Worldwide Sporting Event

We are less than five days from the start of one of the biggest sporting events in the world. June 9th marks the beginning of the FIFA World Cup in Germany, with a match between Germany and Costa Rica in Munich. The final game will be played on July 9th in Berlin.

Soccer fans all over the world will be tuning in to cheer on their home country and hoping to watch what could be this year’s biggest upset. (There’s always at least one huge upset during every tournament.)

The World Cup really is a worldwide phenomenon. During the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea more than 28.8 billion people worldwide viewed at least some part of the tournament. It is believed that viewership totals from all over the world, including countries that do not have a team in this year’s tournament, will surpass the 2002 total.

While Brazil is the favorite, and it is believed that they will win for the sixth time, since upsets happen during every tournament the possible winner could be nearly anyone. Teams from Argentina and Germany are also heavily favored. Countries making their first appearance in the World Cup finals are Ghana, Ukraine and the Ivory Coast.

I know that I’m looking forward to watching some part of this year’s tournament. Though soccer may not be the most popular sport in the United States, I’ll be watching and I’m sure the World Cup will garner record ratings numbers in the U.S.