Countries That Hosted the FIFA World Cup
Hosting the FIFA World Cup comes with loads of commitments from the stakeholders that are involved. There’s plenty of investments that need to be injected into the necessary security and infrastructure to ensure the event is successful in the country. This alone takes several years to accomplish along with FIFA inspecting the situation as well.
Multiple countries have enjoyed the privilege of hosting the most watched sport in the world. The FIFA World Cup tournament takes place once every four years, where matches were alternated between Europe and South America between 1958 and 1998. The 2002 FIFA World Cup that was hosted by South Korea and Japan broke this long tradition, allowing the prestigious World Cup to be held in Asia for the first time in history, and it was the first time two countries hosted the tournament at the same time.
South Africa
South Africa managed to make history back in 2010 when it hosted the FIFA World Cup as the first Africa country. The countries in Africa were expected to sparkle during the competition as well. New stadiums were constructed, and the transport system saw loads of improvements to impress the organizers of the tournament. Despite the negative coverage on the preparation from the country for the competition, the inspectors of FIFA still have it a clean bill of health. Thankfully, the Confederations Cup proved everyone wrong, and although African countries didn’t perform as initially anticipated, Ghana managed to last until the final 8 of the tournament.
Brazil
In 2014, the FIFA World Cup was hyped up by the return of football to its original birthplace in beautiful Brazil. The host country was also considered the favourites to win the tournament that year. During the competition, the highest number of goals were scored in the tournament’s history. It also witnessed the inception of goal-line technology that assisted referees in making decisions on a goal in several situations. Costa Rica made a tremendous run to advance to the last 8, while Spain was eliminated as the defending champions. Brazil was defeated during the semi-finals when Germany humiliated them in a 7-0 victory. Germany went on to win the entire tournament by destroying Argentina 1-0 in the final.
Germany
The FIFA World Cup was hosted by Germany in 2006, giving the country the perfect opportunity to seek revenge against Brazil during the 2002 FIFA World Cup that was held in South Korea and Japan. Germany is considered an economic powerhouse across Europe and ensured that the security and infrastructure were perfect before the tournament started. Germany fell short during the last four after being defeated by Italy who went on to win the championship that year. It was also a FIFA World Cup that said goodbye to some of the most talented players in the history of football, including Ronaldo from Brazil, Figo, and Zidane. The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar.