Starting from 1930, the World Cup has been held a total of 21 times. The 2022 edition is the 22nd. It couldn't be staged in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II.

From 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winning team. It was originally simply known as the World Cup but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Frenchman Jules Rimet, on whose initiative the first World Cup was held in 1930. In 1970, when Brazil won the tournament for the third time, they became entitled to keep the trophy permanently.

Since 1970, the teams have been competing for a new trophy called the FIFA World Cup Trophy. However, this trophy won't become a permanent possession of a country, no matter how many times it is won by any team.

Only two continents, Europe and South America, have provided the winners.

Europe (Twelve): Italy (4 times), Germany (4 times), France (twice), England (once), Spain (once).

South America (Nine): Brazil (5 times), Argentina (twice) and Uruguay (twice)

Best finish for Asia: Fourth: South Korea in 2002

Best finish for North, Central America and the Caribbean: Fourth: USA in 1930

Best finish for Africa: Quarter Final: Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010)

Best finish for Oceania: 2nd round: Australia (2006). Note: 2006 World Cup was the last time Australia competed for the World Cup qualification as a member of the Oceania Football Confederation. Since then Australia has been a member of the Asian Football Confederation

- Only two countries have been successful in retaining the title: Italy (1934 & 1938) and Brazil (1958 & 1962)

- Holland has appeared in most finals without winning the World Cup: 1974, 1978 and 2010

- From 1930-78, a total of 16 teams appeared in the final round except in 1930 (13), 1938 (15, as Austria, after having qualified was absorbed in Germany), 1950 (13, as India, Turkey and Scotland withdrew).

- In 1982, the number of teams increased to 24 and then to 32 in 1998. At the next World Cup in 2026, there will be 48 teams.

- Brazil is the only team to have appeared in all the editions of the World Cup.

- Brazilian Pele is the only player to be part of three World Cup-winning squads: 1958, 62 and 70

- Vittorio Pozzo is the only person to be the head coach of two World Cup-winning teams. He guided his native Italy to World Cup triumphs in 1934 and 1938

- Germany's Franz Beckenbauer is the only person to win the World Cup as captain (1974) and as the head coach (1990). Two others have won the World Cup as a player and the head coach: Brazil's Mario Zagallo as a player (1958 &62) and as the head coach (1970); and France's Didier Deschamps as a player (1998) and as the head coach (2018). Incidentally, he is France`s head coach at the 2022 World Cup as well.

SCORERS:

- Germany's Miroslav Klose, with 16 goals (2002, 2006, 2010 & 2014) is the all-time top scorer.

- In a single edition: Frenchman Just Fontaine, with 13 goals in 1958, holds the record.

- In a single match: Russian Oleg Salenko scored five goals against Cameroon in 1994

- Three players have scored in two World Cup finals:

Pele: two in 1958 and one in 1970 (Brazil won both)

Paul Breitner: one in 1974 (West Germany won) and one in 1982 (West Germany lost)

Zinedine Zidane: two in 1998 (France won) and one in 2006 (France lost).

- Four players have scored two hat-tricks in World Cup matches: Sandor Kocsis of Hungary (both 1954), Just Fontaine of France (both1958), Gerd Muller of West Germany (both 1970), and Gabriel Batistuta of Argentina (1994 and 1998). Batistuta is the only person to score hat-tricks in two World Cups.

- Only one player has scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final. Geoff Hurst scored three for England against West Germany in 1966.

- The fastest goal in a World Cup match was scored by Turkey's Hakan Sukur in 2002, in just 10.8 seconds after the start of the 3rd place match against South Korea.

- Before the 2022 World Cup, three players shared the record for playing in the most World Cups: Mexico's Antonio Carbajal (1950-1966), Germany's Lothar Matthaus (1982-1998) and Mexico`s Rafael Marquez (2002-2018) played in five tournaments. At the 2022 World Cup, three other players joined the list: Lionel Mess (Argentina), Christiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and Andres Guardodo (Mexico).

- Argentine legend Diego Maradona's goal against England in the quarter final of 1986 is regarded by most including FIFA as the best individual goal ever scored in the World Cup's history

- There was no official World Cup final match in 1950. The tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain).

- Surprisingly, the USA, where soccer is not one of the more popular sports, holds the record for the highest average attendance per match for a World Cup: 68,991 in 1994.

- The 2002 World Cup held in Japan and South Korea was the only one to be hosted jointly by two countries.

- the largest attendance of a World Cup match is 199,854: Brazil against Uruguay in 1950 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

- 1.2 billion individuals watched the final match of the 2018 World Cup (a seventh of the entire population of the planet)

AWARDS:

The Golden Ball for the best player is determined by a vote of media members (since 1982). The Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball are awarded to the players finishing second and third in the voting, respectively.

The Golden Boot for the top goal scorer (first awarded in 1982, but retrospectively applied to all tournaments from 1930). In recent times, the Silver Boot and the Bronze Boot have also been added; awarded to the second and third top goal scorers, respectively.

The Golden Glove Award (formerly the Yashin Award, in honour of the legendary Russian goalkeeper) for the best goalkeeper, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 1994).

The Best Young Player Award for the best player aged 21 or younger at the start of the calendar year is decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 2006).

The FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team with the best record of fair play, according to the points system and criteria established by the FIFA Fair Play Committee (first awarded in 1978)

The Most Entertaining Team for the team that has entertained the public the most during the World Cup, determined by a poll of the general public (first awarded in 1994)

An All-Star Team consisting of the best players of the tournament has also been announced for each tournament since 1998.