The Language of World Football

ATRÁS DE VOCÊ! ALLEZ UMA BOA JOGADA GOAL! FREISTOB OFFSIDE! OFFSIDE! SCHWALBE The language of WORLD FOOTBALL IVENGA! EVERY FOUR YEARS, EVEN THE LEAST NATIONALISTIC PEOPLE FEEL A SWELL OF PATRIOTIC PRIDE AS THEIR COUNTRY'S FINEST FOOTBALLERS GO OFF TO REPRESENT THEM ON THE GLOBAL STAGE. BUT WHAT IF IT WAS OUR LANGUAGE, RATHER THAN OUR STATE BORDERS, THAT WE USED TO REPRESENT OURSELVES? We took a look at the most successful Obviously, most countries are home to a languages in football history, going right rich tapestry of languages, and many back to the very first international tournament in Uruguay, back in 1930. have more than one 'official' language. As you can represent only one team, however, we based our results on the Each game played at any stage of the most commonly-spoken official Finals scored the language three points language, allowing regional variations to for a win and one for a draw. represent the mother tongue. By language TOTAL WORLD TITLES IGOL! IVENGA! 3 SPANISH PORTUGUESE ITALIAN GERMAN ENGLISH FRENCH The language TOURNAMENT TABLE FREISTOB CHE GOL! WINNER RUNNER-UP THIRD 1930 SPANISH SPANISH ENGLISH 1934 ITALIAN CZECH GERMAN 1938 ITALIAN IVENGA! HUNGARIAN PORTUGUESE 1950 SPANISH PORTUGUESE SWEDISH 1954 GERMAN HUNGARIAN GERMAN 1958 PORTUGUESE SWEDISH FRENCH 1962 PORTUGUESE CZECH SPANISH 1966 ENGLISH GERMAN SCHWALBE PORTUGUESE 1970 PORTUGUESE ITALIAN GERMAN 1974 GERMAN DUTCH POLISH 1978 SPANISH DUTCH PORTUGUESE CHE GOL! 1982 ITALIAN GERMAN POLISH 1986 SPANISH GERMAN FRENCH SPANISH ITALIAN 1990 GERMAN ITALIAN 1994 PORTUGUESE SWEDISH 1998 FRENCH PORTUGUESE CROATIAN 2002 PORTUGUESE GERMAN TURKISH 2006 ITALIAN FRENCH GERMAN 2010 SPANISH DUTCH GERMAN As you can see, Spanish has done While Portugal itself has a fairly particularly well since its 16th and 17th modest international record, that trip century introduction to the Americas. to Brazil in the 15th century has paid Representing the Spanish powerhouse are dividends: Brazil has been an the likes of Uruguay and Argentina, both of ever-present at the finals and won the competition five times, taking Portuguese to third in the table. whom have won the top title twice and been regular, successful fixtures of the tournament through the years. ALLEZ The language POINTS TABLE SCHWALBE SPANISH 17TH CROATIAN 18TH BULGARIAN 19TH TURKISH 20TH JAPANESE 21ST AFRIKAANS 22ND NORWEGIAN 23R0 UKRANIAN 24TH PERSIAN 25TH SLOVAK 26TH SLOVENE 27TH GREEK 28TH SERBIAN 29TH EGYPTIAN 20TH HEBREW 1ST 455 20 2ND GERMAN 273 19 3R0 PORTUGUESE 252 16 4TH ENGLISH 211 14 5TH ITALIAN 147 10 6TH FRENCH 125 6. 7TH DUTCH 113 8TH SWEDISH 66 gTH RUSSIAN 54 10TH HUNGARIAN 48 11TH POLISH 47 12TH CZECH 40 13TH ARABIC 14TH KOREAN 15TH DANISH 34 29 26 31ST MANDARIN 16TH ROMANIAN 26 English does not fare as well as some At the very bottom of the scale, Mandarin might expect - although it is spoken in - spoken by more than 14% of the many countries around the world, the world's population - has not been able to Commonwealth took its time to fall in muster even a single tournament point. love with the beautiful game. Similarly, the world's fourth most spoken language, Hindi, has never even managed a game at the finals. LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SUMMER, HOW WOULD OUR LANGUAGE TEAMS SHAPE UP? CHECK OUT OUR TEAMS BELOW: PORTUGUESE An already strong Brazilian contingent is enhanced by Portugal's finest. CÉSAR UMA BOA JOGADA ALVES LUIZ THIAGO SILVA COENTRAO RAMIRES JOÃO MOUTINHO RONALDO OSCAR ΝΕΥΜAR HULK CAMPEONES SPANISH World champions Spain are bolstered by three of the finest forwards in the world. IKER CASILLAS GODÍN PIQUÉ AZPILICUETA ALBA MASCHERANO XAVI INIESTA MESSI AGÜERO SUÁREZ ENGLISH A young English team adds some classy experience from the USA and Ghana. HOWARD GOAL! JOHNSON CAHILL JONES BAINES GERRARD ESSIEN STERLING ROONEY LALLANA STURRIDGE ALLEZ FRENCH France adds extra power courtesy of the Ivory Coast and Cameroon. LLORIS MANGALA KÖSCIELNY SAGNA EVRA SONG YAYA TOURE POGBA RIBERY BENZEMA DROGBA BOMBENSCHUSS GERMAN Germany is looking so strong that no Swiss players get a look in! NEUER LAHM HUMMELS MERTESACKER SCHMELZER SCHWEINSTEIGER KROOS GÖTZE ÖZIL REUS KLOSE STRAFSCHOP! DUTCH This Dutch team may have a chance of bringing home its first trophy... COURTOIS VERMAELEN KOMPANY VERTONGHEN DE JONG SNEIJDER WITSEL JANUZAJ ROBBEN HAZARD VAN PERSIE NO DOUBT YOU'LL THINK WE'VE GOT OUR SELECTIONS WRONG, SO SHARE OURS AND DRAW UP YOUR OWN SQUADS...