Introduction Doubtlessly, Football is one of the few team games, which effortlessly brings scores of people around the globe closer, at the same time promoting unity and harmony. Finally, the lengthy wait is over, for all the football enthuse out there, as nerve shredding and exhilarating, the 2014 Fifa World Cup, (12th June-13th July) regarded as grandest sport spectacle , is finally ON!!
History
It all started some time back when FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) was approved as the Olympic tournament named as the "world football championship for amateurs", and agreed to give the event a start. In the year 1930, then FIFA president Jules Rimet proposed the idea to organize a football tournament on international stage. The initial version was held in Uruguay that included only 13 national teams and by and by the FIFA World cup gained much recognition and thus the current football season finally has a 32- team tournament.
World Cup Flashback
Until this year, overall 19 tournaments have been held in which 76 national teams have participated and 12 countries have made its way to the finals. According to records Brazil is undisputedly the most promising World Cup team ever winning five titles till date, followed by Italy with four titles and Germany with three. Uruguay and Argentina are former champions with two tiles each while national teams, which successfully grabbed the World Cup only once are England, France, and Spain.
Mascot
This football season we have a rather adorable and colorfully clad “Fuleco” as the Brazilian mascot for it is the host country. The name Fuleco has been derived from the portmanteau of two words “Futebol” which means Football and “Ecologia” meaning Ecology. The character is a bright Brazilian three-banded armadillo wearing a white T-shirt which has "Brasil 2014" imprinted on it.
Opening Ceremony
The lively tournament kick started in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the second time on June 12th with an exorbitant and colorful opening ceremony which embraced the presence of international pop sensation Jennifer Lopez and rapper Pitbull along with Brazilian singer Leitte and performed the official FIFA theme song “We Are One (Ole Ola)" for the cheery football fans.
Participants
The enigma of this eclectic sport embraces diverse countries from around the globe, the count coming down to 32 national teams have been segregated into group A, B, C, D, E, F, G, to H which will further qualify for the forthcoming quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the finals that will be hosted in 12 different cities of Brazil. The final battle for the FIFA 2014 World Cup will be witnessed in the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janerio (Brasil) on 13th July.
Favorite Football Players
Since, the world’s hottest sport has already kicked off, why not celebrate its commencement by narrowing and filtering down the hottest players based on surveys .The fact that all soccer players are doubtlessly admired because of their charming looks, their exclusive jewelry adorned by them, or admirable body frames. After our favorite hunk David Beckham came to light with his irresistible personality and aura, we definitely know the hots every girl has for him and other players, as well both on and off field. The best thing about the World Cup is the introduction of new budding players bringing to our attention. So, after a wide research and on the basis of statistics, the favorite all time soccer players are Neymar Jr., Gerrard Pique, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Olivier Giroud, Robin Van Persie, Mat Hummels, Graham Zusi, Roy Miller and Sergio Ramos, Rafael Marquez.
FIFA 2014 Current Update
The FIFA 2014 is going on in thriving pace and the spectators are not yet tired of cheering their respective teams. The list of matches played until now along with the results are hereby updated and noted down below for your convenience.
From Group “A” Brazil beats Croatia and Mexico beats Cameroon, followed by Group “B” the next day in which Netherlands beat Spain and Chile beats Australia. Greece was defeated by Colombia and Japan by Cote di Ivoire from Group C while Uruguay was defeated by Costa Rica and England by Italy from Group D. On June 15th, Group E Ecuador lost to Switzerland and Hondura lost to France while Bosnia and Herzegovina lost to Argentina in the latest game so far.