Ranking the World Cups you have seen

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

OK, enough of this all; the good ones are out or weakest 8 left or what not. It's early on but rank them in order from the first one you watched. And I'll include this years anyway, you do as you please.

I'm leaving 1978 out. Do remember the final very clearly, watching it on our black'n'white.

1. 1982
2. 1986
3. 1994
4. 1998
5. 2018
6. 2014
7. 2002
8. 2006
9. 1990
10. 2010

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

You bastard PPV I almost just missed a train sitting in the station pub trying to work out my answer to this.

And I only really got as far as starting to think about my assessment criteria. Memorable final (1986)? Memorable semi-finals (1982, 1990, 2014)? Number of memorable games prior to that? Number of truly great sides who would have been worthy winners (1986:4; 2006:0)? World class players at their very peak? The analyst in me won't be content until I've weighted each scoring criteria then run my scores through it to see if the model produces results that fit with my overall subjective judgement.

[NHH]

Best = ones that I retain the most affection for, in order:

1) 1990 - Coincided with leaving school and the freedom of that moment, combined with the summer heat and England's progress create a massive rosy glow

2=) 1982 - First world cup I was conscious of

2=) 2006 - Only world cup I've been too. Spent 3 weeks moving from city to city avoiding England, and had the time of my life

4) 2018 - Most surprisingly enthralling, gripping and positive, despite initial plans to boycott...

5) 2014 - 7-1 remains the greatest match I've ever seen in the tournament, and felt like payback for a series of disappointments in every world cup, ever

6) 1998 - The World Cup I did the most to watch on TV, taking time off work to watch every match possible. The all mostly fade apart from a few bright spots; all of England's and Nigeria/Spain mostly.

7) 2002 - A brief flurry of optimism, combined with knowing some South Koreans and getting tied up in their progress

8) 1986 - The wrong time zone for me, really and don't recall much apart from the England games I was allowed to stay up for

9) 1994 - Really tuned out of things by this time, mostly because England weren't in it and I spent June being one half of the Margaret Beckett volunteer campaign team in Westminster

10) 2010 - A shitawful tournament, which witnessed the death of the shitawful Team England bullshit.

[blameless]

1. 1986
2. 1998
3. 2006
4. 1994
5. 1982
6. 2014
7. 1990
8. 2018
9. 2010
10. 2002

Based on skill, drama and how much I enjoyed it. So 1986 was a high-skill, high-drama tournament that I enjoyed immensely, 2002 was a dreary pile of rubbish which I loathed. Some in the middle (1990, 2014) were short on great skill, but dramatic and occasionally fun.

[wingco]

1970
1982
1974
2018
1994
1986
1978
1998
1990
2014
2006
2010
2002

[Flynnie]

1. 1998. First World Cup in Europe for me which was really special. There was something about being confronted over a month-long period by the atmospheres that really leaves an impression to this day - for most of my friends who are my age (32) it's their favourite tournament too. Great Dutch team, unbelievable goal by my favourite player ever (Bergkamp), USA fell flat on their face but in a really entertaining way*, memorable final if not a great game per se. First time winner I really liked, more so in future as even more players from that team joined Arsenal.

2. 2014. Great group stage, great atmosphere, surprise Dutch team, USA did well enough, decent final. Holland 5-1 Spain will remain one of my all-time favourite games, especially as I held a small party with my best friend (who is Finnish by birth but raised in den Haag) and we all went bonkers. Actually missed most of the final because we had booked a flight to America and didn't think about it beforehand, ended up watching Goetze's goal in Las Vegas baggage claim.

3. 1994. In my home country so yeah, good memories of the USA beating Colombia (and bad memories of what happened after), and very good memories of Ireland beating Italy. My dad had been in Ireland during the 1990 World Cup and my nan had bought me an Ireland shirt after going back to Donegal to see her family, so that was peak Paddywhackery for me. Sweden making the semis was also a thing, since I really took a shine to Tomas Brolin for some reason back then. Woeful final - I remember my mom taking me to her friend's house and watching it there. I fell asleep during the first half and awoke just before penalties...good timing.

