by Chukwumah Ezeobika

Created on: June 17, 2010

Every great sport competition develops distinct traditions over the years of its existence and the FIFA World Cup is no exception. It is certainly a great competition and it is the biggest sport event in the world. The FIFA World Cup has been around since 1930 and in the past 80 years, several customs have emerged without which the World Cup would not be the same.

From the trophy through tournament mascots to the balls used, traditions which testify to the rich history of the World Cup have emerged. For instance, not many people know that all winners of the World Cup since 1974 have their names engraved on the bottom of the World Cup trophy. This is only one of the many practices of the FIFA World Cup.

Here are some more World Cup traditions:

World Cup Opening Day Matches

An officially designated opening match is always played to kick off the tournament. Before the 1958 World Cup, the countries that played the opening day match were seemingly random. For World Cups from 1958 to 1970, the host nation always played in the opening match. In 1974, a new tradition started where the winners of the previous World Cup played in the opening match of the subsequent tournament. However, at the 2006 World Cup FIFA reverted to having the hosts play in the opening match of the tournament.

World Cup Trophy

Until Brazil won the trophy for keeps after winning the World Cup for the third time in 1970, the trophy in use was called the Jules Rimet Trophy. In 1974, the current World Cup trophy was introduced. Unlike the previous trophy, the current trophy cannot be won outright. Each winner is presented with a gold-plated replica instead of the real trophy which is made of solid gold. The name and year of each World Cup winner since 1974 is engraved on the base of the trophy.

A trophy tour sponsored by Coca-Cola started at the Germany 2006 World Cup. On these tours, the World Cup trophy is transported to and displayed in many different cities all over the world.

World Cup Anthems and Theme Songs

The FIFA Anthem composed by Franz Lambert is played before every match in a FIFA event such as the World Cup. It is played as the teams enter the stadium. Then the national anthems of both teams are played.

For every World Cup tournament, an official anthem and an official theme song are also chosen. These are usually sung by leading musicians of the period and are also performed at the opening ceremony.

A lot of the participating countries also create an official World Cup song for their

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