The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
, the quadrennial world championship for
men's national football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
teams organised by
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2007. It was the second time that Brazil staged the competition, the first being in
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
, and the fifth time that it was held in South America. Fans and pundits alike consider this edition of the World Cup to be one of the best ever held.
31 national teams advanced through
qualification competitions to join the host nation in the final tournament (with
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
as the only debutant). A total of 64 matches were played in 12 venues located in as many host cities across Brazil. For the first time at a World Cup finals, match officials used
goal-line technology, as well as
vanishing spray
Vanishing spray, also known as vanishing foam, is a substance applied to an association football pitch in order to provide a temporary visual marker. It is most often used by the referee (association football), referee to indicate the minimum d ...
for
free kicks.
FIFA Fan Fests in each host city gathered a total of 5 million people, and the country received 1 million visitors from 202 countries. Every World Cup-winning team since the
first tournament in 1930 –
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
– qualified for this tournament, for the last time to date. Spain, the defending champions, were eliminated at the group stage, along with England and Italy. Uruguay were eliminated in the round of 16, and France exited in the quarter-finals. Host nation Brazil, who had won the
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup
The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...
,
lost to Germany 7–1 in the semi-finals and eventually finished in fourth place.
In
the final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
, Germany defeated Argentina 1–0 after extra time thanks to a Mario Götze half-volley in the 113th minute of the final to win the tournament and secure the country's fourth world title, the first after
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1990, when as West Germany they also beat Argentina by the same score in 90 minutes in the
World Cup final. Germany became the first European team to win a World Cup staged in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
, and this result marked the third consecutive title won by a European team, after Italy in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
and Spain in
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
.
Host selection
In March 2003, FIFA announced that the tournament would be held in South America for the first time since
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
, in line with its policy at the time of rotating the right to host the World Cup among different confederations. With the
2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
hosted in South Africa, it would be the second consecutive World Cup outside Europe, which was a first for the tournament. It was also second in the Southern Hemisphere. Only Brazil and Colombia formally declared their candidacy but, after the withdrawal of the latter from the process, Brazil was officially elected as host nation unopposed on 30 October 2007.
Participating teams and officials
Qualification
Following qualification matches played between June 2011 and November 2013, the following 32 teams – shown with their last pre-tournament
FIFA world ranking
The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...
– qualified for the final tournament. Twenty-four of these teams were returning participants from the
2010 World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
were the only team with no previous appearance at the World Cup finals.
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
qualified for the World Cup after
16 years of absence, while
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
both returned after
12 years.
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
failed to qualify for the first time since 1994. This was also the first World Cup for 32 years that did not feature a representative from the Nordic countries. The highest ranked team not to qualify was
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
(ranked 16th), while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
(ranked 62nd).
;
AFC (4)
* (62)
* (43)
* (46)
* (57)
;
CAF (5)
* (22)
* (56)
* (37)
* (23)
* (44)
;
OFC (0)
* ''None qualified''
;
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...
(4)
* (28)
* (33)
* (20)
* (13)
;
CONMEBOL
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...
(6)
* (5)
* (3) (hosts)
* (14)
* (8)
* (26)
* (7)
;
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
(13)
* (11)
* (21)
* (18)
* (10)
* (17)
* (2)
* (12)
* (9)
* (15)
* (4)
* (19)
* (1)
* (6)
As of
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
, this was the last time Chile, Ivory Coast, Greece, Italy, Honduras, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Algeria qualified for the World Cup finals, and the last time Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Denmark, Poland, and Serbia failed to qualify. This was also the most recent World Cup finals to feature every prior winning team.
Final draw
The 32 participating teams were drawn into eight groups. In preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots with the seven
highest-ranked teams joining host nation
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
in the seeded pot. As with the previous tournaments, FIFA aimed to create groups which maximised geographic separation and therefore the unseeded teams were arranged into pots based on geographic considerations. The draw took place on 6 December 2013 at the
Costa do Sauípe
Sauipe is a district in the municipality of Mata de São João, on the northern coast of the state of Bahia, in Brazil. There are few permanent residents there, due to the very high cost of residences and the fact that almost the entire area is ...
resort in
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
, during which the teams were drawn by various past World Cup-winning players. Under the draw procedure, one randomly drawn team – Italy – was firstly relocated from Pot 4 to Pot 2 to create four equal pots of eight teams.
