CHANGING FACE OF FOOTBALL’S ULTIMATE PRIZE
1930
Host: Uruguay, 13 teams, 18 matches: There was no qualification campaign for the maiden tournament, with every Fifa member invited to take part. But only four European nations made the long trip by sea to South America. The format was four groups, one consisting of four teams and the rest of three. The group winners progressed to the semi-finals. Winners: Uruguay
1934
Italy, 16, 17: Thirty-six teams were whittled down to 16 in qualifying, but reigning champions Uruguay refused to participate. The group stage was scrapped, with the competition settled in a straight knockout format. The 1938 edition was contested via the same process, though only 15 teams took part as qualifiers. Austria were disbanded prior to the tournament after the country was annexed by Germany. Winners: Italy
1950
Brazil, 13, 22 Another 16-team tournament was planned but a number of withdrawals left 13 teams competing in Brazil. The groups returned and the quartet of winners progressed into another round-robin stage. This was the only World Cup not to feature a proper final, though the last group game between Brazil and Uruguay ended up being the decider. Winners: Uruguay
1954 Switzerland, 16, 26: There were four teams per group, with the top two progressing to a knockout stage. But instead of a round-robin format in the groups, each team played just two games at that stage with extra-time used in drawn matches. The format was tweaked in 1958, introducing three group games and dropping extra-time until the knockout stages, and that system would remain in place until 1974. Winners: West Germany
1974
West Germany, 16, 38: The first part remained untouched but the knockout stages were replaced with a second group stage, with the two winners progressing
to the final. The 1978 edition followed the same format, with the only change being the introduction of penalties as a tie-breaker for the final and the third-place play-off, though neither game required a shootout. Winnners: West Germany
1982
Spain, 24, 52: The first major increase of participants delivered another change to the schedule. The first group stage consisted of six pools of four teams, with the second stage changing
to four groups of three sides. The winners of each second-stage group progressed to the semi-finals, where West Germany’s win against France was the first finals game to be decided by penalties. Winnners: Italy
1986
Mexico, 24, 52: The second stage was switched to a knockout format, with the four best third-placed teams also progressing from the groups. This would remain the format for the next 12 years, although the 1994 competition introduced three points for a win instead of two. Winnners: Argentina
1998
France, 32, 64: A format that will remain in place until Qatar 2022 was introduced. It saw eight groups of four teams, with the top two sides progressing to the knockout stages. Winnners: France
2026
TBC: 48,80: As well as 16 groups of three followed by a 32-team knockout, a proposal remains in place to decide all drawn matches via penalty shootouts.