User:Stormzzz26/sandbox

= Countryball World Cup =

The Countryball World Cup, often abbreviated as CWC is an international association football tournament held every four years since 1992.

The competition begins with the qualification phase, which typically starts two years before the actual tournament. As of the 2023, 16 national teams play in the tournament. Similar to the FIFA World Cup, the host nation, usually chosen six years before the tournament, automatically qualifies.

As of the 2020 Countryball World Cup, a total of 26 nations have competed in this tournament, with five of those having won the competition at least once. Italy, Mexico, and Argentina have each won two titles, while Japan and Spain have each won one title.

The First Countryball World Cup
The competition had its debut in 1992, founded to increase the frequency of international association football tournaments. The United States was chosen to be the host nation. Only 8 select nations competed in the first tournament, which were the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan. This was a single-elimination tournament, with Italy becoming champions and Russia becoming runners-up. Because of the lack of a prior qualification phase, many personally disregard this tournament as an actual competition. However, it is still officially recognized as the very first Countryball World Cup.

Expansion to 16 Teams
In 1994, it was announced that the 1996 Countryball World Cup would have 16 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament. The qualification process for the 1996 tournament began in early 1994, with nations from all around the world competing for a spot in this competition. This 16 team format would stick around until after the 2016 Countryball World Cup.

Addition of the Group Stage
In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Countryball World Cup would have a group stage, where each of the 16 qualified teams would be split into four groups of four and play one another in a round robin format. The top two teams in each group would advance to the single-elimination knockout stage. There have been recent proposals to expand the number of teams to 32, though this idea has been rejected by organizers of the CWC.

Results
= 2020 Countryball World Cup =

The 2020 Countryball World Cup, often abbreviated as the 2020 CWC, was an international association football tournament, held in Italy from 7 June 2020 to 4 July 2020 after the country won the hosting rights in 2014. This was the 8th and most recent edition of the Countryball World Cup.

This tournament was the first of its kind to have a group stage, with 4 teams of four. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were talks in March 2020 to postpone the event to the following year. However, the change was never made, meaning the entire tournament would be held behind closed doors. This sparked a lot of controversy among fans, with protests breaking out all over Italy and in other countries. To accommodate for this, many streaming services allowed viewers to watch each match live for free.

Argentina were declared winners of the tournament after defeating the Netherlands 4–3. It was Argentina's second CWC title after last winning the tournament in 2004. Many football fans used this victory as further proof of the "victorious nation pattern", which states that the winners of the Countryball World Cup repeats (Italy, Mexico, random nation, Argentina).

Overview
The Countryball World Cup is an international association football tournament held every four years since 1992, which was held in the United States. The tournament was contested by 16 teams, who first played in four groups of four using a round-robin style competition followed by a knockout round for 8 teams. Spain were the defending champions after defeating Brazil 6–1 in the 2016 Countryball World Cup final.

Host Selection
The bidding procedure to host the 2020 Countryball World Cup was held on 2 February 2014. Because Chile was given the right to host the 2016 Countryball World Cup 4 years prior, members of CONMEBOL were no longer allowed to host the 2020 edition. Therefore, the bid was only contested between France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Spain. The final votes are shown below.

Qualification
All national teams were eligible to enter the qualification round of the 2020 Countryball World Cup, though only 47 decided to enter. The qualification process began in February 2018. Italy, as hosts of the competition, automatically qualified.

Of the 16 qualified nations, 13 played in the 2016 competition. Morocco was the only nation to make their debut at the 2020 CWC. They were also the first CAF member to qualify for the tournament since Senegal in 2000. South Korea and Portugal returned to the tournament after missing the 2016 edition.

The qualified teams, separated by confederation, are shown below:

AFC (2)
 * 🇯🇵 japan
 * 🇰🇷 south korea

CAF (1)
 * 🇲🇦 morocco

CONCACAF (1)
 * 🇲🇽 mexico

CONMEBOL (3)
 * 🇦🇷 argentina
 * 🇧🇷 brazil

OFC (0)
 * None qualified

UEFA (9)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 england
 * 🇫🇷 france
 * 🇩🇪 germany
 * 🇮🇹 italy (hosts)
 * 🇪🇸 spain
 * 🇪🇸 spain
 * 🇪🇸 spain
 * 🇪🇸 spain

Draw
After qualifications closed on 1 February 2020, the draw to decide the group stages of the tournament were held on 2 February 2020. The 16 teams would be split into 4 groups of 4, with the host nation automatically being placed into the first group, and the three best national teams decided by the organizers of the Countryball World Cup being placed into the other three randomly. Ultimately, Italy were placed into Group A, Brazil into Group B, Germany into Group C, and Mexico into Group D.

