The World Cup is football’s premier cup competition which brings some of the best footballing nations together to battle it out for the right to call themselves ‘World Champions’.

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The finals for the World Cup are held every four years with 32 nations going head to head over the course of a month to lift the Jules Rimet Trophy. There have been eighteen World Cup competitions in all with the first being held in Uruguay in 1930, in which the host nation strolled to a 4-2 victory against Argentina. The most successful team in this competition is Brazil with five world titles, followed closely by Italy who have won three. England have won just one World Cup in 1966 when they hosted the tournament, beating Germany 4-2 in the final at Wembley.

The tournament in its current format sees the 32 nations split into eight groups where they play each other once. The top two teams in each group (16 in all) then go onto the knockout stage. This stage consists of a round of 16, which produces eight quarter finalists. The quarter finals are then held in four different host nation cities to find out the semi finalists, who in turn then have the chance to qualify for the final. Should any of the knockout games finish in a draw, the match will go to extra time and penalties if required. The final itself is normally held in the capital city of the host nation and is the show piece of the event. The current World Cup Champions, Italy, will be looking to defend their crown when the finals are played in South Africa in 2010.

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