World Cup for dummies. Everything you need to know about the grand tournament in Russia

Read and be able to keep up a conversation about football anytime, anywhere. Because for a whole month they will only talk about him.

Sadomazo-2018. The team humiliated by Russia

Dziuba may not be offended by journalists and Slepakov - the players themselves chose the path of hatred.

The first world championship in Russia

Let's start with the main thing. The FIFA World Cup is one of two major sports tournaments around the world along with the Olympic Games. The total audience of the world championships in the 21st century stably exceeds three billion people, and, for example, the final match of the 2014 World Cup, in which the national teams of Germany and Argentina played, was watched by more than a billion spectators. That is, every eighth person on the planet, including babies and old people!

The World Championship has traditionally been held every four years since 1930. In 1942 and 1946, the competition was not held due to the Second World War. The 2018 tournament will thus become the 21st in history. And the first one to be held on the territory of our country.

In 1930, the International Football Federation (FIFA) simply invited everyone to take part in the tournament. Only 13 teams came to Uruguay, where the competition took place. The hosts became the winners of the tournament, having won the final match against Argentina - 4: 2.

Since 1934, the number of teams ready to take part in the tournament has increased. FIFA has decided to determine the format of the tournament and conduct qualifying matches to determine which teams are worthy to compete. In 1934, for example, 32 teams took part in the selection, 16 of which made it to the final stage. 84 years later, the numbers changed somewhat: in the flounce competition, which lasted two years, 207 teams took part, fighting for 31 tickets. The 32nd place was taken by the host country - Russia.

In the entire history of the world championships, only eight teams have won the title. Brazil has won the trophy five times, Germany and Italy four each. Argentina, Uruguay, France, Spain and England also became world champions. The highest achievement of football players from our country is the fourth place of the team Soviet Union at the 1966 tournament.

The only three-time world champion in football in history is the great Brazilian Pele, who, together with his team, won tournaments in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Another 20 footballers (15 Brazilians, four Italians and an Argentinian) became champions twice.

The Russians will play three matches. Or more?

As a rule, they don't expect much from the Russian team before the start of the World Cup, but the more pleasant can be the surprises that the Russian team will present to the fans. As for the implacable figures and historical facts, they do not set up an optimistic mood. The Russian national team, which played at three world championships - in 1994, 2002 and 2014 - never left the group, although our team was, as a rule, lucky with rivals in the draw.

For the 2018 World Cup, the Russian national team is approaching 70th in the FIFA rankings. This is the worst indicator among all the countries participating in the tournament. True, it is worth remembering that the host country always sags in the table of ranks, since it does not play in the qualifying tournament.

"All with a mustache - to the stadium!" Cherchesov called to support the Russian national team

Ivan Karpov attended a press conference of the Russian national team and told Cherchesov about the #intelligence campaign. Finally, our coach has learned to have fun.

Head coach of the national team - Stanislav Cherchesov working with the Russian team since 2016. Team captain - goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev... The average age of the team is 28.3 years. This is slightly less than it was in 2016 at the European Championship, but still a lot. For comparison: the average age of Germans is 25.7 years, Brazilians - 27.8, Spaniards - 28.0.

The oldest and most experienced player of the Russian national team - 38-year-old defender Sergey Ignashevich... When he made his international debut, his current national teammate is 22. Alexander Golovin, playing as a midfielder, hasn't started school yet.

The Russian national team has the most players from Zenit and CSKA - six and five, respectively. Spartak, Lokomotiv, Krasnodar, Rubin and Akhmat sent three players or less to the national team. Also in the squad there are two players playing abroad: Vladimir Gabulov from the Belgian "Bruges" and Denis Cheryshev from the Spanish "Villarreal".

The latest results of the Russian national team can hardly please the fans of the team. The Russians have failed to win their last seven friendly matches. The last victory was won in October 2017 in a match with the South Korean national team. Concerning official matches, then last summer Russia played at the home Confederations Cup. Defeated New Zealand, but lost to Portugal and Mexico and could not leave the group.

At the World Championship, the Russian national team will play at least three matches - on June 14 in Moscow with Saudi Arabia, on June 19 in St. Petersburg with Egypt and on June 25 in Samara with Uruguay. If at the end of these matches Russia leaves the group, then the next match will be played on June 30 or July 1 with someone from group B. Probably Spain or Portugal.

World championship record holders. Who are they?

Who owns the unique achievements of the World Cup.

11 cities, 12 stadiums, 5 favorites

The format of the World Championship is as simple as possible and is familiar to everyone, since it has not changed for 20 years. 32 teams take part in the competition. At the first stage, they are all divided by lot into eight quartets. In these groups of four, the national teams will play each other once. The first two teams will advance to the playoffs. The rules of the elimination matches are as simple as possible: only the winner of the match goes to the next round. If the main time of the game ends in a draw, the game continues for two more halves of 15 minutes each. If in overtime none of the teams was able to snatch victory, then the fate of the meeting will be decided by a series of penalty shootouts.

The first match of the World Cup in Russia will be played on June 14 - in Moscow at the Luzhniki stadium Russian team will play with the national team of Saudi Arabia. Final matches group stage will be played on June 28th. And a day later, on June 30, the 1/8 finals of the World Championship will start in Sochi and Kazan. The decisive match of the tournament, which will determine the new world champions, will be played on July 15 - also in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

The World Cup matches will be held at 12 stadiums built or reconstructed in 11 cities of Russia. The most capacious stadium is the capital's Luzhniki (seats 80 thousand spectators). The most expensive is the St. Petersburg Stadium in the Northern Capital, the construction of which took about 43 billion rubles. Also matches will be held in Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Kaliningrad, Sochi, Kazan and Saransk.

Who will win the World Cup is, of course, impossible to predict in advance. This tournament always presents the audience with a whole scattering of unexpected results and football discoveries. However, the top five favorites can still be named: the national teams of Germany, Brazil, Spain, France and Argentina, according to experts, have the greatest chances of winning the tournament.

Illusion of deception. Why the Russian national team will leave the group from the first place

Because she's just the strongest. At least with Salah, at least without.

In the entire history of the world championships, only 8 countries have been awarded the title of champions. The largest number of titles on the account of Brazil - they became championship winners 5 times. Italy and Germany have won the World Cup 4 times; Argentina, Uruguay became champions twice, and France and Spain won the championship once.