4. 2006. Italy 2-0 Germany might be the best World Cup game I've ever seen, decent final with one very memorable moment. Actually watched Italy-Germany through windows of a cafe in San Francisco's North Beach (our little Italy). During halftime we kicked footballs over the trolley buses on Columbus Avenue. People went berserk when Grosso scored. First World Cup where I had a full-time job (with a sports bar located below the office, so I would regularly take "coffee breaks"** and nip inside to watch a few minutes - saw Germany beat Poland that way) so I had money to get swagged out. I bought my first USA shirt, an adidas originals Holland jacket I sincerely despise having gotten rid of and some other stuff. First World Cup where I remember the ball being an issue.

5. 2010. First World Cup in the UK with some very memorable moments and experiences but overall not an especially memorable tournament. I flew back the day of US-England as we held a house party for the game, complete with inflatable goal in our garden (big enough to play 3 a side on!). Had me the new USA shirt, which I think I changed into on the train back from Heathrow or something ludicrous like that.

Holland 2-1 Brazil was probably my favorite game, couldn't cram into De Hems so a mate and I went and watched it at The George in Soho. Flew to visit my aunt in Holland and watched the final there, or some of the final. I missed half of it due to being too excited to be in Amsterdam, so I missed my train back to Leiden. Weirdly the Dutch seemed reasonably OK about losing, since they were so bad in the final, yet had changed their mind by the parade. Lots of "Howard Webb is Spanse" t-shirts.

I watched Donovan's goal in the O2 before going to work and ended up in a group hug with the only other Americans there - Bon Jovi's roadies.

6. 2002. USA's best World Cup since 1930, Ronaldo is back in form, South Korea were infuriating, Holland didn't qualify, shit German team made the final thanks to that cunt Hugh Dallas. It was the last summer before I had a job so I basically reverted to South Korean time. I'd go to bed at about 9 am after the games ended, wake up at 4 pm or so and watch baseball games before the fun began. This worked unbelievably well. Probably the worst for me only because I was an experienced enough football viewer to know this wasn't a vintage World Cup, but I was too young to have any money or go to bars like in the next two tournaments, so I didn't augment it with memorable experiences. No one I knew cared that the USA were doing so well.

*plug here for the American Fiasco podcast, which is excellent

** fortunately my boss, while not a big soccer fan, was a big sports fan who wasn't particularly anti-soccer (having an Irish dad probably helped) so he let me get away with murder despite knowing perfectly well what was going on.

[ad hoc]

1986
1978
1994
1982
2006
2010
1990
2002
2014

I saw 1974, but only really remember it in flashes and moments
I missed 1998 entirely through living on a Pacific Island
2018 is looking good, but if the next few matches are poor, it will sink back into the morass of mediocre tournaments. There were 4 good round-of-16 matches, and 4 poor ones. That's a reasonable ratio, but if the recent past is any guide from here on in it gets worse.

[Duncan Gardner]

1982
1986
1978
1974
2002
1970
1990-98 =
2006-14 =

[Jah Womble]

In terms of quality/entertainment:

1970
1982
2018
1978
1994
1998
1986
1974
1990
2002
2014
2006
2010

Edit: 1994 would've been higher but for that dire final: ditto 2014, which had a great group stage but poor knockouts.

(Italics = 'pending', obviously.)

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

You bastard PPV I almost just missed a train sitting in the station pub trying to work out my answer to this.

And I only really got as far as starting to think about my assessment criteria. Memorable final (1986)? Memorable semi-finals (1982, 1990, 2014)? Number of memorable games prior to that? Number of truly great sides who would have been worthy winners (1986:4; 2006:0)? World class players at their very peak? The analyst in me won't be content until I've weighted each scoring criteria then run my scores through it to see if the model produces results that fit with my overall subjective judgement.

I'm a bastard, I, that's for sure.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Best = ones that I retain the most affection for, in order:

Yeah, that plays a huge part of it for me. I rank 1994 3rd, to be honest the semi-finals and the final should be among the worst ranked. But it was one of those amazing summers here in Sweden and the side did well winning bronze so that's kind of etched in memory. Same 1998 but with Croatia.

