The FIFA World Cup is an annual tournament held in a rotating set of countries every four years. The tournament has been held every four years since 1930 except in 1942 and 1946 when the tournament was not held due to World War II. The current format of the tournament is 32 teams qualify for the World Cup finals after hundreds participate in the qualifying rounds. Through the course of the 19 World Cup tournaments, eight different countries have won.
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FIFA was created in 1904 as an effort to create an international tournament outside of the Olympics beginning in 1906. After years of slowly working their way towards the goal of creating full-fledged international tournaments, in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay the host of the inaugural World Cup. Uruguay was chosen as they were the two-time football world champions. In total, thirteen teams appeared at the inaugural World Cup with Uruguay defeating Argentina 4-2 in the finals.
Between the first World Cup and World War II, the two World Cups featured a lack of participation from much of South America as they were unwilling to travel to Europe to compete, save for Brazil. In the 1950 World Cup, Uruguay once again won, this time defeating Brazil on its home soil. Between 1934 and 1972, the predominantly European and South American tournament featured 16 teams save for two when Germany took over Austria and in 1950 when a number of teams withdrew.
In 1982, the tournament expanded to 24 teams, followed by an additional expansion to 32 teams in 1998, allowing the tournament to be not quite as Euro-centric. In addition to more teams participating in the finals, the qualification rounds have also grown significantly, with 200 entrants in the 2002 qualification rounds, and a record 204 entrants in the 2010 qualification rounds.
Of the eight winners of the World Cup tournament, five have done so multiple times. France, England, and Spain have won once, while Uruguay and Argentina have won twice. Germany has won three times with all three of those victories coming under the moniker of West Germany. Italy has won the tournament four times while Brazil has won a record five times, most recently in 2002.
