FIFA World Cup Visualization: Data from 1930 - 2014

History of FIFA World cup

A game loved by many and full of emotions and reactions. The FIFA World Cup was first held in 1930, when FIFA president Jules Rimet decided to stage an international men’s football tournament. The inaugural edition, held in 1930, was contested as a final tournament of only thirteen teams invited by the organization

1. Number of teams Qualifying

Initially, only 13 teams contested this prestigious tournament. As the gamme grew in popularity, more and more countries/teams have been added to the list seing the number grow from 13 to 32 teams and with a possibility of the number of teams increasing to 48 according to FIFA council

The bar plot below shows total number of teams that participated in the tournament since 1930, increasing from 13 teams in 1930 to 32 teams currently

2. Tota number of matches played

With a starting line of 13 teams, this saw only a total of 17 matches being played. As the inclusion of number of teams continued over time, the number of total matches played rose as well; currently, there is a total of 64 matches(including the final) emanating from 32 teams.

The bar plot below summarizes the number of matches played over the evolution time of FIFA world cup

3. World Cup Winners since 1930

The endpoint of every competition or tournament is the emergence of a winner. There are only 9 countries who have ever won the FIFA world cup trophy with Brazil having won it the most(5 times) while Italy and Germany(Germany Federal Republic/Germany) winning it 4 times a piece.

The graph below shows the frequencies of FIFA world cup champions since 19930

4. Champions over years since 1930

The rec plot below shows who the champion was for which year the tournament was held. Uruguy was the first team to win the FIFA world cup at home in 1930.

Only 2 countries, Italy(1934 & 1938) and Brazil(1958 & 1962) that have won the world cup back to back(Consectively). Uruguy is the only world cup champion with the longest spell since their last win(16 seasons), followed by England(12 season spell). Spain(2010) is the newest member on the list of FIFA world cup champions.

5. Total number of goals scored

Highest ever number of goals scored was in 1998 and 2014. 171 goals were scored