The only person to become a world champion three times as a player is Pele (at the 1958, 1962 and 1970 championships). Another 20 players were two-time champions (mostly Brazilians, as well as 4 Italian players and one -). Vittorio Pozzo is the only one head coach, twice won the World Cup (in 1934 and 1938). Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer won the championship both as a player and as a head coach (Zagallo - twice as a player (in 1958 and 1962), once as a coach (in 1970), Beckenbauer - once each (in 1974 and 1990) The absolute record for the number of championship titles is formally held by Mario Zagallo, who in total became the champion 4 times (in 1994 as an assistant head coach).

1930 - Uruguay

• The first world championship was timed to coincide with the centenary of Uruguay's independence.
• The entire tournament was held in one city - Montevideo.
• The Europeans did not want to sail across the Atlantic. The organizers covered the costs, but only France, Yugoslavia, Romania, etc. made it to the goal. Only the Balkans reached the playoffs and fell under Uruguay - 1: 6.
• Before the final, the opponents could not agree on whose ball to play - Argentinean or Uruguayan. We decided to use each halfway.
• The Uruguayan forward Castro did not have one arm, which did not prevent him from scoring a goal in the final.
• The final contestant, Francisco Varagllo, died on August 30, 2010 at the age of 100.

Team Final Results Table

Final match: Uruguay 4-2 Argentina

1934 - Italy

Never before has the World Cup been so fleeting - the games lasted only 15 days. The fans did not have the opportunity to watch all the games they were interested in: all the playoffs started at the same time. Thus, the maximum that one fan could see at this World Cup is six games, including the Italy-Spain replay, subject to moving between Italian cities or no more than 3 games in one city. At the same time, this world championship holds a record - never a tournament of this level consisted of only 17 games.

The best scorer of this championship is considered to be Oldřich Needla from the Czechoslovak team, who scored 5 goals. However, according to official data, he did not score a hat-trick in the match with Germany: one of the goals was scored by Rudolf Krzil. Therefore the title top scorer Needla shares this four-ball championship with German Edmund Kohnen and Italian Angelo Schiavio.

Before the 1934 World Cup, the hosts of the tournament in the first and last time in history, qualifying games had to be held.

1938 - France

In the third championship, football and world politics played a role. FIFA gave preference to a European country, breaking its promise to hold the tournament alternately on different continents. The absence of giants from South America, boycotting the championship, reduced the number of participating countries.

The matches were attended by 483,000 fans. The most attended match was between Italy and France: 60,000.

The championship was marked by several curiosities:

• In the match with Brazil, Meazzo was about to shoot a penalty, but then his sports pants fell. The spectators stood up, the judge almost swallowed the whistle. But Meazzo calmly straightened the ball and scored a penalty.
• The Brazilians were so confident of victory that they bought plane tickets to Paris. Because of this, the Italians could not take tickets there. And even after the loss, the Brazilians did not sell tickets to the Italians, and they had to travel to the final match by train.

Some moments of the championship went down in the history of world football:

• For the first time, the previous world champion and the host team of the tournament automatically qualified.
• For the first time, the championship was not won by the hosts.
• Pole Ernest Willimovsky, striker, for the first time in the history of the World Cup, scored four goals (match Brazil -). His record was only improved after 56 years.
• For the first time, balls were used without lacing.
• For the first time in a FIFA competition, in the Norway vs. Ireland match in Dublin, the two teams played in numbered uniforms.
• For the first time in Brazil, matches were broadcast on radio, hosted by the famous commentator Galliano Neto.
• This is the only time in history that the united German team did not make it to the final part of the tournament.
• Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler were present in the stands.
• The next world championship took place only 12 years later, since World War II began 15 months later.

1950 - Brazil

• Many said that the Brazilian players were unable to cope with the pressure on them from all sides. Those who were not shy in expressions simply called them (football players) cowards. It was rumored that Varela gave Bigode's defender a hefty slap in the face so that he missed Zhiggia out of fright when the decisive goal was scored. Later, Bigode and Varela himself categorically denied this fact, but Bigode's reputation as a coward pursued him until the end of his life. However, no one got as much mud as was poured on the goalkeeper Barbosa. Many argued that it was he who was to blame for the defeat, although the Uruguayans never agreed with this. Barbosa played for Vasco da Gama for many years, won many titles, but he never managed to get rid of the stigma of “the culprit of the shame Maracana”. A short film was shot that described what would have happened in the country if Barbosa had managed to save the team at a crucial moment. No story about this match is complete without mentioning the name of Barbosa, one of the best Brazilian goalkeepers of all time.
• It is curious that in 1950, for the first time at the World Cups, footballers played in jerseys with numbers. However, these numbers were not constant, so that the same player could play in different matches under different numbers (from the first to the eleventh). Substitutions were not allowed in matches until the 1970 World Cup.
• The final match itself at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro and that tragedy for all the fans of the Brazilian national team was then given the common name “Maracanaço”

Final match Uruguay - Brazil, 2: 1

1954 - Switzerland

• The Soviet Union lost the 1952 Olympics and refused to go to the World Cup. The officials considered that our football was too raw, and there was no need to embarrass ourselves.
• The main favorites were the Hungarians. The team, led by Puskas and Kocis, even knocked out Brazil, but sank in the final, torpedoed by the Germans. Although in the group match Germany lost to Hungary - 3: 8. Back then, coach Gerberger didn’t place the main players, and defender Liebrich inflicted severe injury Pushkash.
• FIFA issued a memorandum: "The FRG footballers won deservedly, but Hungary became the best team in the championship."
• 140 goals were scored in 26 matches of the tournament. 5.38 goals per game - a record in World Cup history.

Bernese massacre

On June 27, 1954, at the Wankdorf stadium in Bern, after the quarterfinal match Hungary - Brazil, the most ambitious fight in the history of football world championships took place, which went down in the annals as the “Berne massacre”.

The Brazilian Mauro Mourinho provoked rivals and comrades, who approached the Hungarian striker Sandor Kochish and punched him in the face. The fight that began after that between the players continued in the under-stands. Since Laurent had broken a lamp in Gyula's corridor, the fight took place in the semi-darkness. Everyone took part, especially Puskas, who missed the game due to injury, who drove a siphon into the head of Juan Pinheira and drove the Brazilian into the locker room. The head coach of the Hungarian national team Gustav Shebes also got hit on the head with a siphon. He had to put four stitches on his wounds.

