The Trophy

The current trophy is called the FIFA World Cup Trophy.

The team that plays a total of 7 matches and wins the final...will lift the trophy!

Introduced in 1974, the FIFA World Cup trophy depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. The Stabilimento Artistico Bertoni company design is made of 18 carat gold with a malachite base, it stands 36.8 centimeters high, weighs 6.1 kilograms, and it's one of the most sought after trophies in all of sports. 

Wikipedia: FIFA World cup trophy

The Jules Rimet trophy predated the FIFA trophy.It was awarded to the winner from 1930 until 1970. The trophy depicted Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, was made of gold plated sterling silver and lapis lazuli. It measures 35 centimeters high and weighed 3.8 kilograms. After Brazil won the Cup for the third time, they were supposed to keep it. The new trophy was commissioned for the 1974 cup. 

In 1983, however, the Jules Rimet trophy was on display in Rio de Janeiro, behind bullet proof glass, and was stolen. It has not been recovered since. 
Wikipedia: Jules Rimet trophy.

Schedule and Brackets

Schedule and Brackets

There are many web sites and printable brackets for the World Cup. Here are a couple of my favorites:

MOBILE ACCESS:

pocketworldcupschedule.info
SUPER website optimized for mobile phones that shows all the matches, and the time of the match based on your phone's local time. Kudos to Petr Tichy in Melbourne! (@ihatetomatoes)

Fotmob (Google play, iTunes Store, Windows store): http://www.fotmob.com/
This soccer app rises to the top. All matches of any league you can imagine in any country: EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, of course. Second division Greek league, yup, they got that covered too. Radio feed for many matches too. Free version available, but c'mon, buy the $1.99 pro version and thank these geniuses for satisfying the soccer fanatic in you.

PRINTABLE BRACKETS:

The upper90futbol Poster
Giant 36" x 48" (91cm x 121cm) color poster created to print and track the matches at your home or office. Times listed on poster are Pacific Time.

Click this link to download upper90futbol poster
(PDF 277 KB)


The FIFA site has a nice small format schedule, also.

 

Click to go to FIFA website download
(PDF 837 KB)

Brazil 2014: Host cities

There are many cities hosting the matches of the World Cup, not just one city. 12 cities are hosting matches at different stages of the tournament.

Host City - Stadium

1. Belo Horizonte - Estádio Mineirão
2. Brasília - Estádio Nacional
3. Cuiabá - Arena Pantanal
4. Curitiba - Arena da Baixada
5. Fortaleza - Estádio Castelão
6. Manaus - Arena da Amazônia
7. Natal - Arena das Dunas
8. Porto Alegre - Estádio Beira-Rio
9. Recife - Arena Pernambuco
10. Rio de Janeiro - Estádio do Maracanã
11. Salvador - Arena Fonte Nova
12. São Paulo - Arena de São Paulo
    

History of World Cup hosts

I love looking back on the previous tournaments and looking up who hosted, who won, etc. Here is the list of all the tournaments since it started in 1930. 

1930 - Host: Uruguay; Champion: Uruguay over Argentina
1934 - Host: Italy; Champion Italy over Czechoslovakia
1938 - Host: France; Champion: Italy over Hungary
1942 - No games, World War II
1946 - No games, World War II

1950 - Host: Brazil; Champion: Uruguay over Brazil
1954 - Host: Switzerland; Champion: West Germany over Hungary
1958 - Host: Sweden; Champion: Brazil over Sweden
1962 - Host: Chile; Champions: Brazil over Czechoslovakia
1966 - Host: England; Champions: England over West Germany
1970 - Host: Mexico; Champions: Brazil over Italy
1974 - Host: West Germany; Champions: West Germany over Netherlands
1978 - Host: Argentina; Champions: Argentina over Netherlands
1982 - Host: Spain; Champions: Italy over West Germany
1986 - Host: Mexico; Champions: Argentina over West Germany
1990 - Host: Italy; Champions: West Germany over Argentina
1994 - Host: USA; Champions: Brazil over Italy
1998 - Host: France; Champions: France over Brazil
2002 - Host: South Korea & Japan; Champions: Brazil over Germany
2006 - Host: Germany; Champions: Italy over France
2010 - Host: South Africa; Champions: Spain over Netherlands
2014 - Host: Brazil
2018 - Host: Russia
2022 - Host: Qatar

Source: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup

Futbol blog - Intro

The world's greatest football event that comes around every four years is finally here. This year's tournament is going to Brazil. This blog is a collection of history, random facts, and stories surrounding the prized event, the FIFA World Cup.  

La Copa Mundial, as referred to in Latin America, is actually a multi-year tournament that countries from all continents are invited to participate.  After many games, the number of teams is reduced to 32. These 32 teams will play matches this summer with the winner taking home the FIFA trophy.

Brazil was selected to host this year's tournament and will share the games in 12 different host cities.