Officials
In March 2013, FIFA published a list of 52 prospective referees, each paired, on the basis of nationality, with two
assistant referee
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...
s, from all six football confederations for the tournament. On 14 January 2014, the FIFA Referees Committee appointed 25 referee trios and eight support duos representing 43 countries for the tournament.
Yuichi Nishimura
is a Japanese football referee. He has refereed in the Japanese J. League Division 1 since 1999 and has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2004. He refereed the opening game in the 2014 FIFA World Cup between hosts Brazil and Croa ...
from
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
acted as referee in the opening match whereas
Nicola Rizzoli from
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
acted as referee in the final.
Squads
As with the
2010 tournament, each team's squad consisted of 23 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers). Each participating national association had to confirm their final 23-player squad no later than 10 days before the start of the tournament.
Teams were permitted to make late replacements in the event of serious injury, at any time up to 24 hours before their first game.
During a match, all remaining squad members not named in the starting team were available to be one of the three permitted substitutions (provided the player was not serving a suspension).
Venues
12 venues (seven new and five renovated) in twelve cities were selected for the tournament. The venues covered all the main
regions of Brazil
Brazil is geopolitically divided into five regions (also called macroregions), by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, which are formed by the federative units of Brazil. Although officially recognized, the division is merely ac ...
and created more evenly distributed hosting than the
1950 finals in Brazil. Consequently, the tournament required long-distance travel for teams. During the World Cup, Brazilian cities were also home to the participating teams at
32 separate base camps,
as well as staging
official fan fests where supporters could view the games.
The most used stadiums were the Maracanã and Brasilia, which hosted seven matches each. The least-used venues were in Cuiabá, Manaus, Natal, and Curitiba, which hosted four matches each; as the four smallest stadiums in use at the tournament, they did not host any knockout round matches.
Team base camps
Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. On 31 January 2014, FIFA announced the base camps for each participating team,
having earlier circulated a brochure of 84 prospective locations. Most teams opted to stay in the
Southeast Region of Brazil, with only eight teams choosing other regions; five teams (Croatia, Germany, Ghana, Greece and Switzerland) opted to stay in the
Northeast Region and three teams (Ecuador, South Korea and Spain) opted to stay in the
South Region Southern Region or South Region may refer to:
* Southern Nigeria
* Southern Region (Boy Scouts of America)
* Southern Region, Bauchi, Nigeria
* South Region, Brazil, an official grouping of states for economic and statistical purposes
* Southern R ...
. None opted to stay in the
North Region or the
Central-West Region.
Campo Bahia Campo Bahia is a sports and nature resort in the village of Santo André, famous for hosting the Germany national football team, who used it during their 2014 FIFA World Cup win. It is located on the southern tip of the state of Bahia in the North- ...
, the base camp of the eventual champion Germany, attracted much interest.
FIFA Fan Fests
For a third consecutive World Cup tournament, FIFA staged
FIFA Fan Fests in each of the 12 host cities throughout the competition. Prominent examples were the
Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, which already held a Fan Fest in 2010, and
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
's Vale do Anhangabaú. The first official event took place on
Iracema Beach, in
Fortaleza
Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...
, on 8 June 2014.
Innovations
Technologies
In order to avoid
ghost goal
In association football, a ghost goal (or phantom goal) is either a goal wrongly awarded despite the ball not having crossed the goal line, or a goal wrongly not given despite the ball having crossed the line. In an attempt to combat ghost goals, ...
s, the 2014 World Cup introduced
goal-line technology following successful trials at among others
2013 Confederations Cup
The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...
. The chosen
Goal Control system featured 14 high speed cameras, 7 directed to each of the goals. Data were sent to the central image-processing centre, where a virtual representation of the ball was output on a widescreen to confirm the goal. The referee was equipped with a watch which vibrated and displayed a signal upon a goal.
France's second goal in their
group game against Honduras was the first time goal-line technology was needed to confirm that a goal should be given.
