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Amoy's Insight: World Cup Qualifiers Factfile
The 2010 World Cup Qualifiers resume this weekend with teams from five different continents in action. Goal.com's Amoy Ghoshal provides you facts and figures on the qualifying tournament showing how the FIFA World Cup has evolved over the years.
26-Mar-2009 11:12:14 PM
1. There was no qualifying competition for the first edition
of the FIFA World Cup which was held at Uruguay
in 1930 with all 13 teams entering the competition by invitation.
2. 32 teams entered the qualifying competition for the 1934 world cup which was held in Italy. Uruguay was the defending champions but didn’t take part in this edition because many of the European countries didn’t make the trip to South America for the previous World Cup.
3. The number of entries crossed 100 in the 1978 World Cup with 107 countries entering the qualifying competition. Only 95 of them played for the 14 slots (two other spots going to the champion- West Germany and host – Argentina).
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams with 103 teams playing in the qualifying competition for the 1982 World Cup.
4. Some of the lesser nations do hold records in this competition.UAE qualified for the 1990 world cup by winning one game and scoring only four goals. San Marino’s Davide Gualtieri holds the record of scoring the fastest ever goal in world cup qualifying history. He scored against England after nine seconds in a qualifying match for the 1994 edition.
5. Current Iran coach Ali Daei holds the record of scoring the most number of goals in the world cup qualifiers, having scored 30 over four qualifying tournaments. Ecuador’s Ivan Hurtado holds the record of playing the most games having made 56 appearances in World Cup qualifiers.
6. The biggest margin of victory was recorded in the qualifying competition of the 2002 world cup with Australia beating American Samoa 31-0. Archie Thompson broke the record of scoring most goals in a match by netting 13 in that game.
7. In the 1998 World Cup which was held in France the competition was expanded to 32 teams with 174 entries in the qualifying rounds. The 2002 World Cup also consisted of 32 teams but the total number of entries reached 199 with automatic spots for three nations- France (world champions), Japan and South Korea (co-hosts)
8. Brazil have played in all the 18 editions, but they played a qualifying match for the first time only during the 1954 qualifiers. They also became the first ever defending champions to take part in the qualifiers after an automatic spot was taken away from the champions during the 2006 edition.
9. South Africa became the first host nation to take part in the qualifiers. The African qualifiers for the 2010 edition also decide the places for the 2010 African Nations Cup which meant that South Africa had to play in the qualifiers despite having a place guaranteed in next year’s tournament.
10. A total of 204 countries entered the qualifying competition for the 2010 edition with 199 taking part in the matches. Guam, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Bhutan and Sao Tome and Principe are the five teams who have withdrawn from the qualifiers without playing a single game.
Amoy Ghoshal
2. 32 teams entered the qualifying competition for the 1934 world cup which was held in Italy. Uruguay was the defending champions but didn’t take part in this edition because many of the European countries didn’t make the trip to South America for the previous World Cup.
3. The number of entries crossed 100 in the 1978 World Cup with 107 countries entering the qualifying competition. Only 95 of them played for the 14 slots (two other spots going to the champion- West Germany and host – Argentina).
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams with 103 teams playing in the qualifying competition for the 1982 World Cup.
4. Some of the lesser nations do hold records in this competition.UAE qualified for the 1990 world cup by winning one game and scoring only four goals. San Marino’s Davide Gualtieri holds the record of scoring the fastest ever goal in world cup qualifying history. He scored against England after nine seconds in a qualifying match for the 1994 edition.
5. Current Iran coach Ali Daei holds the record of scoring the most number of goals in the world cup qualifiers, having scored 30 over four qualifying tournaments. Ecuador’s Ivan Hurtado holds the record of playing the most games having made 56 appearances in World Cup qualifiers.
6. The biggest margin of victory was recorded in the qualifying competition of the 2002 world cup with Australia beating American Samoa 31-0. Archie Thompson broke the record of scoring most goals in a match by netting 13 in that game.
7. In the 1998 World Cup which was held in France the competition was expanded to 32 teams with 174 entries in the qualifying rounds. The 2002 World Cup also consisted of 32 teams but the total number of entries reached 199 with automatic spots for three nations- France (world champions), Japan and South Korea (co-hosts)
8. Brazil have played in all the 18 editions, but they played a qualifying match for the first time only during the 1954 qualifiers. They also became the first ever defending champions to take part in the qualifiers after an automatic spot was taken away from the champions during the 2006 edition.
9. South Africa became the first host nation to take part in the qualifiers. The African qualifiers for the 2010 edition also decide the places for the 2010 African Nations Cup which meant that South Africa had to play in the qualifiers despite having a place guaranteed in next year’s tournament.
10. A total of 204 countries entered the qualifying competition for the 2010 edition with 199 taking part in the matches. Guam, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Bhutan and Sao Tome and Principe are the five teams who have withdrawn from the qualifiers without playing a single game.
Amoy Ghoshal
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