FIFA World Cup future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began a pattern of alternating the hosts between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, was the first one held in Asia, and the first tournament with multiple hosts. South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010. The 2014 FIFA World Cup was hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America since Argentina 1978, and was the first occasion where consecutive World Cups were held outside Europe. The host country is
2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA playoffs) in the 2004 Euro Beach Soccer League, being France, Portugal and the Ukraine. The teams who finished in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh were called back to compete for the final place at the world cup, however seventh place Belgium declined the invitation to participate, so eighth place Austria competed instead. The nations played in a simple knockout format, starting with the semi-finals. 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification (UEFA playoffs) The 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification playoffs for (UEFA) was a special, one-off beach soccer tournament to determine the fourth European nation that would be competing