[Simon G]

1998 - Something about this tournament was just outstanding to me - maybe it's because I was 13 years old and actually understood the game, knew all the players and, somewhat fortunately, had a cold the week England played Tunisia and had all but the Wednesday of that week off school, meaning I watched more games than I would normally have been able to.

2018 - Due to my work situation, this tournament has become a bit of escapism for me. I also love the fact that someone I have never seen even get close to winning a World Cup is guaranteed a place in the final. The lack of 0-0s and proper hammerings means that nearly every game has gone right to the wire as well.

2006 - I think this one is mainly down to the opening game between Germany and Costa Rica, and absolute barnstormer that got the tournament off to a flyer and I was hooked then until the end. Disappointing final though.

1994 - The first World Cup I can remember. Loved Sweden and Bulgaria reaching the semi-finals, and the war between Spain and Italy in the quarter finals. Let down somewhat by the dour final.

2014 - I actually struggle to remember much of this tournament and it was only 4 years ago. Van Persie's header and the Germany 7-1 battering of Brazil aside, did anything else exciting actually happen?

2002 - This tournament was hindered by the time-zones and games kicking off at stupid o'clock in the morning. I also missed the second half of England-Brazil due to having an English Literature A-Level exam (back to my point about stupid kick-off times). Also, Brazil practically won it at a canter, and that's boring in itself.

2010 - Those bastard vuvuzelas.

[Satchmo Distel]

I have placed 1998 and 2010 higher than most other posters because the wins of France and Spain were very important to me.

1986 - the most WTF moments, the best player, good final

1978 - my first, so incredibly glamorous and magical. Awful format in retrospect but at the time it was the only one I knew

1982 - three of the best teams I have seen: Italy, Brazil, France. Two greatest games.

2010 - underrated in this thread. Spain were awesome; Germany, Ghana and Uruguay all had at least one excellent performance. The photo of the two bomber pilots. The 'easy' England group and the exposure of that entitled generation of England players, who have also been shown up by the much nicer 2018 squad.

1998 - Just psychologically very important for me that France won after the nearly campaigns of 1982 and 1986. I enjoyed all Brazil's games leading up to the final. Ronaldo at the top of his game was a unique talent, the best of that type of striker I have seen at a World Cup. Only Van Basten Euro 88 surpasses it.

2018 - lack of a great team (so far) but the most WTF moments since 1986, and I think VAR has been a qualified success.

1994 - really only Baggio and Bulgaria did it for me. Romania and Sweden had their moments but not enough. Brazil v Holland was fun.

2014 - the biggest letdown in the KO stages after a very good group stage. The 7-1 felt great in context but now I'm less sure that it wasn't very cruel on the fans.

2002 - last eight was too weak. Obvious bias to get South Korea through. I did think, however, that Brazil's winner v England was a gem.

2006 and 1990 - joint worst, the absolute pits. I have no happy memories of these two tournaments.

[Diable Rouge]

1. 1990 - Being only eight at the time, my only real memories of the tournament were the Ireland matches and the Final, but your first World Cup is pivotal as to whether you take to the sport, and in retrospect, the national bonhomie proved the catalyst for Ireland's social and economic transformation.

2. 1994 - Houghton's lob over Pagliuca, the exciting Nigerian and Bulgarian displays, Maradona's meltdown - tremendous entertainment!

3. 1998 - Dutch, Croatian and Argentinean sides in full pomp, but France were more functional than endearing.

4. 2014 - A vibrant return to form after a number of dour tournaments.

5. 2018 - There may have been a few dull games, but this renewal has never been less than absorbing.

6. 2006 - Aside from Zidane v Materazzi, this left zero impression on my memory.

7. 2010 - Between Spain choking the life out of games, and the general lack of goals, easily the dullest tournament since Italy.

8. 2002 - Saipan made it impossible to take any enjoyment from the Irish campaign, the toxic legacy overshadowing the rest of the tournament.

