1982 FIFA World Cup

The 1982 FIFA World Cup was held in Spain from June 13 to July 11. Thу World Cup was won by Italy, who beat West Germany 3-1 in the final. Italy drew level with Brazil as the most successful nations at the World Cup. This was also the first World Cup to feature 24 teams, an expansion from at most 16 in the previous tournaments. The enduring image of the tournament is Marco Tardelli of Italy’s celebration in the final.

Qualification

The most surprising absences from the finals were those of 1974 and 1978 runners-up Netherlands, North America’s power Mexico and to a lesser extent 1974 and 1978 participant Sweden. England, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, and the Soviet Union were back in the Finals after a 12-year absence. Yugoslavia was also back after missing the 1978 tournament. Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait, and New Zealand all participated in the World Cup for the first time.

Summary

First round

The format of the competition was changed. For the first time, 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four (1 through 6). The top two teams in each group advanced to the second round, where they split into four groups of three (A to D). The winners of each group advanced to the semi-finals. This was the only World Cup to be played under this format. The decision to expand from 16 to 24 teams came from FIFA to give the opportunity to more teams to participate, especially teams from North America, Africa and Asia.

In Group 1, first-time participant Cameroon held both Poland and Italy to draws, and only failing to advance only on the basis of fewer goals scored than Italy.

Group 2 saw one of the great World Cup upsets on the first day with the 2-1 victory of Algeria over reigning European Champion West Germany.  FIFA introduced a revised qualification system at subsequent World Cups in which the final two games in each group were played simultaneously.

Group 3 the 1-0 victory of Belgium over defending World Champion Argentina.

Group 4 opened at record speed with England midfielder Bryan Robson ‘s goal against France after only 27 seconds of play. England won the game 3-1 and qualified along with France over Czechoslovakia and Kuwait.

In Group 5 Honduras hold hosts Spain to a 1-1 draw, then became a full-fledged revolution as unfancied Northern Ireland won the group outright, eliminating Yugoslavia and beating Spain 1-0 on its home ground.

All eyes were on Brazil in Group 6. New Zealand earned international respect in its World Cup opener against Scotland, cutting the Scots’ 3-0 lead to 3-2 before conceding two more goals late in the game.

Second Group Round

Poland opened Group A with a 3-0 defeat of Belgium. The Soviet Union prevailed 1-0 in the next match over a Belgian side which clearly had peaked too early in the tournament.

In Group B, a tense match between England and West Germany ended in a goalless draw. West Germany took an option on the semifinal spot in their second match by beating Spain 2-1. The home side salvaged some national pride on the last day by drawing 0-0 against England, denying Ron Greenwood ‘s team a semi-final place.

Group C, a true Group of Death with Brazil, Argentina and Italy, that World Cup history was made.

The last group, Group D, paled in comparison, the unexpected second-place finish of Spain in the first round having sent them to another group and cleared a path for the French.

Semi-finals, third-place match, and final

Italy easily dispatched Poland in the first semi-final. However, this impressive performance by the Italians was to pale in comparison to the unforgettable confrontation between France and West Germany. West Germany won the shootout 5-4. In the third-place match, Poland edged France 3-2 to match its performance of 1974.

Coming after such a monumental game, the final was an anticlimactic, one-sided affair between an inspired Italy and a tired West German side.

Coming after the 1934 and 1938 victories, Italy had now drawn level with record champions Brazil. Italy’s Paolo Rossi won both the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top goalscorer, and the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player (handed out for the very first time), and 40-year-old captain-goalkeeper Dino Zoff became the oldest-ever player to win the World Cup.

Mascot

The official mascot of this World Cup was Naranjito, an orange, a typical fruit in Spain, wearing the kit of the host’s national team. Its name comes from naranja, Spanish for orange, and the diminutive suffix “-ito”.

Venues

Fourteen cities hosted the tournament:

• Alicante , Estadio José Rico Pérez
• Barcelona , Camp Nou and Estadio Sarriá
• Bilbao , Estadio San Mamés
• La Coruña , Estadio Muncipal de Riazor
• Elche , Nuevo Estadio
• Gijón , El Molinón
• Madrid , Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and Estadio Vicente Calderón
• Málaga , La Rosaleda
• Oviedo , Estadio Carlos Tartiere
• Seville , Estadio Benito Villamarín and Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán
• Valencia , Estadio Luis Casanova
• Valladolid , Estadio José Zorrilla
• Vigo , Estadio Balaidos
• Zaragoza , La Romareda