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.
Hungary have appeared in the FIFA World Cup on nine occasions, the first being at the 1934 where they reached the quarter-final. They have been runners-up on two occasions, in 1938 and 1954.[1] They have failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup since 1986.
- ^ "World Cup Record". Planet World Cup. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.