Following successful trials, FIFA approved the use of
vanishing spray
Vanishing spray, also known as vanishing foam, is a substance applied to an association football pitch in order to provide a temporary visual marker. It is most often used by the referee (association football), referee to indicate the minimum d ...
by the referees for the first time at a World Cup Finals. The water-based spray, which disappears within minutes of application, can be used to mark a ten-yard line for the defending team during a
free kick and also to draw where the ball is to be placed for a free kick.
The
Adidas Brazuca
The Adidas Brazuca () was the official match ball of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Brazil. It is designed by the company Adidas, a FIFA Partner and FIFA World Cup official match ball supplier since 1970.
Naming
The name of the ba ...
was the official
match ball of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
and was supplied by
Forward Sports
Forward Sports is a Pakistani multi-national company based in Sialkot, Punjab that makes sports equipment, primarily soccer balls. It produces 750,000 balls per month for global brands including Adidas. It was founded in 1991 by Khawaja Masood ...
of
Sialkot, Pakistan.
Adidas created a new design of ball after criticisms of the
Adidas Jabulani
The Jabulani ( , ) was a ball (association football), football manufactured by Adidas. It was the List of FIFA World Cup official match balls, official match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The ball is made from eight spherically moulded panels ...
used in the
previous World Cup. The number of panels was reduced to six, with the panels being thermally bonded. This created a ball with increased consistency and aerodynamics compared to its predecessor. Furthermore, Adidas underwent an extensive testing process lasting more than two years to produce a ball that would meet the approval of football professionals.
Cooling breaks
Due to the relatively high ambient temperatures in Brazil, particularly at the northern venues, cooling breaks for the players were introduced. Breaks could take place at the referee's discretion after the 30th minute of each half if the
Wet Bulb Globe Temperature
The wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is a type of apparent temperature used to estimate the effect of temperature, humidity, wind speed (wind chill), and visible and infrared radiation (usually sunlight) on humans. It is used by industrial h ...
exceeded ; the breaks would last 3 minutes, with this time made up by an extended period of stoppage time at the end of the half.
The first cooling break in a World Cup play took place during the 32nd minute of the
match between the Netherlands and Mexico in the round of 16. At the start of the match, FIFA listed the temperature at with 68% humidity.
Anti-doping
The
biological passport was introduced in the FIFA World Cup starting in 2014.
Blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...
and
urine
Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excretion, excreted from the body through the urethra.
Cel ...
samples collected from all players before the competition, and from two players per team per match, were analysed by the
Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses
The Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses (French: ''Laboratoire suisse d'analyse du dopage'', LAD) is the only Doping in sport, anti-doping laboratory in Switzerland.
It is affiliated to the University Hospital of Lausanne and is located in Ép ...
. FIFA reported that 91.5% of the players taking part in the tournament were tested before the start of the competition and none tested positive. However, FIFA was criticised for how it conducted doping tests.
Format
The first round, or group stage, was a competition between the 32 teams divided among eight groups of four, where each group engaged in a
round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...
within itself. The two highest ranked teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage.
Teams were awarded three points for a win and one for a draw. When comparing teams in a group over-all result came before head-to-head.
In the
knockout stage
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
there were four rounds (round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final), with each eliminating the losers. The two semi-final losers competed in a third place play-off. For any match in the knockout stage, a draw after 90 minutes of regulation time was followed by two 15 minute periods of
extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
to determine a winner. If the teams were still tied, a
penalty shoot-out was held to determine a winner.
The match schedule was announced on 20 October 2011 with the kick-off times being confirmed on 27 September 2012; after the final draw, the kick-off times of seven matches were adjusted by FIFA. The competition was organised so that teams that played each other in the group stage could not meet again during the knockout phase until the final (or the 3rd place match).
The group stage began on 12 June, with the host nation competing in the opening game as has been the format since the 2006 tournament. The opening game was preceded by an
opening ceremony
An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event. that began at 15:15 local time.
Opening ceremony
On 12 June 2014, the 20th edition of the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
began with the opening ceremony at
Arena de São Paulo
Neo Química Arena, previously known as Arena Corinthians, is a sports stadium located in São Paulo, Brazil, owned, operated and used by Corinthians. It has a seating capacity of , making it the fifth-largest stadium used by teams in the t ...
