One reason is that the World Cup provides a stage for old rivalries to be played out, says Simon Kuper, who writes about the overlap between soccer and politics in his book "Soccer Against the Enemy." It enables small nations of the world who ordinarily have little say in that other great international sport - diplomacy - to settle scores and resolve questions of status and national identity with a few cathartic kicks.

《足球抗敵─足球與政治的交集》一書的作者庫珀說，理由之一是，世界盃提供一個活動範圍解決宿仇。為其它重大的國際比賽（外交），通常很少有發言權的小國家，踢個幾球宣洩一下，就能消除怨恨不平、解決資格地位以及國家認同的問題。

Another reason for the overwhelming popularity is that soccer is so pervasive. The international soccer federation FIFA has more members than the United Nations (207 vs. 191). The game has taken root in so many places because it's so easy to prepare and play. People play with fizzy drink cans, or oranges, or socks rolled into a ball. It unifies people from all social class.

另一個無法抗拒的流行理由是，足球是如此普及。國際足球聯盟比聯合國的會員多（二百零七比一百九十一）。這項比賽已在這麼多地方生根，因為它是如此容易預備和比賽，民眾可以碳酸汽泡飲料罐或柑橘，或短襪捲成一只球。足球讓來自社會各階層的人團結在一起。

But the global soccer community is not always one big happy family. Hooliganism and riots have long stalked the game. Certain matches have hyped national rivalries, in one case even triggering a "Soccer War" between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969. The German hosts of the World Cup have their eye on other possible troubles. Particular fears have been raised about legalized prostitution and racism.

但全世界的足球界未必是一個快樂的大家庭，長久以來，暴力和暴動伴隨著這項比賽。有些比賽已演變成國家的抗爭，一九六九年有一場甚至引發宏都拉斯與薩爾瓦多的「足球戰」。世界盃主辦國德國，監視其它可能的紛擾，特別擔心有關合法賣淫與種族偏見。

"All those postwar problems - rebuilding France, decolonization, the war in Algeria, unemployment, social, and racial divisions - the World Cup victory was seen as a step on the way to coming to terms with it all," says Geoffrey Hare, the author of "Football in France." Soccer has a certain power to unify in Africa: Fighting in Liberia ceased when their star player, George Weah, was on the pitch; and Nigeria's civil war halted for two days in 1967 so both sides could watch Pele play in a match, says Richard Giulianotti, a Scottish academic and author of "Football in Africa." "There are national and ethnic rivalries, but there is a broader pan-Africanism which will see most people backing an African team to do well."

《足球在法國》的作者海爾，所有戰後的問題─重建法國、殖民地自治化、阿爾及利亞的戰爭、失業、社會以及種族分裂─世界盃的勝利，被視為是達成協議的一個步驟。在非洲，足球有某種團結的力量。
 
利比亞在他們的明星選手韋亞在球場時，停止抗爭。一九六七年，奈及利亞內戰停止二天，以便雙方觀看比利的一場比賽。蘇格蘭學者、《足球在非洲》的作者授裘利安諾蒂說：有國家和民族的對抗，但有一種更寬廣的泛非洲主義使大多數人支持一支表現良好的非洲隊。

Defeat, however, can have a deleterious effect: Britain's Labor government in 1970 blamed electoral defeat partly on England's sudden exit from the World Cup a few days earlier. Andres Escobar, a Colombian defender who scored on his own goal in the 1994 World Cup, was shot dead upon returning home. Economies, too, may not escape unscathed. Academics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology contend that a World Cup defeat has, on average, led to sizeable stock market falls in the country concerned. Winning the Cup adds around 0.7 percentage points to the victor's economic growth, according to economists at Dutch Bank.

然而，敗北造成的有害影響是：一九七○年英國工黨政府把選舉挫敗，部分歸咎於英國在世界盃前幾天突然退出。

  一九九四年世界盃，哥倫比亞後衛埃斯科巴踢了一記烏龍球（把球踢入本隊球門），返家後被射殺；經濟也不能倖免危害，麻省理工學院的學者主張，一次世界盃的失敗平均導致相關國家相當大的股市下跌。根據荷蘭銀行的經濟學家說，贏了世界盃，勝方的經濟成長就增加大約零點七個百分點。