A Short History of FIFA World Cup™

Hello, it's Curt again.

And congrats on making it through your first video.

In my current role as Senior Director for Customer and Commercial,

I have educated people at our organization

about the opportunities around FIFA World Cup™

and the significant number of fans that will be paying attention come kickoff.

There is a perception that unlike in other countries where it's the number one sport,

that there was little interest here in the US and Canada.

See, soccer is the most popular sport in the world already,

but in the US and Canada, interest is rapidly growing

and it will soon reach the same levels of sports

like football, basketball, and hockey.

 

For us, a global event is any that unites fans from across the world.

And the FIFA World Cup™ is one of the best examples of this.

Everybody knows the huge tent pole events like Summer and Winter Olympics,

another opportunity for hundreds of nations to compete with each other.

One reason they're so special is they don't happen every year.

Then there's things like the Tour de France, Wimbledon, and Formula One,

All of which are contested and followed around the world, and they happen annually.

The Super Bowl, World Series, NBA finals and the Masters are major events here in America.

While they're known globally, their focus is a bit more local.

 

Just look at these numbers, they might surprise you.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar broke viewership records with 1.5 billion tuning in

and an estimated 1 billion people engaged with the tournament across TV, social, and digital platforms.

127 million viewers for Super Bowl is not too shabby,

and the Super Bowl is a great opportunity in America for both brands and jobs as well.

 

It's not just viewership and interest that is growing,

the size of the tournament is growing as well.

FIFA World Cup 26™ will be the largest sporting event to take place in the world so far.

There has not been an event of this size ever.

Way back in the 1900s, 1930,

the first ever FIFA World Cup™ took place with just 13 teams participating.

But in 2026, we're gonna have a tournament that will run for 39 days

with 48 national teams

across 16 different host cities.

To understand that size, what I like to say is

imagine a Super Bowl every day for a month.

 

FIFA is the governing body that manages global football

and organizes major tournaments like the FIFA World Cup™.

I could go on forever on the history of FIFA World Cup™,

but here are some fast facts that help paint a picture of how it's grown over the years.

 

There have been 22 FIFA World Cups™ on the men's side since that 1930 event.

Brazil is the only nation to have appeared in all 22 tournaments,

and they've won five men's titles, which they never let you forget.

Pele was part of three titles, the most of any player.

 

Mexico is the first nation to host multiple World Cups, both in 1970 and 1986.

The final matches were held at the Azteca in Mexico City,

an iconic stadium that holds 90,000 fans.

It's been more than 30 years since the US last hosted in 1994,

but in that year we saw the highest overall attendance

with more than 3.5 million spectators watching that World Cup.

 

And on the women's side, there have been nine FIFA Women's World Cups™ to date,

with the next one happening in 2027.

Growth of the women's game also means more opportunity for fans and for careers

as the women's tournament runs in different years and in different countries.

FIFA World Cup™ is a massive global event and bigger than ever before.

The next FIFA World Cup™ is exciting for all three host countries in different ways

as they look to host for the first, the second, or the third time.

 

In our next lesson,

we'll talk about how countries end up hosting the event

and the processes behind it.