The snapshot of the Brazilian national team coach Zese Moreira attacking the Hungarians with a boot in his hands went around all the newspapers and brought the author a lot of money. Riots were reported at the stadium as well. On the cover of the magazine "Pari-match", published after the fight, there was a photograph in which a young man kicked a policeman at the edge of the field.

1958 - Sweden

• For the first time, FIFA has decided to divide the qualifying groups according to the territorial principle.
• The selection was attended by record number national teams - 52. Five federations withdrew from the competition - Cyprus, Turkey, Venezuela and Taiwan.
• 16 teams competed for the main trophy among themselves. automatically entered the number of participants as a host country, Germany - as a champion.
• The championship was the first for the national teams of the USSR, Northern Ireland and Wales.
• For the first time in history, the World Championship was held in 12 cities at once.
• The first and so far the only time in the final part of the championship was attended by all 4 British teams - England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland... According to the regulations, if the teams that took the second and third places in the group scored the same number of points, then a replay was appointed between them. As a result, the replay had to be carried out in three groups out of four.
• For the first time, the world was able to see the championship on television screens.
• Brazil became world champion for the first time. Brazil 1958 is also the only non-European national team to win a championship held in Europe.
• Pele is still the youngest player to score in the World Cup (17 years and 239 days) and the youngest world champion (17 years and 249 days).

1962 - Chile

• In 1960, Chile was hit by a strong earthquake (9.5 points). They wanted to take away the tournament, but the president of the Chilean Football Federation Dittborn exclaimed: "Leave the World Cup, we already have nothing left!" He died a month before the start, and the opening match Uruguay - Colombia (2: 1) was held at a stadium named after Dittborn.
• The USSR won the group (2: 0 with Yugoslavia, 4: 4 with Colombia, 2: 1 with Uruguay), but lost to Chile in the quarterfinals (1: 2).
• In the match with the Uruguayans, the referee scored Chislenko's goal, but the captain of Netto pointed out the mistake to the referee: the ball flew into the hole in the net. This is considered the standard of fair play.
• The final was held at the National Stadium in Santiago, where in 11 years dictator Pinochet will hold 40 thousand opponents of the military regime.
• The final was judged by our Latyshev - and did not give a penalty for playing with the hand of the Brazilian Santos. In Czechoslovakia they were offended: "The judge showed a lack of understanding of the tasks of socialism!"

1966 - England

• It was the first World Cup to be televised in live.
• The Jules Rimet Cup - the trophy given to the winner was stolen shortly before the start of the championship. A few days later, a police dog named Pickles discovered a gold statuette in a park in London. Four years later, in Mexico, he will become the world champion for the third time and will receive the first version of the World Cup - the goddess Nike - for eternal storage. However, she will be kidnapped again. Already forever.
• Yellow and red cards will only be used at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. At the same World Cup, a rather curious incident occurred. In the match between the national teams of Argentina and England, the captain of the South Americans - Ubaldo Ratim tried to appeal to the chief referee of the match with a complaint about the "dirty" game of the British. But, since the arbiter was German, Ratim turned to an interpreter for help. and was immediately sent off from the field by the expulsive arbiter. Leaving the field, the Argentine spat towards the British flag.
• As part of the Brazilian national team, the youngest player in the history of the national team arrived at the 1966 World Cup. Ed was not yet 17 years old when he and his team arrived in England. True, then he did not manage to enter the field. But four years later in Mexico, he still played a few minutes, replacing Rivelino.

1970 - Mexico

• El Salvador defeated Honduras in the qualifying group, and a military conflict began between the countries. It was named La guerra del fútbol (Football War). 6,000 people died.
• The USSR took first place in the group, ahead of Mexico (0: 0), Belgium (4: 1) and El Salvador (2: 0). But in the quarterfinals he ran into Uruguay (0: 1). Esparrago scored a goal in the 116th minute, although before that the ball went out of bounds, ours stopped the game, but the referee did not blow the whistle.
• The Brazilians became champions for the third time in a row and received forever the Jules Rimet Cup - the President of FIFA, who organized the first World Cup. Trophy in the form of Nika, the goddess of victory (30 cm, 1.8 kg of gold). And in 1983, the cup was stolen from the office of the Brazilian Football Federation, and it disappeared forever.
• Pele became the only player to win the World Cup three times.

1974 - Germany

• At the opening ceremony in Munich, the guest famous Polish singer Maryla Rodowicz performed her song "Futbol", written especially for this occasion.
• In the Argentina - Haiti match on 15 minutes, Yasalde scored 900 goals in the history of final tournaments.
• Having scored 4 goals in the championship, Gerd Müller overtook the Frenchman Just Fontaine in the number of goals in the world championships. Müller has 14 goals
• Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski saved two penalties (from Tupper and U. Hönnes).
• For the first time at the World Championship, doping control was carried out. The first victim of this was the striker of the Haiti national team Jean-Joseph, who was expelled in disgrace from the championship for the use of illegal drugs (the very result of the Italy-Haiti 3-1 match, after which Jean-Joseph was caught, was upheld).
• Germany's national team won the Fair Play prize
• The championship matches were covered by 5,000 journalists. More than a billion football fans from 100 countries watched the games on television.
• The match between the national teams of Poland and Germany was delayed for 30 minutes due to heavy rain that flooded the field of play: the firefighters had to pump out all the water from the field.

1978 - Argentina

• The USSR lost to the Hungarians in the selection and again did not make it to the World Championship.
• After the match Peru - Scotland (3: 1), ephedrine was found in the blood of Scottish striker Willie Johnston. The next morning the newspapers came out with the headlines "Shame on you, Willie!"
• Argentina defeated Peru in the semi-final group with the required score (6: 0) and advanced to the final, leaving Brazil behind. The world press cried out that the hosts had played negotiated match... And the Briton David Yallop even wrote the book How the Game was Stolen. They say that the head of the Argentine junta Videla transferred $ 50 million and 35 thousand tons of grain to Peruvian officials. FIFA did not investigate, but simply banned Yallop's book.
• Before the tournament, Argentina, to the surprise of many, unhooked the 17-year-old prodigy Maradona from the roster. But I still became a champion.