[San Bernardhinault]

Totally biased by exuberance of being young in the 80s, and by nostalgia, but also because I loved the chaos of 82 and 86

1982
1986
1998
1990
2014
2010
1994
2006
2002

[Greenlander]

1994 – Watching most of the games either at my mates flat alongside all night Subbuteo sessions or down the Minerva on the landlord's tiny TV soundtracked by his excellent indie 7” jukebox. 10 pence a go. Almost won a large sum of money over quarter final weekend but let down by the Italy-Spain game.

1986 – O Levels. Pretending to revise. Had a TV in my room so watched large chunks of it after the rest of the house had gone to bed. That hat trick, Wilkins sending off, the reason Portuguese centre half's are swarthy, watching the final at my grandparents in Bermuda. Being really ill around the time of the quarter finals.

1982 – Running back from the school bus to watch England games. Keegan's header, the angry Kuwaiti sheikh, El Salvador shirts with initials not quite as exotic as Iran's, sitting in the lounge at my piano teachers watching Cameroon get eliminated, Italy being rubbish then quite good, that foul. Being really ill around the time of the second group games.

1978 – Watched a large chunk at my aunt and uncle's house as parents were moving from Lincolnshire to Plymouth. Got given a poetry book about Scotland team that contained the word 'fucking' so seemed quite illicit and thrilling to the 8 year old me. Remember the time keeping denying Brazil, that goal against Holland, Iran having their name on their shirts being incredibly exotic, ticker tape and the Peru keeper with his trips to the half way line. Vivid memories of a match in Mar del Plata that was such a quagmire and the mud so gloopy the goalies could barely jump to catch the ball. I always though it was between Sweden and Spain. It may have been a dream.

1990 – University. Watched most of the England games in the student union. The projector going down in a shower of beer for the England goal against Holland only to realise 15 minutes later it had been disallowed. Platt's goal against Belgium bringing the screen doen in the aftermath. Missing the final as I was flying to Bermuda.

1998 – My first/ only born decided to make his appearance six weeks early and shortly after the first England game. He then decided not to bother and had to be induced five days later. The next two weeks while he was in hospital remain a bit of a blur. Zubizarreta palming it in and that Argentina game. He was home for the final and watched it on my knee. To this day he hates football.

2002 – Missed most of it as I was working. Plenty of mileage annoying the French crew over the Senegal result (and first round exit) as they were alongside at the time. Watched snippets of it on the mess room TV. Was on a train coming back from that London during the Argentina game. The ball floating over Seaman and that's it.

2006 – Missed most of it as I was working. Plenty of mileage annoying the French crew over Zidane's headbutt as they were alongside at the time. Watched snippets of it on the mess room TV but can't remember shit.

2010 – Don't remember much at all.

2014 – Bloody hell, four years ago and I don't remember much of this one either except that semi final.

[G-Man]

All World Cups have great and awful games, so just going by them would be futile. I'll go for personal enjoyment.

2010: A world cup on my doorstep. Got tickets for four games. Saw many more in the fan park. It was a magical time during which we could forget how the event helped ruin our economy.

1974: My first World Cup. Holland vs Uruguay was the moment I fell in love with football. My friends played outside, and I could hear them having summer fun. I was transfixed by orange vs light blue. I remember seeing a good umber of games. The result of the final compensated for the many refereeing errors against West-Germany.

2006: I was in Germany for parts of it. Thanks to Kurt Bafokeng I got to see my first World Cup game live. The vibe in the country was something I hadn't known before.

1990: From calling Cameroon's victory against Argentina to Germany winning the thing, I lived that World Cup with intensity.

1982: Another World Cup I lived intensely. Germany spoilt it a bit with the stitch-up of Algeria, but Brazil were the greatest side I'd ever seen. Plus that semi-final!

2014: My resentment of the Brazil hype and the commercialism was offset by that 7-1 and Mario Götze being better than Messi.

1994: The last time a World Cup did not have a generic look (at least 2010 had a unique sound, thanks to the vuvuzelas). Some stone-cold classic games, but also so much injustice. The murder of Escbar left a very dark cloud over the event.

1998: Mostly middling entertainment. I predicted France would win, due to their great squad more than home advantage, when the pundits had them down as dark horses. So that was nice.