,
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, Brazil. The event saw 660 dancers take to the stadium and perform in a ceremony which celebrated the nature of the country and its love of football. Following the dancers native singer
Claudia Leitte emerged on centre stage to perform for the crowd. She was later joined by Cuban-American rapper
Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
, and American singer
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
to perform the tournament's official song "
We Are One (Ole Ola)
"We Are One (Ole Ola)" is a song recorded by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull for ''One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album'' (2014). It is the official song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil and features guest voca ...
" which had been released as an official single on 8 April 2014. Following the ceremony, the opening match was played, which saw the hosts come from behind to beat Croatia 3–1.
Group stage
The group stage of the cup took place in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
from 12 June 2014 to 26 June 2014: each team played three games. The group stage was notable for a scarcity of draws and a large number of goals. The first drawn (and goalless) match did not occur until the 13th match of the tournament, between Iran and Nigeria: a drought longer than any World Cup since 1930. The group stage produced a total of 136 goals (an average of 2.83 goals per match), nine fewer than were scored during the entire 2010 tournament. This is the largest number of goals in the group stage since the 32-team system was implemented in 1998 and the largest average in a group stage since 1958. World Cup holders Spain were eliminated after only two games, the quickest exit for the defending champions since Italy's from the
1950 tournament. Spain also became the fourth nation to be eliminated in the first round while holding the World Cup crown, the first one being Italy in 1950 (and again in 2010), Brazil in 1966, and France in 2002. For the first time, two teams from Africa advanced to the second round, a feat that would be repeated in the
2022 tournament.
Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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Group E
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Group F
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Group G
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Group H
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Knockout stage
Scores after extra time are indicated by (aet), and penalty shoot-outs are indicated by (pen.).
Round of 16
All the group winners advanced into the quarter-finals. They included four teams from UEFA, three from CONMEBOL, and one from CONCACAF. Of the eight matches, five required extra-time, and two of these
required penalty shoot-outs; this was the first time penalty shoot-outs occurred in more than one game in a round of 16. The goal average per game in the round of 16 was 2.25, a drop of 0.58 goals per game from the group stage. The eight teams to win in the round of 16 included four former champions (Brazil, Germany, Argentina and France), a three-time runner-up (Netherlands), and two first-time quarter-finalists (Colombia and Costa Rica). Belgium reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 1986.
''All times listed below are at local time (
UTC−3)''
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Quarter-finals
With a 1–0 victory over France, Germany set a World Cup record with four consecutive semi-final appearances. Brazil beat Colombia 2–1, but Brazil's
Neymar was injured and missed the rest of the competition. Argentina reached the final four for the first time since 1990 after a 1–0 win over Belgium. The Netherlands reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive tournament, after overcoming Costa Rica in a
penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw at the end of extra time, with goalkeeper
Tim Krul having been substituted on for the shoot-out and saving two penalties.
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Semi-finals
Germany qualified for the final for the eighth time with a historic 7–1 win over Brazil – the biggest defeat in Brazilian football since 1920.
Miroslav Klose's goal in this match was his 16th throughout all World Cups, breaking the
record
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
he had previously shared with
Ronaldo
Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People
Notable people known as Ronaldo include:
As ...
. Klose set another record by becoming the first player to appear in four World Cup semi-finals. Argentina reached their first final since 1990, and their fifth overall, after overcoming the Netherlands in a
penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw at the end of extra time.
----
Third place play-off
The Netherlands defeated Brazil 3–0 to secure third place, the first for the Dutch team in their history. Overall, Brazil conceded 14 goals in the tournament; this was the most by a team at any single World Cup since 1986, and the most by a host nation in history, although their fourth-place finish still represented Brazil's best result in a World Cup since their last win in 2002.
Final
The final featured Germany against Argentina for a record third time after
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
and
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
.
This marked the first time that teams from the same continent had won three consecutive World Cups (following Italy in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
and Spain in
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
). It was also the first time that a European nation had won the World Cup in the Americas. On aggregate Europe then had 11 victories, to South America's nine.
