As we wait for the FIFA magic to start, let us dribble down the memory lane and look at some of the most iconic moments from the history of the tournament.

1. The Italian team, dressed in all-black, gives the fascist salute before their quarter-final game against France. (1938)

2. Uruguay beat hosts Brazil in one of the biggest upsets in football history. (1950)

3. West Germany beat the favourites Hungary who hadn’t lost a match in 4 years in a match called the ‘Miracle of Bern’. (1954)

4. 17-year-old Pele makes his World Cup debut and Brazil wins its first title at the tournament. (1958)

5. The Battle of Santiago: The match in which Italy and Chile, took the phrase ‘fighting for the title’ too literally. (1962)

6. England wins World Cup for the first time. (1966)

7. And here’s how they celebrated it. (1966)

8. England’s goalkeeper, Gordon Banks’ produces the save of the century (1970)

9. Pele and Bobby Moore exchange jerseys after the match. (1970)

10. Johann Cruyff stuns people around the world with a unique, wizardly trick which would go on to be called the ‘Cruyff turn’. (1974)

11. Referee Clive Thomas controversially whistles for full-time as the ball is mid-flight, disallowing Brazil’s ‘goal’. (1978)

12. The Disgrace of Gijón: The match in which West Germany and Austria allegedly got a result that worked favourably for them, but knocked out Algeria. (1982)

13. Marco Tardelli’s goal celebration in the final after Italy defeated West Germany. (1982)

14. Maradona being confronted by six Belgian players. (1982)

15. The Hand of God & Goal of the Century (1986)

To think that both of these historic goals happened in one game, gives me chills. 

16. 38-year-old Roger Milla dances after scoring a goal against Italy. (1990)

17. In the first ever final to be decided on penalty kicks, the Italian striking legend Baggio missed a goal when his team needed it the most. (1994)

18. The own goal which cost Andrés Escobar his life. (1994)

19. Dennis Bergkamp’s wonder goal in the quarterfinal against Argentina. (1998)

20. Graham Poll’s does a yellow-card blunder and books Croatian defender Josip Simunic 3 times in the game against Australia. He never officiated a World Cup game again. (2006)

21. Zinadine Zidane’s now iconic head butt in the 2006 World Cup final. (2006)

And here’s the statue depicting the incident outside the Pompidou Arts Centre in Paris.

22. Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany. (2010)

23. Uruguay’s Luis Suarez bites Chielleni during the match against Italy. (2014)

24. Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 semi-final, followed by a lot of apologies from both the captains. (2014)

25. A Brazilian fan weeping as he clutches his replica World Cup trophy. (2014)

He later gave it to a German supporter and said, “Take it to the final! As you can see, it’s not easy, but you deserve it.”

The football World Cup is not a tournament, it’s an emotion.