The remaining 12 teams were placed into a pot and randomly drawn one at a time, with a spinner deciding which group the selected nation would be placed into. Similar to FIFA's drawing process, teams from the same confederation were not allowed to be in the same group as one another. The only exception to this rule is UEFA, as 9 members meant that at least 2 nations from this confederation were guaranteed to be in any group, with one having 3. To still ensure diversity in each group, no single group was allowed to have 4 UEFA members.

Group stage
The group stage took place from 7 June 2020 to 19 June 2020. The 16 competing nations were split into four groups of four (Group A to Group D). Teams played each other in a round-robin format, and the top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage.

Group A
The opening match of the tournament was contested between Italy and the Netherlands, with the Netherlands defeating the hosts 3–2. Many cited this loss as evidence of the "host nation curse". The other group match was played between Uruguay and Morocco, which saw Morocco score their first ever goal in the Countryball World Cup. However, it was not enough for the team to beat Uruguay. The second round of matches saw the Netherlands take on Morocco and Italy take on Uruguay. The Netherlands won their game 3–0, almost guaranteeing their spot in the knockout stage. On the other hand, Morocco's chances of making to the next stage was diminished to almost nothing. The match between Italy and Uruguay was fierce as qualification to the knockout stage was on the line. Ultimately, Italy were able to defeat Uruguay with a 2–1 victory. The final round saw Uruguay take on the Netherlands and Morocco take on Italy. Both matches kicked off at the same time. Uruguay took an early lead, and so did Italy, meaning that both teams had a chance to make it to the knockout stage. However, the Italian team began falling apart during the second half, allowing Morocco to score 3 goals, 2 of which in quick succession, to draw against Italy. Uruguay were able to maintain their lead, defeating the Netherlands 3–1, and topping the group as head-to-head results were first taken into account than goals scored. Italy's failure to make it out of the group stage was cited by some as further proof of the "host nation curse".

Group B
The first match of Group B was played between Brazil and Croatia. The match was a huge upset as Brazil, who were runners-up in the 2012 and 2016 Countryball World Cup and one of the favorites to win the competition, were humiliated in a 5–1 loss. The other group match was between Portugal and Switzerland, which Portugal ultimately won. The second round of matches paired Croatia against Switzerland and Brazil against Portugal. Switzerland and Brazil won their respective matches with a score line of 2–1. These results meant that each team in Group B were level with points as each had one win and one loss so far. This also meant that the winners of the last two group matches would advance to the knockout round. Portugal and Croatia were set to play one another while Switzerland and Brazil were set to play one another. Croatia secured their spot in the next round and topped the group after winning 3–2, and Switzerland won their spot after winning 3–1.

Group C
The first Group C match was played between Germany and Argentina, which concluded in a 4–4 draw. England faced Japan in the other match, in which Japan took a surprising win over England. The second round of matches saw Argentina narrowly defeating Japan after making a huge comeback and Germany drawing another match in their game against England. Because of these results, England's chances of progressing to the knockout round was significantly lowered. In the final round of matches, Argentina defeated England to secure their spot in the next stage. Meanwhile, the game between Germany and Japan was heated as whichever team won this match would progress to the next round. Ultimately, Germany won and secured their spot.

Group D
Mexico and defending champions Spain faced each other in the first match round of Group D while France took on South Korea. Spain took a comfortable win against Mexico while France took a surprising loss against South Korea after just winning the FIFA World Cup 2 years earlier. The second round of matches saw Spain play against South Korea and Mexico take on France. South Korea pulled off another unbelievable performance again after managing to draw against Spain. Meanwhile, France successfully took down Mexico in a close 4–3 victory, which eliminated Mexico's chances of advancing to the knockout stage. In the final round of matches, France was up against Spain while South Korea was up against Mexico, the third time in Countryball World Cup history where the two nations faced each other in the first round of the competition. Spain secured their spot in the knockout stage after defeating France 3–0 while Mexico were able to defeat South Korea 4–1, their first victory over South Korea. However, South Korea still progressed to the next stage with 4 points, the lowest out of all teams who advanced to the knockout stage. Spain earned the distinction of being the only team in the tournament to have a positive goal difference in their group, at +7.

