FIFA World Cup Brazil

Celebrating the 2014 World Cup with a miniature sheet bearing two stamps

The 2014 World Cup 2014 will take place in Brazil between 12 June and 13 July. This will be the championship's 20th edition having starting in Uruguay in 1930. Brazil is hosting the event for the second time and 32 nations will be competing for the grand title. A total of 64 matches are to be played in 12 cities across Brazil and this is the first time that goal-line technology will be used in the World Cup Finals. The official anthem for the 2014 World Cup Finals is "We Are One" and will be sung by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte.

Brazil's official mascot for this World Cup is FulecoTM, an armadillo known to defend itself from predators by rolling up into a ball. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Futebol" ("Football") and "Ecologia" ("Ecology"). Besides this, nicknames ending with -eco are popular in Brazil. The official slogan for this global sporting spectacle is "All in One Rhythm". The official emblem is entitled "Inspiration" and the design is based on the idea of three victorious hands together raising the World Cup trophy. Its colours evoke the country's national flag and the design reflects Brazil's desire to warmly welcome the world to this grand event.

The event's official mascot and emblem will feature respectively on the 0.59 and 1.55 stamp. The World Cup has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 due to the Second World War. Eight different countries have won the 19 World Cup events with Brazil topping the list - winning five times. The other World Cup winners were Italy with four titles, West Germany with three titles and Argentina and Uruguay with two titles each. England, France and Spain won the title once.

A total of 76 teams have taken part in the World Cup Finals. This includes countries that have undergone a transformation or no longer exist. Since 1930, 34.1 million fans are estimated to have attended the 772 FIFA World Cup TM matches - an average of 44,300 per game.