Tuesday's List: Past World Cup Champions (in Soccer)

In international soccer, the World Cup is the premier event, with a tournament of the world's top national teams taking place every four years, conveniently between the Summer Olympic years.  This year, with Russia as the host country, we see four semifinalists with that round's matches scheduled today and tomorrow: France vs. Belgium and England vs. Croatia.  Both France and England have won the World Cup before, but neither Belgium nor Croatia have even appeared in a championship final.  As for the host, that nation's team gets an automatic bid in the World Cup, which gives it a tremendous advantage even if it's mediocre: all its games will be home games.  And the host team has won the World Cup six times...but not this year, although Russia did make it to the quarterfinals.

Here's the list of past Men's World Cup Champions, starting with the last one and going back...

YEAR    CHAMPION           RUNNER-UP         HOST
2014       GERMANY            Argentina                Brazil
2010       SPAIN                    Netherlands             South Africa
2006       ITALY                    France                     Germany
2002       BRAZIL                  Italy                         Japan
1998       FRANCE                 Brazil                      France
1994       BRAZIL                  Italy                        United States
1990      WEST  GERMANY  Argentina              Italy
1986       ARGENTINA         West Germany        Mexico
1982       ITALY                    West Germany         Spain
1978       ARGENTINA         Netherlands             Argentina
1974       WEST GERMANY Netherlands            West Germany
1970       BRAZIL                  Italy                         Mexico
1966       ENGLAND             West Germany        England
1962       BRAZIL                  Czechoslovakia       Chile
1958       BRAZIL                  Sweden                    Sweden
1954      WEST GERMANY  Hungary                  Switzerland
1950      URUGUAY              Brazil                      Brazil
1942, 1946---no World Cup due to World War II---
1938      ITALY                      Hungary                  France
1934      ITALY                      Czechoslovakia       Italy
1930      URUGUAY              Argentina                Uruguay

The Women's World Cup of soccer began in 1991 and is held every four years as well, taking place the year after the men's Cup.  As you can see below, the U.S. has done well, and why not? Unlike with American boys, who are steered to American football, the girls often have great soccer programs in school...with girl's soccer leagues serving as a counterpart to the boy's football leagues...

Here's the list of past Women's World Cup champions...

YEAR     CHAMPION            RUNNER-UP         HOST
2015        UNITED STATES  Japan                       Canada
2011        JAPAN                    United States           Germany
2007        GERMANY            Brazil                       China
2003        GERMANY            Sweden                    United States
1999        UNITED STATES  China                       United States
1995        NORWAY               Germany                 Sweden
1991        UNITED STATES  Norway                   China