World Cup Fever

There's an outbreak far more formidable than SARS or the avian flu as the World Cup fever is catching on.

The FIFA World Cup is the most significant competition in world football. The world's most representative team sport event, the World Cup is contested by the men's national football teams of member nations of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II. However, the event is often ongoing, as the qualifying rounds of the competition take place over the three years preceding the final rounds.

The tournament's final phase involves 32 national teams competing over a four-week period in a previously nominated host nation, with these games making it the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world. The current football World Cup Finals are being held in Germany between June 9 and July 9, 2006.

The opening match between Germany and Costa Rica was a fantastic one with the final results 4-2 and how right that the host nation should win. With such level of entertaining performance, it looks like the symptoms of the fever will soon show - lack of sleep from watching all the matches!