Germany beats Argentina in World Cup Brzail

The 20th FIFA World Cup in 2014 was the quadrennial championship for men's state football teams. Planned and controlled by FIFA, World Cup Brazil was held last June 12 to July 13, 2014. The country received the right to host the prestigious event in 2007. This was the second time for Brazil to stage the tournament, the first being in 1950. This was also the fifth time that a South American country was hosting the cup. FIFA had a then-active rule of rotating hosting rights between various confederations. After the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, this was the second successive World Cup not to be staged in Europe. Brazil was competing against Colombia for the rights but when the latter withdrew, Brazil officially became the host nation.

During the World Cup Brazil, 32 teams competed in the qualifying rounds to make it to the final tournament. There were 64 matches in total that were played in 12 venues across host cities in the country. During the finals, officials used the goal-line technology as well as vanishing foam for the first time. An estimated total of 5 million fans flocked to host cities for the festivities. The country ultimately had 1 million tourists coming from 202 countries. At the World Cup Brazil, all national teams who won the cup since it started in 1930 qualified for the tournament. However, title holder Spain was eliminated, together with Italy and Germany. Host country Brazil finished fourth and Germany bagged the championship cup after defeating Argentina in a score of 1-0. This was Germany's fourth world title.

Qualification matches were held from June 2011 to November 2013. Twenty-four of the 32 teams that qualified were also in the 2010 cup. The 32 teams were divided into eight groups and four pots. The top 7 teams were in the seeded pot together with Brazil. The unseeded national teams were grouped into pots on a geographic basis. On December 6, 2013, the draw was done in Bahia. Fifty-two referees, paired according to nationality, were shortlisted. By January 2014, the committee had chosen 25 trios of referee and another eight supporting pairs. Italian Nicola Rizzoli acted in the finals while Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura was in the opening game. There were 12 official venues scattered around the country, with 7 of them newly built for the cup. Participating teams were housed in base camps in Brazilian cities. There, they could train in preparation for the match. Majority of the teams stayed in the Southeast Region while five stayed in the Northeast and another three opted to be based in the South. Fan fests were also staged so people could see the games.