The 1974 FIFA World Cup took place in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July 1974. 16 teams from 5 confederations participated in the final tournament: 9 from Europe (UEFA), 4 from South America (CONMEBOL), 1 from North America, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF), 1 from Africa (CAF), and 1 from Oceania (OFC). Four teams made their first World Cup presentation (Australia, East Germany, Haiti, and Zaire). The sun of Mexico had been definitely replaced by torrential rains and bad conditions. Players complained about the sun four years ago earlier and now they missed it. This was also the first time the FIFA World Cup Trophy, an 18 carat gold trophy, was awarded. Since the first World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay, two trophies have represented the original prize for winning the World Cup. The Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970 and the FIFA World Cup Trophy from 1974 to the present day. The Jules Rimet Trophy, to honor the FIFA President Jules Rimet, had been won for the third time by Brazil four years earlier in Mexico and awarded permanently to the Brazilians.
This was the first time red cards were used in a World Cup. Red card were formally introduced in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, but no players were sent off throughout the tournament. Carlos Caszely of Chile was the first player to be sent off with a red card in a World Cup match. This happened in the game when Germany defeated Chile 1-0 at Olympiastadion in West Berlin on 14 June 1974. In another curious fact, Brazil defeated Argentina 2-1 in the South Americans' first-ever FIFA World Cup meeting. This championship will also be remembered for the emergence of the Dutch total football, a tactical theory of association football in which any outfield player can take over the role of any other player in a team. It was invented by Rinus Michels, a famous Dutch football coach, and pioneered by Dutch football club Ajax. Michels was named "coach of the century" by FIFA in 1999.
Defending champion Brazil, the hosts West Germany, Netherlands and their Total Football and Olympic gold medallists two years earlier Poland led by Lato were the favorites. The four teams reached the semi-finals confirming the initial probabilities. Poland with Grzegorz Lato and Andrzej Szarmach announced its intensions early, recording three wins in Group D. They only were defeated 1-0 in second round by West Germany under torrential rainstorms in Frankfurt. "Who knows what would have happened without all thatrain and a wet field?, "It wasn't a football game, it was water polo”, said Lato. Poland finished in the third place showing the quality of their team beating Brazil 1-0. Brazil, with Pelé, Gérson and Tostão out of the picture, did not have a brilliant performance in the first round, but was only surpassed by the Netherlands 2-0 in the second round before reaching the semifinals. West Germany was surprised by East Germany and struggled to beat Chile and Australia in the first round, but in the second round had no major drawbacks to defeat Poland, Yugoslavia and Sweden to reach the final. Netherlands, on the other hand, less than impressive in the first round, displayed a wonderful football and won all three games of the second round to win their group and advance to the final.
This World Cup has not been immune to controversy. João Havelange, the former FIFA President from 1974 to 1998, is certain to have further fuelled these conspiracy theories by openly stating that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed -1-.
The 1974 FIFA World Cup Final was contested at Olympiastadion, Munich, before a crowd of 75,000, for the hosts, West Germany led by Franz Beckenbauer, and the Netherlands and their Total FootballOrchestra led by Johan Cruyff and inspired tactically with the brains of coach Rinus Michels. This is the game everyone expected. These were undoubtedly the times of Cruijff and Beckenbauer who shone and took the place vacated by Pele. West Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 in one of the best games of the tournament winning the second World Cup. The Netherlands scored the first goal in the first minute before the Germans had even touched the ball. Cruijff followed a solo run, he was fouled by Uli Hoeneß in the German penalty area, and Neeskens did the rest from the penalty spot, one minute 1-0. But the Germans are always Germans and we are accustomed to this sort of things. Germans coming from behind recovered from 0-1 down to record a 2-1 victory over the Dutch. West Germany were awarded a penalty after Hölzenbein was fouled within the Dutch area, the referee Taylor pointed to the penalty spot, and Paul Breitner scored to tie the game 1-1. These were the first two penalties awarded in a World Cup final. This was also the first time the reigning European champion wins the World Cup.