1982 - Spain

• The tournament began to be called "mundi-al", which in Spanish means "world".
• The biggest victory in World Cup history was won by Hungary, beating El Salvador 10-1.
• In the France - Kuwait match, the Soviet referee Stupar scored a dubious French goal. Kuwaiti sheikh Fahd al-Sabah entered the field, took the team to the locker room and began to demand that Stupar cancel the goal. He agreed and ... was disqualified for life by FIFA: he did not stand up for the honor of the referee's uniform.
• The USSR left the group (1: 2 with Brazil, 3: 0 with New Zealand, 2: 2 with Scotland), but in the second round stumbled on Poland (1: 0 with Belgium, 0: 0 with the Poles) - we played on defense when victory was needed.
• The top scorer was the Italian Rossi (6 goals), who was disqualified for two years in 1979 and sent to prison for betting fraud.

1986 - Mexico

It was the championship of Diego Maradona, who was at the peak of his career and led the Argentina national team to the 2nd world championship victory. His most memorable league match was in the quarterfinals against England, where he scored 2 goals to bring victory to his national team. Diego scored the first goal with his hand, but the referee did not notice it. Maradona later admitted that he scored with a hand. His second goal of the match was recognized as one of the best goals in final parts World Cup: Maradona showed fantastic dribbling, beat five players and scored a goal.

Argentina's victory in the tournament was well-deserved, albeit unexpected. Maradona was named the best player in the tournament. The victory of the Argentine national team was celebrated at home by about 30 million people.

In this championship she showed her class, beating the Italian national team, reigning champions the world, in the second stage with a score of 2-0. In the ¼ finals, France buried the ambitions of the Brazilian national team at the Estadio Jalisco stadium in Guadelajara, beating them on penalties. Michel Platini shone in the French national team. Having passed the Brazilians, the French in the semifinals, like 4 years ago in Spain, got to the FRG team and again lost to it.

West Germany has played its fifth World Cup final, having won only twice before. Like 4 years ago, having lost then to Italy 1-3, this time they lost to the Argentines 3-2. It is noteworthy - Germany won two semi-finals in a row against the French national team, in 1982 and 1986, and also lost two World Cups in a row in the final.

This world championship was the first for Canada, Denmark and Iraq. Iraq and Canada were eliminated in the first stage, losing all 3 matches. Denmark, having won 3 matches and showing a beautiful game, took first place in the group, but in the 1/8 finals "burned out" and lost to the Spaniards. She performed surprisingly well, having played in a draw with the British and Poles and beating the Portuguese team, reaching the playoffs from the first place, but in the 1/8 finals, the Moroccans lost to the Germans with a score of 1: 0.

Pepper Piquet was the mascot of this world championship. Many merchandise featured Piqué, an anthropomorphic chili pepper dressed in the colors of the Mexican soccer team. The image of Piqué was controversial, as it symbolized negative stereotypes about Mexicans.

For the first time, the African team made it out of the group (National Team Morocco).

In the match - Paraguay, 80 free kicks were assigned, of which 46 - towards the hosts of the championship (judge J. Courteney, England).

1990 - Italy

• The USSR, England and Greece claimed to host the 1990 World Cup. But in 1984, this right was given to Italy.
• The Union was disintegrating, and the national team was on its way. We didn't even make it out of the group (0: 2 with Romania, 0: 2 with Argentina, 4: 0 with Cameroon).
• Cameroon, under the leadership of our coach Nepomniachtchi, became a troublemaker, reaching the quarterfinals, where it stupidly did not beat England.
• In the 1/8 final match, the Dutchman Rijkaard made the famous spit at the German Feller. Both were removed.
• The Germans reached the final for the third time in a row. And yet they pulled Argentina! Maradona accused FIFA of being deliberately killed, and Breme's penalty was fake.

1994 - USA

• The championship matches were played in stadiums with a capacity of 91,000 spectators, which helped set all-time attendance records for World Cup matches. Average attendance was almost 69,000 per match, breaking the previous record of 51,000 at the 1966 World Cup. The total attendance of all matches exceeded 3.6 million people, which is still a record, despite the increase in the number of participating teams from 24 to 32 in subsequent championships.
• After winning the 1994 FIFA World Cup title, the Brazilian national team unfolded a poster on the field commemorating the title to Ayrton Senna, a Brazilian Formula 1 driver who died at the San Marino Grand Prix shortly before the World Cup.
• At this World Cup, a world record was set for the number of goals scored in a match of the final stage of the World Cup by one player. It was installed by Oleg Salenko, who scored 5 goals in the Russia - Cameroon match.
• In the same match, Roger Milla set the record - he became the oldest player to score a goal in the final stage of the World Cup (he was 42 at that time).
• Diego Maradona's doping test showed traces of ephedrine. All attempts by Maradona and his lawyers to prove that ephedrine was part of the drugs with which he was treated for the common cold were unsuccessful. Maradona was disqualified.
• in the 1/8 final match between the national teams of Mexico and Bulgaria during the game, they had to replace the broken goal, which is why the match was interrupted for more than thirty minutes.
• On July 2, 1994, footballer Andres Escobar was shot and killed after returning home for scoring an own goal at the World Cup. The killer actually executed the football player by firing 12 bullets at him in the restaurant's parking lot.

1998 - France

• For the first time, 32 teams took part in the final part of the tournament. Even Iran and Jamaica.
• After one match, the ChayF group wrote a legendary hit: “What a pain, what a pain! Argentina - Jamaica - 5: 0 ".
• Beckham receives a red card for the go-ahead. England lose in 1/8 finals to Argentina. Since then, a popular expression has appeared: "It was not Beckham's day."
• She made her debut in the World Cup, which immediately took bronze.
• On the eve of the final, Ronaldo was poisoned. He barely entered the field, but Brazil lost in all respects to France and the magnificent Zidane.
• Every time, for good luck, the defender of the French Blanc kissed his goalkeeper Barthez on the bald head. And for the entire tournament, the world champions conceded only two goals!

