Talk:FIFA World Cup

First "international" soccer game

Currently the article notes

The world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England.[7] The first international tournament for nations, the inaugural British Home Championship, took place in 1884 and included games between England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.[8]

Eh... ok. Even humo(u)ring the Brits and pretending their "constituent countries" are also "nations" for the purpose of qualifying as "international" games... Could the article further note the actual first international games? Y'know... the ones held between entirely separate fully recognized sovereign states? Was it the first game of football at the 1900 Summer Olympics (France v UK)? or was there one in the years before that? — LlywelynII 14:54, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

It was the 1902 Uruguay v Argentina football match. The 1900 Olympic football event was between clubs representing countries, like today's UEFA Champions League. Indeed, the Belgian club was first recorded as a "mixed team" due to having some Dutch and British players, but its bronze medal is now solely credited to Belgium per a 2024 ruling. Unknown Temptation (talk) 14:58, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

@Unknown Temptation: Thanks! That should be added to the article, beside the British intermural thing. — LlywelynII 07:58, 17 July 2026 (UTC)

@LlywelynII England, N Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all independent countries for football and are recognised as such by UEFA & FIFA.

That's why England and Scotland are both playing in this year's world cup . Markb (talk) 14:07, 19 June 2026 (UTC)

Like I said, even humo(u)ring that conceit and leaving that text unchanged, fine, but what was the actual first international match? — LlywelynII 07:58, 17 July 2026 (UTC)

Most world cup appearances

Please add Mexican goalie Ochoa to now three players to have played in 6 world cups. ~2026-38360-92 (talk) 21:28, 4 July 2026 (UTC)

According to the List of players who have appeared in the most FIFA World Cups#Tournaments, Ochoa has appeared in six but only played in four so as a sort of compromise I added a note explaining this rather than adding him (because that section does indeed say "played" not "appeared"). Lowbackgroundsteel (talk) 03:47, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

Inconsistencies in "Teams reaching top four" table

I noticed that some countries in the table here are named inconsistently. "Russia" and "Serbia" incorporate the (only relevant) results of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, even though they haven't reached the top four during the time period they are named Russia and Serbia respectively. Czechoslovakia, in the same situation, is not renamed to Czech Republic or Slovakia. This is inconsistent. Germany is understandable, they have been in the top four as multiple different countries. However, Russia and Serbia should be changed to Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, or Czechoslovakia should be changed to either Czech Republic or Slovakia. The only reason I can think of for it being like this is if the football associations of Soviet Union and Yugoslavia morphed into that of Russia and Serbia, while the Czechoslovakia association was dissolved. Even then, I wonder whether this is desirable. Wikidrinker (talk) 16:27, 12 July 2026 (UTC)

The Czech Republic and Slovakia jointly requested that UEFA treat their historical results as shared. As a result, Slovakia was added to UEFA's all-time champions table, even though the Czech Republic had originally inherited Czechoslovakia's records, just as Russia inherited the Soviet Union's records and Serbia inherited those of Yugoslavia. As far as I know, FIFA still recognizes the Czech Republic as the successor to Czechoslovakia's football records. However, it is quite possible that FIFA will eventually adopt the same approach as UEFA and recognize those achievements as shared between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. SerdarBar (talk) 16:07, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

Seems to me the simplest way to do it is avoid successors if possible, and seeing as neither the Czechoslovak, Yugoslav or Soviet succesors have reached the top 4 after their dissolution there's no reason to include the successor state(s) instead of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union themselves. Put another way, "includes results representing Nation X" when Nation X is the entirety of the results seems silly. SailingHobbit (talk) 23:15, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

That's exactly why there's a footnote above the name. It's the official position of UEFA and FIFA. For some similar sports projects (such as FIBA), I was told that Wikipedia follows the official positions of the governing bodies. As far as I'm concerned, everything is fine as long as there's a logical explanation, rather than simply listing the name of a country that never actually achieved that result. SerdarBar (talk) 13:03, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

FIFA World Cup Hosts Map: Crimea shown as Russia in error

The map showing the occurrences of FIFA World Cup Hosts (FIFA World Cup#/map/0) shows Crimea included in the boundaries of Russia when that is incorrect and it is still internationally recognised as Ukraine. It is also inconsistent with another map on the page (FIFA World Cup#/media/File:FIFA World Cup best results.svg). Ismoody (talk) 05:14, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

I replaced it with the previous map, where Crimea is not labelled as part of Russia. I think the new map type may have advantages, but it will have to be corrected before it's added back. Sakkura (talk) 13:30, 17 July 2026 (UTC)

FIFA map showing Crimea as part of Russia - please check

Why is Crimea in this map shown as part of Crimea? This is wrong, as Crimea is an internationally recognized part of Ukraine. ~2026-40117-83 (talk) 05:19, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

Remove Map showing Crimea as part of Russia

Crimea is Ukrainian and not recognized as part of Russia. The map should be representative of the host country’s actual legal boundaries. ~2026-40191-87 (talk) 08:55, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

Billions

Hello! This sentence is near the end of the lead:

"The World Cup is globally regarded as the most prestigious association football competition, as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting and cultural event in the world."

Two of the citations for that sentence have quotes. They read, in part:

"...the estimated cumulative television audience for the 2006 World Cup in Germany was 26.2 billion..."

"...In 2006, more than 30 billion viewers in 214 countries watched the World Cup..."

How can 26-30 billion viewers watch, when the planet only has 8 billion people? OrdinaryOtter (talk) 15:00, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

Hi, its cumulative, so if the same person watches it 10 times, its counted 10 times, thanks! ItsMeGabeProductions (talk) 08:42, 17 July 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 19 July 2026

Spain just won CrunchLabs (talk) 21:50, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Already done Article has already been updated. Day Creature (talk) 23:20, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

French Flag

The French flag should be the same throughout. The brighter 1976 version were merely a "variant" - the darker one was always official and when this version was restored as the "primary" version in 2020, it retroactively applied to all periods. Schrodingers fish (talk) 02:40, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

@PizzaKing13: You made this change in 2022; comments? BilledMammal (talk) 02:48, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

World Cup History

Morocco lost the first 2026 quarter final to France. They are excluded from the list of teams making quarter finals or better post 1982, & 2026 is incorrectly listed as having only South American & European quarter finalists. ~2026-40815-26 (talk) 16:01, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

 Done Miria~01 (talk) 18:18, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 26 September 2026

Add in Most Assists in a single World Cup under the Records and statistics tab. Michael Olise from France with 7 (2026), followed by Pele from Brazil with 6 (1970), and Robert Gadocha from Poland (1974), Pierre Littbarski from West Germany (1982), Diego Maradona from Argentina (1986) and Thomas Häßler from Germany (1994) with 5 each. Axbyzc13 (talk) 12:13, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

 Not done. 1) you'd need a source, 2) you'd need to be more specific about how you want this added exactly, and 3) this seems like a slippery slope of statistical trivia not suited to such a broad article. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 14:43, 26 September 2026 (UTC)