FIFA

= __FIFA__ =

The word FIFA stands for Federation Internationale de Football Association. Managed and headquartered in Switzerland. FIFA is known for holding the largest soccer championship event called the FIFA World Cup. FIFA is so large that more countries are involved in it then the Olympics, and even the United Nations. The structure and laws of the game of soccer are created and regulated by the FIFA organization. FIFA even has its own anthem which was produced by a German. This anthem is played before every international FIFA game. There are 12 events that FIFA organizes. Some of the popular ones include the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Womens World Cup, the FIFA U-20 World Cup, and the FIFA U-17 World Cup. FIFA has some huge corporations that sponsor them, including Coca Cola, VISA, Sony, Hyundai, and Adidas.

World Cup Finals Facts and Figures 1930-2006

 * **Year** || **Host** || **Champions** || **Teams** || **Games** || **Goals** || **Sent-off** || **Attendance** ||
 * 1930 || Uruguay || Uruguay || 13 || 18 || 70 || 1 || 589,300 ||
 * 1934 || Italy || Italy || 16 || 17 || 70 || 1 || 361,000 ||
 * 1938 || France || Italy || 15 || 18 || 84 || 4 || 376,000 ||
 * 1950 || Brazil || Uruguay || 13 || 22 || 88 || 0 || 1,044,763 ||
 * 1954 || Switzerland || W.Germany || 16 || 26 || 140 || 3 || 872,000 ||
 * 1958 || Sweden || Brazil || 16 || 35 || 126 || 3 || 819,402 ||
 * 1962 || Chile || Brazil || 16 || 32 || 89 || 6 || 892,812 ||
 * 1966 || England || England || 16 || 32 || 89 || 5 || 1,464,944 ||
 * 1970 || Mexico || Brazil || 16 || 32 || 95 || 0 || 1,690,890 ||
 * 1974 || W.Germany || W.Germany || 16 || 38 || 97 || 5 || 1,809,953 ||
 * 1978 || Argentina || Argentina || 16 || 38 || 102 || 3 || 1,685,602 ||
 * 1982 || Spain || Italy || 24 || 52 || 146 || 5 || 2,108,723 ||
 * 1986 || Mexico || Argentina || 24 || 52 || 132 || 8 || 2,393,031 ||
 * 1990 || Italy || W.Germany || 24 || 52 || 115 || 16 || 2,516,354 ||
 * 1994 || USA || Brazil || 24 || 52 || 141 || 15 || 3,587,088 ||
 * 1998 || France || France || 32 || 64 || 171 || 22 || 2,775,400 ||
 * 2002 || Korea/Japan || Brazil || 32 || 64 || 161 || 17 || 2,705,566 ||
 * 2006 || Germany || Italy || 32 || 64 || 147 || 28 || 3,367,000 ||
 * **Total** ||  ||   || **361** || **708** || **2,063** || **142** || **31,051,828** ||

The above chart illustrates the FIFA World Cups history and facts of the championship games. It is relevant that generally speaking the attendance to these events has grown since 1930-2006. Brazil has been the champions 5 out of 18 times. Italy follows with 4 out of 18 times being champions. It is also evident that as time went on the amount of teams that played in this tournament over the years has grown more than double. The popularity of soccer and the FIFA games dramatically increased within the last century. Home