Well, this is definitely subjective as the individual choice will depend on the era. And even at that, it is still relative. However, regardless, the parameters for choosing the best tourney is as follows:

Based on quality goals
Based on individual players and skill
Based on quality teams
Based on quality matches
Based on quality final


Using this framework, I would opt for the 1982 WC. This was football played at its best.
In terms of goals, you had them from Falcao, Zico, Socrates, Platini, Rossi, etc

In terms of individual skill, you had them in the players mentioned above, plus a little cameo from a young Maradona. Even Roger Milla, Theofilus Abega, Emmanuel Kunde (all from Cameroun) Jean Tigana, Dominique Rocheteau, Alain Girese (France), Rabah Madjer, Lakhdar Belloumi (both of Algeria), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Pierre Littbarski,
Harald Schumacher (Germany), Osvaldo Ardilles, (Argentina), Claudio Gentile, Dino Zoff (Italy) etc, all graced the occasion.

In terms of quality teams, the team paraded by Brazil was the best team never to win a world cup. They were a "complete" team, bar striker (Serginho) who was really awful. Italy too was solid. West Germany was like a machine. France shone. This competition really belonged to the big boys.

In terms of quality matches, Italy v Brazil, West Germany v France were outstanding thrillers one needs to revisit.
In terms of quality final, West Germany v Italy was a classic. Italy winning 3-1 in arguably one of the best WC finals.

What WC tourney do you regard as the best?

well havent seen many but i think mexico 86 should stand out, though i heard the ones of yonder years were great.

quality goals u have in Diego Maradonna's 2 goals against england of course the first was the Hand of God and the second the best world cup goal ever scored

Individual players and skills we have Zico, Dr Socrates,Careca, Branco, Falcão, Diego maradonna,Daniel Passarella,Jorge Burruchaga,Jorge Valdano, Oscar Ruggeri, Micheal platini, Alain Giresse,  Jean-Pierre Papin, Jean tigana, bats, hugo sanches, gary linekar, peter shilton,  Bryan Robson, Chris Waddle, John Barnes, gordon strachan, Lother mattaius,Harald Schumacher, Andreas Brehme, Felix Magath, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Rudi Voller,Pierre Littbarski, Paolo Rossi, Walter Zenga, Eric gerets, Lakhdar Belloumi, Rabah Madjer, Andoni Zubizarreta, Emilio Butragueño, Andoni Goikoetxea, Enzo Scifo, Michael Laudrup

quality teams were the argentine who won the cup, West Germany, France, England, Spain

quality matches my favorite brazil vs france, argentina vs germany, argentina vs england

well in terms of the final arg vs ger a cracker any day, arg going 2 goals up with the germans fighting back to level the scores before Jorge Burruchaga broke their hearts with a third goal.

one of the best world cups ever mexico 86

USA '94 and SOUTH KOREA/JAPAN 2002.

France 98,Usa 94

guys ur best world cup not cups
so try choose one me sef like all these ones wey una call but 4 me 86 was the best

from what i heard of the world cups i've missed, i tink they were the shit. at least i've watched some of them, anyway i tink i prefer USA 94 cos lots of big players performed well for their respective countries

USA '94. Brazil made football look like an art.

davidylan:

USA '94. Brazil made football look like an art.

Did they? Perreira was heavily criticised for sacrificing traditional Selecao attacking values for a defensive philosophy

It is also my fave world cup though. . .it was the Eagles first after all

98 World Cup was my favorite, I cried when Nigeria had to go home.

Watching and reviewing all of them on tape, I love
the 1970 world cup most.

There were some out of this world performances
on display.

USA 94 esp the game btw NGR and BULGARIA(3-1)

FRANCE 98 NGR vs SPAIN(3-2)

davidylan:

USA '94. Brazil made football look like an art.

Although at the expense of a very poor German side in the final. This was much the same way Brazil looked ordinary against France in 1998 final.

Don,

I agree. Amando's second goal against England in 86 is ranked as the best ever WC goal in history. What a goal. What a player. And what a stage to perform as well. He single-handedly won Argentina that WC in 86. Without him in the team, they were clueless. He was the puppet that pulled the strings. Would I choose him over Pele or Zizou? You bet. But that's for another day.

hollandis:

USA 94 esp the game between NGR and BULGARIA(3-1)

correction NGR BUL 3-0
Stoickov's freekick was disallowed

seabiotics:

Although at the expense of a very poor German side in the final. This was much the same way Brazil looked ordinary against France in 1998 final.

Don,

I agree. Amando's second goal against England in 86 is ranked as the best ever WC goal in history. What a goal. What a player. And what a stage to perform as well. He single-handedly won Argentina that WC in 86. Without him in the team, they were clueless. He was the puppet that pulled the strings. Would I choose him over Pele or Zizou? You bet. But that's for another day.

brazil met italy in the finals, maradona's goal was too mad

I love it when guys talk about old world cups just to feel special and knowledgable than all of us whereas some of them were not even born. In fact, NTA back in the day, barely broadcasted this world cup matches, it wasn't until  USA '94 that most nigerians were introduced to the world cup and it was because that was our first tournament. So you guys who just read magazines, newspapers, watch highlights and old films and then decide that it would be a good idea to come and fool us should just go sit down somewhere jare.

@davidif
u're right but in my case
i happened to miss most of the world cups cos i was not yet born but i've watched from like '82 down to 2006 cos i'm a football fanatic while i've seen all the highlights from the 1st worldcup


by the way, the topic is your fav worldcup

It has to be Korea/Japan 2002, nice stadiums, and the first time the WC was hosted by two countries, besides my favorite team(Brazil) won, and a star by the name Ronaldo was resseructed, and another with goofy teeth, who bears the name Ronaldhino was born.

