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Countryball World Cup

2024 Countryball World Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Mexico
Dates	20 July – 15 August
Teams	16
	← 2020 2028 →

2020 Countryball World Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Italy
Dates	7 June – 4 July
Teams	16 (from 5 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Argentina (2nd title)
Runners-up	Netherlands
Third place	Switzerland
Fourth place	Spain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	173 (5.41 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Granit Xhaka (7 goals)
	← 2016 2024 →

Countryball World Cup
Organising body	CBFA
Founded	1992; 32 years ago
Region	International
Number of teams	16
Current champions	Argentina (2nd title); (2020)
Most successful team(s)	Argentina (2 titles); Italy (2 titles); Mexico (2 titles)

The Countryball World Cup, often abbreviated as CWC is an international association football tournament held every four years since 1992.

The competition begins with the qualification phase, which typically starts two years before the actual tournament. As of the 2023, 16 national teams play in the tournament. Similar to the FIFA World Cup, the host nation, usually chosen six years before the tournament, automatically qualifies.

As of the 2020 Countryball World Cup, a total of 26 nations have competed in this tournament, with five of those having won the competition at least once. Italy, Mexico, and Argentina have each won two titles, while Japan and Spain have each won one title.

History

The First Countryball World Cup

The competition had its debut in 1992, founded to increase the frequency of international association football tournaments. The United States was chosen to be the host nation. Only 8 select nations competed in the first tournament, which were the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan. This was a single-elimination tournament, with Italy becoming champions and Russia becoming runners-up. Because of the lack of a prior qualification phase, many personally disregard this tournament as an actual competition. However, it is still officially recognized as the very first Countryball World Cup.

Expansion to 16 Teams

In 1994, it was announced that the 1996 Countryball World Cup would have 16 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament. The qualification process for the 1996 tournament began in early 1994, with nations from all around the world competing for a spot in this competition. This 16 team format would stick around until after the 2016 Countryball World Cup.

Addition of the Group Stage

In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Countryball World Cup would have a group stage, where each of the 16 qualified teams would be split into four groups of four and play one another in a round robin format. The top two teams in each group would advance to the single-elimination knockout stage. There have been recent proposals to expand the number of teams to 32, though this idea has been rejected by organizers of the CWC.

Results

Edition	Year	Host	Final			Third-place play-off
Edition	Year	Host	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Third	Score	Fourth
1	1992	United States	Italy	4–1	Russia	France	2–2 (3–1 p)	South Korea
2	1996	Spain	Mexico	5–2	Iran	Austria	5–2	Netherlands
3	2000	England	Japan	6–1	South Korea	Austria	5–4	Italy
4	2004	South Korea	Argentina	4–0	Japan	Germany	5–2	Brazil
5	2008	Austria	Italy	5–2	South Korea	Germany	1–1 (3–2 p)	Russia
6	2012	Japan	Mexico	3–2	Brazil	Japan	7–4	Chile
7	2016	Chile	Spain	6–1	Brazil	Italy	4–2	Uruguay
8	2020	Italy	Argentina	4–3	Netherlands	Switzerland	5–2	Spain
9	2024	Mexico
10	2028	Argentina

2020 Countryball World Cup

The 2020 Countryball World Cup, often abbreviated as the 2020 CWC, was an international association football tournament, held in Italy from 7 June 2020 to 4 July 2020 after the country won the hosting rights in 2014. This was the 8th and most recent edition of the Countryball World Cup.

This tournament was the first of its kind to have a group stage, with 4 teams of four. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were talks in March 2020 to postpone the event to the following year. However, the change was never made, meaning the entire tournament would be held behind closed doors. This sparked a lot of controversy among fans, with protests breaking out all over Italy and in other countries. To accommodate for this, many streaming services allowed viewers to watch each match live for free.

Argentina were declared winners of the tournament after defeating the Netherlands 4–3. It was Argentina's second CWC title after last winning the tournament in 2004. Many football fans used this victory as further proof of the "victorious nation pattern", which states that the winners of the Countryball World Cup repeats (Italy, Mexico, random nation, Argentina).

