2.  The FIFA World Cup was first held in 1930,  When FIFA president Jules Rimet decided to stage an international football tournament.The first edition, held in Uruguay in 1930, was contested as a final tournament of only 13 teams invited by the organization. Since then, the FIFA World Cup has experienced successive expansions and format remodeling to its current 32 team final tournament preceded by a 2 year

3.  Since then, the FIFA World Cup has experienced successive expansions and format remodling to its current 32 team final tournament preceded by a 2 year qualifying process, involving almost 200 teams from all over the world.

5.  The next FIFA World Cup runs from the 12 th of June to the 13 th of July  The are 32 countries from 5 different confederations

6.  The 19 FIFA World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national teams.  Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The only winners Italy, with four titles; Germany, with three wins ; Argentina and first winners Uruguay, with two; and England,France and Spain, with one title

7.  The FIFA World Cup is the worlds most widely viewed sporting event ; an estimated 715.million people watched the final match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup held in Germany and the 2010 event in South Africa was broadcast to 204 countries on 245 different channels  Inside the stadiums, a total of 3,170,856 spectators attended the 54 matches an average of 49,670 per match and third highest aggregate behind USA 1994 and Germany 2006.

9.  The FIFA World Cup bring in much needed resources from partners and the TV rights which allows FIFA to invest in social activites related to the tournament.For South Africa 2010, the 20 centres for 2010 campaign was launched, aiming promote public health, education and football in disadvantaged communities across Africa.

10.  A FIFA World Cup creates resources for many extra development programmes which proved to be beneficial for many members associations of FIFA throughout the course of the four – year cycle.  The next three World Cup will be hosted by Brazil this year, Russia in 4 years time and Qatar in 2022 hopefully Ireland will get in in 2018

12.  By Niamh and Patrick  By Niamh and Patrick