Football at the 1936 Summer Olympics was won by Italy. After the introduction of the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, competing nations would from now on only be permitted to play their best players if those players were amateur or where professional players were state-sponsored. However, since amateur players were counted as senior squad players, their results would be still counted as senior side's results until 1992.

The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 due to the Second World War. The reigning champions are Argentina, who won their third title at the 2022 tournament.