FIFA World Cup
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The Rules the World Cup Changed
Italia 90 was so dull that goalkeepers lost the right to pick the ball up. USA 94 handed out three points for…
ChampionsWhy Nobody Retains the World Cup
It has happened twice in twenty-three tournaments and not since 1962. Four straight holders went out in the group stage, then the…
ChampionsSpain 2026: One Goal Conceded in Eight Matches
Ferran Torres in the 106th minute, a ten-man Argentina, and a champion that let in one goal in the entire tournament. Every…
Hosts And StadiumsEvery Host Nation From Montevideo to MetLife
Thirteen teams in one city in 1930; forty-eight teams across sixteen stadiums and three countries in 2026. The full list of hosts,…
Hosts And StadiumsThe Six Who Won at Home
Host nations have won six World Cups, and none since 1998. Also the two hosts who lost the deciding match on their…
Hosts And StadiumsThe Maracana, the Azteca and the Crowds Nobody Will See Again
The biggest crowd in football history watched a match that was not a final, at a stadium whose own records cannot agree…
Hosts And StadiumsThree Countries, Sixteen Stadiums, 104 Matches
The biggest World Cup ever staged drew 6.8 million people and still did not beat the 1994 average. What worked in Mexico,…
Hosts And StadiumsSix Countries in 2030 and Saudi Arabia in 2034
The centenary World Cup starts in South America five days before it starts in Europe, and every one of its six hosts…
Technology And RefereeingThe Lampard Goal and the Vote That Came Before It
FIFA had voted to reject goal-line technology permanently three months before Frank Lampard's shot bounced a yard over the line in Bloemfontein.…
Technology And RefereeingVAR at the World Cup, and the League That Had It First
Three hundred and thirty-five incidents checked in the group stage alone, 99.3 per cent accuracy, and a penalty record smashed. Plus the…
Technology And RefereeingSemi-Automated Offside, From Qatar to the Trionda
Twelve cameras, twenty-nine data points per player, a ball reporting five hundred times a second, and a goal ruled out 158 seconds…
Technology And RefereeingAustralia’s Referees at the World Cup
Five Australians have refereed at a men's World Cup, one of them took charge of a group opener between Spain and Brazil,…