Knockout stage
The knockout stage took place from 22 June 2020 to 4 July 2020, including a third place match. The matches were single-elimination.

Bracket


Quarter-finals
The quarterfinals took place on 22 and 23 June. The first match of this stage took place between Uruguay and Switzerland. This game saw a total of 12 goals scored, which was tied for the highest number of goals scored in a Countryball World Cup game with Italy's 7–5 win against Spain in 2008. The game also saw 9 goals scored by one team, Switzerland, which broke the record of the most goals scored by one team in one game. The previous record holders were Spain after their 8–1 win against Mexico in 2004 and Italy after their 8–1 win against Germany in 2008. In the second and third match of the quarterfinals, both Argentina and the Netherlands won their respective games without conceding a single goal. The score line was 5–0 and 4–0 respectively. In the final match of the quarterfinals, Spain defeated Germany 4–2 and became the second defending champions in Countryball World Cup history to make it to the semifinals after Japan in 2004.

Semi-finals
The semifinals of the 2020 Countryball World Cup were played on 27 June. The first match saw Argentina defeating Switzerland 4–1, bringing Argentina to their first Countryball World Cup final since 2004. The second match was played between the Netherlands and Spain. The Netherlands scored the first three goals of the match, putting them ahead of Spain 3–0. Spain would go on to score 2 goals, though the Netherlands were able to maintain their lead and advance to the finals, their first in the nation's history.

Third place play-off
The third place match was played on 30 June between Switzerland and Spain. This match was known for its large amount of goals in a short amount of time, with all 7 goals being scored in a span of just 30 minutes. The final result was a 5–2 win for Switzerland. Their third place finish was their best ever performance in the Countryball World Cup.

Final
The final of the 2020 Countryball World Cup was played on 4 July between Argentina and the Netherlands. Paulo Dybala scored the first goal of the match at the 27th minute, though Georginio Wijnaldum was able to equalize 7 minutes later. Argentine Lautaro Martínez then gave Argentina a one-goal lead in the 39th minute. However, an equalizer by Daley Blind in the 43rd minute meant the score was 2–2 at half time. Denzel Dumfries scored the first goal of the second half, putting the Netherlands ahead for the first time during the match. Eleven minutes later, however, Argentine captain Lionel Messi, equalizing the score yet again. In the 85th minute, an assist from Giovani Lo Celso to Ángel Di María secured the win for Argentina. The final scoreline was 4–3. This was Argentina's second Countryball World Cup title after last winning it in 2004. Many football fans saw this victory as proof of the "victorious nation pattern".

Goalscorers
There were 173 goals scored in 32 matches, meaning that an average of 5.41 goals were scored per match.

7 goals


 * Granit Xhaka

6 goals


 * 🇦🇷 Ángel Di María

5 goals


 * 🇦🇷 Lionel Messi

4 goals


 * 🇦🇷 Sergio Agüero
 * Memphis Depay
 * 🇪🇸 Álvaro Morata
 * 🇪🇸 Gerard Moreno
 * 🇪🇸 Ferran Torres
 * Haris Seferovic

3 goals


 * 🇦🇷 Paulo Dybala
 * Andrej Kramarić
 * 🇩🇪 Kai Havertz
 * 🇩🇪 Timo Werner
 * Genki Haraguchi
 * Xherdan Shaqiri
 * Edinson Cavani

2 goals


 * 🇦🇷 Lautaro Martínez
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harry Kane
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Marcus Rashford
 * 🇫🇷 Kylian Mbappé
 * 🇩🇪 İlkay Gündoğan
 * 🇩🇪 Thomas Müller
 * Gaku Shibasaki
 * 🇲🇽 Hirving Lozano
 * 🇲🇽 Rodolfo Pizarro
 * 🇲🇽 Alan Pulido
 * Steven Berghuis
 * Denzel Dumfries
 * Georginio Wijnaldum
 * Cristiano Ronaldo
 * 🇰🇷 Ji Dong-Won
 * 🇪🇸 Dani Olmo
 * Breel Embolo
 * Mario Gavranović
 * Steven Zuber
 * Luis Suárez

