FIFA World Cup Winners

      Since 1930, when the 1st world-meeting international soccer tournament (football, in UK) happened in Uruguay, after meetings in the 1920's in some Europpean congresses, FIFA World Cup has already happened 19 times. The latest one was in South Africa, in2010, having Spain as the world champions. There's also a 12-year break between 1930 and 1950 because of World War II.

       There was a huge increase in the number of countries taking part in the main tournament all over the years. The first edition was played by 13 countries, and the 4 latest ones by 32, due to demands of countries with smaller tradition in the sport. A financial boost, beside a good reinforcement of the tourism in the host country are some of the reasons why many empresarial groups, and of course, FIFA, invest heavily in lobbies and strucuture for the World Cup, which became the single-sport event with the highest aggregate audience in the world, independently of the media used to watch the matches (radio, TV or Internet).

FIFA^TM WORLD CUP Champions

Year	Host(s)	Champions	Runners-Up	Top Scorer
1930	Uruguay	Uruguay	Argentina	Stabile (ARG)
1934	Italy	Italy	Czecoslovakia	Nejedly (CZE)
1938	France	Italy	Hungary	Leônidas (BRA)
1950	Brazil	Uruguay	Brazil	Ademir (BRA)
1954	Switzerland	West Germany	Hungary	Kocsis (HUN)
1958	Sweden	Brazil	Sweden	Fontaine (FRA)
1962	Chile	Brazil	Czecoslovakia	Albert (HUN), Ivanov (URS), Jerkovic (YUG), Sanchez (CHI), Vavá (BRA), Garrincha (BRA)
1966	England	England	West Germany	Eusébio (POR)
1970	Mexico	Brazil	Italy	Gerd Mueller (GER)
1974	West Germany	West Germany	Netherlands	Lato (POL)
1978	Argentina	Argentina	Netherlands	Mário Kempes (ARG)
1982	Spain	Italy	West Germany	Paolo Rossi (ITA)
1986	Mexico	Argentina	West Germany	Gary Lineker (ENG)
1990	Italy	Germany	Argentina	Schilacci (ITA)
1994	U.S.A.	Brazil	Italy	Salenko (RUS), Stoichkov (BUL)
1998	France	France	Brazil	Suker (CRO)
2002	Japan/South Korea	Brazil	Germany	Ronaldo (BRA)
2006	Germany	Italy	France	Klose (GER)
2010	South Africa	Spain	Netherlands	Thomas Mueller (GER)



Iker Casillas (C) and Spain national squad, holding the FIFA World Cup trophy in the Soccer City, in Johannesburg, SA, in 2010 (SITE: FIFA.com. http://pt.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/index.html) 



      But there's a nebulous doubt about the future of the competition. Many crookery cases inside the headquarters of FIFA, and the notorious decrease in the technical level of the competition edition after edition (most part of the press and fans believe that UEFA Champions League is technically, the best soccer tournament in the world nowadays) cause suspicion, controversies, and furthermore, deception among the sport lovers, and also athletes, who have to forsake their vacations to play a tournament whose atmosphere is not so pleasant as it was in the past.

FIFA^TM WORLD CUP Individual Awards

Year	Rookie	Golden Ball (Best player of the tournament)	Golden Glove (Best goalkeeper of the tournament)	FIFA Fair Play
1958	Pelé (BRA)	_	_	_
1962	Albert (HUN)	_	_	_
1966	Beckenbauer (GER)	_	_	_
1970	Teofilo Cubillas (PER)	_	_	_
1974	Zmuda (POL)	_	_	_
1978	Antonio Cabrini (ITA)	_	_	Argentina
1982	Amoros (FRA)	Paolo Rossi (ITA)	_	Brazil
1986	Enzo Scifo (BEL)	Maradona (ARG)	_	Brazil
1990	Prosinecki (YUG)	Schilacci (ITA)	_	England
1994	Overmars (NED)	Romário (BRA)	Preudhomme (BEL)	Brazil
1998	Michael Owen (ENG)	Ronaldo (BRA)	Barthez (FRA)	England, France
2002	Landon Donovan (USA)	Oliver Kahn (GER)	Oliver Kahn (GER)	Belgium
2006	Lukasz Podolski (GER)	Zidane (FRA)	Gianluigi Buffon (ITA)	Spain, Brazil
2010	Thomas Mueller (GER)	Forlán (URU)	Iker Casillas (SPA)	Spain

      In spite of all the problems, FIFA World Cup is still a great "presentation card" for a lot of athletes who want a better contract to play in any corner of the world, and a postcard for the hosts, who wants to show the beauties of their lands for the rest of the world. And after Brazil 2014, there are two other editions already scheduled: Russia 2018, and Qatar 2012.