The top scorer (Golden Shoe) of the tournament was the revelation of the competition, Grzegorz Lato of Poland, who would go on to score nine goals. Wladyslaw Zmuda of Poland was elected BestYoung Player. The names that people probably remember from those times are: Sepp Maier (German goalkeeper), Dino Zoff (Italian goalkeeper), Jan Tomaszewski (Polish goalkeeper), Ronnie Hellström (Swedish goalkeeper), Ruud Krol (Dutch defender), Franz Beckenbauer (German defender), Jerzy Gorgoń (Polish defender), Berti Vogts (German defender), Paul Breitner (German defender), Elías Figueroa (Chilean defender), Kazimierz Deyna (Poland midfielder), Wolfgang Overath (German midfielder), Fabio Capello (Italian midfielder), Rivelino (Brazilian midfielder), Dirceu (Brazilian midfielder), Jurgen Sparwasser (East German midfielder), Gianni Rivera (Italian midfielder), Johan Neeskens (Dutch midfielder), Gerd Müller (German striker who scored 14 goals in the World Cup finals overall), Johan Cruijff (Dutch striker), Johnny Rep (Dutch striker), Mario Kempes (Argentinean striker), Rob Rensenbrink (Dutch striker), Dragan Džajić (Yugoslav striker), Andrzej Szarmach (Polish striker), Kenny Dalglish (Scotish striker), Jairzinho (Brazilian striker), Ralf Edström (Swedish striker), Grzegorz Lato (Poland striker and Golden Shoe), and Wladyslaw Zmuda (Poland defender and best young player).
West Germany was chosen to host the 1974 FIFA World Cup at the FIFA Congress in London, England, on 6 July 1966. The hosts for the World Cups of 1978 and 1982 were awarded at the same conference. There were two bids to host the 1974 FIFA World Cup: West Germany and Spain. However, there was a rapid agreement between the two countries. Since both countries bidding to host the World Cups of 1974 and 1982, the problem was easily solved. West Germany would support the candidacy of Spain for the 1982 FIFA World Cup and withdrew from the 1982 bidding process, and Spain, on the other hand, would support the candidacy of West Germany for the 1974 tournament and withdrew from the 1974 bidding process.
There was a backdrop of tension and unease in the previous months to the World Cup. Security was tighter than ever with tanks poised at the airports and armed police outside the stadiums. The situation was not without reason. The Munich massacre, an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, had occurred two years earlier when 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. Fortunately, the 10th World Cup went happily by without a major incident of violence.
FIFA, on the other hand, had a new President: The Brazilian Jean-Marie Faustin Goedefroid de Havelange, more commonly known as João Havelange, who had taken the place of Englishman Sir Stanley Rous. Havelange was the 7th President of FIFA, serving from 1974 to 1998. He was the first non-European to be President since FIFA was founded in 1904.
Qualification
Participating countries:
99
Withdrew:
7
Qualified automatically:
2
Teams that played at least one qualifying match:
90
Matches:
226
Total goals:
620 (2.74 per match)
A total of 99 teams signed up to participate in the 1974 World Cup qualification rounds setting a new record number for the qualifying tournament. West Germany, as the hosts, and Brazil, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.
Some very important teams had problems in the qualification rounds, and finally failed to qualify for the final tournament. They were England, France, Soviet Union, Hungary, and Spain. The 14 available spots were distributed in continental zones as shown below:
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Europe (UEFA): 9.5 spots. 32 teams competed for 8 direct places. The winner of the other 0.5 place would progress to the international playoff against a team from CONMEBOL. West Germany, as the hosts, qualified directly.
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South America (CONMEBOL): 3.5 spots. 9 teams competed for 2 direct places. The winner of the other 0.5 place would progress to the international playoff against a team from UEFA. Brazil, as the defending champions, qualified automatically. Venezuela withdrew.
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North America, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 1 spot. 13 teams competed for only 1 direct place. Jamaica withdrew.
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Asia (AFC) and Oceania (OFC): 1 spot. 18 teams competed for 1 direct place. India, Sri Lanka and Philippines withdrew.
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Africa (CAF): 1 spot. 24 teams competed for only 1 direct place. Madagascar and Gabon withdrew.
Chile, from CONMEBOL, and Soviet Union, from UEFA, advanced to the international playoff. Chile drew 0-0 in Moscow and the Soviet Union refused to travel to Chile for the recent coup d’état and the execution of thousands of prisoners in the National Stadium. The party had to play anyway, and was played… before thousands of stunned spectators. 11 Chileans against any Soviet. The Chilean players began to pass the ball to each other until the captain pushed the ball into the net. Goal of Chile and end of game. Chile qualified for the World Cup -1-.
A total of 90 teams played at least one qualifying match. 226 qualifying matches were played, and 620 goals were scored establishing three new records.
The most important teams that contributed players to the national teams are shown in the table below. The complete list is available at: Teams-Countries-Players-1974
The top scorer (Golden Shoe) of the tournament was Grzegorz Lato from Poland, who would go on to score seven goals. The best young player of the tournament was Władysław Żmuda from Poland. The best goalkeeper was Sepp Maier from West Germany. The names that people probably remember from those times are:
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