1982 FIFA World Cup

1982 FIFA World Cup

The 1982 FIFA World Cup was held in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 in the final. The defending champions, Argentina, were eliminated in the second group round. Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait and New Zealand all participated in the World Cup for the first time. This was the last World Cup to feature two rounds of group stages.

About 1982 FIFA World Cup in brief

Summary 1982 FIFA World CupThe 1982 FIFA World Cup was held in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 in the final. It was Italy’s third World Cup title, but their first since 1938. The defending champions, Argentina, were eliminated in the second group round. Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait and New Zealand all participated in the World Cup for the first time. This was the last World Cup to feature two rounds of group stages. It also was the third time in which all four semi-finalists were European. In the first round of Group 3, Hungary defeated El Salvador 10–1, equalling the largest margin of victory recorded in the finals. There was some consideration given as to whether England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland should withdraw from the tournament because of the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom. FIFA advised the British Government that there was no prospect that Argentina would be asked to withdraw. As it turned out, Italy and Poland would meet in a semifinal match for the second time in the tournament. This is the last time that Mexico and South Korea failed to qualify for a World Cup finals. As of 2018, this was theLast time that El Salvador and Kuwait qualified for a FIFA World cup finals, as well as thelast time that the Netherlands and Mexico did not qualify for the 1978 tournament. Belgium, Czechoslovakia, El Salvador, England and the Soviet Union all returned to the finals after 12-year absences.

Yugoslavia and Chile were also back after missing the 1978 World Cup. The following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. The first round was a round-robin group stage containing six groups of four teams each. Two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw, with goal difference used to separate teams equal on points. The top two teams in each group advanced. The second round saw the twelve remaining teams split into four groups of three teams each, with the winner of each group progressing to the knockout semi-finals stage. The composition of the second round was determined before the start of the tournament, with groups A and B included one team from each of Groups 1 through 6, and Groups C and D included the remaining six teams. The winners of Group 1 and 3 were in Group A whilst the runners-up are in Group C. The winner of Group 5 was in Group D whilst the runner-up is in Group B. Thus Group A mirrored Group B, and Group C mirrored Group D, and the winners and runners-ups were placed into each other. The final match also saw the two teams that had not played each other in the previous tournament play each other again in a match that was not guaranteed that the teams would feature in the semifinal. This meant that the final match would feature teams that were not previously guaranteed that they would meet again in the next round. The match was played in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the Spanish capital of Madrid.