The 21 World Cup Questions Use the knowledge you and the members of your group have to answer these questions about the World Cup. The group who answers all the questions correctly first in the winner.

1. What’s the World Cup? 2. How often is it held? 3. Who organizes it?

4. Where’s the next World Cup going to be held? 5. How many World Cups were there before the one in Japan and Korea? 6. When was the World Cup born?

7. Who proposed the idea? 8. What’s FIFA? 9. Where was the first World Cup held?

10. What’s Jules Rimet´s nationality? 11. Which team was allowed to keep the Jules Rimet Cup forever? 12. What happened to the trophy?

13. Which team won the first World Cup? 14. Where was the last World Cup? 15. Which countries have already won the World Cup?

16. Which country has won the World Cup more often? 17. To how many countries was the World Cup in Korea/Japan televised? 18. How many people watched it?

19. How many nations took part in the qualifying competition for 2006? 20. When will start and finish the World Cup in Germany? 21. Where is the 2010 World Cup going to be held?

It is a soccer tournament to decide the best national team in the world. Both professional and amateur players take part. Held once every four years, the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany is the eighteenth tournament. There are world cups in volleyball, skiing, ice skating, and many other sports, but the soccer one is the oldest. Many sports saw the popularity of the soccer World Cup and decided to create their own versions to go alongside their world championships.

The World Cup was born 76 years ago, in Two years before that, the idea of establishing the competition was proposed by Jules Rimet, who was the third president of FIFA, the international federation of national football associations. The country chosen to host the historic first World Cup was Uruguay, a small South American nation then celebrating 100 years of independence. Uruguay had won back-to-back Olympic soccer titles in 1924 in Paris and 1928 in Amsterdam and secured the right to host the event through its enthusiasm, even offering to pay all the travel and other costs of the players and officials from competing countries.

Entry to the first World Cup was by invitation, and 13 countries took part. At the time it took one month to cross from Europe to South America and back again by ship, and the great distance from European countries was one reason so few teams took part.

Rimet, the Frenchman who had founded the World Cup, donated a gold trophy to be presented to the winners, paid for with his own money. The trophy was therefore named the Jules Rimet Cup. Brazil was allowed to keep this trophy forever when it won the World Cup for the third time in However, it was stolen in 1983 while on display. A second trophy – 36cm (14 inches) high, weighing 4,970 grams (11 pounds), and made of pure gold – is now presented to the winning team.

The first World Cup, which opened the curtain on a long and glorious history, was won by host nation Uruguay. The sport of soccer is loved throughout the world, and the World Cup has developed into a huge global sports event to rival the Olympics. The tournament in Korea/Japan in 2002, was televised in 196 countries and was watched by a total audience of 3.5 billion people. And over 187 nations took part in the qualifying competition for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. Now, the World Cup 2006 will be in Germany and it will take place from June 9 th to July 9 th.