The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Bulgaria has appeared in the finals of the FIFA World Cup on seven occasions, the first being at the 1962 tournament. They appeared in the FIFA World Cup subsequently in 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1994 and 1998. Their best performance was in 1994, where they finished in fourth place. They have failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup since 1998.