The FIFA World Cup is the best soccer championship, with up to 32 of the best teams. Overall, the World Cup has a few notable traditions which have been continued in the World Cups.
To begin with, the World Cup is held every four years. This has been the established gap between each World Cup since the '30s.
For host nations, FIFA traditionally alternated between Europe and South America for each World Cup. This was the case up to the '90s, however since then other host nations in other continents have been included. So, now it is more like Europe and the rest.
It should be noted, that host nation teams always play in the World Cup. They do not have to qualify for the main championship, and now also play the opening game. Once, defending champions did not have to qualify either, but this is no longer the case.
Before each game is played, national anthems are played. Players and fans sing their anthems, then the game begins.
Since the '66 World Cup, it has been a tradition for each World Cup to have a mascot of some sort. Some good examples of World Cup mascots include the '94 World Cup pup, or Footix the rooster of the '98 World Cup.
Brazil are a team that often play in the World Cup due to their great players. Overall, they play in a distinctive and traditional yellow strip, which is colourful. When it comes to traditional World Cup strips, Holland's orange strip is also original. As such, Holland teams are the 'orange men' of the FIFA World Cup.
Since some of the early World Cups, it has been a World Cup tradition for the losing semi-final teams to play a game against each other. This is the World Cup third-place play-off that is the second to last game played in the World Cup. Undoubtedly, some very good teams play in the game and the winner finishes third in the World Cup, and then the other team fourth. As such, with this the World Cup has a winner, runner-up, third and fourth place for the semi-final teams.
The World Cup also includes a few player awards. The Golden Shoe is a traditional award given to the top-goal scorer of the FIFA World Cup. More recently, a World Cup XI is also named including the best players of the World Cup.
Overall, these are a few of the FIFA World Cup traditions. Some are more recent, while others such as the play-off game date back to the earlier World Cups.
Sources: Wiki