As football became popular around the world it was held as a demonstration sport in the Summer Olympics of 1900 and 1904. It was then included as an official sport for the 1908 Olympics in London. As Olympics only accepted amateur players, FIFA which was founded in 1904 tried to organize its own competition with no success.

In 1914 FIFA agreed to organize the football championships of the Olympics still with amateur players. Until the Olympics of 1924 in Paris and 1928 in Amsterdam were teams were allowed to play with professional players.

After the success of these two Olympics Jules Rimet, president of FIFA decided to make their own tournament. He chose Uruguay to hold the first World Cup as they had won the 1924 and 1928 Olympics. Uruguay won the first World Cup as well.

After this tournament the Olympic commitee didn’t allow professionals to play anymore so football was dropped from the 1932 Olympics but returned with amateur players in 1936.

The World Cup was held every 4 years. After Uruguay, Italy and France were chosen as hosts. Due to complications on transatlantic travels Uruguay decided not to attend. Both tournaments were won by Italy.

The World Cup was canceled during the IIWW and returned in 1950 in Brazil. Uruguay returned to the competition and won it again against the host nation Brasil. This brazilian defeat is known in popular culture as Maracanazo.

Since 1950 the World Cup has been held every 4 years. And it’s where the greatest players of all times have shown their skills. This is a list of competitions and champions of all the World Cups that have been played to date:

Host Year Champion

Uruguay 1930 Uruguay
Italy 1934 Italy
France 1938 Italy
Brazil 1950 Uruguay
Switzerland 1954 Germany
Sweden 1958 Brazil
Chile 1962 Brazil
England 1966 England
Mexico 1970 Brazil
Germany 1974 Germany
Argentina 1978 Argentina
Spain 1982 Italy
Mexico 1986 Argentina
Italy 1990 Germany
USA 1994 Brazil
France 1998 France
Japan/Korea 2002 Brazil
Germany 2006 Italy
South Africa 2010 Spain
Brazil 2014 Germany
Russia 2018 France
Qatar 2022 Argentina