2002 - Korea - Japan

It was the first time a competition of this magnitude was held in Asia, and for the first time in two countries at the same time. The decision on the choice of the venue for the World Cup was made The International Federation football (FIFA) in Zurich in May 1996 (preliminary, and in November of the same year - finally). Initially, only two countries claimed the right to host the tournament - Korea and Japan, separately. But on May 31, 1996, in order not to heat up the already tense relations between the two countries, the FIFA Congress made a truly Solomon decision, combining the applications, although there were opponents of such a choice, in particular, the then FIFA President Joao Havelange. Despite the high-quality organization of the 2002 World Cup, in the future, FIFA intends not to practice joint tournaments under its auspices.

• For the first time they got to participate in the semifinals and for the first time played a match for the 3rd place between the national teams of Turkey and South Korea (3: 2).
• In the match between these teams, another achievement was established - the player of the Turkish national team Hakan Shukur scored the most quick goal in the history of the final games of the world championships, at the 11th second of the match.
• Such strong teams of France, Italy, England and Portugal already suffered a setback in the group stage, the Spanish national team was eliminated in the ¼ of the final.
• The African teams showed a good game, and reached the ¼ final.

2006 - Germany

• Before the match South Korea- Togo (2: 1) played the Korean anthem twice by mistake.
• In the match Croatia - (2: 2) the British referee Poll got excited, showing Shimunic three yellow cards at once. Although he had to remove the Croat after the second.
• The hero of the 1/8 finals Portugal - Holland (1: 0) was the Russian referee Ivanov - he wrote 16 yellow cards and sent off four players.
• As the best player in the World Cup, Zidane won the Golden Ball. Although he let the French down in the final, buying into the provocation of Materazzi. The Italian threw something offensive in his face, Zizu hit Materazzi in the chest with a shiny bald head and received a red card. Soon, world champion Materazzi wrote the book What I Really Said to Zidane.

2010 - South Africa

• Ballon d'Or awarded to the best player in the championship, forward Diego Forlán. The Silver ball was awarded to the Dutchman Wesley Sneijder, the Bronze - to David Villa, the player.
• The Golden Ball was awarded to the best player in the championship, Uruguay's striker Diego Forlan. The silver ball was given to the Dutchman Wesley Sneijder, the bronze - to David Villa, the player of the Spanish national team.
• The Golden Glove, also known as the Prize. Lev Yashin, awarded the best goalkeeper championship - the Spaniard Iker Casillas.
• Best prize young player, and also the "Golden Boot" was received by the German Thomas Müller. Silver and bronze medals were awarded to David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, respectively.
• The first FIFA World Cup held on the African continent. In the struggle for the right to host the championship, the South African application bypassed the applications of Morocco and Egypt. 204 of 208 FIFA national teams took part in the qualifying tournament, making this championship the largest sporting event by the number of participating countries, repeating the achievement of the Beijing Olympics.
• Dejan Stankovic managed to play in three world championships for three different teams - Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, and now just Serbia.
• After the Portugal - DPRK (7-0) match, which was shown live in North Korea, head coach Kim Jong-hoon was interrogated for six hours and sent to forced labor.

2014 - Brazil

For the first time in the history of the World Cup, an automatic goal detection system was used. It is called GoalControl-4D, developed by the German company GoalControl. The system is based on the use of high-speed cameras. It consists of 14 cameras, all the time directed at the ball and transmitting information to the computer, which sends a signal when the ball crosses the goal line to the clock of the chief referee of the match. The system was installed at all stadiums for the 2014 World Cup and for the first time influenced the referee's decision in the controversial episode with the second goal in the France-Honduras match.

For the first time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, referees used vanishing spray cans to mark on the field where the ball and wall were located when taking free kicks and free kicks.

For the first time in world championship history, match breaks have been introduced to allow players to cool off and drink water. Breaks are at the discretion of the referee after the thirtieth minute of each half, if the WBGT heat transfer index exceeds the set level at the time of the match. Breaks last three minutes, which the referee then adds at the end of each half. According to many sources, including the news section of the FIFA website, for the first time such breaks were applied in the match of 1/8 finals Netherlands - Mexico, the match was stopped twice: in the first and second halves, so that the athletes could freshen up, the referee added 4 minutes in the first half and 6 minutes in the second. Some sources claim that the first such break was scheduled even earlier - in the 39th minute of the Group G match between the national teams of the USA and Portugal, but the referee then added only 2 minutes in the first half (in the second - 5 minutes), so it is possible that that stop had other reasons.

Claudia Leitte, Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez perform "We Are One (Ole Ola)" at the opening ceremony

The official tournament emblem was unveiled on 8 July 2010 at a ceremony in Johannesburg during the 2010 World Cup. The emblem was chosen by a commission that included architect Oscar Niemeyer, designer Hans Donner (port.), Model Gisele Bündchen, writer Paulo Coelho, singer Ivete Sangalu, chairman of the organizing committee of the 2014 World Cup Ricardo Teixeira and FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Walcke. The winner was the Inspiration (Port of Inspiração) emblem designed by the Brazilian agency Africa.

The official mascot of the tournament was Fuleko's three-belt spherical battleship (Tolypeutes tricinctus).

On January 23, 2014, FIFA and Sony Music unveiled the official song for the tournament. She was the composition "We Are One (Ole Ola)", performed by American singers Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez with Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte.

2018 - Russia

Tournament symbols

Emblem

The official logo of the 2018 FIFA World Cup was presented on October 28, 2014 on the air of Channel One in the program “ Evening Urgant". FIFA President Joseph Blatter, Russian Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko and the best football player in the world 2006, Italian Fabio Cannavaro, took part in the presentation of the tournament symbols

In the 2018 World Cup emblem, the silhouette of the FIFA World Cup is guessed. The conquest of space, icon painting and love of football are the three components of the logo, according to a press release from the tournament organizing committee.

Mascot

The official mascot of the tournament was the wolf Zabivaka, which was chosen by voting on October 22, 2016 on the First Channel on the Evening Urgant program. The presentation was attended by famous footballers Ronaldo (Brazil) and Zvonimir Boban (Croatia).

Zabivaka is an anthropomorphic wolf with brown and white fur and blue eyes; wears a blue and white T-shirt with the words “RUSSIA 2018” in black and red shorts; also has orange sports glasses worn or pushed over the forehead. The combination of white, blue and red in clothes symbolizes the colors of the Russian flag.

Hymn

"Live It Up" is a song by Puerto Rican singer Nicky Jam, performed with American actor and rapper Will Smith and Kosovan singer Era Istrefi for the upcoming The Official Album of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The composition was chosen as the official song of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Diplo produced the track, which was released on May 25, 2018.

