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Did you know that no less than 208 different national teams competed for the opportunity to play in the 2010 World Cup? It’s true. The teams come from virtually every country on Earth, including places as diverse as Liberia and Nicaragua. There are even teams that competed for the privilege from countries that are mortal enemies like Israel and Libya. So how did we get here? Where did the concept for the world cup start and where is it going in the future?

Well, it goes way back to the 19th century when the world’s first international football match was a challenge played in Glasgow, Scotland in 1872 between Scotland and England (In spite of both being part of the United Kingdom, for the purposes of sports teams, they are separate, similarly to Peurto Rico and the United States teams in the World Baseball Classic). This was the inaugural edition of the British Home Championship. At this stage, football (or soccer as it’s known in the United States) was rarely played outside the United Kingdom. As the sport began to increase in popularity in other areas of the world at the turn of the century, it was played as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics and at the 1906 Intercalated Games (even though it was started as a non-medal sport, the International Olympic Committee retroactively decided to grant medals once the sport became an official event).

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (French for International Federation of Association Football), commonly known by its acronym, FIFA, was founded the same year as the last unofficial Olympic football game, in 1904. It governs the world’s football teams with headquarters in Zurich Switzerland (this in spite of football beginning as a British sport). As early as 1906, they attempted to arrange for the precursor of the world cup, but the documents of the time describe the effort as a failure.

So how did it go from failure to an international event like the World Cup 2010, watched by millions? The answer is quite simple really: The Olympic Games. In 1908, for the first time in history, a medal was awarded for the national teams who won the Olympic football game (it was won by none other than the British team). Once the concept of international football was begun though, it was not long before the people at FIFA decided they needed to try again.

Still, it took some time to get to that point. The very first game took place in 1930 and has been played every four years (except during World War II when it was suspended) since then.

So when you’re sitting in the stands cheering for your team during the World Cup 2010, just remember you’re following in a very long tradition of sportsmanship that has been around for nearly a century and a half.

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