Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress. The choice of location was highly controversial, given the three week boat journey between South America and Europe, the two centres of strength in football at the time. The decision to hold the first cup in Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing. The next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the second of these, the 1938 FIFA World Cup in France was controversial, as the American countries had been led to understand that the World Cup would rotate between the two continents. Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the tournament. After World War Two, to avoid any future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began a pattern of alternation between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The system evolved so that the host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Executive Committee. This is done under a single transferable vote system. The decision is currently made seven years in advance of the tournament.

1930 FIFA World Cup: Uruguay

Before the FIFA Congress could vote on the first-ever World Cup host, a series of withdrawals led to the election of Uruguay; The Netherlands and Hungary withdrew; this was followed by Sweden withdrawing in favor of Italy; then both Italy and Spain withdrew, in favor of the only remaining candidate Uruguay. The FIFA Congress met in Barcelona, Spain on May 18, 1929 to ratify the decision, and Uruguay was chosen without a vote.

1934 FIFA World Cup: Italy

Sweden withdrew before the vote, allowing the only remaining candidate (Italy) to take the hosting job for the 1934 World Cup. The decision was ratified by the FIFA Congress in Stockholm, Sweden and Zürich, Switzerland on May 14, 1932. The Italian Football Federation accepted the hosting duties on October 9, 1932.

1938 FIFA World Cup: France

Without any nations withdrawing their bids before the vote, the FIFA Congress convened in Berlin, Nazi Germany on August 13, 1936 to decide the next host of the World Cup. Electing France took only one ballot, as France had more than half of the votes in the first round.

1942 FIFA World Cup:

Bids: Brazil and Germany

The outbreak of World War II canceled both the 1942 and 1946 World Cups; therefore, no vote was taken to determine a host.

1950 FIFA World Cup: Brazil

Brazil had an official bid for the 1942 World Cup, but the Cup was canceled after the outbreak of World War II. The 1950 World Cup was originally scheduled for 1949, but the day after Brazil was selected by the FIFA Congress on July 26, 1946 in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, the World Cup was rescheduled for 1950.

1954 FIFA World Cup: Switzerland

The 1954 World Cup hosting duty was decided on July 26, 1946, the same day that Brazil was selected for the 1950 World Cup, in Luxembourg City. This World Cup was also (in addition to the 1950 FIFA World Cup) pushed back a year on July 27, 1946, changing the date from 1953 to 1954.

1958 FIFA World Cup: Sweden

As in most of the earlier World Cup bidding, the World Cup bidding process went unopposed, and the FIFA Congress ratified the choice of Sweden (who had withdrawn their bid for the 1930 World Cup) as the host in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 23, 1950.

1962 FIFA World Cup: Chile

Despite Germany withdrawing before the vote, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal on June 10, 1956, there were still two remaining bids, which allowed for a vote by the FIFA Congress. There was only one round of voting, with Chile winning over Argentina.

1966 FIFA World Cup: England

Spain withdrew from the bidding prior to voting by the FIFA Congress, held in Rome, Italy on August 22, 1960. Again, there was only one round of voting, with England defeating Germany for the hosting position.

1970 FIFA World Cup: Mexico

The FIFA Congress convened in Tokyo, Japan on October 8, 1964. One round of voting saw Mexico win the hosting duties over Argentina.

1974, 1978, 1982 FIFA World Cups

In an odd set of circumstances, three hosts were chosen in London, England on July 6, 1966 by the FIFA Congress. Spain and Germany, both facing each other in the running for hosting duties for the 1974 and 1982 World Cups, agreed to give one another a hosting job. Germany withdrew from the 1982 bidding process while Spain withdrew from the 1974 bidding process, essentially guaranteeing each a hosting spot. Mexico, who had just won the 1970 hosting bid over Argentina just two years prior, agreed to withdraw and let Argentina take the hosting position.

1974: West Germany

1978: Argentina

1982: Spain

1986 FIFA World Cup: Mexico

Host voting, now handled by the FIFA Executive Committee (or Exco), met in Stockholm on June 9, 1974 and ratified the unopposed Colombian bid.

However, Colombia withdrew after they had already been selected to host the World Cup due to financial problems on November 5, 1982, just four years before the event was to start. A call for bids was sent out again. In Zürich on May 20, 1983, Mexico won the bidding unanimously as voted by the Exco, for the first time in FIFA World Cup bidding history (except those nations who bid unopposed).

