Every four years, thirty two teams from around the world compete in one of the biggest tournaments in all of sports. The World Cup is the world championship tournament for the sport of soccer and it brings with it the same excitement and fan-fair as that of the Olympic Games. The most recent World Cup tournament, held in 2006, was the eighteenth in the tournaments history and was played in Germany.

Upwards of two hundred countries compete to qualify in the World Cup, which is soccer's biggest stage, but only thirty-two of those teams actually get to play in the tournament. The bulk of the tournament is played in a round-robin style over the course of nearly a month in the host nation, the final (16th) round is an elimination round in which teams that are defeated are eliminated from the tournament.

Who Won the 2006 World Cup?

The last incarnation of soccer's biggest tournament pitted rival nations Italy and France against one another. It was a close and hard fought match that saw Italy take the win, and the World Cup Championship, as a result of penalty kicks after the end of the match's regulation. The game was loaded with excitement and controversy, as in the latter part of the game one of France's most talented and popular players was ejected due to a flagrant foul. Lots of talk after the game questioned whether the outcome of the game would have been the same if he had been playing during the final minutes and in the penalty kick shootout instead of watching from the sidelines. This was Italy's fourth World Cup win, which places them second in overall wins behind perennial soccer powerhouse Brazil.

Host country Germany didn't win the World Cup, nor did they play in the final match but they still had a fantastic showing at the 2006 World Cup. Germany played in the game to decide third place in the tournament and defeated Portugal, who is often considered among the best teams in the world, by a score of three to one.

Recent World Cup Results

In the three World Cup tournaments prior to 2006, the powerful Brazilian team appeared in each final match - winning the tournament in 2002 by defeating Germany and in 1994 by defeating Italy and losing to France in 1998. The two World Cup wins for Brazil gave the country a total of five since the tournaments inception and making them the winning-est team in World Cup history.

The 2002 World Cup saw two surprise teams vie for third place as two teams who had never before appeared in a final game in the World Cup faced off. The game pitted Turkey against the Korea Republic and saw Turkey edge out a very close three to two victory.

!998's tournament also brought shock in the game for third place as surprise Croatia, who had never before even seen action in the final four of a World Cup tournament, defeated the Netherlands, who seems to always be in contention and who finished second in both the 1974 and the 1978 World Cup tournaments.

Despite the fact that the next World Cup final round won't begin for nearly eighteen months, there is already excitement building about the event. The 2010 World Cup tournament will mark the first time in tournament history that the finals have taken place in South Africa. The South African team, as the host country, will receive automatic qualification to appear in the tournament and 204 other nations will play for the thirty one remaining spots.

The 2006 tournament had the largest viewing audience of any World Cup tournament on television and as the popularity of soccer continues to grow and gain momentum in countries the world over - the 2010 version of the tournament promises to have even more viewers watching than 2006.