A1. It is a soccer tournament to decide the best national team in the world. Both professional and amateur players take part. Held once every four years, the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea is the seventeenth tournament. There are world cups in volleyball, skiing, ice skating, and many other sports, but the soccer one is the oldest. Many sports saw the popularity of the soccer World Cup and decided to create their own versions to go alongside their world championships.

The World Cup was born 72 years ago, in 1930. Two years before that, the idea of establishing the competition was proposed by Jules Rimet, who was the third president of FIFA, the international federation of national football associations. The country chosen to host the historic first World Cup was Uruguay, a small South American nation then celebrating 100 years of independence. Uruguay had won back-to-back Olympic soccer titles in 1924 in Paris and 1928 in Amsterdam and secured the right to host the event through its enthusiasm, even offering to pay all the travel and other costs of the players and officials from competing countries.

Entry to the first World Cup was by invitation, and 13 countries took part. At the time it took one month to cross from Europe to South America and back again by ship, and the great distance from European countries was one reason so few teams took part.

Rimet, the Frenchman who had founded the World Cup, donated a gold trophy to be presented to the winners, paid for with his own money. The trophy was therefore named the Jules Rimet Cup. Brazil was allowed to keep this trophy forever when it won the World Cup for the third time in 1970. However, it was stolen in 1983 while on display. A second trophy - 36 cm (14 inches) high, weighing 4,970 grams (11 pounds), and made of pure gold - is now presented to the winning team.

The first World Cup, which opened the curtain on a long and glorious history, was won by host nation Uruguay. The sport of soccer is loved throughout the world, and the World Cup has developed into a huge global sports event to rival the Olympics. The last tournament, in France in 1998, was televised in 196 countries and was watched by a total audience of 33.4 billion people. And over 190 nations took part in the qualifying competition for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, which will take place from May 31 to June 30.

Romario of Brazil kisses the World Cup after his team's victory in the 1994 final. (Kyodo News)