Stamps of Croatia: International Sports Day (2014)

International Sports Day is another opportunity to remember the importance of sports in our everyday life, being recreational or competitive sports. Through sports various values are promoted such as health, discipline, respect, tolerance, understanding, competitive spirit…
Thanks to simple rules and minimal equipment needed for this game, the most popular sport in the world is surely football. The first football rules date back to 1863 when the first football Association in England was founded. In 1886 the International Football Association Board was founded which was in charge of making football rules. The highest football authority is FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) that was established in Paris in 1904 and every four years the biggest international competition is organized – World Football Championship.
The first World Football Championship was held in 1930 in Uruguay from July 13th up until July 30th. This year the 20th World Football Championship is taking place in Brazil from June 12th up to July 13th. In the qualifications, 203 national teams had participated from which 31 of them has found their place in the final part of the Championships, amongst which are national teams of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.