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Qatar 2022: How many times a FIFA World Cup champion successfully defended the title?

Throughout history there have not been many teams that have managed to successfully defend the title won in the previous edition. Here you can see how many times that happened and who achieved it.

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By leonardo herrera

The Italian players celebrate as Fabio Cannavaro of Italy lifts the World Cup trophy
© Shaun Botterill/Getty ImagesThe Italian players celebrate as Fabio Cannavaro of Italy lifts the World Cup trophy

Winning a World Cup is undoubtedly a difficult task. But doing it in two consecutive editions is even more complicated. Something reserved for few teams in history. Here we will tell you how many times it happened in history. And to get ready for the World Cup Qatar 2022, try the simulator.

Only 8 teams in history have managed to win this championship. The last country to join this list was Spain, who won the 2010 edition. They and England were winners on 1 occasion, so the remaining titles are distributed among the remaining 6 teams, and among them could be those that have successfully defended your title.

Winning World Cups consecutively is very difficult because there are 4 years’ difference between each edition, and in that time many things can happen. For example, that the best player on the team no longer has the same level and is not as decisive as when the title was won.

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Successfully defending the title

As mentioned before, England and Spain have only won 1 edition of the World Cup, so of the 8 winning countries in history, only 6 could have achieved this feat. These teams are Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Argentina and Uruguay. Of the six, three of them could have achieved it on a single occasion.

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Argentina, France and Uruguay have two titles, so they could have done it once. However, none of the three won their titles consecutively (although Argentina came very close, winning in 1986 and being runners-up in 1990). Of the remaining three, only two made it: Brazil and Italy.

Germany were close as well as Argentina, since they were runners-up in 1986 and champions in 1990. However, this achievement could only be obtained by the Italians in 1934 and 1938; and the Brazilians, who were champions in 1958 and 1962. In other words, since Chile 1962 no team has successfully defended the title.

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