The 2021 World Cup, also called the 2021 Sulifa World Cup, was an international football tournament contested by men's national teams and took place between 12 April to May 2nd, 2021 in multiple cities throughout Sulifa. It was the 47th World Cup, a worldwide football tournament held once every year. The tournament phase involved 32 teams, of which all came through qualifying competitions at the start of the event from an original 64 national teams.
In the final, Durnstaal defeated Zamastan 1(1)-(0)1 in overtime to secure the country's third world title and its first since 2013.
The 64-team qualifying bracket. 32 teams would advance to the actual World Cup tournaments.
102 national teams applied to join the World Cup, but ultimately 64 national teams were able to reach the qualification rounds. Among the firsts were Ossinia and their newly formed Ossinia national football team, since the deposed government of Martin Saint-Yves had previously boycotted World Cups.
Six venues were utilized during the tournament in four cities across Sulifa; Sulifa City, Araja, Cubai, and Susairah. Sulifa, with limited physical geography and a largely urbanized central area, played host in multiple areas throughout the country instead of one singular city. The bid evaluation report stated: "The Sulifa bid proposes 4 host cities and 7 stadiums, thus exceeding the World Cup Organization's minimum requirement. Three of the 6 stadiums would be renovated, and 1 would be newly constructed."
Sulifa ultimately reduced their total stadium to 6. Construction of the proposed Kyabib Feros stadium in capital was cancelled by the government due to difficulties with construction permits. A total of Z$7.8 billion was spent on hosting the tournament.
Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony of the World Cup took place on Sunday, April 11th at the Al-Kayib Royal Stadium in Sulifa City. KingAbdur Rasheed el-Abad gave a speech, welcoming the countries of the world to Sulifa and calling football a uniting force.
Group Stages
Qualifying Rounds
64 competing countries were divided into eight groups of eight teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group played one another in a round-robin, with the top four teams advancing to the knockout stage and the Round of 32.