Statistics
Goalscorers
In total, 171 goals were scored by a record 121 players, with five credited as
own goals. Goals scored from
penalty shoot-outs are not counted.
Discipline
The most notable disciplinary case was that of Uruguayan striker
Luis Suárez, who was suspended for nine international matches and banned from taking part in any football-related activity (including entering any stadium) for four months, following a
biting incident on Italian defender
Giorgio Chiellini
Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, Chiellini is known for his strengt ...
. He was also fined
CHF100,000.
After an appeal to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...
, Suárez was later allowed to participate in training and friendly matches with new club
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
.
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
;Technical Study Group
The members of the Technical Study Group, the committee that decided which players won the awards, were led by FIFA's head of the Technical Division
Jean-Paul Brigger
Jean-Paul Brigger (born 14 December 1957) is a Swiss football manager and former player who played as a football striker. He played for the most of his career with FC Sion.
Aside from FC Sion, Brigger played for Servette and represented the ...
and featured:
*
Gérard Houllier
*
Raul Arias
Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul.
Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...
*
Gabriel Calderón
*
Ricki Herbert
Ricki Lloyd Herbert (born 10 April 1961) is a New Zealand former footballer and manager. He is the current technical director at Cambridge FC.
Herbert was formerly head coach of the New Zealand national team, stepping down after the side faile ...
*
Abdel Moneim Hussein
*
Kwok Ka Ming
Kwok Ka Ming MBE, JP (, born 30 October 1949) is a Hong Kong former professional footballer and coach.
Early life
Kwok graduated from St. Francis Xavier's College where he played in the school basketball and table tennis team. He joined th ...
*
Ioan Lupescu
Ioan "Ionuț" Angelo Lupescu (born 9 December 1968) is a Romanian former football player who played as a midfielder and a manager.
Club career
Ioan Lupescu, nicknamed ''Kaiserul'' was born on 9 December 1968 in Bucharest, Romania and started to ...
*
Ginés Meléndez
*
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
*
Sunday Oliseh
Sunday Ogochukwu Oliseh (born 14 September 1974) is a Nigerian football manager and former player. In his active playing career he played as a defensive midfielder. Physical yet technically gifted, he played for top European clubs including Aja ...
*
Mixu Paatelainen
Mika-Matti Petteri Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and the head coach of Veikkausliiga club HIFK. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's ...
*
Jaime Rodríguez
Jaime Alberto Rodríguez Jiménez (born 17 January 1959) is a former Association football, football player from El Salvador.
He represented his country at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.
Playing career
Club career
From a very early age on ...
*
Theodore Whitmore
There were changes to the voting procedure for awards for the 2014 edition: while in 2010 accredited media were allowed to vote for the Golden Ball award, in 2014 only the Technical Study Group could select the outcome.
All-Star Team
As was the case during the 2010 edition, FIFA released an
All-Star Team based on the
Castrol performance index in its official website.
Dream Team
FIFA also invited users of FIFA.com to elect their Dream Team.
Prize money
The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as
US$576 million (including payments of $70 million to domestic clubs and $100 million as player insurances), a 37 percent increase from the amount
allocated in the 2010 tournament. Before the tournament, each of the 32 entrants received $1.5 million for preparation costs. At the tournament, the prize money was distributed as follows:
* $8 million – To each team eliminated at the
group stage (16 teams)
* $9 million – To each team eliminated in the
round of 16 (8 teams)
* $14 million – To each team eliminated in the
quarter-finals (4 teams)
* $20 million –
Fourth placed team
* $22 million –
Third placed team
* $25 million –
Runner-up
* $35 million –
Winner
Winner(s) or The Winner(s) may refer to:
* Champion, the victor in a game or contest
*The successful social class in winner and loser culture
Film
* ''The Winner'' (1926 film), an American silent film starring Billy Sullivan
* ''The Winner'' ...
Final standings
Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in
extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by
penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
, -
, colspan="11", Eliminated in the quarter-finals
, -
, -
, colspan="11", Eliminated in the round of 16
, -
, -
, colspan="11", Eliminated in the group stage
, -
Preparations and costs
Costs of the tournament totalled $11.6 billion,
[Непредвиденные расходы: как менялась смета ЧМ-2018](_blank)
08 ИЮН, 07:01, RBC making it the most expensive World Cup to date, until surpassed by
2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
which cost an estimated $14.2 billion.