Official ball

Adidas Telstar 18 - Official soccer ball World Cup 2018. Named after the legendary Adidas Telstar ball, one of the first balls in the form of a truncated icosahedron and the first spotted ball - it looked better than a monochrome one on black and white TVs.

The ball was developed by Adidas, the permanent supplier of balls for the FIFA and UEFA championships, and is manufactured by Adidas' old partner, Forward Sports (Sialkot, Pakistan).

The ball was presented to the people by Lionel Messi, winner of the 2014 World Cup Golden Ball, in Moscow on November 9, 2017. The ball was subsequently used in the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup.

• Russia spent over 660 billion rubles on the championship.
• At the group stage of the 2018 World Cup, fans spent about 17 billion rubles, and 14 of them - on transport.
• Football fans call the Championship in Russia the most unexpected: the German national team, having lost to Korea (0: 2), for the first time in history could not overcome the first group stage; the national teams of Spain, Portugal and Argentina, the clear favorites of the season, did not make it to the ¼.
• The Russian national team reached the ¼ finals for the first time since 1970, beating the Spanish national team.
• No sex during the Championship! And this is not about the advice of the State Duma and Tamara Pletneva. It turns out that many coaches forbid their wards to have sex during the World Cup. The Brazilian national team is the most fortunate - they are prohibited only from "acrobatic sex". But calm and no frills - please.
• For 120 minutes of playing time in the match with Spain Russian footballers in total we ran 146 kilometers. But the Spaniards - 137.
• For all the games of the Brazilian national team in the championship, Neymar lay on the field for more than 14 minutes!

• The Brazilian government has changed the schedule for civil servants to watch their team's matches. It's all about the difference in time zones. The working day will either start at 14:00 or end at 13:00. True, all the leisure time will then need to be worked out.
• The World Cup is made of 18K gold and stands on a malachite base.
• Ronaldo has set a historic speed record. In the Spain-Portugal match, he accelerated to 38.6 km / h during a counterattack and became the fastest player in history.
• FIFA recognized the Russian national team as the best team in defense with an indicator of 259 clearances, tackles and saves. But the Brazilian national team became the best in attack.
• The final of the World Cup turned out to be surprisingly productive: France and Croatia scored 6 goals for two. So many goals in World Cup finals have not been scored since 1966, but then it took extra time. In general, only once in the entire history of the championship was more scored in the final: in 1958, Brazil defeated Sweden with a score of 5: 2. And more - in the 2018 final alone, more has been scored than in all the previous final matches of this century!
• Broke the world championship record for the number of games from the start without zero draws. Previously, it was equal to 26 matches, now it has grown to 36. In the last round of the group stage, France and Denmark, by mutual agreement, played 0: 0 - and this result was not repeated until the very finish. Just one match without goals - the history of the world championships has not known this since 1954!
• This championship turned out to be absolutely unique in terms of the teams' performance. Each of the participants in the tournament has never scored at least 2 goals. This happened at the world championship this year. Before the end of the group stage, Panama was walking with zero, but it was last game with Tunisia, they managed to score twice.
• Own goal, scored in the final by Croat Mario Mandzukic, became the 12th since the beginning of the tournament. This is just an incredible amount compared to what is usually observed. For example, in 2014, the players of all teams sent only 5 goals to their own gates. And the previous record was set in 1998 - 6. At the 2018 World Cup it was doubled.
• The record for the number of penalties has also grown significantly. Prior to that, their maximum number within one tournament was 18. In 2018, this figure was reached at the end of the group tournament. By the end of the championship, their number was 29. This radical leap is explained, first of all, by the introduction of the VAR video replay system.
• The most action-packed match of the tournament was the 1/8 finals Belgium - Japan. The Europeans were able not only to recoup from the score 0: 2 - they scored the decisive goal in the last seconds of stoppage time, right after the Asians almost scored the winning goal themselves after the free kick.
• A unique but completely useless achievement was set by the Spanish national team. In the match with Russia, she made 1114 assists (in regular and extra time), far exceeding the previous record of the Argentines in 2010 (703). Paradoxically, this could not bring her victory. Moreover, they did not manage to score even a goal from the field. The only time that day the goal of the Russian national team was struck by his own player - Sergei Ignashevich.
• The 2018 FIFA World Cup has become a testing ground for overthrowing the favorites. The most resonant and most unique was the collapse of the German national team, especially since the Korean national team decorated it with their victory - as it seemed, an outsider from outsiders. This was the first time a Germans had left the group stage in the history of the competition.

• “Death of the Gods” - this is how the journalists called the day of June 30, when both left the tournament within a few hours best footballer planets: first Lionel Messi after the defeat of Argentina to France (3: 4), and then - Cristiano Ronaldo after the failure of Portugal in the match with Uruguay (1: 2). There is no precedent in the history of the world championships, so that 10 total "Golden Balls" flew out at once in one day.

France - FIFA World Champion 2018

The French national team defeated the Croats in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final to win the tournament.

The match took place at the Luzhniki stadium and ended with a score of 4: 2. The French took the lead in the 18th minute thanks to an own goal by striker Mario Mandzukic. In the 28th minute, Croatian midfielder Ivan Perisic equalized the score. In the 38th minute, a penalty was awarded to Croatia, which was converted by forward Antoine Griezmann.

In the second half, the advantage of the French national team was increased by midfielder Paul Pogba (59th minute) and striker Kilian Mbappé (65th minute). In the 69th minute, Mandzukic reduced the gap between the Croatian national team.

The French national team won the world championship for the second time. Prior to that, the team won the 1998 tournament in France.

Football is the most popular and widespread game view sports in the world, the interest of fans in which is sometimes simply overwhelming. According to statistics, almost 3 billion people of the planet are fond of football to one degree or another, and the World Cup (from the Spanish Copa Mundial de Fútbol - the World Cup) has long become the most important sporting event of the four years. For the first time in history, Russia was entrusted with hosting the World Championship of the Year. Read more about the cities in which the 2018 FIFA World Cup took place.

