Modern football originated in the 19^th Century in English schools. It has now become a universal sport played in villages, streets and stadiums al over the world. Today, it is the game which attracts the largest number of fans in the world.

193 national associations are members of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), that is more than the number of countries belonging to the United Nations, 250 million men and women play football throughout the world. Hundreds of thousands of others, big or small, young or old, with no distinction of class or race, divide themselves into two teams with the soul aim of having fun by sending the ball into the opposite side's goal. Football, is the embodiment of a need to communicate and to share, is one of the greatest concepts of humanity!

The origin of football can be found in every corner of geography and history. The Chinese and Japanese, the Egyptians and the Assyrians, played a ball game long before our era. Later, the Roman harpastum, using a bull's bladder, reached the shores of the Atlantic when the legions conquered Gaul. This game led the way to soule, considered together with the Florentine calcio which emerged during the Renaissance, as the real ancestor of football.

Football, man's favorite game has become universal because of its simple rules and also because of the widespread influence of the World Cup. Every four years, the entire world is spellbound by this wonderful spectacle.

On May 26, 1928, the Congress of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, held in Amsterdam decided to organize a competition "open to teams representing all affiliated national associations". The final approval of this project was voted at the Barcelona Congress the following year. It needed all of the perseverance of two Frenchmen, Jules Rimet, elected President of FIFA in 1921, and Henri Delaunay, Secretary-General of the French Football Federation, to turn what was for a long time a utopian idea into reality.

When the whistle blew for the first World Cup in Montevideo in July 1930, it was difficult to imagine that this competition would become the greatest sporting festival. In fact, no other international meeting or event has enjoyed such a resounding success, and this grandiose tournament has permanently assumed a superlative dimension (1.5 billion viewers in front of the small screen just for the 1994 final between Brazil and Italy).

Unique in the history of football and the most famous of all champions in any other sport, the Brazilian Edson Arantes do Nascimento, affectionately known all over the world as Pelé, is the only player to have won three World Cups, in 1958, 1962 and 1970 with the Brazilian team.