The World Cup is the most watched sporting event on the planet. The World Cup final of 2006 in Germany attracted over 715 million football fans from around the globe.
Football arouses passion. It is a way for countries to compete in a friendly way hopefully, where once upon a time they fought as tribes on a battle field!
Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. This has become a Mecca for football and the world feels excitement at the prospect of it happening there.
The first World Cup was held in Uruguay and came about as a result of the international football organisation known as FIFA deciding to create its own competition just before the start of the Olympics in 1928. The problem for FIFA was that no professionals were allowed to participate in the Olympics and they wanted the footballers to be professional. The foundations of the football community were shaken at the same time by the withdrawal of the so-called "home nations" of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who did not like the perceived interference of FIFA.
The meeting of FIFA in Amsterdam on May 28th 1928 brought the landmark decision to create a FIFA World Cup and Uruguay was chosen as the host country for this huge occasion for world football.
The actual beginnings of the World Cup were however in England in 1908, where football was included in the Olympics. The British team was actually English and they won the Gold Medal, as they did four years later in Stockholm. These football players were however all still amateur.
The first actual "World Cup" according to some was in fact organised by an Englishman following the Olympics of 1908. Sir Thomas Lipton put together his "Thomas Lipton Trophy" in 1909 in Turin but it was a competition between individual clubs rather than nations. These professional clubs came from Italy, Germany and Switzerland but it was in fact an amateur side from County Durham called "West Auckland" which won this tournament and the next and they played on Lipton's request because the FA in England refused to send a team to participate.
With the London Olympics around the corner in 2012, the question keeps popping up in the media whether the GB Team will manage to finally get a British team together. It is a very exciting prospect to have the cream of the Under 25s from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland playing together. It would only add to the occasion in a year where there is much to celebrate (the Queen of England will be celebrating her Diamond Jubilee in the month before the Olympics). The key ingredient will be the choice of Manager because maybe he will be the one who can get the agreement of the Scottish, Welsh and Nortehn Irish Football Associations to allow their players to take part.
The London Olympics will be a huge sporting occasion but it would be truly appropriate to have football take more of the spotlight this time as the very origins of international football tournaments lie in this city.
There was great disappointment amongst football fans in Britain that England did not get to host the 2018 World Cup finals and so the next opportunity to see a World cup final at Wembley Stadium could be in 2026 after the finals in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
Football arouses passion. It is a way for countries to compete in a friendly way hopefully, where once upon a time they fought as tribes on a battle field!
Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014. This has become a Mecca for football and the world feels excitement at the prospect of it happening there.
The first World Cup was held in Uruguay and came about as a result of the international football organisation known as FIFA deciding to create its own competition just before the start of the Olympics in 1928. The problem for FIFA was that no professionals were allowed to participate in the Olympics and they wanted the footballers to be professional. The foundations of the football community were shaken at the same time by the withdrawal of the so-called "home nations" of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who did not like the perceived interference of FIFA.
The meeting of FIFA in Amsterdam on May 28th 1928 brought the landmark decision to create a FIFA World Cup and Uruguay was chosen as the host country for this huge occasion for world football.
The actual beginnings of the World Cup were however in England in 1908, where football was included in the Olympics. The British team was actually English and they won the Gold Medal, as they did four years later in Stockholm. These football players were however all still amateur.
The first actual "World Cup" according to some was in fact organised by an Englishman following the Olympics of 1908. Sir Thomas Lipton put together his "Thomas Lipton Trophy" in 1909 in Turin but it was a competition between individual clubs rather than nations. These professional clubs came from Italy, Germany and Switzerland but it was in fact an amateur side from County Durham called "West Auckland" which won this tournament and the next and they played on Lipton's request because the FA in England refused to send a team to participate.
With the London Olympics around the corner in 2012, the question keeps popping up in the media whether the GB Team will manage to finally get a British team together. It is a very exciting prospect to have the cream of the Under 25s from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland playing together. It would only add to the occasion in a year where there is much to celebrate (the Queen of England will be celebrating her Diamond Jubilee in the month before the Olympics). The key ingredient will be the choice of Manager because maybe he will be the one who can get the agreement of the Scottish, Welsh and Nortehn Irish Football Associations to allow their players to take part.
The London Olympics will be a huge sporting occasion but it would be truly appropriate to have football take more of the spotlight this time as the very origins of international football tournaments lie in this city.
There was great disappointment amongst football fans in Britain that England did not get to host the 2018 World Cup finals and so the next opportunity to see a World cup final at Wembley Stadium could be in 2026 after the finals in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
About the Author:
Learn more about football. Stop by GB's site where you can find out all about upcoming teams.
No comments:
Post a Comment