the eyes of the world will be on Germany for a month in June and July as 32 nations, including Saudi Arabia, compete for the coveted FIFA World Cup - the most prestigious of all football competitions. Furthermore, if the pundits are to be believed, this 2006 tournament should be the most exciting and best organised yet; a view endorsed by Pele in one of his many and recent interviews.

Attacking play

Attacking, offensive play is anticipated from many of the teams. "I'm convinced", said former top player, Lothar Matthaus in a FIFA news bulletin, "this World Cup will be a festival of attacking football". Matthaus, who took part in five successive tournaments, from 1982 to 1998, and helped Germany win the 1990 competition went on to say: "That's especially true of the top nations. Jurgen Klinsmann's philosophy is all about attacking. The Brazilians and Argentinians can't play defensively and wouldn't even if they were told to. Lippi's Italy is much more of an attacking side than they were under Trapatonni, in 2002. But then you've also got teams like Japan, Sweden, Cote d'lvoire and a host of others who are committed to offensive tactics".

Asked if any of the remaining competitors could stop Brazil from winning their sixth tournament, Matthaus is quoted as saying: "Plenty of favourites have fallen in the last 16. Clearly, anyone looking to lift the trophy has to deal with Brazil, but even runaway favourites sometimes lose one-off matches. The Mexicans showed the way at the Confederations Cup, 2005 and Germany came within a whisker of doing the same. Brazil unquestionably have the best individuals, but they are not invincible".

Even legendary Pele, the only footballer to have won the World Cup three times, sounded a note of caution in the same bulletin: "If you look at World Cup history, favourites have rarely won the trophy". The statistics, however, make grim reading for Brazil's opponents. In World Cup Tournaments over the years, it has won 60 games, drawn 14 and lost only 13. Furthermore, it is the only team to have taken part in every single tournament.

A history spanning over 75 years

The FIFA World Cup has come a long way since its modest and uncertain beginnings in 1930. Just 13 countries took part in the inaugural tournament hosted by Olympic football champions, Uruguay. Matches took place in Montevideo, the country's capital, where a 95,000-seat stadium had just been built.

There were no qualification phases in those early days. Teams were simply invited to enter the competition. Unfortunately, only four European nations participated in the 1930 World Cup, this because of the lengthy sea journey to Uruguay. "Powerful nations like Italy, Germany, Holland, England and Spain stayed home", according to the fact and figure-packed Planet World Cup web site (www.planetworldcup.com), created and run by soccer aficionado Jan Alsos. "One of the entrants, Romania, even had their team picked by his Royal Highness King Carol!  However, he would have little to celebrate in this tournament".

The first ever World Cup game was held between France and Mexico. The French won 4-1, Lucien Laurent earning a place in football history as the scorer of the very first World Cup goal. The teams that dominated the 1930 competition were Argentina - still a major force in world football - and Uruguay. In the semi-finals, Argentina trounced the United States 6-1. By a strange coincidence, Uruguay toppled Yugoslavia with the same score. In the end, Uruguay won the 1930 FIFA World Cup, beating Argentina 4-2.

Only 18 games were played in the tournament and 70 goals scored. Top scorer was Guillermo Stabile of Argentina who found the back of the net eight times. Match attendance was 434,500.

World cup record breakers

The FIFA World Cup is held once every four years, although there was a gap of 12 years, between 1938 and 1950, as a result of World War II. To date, there have been 17 tournaments.

According to Planet World Cup, Turkey's Hakan Sukur scored the fastest goal in a World Cup match after just 11 seconds while playing against South Korea, in 2002. The fastest hat trick was achieved by Laszlo Kiss of Hungary against El Salvador, in 1982, when he scored in the 70th, 74th and 77th minutes. He is also in the record books as the only substitute to score three times in one match.

Football is essentially a young man's game, many if not most players retiring in their early to mid-30s. Roger Milla of Cameroon, however, became the oldest player to find the back of the net in a World Cup match when he scored against Russia, in 1994, at the ripe Ôold' age of 42 years and 39 days! The youngest player to score in a World Cup match was Pele of Brazil when he shot the ball past Wales' keeper, in 1958. At the time, he was just 17 years and 239 days old!