Overview

The Countryball World Cup is an international association football tournament held every four years since 1992, which was held in the United States. The tournament was contested by 16 teams, who first played in four groups of four using a round-robin style competition followed by a knockout round for 8 teams. Spain were the defending champions after defeating Brazil 6–1 in the 2016 Countryball World Cup final.

Host Selection

The bidding procedure to host the 2020 Countryball World Cup was held on 2 February 2014. Because Chile was given the right to host the 2016 Countryball World Cup 4 years prior, members of CONMEBOL were no longer allowed to host the 2020 edition. Therefore, the bid was only contested between France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Spain. The final votes are shown below.

2020 CWC bidding
Bidders	Final Vote
Italy	22
Spain	12
Germany	8
Mexico	6
France	2

Teams

Qualification

All national teams were eligible to enter the qualification round of the 2020 Countryball World Cup, though only 47 decided to enter. The qualification process began in February 2018. Italy, as hosts of the competition, automatically qualified.

Of the 16 qualified nations, 13 played in the 2016 competition. Morocco was the only nation to make their debut at the 2020 CWC. They were also the first CAF member to qualify for the tournament since Senegal in 2000. South Korea and Portugal returned to the tournament after missing the 2016 edition.

The qualified teams, separated by confederation, are shown below:

AFC (2)

CAF (1)

CONCACAF (1)

CONMEBOL (3)

OFC (0)

None qualified

UEFA (9)

Draw

After qualifications closed on 1 February 2020, the draw to decide the group stages of the tournament were held on 2 February 2020. The 16 teams would be split into 4 groups of 4, with the host nation automatically being placed into the first group, and the three best national teams decided by the organizers of the Countryball World Cup being placed into the other three randomly. Ultimately, Italy were placed into Group A, Brazil into Group B, Germany into Group C, and Mexico into Group D.

The remaining 12 teams were placed into a pot and randomly drawn one at a time, with a spinner deciding which group the selected nation would be placed into. Similar to FIFA's drawing process, teams from the same confederation were not allowed to be in the same group as one another. The only exception to this rule is UEFA, as 9 members meant that at least 2 nations from this confederation were guaranteed to be in any group, with one having 3. To still ensure diversity in each group, no single group was allowed to have 4 UEFA members.

Group stage

The group stage took place from 7 June 2020 to 19 June 2020. The 16 competing nations were split into four groups of four (Group A to Group D). Teams played each other in a round-robin format, and the top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage.

Group A

The opening match of the tournament was contested between Italy and the Netherlands, with the Netherlands defeating the hosts 3–2. Many cited this loss as evidence of the "host nation curse". The other group match was played between Uruguay and Morocco, which saw Morocco score their first ever goal in the Countryball World Cup. However, it was not enough for the team to beat Uruguay. The second round of matches saw the Netherlands take on Morocco and Italy take on Uruguay. The Netherlands won their game 3–0, almost guaranteeing their spot in the knockout stage. On the other hand, Morocco's chances of making to the next stage was diminished to almost nothing. The match between Italy and Uruguay was fierce as qualification to the knockout stage was on the line. Ultimately, Italy were able to defeat Uruguay with a 2–1 victory. The final round saw Uruguay take on the Netherlands and Morocco take on Italy. Both matches kicked off at the same time. Uruguay took an early lead, and so did Italy, meaning that both teams had a chance to make it to the knockout stage. However, the Italian team began falling apart during the second half, allowing Morocco to score 3 goals, 2 of which in quick succession, to draw against Italy. Uruguay were able to maintain their lead, defeating the Netherlands 3–1. Italy's failure to make it out of the group stage was cited by some as further proof of the "host nation curse".

Pos	Team	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points	Qualification
1	Uruguay	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Netherlands	2	0	1	7	5	+2	6	Advanced to knockout stage
3	Italy (H)	1	1	1	7	7	0	4
4	Morocco	0	1	2	4	8	-4	1

7 June 2020