Cheers of joy and laughter accompany the international event known as the World Cup. On June 12, millions of football fans (soccer fans for America), will be watching the World Cup taking place this year in Brazil. The World Cup is the world’s most widely viewed sporting event.

In 2010, the World Cup was held in South Africa, which was the first time it was hosted on the continent of Africa. The next World Cup, in 2018, will be held in Russia.

There are 32 teams from six different continents competing for the title at different stadiums around Brazil and the event usually lasts about a month. According to FIFA.com, these 32 teams have earned their spot through the Preliminary Competition which was played continuously in the three years leading up to this event. There was a total of 204 teams who entered and over 800 games were played. These games also help to rank the teams going into the tournament. Currently, Spain is ranked at number one, followed by Germany and then Brazil. The United States is ranked 13.

The World Cup is supervised by FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association. It first occurred in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo on July 13, 1930. During World War II, the World Cup did not take place in 1942 and 1946. In 1950, it resumed. The initial number of teams who participated was 13, by 1998 it more than doubled to 32. These additional team slots allowed nations from Africa and Asia to join the ranks of the world cup, according to FIFA.com.

With the Cup in Brazil this year, many are looking to see how the country handles the international spotlight.  Brazil is also hosting the 2016 summer Olympics.  It has been working to improve its infrastructure and economy for both events. According to the New York Times, the Maracana, a stadium in the center of Rio de Janeiro, has undergone a $536 million renovation. Brazil has had economic growth, with over “40 million Brazilians being pulled out of poverty,” according to the New York Times. Opinions on the World Cup can also be found at Barnstable High School.

Out of the 19 World Cups played, Brazil has won five times and is the only team who has competed in every tournament. The United States has never won a World Cup.

Sophomore Lucas Lanzo, who is Brazilian, is “excited to see how the government is going to handle [The World Cup]. The government is not prepared,” he said.

As a soccer fan, Lanzo predicts that if Brazil makes it to the finals, they will face off against Spain. Lanzo believes that the American team is no match for the Brazilian team, but thinks “[the American team] has been getting better and better each year and in ten years they will be a good team.”

Junior Harley Pina said, “It’s good that the World Cup is being held in Brazil because that’s where it is the most popular.” Pina would like the World Cup to be held in America, so that he has the opportunity to go to a match.

Unlike Lanzo, junior Victor Gomes expressed that the World Cup will allow the tourists to see how Brazil is as a country and how Brazilians feel about soccer. Gomes said, “[I] don’t think [soccer] is like a religion; it is just another sport.” Gomes would like to see a World Cup that is hosted by Portugal, because they are “well organized and have fine stadiums.”