Topic summary
List of FIFA World Cup hosts
Nineteen countries have hosted the FIFA World Cup in the competition's twenty-three tournaments since the inaugural World Cup in 1930. FIFA at first awarded hosting to countries at meetings of its congress. The choice of location was controversial in the earliest tournaments, given the three-week boat journey between South America and Europe, the two centers of strength in football at the time.
The decision to hold the first cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing. The next two World Cups were held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these, the 1938 FIFA World Cup, in France was controversial, as the South American countries had been led to understand that the World Cup would alternate between the two continents. Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the tournament. The first tournament following World War II, held in Brazil in 1950, had three teams withdraw because of financial problems or disagreements with the organisation.
In order to avoid any future boycotts or controversy, FIFA stuck to a pattern of alternation between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the first to be held in Asia. The system evolved so that the host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Congress. This is done under an exhaustive ballot system. The decision is currently made roughly seven years in advance of the tournament, though the hosts for the 2030 tournament were chosen at the same time as those for the 2034 tournament. The longest time between host selection and tournament was for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, which was awarded to Spain in 1966.
Only Mexico (three times), Italy, the United States, France, Germany (West Germany until shortly after the 1990 World Cup) and Brazil have hosted the event at least twice. Mexico City's Estadio Azteca and Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã are the only venues to have hosted two FIFA World Cup finals.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the first with more than one host. The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the first to be hosted by more than two countries. To mark the 100th anniversary of the tournament in 2030, there will be three host countries (Morocco, Portugal, and Spain), with three additional countries (Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay) hosting celebratory centenary matches.
Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934, England in 1966, West Germany in 1974, Argentina in 1978 and France in 1998 are the only nations to win the World Cup as hosts.