Initially, the list of cities that will host matches of the football tournament assumed 13 host cities. Subsequently, their number was reduced to 11 - Krasnodar and Yaroslavl were excluded from the list of cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

In the final version, the following cities of Russia received the right to host the World Cup:

• Moscow
• Saint Petersburg
• Kazan
• Yekaterinburg
• Samara
• Saransk
• Rostov-on-Don
• Kaliningrad
• Nizhny Novgorod
• Volgograd

The issue of preparing stadiums for the World Cup turned out to be difficult and financially costly, since by the beginning of the 21st century most of Russian arenas were outdated and did not meet FIFA requirements.

Ultimately, it was decided to build nine new stadiums in Russia and reconstruct three old ones. It should be noted that all these stadiums, after the completion of the work, fully meet all the necessary criteria. Here they are:

• • Luzhniki (Moscow) for 81 thousand - reconstruction completed
  • "Spartak Stadium" (Moscow) for 45 thousand - construction completed in 2014
  • St. Petersburg Arena for 67 thousand - construction completed in 2017
  • Kazan Arena for 45 thousand - construction completed in 2013
  • Yekaterinburg Arena for 35 thousand - construction completed in 2018
  • Samara Arena for 45 thousand - construction completed
  • "Mordovia Arena" (city of Saransk) for 45 thousand - construction completed
  • Fisht (city of Sochi) for 44 thousand - reconstruction completed in 2017
  • Rostov Arena for 45 thousand - construction completed
  • "Arena Baltika" (city of Kaliningrad) for 35 thousand - construction completed

• "Nizhny Novgorod Stadium" for 45 thousand - construction completed
• Volgograd Arena for 45 thousand - construction completed.

The process of reconstruction of stadiums for the World Cup and the progress of construction arouses increased interest from experts and ordinary fans. Therefore, we present to your attention a brief overview of each city and stadium where the 2018 FIFA World Cup was held.

Moscow

The capital of Russia received the unofficial status of the main city of the World Cup. The primacy of the city on this issue among other Russian cities is beyond doubt.

Moscow is the city where the ceremony and the opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup with the participation of the Russian national team took place on June 14, 2018. The semi-finals and finals will also take place here.

Just two sports arenas Moscow - in the reconstructed Luzhniki and the built Spartak (better known to the general public as the Otkritie Arena) - 12 championship games were played.

Matches of teams from all groups of the preliminary stage of the tournament were held at the stadiums of the city, in connection with which Moscow experienced a large influx of fans from different parts of the world.

The Spartak stadium is completely ready - since 2014, the club of the same name has been holding its home matches here.

Otkritie Arena (Spartak)

The reconstruction was completed by Luzhniki on time. After the reconstruction, the Luzhniki stadium has become one of the best in the world. It was at this stadium that the final game France - Croatia took place.

Luzhniki

The stadiums are really made for the fans.

World Cup match schedule

12 matches of the Championship took place in Moscow, more than in other cities.

Date Time	Stadium	Match
Group stage
June 14, 18:00	Luzhniki	Russia - Saudi Arabia
June 16, 16:00	Luzhniki	Argentina - Iceland
June 17, 18:00	Luzhniki	Germany - Mexico
June 19, 18:00	Luzhniki	Poland - Senegal
June 20, 15:00	Luzhniki	Portugal Morocco
June 23, 15:00	Spartacus	Belgium - Tunisia
June 26, 17:00	Luzhniki	Denmark - France
June 27, 21:00	Spartacus	Serbia - Brazil
1/8
July 1, 17:00	Luzhniki	Spain - Russia
July 3, 21:00	Spartacus	Columbia - England
1/2
July 11, 21:00	Luzhniki	Croatia - England
The final
July 15, 18:00	Luzhniki	France - Croatia

Volgograd

In a historical place, at the foot of Mamayev Kurgan, a stadium for 45 thousand spectators has been built.

Match Schedule

In Volgograd, only the group matches of the 2018 World Cup were held:

Yekaterinburg

After the announcement of Yekaterinburg as the host city for the World Cup matches, the hottest disputes flared up here. The fact is that, in the opinion of many experts, the construction of a new stadium in the capital of the Urals would have cost the authorities less than rebuilding the old Tsentralny stadium. However, the decision was still made in favor of reconstruction.

Match Schedule

Only four matches of the 2018 World Cup group stage were played in Yekaterinburg.

Kazan

The primacy of the city in terms of delivery of the object belongs to the capital of Tatarstan. Kazan, where 6 matches at the World Cup took place, earlier than others, put into operation in 2013 football stadium for 45 thousand viewers.

The arena's readiness to host the competition is beyond doubt, which was once again confirmed during the four matches of the 2017 Confederations Cup held at the highest level organizations.

Match Schedule

Kaliningrad

The stadium is being built by analogy with the famous Munich "Alliance Arena". The capacity has been reduced from the originally planned 45 thousand to 35 thousand spectators. The construction was accompanied by a number of scandals related to the work of contractors.

The stadium is being built on Oktyabrsky Island, which had not been used for development at all for a long time. The stadium was fully completed on time, the first match was held on April 12, 2018.

Match Schedule

The following group stage matches were held in Kaliningrad:

Nizhny Novgorod

In a picturesque place, near the confluence of the Oka and the Volga, the construction of a 45 thousand stadium in Nizhny Novgorod is nearing completion. Previously, this place was a wasteland. In parallel with the construction of the stadium, the necessary infrastructure is being prepared.

The opening of the stadium and the first match took place on April 15, 2018. Work on the arrangement of the area around the stadium was carried out almost before the start of the championship.

Match Schedule

Rostov-on-Don

An ultra-modern stadium with 25 thousand seats is being built in Rostov for the 2018 World Cup. The stadium is located on the left bank of the Don near the rowing canal.

Match Schedule

Samara

But the construction of the stadium in Samara for the World Cup does not fit into the originally appointed date - December 2017. The arena's commissioning dates have already been postponed to 2018.

The built Samara stadium for the 2018 World Cup is located at the highest point in Samara - near the village of Radiocenter. Outwardly, it looks like a spaceship and is designed for 45 thousand seats.

Samara Arena became the last stadium prepared for the tournament. The commissioning permit was obtained on April 27, and the first test match took place the next day, April 28.

Match Schedule

Saint Petersburg

Especially for the 2018 World Cup in the cultural capital of Russia on the site of the old stadium named after S.M. Kirov, an ultra-modern sports complex for 68 thousand viewers. Now he plays his matches here football club"Zenith". The arena is completely ready.

