How does the World Cup work?
FIFA has stuck with the same format of eight groups of four turning into a 16-team knockout playoff for six tournaments now, including Russia 2018. But how the World Cup works isn’t simple. From qualification, team selections, group format, yellow card accumulation and extra time, there’s a lot to digest.
How does the FIFA World Cup round of 16 work?
After the group stage, 16 teams are placed into a bracket where the tournament becomes single elimination. The Round of 16 pits group winners against group runners-up. Winner moves on; loser goes home. Because these are one-off matches with no replays, a tied match after 90 minutes goes to extra time, with two 15-minute halves.
How does the FIFA World Cup knockout stage work?
World Cup Knockout Stage Format After the group stage, 16 teams are placed into a bracket where the tournament becomes single elimination. The Round of 16 pits group winners against group runners-up. Winner moves on; loser goes home.
What does FIFA World Cup mean?
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.
How does a soccer tournament work?
Once the group stage begins, the teams compete in a round-robin format, where each country plays the other three in the group just once. A win is worth 3 points; a tie, 1 point; and a loss, 0. The two teams with the highest point totals at the end of those three games move on to the knockout rounds.
What is the World Cup format?
What is the World Cup format and schedule? Four matches will be played each day during the group stage, which will run over a 12-day period and see winners and runners-up progress to the round of 16. Unlike at Euro 2020, there will be a third-place play-off game on December 17.
How does World Cup 2022 work?
The eight teams play each other home and away, a total of 14 matches. The top three qualify directly, with the fourth-placed team going to a intercontinental playoff against New Zealand on June 14, 2022.
How does the World Cup qualifiers work?
Teams were split into ten groups of five or six (the four teams who reached the 2021 UEFA Nations League finals – Belgium, France, Italy, Spain – were in the smaller groups). The ten group winners qualified for the World Cup. The three remaining World Cup berths were determined via the play-offs.
What does FIFA stand for?
International Federation of Association FootballFIFA / Full nameFIFA — Soccer's World Governing Body Founded in 1904 to provide unity among national soccer associations, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) boasts 209 members, rivaling that of the United Nations, and is arguably the most prestigious sports organization in the world.
How will 2026 World Cup work?
The 2026 World Cup will be the first to feature an expanded 48-team structure, comprised of 16 groups of three nations. The top two teams in each group will advance to a 32-team single-elimination knockout stage bracket.
How will the 2022 23 season work?
The Premier League announced last week that its 2022-23 season will start on August 6 next year, before finishing on May 28, 2023, with all matches in the final round kicking off simultaneously. There will be a mid-season break between November 14 and December 26 in order to accommodate the World Cup.
Where is the World Cup 2026?
United StatesMexicoCanada2026 FIFA World Cup/Location
How many teams are in the 2026 World Cup?
482026 FIFA World Cup / Number of teams
Is World Cup playoffs one leg?
Unlike previous editions, the play-offs were not contested in two-legged ties. Instead, the twelve teams were split into three play-off paths, each containing four teams. Each play-off path was planned to feature two single-leg semi-finals on 24 March, and one single-leg final on 29 March 2022.
How many teams qualify for FIFA World Cup from each continent?
AFC (Asia) have an allocation of four or five teams* competing in the World Cup finals. CAF (Africa) are allocated five teams, with CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) having three or four. CONEMBOL (South America) have four or five teams competing.
How do playoffs work in World Cup qualifiers?
As in recent qualifying competitions, all 10 nations play each other home and away. The top four nations qualify directly to the finals. The fifth-place team will go into an intercontinental playoff against the winners of the AFC playoff, Australia, on June 13.
What is the 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.
How far in advance does FIFA make decisions on who will host the World Cup?
The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament.
How many teams were there in the 2010 FIFA World Cup?
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams in 1982, and then to 32 in 1998, also allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part.
How many countries participated in the 1930 World Cup?
In total, 13 nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America. Estadio Centenario, the location of the first World Cup final in 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Why were the World Cups controversial?
The locations were controversial because South America and Europe were by far the two centres of strength in football and travel between them required three weeks by boat. The decision to hold the first World Cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing. The next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these in France was disputed, as the South American countries understood that the location would alternate between the two continents. Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the 1938 FIFA World Cup.
How many people watched the 2006 World Cup?
The cumulative viewership of all matches of the 2006 World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion. 715.1 million individuals watched the final match of the tournament, almost a ninth of the entire population of the planet. The 2006 World Cup draw, which decided the distribution of teams into groups, was watched by 300 million viewers. The World Cup attracts many sponsors such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Adidas. For these companies and many more, being a sponsor strongly impacts their global brands. Host countries typically experience a multimillion-dollar revenue increase from the month-long event. The governing body of the sport, FIFA, generated $4.8 billion in revenue from the 2014 tournament, and $6.1 billion from the 2018 tournament.
Where was the 2015 Women's World Cup held?
The BC Place in Vancouver hosting a 2015 Women's World Cup match. An equivalent tournament for women's football, the FIFA Women's World Cup, was first held in 1991 in China. The women's tournament is smaller in scale and profile than the men's, but is growing; the number of entrants for the 2007 tournament was 120, more than double that of 1991.
Overview
Citations
1. ^ "2006 FIFA World Cup broadcast wider, longer and farther than ever before". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 6 February 2007. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
2. ^ Tom Dunmore, Historical Dictionary of Soccer, page 235, quote "The World Cup is now the most-watched sporting event in the world on television, above even the Olympic Games."
History
The world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the inaugural British Home Championship, took place in 1884. As football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at the start of the 20th century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals a…
Trophy
From 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winning team. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament. In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983 …
Format
Since the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament. They are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, and Europe), overseen by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the relative strength of the confederations' tea…
Hosts
Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress. The locations were controversial because South America and Europe were by far the two centres of strength in football and travel between them required three weeks by boat. The decision to hold the first World Cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing. The next two World Cups were b…
Broadcasting and promotion
The World Cup was first televised in 1954 and is now the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world. The cumulative viewership of all matches of the 2006 World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion. 715.1 million individuals watched the final match of the tournament, almost a ninth of the entire population of the planet. The 2006 World Cup draw, which decided the d…
Results
• a.e.t.: after extra time
• p: after penalty shoot-out
• TBD: to be determined
Notes
1. ^ There was no third place match in 1930; the two losing semi-finalists are ra…