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 ...

is an international

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competition established in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...

. It is contested by the men's national teams of the members of

Fédération Internationale de Football Association 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 founded ...

(FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has taken place every four years, except in 1942 and 1946, when the competition was cancelled due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The World Cup opening match is the first of the competition. Opening match regulations have changed many times.흥미로운 기록이 가득한 월드컵 개막전의 모든 것
/ref> Between 1974 and 2002, the defending champions were involved in the opening match. Since 2006, as the defending champions no longer qualify automatically, the opening matches involve the host nations.

List of opening matches

Early years (1930–1970)

Defending champion era (1974–2002)

Host country era (2006–)

References

External links