Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, with over 250 million people participating in over 200 nations. It is most popular in Europe, Central and South America, and Africa, however it is gaining traction in North America and Asia as well. The World Cup is the biggest international soccer tournament, which takes place every four years. The next World Cup will be held in Russia from 14 June 2014 to 15 July 2018. The European Championship is a biennial event that takes place between countries of Europe. It is more important than the World Cup and goes to stage one only if the World Cup is not being played. The last European Championship was held in 2008 in Poland and Ukraine. Before that, there had been two previous championships in 1960 and 1984. There are semi-finals and a final for each group of teams. In case of a match tie after full time, then a penalty shoot out will decide who wins. The Olympic Games are an annual multi-sport event for both men and women. They take place every four years with the latest being 2012 in London, England. Soccer is the most popular sport at these games with nearly 1 billion people watching some form of the game during the opening ceremonies. Men's soccer is by far the most popular at the Olympics with 23 medals awarded since 1976 when they were first given out for sportsmanship awards.