Things You Need to Know About the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil June 12 - July 13,2014

1)Participating Teams are 32 and they are -
Hosts: Brazil
South America: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Uruguay
North/Central America and Caribbean: United States, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico
Asia: Japan, Australia, Iran and South Korea
Africa: Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria
Europe: Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Croatia and France.


2)Previous Winners Taking Part are -
The host nation; Brazil have won the World Cup a record five times, the last of which came in 2002.
Italy (four wins)
Germany (three)
 Uruguay, Argentina (twice each)
 England, France and Spain (once each)

3)2nd Time Brazil Has Hosted World Cup.The fourth World Cup, in 1950, was held in Brazil, with Uruguay beating the hosts 2-1 in the last final group game to win the trophy

4)The World Cup might only be in Brazil for the second time, but this will be the fifth time overall that it has been hosted on South American soil—and the first time since 1978.

• In 1978,Argentina won the tournament in their own country in front of their own fans.
• Chile hosted the '62 final, won by Brazil
• Uruguay won in Brazil in 1950
• the first-ever World Cup finals, held in 1930, took place in Uruguay and won by Uruguay

In short, no nation from outside South America has ever won the World Cup on South American soil.

4)The 2014 FIFA World Cup Mascot is named "Fuleco," as voted for by the Brazilian public

5)The official ball to be used at the 2014 World Cup is the Adidas Brazuca

6)The entirety of the tournament will see the 32 nations take part in a total of 64 matches: 48 group stage games and 15 further knock-out stage games.
It will take precisely one month and one day(June 12 - July 13,2014) for the entire World Cup to take place; 32 days of football festivities with only eight days in that period with no game scheduled.Most days during the group stages will have three or four fixtures, with two knock-out matches played per day up until the semi-final stage.

7)The final of the 2014 World Cup will be played on Sunday, July 13,2014 at the Maracana Stadium, now revamped and rebuilt.

8)The official ambassadors for the 2014 FIFA World Cup are, unsurprisingly, all Brazilian.It includes Carlos Alberto, Amarildo, Bebeto and Ronaldo from the men's team, the legendary Marta from the women's team and Mario Zagallo, who won the World Cup both as a player and a manager with his nation.

9)"All in one rhythm"—that's the message and the slogan you can expect to see everywhere in Brazil during the tournament.
It should feature at the traditional opening and closing ceremonies, in the fan areas around the country and throughout the usual blaze of publicity and marketing material that accompanies such massive tournaments.
The slogan in Portuguese is "Juntos num so ritmo."

10)The actual World Cup Trophy is currently on a tour of the globe, taking in 88 countries in 267 days ahead of the tournament.

It will spend much of December moving around Asia—Bhutan, India, Thailand and the like—before heading to South America in the new year. European countries will hog most of the next two months before the trophy heads to Korea Republic, China and Japan, with the final pre-tournament stop being the USA.
By April 21, 2014 the famous golden trophy should be back in Brazil

11)Best Competing Team Record -

• Germany are the top team of the World Cup, having reached the last four on no less than 12 occasions, winning three titles

• Germany have also played the most games at the World Cup finals - 99

12)Highest- and Lowest-Ranked Nations
Spain are still the No. 1 side in the world, and likely will be up to the start of the tournament with minimal international football to be played beforehand
Only one nation ranked in the top 20 will not be at Brazil 2014: Ukraine (18). They fell to France in the UEFA zone play-off
The lowest-ranked nations in each zone who have qualified for the World Cup are -
Cameroon (CAF, 51st)
Honduras (CONCACAF, 41st)
Chile (CONMEBOL, 15th)
Russia (UEFA, 22nd) and
Australia (AFC, 59th)

13)There should be no such uncertainties this time around, with Goal-line Technology in place for the first-ever FIFA World Cup

14)The top seeds for the World Cup have now been confirmed, with FIFA acknowledging the eight nations who will head each of the groups next summer.

• Brazil, as hosts, will naturally be one.
• The other 7 are -
• Spain
• Argentina
• Germany
• Colombia
• Belgium
• Uruguay and 
• Switzerland.

Each of these 8 nations will be assigned a group, with the other 24 nations split into their own pools and drawn alongside the top seeds

15)It is customary for the host nation to open the World Cup tournament with the first game and, as such, Brazil take their place in Group A to take part in the opening fixture

16)Squads
Each competing nation will name a squad of 23 players.
This squad must feature three registered goalkeepers and 20 outfield players, and the finalised squad list must be submitted no later than 10 days before the start of the World Cup

17)For Croatia, one of their main men is Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic—but it looks as though he will be the only player suspended for the start of the finals after being sent off for a terrible late and high challenge in the final qualifying match.

If his suspension is set at three games, a standard for violent conduct, Mandzukic would miss the entire group stage and there is every chance that Croatia would therefore opt not to take him

18)Broadcasting Rights
The World Cup is an event broadcast all over the world in close to 200 countries and territories, all of which have their own separate deals negotiated for radio, mobile, Internet and television coverage

 19)Prize Money
FIFA has confirmed that the total prize money for the 2014 event will be $454 million USD. The split has not yet been confirmed.

20)The highest scorers in qualifying who will be at the World Cup finals—assuming their nations pick them in the squad, of course ,were -

• Luis Suarez of Uruguay (11 goals) 
• Robin van Persie of Holland (11)
• Edin Dzeko of Bosnia-Herzegovina (10)
• Oribe Peralta of Mexico (10) and 
• Lionel Messi of Argentina (10).

With 11 goals, Deon McCauley of Belize was the highest scorer who will not be at the finals.

21)The 12 Host Cities in Brazil are -

• Rio de Janeiro
• Brasilia
• Sau Paulo
• Fortaleza
• Belo Horizonte
• Porto Alegre
• Salvador
• Recife
• Cuiaba
• Manaus
• Natal
• Curitiba

2)Top Goal Scorers in FIFA World?Cup Football 1930-2010