A brief history of the World Cup

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The evidence suggests very strongly that there were two motives around when the idea of a World Cup surfaced in the early 1920s, and two men with conflicting reasons for their common cause. Jules Rimet gets all the credit these days, and his notion that "Soccer could reinforce the ideals of a permanent and real peace" has been repeatedly trumpeted as the inspiration of the worldwide football competition.

A trained lawyer, Rimet had founded the Red Star club in 1887, and in 1910 formed the Ligue Nationale de Football. He played a key role in establishing the Fédération Francaise de Football in 1919, and he served as its President for 30 years.

The other man is now largely forgotten: he was Henri Delaunay, Secretary-General of the French Federation from 1919 until 1956, and his expressed concern was that the already successful Olympic venture into international football was freezing professionals out, and at the same time encouraging 'shamateurism'.

In fact, although we tend to think of professionalism in football as a relatively recent phenomenon, top players in several countries had been paid wages since the turn of the twentieth century.

The events of the 1924 Olympic tournament in Paris reinforced that view, and deepened the growing rift between FIFA and the International Olympic Committee: Uruguay, whose players were all full-timers, became the first Latin American country to win, and the IOC appeared powerless to police their own amateurism rules.

The withdrawal of several leading football countries from the Olympics following that gave FIFA the encouragement that was needed, and a decision was made at the FIFA Congress in Zurich in 1927 to establish a Commission to study the feasibility of a World Cup competition.

The following year's Congress, in Amsterdam, made a decision in principle that the first competition would be held in 1930, and the formal commitment to the organisation came at the 1929 Congress in Barcelona, attended (among others) by Myles Murphy, representing "Eire". The same meeting designated Montevideo in Uruguay as the Host City - clearly a major message was being sent to the IOC!

There had been been considerable controversy about the host country decision, and as it turned out none of the countries whose bids had failed (Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, and Spain) even participated in 1930. It was not all Jules Rimet's international sweetness and light.

Uruguay hosted a superb festival of football, aided by the preparations for their national centennial celebrations that year, and crowned by their 4-2 victory over south American neighbours Argentina.

They were the first country to lift the trophy that had already been dubbed the 'Jules Rimet Trophy'; it was a 35cm high golden winged victory statue on a wooden base, and it had been decided that whoever was first to win the competition three times would keep the trophy in perpetuity.

But perpetuity was to turn out to be highly illusory. Abel Lafleur's sculpture was sensationally stolen from a pre-World Cup exhibition in London in 1966, to be discovered - accidentally, it was always claimed - by a dog called Pickles under bushes just outside the city.

In the following World Cup in 1970, Brazil won their third title and duly claimed the Trophy, to hold for ever. For ever lasted just 13 years, as the trophy was stolen in 1983 and has never been found.

Its replacement, designed by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, is and remains the property of FIFA: winners hold it for a year and then receive a gold-plated replica.

With the exception of the years of the Second World War, the World Cup has been held on a four-yearly cycle ever since, with Brazil reigning supreme as four-times Champion (1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994), as well as coming runners-up twice.

If there's a bit of reflected glory for 'Best overall competitor' it would have to go to (West) Germany, with three wins and three runner up spots, just ahead of Italy with three and two.

Only 11 countries have reached the Final in the sixteen competitions held to date, and of the three who only got there once, England and France both won the tournaments they were hosting, in 1966 and 1998 respectively.

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