I hope SA will give the world a tournament to remember.

davidif:

I love it when guys talk about old world cups just to feel special and knowledgable than all of us whereas some of them were not even born. In fact, NTA back in the day, barely broadcasted this world cup matches, it wasn't until USA '94 that most nigerians were introduced to the world cup and it was because that was our first tournament. So you guys who just read magazines, newspapers, watch highlights and old films and then decide that it would be a good idea to come and fool us should just go sit down somewhere jare.

u shouldnt be so proud of displaying ur ignorance in public esp on the net where the whole world can see. whats wrong with watching old tapes of world cup matches and enjoying them. whats wrong with being knowledgable about something u love. for some of us football is a way of life if not a religion, and so u cannot get enough.

na my fault say u dey ignorant or say na NTA u get access to? some of us invest in buying DVDs, tapes, world cup history, invest time in doing research while u sit in ur sitting room watching the super eagles.

and by the way point of correction the 1990 world cup was beamed live in Nigeria, i wonder how old u were then so u probably wouldnt know, mexico 86 im not so sure but i have seen almost all the world cup matches and have most of them on tape so sorry to depress u for ur limited knowledge.

instead of feeling bad u are ignorant why dont u try to do something about it?
NOTE: for some football is a passion and a religion, for others its just 22 men chasing a round object.

Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and it's only sensible that one respect the opinion of others, no matter how stupid they may look.

cooljoe:

Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and it's only sensible that one respect the opinion of others, no matter how stupid they may look.

believe me i totally agree with u on dat, and dats why u wouldnty see me argue about someone else's chopice of the best world cup.

so which opinion is this person

davidif:

I love it when guys talk about old world cups just to feel special and knowledgable than all of us whereas some of them were not even born. In fact, NTA back in the day, barely broadcasted this world cup matches, it wasn't until USA '94 that most nigerians were introduced to the world cup and it was because that was our first tournament. So you guys who just read magazines, newspapers, watch highlights and old films and then decide that it would be a good idea to come and fool us should just go sit down somewhere jare.

really trying to make other than trying to rubbish other people's choice. na me say make them never born am when Maradonna dey dazzle? or the likes of platini, zico, socrates abi na me say make e dey fully dependent on NTA wey he come dey talk say na 1994 nigerians know about world cup, cos dats when we first qualified.

think about it, does dat make sense to u?

why the guy no just respond by saying his best world cup and leave others with theirs

Which one was it that Patrick Kluivert of the Netherlands received the Red Card?

france 98 against belgium. Na orange man give am the red card

Yea that was a great World Cup. Netherlands used to be my team.

match between Argentina & England was also great.

I am sorry there was no way i could separate the two

ThiefOfHearts:

Yea that was a great World Cup. Netherlands used to be my team.

match between Argentina & England was also great.

i think we finally agree on something, netherlands used to be my team too, thanks to the greatest striker that ever played football Marco Van Basten, though messed up at the world cup in 1990.

but i saw the light early enough, i be die hard Assurie fan now, the italians are the best.

@don1demaco
Even though i am an avid soccer fan, i actually have a life and i have much better things to do like taking care of business, not going round scouring over old tapes of previous world cups watching people who don't know i exist. Also, i watch other sports like basketball or the NFL during my free time so soccer is not my only sport. By the way, i have my own religion and its called Christianity and football can't even compare to that.

so what other kinda of sport do u do?

davidif:


Even though i am an avid soccer fan, i actually have a life and i have much better things to do like taking care of business, not going round scouring over old tapes of previous world cups watching people who don't know i exist.

You're missing a lot by not looking at old tapes.

You need to see the tapes of the 1970 world
cup. It's great.

@davidif
like DeMaco said, football is a religion to some, so stay in your classified class

as for me, if i heard they played football in the 11th century, i'll try my best to get all possible information about it, cos i love anything thats footbal, thats me

Italia 90 was the best for me. The German (mannschaft) my team showed the whole world what stuff they were made of. I think that was the most loaded world cup.

The most star studded. All the games went to the wire Can you remember Germany vs Holland second round Football at its finest. Argentina vs Brazil, Italy vs Argentina

All the big countries lived up to the hype.

Germany- Matthaus, Brehme, Klinsmann, Voller e.t.c

Argentina- Maradona, Cannigia, Batistuta, e.t.c

Italy- Baggio, Vialli, Schillaci, Maldini, e.t.c

Holland - van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard and Koeman at their peak

Cameroun- Roger Milla, Kunde, Emma Biyik, Cyril Makanaky e.t.c The best of African football

Brazil- Careca, Romario

Even a normally crappy England had their best squad - Lineker, Gascoigne, Platt, John Barnes e.t.c

Nice topic,but the fact is one's age could influence one's perception,if one was like 2 during the 86 world cup etc.

But I've being watching The World Cup (live) since 82 & thanks to video recording I've seen all the goals since 1950,but USA '94 was a special one.

1. It was Nigeria's First WC finals.
2.We whipped  Bulgaria & Greece 
3.We scored some really spectacular goals (Amuneke vs Bulgaria,Siasia vs Argentina,Finidi+Amokachi vs Greece,^{I rmber Finidi doing the doggy thingy}) 

And all the other teams were in spectacular form, I remember _{Redondo,Baggio,Hagi,Dahlin,Brolin,} Yekini

The Swedish team to USA '94 still remains the best football team I have ever seen play 

The only down side to that tournament was the fact that just about one-third of Americans knew it was taking place & the final ended 0-0 & had to be sorted on penalties.