1982 Football World Cup
| Copa Mundial de Fútbol – España 82 | |
|---|---|
1982 FIFA World Cup official logo
|
|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Spain |
| Dates | 13 June – 11 July (29 days) |
| Teams | 24 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 17 (in 14 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Italy (3rd title)
|
| Runners-up |  West Germany |
| Third place |  Poland |
| Fourth place |  France |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 52 |
| Goals scored | 146 (2.81 per match) |
| Attendance | 2,109,723 (40,572 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Paolo Rossi (6 goals) |
| Best player |
Paolo Rossi
|
| Best young player |
Manuel Amoros
|
The 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th FIFA World Cup, was held in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982.
The tournament was won by Italy, after defeating West Germany 3–1 in the final in the Spanish capital of Madrid. It was Italy's third World Cup win and first since 1938. The holders Argentina were eliminated in the second group round. Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait and New Zealand made their first appearances in the finals.
The tournament featured two of the greatest matches in World Cup history: Italy's sensational win over Brazil in a second round game and West Germany's semi-final defeat of France via the first ever penalty shoot-out in World Cup competition.
In the first round of Group 3, Hungary defeated El Salvador 10–1, equalling the largest margin of victory ever recorded in the finals (Hungary over South Korea 9–0 in 1954, and Yugoslavia over Zaire 9–0 in 1974).
Spain was chosen as the host nation by FIFA in London, England on 6 July 1966. Hosting rights for the 1974 and 1978 tournaments were awarded at the same time. West Germany agreed a deal with Spain by which Spain would support West Germany for the 1974 tournament, and in return West Germany would allow Spain to bid for the 1982 World Cup unopposed.
For the first time, the World Cup finals expanded from 16 to 24 teams. This allowed more teams to participate, especially from Africa and Asia.
Teams absent from the finals were 1974 and 1978 runners-up Netherlands (eliminated by Belgium and France), Mexico (eliminated by Honduras and El Salvador), and the three times 1970s participants Sweden (eliminated by Scotland and Northern Ireland). Northern Ireland qualified for the first time since 1958. Belgium, Czechoslovakia, El Salvador, England, and the Soviet Union were back in the Finals after a 12-year absence. England had its first successful World Cup qualifying campaign in 20 years – the English team had qualified automatically as hosts in 1966 and as defending champions in 1970, then had missed the 1974 and 1978 tournaments. Yugoslavia were also back after having missed the 1978 tournament.
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