<P> Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress . The locations were controversial because South America and Europe were by far the two centres of strength in football and travel between them required three weeks by boat . The decision to hold the first World 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 in France was disputed, as the South American countries understood that the location would alternate between the two continents . Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the 1938 FIFA World Cup . </P> <P> Since the 1958 FIFA World Cup, to avoid future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began a pattern of alternating the hosts between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 1998 FIFA World Cup . The 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, was the first one held in Asia, and the first tournament with multiple hosts . South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010 . The 2014 FIFA World Cup was hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America since Argentina 1978, and was the first occasion where consecutive World Cups were held outside Europe . </P> <P> The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Council . This is done under an exhaustive ballot system . The national football association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are expected from a strong bid . The bidding association also receives a form, the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the candidacy . After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to host the event and a report on the country is produced . The decision on who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance of the tournament . However, there have been occasions where the hosts of multiple future tournaments were announced at the same time, as was the case for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to Russia and Qatar, with Qatar becoming the first Middle Eastern country to host the tournament . </P> <P> For the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the final tournament is rotated between confederations, allowing only countries from the chosen confederation (Africa in 2010, South America in 2014) to bid to host the tournament . The rotation policy was introduced after the controversy surrounding Germany's victory over South Africa in the vote to host the 2006 tournament . However, the policy of continental rotation will not continue beyond 2014, so any country, except those belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments, can apply as hosts for World Cups starting from 2018 . This is partly to avoid a similar scenario to the bidding process for the 2014 tournament, where Brazil was the only official bidder . </P>

When did the world cup start in 2014