FIFA World Cup 1962

The 1962 FIFA World Cup was held in Chile from May 30 to June 17. Chile was chosen as host by FIFA in June 1956, as the World Cup returned to the continent of South America after 12 years. It was won by Brazil, who retained the championship by beating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final.

Summary

The format of the competition stayed the same as 1958: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four. Four teams were seeded in the draw taking place in Santiago de Chile, on January 18, 1962: Brazil, England, Italy and Uruguay. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals.

In May 1960, as the preparations were well under way, Chile suffered the largest earthquake (9.5 magnitude ) of the twentieth century, which caused enormous damage to the national infrastructure. In face of this, Carlos Dittborn, the president of the Organization Committee, coined the phrase “Because we don’t have anything, we will do everything in our power to rebuild,” which became the unofficial slogan of the tournament. Stadia and other infrastructure were rebuilt at record speed and the tournament occurred on schedule with no major organizational flaw. Sadly, Dittborn would not live to see the success of his tireless efforts, as he died one month before the start of the tournament. The World Cup venue at Arica was named Estadio Carlos Dittborn in his honor and bears his name to this day.

In the first round, Brazil topped their group with Czechoslovakia finishing second, above Mexico and Spain . USSR and Yugoslavia finished above Uruguay and Colombia . Hungary, along with England progressed through to the quarter-finals, while Argentina and Bulgaria were eliminated. England had the same number of points as Argentina but progressed due to a superior goal average. Switzerland lost all three games while West Germany and Chile both went through over Italy.

Chile defeated European champions USSR to land themselves a semi-final game against the winner of the England – Brazil game.

Viña del Mar was the original venue for the first semi-final. But due to Chile’s surprise qualification, the organizers prompted FIFA to a switch to. A little under 6,000 spectators turned out to watch Czechoslovakia beat Yugoslavia 3-1, whereas a capacity crowd of 76,600 in Santiago watched Brazil beat the hosts 4-2.

The final match ended 3-1 to Brazil, a successful defence of the title for only the second time in the history of the competition in spite of the absence of their star player of 1958, Pelé.

Venues

Four cities hosted the tournament:

• Arica , Estadio Carlos Dittborn
• Rancagua , Estadio El Teniente
• Santiago , Estadio Nacional
• Viña del Mar , Estadio Sausalito