Results

Host Uruguay Italy France Winners Uruguay Italy Italy Score 42 21 (aet) 42 Runners-up Argentina Czechoslovakia Hungary Third place Score United States Germany Brazil
[note 1]

Fourth place Yugoslavia

Nu

32 42

Austria Sweden

Brazil

[note 3]

[note 3]

Uruguay West Germany Brazil Brazil England Brazil West Germany Argentina Italy Argentina West Germany Brazil France 32 52 31 42 (aet) 41

Brazil

Sweden 31 63 10 21 10

Spain

Switzerland Sweden Chile England Mexico

Hungary Sweden Czechoslovakia West Germany Italy

Austria France Chile Portugal West Germany Poland Brazil Poland France Italy Sweden Croatia

Uruguay West Germany Yugoslavia Soviet Union Uruguay

West Germany Argentina Spain Mexico

21 31 (aet) 31 32 10 00 (32p) 30 20

Netherlands Netherlands West Germany West Germany

10 21 32 42 (aet) 21 40 21 32

Brazil Italy France Belgium England Bulgaria Netherlands

Italy United States France South Korea

Argentina Italy Brazil

&

Japan Germany South Africa

Brazil Italy Spain 11 (53p) 10 (aet)

Germany France Netherlands

Turkey Germany Germany 31 32

South Korea Portugal Uruguay

aet: after extra time p: after penalty shoot-out

Notes 1. There was no official World Cup Third Place match in 1930; The United States and Yugoslavia lost in the semifinals. FIFA now recognises the United States as the third-placed team and Yugoslavia as the fourth-placed team, using the overall records of the teams in the tournament.[49] 2. Austria withdrew after the draw as a result of the Anschluss with Germany: some Austrian players subsequently joined the German squad, leaving the tournament with 15 teams. 3. There was no official World Cup final match in 1950.[50] The tournament winner was decided by a final roundrobin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain). Coincidentally, one of the last two matches of the tournament pitted the two top ranked teams against each other, with Uruguay's 21 victory over Brazil thus often being considered as the de facto final of the 1950 World Cup.[51] Likewise, the game between the lowest ranked teams, played at the same time as Uruguay vs Brazil, can be considered equal to a Third Place match, with Sweden's 31 victory over Spain ensuring that they finished third. 4. Only 13 teams played the 1950 FIFA World Cup.[52] 16 teams entered the seeding groups draw. However, Turkey and Scotland both withdrew before the draw; France (eliminated in qualifying) was invited as a replacement, leaving the tournament to be held with 15 teams. After the draw, India and France both withdrew, so only 13 teams participated in the tournament. In all, 76 nations have played in at least one World Cup.[53] Of these, eight national teams have won the World Cup, and they have added stars to their badges, with each star representing a World Cup victory. (Uruguay, however, choose to display four stars on their badge, representing their two gold medals at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics and their two World Cup titles in 1930 and 1950.) With five titles, Brazil are the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have played in every World Cup (19) to date,[54] and they will host the 20th in 2014. Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962) are the only nations to have won consecutive titles. West Germany (19821990) and Brazil (19942002) are the only nations to appear in three consecutive World Cup finals. Germany have made the most top-four finishes, with twelve, while sharing the record of most top-two finishes with Brazil, with seven.

Teams reaching the top four

Top 4 finishes 10 8 12

Team Brazil Italy Germany^

Titles 5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002) 4 (1934*, 1938, 1982, 2006) 3 (1954, 1974*, 1990)

Runners-up 2 (1950*, 1998) 2 (1970, 1994)

Third place 2 (1938, 1978) 1 (1990*)

Fourth place 1 (1974) 1 (1978)

4 (1966, 1982, 1986, 4 (1934, 1970, 2006*, 1 (1958)

Team Argentina Uruguay

Titles 2 (1978*, 1986) 2 (1930*, 1950)

Runners-up 2002) 2 (1930, 1990)

Third place 2010)

Fourth place 3 (1954, 1970, 2010) 1 (1982) 1 (1990) 1 (1950) 1 (1998) 1 (1938) 1 (1934) 1 (2006) 2 (1930, 1962) 1 (1966) 1 (1986) 1 (1994) 1 (2002*)

Top 4 finishes 4 5 5 2 2 4 2 2 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1

1 (1998*) 1 (2006) 2 (1958, 1986) France England 1 (1966*) 1 (2010) Spain 3 (1974, 1978, 2010) Netherlands # 2 (1934, 1962) Czechoslovakia Hungary 2 (1938, 1954) Sweden 1 (1958*) 2 (1950, 1994) Poland 2 (1974, 1982) 1 (1954) Austria 1 (1966) Portugal United States 1 (1930) 1 (1962*) Chile Croatia 1 (1998) 1 (2002) Turkey # Yugoslavia # Soviet Union Belgium Bulgaria South Korea * = hosts ^ = includes results representing West Germany between 1954 and 1990 # = states that have since split into two or more independent nations[53]

Best performances by continental zones

To date, the final of the World Cup has only been contested by European and South American teams. European nations have won ten titles; South American teams have won nine. Only two teams from outside these two continents have ever reached the semi-finals of the competition: USA (North, Central America and Caribbean) in 1930 and South Korea (Asia) who reached the semis in 2002. The best result of an African team is reaching the quarter-finals: Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. Only one Oceanian qualifier, Australia in 2006, has advanced to the second round.[55] Brazil, Argentina, and Spain are the only teams to win a World Cup outside their continental confederation; Brazil came out victorious in Europe (1958), North America (1970 and 1994) and Asia (2002), Argentina won a North American World Cup in 1986, while Spain won the only African World Cup in 2010. Only on three occasions have consecutive World Cups been won by teams from the same continent Italy and Brazil successfully defended their titles in 1938 and 1962 respectively, while Spain's 2010 triumph followed Italy's in 2006.