It was stolen twice and stopped because of the war.. Learn about the most prominent stations in the history of the World Cup

Most sports experts see the FIFA World Cup as the largest, grandest, most glorious and valuable sporting competition, as it has often been associated with good organization, intense competition and excitement, as well as marked by defining moments that remain firmly in the memory.

Before it became its current form and system, the World Cup witnessed important stages in its history, and was punctuated by milestones and pivotal decisions supervised by the International Football Association (FIFA), which took on the responsibility of organizing the most glorious competitions in the history of sports once every 4 years.

Since its founding in May 1904, FIFA has taken upon itself the task of creating its own football competition, separate from the Olympic football tournament.

And in the presence of 7 countries that were among the founding members of FIFA, namely Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, the project to establish a world football championship was adopted, but multiple obstacles prevented the implementation of the idea. International Football The most popular game in the world of the Olympic Committee.

A gift in memory of Uruguay's independence

The refusal of the International Olympic Committee, which continued to supervise the football competition within the Summer Olympics, did not deter the officials of the International Federation, led by the French lawyer Jules Rimet, the founder of “FIFA”, from continuing their quest for a separate world championship, and they had this in a historic meeting on May 25 / May 1928 led to the approval of organizing the World Cup and naming it the "Victory Cup".

To celebrate the centenary of Uruguay’s independence, and as the football champion of the Olympic Games in 1924 and 1928, the FIFA awarded Uruguay the honor of organizing the first World Cup in 1930, beginning an inspiring journey to the largest football competition in the history of the sport.

The first edition took place between July 13-30, 1930, and it was the only tournament that did not witness qualifying qualifiers. Thirteen teams were invited to participate in the tournament, due to the small number of teams at the time on the one hand and the short time period for establishing qualifying qualifiers on the other hand.

The host country's national team, Uruguay, won the first World Cup title after beating Argentina 4-2 in the final, in a match attended by about 93,000 spectators at the stadium in the capital, Montevideo.

FIFA President Jules Rimet handed the "Victory Cup" to the Uruguayan players, a cup made of silver and gold-plated, designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur.

The first two matches in the World Cup took place simultaneously, on July 13, 1930, in the first, France defeated Mexico 4-1, and the United States defeated Belgium 3-0 in the second. The first to score a goal in the World Cup is the French. Lucien Laurent against Mexico.

stop and steal

Italy hosted the second edition of the World Cup in 1934, and the defending champion Uruguay did not participate, and Italy was crowned after winning the final over Czechoslovakia 2-1.

France hosted the third edition in 1938 with the participation of 16 teams, and the Italian team crowned the title again after beating Hungary 4-2 in the final.

While the World Cup began to impress football fans and attract countries to participate in it, the Second World War came to doom it to stop, and the 1942 and 1946 sessions were canceled.

In those years, Ottorino Parasi, Vice President of FIFA and President of the Italian Football Federation, protected the World Cup symbol by hiding it in a shoe box under his bed throughout World War Two.

The World Cup reappeared in 1950 in a version hosted by Brazil, and its team reached the final, but lost in a dramatic match in the famous “Maracana” stadium against its neighbor Uruguay, with the attendance of nearly 200,000 spectators, the highest attendance rate in the history of football.

Four months before the launch of the eighth edition, hosted by England in 1966, the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen from an art gallery in London, and the English authorities announced a large reward for anyone who helps find the lost trophy, and the English organizers prepared a copy to be ready during the competition.

The Jules Rimet trophy was found by a dog named Pickles who found it wrapped in newspaper in south London when he was walking with his owner David Corbett, who informed authorities.

In 1983, the World Cup was stolen again, specifically from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation when it was in the possession of the Brazilian national team, which retained it after being crowned 3 times in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

That cup was not found, so the International Federation was faced with the inevitability of creating a new symbol, which was succeeded by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, who presented two figures for FIFA, one of which was accepted, which is the current shape of the World Cup, which is made of 18 karat gold, weighs 6.142 kilograms, and is 36.8 centimeters high.

The winning team kept the cup in its possession for 4 years, but since the 2010 tournament, the International Federation decided to give the winning team a copy, and the original copy was deposited in the FIFA Museum in Zurich, Switzerland.

The International Football Association raised the number of teams qualified for the finals on more than one occasion. Until the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, the number of participating teams was 16, then it became 24 teams since the 1982 Spain tournament, before it became 32 teams, starting with France 1998.

Some new laws were also adopted, such as the golden goal rule in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, before that law was abandoned, and in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, goal-line technology was adopted for the first time in the history of the competition, knowing that this version witnessed the entry of the largest number of teams to the qualifying stage with 207 teams.

Coronations, legends and tragedies

Throughout its history, the World Cup witnessed milestones and important changes in the organization, laws, number of teams qualified for the finals, etc., and was also behind the glories of many teams. Brazil, for example, succeeded in achieving the world title on 5 occasions (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002), which is the country The only one who was present in all 22 editions of the tournament, including Qatar 2022.

As for the German national team, it has won the world title on 4 occasions (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014), which is the number of Italy's crowns in the 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 sessions.

The World Cup made many players glories, most notably the Brazilian Black Jewel Pele, who is the only player to win the World Cup 3 times, the first of which was the 1958 World Cup when he was 17 years old.

The 1986 World Cup in Mexico witnessed the birth of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, who led his country to the title after an inspiring career.

Other players recorded their presence in the history of the World Cup, such as the German Lothar Matthaus, who has the most number of matches in the World Cup with 25 games, and his compatriot Miroslav Klose, the historical top scorer with 16 goals, against the Brazilian Ronaldo with 15 goals.

The 1982 tournament in Spain also witnessed the appearance of the Italian star Paolo Rossi, while the 1998 France tournament witnessed the emergence of the French star of Algerian origin, Zinedine Zidane, who led the roosters to win the first title in their history.

In addition to the emergence of these legends, the World Cup witnessed a tragic incident linked to the 1994 World Cup in America, when Colombian defender Andres Escobar was killed in Medellin on July 2, by a Colombian fan angry at the goal scored by Escobar by mistake in the goal of Colombia and caused it to be eliminated from the round. The first for the World Cup.