Did I hear one of the lads say no European team had won the world cup outside of Europe when they were discussing Spain?
You did, but they were wrong.
It used to be a good stat, that the only team to win the World Cup outside their home continent was Brazil who won it in Sweden in 1958. This, however, was back in the days when the cup alternated between the footballing hotbeds of Europe and South America. More recently the venue has moved about as FIFA tried to broaden the global appeal of the sport / milk the corporate cash cow and as a result Brazil have now won it on four continents; South America, North America, Europe and Asia (Seoul 2002).
No European team have ever won the competition in South America though which is what the lads on TAW were thinking of, they just used the old assumption of that meaning they had never won it outside Europe. Clearly that is a nonsense. Johannesburg is not in Europe and thus Spain have the peculiar distinction of being the only team to have won it that have never won it on their own continent. They'll still hold that record of course if they win it in 2014.