1986: I missed a lot of that tournament due to work, and I resented Maradona's handball. I hated Denmark being slaughtered by Spain after the Uruguay match.

2002: I took three weeks leave to watch it on TV. Much of it was unwatchable drivel. There was some great drama, especially involving South Korea. But Brazil winning was a foregone conclusion.

1978: I was 12 and ready for a spectacle. It wasn't spectacular. Plus: Fascist dictatorship.


2018 will fall between 1982 and 2014. A thoroughly enjoyable World Cup with lots of tight matches. But the great majority so far went against my wishes...

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

1. 1998. First World Cup in Europe for me which was really special. There was something about being confronted over a month-long period by the atmospheres that really leaves an impression to this day - for most of my friends who are my age (32) it's their favourite tournament too. Great Dutch team, unbelievable goal by my favourite player ever (Bergkamp), USA fell flat on their face but in a really entertaining way*, memorable final if not a great game per se. First time winner I really liked, more so in future as even more players from that team joined Arsenal.

2. 2014. Great group stage, great atmosphere, surprise Dutch team, USA did well enough, decent final. Holland 5-1 Spain will remain one of my all-time favourite games, especially as I held a small party with my best friend (who is Finnish by birth but raised in den Haag) and we all went bonkers. Actually missed most of the final because we had booked a flight to America and didn't think about it beforehand, ended up watching Goetze's goal in Las Vegas baggage claim.

3. 1994. In my home country so yeah, good memories of the USA beating Colombia (and bad memories of what happened after), and very good memories of Ireland beating Italy. My dad had been in Ireland during the 1990 World Cup and my nan had bought me an Ireland shirt after going back to Donegal to see her family, so that was peak Paddywhackery for me. Sweden making the semis was also a thing, since I really took a shine to Tomas Brolin for some reason back then. Woeful final - I remember my mom taking me to her friend's house and watching it there. I fell asleep during the first half and awoke just before penalties...good timing.

4. 2006. Italy 2-0 Germany might be the best World Cup game I've ever seen, decent final with one very memorable moment. Actually watched Italy-Germany through windows of a cafe in San Francisco's North Beach (our little Italy). During halftime we kicked footballs over the trolley buses on Columbus Avenue. People went berserk when Grosso scored. First World Cup where I had a full-time job (with a sports bar located below the office, so I would regularly take "coffee breaks"** and nip inside to watch a few minutes - saw Germany beat Poland that way) so I had money to get swagged out. I bought my first USA shirt, an adidas originals Holland jacket I sincerely despise having gotten rid of and some other stuff. First World Cup where I remember the ball being an issue.

5. 2010. First World Cup in the UK with some very memorable moments and experiences but overall not an especially memorable tournament. I flew back the day of US-England as we held a house party for the game, complete with inflatable goal in our garden (big enough to play 3 a side on!). Had me the new USA shirt, which I think I changed into on the train back from Heathrow or something ludicrous like that.

Holland 2-1 Brazil was probably my favorite game, couldn't cram into De Hems so a mate and I went and watched it at The George in Soho. Flew to visit my aunt in Holland and watched the final there, or some of the final. I missed half of it due to being too excited to be in Amsterdam, so I missed my train back to Leiden. Weirdly the Dutch seemed reasonably OK about losing, since they were so bad in the final, yet had changed their mind by the parade. Lots of "Howard Webb is Spanse" t-shirts.

I watched Donovan's goal in the O2 before going to work and ended up in a group hug with the only other Americans there - Bon Jovi's roadies.

6. 2002. USA's best World Cup since 1930, Ronaldo is back in form, South Korea were infuriating, Holland didn't qualify, shit German team made the final thanks to that cunt Hugh Dallas. It was the last summer before I had a job so I basically reverted to South Korean time. I'd go to bed at about 9 am after the games ended, wake up at 4 pm or so and watch baseball games before the fun began. This worked unbelievably well. Probably the worst for me only because I was an experienced enough football viewer to know this wasn't a vintage World Cup, but I was too young to have any money or go to bars like in the next two tournaments, so I didn't augment it with memorable experiences. No one I knew cared that the USA were doing so well.

