2014 FIFA World Cup Final best player (Lionel Messi) versus the world's best team (Germany). Before the match, Germany had reached the World Cup final seven times (six times as West Germany from 1954 to 1990), winning three (1954, 1974, 1990) and being runners-up four times (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002); Argentina had reached four finals, winning twice (1978, 1986) and placing second twice (1930, 1990). The result marked Germany's fourth World Cup title and their first World championship as a unified nation. The victory meant that three consecutive World Cups have been won by teams from the same continent, following Italy and Spain in 2006
History of the FIFA World Cup would have no hope in a single year of planning and scheduling a 1946 World Cup. In fact, FIFA’s first meeting was on July 1, 1946 – around the time the 1946 World Cup would ordinarily have been played – and when it planned the next World Cup for 1949 no country would host it. The major international tournament in 1946 was the 1946 South American Championship in which Argentina beat Brazil 2–0 on February 10, 1946. Competitions resumed with the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, which was the first to include British participants. British teams withdrew from FIFA in