World Cup 101: Everything you need to know for Brazil 2014

MANILA, Philippines- The FIFA World Cup, which is one of the world’s most anticipated sporting events, has lived up to its billing a little over a week into the month-long tournament. It is not your typical club versus club matches; the World Cup fields the best players in the world to represent their country in a quest for their nation’s football supremacy. 

The 2014 World Cup is the 20th edition of the tournament that started in 1930 in Uruguay. Brazil hosts the World Cup for the second time in history with 1950 being the first. A total of 32 teams compete in a familiar football scoring format; 3 points for wins, 0 point for a defeat and a point for a draw. 

Played in 12 cities, the teams are divided into eight groups that is composed of four teams each with the top two of each bracket will then proceed to the knockout stage. Defending 2010 World Cup champion Spain, has already been eliminated from the tournament for losing against Netherlands by 1-5 and Chile by nil-2. 

Just like any other FIFA Cup, the World Cup goes through rigorous qualification stages three years prior to the event, thus only the best countries make it to the tournament proper. Qualification format may differ depending on the confederation but all are played in home and away matches and only the defending champs can skip qualifications.

Not participating in the qualification stages equates to automatic disqualification from entering the tournament. In the case of the Philippines, the PFF decided not to play in the qualification stages for the 2006 and 2010 World Cup. For this year’s edition of the tournament, the Philippines had made it to the second round of the qualification stages in 2011 but was beaten by Kuwait in an aggregate score of 5-1.

The host country is also selected years in advance. At this very moment, Russia is set to host 2018 while Qatar will host 2022. Selecting a host country has never been short of controversy over the years. Thousands – and at one point a million – unhappy demonstrators swarmed the streets and cities of Brazil due to their disagreement with the government’s use of public funds for the World Cup.

Brazilian football icon turned politician Romario Faria, who helped his country win the 1994 World Cup, was quoted in 2013 saying – “You see schools that don’t have lunch for the kids. You see schools with no air-conditioning, where kids are going to school in 45 degrees celsius. You see buildings and schools with no accessibility for people who are handicapped. If you spend 30% less on the stadiums, they’d be able to improve the other things that actually matter.” 

The 2014 World Cup is the first ever to feature the use of goal-line technology and vanishing foam.

The goal-line technology is a device that is used to verify if the ball has completely crossed the goal line while the vanishing foam serves as a temporary visual marker during a free kick to ensure fair play. 

World Cup prize money are as follows:

$8 million – To each team eliminated at the group stage (16 teams)

$9 million – To each team eliminated in the round of 16 (8 teams)

$14 million – To each team eliminated in the quarter-finals (4 teams)

$20 million – 4th placed team

$22 million – 3rd placed team

$25 million – Runner-up

$35 million – Champion

Greatness, success, pain, agony and defeat are what engulfs the teams who have made it to the most prestigious football tournament in the world. With the way games have been played and how the shockers have turned out, it will be interesting to say the least who’ll win this year’s World Cup. 64 matches, 32 teams, 4 years of anticipation – 1 winner. 

JM Siasat is a sports journalist based in Manila, Philippines. He can be reached at jmsiasat@ymail.com. Follow him on Twitter @jmsiasat