1978 World Cup
| Copa Mundial de Fútbol Argentina '78 | |
|---|---|
1978 FIFA World Cup official logo
|
|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Argentina |
| Dates | 1–25 June (25 days) |
| Teams | 16 (from 5 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 6 (in 5 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Argentina (1st title)
|
| Runners-up |  Netherlands |
| Third place |  Brazil |
| Fourth place |  Italy |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 38 |
| Goals scored | 102 (2.68 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,545,791 (40,679 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Mario Kempes (6 goals) |
| Best young player |
Antonio Cabrini
|
The 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, quadrennial international football world championship tournament, was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June.
The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 at River Plate's home stadium Estadio Monumental in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth team (after Uruguay, Italy, England and West Germany), to be both hosts and world champions. Argentina, the Netherlands and Brazil were the gold, silver and bronze medalists respectively. Iran and Tunisia made their first appearances in the finals. This was also the last World Cup tournament to use the original inclusion of 16 teams, only 15 teams (plus the host, who automatically qualified) had been allowed to qualify since the first World Cup in 1930 (the reigning title holders also received automatic qualification from 1934 through 2002); for the next World Cup in Spain, FIFA expanded that tournament to 24 teams.
The official match ball was the Adidas Tango.
Argentina was chosen as the host nation by FIFA in London, England on 6 July 1966. Mexico withdrew from the bidding process after having been awarded the 1970 competition two years earlier.
The logo is based on Juan Perón's signature gesture: a salute to the crowd with both arms extended above his head. This was one of the most famous, populist images of Perón. The design was created in 1974 two years prior to the military coup in 1976. The military leadership were aware that the World Cup's logo symbolized Perón's gesture, and they tried to change the competition's logo. At this point, the design was already broadly commercialized and the merchandise had already been made: a forced modification "would trigger a sea of lawsuits against the country", so the military "munched the defeat".
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