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The World Cup is the top event of the world’s most popular sport. Of similar magnitude, only the Olympic Games are comparable with a soccer World Cup.
So far, 17 World Cups have been held in 15 countries of three different continents. As a whole, 27,499,092 people attended the matches in stadiums used for the tournament, without taking into account the other millions who watched them by TV late in the XX century, and the other millions who heard on radio the matches over the first half of the last century. Throughout all these years, the ball has rested on the net 1,920 times.
Seventy nations have taken part in the World Cup since its first edition, in Uruguay 1930. Some have changed their names; others no longer exist. FIFA, the association responsible for the tournament, has more members than the UNO (United Nations Organization) itself.
Everything started with the dream and the efforts of the French Jules Rimet to organize a tournament for national teams of several countries. A World Cup mobilizes the host country. Thousands of jobs are generated, tourism is spurred, and financial profits are guaranteed.
In 2006, Germany will host the 18th World Cup in history, its second World Cup at a time completely different from that prevailing when it organized the tournament for the first time, in 1974. That period of time was divided between the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, which united the West and the East. Currently, Germany is undergoing a revival phase seeking new identities, even though it still carries traumas and marks from the Second World War (1939-1945).
The 2010 edition has a defined venue. For the first time, the most forgotten continent of mankind will embrace the tournament. South Africa will host the World Cup to again automatically qualify the champion of the previous edition along with the host country.
Definitely, a World Cup can stop clocks worldwide and put tenths of millions of people in front of a TV set for same purpose: fans of their country’s national teams.
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