being only every four years builds up much excitement and passion. Playing for your country brings that extra amount of pride for players. In 2022 it was easy to see that the Argentine players wanted to win for Messi. For some people, it even goes as far as confirming a player being the greatest of all time – or not.
Who makes the world cup and how
There are 32 nations that qualify, but it’s important to know that it’s not the top ranked 32…
Each region of the world has to have x-amount of teams that qualify.
Therefore, you’ll always have 1 good European nation that doesn’t make it.
Then you’ll have the host nation always in, along with countries from Africa and Asia, who historically don’t make it out of group stage very often.
Japan and Korea have made it to the quarter-finals, but usually it’s European and South American who dominate.
Expansion from 32 teams to 48
In October 2016, FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated his support for a 48-team World Cup in 2026.
On 10 January 2017, FIFA confirmed the 2026 World Cup will have 48 finalist teams.
Most world cup titles and success
Champions (1st place)
- Brazil (5) 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002
- Germany (4) 1954, 1974, 1990, 2014
- Italy (4) 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006
- Argentina (3) 1978, 1986, 2022
- France (2) 1998, 2018
- Uruguay (2) 1930, 1950
- England (1) 1966
- Spain (1) 2010
Runners up (2nd place)
- Germany (4)
- Argentina (3)
- Netherland (3)
- Brazil (2)
- Italy (2)
- France (2)
- Hungry (2)
- Czech Republic (2)
- Sweden (1)
- Croatia (1)
What winning titles does for certain players
The only tournament where teams from all around the world are in it at the same time.
The Women’s World Cup is played the year after the men’s… I don’t know why they can’t alternate with the Women’s WC, so we get a tournament every 2 years].
If you look at history and the importance of any tournament you can see that World Cup means more to everyone as it allows a country to prove they are the best for the next 4 years.
Playing for clubs is where they get their deep pockets, but players usually end up playing for 3 or more clubs in their career, yet only one National Team [Country].
You always hear about players like Pele, Maradona & Zidane not only because they were the best during their time, but they won the World Cup.
Playing harder for club vs country
With most player salary coming from clubs, it seems that some people play harder for their club than their country.
This isn’t true for most, but it certainly seems like it when you watch some of the established athletes play.
Example: Germany as a team played super hard the year they won in 2014… Then in 2018 they were not playing with the same intensity… It’s like they just thought that playing 90% they could win again.
Arrogance and just not being as hungry are the two main reasons players stop going 100%
[Hmmm… it seems like there could be an entire conversation on the unethical influence of a country’s club on their star player from another country…]
Playing for your family & opportunity
On the other side you have Countries like the African nations who play as hard as anyone.
The reason is because it’s their way to shine and be seen to sign for a big contract. Giving them the ability to help their family and friends back home.
When you are already on a big club making big money it’s very hard to play with the same fight as someone who is from a poor country playing with a smaller size club or league.
Everyone knows that the word cup will be the place where a few new stars are born and more history will be made.
How the World Cup creates new stars
Case in point:
James Rodriguez in 2014 was the player who fit this description…
He scored lots of goals and his country [Columbia] went far into the tournament and played pretty fútbol from game one.
Now just from this event and this country doing so well you see even more Columbians being brought into leagues all around the world.
So this is why the World Cup is so important because it affects so many people of all ages and places.
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