The World Cup has had seven different winners in the 76 years of the competition.
Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil have won nine tournaments combined while Europe have taken the remaining nine with Italy (4), Germany (3) and England and France (1 each) bringing the continent up on par with the South Americans. These teams, with the exception of Uruguay, are the elite of world football. To narrow it down, Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Italy are the elite.
International soccer is said to have lost much of its stature in the eyes of football fans in the face of growing influence of domestic league clubs and longer seasons.
The World Cup has been a principle symbol of the decline. While there are more teams, many believe the quality of the football being played is not comparable to the previous era.
The 1994 World Cup that saw Argentina exit in round 2, Germany leave in the Quarter-finals, France and England fail to make the tournament along with a scoreless Final game that bored us to tears.
The 1998 tournament was hardly better. Only France and Brazil turned up and met each other in the final and that was it.
In Korea/Japan, Brazil laid waste to all in their way while South Korea and Turkey made the semi-finals. The 2002 final saw Brazil beat Germany in what was an academic affair.
World Cup 2006 is said to have followed the trend. Italy showed some good form but benefited from the untimely exits of Holland (2ND round) Spain (2ND round), Argentina (QF), Brazil (QF), England (QF). It seemed like it didn't win the World Cup as much as it was the case that France, Argentina and Brazil lost it.
Italy's World Cup win last year marked the failure of any new teams to break the mould as Portugal fell at the Semi-finals, Ukraine put in a respectable quarter-final place but we knew that it would be an old name on the trophy…this time.
If we take time back two years previous to Italy reasserting their name and we have the unexpected success of Greece not only in qualifying for Euro 2004 but winning the trophy in the final as well.
Greece proved that the little guys could win the big tournaments. However, the didn't translate the European success into the World Cup and the big boys club of international soccer ruled again.
There is a history to this. Denmark pulled off the surprise of the decade and won Euro 1992 only to fail to qualify for the 1994 world cup after failing to beat Ireland twice and going down 1-0 to Spain in the final game of the group.
Holland won the 1988 European competition but could only manage a second round finish in Italia 90 while Cameroon and Ireland both went a stage further.
However, the qualifiers are telling different stories now. Northern Ireland beat Spain and Sweden in quick succession in the Euro 2008 qualifiers while Israel are fast becoming the hardest team to beat in competitive game in recent years after France, Switzerland, Ireland and now England cannot seem to press them. They have lost just one of their last 17 qualifying games. They don't win many but they don't lose many either.
One could possibly theories that the lack of proper performances from the international elite in recent years is down to their domestic leagues. La Liga and the English Premiership are the top leagues in the world yet the Spainish and English national sides are consistent underachievers in ranking tournaments.
Italy only recently broke that mantle with their World Cup win after a 24-year wait for an international trophy. Italy are now struggling in their own Euro 2008 group, hovering just above Scotland and Ukraine.
The Irish side was never better when Robbie Keane was struggling to get his game and when the majority of our squad was playing less top-flight football. Since almost every Irish star has been playing for the Premierships best sides, we have failed to beat a high-ranking side in a competitive game since the reign of Mick McCarthy.
Looking further into the international abyss and we see Poland and Finland making waves in Euro 2008 Qualifying Group A while Greece are looking vibrant again in Group on the top of Group C.
Although the usual sides will get most likely get through (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, England and Portugal), they will most likely come up against lower tier sides like Greece, Bulgaria, Russia and Poland.
The lower tier sides want to make a name for themselves as opposed to the aforementioned countries who will have squad players wrecked from domestic league, cup and European football, carrying injuries and egos and not wanting to fly out without a first-team appearance.
What we are seeing is that soccer's old elite of European and International football maybe winning the tournaments now but their squads and performances have been showing a sharp decline. Brazil never looked like winning World Cup 2006 from the first game.
Germany haven't won a major tournament since Euro 96 and have consistently been accused of average, mediocre football since then. Only now do they look remotely dangerous.
Argentina seem to have the players, the manager but never get the trophy despite showing early promise.
Another reason why international soccer could well open up further from the elite seven or eight is that there are more registered teams with FIFA than ever before. Each group in the Euro 2008 qualifiers has at least seven sides (eight in Group A).
More teams has meant that more top seeded sides are being shoved in with dangerous middle-range sides. This has caused England problems with Croatia, Russia, Israel and Macedonia all lying in wait to chip away their points.
Ireland thought that Germany and the Czech Republic would be the big problem. They were, but so were Cyprus and Slovakia. In Ireland's World Cup qualifying group, Ireland contended with Israel, France and Switzerland and all the fixtures bar one (Ireland 0-1 France) ended in stalemate. This group hinged on one result as opposed to a group stage.
But what will be the big result of these trends. Will Cyprus one day be on a par with Germany? Not this decade or the next but the expansion of the European Finals (Eight to Sixteen Teams) and the World Cup (24 to 32 teams) has left the scope for more sides to do well at the highest level even though that cannot maintain such form long-term.
What is happening is that some sides, notably Denmark and Greece, who won just a single tournament, are really not on the international soccer map because they cannot re-produce that form. In many ways, the expansion of World Cups and European finals has merely cheapened the tournament because you can be a mediocre team and still get in.
This is the impasse at which international soccer is at. If it wants to maintain its credibility in the face of growing club influence, it has to think about what it wants to achieve out of its tournaments. If it is participation and international solidarity, then, by all means, allow more teams into the next World Cup.
However, if they want the respect of football fans and keep their mantle as the highest pinnacle in the sport, its time to tighten up the tournaments before it leaks out too many fans.