1 goal and 1 own goal


 * Tomoaki Makino

1 goal


 * 🇦🇷 Rodrigo De Paul
 * 🇦🇷 Giovani Lo Celso
 * 🇦🇷 Leandro Paredes
 * 🇦🇷 Germán Pezzella
 * 🇧🇷 Casemiro
 * 🇧🇷 Roberto Firmino
 * 🇧🇷 Neymar
 * 🇧🇷 Lucas Paquetá
 * Marcelo Brozović
 * Mateo Kovačić
 * Ivan Perišić
 * Bruno Petković
 * Luka Modrić
 * Nikola Vlašić
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Raheem Sterling
 * 🇫🇷 Karim Benzema
 * 🇫🇷 Kingsley Coman
 * 🇫🇷 Antoine Griezmann
 * 🇩🇪 Serge Gnabry
 * 🇩🇪 Leon Goretzka
 * 🇩🇪 Toni Kroos
 * 🇮🇹 Alessandro Bastoni
 * 🇮🇹 Andrea Belotti
 * 🇮🇹 Domenico Berardi
 * 🇮🇹 Federico Bernardeschi
 * 🇮🇹 Federico Chiesa
 * 🇮🇹 Ciro Immobile
 * 🇮🇹 Jorginho
 * Ritsu Dōan
 * Takashi Inui
 * Takumi Minamino
 * Yuya Osako
 * Maya Yoshida
 * 🇲🇽 Jesús Corona
 * 🇲🇽 Héctor Herrera
 * 🇲🇦 Achraf Bencharki
 * 🇲🇦 Sofiane Boufal
 * 🇲🇦 Youssef En-Nesyri
 * 🇲🇦 Hakim Ziyech
 * Daley Blind
 * Frenkie de Jong
 * Luuk de Jong
 * Cody Gakpo
 * Davy Klaassen
 * Quincy Promes
 * Virgil Van Dijk
 * João Félix
 * Bruno Fernandes
 * Diogo Jota
 * Rúben Neves
 * André Miguel Valente da Silva
 * Bernardo Silva
 * 🇪🇸 Koke
 * 🇪🇸 Mikel Oyarzabal
 * 🇪🇸 Rodri
 * 🇪🇸 Fabián Ruiz
 * 🇪🇸 Thiago
 * 🇰🇷 Hwang Ui-jo
 * 🇰🇷 Kim Young-Gwon
 * 🇰🇷 Lee Jae-Sung
 * 🇰🇷 Son Heung-Min
 * Admir Mehmedi
 * Fabian Schär
 * Denis Zakaria
 * Rodrigo Bentancur
 * Giorgian de Arrascaeta
 * Nicolás de la Cruz
 * Maximiliano Gómez

= 2024 Countryball World Cup =

The 2024 Countryball World Cup, often abbreviated as the 2024 CWC, is an international association football tournament, being held in Mexico from 20 July 2024 to 15 August 2024 after the country won the hosting rights in 2018. This is the 9th edition of the Countryball World Cup.

Overview
The Countryball World Cup is an international association football tournament held every four years since 1992, which was held in the United States. The tournament will be contested by 16 teams, who will first play in four groups of four using a round-robin style competition followed by a knockout round for 8 teams. Argentina are the defending champions after defeating the Netherlands 4–3 in the 2020 Countryball World Cup final.

Host Selection
The bidding procedure to host the 2024 Countryball World Cup was held on 3 February 2018. Because Italy was given the right to host the 2020 Countryball World Cup 4 years prior, members of UEFA were no longer allowed to host the 2024 edition. Therefore, the bid was only contested between Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. The final votes are shown below.

Qualification
All national teams were eligible to enter the qualification round of the 2024 Countryball World Cup, though only 58 decided to enter. The qualification process began in February 2022. Russia, who initially entered, was banned from competing shortly after due to the country's invasion of Ukraine. Due to this, only 57 national teams participated in the qualification rounds. Mexico, as hosts of the competition, automatically qualified.

Of the 16 qualified nations, 13 played in the 2020 competition. 2 nations, Denmark and Nigeria, will be making their debut in the tournament. Belgium returned to the competition after missing the 2020 edition.

The qualified teams, separated by confederation, are shown below:

AFC (0)
 * None qualified

CAF (1)
 * 🇳🇬 nigeria

CONCACAF (1)
 * 🇲🇽 mexico (hosts)

CONMEBOL (3)
 * 🇦🇷 argentina
 * 🇧🇷 brazil

OFC (0)
 * None qualified

UEFA (11)
 * 🇧🇪 belgium
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 england
 * 🇫🇷 france
 * 🇩🇪 germany
 * 🇮🇹 italy
 * 🇪🇸 spain
 * 🇮🇹 italy
 * 🇪🇸 spain
 * 🇪🇸 spain
 * 🇪🇸 spain

Qualification Table
The top 15 teams qualify for the 2024 CWC, with the top 3 teams being seeded along with hosts Mexico during the drawing process.

