World
Cup Information
Historical
Background
The World Cup is the world's most popular single
sporting event. In the early 1900's, soccer was pretty unorganzied
and chaotic. On May 26, 1920, FIFA
(Federation Internationale de Football Association) announced its
plans to organize football competitions; this was the birth of the
World Cup.
During the FIFA General Congress of June 1929, FIFA
president, Jules Rimet passed a vote to create the World Cup. He
said, "We will open the World Cup match to all member nations to send
their teams to participate". Consequently, the first World Cup
match was held in 1930 in Uruguay. Unfortunately, it was held during
a transition period between World War I and the world economic crisis
of 1929 and not one European country applied to join in the event.
Nevertheless, Mr. Jules Rimet persuaded four European
countries to participate and a total of 13 countries gathered together
to play in the first World Cup. The matches were held between July
13 - July 30, 1930. Uruguay ended up winning the first World Cup but
it was as amateur United States team which surprised the world by
coming in third place.
The World Cup is now held every four years in between
the Olympic games. Due to World War II, there was a 12-year gap between
the 1938 World Cup in France and the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. The
World Cup in 2002 is being co-hosted by Japan and Korea.
Origin of the World Cup trophy
There have actually been two World Cup trophies made during the lifetime
of the games.
 The
original trophy was made by a
French sculptor, Abel LaFleur, in gold. This sculpture was of the
Lady of Victory stretching both arms out to support an eight-angled
cup on a marble-like base. This trophy was called the "Jules
Rimet Cup", in honor of the founder of the World Cup event.
During the course of three World Cup events (1930, 1934 and 1938)
which were
held before the Second World War, the name changed to simply the
'World Cup'.
 This
trophy has had an interesting history. During the Second World
War,
it was hidden from the Germans under a bed in an Italian home. After
surviving World War II, the "World Cup" was stolen during
a public exposition just before the 1966 England World Cup. Fortunately,
the trophy was later found in a trash container by a dog called "Pickles." The
Brazilian team won the trophy permanently in 1970, and was rewarded
for being the only team ever to have won three World Cups.
Unfortunately, the trophy was stolen a second time
in 1983 in Brazil and since then has never been recovered. It is
assumed that the thieves melted down the trophy. The Brazil Football
Association
now has a duplicate of the trophy.
A second trophy was selected in 1974 by FIFA. There were 53 designs
to choose from. The Italian sculptor, Silvio Gazazniga won the commission.
He designed this trophy in 18 carat gold. The sculptor explained
that "players are supporting the earth from the bottom on a
circle form, which represents the emotional moment of winning the
game."
The trophy is 36 cm (14 in.) high, weighs 4,970 g
(11 lbs.) and permanently belongs to FIFA. A replica is presented
to the winner.
History of US Soccer
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