FIFA was expected to spend US$2 billion on staging the finals, with its greatest single expense being the
US$576 million prize money pot.
Although organisers originally estimated costs of US$1.1 billion,
a reported US$3.6 billion was ultimately spent on stadium works. Five of the chosen host cities had brand new venues built specifically for the World Cup, while the
Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha
Arena BRB Mané Garrincha, formerly Estádio Nacional de Brasília Mané Garrincha, also known as ''Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha'', ''Estádio Nacional de Brasília'', ''Arena Mané Garrincha'' or simply ''Mané Garrincha'', is a football ...
in the capital
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
was demolished and rebuilt, with the remaining six being extensively renovated.
An additional R$3 billion (US$1.3 billion, €960 million, £780 million at June 2014 rates) was earmarked by the Brazilian government for investment in infrastructure works and projects for use during the 2014 World Cup and beyond. However, the failed completion of many of the proposed works provoked discontent among some Brazilians.
The Brazilian government pledged US$900 million to be invested into security forces and that the tournament would be "one of the most protected sports events in history."
Marketing
The marketing of the 2014 FIFA World Cup included sale of tickets, support from sponsors and promotion through events that utilise the symbols and
songs of the tournament. Popular merchandise included items featuring the
official mascot as well as an
official video game that has been developed by
EA Sports.
As a partner of the
German Football Association
The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...
, part of German major airline
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
's fleet was branded "Fanhansa" for the time being. Branded planes flew the German national team, media representatives and football fans to Brazil.
The
Sony Xperia Z2
The Sony Xperia Z2 is an Android-based smartphone unveiled, manufactured, and marketed by Sony and was released in April 2014. Under the codename "Sirius", Xperia Z2 serves as the successor to the Sony Xperia Z1. Like its predecessor, the Xperia ...
was dubbed the "official
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
of the 2014 FIFA World Cup".
Sponsorship
The sponsors of the 2014 World Cup are divided into three categories: FIFA Partners, FIFA World Cup Sponsors and National Supporters.
Symbols
Mascot
The
official mascot of this World Cup was "
Fuleco
Fuleco () was the official mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Brazil. Fuleco is a Brazilian three-banded armadillo, a species of armadillo which is native to Brazil and categorized as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List. Fuleco wa ...
"
Match ball
The
official match ball was "
Brazuca", manufactured by
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
.
Music
The official song of the tournament was "
We Are One (Ole Ola)
"We Are One (Ole Ola)" is a song recorded by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull for ''One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album'' (2014). It is the official song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil and features guest voca ...
" with vocals from
Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
,
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
and
Claudia Leitte.
The official mascot song was "Tatu Bom de Bola".
The official anthem was "
Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)
"Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)" is the official anthem of the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil performed by Carlos Santana and Wyclef Jean featuring Avicii and Alexandre Pires. The song was executive-produced and co-written by Arnon Woolfso ...
".
Media
For a fourth consecutive FIFA World Cup Finals, the coverage was provided by HBS (Host Broadcast Services), a subsidiary of
Infront Sports & Media
Infront Sports & Media is a sports marketing company based in Zug, Switzerland. The company handles the media and marketing rights for international sports events and federations and also provides sports services - such as advertising, sponsorsh ...
.
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
was selected as the official equipment provider and built 12 bespoke
high definition
High definition or HD may refer to:
Visual technologies
*HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format
*HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format
*HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape
* HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
production 40-foot-long containers, one for each tournament venue, to house the extensive amount of equipment required.
Each match utilised 37 standard camera plans, including Aerial and Cablecam, two Ultramotion cameras and dedicated cameras for interviews.
The official tournament film, as well as three matches, will be filmed with
ultra high definition
Ultra-high-definition television (also known as Ultra HD television, Ultra HD, UHDTV, UHD and Super Hi-Vision) today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed by ...
technology (
4K resolution
4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K Ultra-high-definitio ...
