The World Cup is now a 48 team behemoth from 2026. But one thing is unlikely to change.
Only a select number of countries have won the tournament and only a small number are likely to ever go all the way due to football pedigree and population size.
In all since the small South American nation of Uruguay won the first of their two World Cups in 1930, only a further seven nations have gone on to claim the trophy.
But within that, it's also interesting to see which clubs "won" the World Cup, in the sense that they contributed a significant number and quality of players to the winning squads.
On this week's Newstalk's Team 33, we interviewed Clyde Best who joined West Ham in 1968, just two years after three of the London club's stars and academy graduates played vital roles in the 1966 World Cup final victory.
Bobby Moore captained England, Geoff Hurst scored the hat-trick against West Germany and Martin Peters scored the other England goal.
All came through the West Ham youth ranks and were all at the club before, during and after the World Cup win.
They are not the only club to have contributed greatly to a win in the world's major international club competition, so here are the most significant examples.
Uruguay 1930
When Uruguay won the first World Cup, only eight of their 22 man squad for the tournament did not play for either Peñarol or Nacional.
Both clubs from the capital Montevideo have overflowing trophy cabinets nationally and internationally.
They were also winning trophies regularly in the 1920s and '30s. There was no Uruguayan Primera Division held in 1930 but the year before Peñarol beat Nacional to the title the year before in 1929.
In 1950, the two clubs continued to provide the bulk of the squad when Uruguay shocked Brazil en route to glory with 13 players between them.
Italy 1934
This season, Juventus are on the way to a sixth Serie A title in a row. That would break an Italian record they set in the 1930s.
From 1930-31 to 1934-35, the Bianconeri won five Scudetti in a row and when the country hosted the World Cup in 1934, Italy relied significantly on Juventus players.
Nine of the squad were Juve players. Argentine born Oriundo Raimundo Orsi scored the equaliser in the final against Czechoslovakia and five of the starting XI were on the books of the Turin club at the time.
The squad in 1938 when Italy retained the World Cup on French soil was more balanced among Juve, Roma, Ambrosiana-Inter and Bologna players in particular.
West Germany 1954
West Germany's first World Cup victory came by way of the Miracle of Bern when they shocked the Ferenc Puskas led Magical Magyars of Hungary in the final.
Unlike future triumphs, Bayern Munich did not form the foundation of the squad with just one player involved in '54.
Instead, FC Kaiserslautern had the most players with five of the 22. That included captain Fritz Walter. He was one of the Kaiserslautern players who started the final.
Interestingly, four of the five players in the squad were born in Kaiserlautern and started their playing careers at the club.
Brazil 1962
Brazil won their first World Cup in 1958 with a squad evenly balanced between a number of their leading clubs. But four years later, Pele's Santos formed the backbone of the team.
Even though injury would curtail the legend's time at Chile '62, Pele was part of a seven man Santos panel picked for the tournament. Captain Mauro was also a Santos player.
With Pele involved, Santos were one of the world's leading clubs at the time, winning five Brazilian titles in a row from 1961 to 1965 as well as the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cups in 1962 and '63.
Beckenbauer and Netzer representing the Munich and Monchengladbach contingents
West Germany 1974
Fast forward to the '70s and it was a decade when Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach were the two big rivals in the Bundesliga and two of the leading clubs globally.
As we discussed before, West Germany's Euro 1972 victory owed itself to the two clubs with hometown boys from Munich and Monchengladbach forming the backbone of the squad.
Many of those players (Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer, Gunter Netzer etc) reprised their roles in 1974 when West Germany overcame Johan Cruyff and Netherlands in a famous finale.
Only three of the starting lineup in the final were not involved with Munich or Monchengladbach.
Italy 1982
Juventus pride themselves on contributing heavily to the Italian national team and they had the most players in the Azzurri squad for the triumph of '82 with six.
But Fiorentina and Inter Milan also contributed five each to the cause.
However, for Juve, legendary goalkeeper Dino Zoff and goal hero Paolo Rossi were all on the books of the Turin giants at the time.
And added to ex-Ireland assistant manager Marco Tardelli and defensive trio Antonio Cabrini, Gaetano Scirea and Claudio Gentile were all among the six Juve players who started the final.
It was a strong era for Juve as a club as they went on to win a European Cup in an era when Ireland's own Liam Brady played part in some of the successes of the time.
Brazil 1994
Statistically, it may not have been significant but given the way that globalisation saw players from Brazil moving far and wide, it is noticeable that Sao Paulo provided four members to the 22 man squad that won at USA 94.
Sao Paulo were enjoying an outstanding era in the early '90s by winning two Intercontinental Cups and two Copa Libertadores internationally.
Only one Sao Paulo player got game time in the final with legendary right back Cafu coming on as a 21st minute sub.
Leonardo was also part of the Sao Paulo contingent but got himself sent off for a brutal elbow on USA's Tab Ramos earlier in the tournament.
On the opposing side in the final, Italy defenders Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi were products of AC Milan and went on to never play for another club during the entirety of their careers, while Roberto Donadoni and Daniele Massaro were also on the books at the San Siro.
Sergio Busquets, Carles Puyol, Santi Cazorla, Xavi Hernandez, Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta, members of Spain's national soccer team talk before a team photo shoot with Costa Rica's president during their visit at the presidential palace in San Jose, Costa Rica, Monday Nov. 14, 2011. Costa Rica and Spain will play a friendly soccer match on Tuesday Nov. 15. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Italy 2006
Just over 10 years ago when Zinedine Zidane lost the head and Italy won the World Cup, Juventus provided five players to the squad but Palermo (4) and Milan (5) also provided their fair share of players.
Five of the 14 players involved in the final were of a Juve persuasion at the time.
Spain 2010
Hardcore Real Madrid fans may not mention it straight away but Spain wouldn't have got near a World Cup win without the help of a Barcelona going through their greatest era.
In one way, La Roja were seen as Barcelona without Lionel Messi and with Iker Casillas in goal instead of Victor Valdes.
Seven of the 23 man squad were Barcelona players (Real Madrid provided a creditable five) but most importantly every Barca player was an academy graduate and six of them started the final. Plus fellow La Masia grad Cesc Fabregas who was at Arsenal at the time also made it onto the field.
Germany 2014
Much like Barcelona in 2010, 2013 Champions League winners Bayern Munich had seven players in the 2014 World Cup winning Germany squad.
Equally significantly, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller, captain Philippe Lahm and Toni Kroos were all academy graduates at Munich as was Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels.
The scorer of the winning goal in the 2014 final, Mario Gotze, came through at Dortmund but had already moved to Munich by then.
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