The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the tournament for the association football world championship, which took place at several venues across Brazil. Germany won the tournament, defeating runners-up Argentina 1-0 in the final match.
It began on 12 June, with a group stage, and concluded on 13 July with the championship match.[5] It was the second time that Brazil has hosted the competition, the first being in 1950. Brazil was elected unchallenged as host nation in 2007 after the international football federation, FIFA, decreed that the tournament would be staged in South America for the first time since 1978 in Argentina, and the fifth time overall.
The national teams of 31 countries advanced through qualification competitions that began in June 2011 to participate with the host nation Brazil in the final tournament. A total of 64 matches were being played in 12 cities across Brazil in either new or redeveloped stadiums. For the first time at a World Cup finals, match officials used goal-line technology, as well as vanishing foam for free kicks.[6]
All world champion teams since the first World Cup in 1930 – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Uruguay – qualified for this competition. The title holders, Spain, were eliminated at the group stage, along with previous winners England and Italy. Uruguay was eliminated in the Round of 16 and France was eliminated at the quarter-finals. In the final between two former champions Argentina and Germany, Germany won the title by defeating Argentina 1–0 after extra time, thus becoming the first European team to win a World Cup in the Americas.[7] This result marked the first time that sides from the same continent had won three successive World Cups (following Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010).[8][9]
As the winners, Germany qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Fan Fest in the host cities received 5 million people, and the country received 1 million foreigners from 202 countries.[10]
Final draw
Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup seeding
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 in the seeded pot.[18] 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.[19][20] The draw took place on 6 December 2013 at the Costa do Sauípe resort in Bahia, during which the teams were drawn by various past World Cup-winning players.[21][22] 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.[19]
Officials
Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup officials
In March 2013, FIFA published a list of 52 prospective referees, each paired, on the basis of nationality, with two assistant referees, 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 different countries for the tournament.[23][24]
Squads
Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup squads
As with the 2010 tournament, each team's squad consists 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.[25] Teams were permitted to make late replacements in the event of serious injury, at any time up to 24 hours before their first game.[25] During a match, all remaining squad members not named in the starting team are available to be one of the three permitted substitutions (provided the player is not serving a suspension).[25]
Venues
Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup 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 and created more evenly distributed hosting than the 1950 finals in Brazil.[26] Consequently, the tournament required long-distance travel for teams.[27] During the World Cup, Brazilian cities were also home to the participating teams at 32 separate base camps,[28] as well as staging official fan fests where supporters could view the games.[29]
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's Vale do Anhangabaú.[33][34] The first official event took place on Iracema Beach, in Fortaleza, on 8 June 2014.[35]
Innovations
Technologies
To avoid ghost goals the 2014 World Cup introduced goal-line technology following successful trials at among others 2013 Confederations Cup. 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.[36][37][38] 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.[39]
Following successful trials,[nb 4] FIFA approved the use of vanishing foam 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.[40]
The Adidas Brazuca was the official match ball of the 2014 FIFA World Cup[41][42][43][44] and was supplied by the Forward Sports of Sialkot, Pakistan.[41] Adidas created a new design of ball after criticisms of the Adidas Jabulani 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
Because of the relatively high ambient temperatures in Brazil, particularly at the northern venues, cooling breaks for the players were introduced.[45] Breaks can take place after the 30th minute of the first and second half of games at the referee's discretion if the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature exceeds 32 °C (90 °F).
The first cooling break in World Cup play took place during the 32nd minute of the Netherlands vs. Mexico Round of 16 match.[46][47][48][49] At the start of the match, FIFA listed the temperature at 32 °C (90 °F) with 68% humidity.[50]
Anti-doping
The biological passport was introduced in the FIFA World Cup starting in 2014. Blood and urine samples from all players before the competition, and from two players per team per match, are analysed by the Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses.[51] 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.[52] However, FIFA was criticised for its approach towards finding doping offences.[clarification needed][53][54]
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 within itself. The two highest ranked teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage.[25] 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.
[show]Tie-breaking criteria for group play
In the knockout stage 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 to determine a winner. If the teams were still tied, a penalty shoot-out was held to determine a winner.[25]
The match schedule was announced on 20 October 2011[55] with the kick-off times being confirmed on 27 September 2012;[56] after the final draw, the kick-off times of seven matches were adjusted by FIFA.[57] 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).[25] 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 that began at 15:15 local time.[58]
