History of the FIFA World Cup by FIFA to the regions of Asia, Oceania and Africa. The eventual qualifiers from the zone, North Korea, became the first Asian team to reach the quarter-finals, eliminating Italy in the process. England won the tournament, although João Havelange (former FIFA president from 1974 to 1998) claimed that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively. Geoff Hurst became the first and to this day the only player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final and Eusébio, whose team Portugal were taking part in their first World Cup, was the
Ireland at the Rugby World Cup offer as construction work was scheduled to begin on the stadium. Ireland bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, losing out to eventual hosts, France. Ireland at the Rugby World Cup The Ireland national rugby union team have played all eight Rugby World Cup tournaments. They have played in the quarter-finals at all but two tournaments, but have yet to progress to the semi-finals. They have finished top of their pool twice. Ireland has never played either South Africa or England in a World Cup match. Ireland has competed at every Rugby World Cup since the tournament was first