1990 FIFA World Cup: Italy

England and Greece both withdrew before the vote, which was to be conducted by Exco in Zürich on May 19, 1984. Once again, only one round of voting was required, as Italy won more votes than the Soviet Union.

1994 FIFA World Cup: USA

Despite having three nations bidding for host duties, voting only took one round. The vote was held in Zürich (for the third straight time) on July 4, 1988. The United States won the bid by receiving a little over half of the votes by the Exco members.

1998 FIFA World Cup: France

This vote was held in Zürich for the fourth straight time on July 1, 1992. Only one vote was required to have France assume the hosting job over Morocco and Switzerland.

2002 FIFA World Cup: Korea Republic/Japan (joint bid, voted by acclamation)

On May 31, 1996, the hosting selection meeting was held in Zürich for the fifth straight time. A joint bid formulated between Japan and South Korea, and the bid was "voted by acclamation," an oral vote without ballots. The first joint bid of the World Cup was approved, edging out the single bid by Mexico. However, for hosting duties of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg (collectively known as Benelux) have expressed interest in a joint bid, which may or may not be allowed by the Executive Committee.

Controversy

The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup held outside the three traditional continents, when the tournament was co-hosted in Asia for the first time by South Korea and Japan. Initially, the two Asian countries were competitors in the bidding process. But just before the vote, they agreed with FIFA to co-host the event. However, the rivalry and distance between them led to organizational and logistical problems. FIFA has said co-hosting is not likely to happen again, and in 2004 officially stated that its statutes did not allow co-hosting bids.

2006 FIFA World Cup: Germany

On July 7, 2000, the host selection meeting was held for the sixth straight time in Zürich. Brazil withdrew its bid three days before the vote, and the field was narrowed to four. This was the first selection in which more than one vote was required. Three votes were eventually needed. Germany was at least tied for first in each of the three votes, and ended up defeating South Africa by only one vote after an odd abstention (see below).

Controversy

The controversy over the decision to award the 2006 FIFA World Cup to Germany led to a further change in practice. The final tally was 12 votes to 11 in favor of Germany over the contenders South Africa, who had been favorites to win. New Zealand FIFA member Charles Dempsey, who was instructed to vote for South Africa by the Oceania Football Confederation, abstained from voting at the last minute. If he had voted for the South African bid, the tally would have been 12–12, giving the decision to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who was widely believed then to have voted for South Africa. Dempsey was among eight members of the Executive Committee to receive a fax by editors of the German satirical magazine Titanic on Wednesday, the night before the vote, promising a cuckoo clock and Black Forest ham in exchange for voting for Germany. He argued that the pressure from all sides including "an attempt to bribe" him had become too much for him.

Consequently, FIFA decided to rotate the hosting of the final tournaments between its constituent confederations until the selection of the host for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in 2007, when they announced that they will no longer continue with their continental rotation policy (see below).

2010 FIFA World Cup: South Africa

The first World Cup bidding process under continental rotation (the process of rotating hosting of the World Cup to each confederation in turn) was the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This will be the first World Cup held in Africa. It will be the largest sporting event ever held on that continent, as the Olympics have yet to visit Africa. After it was confirmed by FIFA that joint bidding would not be allowed in the future, Libya and Tunisia withdrew both of their bids on May 8, 2004. On May 15, 2004 in Zürich (the seventh time in a row that a host selection has been made there), South Africa, after a narrow loss in the 2006 bidding, defeated perennial candidate Morocco to host, 14 votes to 10. Egypt received no votes.

2014 FIFA World Cup: Brazil

FIFA continued their continental rotation procedure by earmarking the 2014 World Cup for South America. FIFA initially indicated that they might back out of the rotation, but later decided to continue the rotation, at least until the 2014 host decision, after which they later backed out of the decision.

Colombia had expressed interest in hosting the 2014 World Cup, but withdrew. Chile and Argentina had shown some interest as a joint bid, hoping to follow the same path as Korea-Japan 2002, but withdrew after joint bids were not allowed. Brazil also expressed interest in hosting the World Cup. CONMEBOL, the South American Football Federation, indicated their preference for Brazil as a host. Brazil was the only nation to submit a formal bid when the official bidding procedure for CONMEBOL member associations was opened in December 2006, as by that time, Colombia, Chile and Argentina had already withdrawn.

Brazil made the first unopposed bid since the initial selection of the 1986 FIFA World Cup (when Colombia was selected as host, but later withdrew due to financial problems). The FIFA Executive Committee confirmed it as the host country in October 30, 2007 by a unanimous decision.