*plug here for the American Fiasco podcast, which is excellent

** fortunately my boss, while not a big soccer fan, was a big sports fan who wasn't particularly anti-soccer (having an Irish dad probably helped) so he let me get away with murder despite knowing perfectly well what was going on.

Loved this!

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

1994 – Watching most of the games either at my mates flat alongside all night Subbuteo sessions or down the Minerva on the landlord's tiny TV soundtracked by his excellent indie 7” jukebox. 10 pence a go. Almost won a large sum of money over quarter final weekend but let down by the Italy-Spain game.

1986 – O Levels. Pretending to revise. Had a TV in my room so watched large chunks of it after the rest of the house had gone to bed. That hat trick, Wilkins sending off, the reason Portuguese centre half's are swarthy, watching the final at my grandparents in Bermuda. Being really ill around the time of the quarter finals.

1982 – Running back from the school bus to watch England games. Keegan's header, the angry Kuwaiti sheikh, El Salvador shirts with initials not quite as exotic as Iran's, sitting in the lounge at my piano teachers watching Cameroon get eliminated, Italy being rubbish then quite good, that foul. Being really ill around the time of the second group games.

1978 – Watched a large chunk at my aunt and uncle's house as parents were moving from Lincolnshire to Plymouth. Got given a poetry book about Scotland team that contained the word 'fucking' so seemed quite illicit and thrilling to the 8 year old me. Remember the time keeping denying Brazil, that goal against Holland, Iran having their name on their shirts being incredibly exotic, ticker tape and the Peru keeper with his trips to the half way line. Vivid memories of a match in Mar del Plata that was such a quagmire and the mud so gloopy the goalies could barely jump to catch the ball. I always though it was between Sweden and Spain. It may have been a dream.

1990 – University. Watched most of the England games in the student union. The projector going down in a shower of beer for the England goal against Holland only to realise 15 minutes later it had been disallowed. Platt's goal against Belgium bringing the screen doen in the aftermath. Missing the final as I was flying to Bermuda.

1998 – My first/ only born decided to make his appearance six weeks early and shortly after the first England game. He then decided not to bother and had to be induced five days later. The next two weeks while he was in hospital remain a bit of a blur. Zubizarreta palming it in and that Argentina game. He was home for the final and watched it on my knee. To this day he hates football.

2002 – Missed most of it as I was working. Plenty of mileage annoying the French crew over the Senegal result (and first round exit) as they were alongside at the time. Watched snippets of it on the mess room TV. Was on a train coming back from that London during the Argentina game. The ball floating over Seaman and that's it.

2006 – Missed most of it as I was working. Plenty of mileage annoying the French crew over Zidane's headbutt as they were alongside at the time. Watched snippets of it on the mess room TV but can't remember shit.

2010 – Don't remember much at all.

2014 – Bloody hell, four years ago and I don't remember much of this one either except that semi final.

And this.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

And all the other. Hell, I didn't expect more than them being listed how I did it but this was actually very great to read about you.

[jason voorhees]

1) 82 - I watch games every once in a while, to see if it was like 1982's The Pirate Movie (which I really loved as a kid, couldn't believe it got horrible reviews....then saw it as an adult and was horrified I loved it and could easily see.) It actually gets better with age. Storywise, it's actually a very, very deep and dark operatic story (two good guys die, less bad guy kills the really fucking bad guy in the end. Great lesson for politics and life.)

2) 86 - I would watch Paraguay, with Julio Caesar Romero and Roberto Cabañas, whom I just saw for the Cosmos a few months before, and get real misty.

3) 94 - The best show my band ever played was during Holland-Brazil.

4) 98 - A guy from Hadjuk Split who was friends with Goran Ivanesivic stayed with me. We'd watch all Croatia games, and he'd tell stories about Bilic and all the players.

5) 18 - So far, so good.

6) 02 - The Univision guy, upon the US's 3rd goal against Portugal, screamed in English "NO MEEERRRCCCYYY!!!!" We had seen USA-Uruguay with imp at RFK in DC a month before. Uruguay couldn't contain any of our speedsters. We were finally a power. A minor power, but a power.