In total, 7 matches of the 2018 football championship took place in St. Petersburg, including the match of the Russian national team at the group stage on June 19.

Match Schedule

Saransk

When announcing which cities will host the matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, it was a great surprise for many that Saransk was granted this right.

Indeed, the capital of Mordovia, with a population of just over 300 thousand people, was not initially a favorite in the struggle for hosting World Cup matches. Nevertheless, unlike many Russian megacities, Saransk managed to obtain the status of a city participant in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Match Schedule

Only four games of the 2018 World Cup group stage took place in Saransk.

Sochi

Sochi has long acquired the status of a city, where there is everything for the largest international competitions.

The construction of the Fisht arena was originally carried out not for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but for the XXII Winter Olympic Games. This arena, with a capacity of 44 thousand spectators, is known all over the world - it was here that the most spectacular, in the opinion of many, opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics took place.

After the Olympiad, Fisht was reconstructed and reopened on March 10, 2017. In June 2017, the stadium hosted the Confederation Cup matches and once again confirmed its readiness to host competitions of the highest level.

With over 4 billion fans, this is by far the most popular view sports in the world. The dominance of football on the planet is so obvious that the first place comes as no surprise to anyone. The main distribution of football is in Europe, where for many it has become not just a game, but a way of life. The FIFA World Cup is the most iconic event in the sport.

The history of the emergence of the World Cup

It all started back in 1904, when on May 21, in Paris, a constituent assembly of representatives of France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain was held with the aim of creating an international football federation, better known as FIFA. The final tournaments of the world championships are held once at 4 years old, like the Olympic Games. An exception was the forties, when two competitions were missed due to the Second World War.

In the final tournament, which takes place every 4 years for about a month in a pre-selected host country of the championship, 32 teams have taken part since 1998 (31 teams that received such a right following the results qualifying tournament, and the national team of the host country (since 1938); theoretically, the tournament can be hosted by more than one country, however, in more than 85-year history, only once FIFA entrusted the holding of the World Cup to two countries. At the moment, the history of the World Cup has 20 held tournaments.

1. FIFA World Cup history

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup has always stood and will stand alone among sports trophies: its history is honored by both football players and fans, and myths and legends associated with the main football prize often force athletes to perform feats. Who and how created the Championship Cup FIFA world™ and in what stories this trophy fell:

1. Until 1970, the winners were awarded the Jules Rimet Prize (or the Jules Rimet Cup), originally called Victory.
2. In 1929, the third president of FIFA, Jules Rimet, agreed to hold the first world football tournament, and a year later presented the cup to the Uruguayan team - the first triumphants of the world championship.
3. After World War II, the cup was officially named Rome. The prize was an image of the ancient Greek goddess of victory holding an octagonal bowl over her head. The figurine, weighing 3.8 kg, was made of gilded silver, and its base was made of lapis lazuli. The trophy was often called the "Golden Goddess".
4. By the beginning of World War II, the cup was in storage with the Italians - world champions in 1938. Because of the confusion going on in the country and the danger that threatened the precious trophy, the president of the Italian football federation Ottorino Barassi decided to steal. He secretly removed the goblet from the bank vault and hid it in a shoebox under his bed, fearing that the prize might end up in the hands of the Nazis. But they managed to save it and in 1950 it was handed over to the first post-war champions - the national team of Uruguay.
5. In the ninth world championship, which took place in Mexico in June 1970, the Brazilian national team became the champion for the third time. According to the FIFA rules in force at that time, the cup was forever given to the winners.
6. In 1970, the cup moved to Brazil. In December 1983, the world was shocked by the message - the Greek goddess of victory is no more. Attackers have stolen the cup from the building of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro. The cup was never found
7. Following the handover of the Jules Rimé Prize, FIFA Brazilians had to order a new trophy. In 1971, a competition for layouts of the future cup was announced, 53 sculptors from seven countries sent their sketches. Gazzaniga, who later became the author of the cup.

Sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga working on the World Cup, 1971.

The cup was different from its predecessor:

• It was made of 18k gold, weighing 5 kg.
• The height of the trophy is 36.5 cm, a total weight- 6.142 kg.
• The base of the award, 13 cm in diameter, is decorated with two layers of malachite, selected to match the color of the football field.
• The cup itself depicts two human figures who support the globe with both hands, crowning the trophy.

Until 2006, the trophy was transferred to the winning country and kept the trophy until the final draw of the FIFA World Cup. Now, according to the current FIFA rules, the trophy is not transferred to the storage of the winners, they are awarded the Cup of the winners of the FIFA World Cup ™.

The trophy itself has been kept since 2016 at the FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich and is only displayed during the Coca-Cola Trophy Tour, at the World Cup final draw and during the final match of the tournament. In 2006, the Original FIFA World Cup began to travel around the world on a tour with FIFA partner Coca-Cola.

The first participation of our players in the largest world tournament took place at the sixth World Championship in Sweden. The debut was quite successful. Domestic athletes made it to the top eight teams on the planet, losing 0-2 to the hosts in the quarterfinals. Four years later, the result was the same: elimination at the ¼ final stage. And again the team of the hosts of the championship, the national team of Chile, became an obstacle.

Most successful in history domestic football became the World Championship in England, where our team reached the semifinals. In the future, such results could only be dreamed of.

The national teams of the USSR and Russia managed to qualify for the World Cup nine times. In 37 matches, domestic footballers won 17 victories and suffered 14 defeats, a draw was recorded six times. The best result of the teams at the world championships - 4th place at the 1966 tournament in England.

1. Win statistics

At the moment, the history of the World Cup has 20 held tournaments, but only 8 teams won the main award.

Most wins:

• The Brazilian national team has 5
• Close to them are the national teams of Germany and Italy, which have four wins each.

The best players in the history of world championships are:

• Germany striker Miroslav Klose. He has 16 goals scored.
• The greatest number of personal victories is in the asset of Pele, who became the world champion three times as part of the Brazilian team.
• Most matches in final series international championships were hosted by German footballer Lothar Matthäus.

The history of the World Cup continues its record. And the next world championship, which will take place in Russia, will add new facts to this story. This tournament promises to be interesting, entertaining and exciting. New stars will surely light up on it and athletes known to everyone will shine.