FIFA WORLD CUP

The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football
competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération
Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship
has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946
when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is France, which won
its second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia.

The 21 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight national teams. Brazil have won five times,
and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The other World Cup winners are
Germany and Italy, with four titles each; Argentina, France, and inaugural winner Uruguay, with two
titles each; and England and Spain, with one title each.

17 countries have hosted the World Cup. Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, and Mexico have each
hosted twice, while Uruguay, Switzerland, Sweden, Chile, England, Argentina, Spain, the United
States, Japan and South Korea (jointly), South Africa, and Russia have each hosted once. Qatar will
host the 2022 tournament, and 2026 will be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States, and
Mexico, which will give Mexico the distinction of being the first country to host games in three
World Cups.

Result
Teams reaching the top four
Team Titles Runners-up Third place Fourth place Total
Brazil 5 (1958, 2 (1950*, 2 (1938, 2 (1974, 11
1962, 1970, 1998) 1978) 2014*)
1994, 2002)
Germany1 4 (1954, 4 (1966, 1982, 4 (1934, 1 (1958) 13
1974*, 1990, 1986, 2002) 1970, 2006*,
2014) 2010)
Italy 4 (1934*, 2 (1970, 1994) 1 (1990*) 1 (1978) 8
1938, 1982,
2006)
Argentina 2 (1978*, 3 (1930, 1990, 5
1986) 2014)
France 2 (1998*, 1 (2006) 2 (1958, 1 (1982) 6
2018) 1986)
Uruguay 2 (1930*, 3 (1954, 1970, 5
1950) 2010)
England 1 (1966*) 2 (1990, 3
2018)
Spain 1 (2010) 1 (1950) 2
Netherlands 3 (1974, 1978, 1 (2014) 1 (1998) 5
2010)
Hungary 2 (1938, 1954) 2
Czech 2 (1934, 1962) 2
Republic2
Sweden 1 (1958*) 2 (1950, 1 (1938) 4
1994)
 Croatia 1 (2018) 1 (1998) 2
Poland 2 (1974, 2
1982)
Austria 1 (1954) 1 (1934) 2
Portugal 1 (1966) 1 (2006) 2
Belgium 1 (2018) 1 (1986) 2
United States 1 (1930) 1
Chile 1 (1962*) 1
Turkey 1 (2002) 1
Serbia3 2 (1930, 2
1962)
Russia4 1 (1966) 1
Bulgaria 1 (1994) 1
South Korea 1 (2002*) 1
* = hosts
1 = includes results representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990
2 = includes results representing Czechoslovakia between 1934 and 1990
3 = includes results representing Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro between 1930 and 2006
4 = includes results representing the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1990

Best performances by confederations

To date, the final of the World Cup has only been contested by teams from the UEFA (Europe) and
CONMEBOL (South America) confederations. European nations have won twelve titles, while South
American have won nine. Only two teams from outside these two continents have ever reached the
semi-finals of the competition: United States (North, Central America and Caribbean) in 1930 and
South Korea (Asia) in 2002. The best result of an African team is reaching the quarter-finals:
Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010. Only one Oceanian qualifier, Australia in
2006, has advanced to the second round.

All-time table for champions

Rank Team Participations Pld W D L Pts Titles

1 Brazil 21 109 73 18 18 237 5

2 Germany 19 109 67 20 22 221 4

3 Italy 18 83 45 21 17 156 4

4 Argentina 17 81 43 15 23 144 2

5 France 15 66 34 13 19 115 2

6 England 15 69 29 21 19 108 1

7 Spain 15 63 30 15 18 105 1

8 Uruguay 13 56 24 12 20 84 2