Draw
After qualifications closed the 16 teams were split into 4 groups of 4, with the host nation automatically being placed into the first group, and the three best-performing national teams in the qualifiers being seeded into the other three randomly. Ultimately, Mexico were placed into Group A, Italy into Group B, France into Group C, and Brazil into Group D.

The remaining 12 teams were placed into a pot and randomly drawn one at a time while filling up the groups. Similar to FIFA's drawing process, teams from the same confederation were not allowed to be in the same group as one another. The only exception to this rule is UEFA, as 11 members meant that at least 2 nations from this confederation were guaranteed to be in any group, with three having 3. To still ensure diversity in each group, no single group was allowed to have 4 UEFA members.

Group stage
The group stage is currently taking place from 20 July 2024 to 31 July 2024. The 16 competing nations were split into four groups of four (Group A to Group D). Teams play each other in a round-robin format, and the top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage.

Group A
The opening match was played between hosts Mexico and Portugal. Goals from Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva helped give Portugal the win. Mexico's loss was seen by some fans as evidence of the host nation curse." In the group's second match, Uruguay secured a win over Croatia, with Luis Suárez's goal confirming the victory.

Group B
In the group's first match, Italy shockingly drew to Denmark thanks to Christian Eriksen's early goal in the first minute; the quickest in CWC history. Meanwhile defending champions Argentina faced the Netherlands, in what was a repeat of the previous CWC final, though this time the match ended in a draw.

Knockout stage
The knockout stage will take place from 3 August 2024 to 15 August 2024, including a third place match. The matches will be single-elimination.

Bracket


Quarter-finals
The quarterfinals will take place on 3 and 4 August.

Semi-finals
The semifinals will take place on 7 and 8 August.

Third place play-off
The third place match will take place on 12 August.

Final
The final will take place on 13 August.

Goalscorers
There were 10 goals scored in 4 matches, meaning that an average of 2.5 goals were scored per match. Players in bold are still active in the competition.

1 goal


 * 🇦🇷 Lionel Messi
 * Nikola Vlašić
 * Christian Eriksen
 * 🇮🇹 Federico Dimarco
 * Cody Gakpo
 * Bruno Fernandes
 * Bernardo Silva
 * Maximiliano Araújo
 * Darwin Núñez
 * Luis Suárez

= 2028 Countryball World Cup =

The 2028 Countryball World Cup, or the 2028 CWC, will be an international association football tournament, held in Argentina after the country won the hosting rights in 2022. This will be the 10th edition of the Countryball World Cup.

Overview
The Countryball World Cup is an international association football tournament held every four years since 1992, which was held in the United States. The tournament will be contested by 16 teams, who will first play in four groups of four using a round-robin style competition followed by a knockout round for 8 teams.

Host Selection
The bidding procedure to host the 2028 Countryball World Cup was held on 2 February 2022. Because Mexico was given the right to host the 2024 Countryball World Cup 4 years prior, members of CONCACAF were no longer allowed to host the 2028 edition. Therefore, the bid was only contested between Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Uruguay. The final votes are shown below.

Qualification
All national teams will be eligible to enter the qualification round of the 2028 Countryball World Cup. The qualification process will begin in February 2026. Argentina, as hosts of the competition, will automatically qualify.

This will be the first edition of the tournament to utilize a qualification procedure that is separated by confederation.

The qualified teams, separated by confederation, are shown below:

AFC (TBD)

CAF (TBD)

CONCACAF (TBD)

CONMEBOL (1)
 * 🇦🇷 argentina (hosts)

OFC (TBD)

UEFA (TBD)

First round
In the first round of the qualification procedures, the best-performing nations from each confederation automatically qualify for the tournament (except OFC). There will be 10 countries who qualify from the first round. The best nations that finish behind them (numbers are predetermined) will move on to the second round.

Second round
In the second round of qualification, the 20 nations that move on to this round are separated into 5 groups of 4. Each nation will play each other twice, and the top team from each group will qualify for the tournament. These 5 countries will join the 10 countries that qualified from the first round and the host nation to make the 16 participating nations at the 2028 CWC.

= 4 Man Match Test =  

= Simulated Game =