It is not by accident: all Cups held in Latin America were won by a Latin American country; whereas all but one cup held in Europe were won by an European country. The exception was Brazil in Sweden. Brazil won both cups held in "third" countries, the US and Japan/Korea. England only won in England (1966) and France in France (1998). In 2002, South Korea went to the semi-finals and Japan did very well. They left early this year. There definitely is a home field advantage and a regional advantage. This holds for the World Cup and its qualifying rounds, for UEFA and its Latin American equivalent. It translates itself in about two goals in the home field team for every goal of the visiting team.