For me, Italia '90 will always have a special place in my heart. I know it is generally considered a very poor World Cup with negative defensive play, but the drama was off the charts.

The Nessun Dorma opening theme on the BBC, England getting to the semi-finals, the hot summer nights in Britain at the time and the piercing eyes of Schillachi. All WC finals since then have been good, but nothing close to my memories of Italia '90.

Tell you what, the quality of defender there was superior to what we are seeing now, open as it is.

Every World Cup is brilliant to me but 1982 and 2006 stand out for obvious reasons. Italia 90 takes a lot of stick but I thought it it was a super tournament, despite the disappointing ending! Because of my age I remember them all from 1970 onwards.

Yeah Italia 90 for me too. Was in my early 20's and possibly at the height of my interest in Football. Everything about it seemed almost perfect. I worked part time in an off-license at the time and had to work on the evening of the England semi final. I managed to work my full shift then make it all the way home without hearing the result. Then when I went to rewind the VCR to watch the match, the TV cut to the news and in the 3 seconds it was on they announced the result

Still by far the greatest world cup for me.

Mexico '86.

Fantastic tournament culminating with the best World Cup Final I've seen.

2006 - Great summer and I was able to see all but eight of the games (one from each of the final round of group matches), as I was doing my GCSEs then (and I only had two left, both of which were in the morning). It was also the first time I had completed the Panini sticker album.

2006 - I was in Germany then and attended a few games. It was fantastic football, a great atmosphere and the best WC final (and semi-finals) I have ever seen culminating in my team winning.

1990. 2006 was excellent too. Host it in European countries where infrastructure and fan base is good.

Lack of social inequalities also a bonus for obvious reasons. Take note FIFA.

Agreed. Now that I think about, its the ones hosted in European countries I've enjoyed the most. As my next choices were 1998 (France) and 2006 (Germany).

1998.

'98. Ronaldo, Zidane, Suker, Bergkamp. First one I watched in detail and I was the perfect age for it whereas I was probably too young in 86 and 90, and 94 was a bit duller I thought.

2002 for me manly with Korea reaching sf

France 98 was my favourite.

1982 was my fave

2006 only averaged 2.3 goals per game, the third lowest, interesting people pick that over, say 1994 or 1998 which averaged 2.71 and 2.67 respectively, even 1982 which averaged 2.81. Ok I know its not always about goals, 1990 had plenty of tense low scoring games, but I assumed there would be a correlation between number of goals and exciting world cups.

Some people have already declared this WC the greatest ever because we're averaging around 3 a game, calling it a football feast etc.

Mexico '86 and Italia '90 stand out for me.

1986 was the Maradona World Cup and we saw arguably the greatest player of all time at his absolute best.

1990 was great from an England point of view. Nessun Dorma, Gazza and so close to reaching the final. Good times.

Have only watched since 1998. It's difficult for me to ascribe particular events to particular years without looking it up, though I do remember really enjoying the world cup in 2002 in Japan/ South Korea.

Forza Azzurri!!

Mexico 1970 was the Pele World Cup and we saw the greatest player of all time at his absolute best. It's the World Cup that stands out for me.

In 1986 we saw the second greatest player of all time blatantly cheating.

Not sure what Nessun Dorma has to do with England.

1990 - best from an England point of view
1986 - Maradona and great tournament
1982 - Brazil were the best team and played the best football I've ever seen.

I'm a bit surprised about the number of votes for 2006. The main thing I remember about that one was Zidane's head-butt. The rest of it was pretty dull I thought?

I was 13 and won 50p in 1986 off a kid from school as I just knew Argentina would win it (he swore it would be Brazil)... I was well aware of Maradona pre tournament, my first successful bet.




1982 was great though, my fave tournament, that group with Italy, Argentina and Brazil was very special, Italy really turned up the books. Having Scotland, Northern Ireland and England in there was great too, David Narey, Gerry Armstrong, etc. the Brazil team was jaw droppingly good to watch

The England team of 1982 was very unlucky, had beaten France pretty easily in their first game (a team that then went on to be widely lauded), went out without losing a game.

The World Cup I remember most fondly is 2002 followed by 1994.

This one is fast approaching my top spot, which is currently held by the 1994 edition.

1978 and 1986 for me but I love even the bad ones.
Kempes and co, the ticker tape, Scotland v Netherlands, it all sticks in the memory. I know people go on about the supposed "fix" but through the eyes of a 15 year old who had fallen in love with Argentina, that 6-0 game was pure magic!

That same love for Argentina was taken a step further by the brilliant Maradona (the best I have ever seen) and his great supporting cast in 1986.

90 for sentimental reasons (my age and I was in Italy for part of it)

Then probably this one if it carries on like this. One things for certain, the next two are going to be terrible. Every World Cup should be in nice counties to visit and/or football mad countries. Sod giving everybody a chance