Competition to host the World Cup Finals is always fierce because the tournament attracts lots of publicity and visitors to the countries staging the competition. This is the first time the Federation Internationale de Football Associations (FIFA) World Cup tournament has ever been held in Asia and matches are taking place in 20 cities across Korea and Japan.
FIFA was formed in 1904 with several countries, including France, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930 with 13 countries taking part. Today, the number of countries taking part is 32!
England hosted the World Cup in 1966, which was a remarkable year for English football. The England team made it through to the final match against Germany. And thanks to Geoff Hurst, who scored the first hat trick in a final, England took home the trophy, winning 4-2.
Who plays?
Countries have to go through qualifying games in order to make it through to the World Cup. Coloured plastic balls are used for the draw that decides which countries will play each other. The teams are split into eight groups and each team gets to play three games in the first round. After that games are played on a knock-out basis until only two remain for the final. This year, the final is due to take place in Yokohama, Japan on 30 June at 8pm - so book your place in front of the TV for that night!
To find out more about the teams and match schedule collect the supplements from newspapers or, alternatively, if you have access to the internet click on to: * www.fifaworldcup.com
Or to find out more about football in general try:
* The Football Association, 25 Soho Square, London W1D 4FA. www.the-fa.org
* Football Supporters' Association, PO Box 11, Liverpool L26 1XP. www.fsa.org.uk.
England team low-down
Sven-Goran Eriksson manages the England team. He has selected England's team from top clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool. David Beckham is captain of the team. Other players include Michael Owen, Emile Heskey and Robbie Fowler.
England's past heroes include:
* Gordon Banks - England's greatest goalkeeper.
* Peter Shilton - who followed in Gordon Banks' shoes as a fine goalkeeper.
* Stanley Mathews - one of the greats of his generation.
* Bobby Charlton - an England and Manchester United legend.
* Bobby Moore - captain of the 1966 winning team.
* Kevin Keegan - England and Liverpool striker and former European footballer of the year.
Amazing players from around the world include:
* Diego Maradona - from Argentina who scored the infamous 'Hand of God'
goal against England in the 1986 World Cup.
* Eusebio - who was born in Mozambique and played for Portugal.
* Garrincha - who overcame polio as a child to play for Brazil.
* Roger Milla - from Cameroon, Africa, who was the oldest player to appear and score in a World Cup final, aged 42.
* Pele - from Brazil, many people's choice as the greatest footballer of all time.
* Michel Platini - a great French Captain.
* Johann Cruyff - from Holland.
* Zinedan Zidane from France - the current World Footballer of the Year.
Ideas for club activities
* Find out which children play football in the club, ask them to talk about it, which team they play for, how they got interested in the game, who their favourite players are and so on.
* Put together your own football league. Talk to other after-school clubs and see if they want to get involved.
* Organise a quiz either around the World Cup or football in general. Remember to include visual information in your quiz to bring it alive, for example, 'Which colours does this team wear?'
* Ask a football coach to come in and talk to the children about getting into football - or why not approach your local team to see if they could send along a player or a football coach?
* Help the children to make up a football club anthem or song.
* Design, with the children, a new football shirt logo for a favourite team or for the England shirts.
* Keep track of the World Cup by making small flags that represent each county. Place these in order on a chart on the wall. Find out the scores every day and discard the flags as teams go out, until you are left with only the two finalists.
* Keep a scrapbook of cuttings and photographs of the World Cup. This may become a collector's item in years to come if England win!
* Have a look at www.footee.net- this is a free website that combines fun, football and education.
Girls and football
* French women started to play a genteel version of football in medieval France, but it wasn't until 1894 that the first official women's team was set up in this country. Until the First World War, women footballers had to keep their hair under a cap or bonnet and hide their legs in bloomers.
* Although women's teams don't enter the World Cup, women hold their own international tournament. The first women's World Cup was held in China in 1991 and was won by the US. In 1995 the first English women's team qualified and made it to the quarter finals.
* Eastern Asian and North American women's teams now compete successfully against Europe, and more than 20 million girls and women play football in more than 100 countries.
Did you know?
* There have been two trophies for the World Cup since the first tournament took place in 1930. The original World Cup spent the Second World War hidden under a bed in Italy.
It was stolen from an exhibition before the 1966 World Cup and found by a dog, called Pickles, in a bin. In 1983 it disappeared never to be seen again. The second trophy was selected from 53 designs in 1974 and is made of solid 18-carat gold.
* The Chinese were playing a form of football by the third century BC.
* Hundreds of years ago, English soldiers celebrated their victories by using their foes' skulls as footballs.
* In the early nineteenth century many town councils banned football from being played in the streets as it caused too much damage to property.
* Professional footballs are always made from leather as leather balls have better air resistance and don't 'wobble' in flight.