), following a successful trial at the
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup
The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...
.
The broadcasting rights – covering television, radio, internet and mobile coverage – for the tournament were sold to media companies in each individual territory either directly by FIFA, or through licensed companies or organisations such as the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
,
Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana, International Media Content,
Dentsu and RS International Broadcasting & Sports Management. The sale of these rights accounted for an estimated 60% of FIFA's income from staging a World Cup. The International Broadcast Centre was situated at the
Riocentro in the
Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro.
Worldwide, several games qualified as the most-watched sporting events in their country in 2014, including 42.9 million people in Brazil for the opening game between Brazil and Croatia, the 34.1 million in Japan who saw their team play Ivory Coast, and 34.7 million in Germany who saw their national team win the World Cup against Argentina, while the 24.7 million viewers during the game between the US and Portugal is joint with the
2010 final as the most-watched football game in the United States. According to FIFA, over 1 billion people tuned in worldwide to watch the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
between Germany and Argentina.
Controversies
The 2014 FIFA World Cup generated various controversies, including demonstrations, some of which took place even before the tournament started. Furthermore, there were various issues with safety, including the death of eight workers and a fire during construction, breaches into stadiums, an unstable makeshift staircase at the
Maracanã Stadium
Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...
, a
monorail
A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam.
Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...
collapse, and the
collapse of an unfinished overpass in
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
.
The houses of thousands of families living in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
’s
slums were cleared for redevelopments for the World Cup in spite of protests and resistance. Favela do Metrô, near the Maracanã Stadium, was completely destroyed as a result, having previously housed 700 families in 2010.
Protests
Prior to the opening ceremony of the
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup
The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...
staged in Brazil, demonstrations took place outside
the venue, organised by people unhappy with the amount of public money spent to enable the hosting of the FIFA World Cup.
Both the
Brazilian president
The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...
Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the first w ...
and FIFA president
Sepp Blatter
Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...
were heavily booed as they were announced to give their speeches at the 2013 tournament's opening, which resulted in FIFA announcing that the
2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony
The 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 12 June 2014, at the Arena de São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil at 15:15 Brasília official time ( UTC−3), about a quarter to two hours before the opening match of the tournament ...
would not feature any speeches. Further protests took place during the Confederations Cup as well as prior to and during the World Cup.
Breaches into stadiums
At the
Group B match between
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, around 100 Chilean supporters who had gathered outside
Maracanã Stadium
Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...
forced their way into the stadium and caused damage to the media centre. Military police reported that 85 Chileans were detained during the events, while others reached the stands. Earlier, about 20 Argentinians made a similar breach during Argentina's
Group F game against Bosnia and Herzegovina at the same stadium.
Bridge collapse
On 3 July 2014, an
overpass
An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...
under construction in
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
as part of the World Cup
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
projects collapsed onto a busy
carriageway below, leaving two people dead and 22 others injured.
Head injuries
During the tournament, FIFA received significant criticism for the way head injuries are handled during matches. Two incidents in particular attracted the most attention. First, in a group stage match, after Uruguayan defender
Álvaro Pereira received a blow to the head, he lay unconscious. The Uruguayan doctor signaled for the player to be substituted, but he returned to the match. The incident drew criticism from the professional players' union FIFPro, and from Michel D'Hooghe, a member of the FIFA executive board and chairman of its medical committee.
Second, in the Final, German midfielder
Christoph Kramer
Christoph Kramer (born 19 February 1991) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach. He represented the Germany national team.
After a season in their reserve team, Kr ...
received a blow to the head from a collision in the 14th minute, but returned to the match before collapsing in the 31st minute. During that time, Kramer was disoriented and confused, and asked the referee
Nicola Rizzoli whether the match he was playing in was the World Cup Final.
See also
*
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
Notes
References
External links
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™at FIFA.com
at
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
.com
Official Brazil government websiteRegulations – 2014 FIFA World Cup BrazilFIFA Technical Reportat
RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...
2014 FIFA World Cup The Official Film(On
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fifa World Cup, 2014
2014 in association football
2014 in Brazilian football
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...
June 2014 sports events in South America
July 2014 sports events in South America