Another of Pele's claims to football fame is that he is one of only three players to have scored in two World Cup finals (1958 and 1970), the other marksmen being Vava of Brazil (1958 and 1962) and Paul Breitner of West Germany (1974 and 1982). The only player to score four goals in a match and still end up on the losing side was Ernst Willimowski of Poland whose team lost against Brazil, in 1938.

The twists and turns of qualifying

A staggering 18 million fans from all over the world avidly followed the twists and turns of the 847 qualifying matches on the road to Germany for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Seven competing nations - Croatia, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Serbia & Montenegro and Spain - qualified undefeated.  Player Jared Borgetti of Mexico topped the score league with 14 goals.

What it takes to win football's most coveted prize

The opening matches of the 18th FIFA World Cup, 2006, will be the group games. The 32 participating nations have been drawn in eight groups of four. They are:

Host nation Germany will play Costa Rica, in Munich, on 9 June, in the tournament's opening match.

Saudi Arabia's three group games will be against Tunisia on 14 June, against Ukraine on 19 June and against Spain on 23 June. The winner of Group H, Saudi Arabia's group, will play the runner-up in Group G on 27 June, while the runner-up in Group H will have to do battle with the winner of Group G on 26 June. Unless there is a major upset, which is by no means impossible, France should win Group G. If Saudi Arabia is to progress well beyond the group stage, it needs to win Group H. Coming second would result in Saudi Arabia having to play France, assuming the latter wins its group.

The semi-finals will take place on 4 and 5 July and the match to determine third and fourth places on 8 July. The 64th match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup will be the final itself, in Berlin, on 9 July. Will Brazil emerge victorious, as expected, or will the trophy be winging its way to, say, Argentina or England? Or will home advantage result in Germany coming out on top? Only time will tell.

The nation that wins the 2006 FIFA World Cup, however, will take home the coveted solid gold and malachite trophy made by Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga and 15.6 million Euros in prize money. The runner-up will receive 14.6 million Euros. Teams eliminated after the group stage will receive 3.9 million Euros.

A truly world phenomenon

The modern FIFA World Cup is a far cry from the tournaments of the 1930s. More teams are taking part, more fans are attending the matches or watching them on TV, and there's a lot more money involved.

No fewer than 3.2 million tickets have been released for the 64 World Cup matches; yet 30 million could have been sold, according to FIFA. At least 9 million fans from Germany and beyond are expected to view the games live on giant television screens at the official Fan Fests in the 12 host cities.

During the last tournament, in 2002, 300 TV channels beamed 41,100 hours of World Cup programming to 213 countries. Even more broadcasters will be involved in 2006. Fans will be able to access match material not just on TV and radio but also via the internet and mobile phones.

15,000 people, between them speaking more than 45 languages, including Hindi, Japanese and Korean, have been chosen to take part in the World Cup's volunteer programme. Altogether, there were a staggering 50,000 applications from 168 countries.

The Saudi Arabian team base in Bad Nauheim

When looking for team accommodation in Germany, Saudi Arabia's football officials plumped for Hotel Dolce in Bad Nauheim, renewing an acquaintance dating back nearly half a century. Explained FIFA: "It is 47 years since HM King Saud Bin Abdulaziz drove through the streets of the spa town just outside Frankfurt in his sky- blue Cadillac. Accompanied by a royal entourage, the Saudi Arabian monarch came to Bad Nauheim, in 1959, to visit the spas É as did many sovereigns in that era."

At Hotel Dolce, a prayer room facing Makkah has been prepared, alcohol has been removed from the mini bars and the satellite television has been adapted to receive 35 Arabic stations. "The finest footballers in Saudi Arabia should receive the same pampering and regal treatment on their FIFA World Cup mission as King Saud did when he visited the spa town", official sources continued.

A coming together of all nations

German Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel says the 2006 World Cup is a "unique chance for Germany to present herself as a welcoming, tolerant and modern country bursting with ideas. I am convinced that we will witness a fantastic and joyful festival of football and a warm coming together of peoples"