7) 06 - Zizou and Ribery.

8) 14
9) 10
10) 90

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

All World Cups have great and awful games, so just going by them would be futile. I'll go for personal enjoyment.

2010: A world cup on my doorstep. Got tickets for four games. Saw many more in the fan park. It was a magical time during which we could forget how the event helped ruin our economy.

Yeah, well, that's really what it comes down to, isn't it? Most of us have ranked 2010 way down, but that's because we were not there. Is kind of a very gigantic given that this is (cliché warning) the biggest party on earth. Getting people in countries who haven't even qualified to a craze and people in countries who have to a standstill. And if you're there, of course it will be massive among memories.
I remember how it was in Gothenburg Euro 1992. And that in comparison was a sesame seed on a Big Mac bun compared to where the entire hamburger's ventured since, with TV-channels and Internet.

[jwdd27]

1990: I was 18 and so watched most of it in packed pubs, my reaching that age coinciding with pubs picking up on televised sport drawing in the punters. Ditto replica shirts being a widespread fashion accessory. Like Flynnie, our pub had a delirious 10 minutes believing Pearce had put England ahead against Holland. Also Schillaci, Nessun Dorma, yadda yadda.

1998: My first "grown up" World Cup, where I had a proper job and had a decent understanding of the players and the game. Bergkamp's goal, Croatia, Michael Owen, Romania dyed their hair blond.

1986: Inconvenient kick off times, but Maradona, Lineker, freaky shadows on the pitch.

1982: My first televised World Cup, Brazil, Socrates, Falcao, England started off good but got worse, which turned out to be an unreliable indicator for future tournaments.

2014: Great group stage, horrible knockouts where the big boys all scraped through, then the 7-1.

2002: in the pub at 7am. Seaman was too old, predictable finalists after some prominent group stage exits.

2006: England golden generation and their wags outplayed by Portugal. Everyone except the Germans couldn't keeo the ball down (or was that 2010?). Took a trip to the US in the last week and watched the final jetlagged.

2010 Vuvuzuelas. England v Algeria made me doubt what it was I liked about football. A shit tournament all round. A lot of memories of 2010 are blurred with 2006, possibly because my life hadn't changed much.

[Haddock]

For a mixture of footballing and personal reasons
1. 2002. I was living (still live) in Japan. Arranged things so I was mostly off work. Tickets for all England games bar the Arg one. For pre-match beers we went in every case to ramen shops. An odd experience being among the Eng-er-land boys for the first and I'm pretty sure last time. ("Sing you fakking cahnt" shouted at me by bloke next to me during anthem before Denmark game) It was a month-long party for me, mixing with people from all over the world.
2. 1982. Best football. The Arg-Bra-Ita group. W Ger-Fra. Keegan’s Miss. Tardelli.
3. 1978. I was an impressionable lad and was fascinated by Argentina. Kempes, Luque, Passarella, Ardiles. Love of Argentinian international team has stayed with me. The stadiums and ticker tape. Other than that, Didier Six
4. 1990. The drama of the England knockout games. Massing on Cannigia. Maradona to Cannigia
5. 1986. Russia, Denmark, ugly Uruguay, Maradona and all that. Incredible Bra-Fra. Decent final.
6. 1998. My girlfriend, who I was crazy about, announced at half-time of Bra-Sco that she was leaving me for her ex. I was upset but consoled myself with thought of month of football ahead. She came back during second game of the day. We had lots of football-watching parties after that. Arg-Eng
7. 2006. Some decent games. Arg thrilling in groups and then threw it away. Ger-Ita. Battle of Nuremberg
8. 2014. Very good group stages, mostly terrible knockouts apart from that hilarious semi. I developed a soft spot for the USA.
9. 1994. Many people remember this fondly but I hardly remember it at all due to the amount of ecstasy, speed and even acid I was getting through that year
10. 2010. Utterly dreadful. Jabulani to blame for most of it. FIFA courts

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

1986: Inconvenient kick off times, but Maradona, Lineker, freaky shadows on the pitch.

The things that stick with us...