FIFA World Cup is the most popular sporting event in the world for Soccer. Start Betting on Soccer at SBG Global and check the latest Soccer Betting Lines and Odds. The World Cup soccer is an international soccer competition between nations of FIFA – soccer’s governing body. Football, as it is called around the world, is played on the World Cup level every four years, giving soccer gaming fans great excitement.
The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930 except in 1942 and in 1946 due to World War II. The World Cup Finals is the most popular sporting event in the world for soccer fans and for soccer betting players. An estimated 715 million people watched the 2006 World Cup between Italy and France. The current format of the FIFA World Cup Finals involves thirty-two national teams competing for about a month. Qualifying rounds take place over the three years before the FIFA World Cup Finals. Only seven nations have won the title. Brazil has won it five times.
Italy has won the World Cup soccer four times, Germany three times, Uruguay and Argentina two times and England and France have won the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament one time each. The 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals were won in Germany with Italy beating France in a penalty kick shootout after the match finished in a 1-1 tie, rewarding those soccer betting players that backed Italy. The next World Cup will be held in South Africa in 2010. 198 nations attempted to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2006 and 204 nations will try and qualify for the 2010 World Cup which should make for great soccer gaming.
There are two stages in World Cup soccer for soccer betting fans to follow. There is a group stage followed by a knockout stage. In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams each. Each group plays a round-robin tournament. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament with extra time and penalty shootouts used if the matches are tied. 16 teams make it to this stage and then it is played down to quarterfinals, semifinals, and the World Cup soccer Final which is great for soccer gaming fans. Here is a look at the past winners of the World Cup.
World Cup Winners | |
Year | Team |
1930 | Uruguay |
1934 | Italy |
1938 | Italy |
1950 | Uruguay |
1954 | West Germany |
1958 | Brazil |
1962 | Brazil |
1966 | England |
1970 | Brazil |
1974 | West Germany |
1978 | Argentina |
1982 | Italy |
1986 | Argentina |
1990 | West Germany |
1994 | Brazil |
1998 | France |
2002 | Brazil |
2006 | Italy |
Looking at World Cup history, Hungary has tallied the most goals in a single World Cup when they scored 27 in 1954. The highest combined score in a World Cup soccer game was in 19564 when Austria beat Switzerland 7-5. Hungary beat El Salvador in 1982 by a score of 10-1 for the largest margin of victory in a World Cup game. Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima from Brazil is the top scorer in World Cup history with 15 goals.
The 1994 FIFA World Cup held in the United States had the highest average attendance with over 68,990 for each match. The 1950 World Cup Final between Uruguay and Brazil had over 174,000 in attendance for the largest World Cup crowd. The 1970 World Cup soccer Final at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City had the highest Final attendance with 107,412 people.